100 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. on a farm in Salem township and lived on that place for seven years. In March, 1914, 0. C. Loffer moved to Jackson township and has lived there ever since. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Loffer three children have been born, namely : Phyllis K., born March 15, 1907; Rheba E., September 1 1, 1909, and William R., December 27, 1913. Mr. Loffer and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Grafton chapel, Ohio, and are active in all church work, Mr. Loffer being assistant superintendent of the church. lie is a member of the Knights of Pythias at Quincy, Ohio. He is a supporter of the Republican party, but never been a seeker after public office. He is vice-president of the Jackson rural district school board and in other ways has given evidence of his practical interest in all matters tending toward the welfare of the public at large. OTTO F. APPLE. Otto F. Apple, a progressive and well-known farmer, whose land is lotownship section 3, Jackson town4hip, was born on April 27, 1876, a son of Sirnon and Elizabeth (Loudenback). Apple, who were farming people. One of the two children born to this union, Otto F. Apple was reared on the .farm and, in consequence of weakness in his eyesight, which prevented him from attending the public schools, he was educated at home. Otto F. Apple learned the rudiments of farming work on his father's farm and continued to work there up to the time of his marriage. On December 24, 1900, he was united in marriage to Susan. D. Bishop, who was born in Mad River township on November 16, 1882. She was a daughter of Joseph and Allie (Overholier) Bishop. Following his marriage Mr. Apple settled on a farm in Jackson township and 'worked at farming in that place for nine years, at the end of that period coming, into his own neighborhood. He also spent two years in Clark county, this state, and since September, 1912, he has been living on the tract of sixty-nine and one-quarter acres, which forms part of the old home farm. Here he is actively engaged in general farming and has met with much success, being recognized as one of the progressive farmers in that part of Jackson township. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Apple the following children, all daughters, have been born, namely : Ruth E., Naomi A., Clara M., Ethel I., CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 101 Opal L., Mildred C. and Ida May, all of whom are living with their parents. Two children died in infancy. The Apple family are earnest members of the Lutheran church at St. Paris, and are actively 'interested in all the good works of the congregation, Mr. Apple serving as one of the elders of the church. He is a supporter of the Democratic party, but has never held any public office. His efforts have always been directed to the cause of good local government and he is recognized throughout the township as a citizen of sound judgment and dependable views on matters appertaining to the general welfare of the public. He and his wife take an active part in the work of helping to make the social conditions better. MELVIN ALLISON. Melvin Allison, proprietor of "Diamond Rock Farm," a well-kept and profitably cultivated place of one hundred and eighty-six acres, two miles west of Mechanicsburg, in Goshen township, this county, was born on a farm nearby and has been a resident of that community all his life, making his home in this county and in the neighboring county of Clark. He was born in Goshen township on August 28, 1862, son of Wilford and Ann C. (Melvin) Allison, the former of whom died in 1865, leaving his widow and:. three children, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Flora, wife of Alf. Jacobs, of Clark county, and Frank, who married Wilbur Black, of near Dayton, Ohio. Mrs. Ann C. Allison was a native of the state of Virginia, born at Harper's Ferry, and was but six years of age when she came with her parenfs to this part of Ohio, where she grew to womanhood and was married. After the death of her husband she moved down into Clark county and there Melvin Allison spent his boyhood and received his schooling. He was but three years of age when his father died and he early began working for himself, at the age of thirteen taking employment on a farm at a wage of twenty-five cents a day, later receiving eight dollars a month, and until he was seventeen years of age worked on the farm he now owns. Upon reaching his majority he inherited twenty-eight hundred dollars, but lost the same through an unfortunate investment and had to begin "at the bottom." He presently rented a farm and by the time of his marriage in 1890 had a home estabished. Upon buying his present farm he made a payment of eight hundred dollars on the same and as his affairs continued to prosper it was not long 102 - CHAMPAIGN. COUNTY, OHIO. until he had it all paid for and well improved. In 1915 he erected his present modern house and he and his family are now .very comfortably situated.. Mr. Allison has an excellent farm plant, "Diamond Rock Farm" being regarded as one of the model farms in that neighborhood, and his operations are carried on in accordance with modern methods. In addition to his gen-. eral farming; he has given considerable attention to the raising of live stock and has done very well. Politically, he is a Democrat, but has never given particular attention to politics, contenting himself with rendering to the state his duty as a good citizen and a voter. On March 23, 1890, Melvin Allison was united in marriage to Alice Morris, who was born in the neighboring county of Madison on October 5, 1866, and to this union four Children have been born, Edna and Letha, graduates of the common school; Catherine, a graduate of the Mechanicsburg high school with the class of 1917, and Walter, who was garduated from the common school in 1917. The part have a very pleasant home and have ever taken an interested part in :the general social activities of their home community, helpful in promoting all movements having to do with the advancement of the common welfare. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mechanicsburg, Ohio. EUGENE H. GRUBB. Eugene H. Grubb, proprietor of a well-kept farm of one hundred and seventy acres in Goshen township, this county, is a native of the Old Dominion state, but has been a resident of this county since the days' of his young manhood, having come here shortly after reaching his majority. He was born in Virginia on December 24, 1875, son of William H. and Matilda (Everharts). Grubb, also. natives of the old Dominion, who spent all their lives there, her -death occurring in 1914 and his in 1915. They were the parents of seven sons, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth, the others being Oscar, Wilbert, Robert, Daise, John and Harry. Reared on the old home farm in Virginia, Egene H. Grubb received his schooling in the local schools of that neighborhood, going to school until he was eighteen years of age, and 'from the days. of his boyhood was a valued assistant in the labors of the home farm, remaining there until he was past twenty-one years of age, when he came to Ohio and began working on a CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 103 farm in Champaign county. A year later he rented a farm and began farming on his own account and two years later rented a tract on the J. J.. Ware farm and operated that place for seven years, at the end of which time he bought his present farm of one hundred and thirty-three acres in Goshen township and has ever since made his home there, he and his family being very comfortably situated. Mr. Grubb has made all the present substantial improvements on that place and now. has an admirably equipped farm plant. In addition to his general farming he has given considerable attention to the raising of live stock and is doing very well. Mr. Grubb is a Democrat, but has never given any particularly .active attention to political affairs, other than performing a good citizen's duty of voting. On April 4, 1901, Eugene H. Grubb was united in marriage to. Anna Neer, who was born on a farm in Mechanicsburg, this county, daughter of N. O. Neer, and who was educated in the common schools of that township, from which she was graduated, and to this union four daughters have been born, Evaline, ildred, Virginia and Marian. Mr. and Mrs. Grubb are members of the Methodist Protestant church and take a proper interest in church work and in the general good works of their community. Mr. Grubb is a member of the Masonic lodge at Mechanicsburg and takes a warm interest in Masonic affairs. CHARLES F. FINSTERWALD, M. D. Dr. Charles F. Finsterwald, physician and surgeon at North Lewisburg, was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Athens, in the county of that name, this state, May 2, 1884, son of J. H. and Addie Finsterwald, who are still living there. Reared on the farm, he received his early schooling in the schools of Athens, the county seat, continuing the same in the high school at Hamden, and was graduated from the latter in 1903. He then attended Ohio University for three years, at the end of which time he was made principal of the schools at Hamden and after serving in that capacity for two years was made superintendent of schools at Jacksonville, in his home county and served in that capacity for four years. In the meantime he had been giving his attention to the study of medicine with a view to becoming a physician, and he then entered the medical department of the Ohio State University, from which he was graduated four years later, in 1916, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. During this course Doctor Finsterwald was 104 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. an interne in the state hospital for two years, there securing the advantage of a practical training in his profession that has proved of incalculable benefit to him. Thus admirably qualified for the practice of his profession, Doctor Finsterwald located at Athens, Ohio, for a short time, then to North Lewisburg, August 14, 1916, where he opened offices and where he has since been engaged in practice, his acquaintance being rapidly extended throughout that part of the county and the nearby sections of the neighboring counties of Logan and Union. In his political views, Doctor Finsterwald is an "independent" and gives his close and thoughtful attention to political issues. He was vice-president of his class in the university during his senior year and during his college days was an active member of the literary fraternity, Delta Tau, and the medical fraternity, Phi Chi, in the affairs of both of which lively associations he continues to take a warm interest. On May 6, 1909, Dr. C. F. Finsterwald was united in marriage to Maude Mullay, daughter of J. B. Mullay and wife, of Portland, Oregon, and to this union one child has been born, a son, James Frederick. Doctor and Mrs. Finsterwaldare members of the Presbyterian church and take a proper interest in church affairs, as well as in other local good works, and are helpful in pro moting all agencies having to do with the advancement of the common welfare. They have a pleasant home at North Lewisburg and take an interested part in the general social activities of their home town. FORRY WILSON. Forry Wilson, farmer of Concord township, Champaign county, was born just west of where he now resides, January 1, 1860. He is a son of John D. and Sarah (Forry) Wilson. The father was born on the same farm where the subject of this sketch first saw the light of day, and he was a son of John and Miah (Dickey) Wilson. John Wilson was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he spent his boyhood, but when a young man, in 1817, he threaded the wilderness trails in Champaign county, Ohio, and entered the land from the government on which John D. and Forry Wilson were born, in what is now Concord township. The country was at that time very sparsely settled and vast woods prevailed, but the elder Wilson, like all the pioneers, was a man of grit and courage, and he carved out a home in the midst of the forest, where he spent the rest of his CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 105 life. He married a Miss Runyan, by whom two children were born. She died in early life and he then married Miah Dickey, a native of Fayette county, Ohio, and to their union three children were born, of whom John D. Wilson was the youngest. John Wilson became one of the leading farmers and influential citizens of Champaign county in his day. John D. Wilson grew to manhood on the home farm in Concord township and there he married Sarah Forry, who was born in Logan county, Ohio. She was a daughter of Rudolph and Sarah Forry and of Pennsylyania stock. He enlisted during the Civil War in the one-hundred-day service in the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry,. under Capt. Miles Wilson. They saw active service in Virginia and around Cincinnati, Ohio (where they were known as the "Squirrel Hunters"), to stop Morgan on his famous raid. He contracted typhoid fever and never was strong thereafter. After his marriage John D. Wilson remained on the homestead. following general farming the rest of his life there. He was a Republican. and he and his wife belonged to the Presbyterian church at Spring hills, in which he was an elder for many years and active in church work all his life. His family consisted of six children, two of whom died in infancy: those who grew up were named as follow : Emma, now deceased, was the wife of William Daniels; Forry, subject of this sketch; Walter S. lives on the home farm in Concord township: Miah Jane, now deceased, was the wife of James McCroskey. Forry Wilson grew up on the home farm and received his education in the district schools. lie liyed at home until his marriage, on March 9, 18M. to Mora V. Journell, a (laughter of Crocket and Margaret (Taylor) After his marriage he located in Harrison township, but remained there ()lily a short time, then returned to the home place, where he con-!him(' to reside until 1907. when he bought his present farm, nine miles northwest of Urbana, Concord township. He owns two hundred and. seventy acres in his home farm and ninety-seven acres in Salem township. I I is land is well improyed and well cultivated and he has been very successful in general agricultural pursuits. He makes a specialty of feeding cattle aid hogs, preparing large numbers annually for the market. He has a modern home and substantial outbuildings, everything about his place denoting good management and thrift. