200 CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. a beautiful home. He is now owner of a fine farm of two hundred and fifty-seven acres in Rush township, which is well improved, including a substantial set of buildings. He has been very successful as a general farmer and stock raiser. On November 15, 1883, Mr. Kimball married Lucy D. Marsh, a daughter of Charles and Laura E. Marsh, who were descendants of Vermont stock. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kimball, namely : Edward Marsh Kimball was educated in the home schools and the Ohio State University, also the Bliss Business College at Columbus; he married Celia Martin, of Woodstock, and to their union three sons have been born, Robert Martin, William Henry and James Edward. Edward M. Kimball is operating his father's farm in partnership, and in connection with general farming he deals extensively in live stock. Marjorie Kimball, second child of the subject of this sketch, was educated' in the home schools, later taking a course of two years in domestic science at Athens, Ohio, after which she taught one year in Woodstock; on May 3, 1917, she. married Herbert L. Hobert, a farmer of Union county, Ohio. Louise Kimball, youngest child of the subject of this sketch, is unmarried and living at home; she is receiving a good education. Politically, Mr. Kimball is a Republican. He is president of the school board at Woodstock, and has been trustee -for five years. Was. a member of the school board of Rush township for five years. He belongs to the Masonic lodge at North Lewisburg and the Knights Templar at Urbana. Mr. Kimball is a stockholder and director in the People's Bank of Woodstock. The wife of this subject was educated at Woodstock, Ohio, and grew to womanhood at this place. Her father was a buggy maker and blacksmith at Woodstock and died here when the wife of subject was small. Her mother died February 17, 1917. They had three children, Martha E., Charles E. and Lucy D., wife of subject. JACOB M. SHAMBAUGH. Jacob M. Shambaugh, one of the most progressive farmers of Urbana townshp, this county, and widely recognized as one of the leading breeders of pure-bred Poland-China (large type) hogs in this part of the state, is a native of the old Keystone state, but has been a resident of this county since the days of his young manhood. He was born in York county, Pennsylvania, January 24, 1872, son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Burkheimer) Sham- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 201 baugh, both natives of that same state, who spent their last days there. The senior Jacob Shambaugh was reared a farmer and, when a young man, came over into Ohio and settled on a farm in the vicinity of Mansfield. Presently he returned to Pennsylvania,where he married and settled down on a farm. in York county, and there spent the remainder of his life. He and his wife were the parents of five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third-born, the others being David, William, Alinnie and Annie. Reared on the home farm in York county, Pennsylvania, Jacob M. Shambaugh received his education in the schools of that county and when but a boy began working as a farm hand on his own account. When he was nineteen years of age he came to Ohio and began working on a farm in this county. He was married at the age of twenty-four and then rented a farm of four hundred and eighty acres in Union township, where he remained for two years, at the end of which time he moved farther north in the county and there rented a farm for four years. He then rented a farm in Urbana township, three years later moving to the Pettigrew place, in that same township, where he remained for two years, at the end of which time, in 1907, he moved to the Hedges farm of three hundred and sixty-five acres in that same township, where he ever since has made his home and where he has very successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising. For years Mr. Shambaugh has given particular attention to the breeding of Poland-China hogs for stock purposes and annually sells from one hundred to one hundred and fifty hogs for this purpose, long having been recognized as one of the leading breeders of this type of swne in Ohio. With his hogs Mr. Shambaugh has won enough ribbons to form a good-sized blanket. which he displays with his exhibits at county and state fairs. In 1913 he carried off the first prizes for both boars and sows in the Poland-China class at the state fair and has always carried off honors at the county fair that is, ever since he entered into the breeding business on something like an extensive scale, about twelve years ago. Mr. Shambaugh is a Republican and during his residence in Union township served for three years as supervisor of highway construction in that township. In 1896 Jacob M. Shambaugh was united in marriage to Jeannette Wagner, daughter of Joseph and Nancy Wagner, of Clark county, and to this union five children have been born, Amos, Joseph, Margaret, Anna Mary and Minnie, all of whom are at home. The Shambaughs are members of the Baptist church and take a proper part in church work, as well as in the general social activities of the community in which they live. Mr. Shambaugh is a member of the lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 202 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO.. at Urbana, of the Knights of Pythias at Mechanicsburg and of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics at Mutual, in which latter lodge he has held all the "chairs". He carries on his farming in accordance with up-to-date methods and is widely known throughout the county as one of the progressive agriculturists of this section. ROWLAND COTTON MOULTON. One of the sterling pioneer citizens of Champaign county, whose name is deserving of local perpetuation on the pages of