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, namely : Alta Fern, died aged one month; Otto M., married Lenora Colbert and they live on the home farm, which he helps his father operate; Leo B. is also at 106 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. home and helping with the farm work. The mother of these children died on May 4, 19.11. Politically, Mr. Wilson is a Republican. He is active in local public affairs and has served two terms as township assessor. He is a member of the Presbyterian church at Spring Hills and has been an elder in the same for a number of years. His wife also belonged to that church. HARRY O. BAKER. Harry O. Baker is one of the younger and among the more progressive farmers of Jackson township, Champaign county, his farm being located in section 7, that township. He was born in a log cabin on the farm which he now owns, and which is still standing, on January 18, 1878, a son of Obadiah .and Eliza (Bowers) Baker. Obadiah Baker was born in Clark county, Ohio, on the farm owned by his father, Jacob Baker. He was reared on the farm in Clark county, which was occupied by his father, and was educated in the public schools of the district. Eliza Bowers, his 'wife, was also born in the state of Ohio, educated in the public schools and grew to womanhood in Champaign county. Obadiah Baker and Eliza Bowers were married in this county and went to live in a log cabin on the farm now owned by their son, Harry O. Baker. After a few years of married life they built a substantial house on the farm of eighty acres owned by Obadiah Baker and on which he was engaged in general farming for the remainder of his life. He died in 1885 and his widow died in 1896, their deaths being regretted throughout the community in which they had lived for many years and where they were held in high regard for their qualities as good citizens and good neighbors. They were earnest members of the Lutheran church, in the good works of which they were warmly interested. Obadiah Baker and wife were the parents of seven children, six of whom are living in 1917: William D., a farmer living in Jackson township; Alma, wife of J. C. Richardson, of Christiansburg; Jacob, a farmer living in Mad River township; Sarah, wife of Charles Pence, of Miami county, this state; Irvin, who lives in Christiansburg, and Harry, who lives on the old home place. Harry O. Baker was reared on his father's farm and was educated in the district schools of Jackson township, attending school during the winter months and working on the farm during the summer seasons. His father CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 107 having died when he was about six years of age, he started early in life to help in the upkeep of the home. Harry O. Baker was married, when he had reached his twentieth year, to Edna M. Baker, the marriage taking place on February 24, 1898. His wife Was born in Jackson township, this county, on September 3, 1877, a daughter of William. and Abigail (Robbins) Laker. Mrs. Baker was educated in the public schools of Jackson township. Following his marriage Harry O. Baker and his wife settled on his present farm, where he is engaged in. general farming and has been successful in all his operations. They are the parents of the following children : Vernon C.; Rachel, attended the common schools and is now a student in high school: Wilbur, who is attending the common schools; Alta,; Ada, deceased, and Waldo. The Baker family are members of the Mt. Zion Baptist church and are warmly interested in all church affairs. Mr: Baker is a member of St. Paris Lodge No. 246, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. in which order he is past noble grand. He is also a member of the encampment and fills the office of junior warden in the same, and in both of these popular organizations he takes a keen interest. Mr. Baker is an ardent supporter of the Democratic party and is now a member of the Jackson township school board and is township committeeman at the present time. GRANT NINCEHELSER. Grant Nincehelser, a well-known and substantial retired merchant and farmer, of Cable, this county, and formerly and for years clerk of Wayne township, was born in the yillage of Cable and has lived there all his life. He was born on October 1, 1871, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Strobl) Nincehelser, early residents of that community, whose last days were spent there. Henry Nincehelser, who built the first house on the site now occupied v the yillage of Cable, was a native of Pennsylvania, born in Berks county, that state, April 8, 1827, son of Jacob and Harriet (Hart) Nincehelser, also natiyes of Pennsylvania, who later came to Ohio, driving through, and settled in this county, arriying here with but fifteen cents in cash. Jacob Nincehelser began farming on King's creek and became a substantial farmer, he and his wife spending the remainder. of their days there. As a lad Henry Ninceheiser was "bound out" to a blacksmith in Pennsylvania and served a thorough apprenticeship to that trade, remaining there and working at 108 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO that trade until he was twenty-one years of age, when he came to Ohio with a view to establishing his home in Champaign county. Upon coming here, the date o f his arrival having been May 12, 1849, Henry Nincehelser found employment with "Jimmie" Howard, who had a blacksmith shop on King's creek, near the home of Henry Mast. Presently the young man returned to Pennsylvania and in the village of Ephrata, in that state, on January 1, 18-51, was united in marriage to Elizabeth Strohl. In the fall of that same year he came back to Champaign county, bringing with him his bride, and established his home at the point on King's creek where later the village of Cable sprang up. There was a good well of water at that point, a decisive factor in the location of the new home in the then wilderness, for at that time the greater part of that section of the county was an unbroken forest. Henry Nincehelser cleared a small plot of ground and there erected a small house; the first house built in what later came to be the village of Cable, and nearby he set up a forge and established a blacksmith shop, a special inducement in that direction having been the promise of much work that would come to him from Hiram Cable, who, with his brother, Philander Cable, was a large landowner and contractor in that neighborhood and after whom the village which, presently began to take form around the blacksmith shop, was given its name. When the railroad construction crew reached that point during the time of the later construction of the Panhandle railroad through this county, Henry Nincehelser and his wife boarded the construction hands and Mrs. Nincehelser was given the privilege of riding on the first train that ran between Urbana and Cable. The site of the house in which the Nincehelsers conducted their boarding house during the days of the railroad construction and which was the first house erected at that point, occupied the site now occupied by the Rudisell Hotel. Henry Nincehelser continued in the blacksmithing business at Cable the rest of his life and was an important personal factor in the growth and development of the village of which -he was the first settler. He and his wi fe were among the organizers of the Jenkins Chapel Methodist Protestant church and ever were active in church work and other local good works. When the Civil War was at its height Mr. Nincehelser enlisted for the hundred-day service as a member of Company .F, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment, .Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with, that command participated in the famous James River campaign. He had joined the Odd Fellows during his residence in Pennsylvania and later, when a lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was organized at Cable he became a charter member of the same. Originally a Whig, he became a Republican upon the forma- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 109 tion of the latter party and ever remained an ardent supporter of the same. Mrs. Henry Nincehelser lived to a ripe old age, her death occurring at Cable on August 15, 1905, she then being seventy-three years of age, and he survived for nine years, his death occurring on August 7, 1914, he then being seventy-eight years of age. They were the parents. of four sons, of whom the subject of this sketch was the last-born, the others being as follow : John J., formerly and for years engaged in the blacksmith business at Cable, having there taken over his father's old-established shop, but now engaged in the mercantile business in that village and who has been married twice, first to Lizzie Johnson and, secondly, to Sadie Jones ; William J., who is now living at Oskaloosa, Kansas, where he is engaged in the livery and transfer business, and Oliver W., a farmer and stockman at Cable. Grant Nincehelser grew up at Cable and upon completing the course in the village schools entered the college at Ada and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1893. For a year thereafter he was employed as a clerk in the store of Charles Dempsey, dealer in agricultural imple- ments at Cable, and then he engaged in business on his own account, opening a hardware store and a house for the sale of agricultural implements and general farm machinery at Cable, and was thus quite successfully engaged until his retirement from the mercantile business twenty years later. In the meantime Mr. Nincehelser had acquired a valuable bit of farm land near the yillage and he continues to give considerable personal attention to the operation of the same. He always has given his close attention to local civic affairs and for seventeen years served as clerk of Wayne township, during that time rendering admirable service in behalf of the public. In August, 1899, Grant Nincehelser was united in marriage to Rachael L. Patrick, who was born at Urbana, this county, daughter of Alexander and Catherine (Stewart) Patrick and granddaughter of Judge. Patrick, one of the most forceful of the pioneers of this county, further mention of whom s made elsewhere in this work. Alexander Patrick was a cabinet-maker nd later moved from Urbana to Cable, where he spent his last days, his eath occurring in April, 1915. His wife had preceded him to the grave many years, her death haying occurred in October, 1887. They were the arents of four daughters, of whom Mrs. Nincehelser was the second in rder of birth, the others being as follow : Jessie, who is now living at Loma, his state, widow of William Howard; Carrie, wife of John Hollis, of Iowa Falls, and Grace, who died unmarried. Mr. and Mrs. Nincehelser re the parents of three children, Henry Stewart, Ruth Adelaide and Elizath. The Nincehelsers have a very pleasant home at Cable and have ever 110 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. taken an interested part in the general social activities of their home town, helpful in promoting all agencies having to do with the advancement of the common welfare, thereabout. Mrs. Nincehelser is a member of the Baptist church at Urbana and takes .a proper interest in church work. Mr. Nincehelser is a Mason, affiliated with the lodge of that order at Urbana, and is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Cable, in the affairs of both of which orders he takes a warm interest. HENRY WESTFALL. Henry Westfall, member of the general merchandise firm of Madden_ & Westfall at 'Woodstock and for many years actively engaged at that. place in the buying and selling of live stock, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state practically all his life, with the exception of a couple of years spent in the West during the days of his young manhood and three years later spent at Indianapolis, where he was engaged in the railroad service. He was born on a farm in Darke county, August 12, 1863, son of John and Susanna Westfall, the former of whom was a native of New England and the latter of the state of Pennsylvania, who came with their respective parents to Ohio in the days of their youth, and grew up in Darke county, where they were married and where they spent the remainder of their lives. Reared on a farm, Henry Westfall received his schooling in the district school in the neighborhood of his home in Darke county and continued working on the farm until he was nineteen years of age, when he went West. Two years later lie returned to. Ohio and, secured employment with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and was for three years thereafter engaged in railroad work, during that time being located at Indianapolis. He then returned to Ohio and located at Woodstock, where he engaged in the lumber business, which he followed for two years, at the end of which time he became engaged there in the mercantile business and has continued in that business, off and on, for the past thirty years or more, at present being engaged in that line at Woodstock as a member of the firm of Madden & Westfall, proprietors of what is regarded as the leading general mercantile establishment. in that thriving village. For the past eighteen years Mr. Westfall also has been engaged in the live-stock business and buys large quantities of cattle and hogs, shipping to outside markets, and has done very well in that line, being widely known throughout this part of the state as a stock buyer. Though CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 111 ever giving a good citizen's attention to local political affairs, Mr. Westfall is "independent" in his attitude toward parties and has never been a seeker after public office. On February 22, 1887, Henry Westfall was united in marriage to Carrie Louden, daughter of Benjamin Louden and wife, and to this union all ofhildren have been born, all of whom are living save one, Olive, the others being Ada, harry, Pearl, Mead, alph, John, Howard and James. Ada Westfall, the eldest of these children, married Than Madden. Harry Westfall: married Jessie Murray and had children, Darling and Evelyn, and Pearl West fall married Carrie McClintock and has one child, Helen Louise. The Westfalls have a very pleasant home at Woodstock and have ever taken an interested part in the general social activities of that delightful village, doing much to advance the general interests of the town and of the surrounding country. Though starting on his businescareer with limited means; Mr. Westfall has made a substantial success and has long been regarded as one of the leading factors in the business life of the eastern part of the county. JAMES PERRY. James Perry. trustee of Union township and a substantial farmer and stockman of that township, living on rural mail route No. 1 out of Mechanicsburg. was horn in the neighboring township of Wayne and has lived in Champaign county all his life. He was born on April 9, 1855, son of Evan. and Elizabeth ( Middleton) Perry, the former of whom . was born in the principality of Wales and the latter in Highland county, this state, who became residents of this county and here spent their last days. Evan Perry was but a lad when he came to this country from Wales with his parents, the family locating in Delaware county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood, later coming to Champaign county. He married in Wayne. township and there established his home, continuing actively engaged in. farming there the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1872, he then being fifty-two years of age. His widow survived him for some years, her death occurring in 1903. They were the parents of eight. children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the Eyans being George, David L., Evan, Charles, Jane, Nancy and Elizabeth. James Perry was reared on the home farm in Wayne township and there rew to manhood, receiving his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood 112 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. He was married when twenty years of age and then began farming on his own account, renting a farm in Wayne township. He later moved to a farm in Goshen township and remained there until 1906, when he bought the farm of one hundred and forty-seven and one-half acres on which he is now living, in Union township, and has ever since made that place his home, one of the best-known farmers in that part of the county. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Perry has for years given considerable attention to the raising of live stock; feeding all the grain he raises, and is doing very well in his operations. He is a Republican, was road supervisor for his district for about ten years, a member of the local school board for four years and is now serving as trustee of his home township, giving his most thoughtful and intelligent attention to the duties of that important office. In 1875 James Perry was united in marriage to Viola Yocum, daughter of James and Hannah Yocum, and to this union nine children have been born, namely : William, who married Mabel McClemmon and had three children, Stewart, Lucy and Wilma ; Charles, who married Ella Engle and has three children, Irene, Hazel and Bernice; Allan, who married Pauline Weatherhead ; Jesse, who married Jennie Kulp and has six children, Edna, Irma, Clarence, Mary, Viola and Dorotha ; Carrie, wife of Wilfred Hall; Nellie, who married. Bert Hays and has six children, Edith, Maggie, Bessie, James, Sumner and Nettie ; Ivan, who is unmarried ; Titus, also unmarried, and Maggie, deceased. The Perrys have a pleasant home on their well-kept farm and have ever given their interested attention to the community's general social welfare. JAMES A. WEIDMAN. One of the leading agriculturists of Salem township, Champaign county. is J. A. Weidman, who is also president of the Farmers State Bank of West Liberty, Ohio. He was born on a farm north of Kings Creek, in the former county, March 4, 1840, a scion of an honored pioneer family, being a son of Abraham and Emily (Dewey) Weidman, natives of Virginia and Pennsylvania, respectively. The father came to Champaign county, Ohio, in 1824, when twelve years old, with his father, Abraham Weidman, coming overland from Virginia. They were thus among the earliest settlers in this locality. They located on what is now known as the Dugan road, where the elder Weidman bought land which he developed into a good farm in the midst of the wilderness and spent the rest of his life here, becoming CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 113 influential in the early-day affairs of Salem township. His son, Abraham Weidman, Jr., assisted him in developing the home farm, but when young he began working at the carpenter's trade, becoming especially adept at barn building. He continued his trade for .about eight years, then turned his attention to farming, starting as a renter, but later bought a forty-acre farm which he operated until his death in 1889. His wife died in 1884. They were the parents of seven children, only two of whom are now living, J. A: of this sketch, and Samuel W., who makes his home in Kings Creek, this county. J. A. Weidman grew to manhood on the farm and received his education in the public schools. In early life he took up farming fora livelihood, and in 1864 went to Illinois and worked in the western part of the state at the carpenter's and stone mason's trades for five years. Then he returned to his native county and rented the old James farm of one thousand acres, in Salem township, remaining there for four years, during which time he was very successful as a general farmer and an extensive live-stock feeder. He then married and rented the Longworth place, containing two thousand acres. which he operated with his former success for five years, then bought hundred acres in Salem township which he now owns and where he has resided. He also purchased at that time a farm of one hundred and sixty-four acres in Concord township on the Mad river. He has later ought additional land. until he now owns three hundred and ninety-six acres in Salem and Concord townships. He has brought his land up to a high state of cultivation and improvement and has an attractive and modern dwelling—in fact. everything about his place denotes thrift, good taste and good management. Fie has always farmed on a large scale and, being a Ian ,)1 sound judgment and executive ability, .has Succeeded admirably. le is now living practically retired from the active duties of life, living wetly on the old home place in Salem township. He is a heavy stock-older in the Farmers State Bank at West Liberty,. and was elected president of this institution four years ago. He has managed its affairs in a manner that has reflected much credit upon himself and to the eminent satisfaction of the other stockholders and patrons of the bank, which is one of the sound and popular banking institutions of this section of the state. Mr. Weidman was married, on March 4, 1875, to Sarah Elizabeth Anspaw, a daughter of Jonathan Anspaw, and to their union three children were burn, namely : Bertha, deceased; Charles, deceased, and Lola Emma, who married William Madden and has one child, Marie. The death of (8a) 114 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Mrs. Weidman occurred on August 12, 1892, at the age of forty-two years. Politically, Mr: Weidman is a, Democrat, but he has never been very active in public affairs. Fraternally, he belongs to the Masonic order and to the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Dayton, Ohio. Personally, he has always been regarded as a good citizen in the best sense of the word and a man of upright character, in every way deserving of his material success and of the esteem in which he is held by all who know him. GEORGE W. HANN. George W. Hann, one of the best-known live-stock dealers in Champaign county, for years engaged in that business at Woodstock, member of the board of directors of the Peoples" Bank of Woodstock and otherwise prominently identified with the general business affairs of that thriving village, is a native of the old Buckeye state and also lived in this state all his life. He was born in the village of West Jefferson, in Madison county, January 22, 1864, son of George and Malinda (Furrow) Hann, who later became residents of this county, but who later returned to Madison county, where his last days were spent. She still lives at West Jefferson. George Hann was trained as a butcher in his youth and remained engaged in that vocation all his life. On December 25, 1881, he left West Jefferson with his family and located at Mechanicsburg, this county, where he engaged in the butcher business and was thus engaged there for several years, at the end of which time he returned to his .old home at West Jefferson, resumed there the retail meat business and there spent his last days.. He and his wife were the parents of five children, those besides the subject of this sketch being William (deceased), Mrs. Fannie Sheeders, Mrs. Mollie Bennett and Mrs. Lucy Dingler. George W. Hann received his schooling at West Jefferson and was about eighteen years of age when he came with his parents to this county and located at Mechanicsburg-. There he assisted his father in the retail meat business until in August, 1882, he moved up to Woodstock and there established a meat market on his own account. Two or there months later he married: established his home there and has ever since made that village his place of residence. Mr. Hann continued in the butcher business for several years after locating at Woodstock and then turned his attention to the buying and selling of live stock and has since been very successfully engaged in that line, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 115 long having been recognized as one of the leading stock buyers in this part of the state, his operations in that line covering a wide territory hereabout. His buying is mostly for the Pittsburgh market and he has done very well. In addition to his live-stock operations Mr. Hann has long given close attention to the general business affairs of his home town and has for years been regarded as one of "live wires" of that village. He is a member of the board of directors of the Peoples Bank of Woodstock and it was largely through his efforts that the bank erected its present handsome bank building some years ago. He has taken an active interest in politics since the days of his boyhood and has for years been looked upon as one of the leaders of the Republican party in the eastern part of the county. Mr. Hann has been twice married. It was on November. 4, 1882, that he was united in marriage to Clara Kenfield, daughter of Daniel Kenfield and wife, and to that union was born one child, a daughter, Dorothy, who married Claude Dunham and has one child, a daughter, Claudine. Mrs. Clara Hann died on September 4, 1913, and on October 22, 1915, Mr. Hann married secondly. Mrs. Vera (Miller) Hewing, which union has been without issue. Mr. and Mrs. Hann have a very pleasant home at Woodstock and take a proper part in the general social activities of their home town and of the community at large, helpful in promoting all movements designed to advance the common welfare. Mr. Hann is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is past noble grand of the same. I le also is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias and in the affairs of both of these popular organizations takes a warm and active interest. BOWERS & SLAGLE. W. J. Bowers and William H. Slagle, owners of a saw-mill at Rosewood, Champaign county, have been engaged in that business as partners for more than seventeen years and are widely known as dealers in lumber throughout this part of the state, the products of their mill having an extensive market. W. J. Bowers, the senior partner in the saw-mill business, was born in Hampshire county, Virginia, on March 28, 1851, a son of Uriah Bowers and wife, natives of that state, who came from their home state to Shelby county, Ohio, in 1861, and located on a farm in that county. Uriah Bowers lived in that county for a short time and then went to the state of Iowa, where he lived for two years. At the end of that period he returned to Ohio and 116 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. bought a farm in Wood county, which he later sold and returned to Shelby county, where he engaged in farming and continued at that occupation, up to the time of his death. He met his death through a runaway horse throwing him out of a wagon in 1880. W. J. Bowers had been working on a farm and remained at home during the lifetime of his parents. Some years later he decided to engage in the saw-mill business; he employed William H. Slagle as ' steam engineer to run the saw-mill and the latter was thus engaged for about five years. The business acquaintance thus formed led to Mr. Bowers and Mr. Slagle entering into a partnership in the saw-mill trade in the winter of 1901, under the firm name of Bowers & Slagle, and this partnership has since been continued, with satisfactory results. They moved the mill to Ashland, Ohio, in April, 1902, and operated there until July of the same year, at which time they came to Rosewood and here their mill has been running ever since with advantage to the partnership. Mr. Bowers is a supporter of the Democratic party, but has never been a seeker after public office. He has been making his home with Mr. Slagle for the past twenty years. William H. Slagle, partner in the sawmill business of Bowers & Slagle, was born on November 23, 1870, a son of J. W. and Mary E. (Trapp) Slagle, both of whom are now dead. J. W. Slagle was a soldier in the Civil. War, being a member of Company C, Ninety-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; he saw much service and was in many important engagements during the three years he served with the Federal forces. He was finally discharged at Camp Dennison for general disability. William H. Slagle's mother died when he was eight years old, at which time he went to live with his grandparents for about twelve months. He was educated in the public schools and on leaving school he farmed for some time. In addition to his interests in the saw-mill Mr. Slagle is the owner of a farm of fifty-eight acres of prime land in Adams township. On October 5, 1893, William H. Slagle was united in marriage to Sarah E. Fristoe, who was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, but was reared in Shelby county. Her mother died while she was still a child, being six years old at the time. She accompanied her father to Shelby county after the death of her mother, the father settling in that county, where he was a farmer. Mr. Slagle is a supporter of the Republican party, but has never been a seeker after public office, preferring to devote his time to his saw-mill and farming interests. Nicholas. Trapp, maternal grandfather of William H. Slagle, was a soldier in the -United States army in 1848 during the Mexican War, serving CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 117 as a captain. He also served in the Civil War for three months as a first term and on the expiration of that period he re-enlisted as captain in Company K, First Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served to the end of the war. He was in several severe engagements and was wounded four times at the battle of Lookout Mountain. During the rush to the gold fields of California he joined with a num er of other "forty-niners" and remained there until 1851. SAMUEL RILEY Samuel Riley, village councilman, a well-known building contractor at North Lewisburg and an honored veteran of the Civil War, is a native of the Keystone state, but has been a resident of Ohio ever since the completion of his service in the Union army during the Civil War, he having located in this state at the close of the war. He was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, November 9, 1847, son of John and Amanda Riley; both of whom also were natives of Pennsylvania and whose last days were spent in Bedford county. Upon completing his studies in the schools of his home county, Samuel Riley took up farming with his father and was thus engaged when, in 1865, he then being eighteen years of age, he enlisted for service during the continuance of the Ciyil War as a member of Company E, Second Regiment, Maryland Volunteer Infantry, and served with that command for eighty-four days, or until mustered out at the close of the war. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Riley came to Ohio and for eighteen months was engaged as a farm hand in the section lying between Troy and Covington. He then married and took up the trade of plasterer at Covington, where he established his home and where he remained for eleven years., at the end of which time he came to this county and located at Cable. During a part of the time he was liying at Covington Mr. Riley was engaged in the railway service and it was while thus engaged that he was sent to Cable to take charge of the gravel pit operated at that place by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Two years later he moved to Woodstock, where he resumed his vocation as a plasterer and bricklayer and where he remained for seven years, at the end of which time he moved to North Lewisburg, where he opened in business as a general building contractor and where he has ever since been located, a period of more than thirty years, during which time he has executed contracts in all parts of the county, long having been recognized as one of the leading contractors in this part of the state. Mr. Riley is a Repub- 118 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. lican and has long given his earnest attention to local political affairs, and is now serving as a member of the village council. Mr. Riley has been married four times. It was in 1867, at Covington, that he was united in marriage to Sarah Barnhardt, who died at Woodstock. To that union five children were born, of whom two are now living, Mollie, who married Gwynn Clark and has three children, Herbert, Charles and George, and Maude, who married Charles Granser and has two children, Earl and Lou. Following the death of the mother of these children Mr. Riley' married Mrs. Susan (Epps) Smith and after her death he. married Adia Heston, following whose death he married Cora Spain. Mr. and Mrs. Riley have a pleasant home at North Lewisburg and give proper attention to the general affairs of their home town. Mr. Riley is a member of the Inde pendent Order of Odd Fellows, past noble grand of the local lodge of that order, and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, past chancellor commander of the local lodge of that order, having for years taken a warm interest in the affairs of both these popular organizations. EDGAR S. EVERHART. Edgar S. Everhart, one of Union township's well-known and substantial farmers, now living practically retired from the active labors of the farm at his pleasant home in that township, wher=e he has a fine farm of one hundred and fifteen acres, is a Virginian, but has been a resident of Ohio since the days of his boyhood and of Champaign county since the early eighties. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of Lovettsville, in Louden county, Virginia, October 11, 1852, son of Israel and Maria (Ropp) Everhart," both of German descent; who later moved to Ohio and located in Clark county, where they spent the :remainder of their lives. Israel Everhart also was born in the vicinity of Lovettsville, in Louden county, Virginia, in 1811, and there grew to manhood, becoming a building contractor. There he married Maria Ropp, who, was born in that same neighborhood in 1817, a daughter of Nicholas Ropp, a substantial farmer of that vicinity, who spent all his life there, and who was the father of ten children, those besides Mrs. Everhart having been Polly, Melissa, Samuel, Jacob, John, Emanuel, Elizabeth, Eliza and Jane. Israel Everhart was one of six children born to his parents, the others having been Solomon, Tillie, George, Nathaniel and William, the last two named having been twins. In April, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 119 1861, Israel Eyerhart moved with his family from Virginia to Ohio and settled on a farm in the Catawba neighborhood, in Clark county, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. Israel Everhart was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife were active members of the Methodist Protestant church. He died in 1883 and his.wiclow surviyed him for some years, she having been eighty years of age at the time of her death. They were the parents of six children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the others being William, Matilda, John A., Thomas and George. The late William Everhart was for years a well-known farmer in Union township, this county, and was also engaged in the grain business at Catawba. He married Virginia Hunter, also now deceased, and to that union were born two children, Charles, a farmer, liying in Union township, this county, and Nilette,. of Butler county, Ohio. Matilda Eyerhart, now deceased, married William H. Grubb, of Virginia. also now deceased, and was the mother of eight children, Oscar, Wilbur,, Robert, John, Eugene, Daisy, Harry and Grace. The late John A. Everhart, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, was for years a well-known farmer in Goshen township, this county. He married Anna M. Near, who is now living at Catawba, and to that union were born four sons, Scutt. Herbert, Warren and Robert. Thomas Everhart, a farmer of Clark county, married Ella Kimball and has two children, Elton and Bessie. George Everhart, a retired farmer, now liying at South Vienna, married Margaret Beard. Edgar S. Everhart was but eight years of age when he came to Ohio with his parents from Virginia in 1861 and he grew to manhood on the home farm in the neighborhood of Catawba, receiving his schooling in the schools of that place and becoming a practical farmer. After his marriage when twenty-one years of age he began farming on his own account in Clark county and was there thus engaged for about nine years, at the end of which time he bought his present farm in Union township, this county, created there a fine place and has ever since made his home there: This was the old John Baldwin place and when Mr. Everhart bought it consisted of one hundred and seventy-three acres. He has sold part of the place, however, and now has one hundred and fifteen acres, well improved and profitably cultivated. In 1895 Air. Everhart erected his present handsome residence and in 1901 built a new barn. The general farm plant is in keeping with these substantial improyements and the place has long been looked upon- as one of the best-kept farms in that neighborhood. In 1913 Mr. Everhart practically retired from the active labors of the farm and since then has been in a position to 120 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. "take things easy." He is a stanch Republican, was for years director of schools in his home district and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Protestant church, in the affairs of which they for years have taken an earnest interest. On June I, 1874, Edgar S. Everhart was united in marriage to Mary A.. Grove, of Clark county, daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Walkman) Grove,. both of Virginia stock and early settlers in Clark county and both long since. deceased. Jacob Grove and wife were the parents of four children, those beside Mrs. Everhart, the second in order of birth, having been William, who died at the age of twenty-one years; David and Frank, the latter of whom: is now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Everhart three children have been born, Albert, Laura (deceased) and Sarah B., the latter of whom completed her schooling at Adrian, Michigan, and married Lewis Melvin, a bookkeeper for the Armsted & Burk Milling Company at Springfield. Albert Everhart, who completed his schooling in the college at Ada, this state, is now superintendent: of the plant of the Niagara Radiator Company at Tonawanda, New York.. He married Jessie Warrick and has two sons, Howard and Edgar. WILLIAM HOWARD SHARP, M. D. Dr. William Howard Sharp, well-known physician and surgeon. at Woodstock and the proprietor of a well-stocked drug store in that thriving village, is a native son of the old Buckeye state and has lived in this state all his life. He was born at Pottersburg, in the .neighboring.. county of Union, July 15, 1877, son and only child of Dr. David W. and Lottie (Stewart) Sharp, both also natives of this state and both now deceased, their last days having been spent in Woodstock, where the elder Doctor Sharp died about seven years ago. Dr. David W. Sharp,. who. for years was a well-known physician and druggist at Woodstock, was born on a farm near Middleburg, in the neighboring county of Logan, and there grew to manhood, receiving his early schooling in the schools of his home neighborhood. He early turned his attention to the study of medicine and after a course in Delaware College he entered the College of Medicine and Surgery at Cincinnati and was graduated from that institution in 1875. For the first three years after receiving his diploma, Dr. David W. Sharp was engaged in the practice of his pro- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 121 fession at Pottersburg and then he moved to Middleburg, where he was engaged in practice' for four years, at the end of which time he moved to Woodstock and there spent the remainder of his life, being for years one of the best-known physicians in the eastern part of the county. In addition. to his general practice, he also was engaged in the drug business and conducted a drug store at Woodstock until the day of his death, which occurred there in Nwasber, 1910. Doctor Sharp was a Republican, a member of the Christian church and a Knight. Temcommanderya member of the commandery at Urbana. He was twice married, his first wife, Lottie Stewart,. of Harrisburg, mother of the subject of this sketch, dying at her home in Woodstock in 1888, after Bindon, he married Nellie T. Bindon of Woodstock. who survives. Dr. William Howard Sharp's professional education was received at Starling Medical College at Columbus, from which excellent old institution he was graduated in 1904.. From boyhood and during the time he was pursuing the course in the Woodstock schools he had given his close atten'on to the study of medicine, his father's extensive medical library being open to him. Upon receiving his diploma, the younger Doctor Sharp returned home and for three years thereafter was engaged in practice at Woodstock in partnership with his father. He then opened there an office. of his own and has since been engaged in practice alone, being widely known throughout that part of the country coveredtos practice. In addition ioto his general practice, Doctor Sharp is the up to date well stocked and up-to-date drug store at Woodstock and does a good business in that line. Ile is a member of the Champaign County Medical Society of the Ohio State Medical Society and in the deliberations of both of these learned bodies takes a warm interest, ever kadvancesully abreast of the advances being made in the practice of his chosen profession. The Doctor is a Republican and takes a good citizen's interest in local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office. On December 5, 1907, Dr. William H. Sharp, was united in marriage. to Mabel Fawn Kimball; of Woodstock, daughter of David R. Kimball, a. biographical sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Doctor and Mrs. Sharp have a very pleasant home at Woodstock and take an interested part in the general social activities of their home town. The Doctor is a Knight Templar Mason, being a member of the blue lodge at commandery Lewisburg and of the conimandery at Urbana, and takes a warm interest in Masonic affairs. 122 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. IRA LINCOLN. The late Ira Lincoln, who died at his home in Rush township, this county, in 1886, was a native son of Champaign county and his whole life was spent here. He was born on what is known as the old Lincoln homestead in Rush township, Julie 4, 1848, son of Charles and Allura (Johnson) Lincoln, who came to this state from Connecticut and settled on a farm in Rush township, this county, where they established their home and where they spent the remainder of their lives, influential and useful members of the community which they did much to help develop. Charles Lincoln and his wife were the parents of ten children and elsewhere in this volume there is set out at considerable length something of the history of this important family, which it will hardly be necessary to repeat in this connection. Reared on the home farm in the Woodstock neighborhood, Ira Lincoln received his schooling in the district schools near his home- and from boyhood gave his attention to farming. After, his .marriage in the spring of 1876 he began farming on his own account and established his home on 'a farm in Rush township, where he spent the rest of his life, successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising. He was an ardent Republican. and gave his earnest attention to local political affairs, but was not a seeker after public office: Ira Lincoln died at his home in Rush township on September 12, 1886, he then being thirty-eight years Of age, and his widow still survives him, making her home at Woodstock, where she is very comfortably situated. She is a member of the Universalist church and takes an earnest interest in church work, as well as in other good works of the community in which she has lived all her life and in the general social activities of which she has ever taken a useful and helpful part. It was on March 30, 1876, that Ira Lincoln was united in marriage, at Woodstock, to Martha E. Marsh, who was born in that village, daughter of Charles W. and Laura E. (Cranston) Marsh, the former of whom was born in Vermont and the latter in this county. Charles W. Marsh, a son of the Rev. Joseph Marsh, a minister of the Christian church, came to this county from Virginia in the days of his young manhood and located at Woodstock, where he became engaged ,in the blacksmithing business and where he married and established his home. He died on February 22, 1869, leaving four children, those besides Mrs: Lincoln, the eldest, being C. E. Marsh, a retired farmer, now living at Woodstock Lucy D., wife of William. Kimball, of Woodstock, and Hattie, who died in childhood. Charles W. Marsh's widow CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 123 married, secondly, Erastus Martin Smith, of Woodstock, who died on Januardw 22, 1898. She survived for nearly twenty years, her death occurring on February 17, 1917, she then being seventy-nine years of age. To that second union one child was born, a daughter, Nina H. Smith, who, in 1916, married the Rev. Harlan E. Glazier, pastor of the Universalist church at Woodstock. The Rev. Harlan E. Glazier is a native of the Empire state, born in Courtland county, New York. He was graduated from Union College in 1897 and later became connected with the Ballou Hobegard Preparatory. School at Boston, as principal and treasurer of the same. He continued his studies in Harvard and was graduated from that institution in 1904., with the degree of Master of Arts. Later he took up the gospel ministry and for two years was stationed at Tacoma, Washington, coming from there in 1915 to take charge of the Universalist church at Woodstock, where he is now located. To Ira and Martha E. (Marsh) Lincoln, one child was born, a daughter. Harriet I.. born on June 3. 1881, who died on May 31, 1909. WILLIAM P. GLENDENNING. William P. Glendenning, one of Rush township's progressive farmers and stockmen, was born on the farm on which he is now living, on rural route No. 1, out of North Lewisburg, and has lived there all his life. He was born on Noyember 15, 1862, son of William and Mary (Hawkins) Glendenning, influential residents of that community, both now deceased. The Glendennings are an old family in Champaign county, the first of the name here having been James Glendenning, a native of Scotland, who came to Ohio with his family from Virginia in 1829 and settled on a farm in the Mechanicsburg neighborhood, where he established his home and created a good farm property. James Glendenning was born in Scotland and was but two years of age when his parents came to this country with their family, about 1795, and settled in Harrison county, Virginia, in that portion of the Old Dominion now comprised in West Virginia. There James Glendenning grew to manhood and married Mary D. Vanhorn, who was born in Pennsylvania about 1793. In December, 1829, James Glendenning came to Ohio with his family, driving through with a team and leading one cow, and settled in this county. After a brief residence in Mechanicsburg he bought a farm of one hundred and fifty-five acres surrounding Brush Lake in Rush township and there established his home. They were members of the Baptist church in Virginia and of the Methodist Episcopal church after 124 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. coming to Ohio. A log cabin was erected and later a double cabin. His wife died there at the age of about seventy and he later sold his farm to his sons, William and Webster, and thereafter lived with his children, surviving to the age of eighty-two. He and his wife were the parents of eight children; among whom, besides -William, were Mary, who married Joseph Ellsworth and lived in Missouri; Margaret, who married John McColl), and lived near, Cable, this county; J. Webster, who married Elizabeth Wilson and also made his home in this county ; Thomas J., who was first married to Hester Stover and later to Matilda Williams, and who lived and died in Mechanicsburg; Elizabeth, who married Joseph Black and lived in Rush township,. and James, who died at the age of thirteen years. William Glendenning was born at Lost Creek, in Harrison county, now in West Virginia, July 8; 1817, and was about thirteen years of age when he came to Champaign county with his parents in 1829 and settled in Rush. township. His first term of schooling in this county was had at the village schools in Mechanicsburg and he thereafter attended the district school in the vicinity of his home at Brush lake. From the days of his boyhood he: was a valued assistant to his father and brother in the labors of clearing and developing the home farm and upon his father's retirement from the active labors of the farm, he and his brother, Webster, bought the same. This farm he later .sold to his brothers and his last days were spent at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Everett, at North Lewisburg, where his death occurred on March 2, 1897. He was the owner of seven hundred acres of land, and was a stocholder in the Bank of North Lewisburg. William Glendenning was twice married. In 1842 he was united in marriage to Susan Black, who died in 1850, leaving five children, namely : John W., who served for three years as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, a member of Company H, Sixty-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he enlisted on July 2, 1862, serving to the close of the war, married Sarah Foster ; Amy A., who married James Rudisell and after a sometime residence in Illinois returned to Champaign county and here died in 1877; Mary E., who married Sibley Coates and is living in Rush township, this county; Delilah, who died young, and Thomas J., who died at the age of two years. After the death of his first wife William Glendenning married Mary Hawkins, who was born in New Hampshire on January 23, 1825, and who died in this county on September 16, 1903, while living with her daughter, Mrs. L. P. Spensely, of North Lewisburg. To that union were born eight children, the others, exclusive of William P., being as follow : Margaret J., who died at the age of twelve years; Levi H., who died at the age of three years ; James M., a farmer of CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 125 Rush township and a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Martha C., wife of W. H. Everett, of Union township, this county ; Ada B., who died at the age of five years.; Abraham L., a farmer of Rush township and a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume, and Jennie M., who on December 12, i888, was united in marriage to Lonsdale P. Spensely and is now living at North Lewisburg, this county. Lonsdale P. Spensely was born in Medina county, this state, November 24, 1849, son of Ray. and Ann (Falshow) Spensely, natives of England, who were married there and in 1848 came to the United States, locating in Medina county, this state, where they spent the remainder of their lives, the former dying in 1862 and the latter in 190o. Ray Spensely and wife were the parents of six children, of whom Lonsdale Spensely was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow : Annie, born in England, who married Hiram Lackey and is now living in Lawrence county, Indiana; James, who married Alice Vero-man and is living on the old home farm in Medina county; Rachel, who married A. F. Taylor and liyes on a farm west of Urbana, this county; Royal F., who was a veterinary surgeon and who died on the old home place in Medina county, and another son, who died in youth. In 1884 Lonsdale Spensely came to Champaign county and six years later bought a farm in Mad River township, where he lived for fourteen years, at the end of which time he sold that place and bought the McFarland farm in Rush township, here he remained until retirement in 1900 and removed to North Lewisburg, where he is now living. William P. Glendenning grew to manhood on the home farm in Rush township, receiying his schooling in the schools of district No. 4, and has always lived on the home place. In addition to his general farming he has wen considerable attention to the raising Of live stock, making a specialty f Percheron horses, Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs, and has done cry well in his operations, long haying been regarded as one of the subtantial farmers of that neighborhood. Mr. Glendenning is a Republican and has rendered public service as a member of the school board for several years. On Noyember 15, 1889, William P. Glendenning was united in. marriage to Anna Curran, who also was born in Rush township, this county, daughter of James and Mary (Spollen) Curran, the former a natiye of England and the latter of Ireland, who were married in England and who came to the United States in 1867, settling in this county. For two years after coming to Champaign county James; Curran made his home at Woodstock and then settled on a farm one-half mile east of that village, where. he spent 126 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on September 30, 1912, he then being seventy-three years of age. His widow is now living at Woodstock. They were the parents of five children, of. whom Mrs. Glendenning was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow : John and James, twins, the former of whom is now living at Milford Center and the latter of whom for the past twenty-four years has been a conductor on the Erie railroad, with headquarters at Toledo; William, who is a conductor on the Pennsylvania railroad, with headquarters at Columbus, and Margaret, who married P. J. Hannegan and is living at Urbana. To William P. and Anna (Curran) Glendenning five children have been born, namely : Hazel, wife of Harry Earl Cranston, a telegraph operator for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Westville: .Ralph, who is home, assisting his father in the management of the farm; Helen and Ruth, twins, the former of whom died in infancy and the latter of whom is the wife of W. T. Augar, of Urbana, and Paul, at home, who was graduated froth the North Lewisburg high school with the class of 1917. The Glendennings have a very pleasant home and have ever taken a proper part in the general social affairs of the community in which they live. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take an interested part in church work, as well as in other neighborhood good works. CYLE BRIGHT HANNA. Cyle Might Hanna, a well-to-do retired farmer and former trustee of Concord township, now living at Urbana, is a native of Virginia, but has been a resident of this county since he was thirteen years of age. He was born on a farm in Nicholas county, Virginia, in April, 1854, son of Moses and Sarah (Kellison) Hanna, both also natives of the Old Dominion, the former born in Nicholas county and the latter in Pocahontas county. Moses Hanna was a farmer. and stock dealer and died at his home in Virginia not long after the close of the Civil War. He was twice married. By his first. wife, Sarah. Kellison, he was the father of five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the last-born, the others being as follow : Nathan, deceased; Elijah J., a retired merchant of Urbana, a biographical sketch- of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume ; David, who died during the Civil War, and Elizabeth,. of Kanawha county, West Virginia. Upon CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 127 the death of the mother of these children Moses Hanna married Martha Hinkle, of Nicholas county, Virginia, and to that union one child was born, a son, Abraham L., who is living on the old home place in Nicholas county. Cyle B. Hanna schooling opportunities for schooling in his boyhood, there being at that time no organized schools in the vicinity of his home in Nicholas county, now a part of West Virginia. When he was thirteen years of age he came over into Ohio to make his home with his elder brother, Elijah J. Hanna, mentioned above, who was engaged in the mercantile business in Concord township, and until his marriage when twenty-one years of age was engaged working as a farm hand in that vicinity. After his marriage Mrs. Hanna began farming on his own account and was thus engaged in the townships of Salem, Concord and Mad River until his retirement from the farm in April, 1916, and removal to Urbana, where he and his wife are now living and where they are very comfortably situated. Mr. Hanna is the owner of two hundred acres of valuable land and during his long residence on the farm did very well, in addition to his general farming having given considerable attention to the raising of .high-grade live stock. During his rehe servedn Concord township he.served for some time as trustee of that township and in other ways gave his intelligent attention to local public affairs. It was on March 3. 1875, that Cvle B. Hanna was united in marriage to Margaret Nichols, of Westville, this county, a daughter of Augustus and Mary Ann (Hoak) Nicholas, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter in this county, a member of one of the old families in Westville neighborhood. Augustus Nichols grew up in his native Virginia and when a young man walked over into this part of Ohio and settled. in Champaign county, locating at Westville, where he opened a shoe store and was engaged there as a shoemaker until lie later bought a farm in Concord township. where he remained engaged in farming the rest of his life. Augustus Nichols and wife were the parents of five children, of whom Mrs. Hanna was the second in order of birth, the others being Laura A., deceased; Mrs. Mary L. Bowman, of Edna, Kansas; John . Henry, deceased, and E. E. Nichols, of Columbus, this state. To. Mr. and Mrs. Hanna two children have been born, Emmet C., who died in 1900, at the age of twenty-six years, and Pearl S., wife of Vatia Offenbacher, who is now farmRiyerr. Hanna's farm in Mad River township. Mr. and Mrs. Hanna are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take a proper interest in church work and other good works. 128 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO WILLIAM B. DALLAS. William B. Dallas has been satisfied to spend his life on the homestead, "under the roof that heard his earliest cry,". rather than seek uncertain fortune elsewhere. He was born on the farm he now lives on, May 4, 1854. He is a son of William S. and Elizabeth W. (Boyd) Dallas, both natives of Big Springs, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, the father born in 1809 and the mother in 1808. His parents brought him to Greene county, Ohio, in 1816, but the family remained there only a short time. William S. Dallas was a son of Judge James and Isabelle (Sprote) Dallas, natives of Ireland and Pennsylvania, respectively. James Dallas immigrated to, America when a young man and located in Pennsylvania, where he married and engaged in farming until 1810, in which year he moved to Greene county, Ohio. later removing to Champaign county, locating on a farm on the state .road. He was industrious and a good manager and became owner of over four hundred acres. He was one of the leading farmers of the county in pioneer times. In 1847 he was appointed by the state Legislature as an associate judge of Champaign county. He also served as county commissioner, holding that office when the present court house was built. He also helped build the state road, which connects Cincinnati with Cleveland. He took an active part in public affairs and did much for the early development of the county. To Judge James Dallas and wife nine children were born, namely : William S., father of the subject of this sketch; Nancy J., Isabelle, Wilson, Samuel, James, Lemuel, Elizabeth and Rachael. William S. Dallas grew to manhood on the home farm and he .attended the early-day schools here. He devoted his life to farming in Urbana township, becoming owner of a fine farm of four hundred and thirty-two acres. Re was one of the progressive and influential citizens of the township. His family consisted of five children, namely; Belle married Rev. Rufus John-Son ; Martha' is deceased; James lives in Springfield, Ohio; Jennie, who is deceased, was the wife of Ben Blair ; and William B. of this sketch. William B. Dallas grew to manhood on the home farm and attended the district schools. After his marriage, he took `tip farming for himself, remaining on the home place, which he rented, but he later bought fifty-two acres of the same, which he has kept well improved and well tilled. Mr. Dallas was married, on December 5, 1889, to Lottie M. Hutchinson, and to their union four children have been born, named as follows : CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 129 Russell, Boyd, Hazel and Ross. The daughter is the wife of Frank Nichols and they haye one child, Virginia Margaret Nichols. Politically. Mr. Dallas is a Republican, and he is a member of the United Presbyterian church. The Dallas family has been one of the best known in Champaign county since pioneer days and have been influential in local affairs. FRED B. SMITH. Fred B. Smith, treasurer of the village of Woodstock, formerly engaged in the mercantile business there and a substantial landowner of Rush township, now living retired at Woodstock, was born in that village on April 5, 1860, son of Curtis and Mary R. (Bennett) Smith, the former of whom also was horn at Woodstock and the latter in the state of Vermont. Curtis Smith was a son of Elias and Huldah Smith, natives. of Vermont, the former of whom was a son of Philip Smith and wife, Fairzona, who came to this county from Vermont and settled on what is now the site of the village of Woodstock. where they established theft home. Elias Smith and wife had three sons, of whom Curtis Smith was the first-born, the others being Philip A. and Erastus Smith, who became substantial farmers of the Woodstock neighborhood and there spent their last days. Reared on the home farm at Woodstock, Curtis Smith received his schooling in the village school and at Antioch College and remained on the home farm, an industrious and energetic farmer, all his life. During the progress of the Civil War he creed as a member of the Home Guards. He was a stanch Republican, but vas not an office seeker. Elias Smith was one of the organizers of the Christian church at Woodstock and took an active interest in the various beneficences of the same, as well as in the general good works and social hairs of the community. Curtis was an active member of the old. Woodstock Cornet Band. Curtis Smith died in 1864, leaving a. widow and two sons, the subject of this sketch having had a brother, Orvis Smith, who died in 1900. Orvis Smith was for years a well-known music teacher in this county. He married Florence Bryan. Some time after his husband's death the Widow Smith married George W. Hutchinson and moved to Missouri, later going to Kansas, but later returned to Woodstock, where she spent her last days, her death occurring there at the age of seventy-six years. Fred B. Smith was but four years of age when his father died and he (9a) 130 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. was reared in the home of his Grandfather Smith on the old Smith home place, where he remained until he was twenty-one years of age, when he married Winnie Standish, of Woodstock, a member of one of the old families of Champaign county, further and fitting mention of which family is made elsewhere in this volume. After his marriage Mr. Smith .began farming on his own account at Fountain Park and there remained, actively engaged in farming, until 1903, when he became engaged in the mercantile business at: Woodstock in partnership with Frank W. Smith; continuing thus engaged until his retirement from business in 1916. Mr. Smith is the owner of a fine home in Woodstock and an excellent farm of one hundred and forty acres in Rush township. He is a Republican and has served as a member of the local school board and is the present treasurer of the village. To Fred B. and Winnie (Standish) Smith three children have been born, Ella M., wife of William L. Morse, of Columbus, .Ohio; Ruby W., wife of Herbert Clark, of Woodstock, and Huldah, who is at home with' her parents, The Smiths are members of the Universalist church and take an interested part in the affairs of the same. Mr. Smith is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Woodstock and has long taken a warm interest in the affairs of that organization. JONATHAN S. NEER. Jonathan S. Neer, mayor of Mechanicsburg and one of the best-known dairy farmers in Champaign county, was born in Pleasant township, in the neighboring county of Clark, March 25, 1851, son of Joseph Coffey and. Dorothy (Smith) Neer, natives of that same county and members of pioneer families in this section, the former of whom, an honored veteran of the Civil War, spent his last days in this county and the latter of whom died in Kentucky. Joseph Coffey Neer also was born in Clark county, February 7, 1829, son of Enos and Sarah (Coffey) Neer, the latter of whom was the first white, child born in Pleasant township, that county. Enos Neer was a Virginian, born in Loudoun county, who came to this section of Ohio with his parents when a boy and grew up in Clark county, where he married, established his home in Pleasant township, that county, became a substantial farmer of that neighborhood and there spent the remainder of his life, dying-at the age of seventy-five years. His widow did not long survive him, her CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 131 death occurring in the seventy-ninth year of her age. They were earnest members of the Iethodist Protestant church and took a prominent part in the work of creating proper social conditions in the early days of the settlement of the community in which they had their .home. They were the parents of three children, Joseph Coffey Neer having had a brother, Nathan, who was a farmer in Clark and Champaign counties, and a sister, Jane, who. was the wife of Newton Lemmon, of Clark county, and who died -in Indiana. Being the eldest of the children in his family, Joseph C. Neer was kept pretty busy on the home farm in the days of his boyhood, 'the task of clearing the place being no inconsiderable one, and he received but a limited education. During the progress of the Civil War he enlisted, in 1864, and went to the front as a member of the Sixteenth Ohio, with which command he seryed for nine months, the greater part of which time was spent on guard duty in the city of New Orleans. He had married when little more than twenty years of age and he continued to make his home in Clark county until 1868. when he came up into Champaign county and settled on a farm in Goshen township. about three miles from Mechanicsburg, where he lived for nine years, at the end of which time he went. to Kentucky, where he bought a farm and where he lived until some little time after his wife died there, when he disposed of his interests in that state and returned to this county, locating at Mechanicsburg, where he spent, the rest of his life, his death occurring there in May, 1902, he then being seventy-two years of age. He was a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and he and his wife were earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They were the parents of six children, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow : Sarah Margaret, who died unmarried; Albert K., who is connected with the offices of the International Harvester Company at Columbus; Fred, who is engaged in the creamery business at Milford Center, in the neighboring county of Union; Maude, wife of Clinton Hunter, a farmer living near Mechanicsburg, and Nettie, wife of Elmer Whitmore, now living in California. Reared on the home farm in Goshen township, Jonathan S. Neer received his early schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and supplemented the same by a course in the Ohio Normal College at Lebanon, Ohio. At the age of twenty-two, after his marriage, he began farming on' his own account. renting a farm in Goshen township, where he made his home for eighteen years, at the end of which time he bought a farm in that township and there resided until the time of his appointment, in 1910, asa member of the board of land appraisers, when he moved to Mechanicsburg, where 132 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. he ever since has made his home and where he and his family are very comfortably situated. Despite his retirement from the active labors of the farm, Mr. Neer Continues to maintain one of the finest herds of dairy cattle in the state, having more than sixty head of fine Jersey stock, and also gives considerable attention to the raising of hogs. It was in 1896 that he began to pay special attention to dairying and he ever since has devoted close attention to that phase of farming, long having had an excellent dairy on his place near Mechanicsburg. In addition to his service as land appraiser Mr. Neer has given considerable attention to public affairs in other directions, having served for some years as a member of the school board, and is now serving as mayor of Mechanicsburg, to which important executive position he was elected in November, 1915. It was on October 28, 1875, that Jonathan S. Neer was united in, marriage to Emma Darling, a school teacher of this county, who was born in Goshen township, city of Mechanicsburg, a daughter of Sanford and Sarah (Riddle) Darling, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of this county, who were well-to-do farming people of Goshen township. Sanford Darling and his wife were the parents of four children, those besides Mrs. Neer being Charles, deceased; Harry Darling, former mayor of Mechanicsburg, who is engaged in the blacksmith business in that city, and James, who was killed in a railway wreck in the South. To Jonathan S. and Emma (Darling) Neer six children have been born, namely : Ethel, who was class instructor in the Miami Valley Hospital at Dayton and who died at the age of thirty-four years ; Dorothy, who also was trained in hospital work and is now superintendent of the Robin Hood Hospital at Toledo, having had a varied service in hospital work, including four years in the City Hospital at Cincinnati, head nurse in the hospital at Springfield for ten years, one year as superintendent of a hospital. at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and a period as assistant superintendent of the New Haven Hospital at New Haven, Connecticut ; Frank, who died at the age of seven years ; Charles, who took a course in the State Agricultural College and is now operating his father's dairy farm in Goshen township, who married Willora Pratt and has two children, Elizabeth and Virginia; Alice, a former student of the Ohio State University, who married Wilbur Morgan, of Marysville, this state, and has one child, a daughter, Margaret, and Dorris, a graduate of Ohio State University, who is now engaged as a teacher of domestic science in the schools of Columbus. The Neers are members of the Methodist Protestant church, in the various beneficences of which they take a proper interest. Mr. Neer is a member of CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 133 the Grange and has long taken an active interest in the affairs of that organization. His son, Charles Neer, also is a member of the Grange and is likewise a member of the Mechanicsburg lodge of Masons, taking an active interest in the affairs of both of these organizations; he also is a member of the school board. Mr. Neer is a public-spirited and energetic business man and his service as mayor of Mechanicsburg has proved very satisfactory to the people of that progressive and hustling little city. HENRY P. GAYER. Henry P. Gayer, former trustee of Union township and the proprietor of a farm of ninety-six acres on which he is now living retired, in that township, is a native of the state of Maryland, but has been a resident of Ohio. since 1883. Re was born in Fredericks county, Maryland, August 11, 1853, son of John P. and Elizabeth (Kleine) Gayer, both natives of that same comity, who spent all their lives there. John P. Gayer, who was a farmer, was a son of Peter Gayer, a native of Germany, who located in Fredericks county, Maryland, upon coming to this country and there became an extensive landholder, owner at one time, it is said, of all the northern half of that county. Peter Gayer was a man of unbounded hospitality and generosity and it is said that he gaye away all but a small portion of his land to deserving families of the community in which he lived. John P. Gayer and wife were the parents of eleyen children, of whom eight are still living, John T., George T., Elias, James L., Charles L., Henry P., Louisa and Rebecca. Reared on the home farm in Fredericks county, Maryland, Henry P. Gayer received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and early learned the cooper's trade, following that trade during the winters and farming during the summers and was married there in 1877. In 1883 he came to Ohio and began working as a cooper at Dayton, later starling as a tobacco farmer in that vicinity, and remained there until 1887, when he moved to a farm in Miami county. Four years later he moved to Parke county and was there engaged in truck gardening for several years, at the end of which time he came to Champaigm county and rented a farm in, Salem township, his home there for five years. He then bought the farm of ninety-six acres in Union township on which he is now living and continued engaged there in general farming until after the death of his wife in the spring of 1916, since which time he has been living retired from the active labors of the farm, 134 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. though continuing to make his home there. Mr. Gayer has a well-improved farm, having two sets of buildings on the place, and is one of the substantial citizens of that section of the county. He is a Democrat and has' taken an .interested part in the civic affairs of the community and served for some, time as trustee of Union township. In 1877, in Maryland, Henry P. Gayer was united in marriage to Catherine Hurley, daughter of Moses and Mahala (Stottlemeyer) .Hurley, and to this union eleven children were born, namely : Charles, who married Myrtle Geyton and has four children, Melvia, Bernice, Cecil and Thelma ; Luther, who married Margaret Moody and has one child, a son, Kenneth ; Minta, wife of Frank Woods; Della, who married Dr. David Bowen and has four children, Catherine, Rollin, Ruth and Carris; Maud, who married Howard Mumma and has four children, Mildred, Margaret, Richard and Edgar ; Grover, who married Glenna Eiselstein and has one child, a son, Donald; Bert, who married Nellie Williams and has three children, Christina, Leona and a son; Walter, who married Mabel Faulk and has two children, Mary and a daughter, and Clarence; Gladys and Marjorie. The mother of these children died in April, 1916. THOMAS B. OWEN. Thomas B. Owen, head of the law firm of Owen, Ware & Owen at Urbana and former probate judge of Champaign county, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born in the village of Mechanicsburg. on July 13, 1867, son of William B. and Sarah P. (Bond) Owen, the former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter in the state of Virginia. William B. Owen located at Mechanicsburg, where he became engaged in the mercantile business and where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there in 1897, he then being eighty-one years of age. He was a leader in the Republican party in this county and held several public offices at one time and another. He and his wife were members of the Methodist church and were ever active in local good works. They were the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the. fifth in order of birth, the others being Mrs. Callie Bond, Q. V., A. P. (deceased)., O. T., of Indianapolis; W. B., of Mechanicsburg, and Mrs. Lillian Matt. The mother of these children is still living at her home in Mechanicsburg. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 135 Upon completing the course in the high school at Mechanicsburg, Thomas B. Owen began teaching school in Union and Wayne townships and was thus engaged for seven years, meanwhile giving his leisure to the study of law wider the able preceptorship of Judge E. P. Middleton at Urbana, and in 1896 was admitted to the bar. In that same year he opened an office for the practice of his profession at Mechanicsburg and in 1901 formed a partnership with T. B. Ware, of that place, which mutually agreeable arrangements continues to this day, and he remained in practice until in February, 1903, when he moved to Urbana to enter upon the duties of the ;like of probate judge of this county, to which he has been elected as the nominee of the Republicans of Champaign county and he ever since has remained a resident of that city. For six years Judge Owen served as judge of probate and he since has been engaged in general practice. In June, 1915go the old established law firm of Owen & Ware received an addition in the person of Judge Owen's son, Marion Owen, a graduate of the law school of Ohio State Uniyersity, who was admitted to the bar in that month, and the firm has since been known as Owen, Ware & Owen. Judge Owen is an ardent Republican and has for years been an active campaigner in behalf of the principles of his party, one of the best-known and most effective "stump" speakers in the state, his services as a speaker being in wide demand. Ile is a member of the board of directors of the National Bank of Urbana and has long giyen his close attention to the general business affairs of the city and of the county at large. For years Judge Owen as been one of the most active promoters of the interests of the Champaign county Fair Association and is now serving as president of that association. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Protestant church in the general good works of their home town. Fraternally, Judge Owen is a Mason, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias and in the affairs of these several fraternal organizations takes a warm interest. On January 1, 1888, Judge Owen was united in marriage to Dollie McAdams, daughter of Samuel and Winnie (Thompson) McAdams, and to this union six children have been born, namely: William C., who died at the age of eighteen years; Marion, who is associated with his father and Mr. Ware in the practice of law, as noted above; Amelia, who married B. F. Miller, a well-known attorney-at-law at Urbana, and has one child, a son, Thomas Owen, and Benjamin F., Alice Irene and Dorothy. Marion Owen, junior member of the law firm of Owen, Ware & Owen, was born at Mechanicsburg and received his early schooling in the schools of that city, 136 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO later attending high school at Urbana and supplementing the course there by a course in Urbana University, after which he entered the law department of the University of Ohio and there pursued his studies for three years, at the end of which time, in June, 1915, and in that same month was admitted into partnership with his father and Mr. Ware and is now actively engaged' in the practice of his profession. He is. a member of the college fraternity Phi Gama Delta and continues to take an active interest in the affairs of that association. He married Edna Cone and has a very pleasant home in Urbana, he and his wife taking an active. interest in the general social and cultural activities of their home town.. JOHN W. ROCK. The late John W. Rock, a substantial landowner of Champaign county and for years one of the best-known and most successful live-stock dealers in the county, former county commissioner and at the time of his death, in 1915, a member of the public service commission of Urbana, was a native son of Champaign county and lived here all his life. He was born on a pioneer farm in Union township on December 22, 1850, son of John W. and Amelia (Cope) Rock, who came to this county from Virginia and settled on a farm in Union township, where they established their home and where they spent the remainder of their lives. John W. Rock was an energetic farmer and a successful business man, and became the owner of quite a large tract of land in that part of the county. Of the children born to him and his wife, five grew to maturity. Reared on the paternal farm in Union township, J. W. Rock received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and from the days of his boyhood was a valued assistant to his father in the labors of improving and developing the home farm. After completing his schooling he continued thus engaged, farming with his father, and after the death of his parents he took over the old homestead farm of two hundred and eleven acres in Union township. H there remained successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising until his removal in 1897 to Urbana, where he spent the remainder of his life, engaged in the live-stock business. In 1891 Mr. Rock had been elected a member of the board of county commissioners from his district and served in that important public capacity for six years, in the meantime continuing to develop his live-stock interests, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 137 giving special attention to the raising of all kinds of livestock. Upon the completion of his term of public service he left the farm and moved to Urbana, where he ever afterward was engaged in the buying and selling of livestock, becoming one of the best-known and most successful dealers in that line in the county. Mr. Rock was an ardent Republican and ever gave his most earnest attention to local political affairs. In addition. to serving as a member of the board of county commissioners, he for some time served as a member of the public service commission of Urbana and was serving in that latter capacity at the time of his death, on November 17, 1915. He was an actiye member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is his widow, and ever took an earnest part in church work. Fraternally, he was affiliated with the local council of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. On September 12, 1875, J. W. Rock was united in marriage to Lucy E. Craig, who also was born in Union township, this county, a daughter of Vincent and Nancy ( Symes) Craig, natives of Virginia, who were married in that state and later came to this county, settling in Union township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Vincent Craig was a successful fanner and became a well-to-do landowner. To Mr. and Mrs. Rock give children were born. Harry, Sylvester T.. Francis, L. Laylian and Emil. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Rock has continued to make her home at Urbana. where she is very pleasantly situated. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as noted above, and has ever given her earnest local good works. WILLIAM M. WHITAKER. William M. Whitaker, a retired carriage-maker living at Urbana, one of the best-known citizens of that city, an honored veteran of the Civil War and for years actively interested in the better affairs of his home city, is a native "Buckeye" and has lived in this state all his life, a continuous resident of Urbana since the summer of 1888. He was born on a pioneer farm in Miami county, near Piqua, this state, March 13, 1838, son of James Irvin and Mary A. (McClure) Whitaker, both also natives of Ohio; the former horn in Warren county and the latter in Miami county, whose last days were spent in the latter county. James Irvin Whitaker was a soil of Jonathan Mitchell Whitaker, who 138 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. was born on March 10, 1785, and who was thrice married, his first wife having been Jane Irvin, grandmother of the subject of this sketch; the second wife, Ann McIntyre and the third, Mary ("Polly") Miller. He was the father of twelve children, of whom James I. was the first-born, the others having been as follow : Mary Ann, who married Alexander Morrow ; Mary H., who died in childhood; Mary Jane, who also 'died young; William Mitchell, who married Sarah J. McCandless; Julia. Ann, who died in youth; Sarah, who died unmarried; David Newton, who also died unmarried; Martha, who died unmarried; Jonathan M., who married Rebecca McCandless; Margaret, who died unmarried, and Mrs: Mary Jane Reeder. James I. Whitaker, who remained a farmer in Miami county all his life, was twice married and by his union with Mary A. McClure had three children, the subject of this sketch, the first-born, having two sisters, Margaret Jane, wife of John .Syp, and Mary Elizabeth, wife of Henry Myers. After the death of the mother of, these. children he married Martha Wiley, by which second union he had one child, Sarah Agnes, who died unmarried in young womanhood. William M. Whitaker was reared on a farm and remained at home there for a year after his father's death and then made his home with Jonathan Drake, near Piqua and there learned the carriage trade, remaining there until he was twenty-one years of age, when he went to Lima and there became connected with Robert Bowers in the carriage-making business and was thus engaged when the Civil War broke out. On August 29, 1862, Mr. Whitaker enlisted for service in the Union army as a member of Company H, Thirty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was with that command until it was mustered out at the close of the war, the history of his service during the war being practically a history of the movements of that regiment, with which he was constantly associated save for a brief time in the spring of 1864, when he was furloughed home on sick leave. On November 1, 1862, two months after his enlistment, he was promoted to the rank of corporal and on March 27,. 1865, was made a sergeant. Mr. Whitaker was with his regiment during the siege of Vicksburg and upon the fall of that city was stationed there on garrison duty until March, 1864, when he was furloughed home on account of illness. He rejoined his regiment at Resaca, Georgia, participated fin the battle at that place and was thereafter with Sherman's army during the Atlanta campaign until the fall of Atlanta, afterward being assigned to detail duty and was stationed at Nashville until Sherman reached Savannah. He then received orders to rejoin the command and hastening to New York by boat and by rail proceeded South, rejoining Sherman. the day before the surrender of. General Lee at. Appomatox Court House. After- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 139 ward Mr. Whitaker participated with his regiment in the Grand Review at Washington and was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 20, 1865. During the time he was home on a furlough in the spring of 1864, Mr. Whitaker had sold his interest in the carriage factory and after his return to Lima upon the completion of his military service did not find conditions there wholly to his satisfaction and shortly afterward moved over to Sidney, where for nineteen years he made his home, being there engaged in carriage-making. In June, 1888, he moved to Urbana, *here he engaged in the same line and was thus engaged there for twelve years, at the end of which time he retired from active business and has since then been taking things comparatively "easy". For several years after his retirement from business Mr. Whitaker served as local truant officer and has in other ways given his time to the public service. Mr. Whitaker is an active member of W. A. Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, at Urbana, and for eight years served as adjutant of that patriotic organization. He is a member of the Baptist church and takes a proper part in church work and in the general good works of his home town. In 1869, at Lima, he became a Mason and since making his home at Urbana. has been affiliated with the local lodge of that ancient order at that place. In September, 1860, William M. Whitaker was united in marriage to Mary Elizabeth McGrew, of Piqua, a daughter of Harvey McGrew, and to that union eight children were born, namely: Emma Harrison, born on October 20, 1861, who married George D. Deyo and died on December 5, 1913, leaving one child, a son, Harold; Edwin McClure Whitaker, of Anderson, Indianago born on February 28, 1863, who married Jessie M. Berry and has one child, a son, Berry M., who is athletic director of Texas State University, and now is in the officers training camp at Leon Springs, Texas; Ida Maygo April 3o, 1866, who married James M. Pearson and after his death married Henry S. Wernicke of Greencastle, Indiana, and died on June 25, 1915: Charles I., January 23, 1867, who married on June 15 of that same year; William Haryey, February I, 1870, who died on June 15, 1876; Estella May, August 20, 1873, who married Frank S. Chance, freight agent for the Erie Railway Company at Urbana, and has two children, a son, I Larry Whitaker, born on December 29, 1899, and a daughter, Helen Louise, March 5, 1903; Robert, December 27, 1874, who died on July 3, 1875, and Mary Elizabeth, January 15, 1878, who married Alfred C. Madden, a well-known traveling salesman of Urbana. Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Whitaker died on September 9, 1909. 140 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. KENDALL S. HAWK. Kendall S. Hawk, former trustee of Union township, a former well-known teacher in this county and the proprietor of a fine farm of two hundred acres in Union township, where. he has lived practically all his life, a portion. of that farm having been the tract on which his father settled back in pioneer days, was born there on December 31, 1852, son of Jonathan and Margaret ('Brunner) Hawk, natiyes of Chester county, Pennsylvania, who became pioneers of his county, settling in the woods of Union township, and here spent their last days. Jonathan Hawk was reared to the trade of shoemaker at his home in Chester-county, Pennsylvania, and followed that trade a good bit of his time after settling in this county. It was in 1840 that he and his wife came to Champaign county and settled in the Kings Creek neighborhood in Salem township, but a short time later he bought a tract of twenty-five acres, part of the land now owned by the subject of this sketch, in Union township, paying ten dollars an acre for the same, and there he spent the rest of his life. That tract at that time was wild woodland and Jonathan Hawk had to clear a spot for the erection of a log cabin on the same. He gradually cleared away the woodland and got the place under cultivation, though much of his time was given over to shoemaking, his shop proving a great convenience for the people of that vicinity. Both Jonathan Hawk and wife lived to ripe old -ages. They helped to organize the Methodist Episcopal church at Montreal, Ohio. She died in 1897 and he survived until March 21, 1899. They were the parents of five children, of whom but two, the subject of this sketch and his sister Rebecca, are now living, the others having been Joseph L., Edward and Celesta. Of the above-named children of Jonathan Hawk and wife, Kendall S. Hawk was the last born. He grew up on the home farm in Union township, receiving his schooling in the old Yankee Hill school house, and for four years after leaving school taught school during the winters. He then attended a special course in penmanship and bookkeeping at Delaware College and for five or six years thereafter was engaged in conducting classes in penmanship and bookkeeping throughout Champaign and adjoining counties and achieved quite a distinctive reputation hereabout as an instructor in those branches. Upon deciding to give his whole attention to farming Mr. Hawk bought the old home place, which then consisted of fifty-four acres, and began farming on a practical scale, later increasing his holdings to include his pres- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 141 ent tine farm of two hundred acres, in Union township. In addition to his general farming Mr. Hawk has given considerable attention to the raising of live. stock and has done well. He is an ardent champion of alfalfa culture and in the summer of 1917 had seventy acres planted to this valuable forage crop. Mr. Hawk is a Democrat and has served the public in the various capacities of land appraiser, school director and township trustee. In 1886 Kendall S. Hawk was united in marriage to Mary McAdams, daughter of Samuel McAdams and wife, and to this union six children have been born, Howard, Florence, Merrill, Imo, Ruth and Agnes. Florence Hawk married Walter Jones and has two children, Richard and Robert. The Hawks have a yery pleasant home and have ever taken an interested part in the community's general social affairs. JAMES M. GLENDENNING. Elsewhere in this volume of biography there is set out at considerable length the history of the Glendenning family in Champaign county, one of the oldest and most widely and substantially representative families in the county, the family having been established here in 1829 by James Glendenning, grand father of the subject of this sketch, a native of Scotland, who came here with his famiMy in 1829 from Virginia and settled on Brush lake, in Rush township. where he established his home and became one of the most substantial and influential pioneer farmers of that neighborhood. He and his wife, Mary D. Van Horn, were the parents of eight children, of whom William Glendenning was the second in order of birth. William Glendenning was 10 wit in Harrison county. Virginia, now comprised in West Virginia, July 8, 1817, and was about thirteen years of age when he came with his parents to this county. He grew up on the home farm in Rush township and there spent the rest of his life, becoming the owner of more than seven hundred acres of land, his death occurring there on March 2, 1897. He was twice married and was the father of thirteen children, five by his first marriage and eight by his second marriage: a list of these children and something regarding their Mives being set out elsewhere in this volume, as noted above. The second wife of WiMliam Glendenning was Mary Hawkins,. who was born in New Hmpshire on January 23, 1825, and who died at her home in this county on September 16, 1903. James M. Glendenning, first-born of the children born to William and 142 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Mary (Hawkins) Glendenning, was born on the old Glendenning farm in Rush township on July 12, 1857, and received his schooling in the district schools of that neighborhood. From the days of his boyhood he was a valued aid in the work of developing and improving the home place and remained at home until his marriage at the age of twenty-four years, after which he located on a tract of one hundred and forty-eight acres, known as the William Gunn farm, a part of his present well-improved farm, in Rush township, and there established his home. Upon taking possession of that place he proceeded to remodel the house, built three barns and other essential farm buildings and otherwise improved the place. As he prospered in his affairs, Mr. Glendenning added to his land holdings until now he is the owner of a fine place of two hundred and eighty-three acres and one of the best and most up-to-date farm plants in that part of the county. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Glendenning has, given considerable attention to the raising of live stock and has done quite well, long having been regarded as one of the leading farmers of that neighborhood. In 1881 James M. Glendenning was united in marriage to Carrie Finley, who was born in the neighboring county of Union, daughter of Joseph and Ann Finley, Virginians, and early settlers of Union county, and to this union three children have been born, Lloyd, Walter and Cleo, all of whom are at home. The Glendennings have a very pleasant home and have ever taken an interested part in the general social activities of the community. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take a proper part in church work and in other neighborhood good works. Mr. Glendenning is a Republican and takes a good citizen's interest in local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office. JASPER A. HESS. The late Jasper A. Hess, for years one of the best-known farmers of Wayne township, this county, but who, about three years before his death in the summer of 1915, retired from the farm and moved to Cable, where his widow is still living, was a native son of Champaign county and here spentlife. He was born on a farm in Wayne township on January 7, 1845, son of Capt. George and Eliza (Bowers) Hess, natives of Virginia, who were married in that state and later came over into Ohio and settled on a farm in Wayne township, this county, the remainder of their lives being spent here. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 143 Capt. George Hess was for years prominent in the ranks of the Ohio State. Militia and served for some time as captain of the local company of militia. He was the father of two children, the subject of this memorial sketch and. another son, John. After the death of Captain Hess his. widow married Dr. Gould Johnson, a prominent physician of this county, and by that marriage. was the mother of one child, who died in infancy. Reared on a farm in Wayne township, Jasper A. Hess received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and from the days of his boyhood was engaged in farming. After his marriage in 1867 he rented a farm. awl began farming on his own account, a few years later buying a small. farm of thirty-seven acres and there established his home. He was an excel-. lent farmer and as he prospered in his operations added to his holdings until he became the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and thirty-seven acres,. on which he continued to make his home until his retirement from the farm. in 191.! and removal to Cable, where his last days were spent, his death occurring there on August 18, 1915. Mr. Hess was a Republican and ever gave a good citizen's attention to local political affairs, but had not been. included in the office-seeking class. On January 1, 1867, J. A. Hess was united in marriage to Fidelia Townsend, who was born in the neighboring county of Clark, a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Linville) Townsend, the former of whom was a native of Ohio, old the latter of Pennsylvania. who later became well-to-do residents of this. county. Joseph Townsend was born in the eastern part of the state and here grew to manhood, learning the carpenter's trade. He later came over into this part of the state and located in the Woodstock neighborhood, in us county, becoming engaged there in the carpenter business and while thus. ngaged helped to build some of the first houses in Cable. He married in lark county and after living there about a year after his marriage returned o Champaign county and settled on a farm in the southwestern part of Wayne township, where he spent the rest of his life, farming and working as a carpenter. He became owner of quite an extensive tract of land and was accounted one of the substantial residents of that part of the county. Joseph Townsend and his wife were the parents of eight children, of whom. Mrs. Hess was the first-born, the others being Josephine, Adella, Emma, Ernest. Benjamin, Effie and Lydia. Mrs. Hess is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and has ever taken an interested part in church work, as well as in the general good works of the community in which she lives. Since the death of her husband she has continued to make her residence at: 'able, where she is very pleasantly situated. 144 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. WILLIAM H. MILLER. William H. Miller, one of the most substantial retired farmers of Wayne township, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life. He was born on a farm in Warren county on May 19, 1842, son of John and Hannah (Green) Miller, the former of whom was born in Virginia and. the latter in Warren county, this state. John Miller came to Ohio with his parents when he was thirteen years of age, the family settling in Warren :county, where he grew to manhood, married and spent the rest of his life farming, his death occurring in 1888. His wife had preceded him to the grave many years, her death having occurred in 1847. They were the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch and his brother, James, were the only ones to come to Champaign county. James died in 1909. William H. Miller was but five years of age when his mother died. He grew to manhood on the home farm in Warren county, receiving his schooling in, the schools of that neighborhood, and when twenty-one years of age, in :1863, came to Champaign county with his brother James and located on a farm that belonged to their father, in Rush township. There they remained two years, at the end of which time they moved up into Logan county and for a year were located on a farm in Zane township. William H. Miller then returned to Champaign county, having married meanwhile, and settled on the farm in Wayne township on which he is now living and where he ever since has made his home, being for many years one of the leading. farmers and stockmen in that part of the county. Upon taking possession. of that farm the place consisted of but ninety acres, but Mr. Miller was a progressive and energetic former and as he prospered in his farming. and stock-raising operations he added to his holdings until he became the owner of more than six hundred acres and had created one of the best farm plants in the county. He continued actively engaged in farming until 1914, when he retired and is now "taking things easy," though continuing to make his home on the place which has been his place of residence for a half century and where he and his family are very comfortably situated. He is one of ..the most public-spirited men in the county and bears the reputation, of doing more for other people than any other man in the county. Mr. Miller is a Democrat and has served as road supervisor for his district. Mr. Miller has been twice married. In February, 1865, he was united CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 145 in marriage to Eliza Stokes, daughter of Daniel Stokes, and to this union one child was born, a son, Pearl Miller, who. married Rose Lewis and has four children, Vaughn, Lorraine, Hubert and Vivian. Mrs. Eliza Miller (lied in 1901 and Mr. Miller later married. Mrs. Lavina Jenkins, daughter of Jonathan and Sabina Morrison, of Chester county, Pennsylvania. The father was a blacksmith and wagon-maker, and also a bell-maker. Mrs. Miller has made a dice quilt during her lifetime containing four thousand nine hundred and forty blocks. Mrs. Miller was born in 1840, in Madison county, at Plain City, then known as Pleasant Valley, and remembers when the local paper, The Advocate, was published by tread power operated by a large Newfoundland dog, The Advocate is now in the hands of the family, Mrs. Miller's niece, Mrs. Ollie Macklin, being the editor. JAMES I. BLOSE. James I. Blose. for years actively engaged in the grain, produce and general real-estate business at Urbana, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in Mad River township, October 18, 1852, son of Daniel and Louisa (Colbert) Blose, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter in this county. Daniel Blose was but a boy when he came to this county from Virginia with his parents, Henry Blose and wife, and here he grew to manhood, became a farmer in Mad River township and there spent his last days, his death occurring at the age of fifty-five years. He was twice married and by his first wife, who was a Pierce, was the father of three children. His second wife, Louisa Colbert, mother of the subject of this sketch, was a daughter of John Colbert and wife, pioneers of this county. She survived her husband for many years, her death occurring in 1901. Reared on the home farm in Mad River township, James I. Blose received his early schooling in the district schools of that neighborhood and supplemented the same by a course in Urbana University, after which he became employed in a clerical capacity in the offices of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Urbana and was thus engaged there for a year, at the end of which time he entered into a partnership with John C. Edmiston, under the firm name of Blose & Edmiston, to engage in the grain business at (10a) 146 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Urbana; a connection which continued until his election six years later, in 1876, to the Office of treasurer of Champaign county. He served two successive terms as county treasurer. Upon retiring from his office in the court house Mr. Blase resumed his former business calling, again engaging in the grain business at Urbana, and at the same time became a general produce merchant, which business he has continued to this day, long having been recognized as one of the leading grain and produce dealers in this part of the state; doing an extensive business in the buying and shipping of grain, feed, hay and general farm produce. In addition to this, Mr. Blose also for years has given considerable attention to the general real-estate business in and about Urbana, with particular reference to farm properties, and does an extensive business in that line. On December 28, 1876, James I. Blose was united in marriage to Lucy Ann Straw, who was born in Cary, Wyandot county, this state, daughter of David Straw and wife, and to this union three children have been born, Corrinn, Lucy and Helen. Mr. Dose is a Mason of high degree and takes an active interest in Masonic work, being a member of Harmony Lodge No. 8, Free and Accepted Masons; Urbana Chapter No. 34, Royal Arch Masons; Raper Commandery No. 19, Knights Templar, at Urbana ; of the consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, at Dayton, and a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, affiliated with Antioch Temple, at Dayton. MARSHALL G. McWILLIAMS. Marshall. G. McWilliams, an honored veteran of the Civil War, former commander of Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, and for years a craftsman in the railroad shops at Urbana, now living retired in that city, one of the best-known residents thereof, is a native "Buckeye" and has lived in this state all .his life. He was horn on a farm in Berlin township, Delaware county, this state, August 17, 1845, son of Edward Marshall and Clarissa (Smith) McWilliams, both of whom were born in Warren county. New Jersey, the former in 1802 and the latter, August II, 1826, whose last days were spent in this. state. Edward Marshall McWilliams was trained as a. stonemason, but when he came to Ohio in 1826 he entered a tract of land in Delaware county. cleared the same, later established his home there and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on November 12, 1876. His widow stir- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 147 vived him for fifteen years, her death occurring on July 10, 1891. They were members of the Presbyterian church and their children were reared in that faith. There were five of these children, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow : Smith, who served as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, a member of Company H, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was for years a school teacher in Delaware county and city clerk of his home town, who died on January 13, 1916, aged ninety-five; Lydia J., who married Edward Gregory, of Delaware county; 'William, also a veteran of the Civil War, a member of the Forty-fifth Ohio, with which command he served for three years, fourteen months of which time he was held in durance vile in a Rebel prison pen, and who died in 1908, and Ann, who lives at Benton Harbor, Michigan, wife of William L. Moore, a veteran of the Civil War. Marshall G. McWilliams grew up on the home farm in Delaware county and when sixteen years of age enlisted for service in .the Union army during the Ciyil War, going to the front as a drummer boy in Company C, Fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, attached to the Army of the Potomac. After eighteen months of service as a drummer he was made regimental postmaster and later was appointed brigade postmaster. After the battle of Gettysburg he was sent West and was in the battle of Lookout Mountain, later joining Sherman's army in the Atlanta campaign and theta on to Savannah, and was present at the surrender at Goldsborough, North Carolina. M r. McWilliams's service covered a period of three years and six months and he was mustered out at Baltimore at the close of the war in 1865. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. McWilliams returned to his home in Delaware county and remained there until 1867, when he went to Urbana and became engaged in the car shops there and was thus engaged as a carpenter, painter and car builder until his marriage in the summer of 1872, after which for three years he made his home on a farm in Urbana township. He then returned to Urbana, established. his home there and resumed his place in the car shops, continuing thus engaged until his retirement from active labor in 1906, since which time he has been taking things comparatiyely "easy." It was in June, 1872, that Marshall G. McWilliams was united. in marriage to Mary A. Fulton, daughter of James W. and Ann (Flick) Fulton, the former a natiye of Virginia and the latter of Clark county, this state. James V. Fulton was but eighteen years of age when he came to this county from Virginia. He presently bought a tract of land in Urbana township, established his home there, erected a large brick house and there spent the 148 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO remainder of his life. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and were among the leaders in all good works in the community in which they lived. They were the parents of three children, Mrs. McWilliams having had two sisters, Catherine, who married Charles Laycock and is now deceased, and Fannie, who died at the age of eighteen years. Mrs. McWilliams is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Urbana Mr. McWilliams is an active member of Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, at Urbana, and was commander of the same for three years. Marshall G. and Mary A. (Fulton) McWilliams had one child, a daughter, Fannie, who married Earl Shofstall, now residing in Urbana. They have two children, Ethel, who married Dr. Chauncey North, a dentist at Akron, and Kenneth. BENONI R. WILSON. Benoni R. Wilson, a veteran of theBenonir and one of Champaign county's. best-known and most substantial farmers, now living practically retired at Urbana, which has been his place of residence since 1902, a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a/farm two and one-half miles southwest of St. Paris, in Jackson township, August 2. 4, 1843, a son of John and Margaret (Johnson) Wilson, the former of whom was born in this state and the latter in Virginia, whose last days were spent on their farm in Jackson township. John Wilson was born on Buchanan's Hill, in Butler county, this state, December 8, 1894., a son of Andrew and Jemima (Robins) Wilson, the former of whom was born in the old fort at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and the latter in Butler county, this state. In 1807 Andrew Wilson came up into Ohio and settled on Lost creek, ten miles east of Troy, in Miami county, and remained there five years, at the end of which time he went over into Indiana and settled on a half section of land he had traded for in Owen county. He later returned to Ohio with his family and settled on a farm at the head of 'Honey creek, one mile north of Christianburg, in Jackson township, this county, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of nine children, Benoni, Sarah, John, Samuel, Abigail, Robert R., Ann, Elizabeth and Andrew. By the time he was seventeen years of age John Wilson had cleared five acres of land and had thus earned his father's permission to leave home and start oupermissionwn account, and in 1821 went over into Indiana and CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 149 in Owen county, that state, began working in the general store and still-house of a Mr. Bigger. While thus employed he was required to make a trip of twenty-five miles with an ox-team to a salt-works in the middle of winter and on the trip both of his feet were severely frozen. He later. made a trip to New Orleans on a flatboat with stuff for the Southern market and while in that city saw oysters for the first time. He was told that for twenty-five cents he could have all the oysters he could eat and he tackled the proposition, but after downing the first oyster concluded that he had had his money's with and from that clay forward never again ate an oyster. In 1825 he returned to this county and located at St. Paris, where he remained until his marriage in 1831 to Margaret Johnson, who was born in Giles county, Virginia. November 13, 1804. After his marriage he located two and one-half miles south of St. Paris and there entered on a contract to split rails: for twenty-five cents a hundred. He later bought a tract of land near there, paying lire dollars an acre for the same, and on that tract established his home and spent the remainder of his life. He was a Republican and he and his wife were members of the Honey Creek Baptist church. They had two children, the subject of this sketch having had a sister, Elizabeth Jane, who died at the age of eleven years. Benoni R. Wilson was reared on the home farm in Jackson township and received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood. From the days of his early boyhood he was a valued assistant to his father in the labors of developing and improying the home farm. On May 2, 1864, then being but twenty years of age, he enlisted for service in the Union army, a member of Company 1, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. and served for three months, that command being then stationed at Point of Rocks, on the James river in Virginia. Upon the compMetion of his military service he returned home and after the 'death of his parents came into possession of the home farm, where he continued to live until 1902, when he retired from the active labors .of the farm and moved to Urbana, where he and his wife are now living, though most of their winters are spent in Florida or California. Mr. Wilson has been successful in his farming operations and has a well-improved farm of three hundred and two acres. Re has also given considerable attention to the raising of fine horses and a good grade of cattle, long haying been recognized as one of the leading stockmen in the southwestern part of the county. He is a member of the board of directors of the Urbana Canning Company and has other interests. fir. Wilson is a Republican and has served as a member of the county cen-