local history, was the late Rowland Cotton Moulton, of Rush township. He was born in West Randolph, Vermont, February 5, 1821. He was Cotton)of Phineas and Mariah (Cotton) Moulton, natives of Vermont, where they grew up, married and: established their home, spending their lives there on a farm. Their family consisted of two sons and eleven daughters. One of the daughters, Lavinia, taught music three years in Mechanicsburg, Ohio. Rowland C. Moulton grew to manhood in Vermont and was educated in the public schools and the academy at West Randolph. He read law and was admitted to the bar. When a young man he went to Wisconsin, being a pioneer of that state, later locating at Grand Detour, Illinois, where an uncle had preceded him. He became a successful lawyer, specializing in settling estates. He subsequently moved to Woodstock, Champaign county, Ohio, where he did a great deal of the legal work of Erastus Martin. Mr. Moulton was married in Rush township to Olive Pearl oward, who was born in that township, and there she grew to womanhood and attended a private school at Mechanicsburg. Her birth occurred on February 3, 1832. She is a daughter of Anson and Olive (Pearl) Howard. Mr. Howard and wife were natives of Hampton, Connecticut. In 1817 they came to Champaign county, Ohio, locating among the pioneers of Rush township, Mr. Howard buying military land. He developed a good farm and became one of the leading farmers and stockmen of his locality. He was influential in public affairs, and served as county commissioner. He also took an active part in the Christian church. The brick house which he built on his farm in Rush township is now occupied by Mrs. Moulton, widow of the subject of this memoir. Mr. and Mrs. Howard spent the rest of their lives on this farm, dying here many years ago. They had three sons and one daughter, namely : Anson Pearl Howard married Elizabeth Jane Mc- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 203 Donald, became an extensive farmer in Rush township where he died some time ago; George P., deceased, married Celesta Chapman; of Woodstock, and she later married a Mr. Purcell; Charles Philip died in infancy; Olive Pearl, who married Mr. Moulton, of this sketch. Two children were born to Rowland C. Moulton and wife; namely : Olive Pearl Moulton, died when four years old, and Mary, who married Charles Bell Whiley, an attorney and banker of Lancaster, Ohio, and they have two children, namely: Dorothy Bell Whiley, Who married Philip Pising Peters, a banker of Lancaster, who has three children, naniely: Mary Idelle. Philip Pising and Henry Charles, who Were twin sons. Olive Pearl Whiley is single and living at home. After his marriage Mr. Moulton located on the farm where his wdow is still living, in Rush township, and here he spent the rest of his life. He was a successful farmer and took great interest in his fine stock, especially the raising and breeding of Rambouillet sheep and Shorthorn cattle:: He was a loyal Republican. He was a. member of the Episcopal church. He was a man of honor and bore an untarnished reputation: The death of Mr. Moulton occurred on May 27, 1908. JOHN S. McCARTY. John S. McCarty, farmer of Rush township, Champaign county, was born on the old home farm in this township, November 19, 1865. He has been content to spend his life in his native locality, rather than seek uncertain fortune in other counties or states. He is a son of Enoch and Rebecca ( Morgan) McCarty. The father was born on January 1, 1833, in this county, and he was a son of Stephen McCarty, of Virginia, from which state he came to Champaign county, Ohio, in an early day, built a log Cabin in the woods, cleared and developed a good farm and here spent the rest of his life. Rebecca Morgan was born in Wayne township, this county, and is still living on the home place. She is a daughter of Abel :Morgan, who first married Naomi Cox, and secondly Keziah Blair, of this county . Mr. Morgan devoted his life to farming. He went to Kansas in later years and died there. He was the father of eight children, four by each wife. To Stephen McCarty and wife six children were born, namely Betsy Ann, who first married John Stowe, and secondly a Mr. Meyers; James, who is farming in Wayne township, married, first, Sallie Ann. Leese, and secondly Nancy Johnston; John married Minerva Johnston, moved to Auglaize county, 204 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Ohio, and died there; Daniel married Angeline Zimmerman, of Auglaize county; Enoch, father of the subject of this sketch, and Thomas, who died in early life. Enoch McCarty devoted his life to general farming and stock raising. He was a Republican, but was never active in political affairs. His family consisted of but two children, namely : Sarah Louise, who married John W. Ratchford, a farmer of Urbana township; John S., of this sketch. John S. McCarty grew to manhood on the home farm and was educated in the public schools. He has always lived on the homestead and has devoted his life successfully to general agricultural pursuits. He owns a finely improved and well cultivated farm of three hundred and twenty-four acres in Rush township. He has a pleasant home and such outbuildings as his needs require. He raises a good grade of live stock and breeds a good many cattle. He raises larghe feedsties of grain which he feeds, for the most part, to cattle and hogs, preparing several carloads each year for the market. Mr. McCarty was married on December 22, 1891, to Susie Cushman, of Woodstock, this county, where she grew to womanhood and attended school. She is a daughter of Charles A. Cushman, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this work, to which the reader is respectfully directed. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. McCarty, Charles E. McCarty, whose birth. occurred on September 7, 1907. Politically, Mr. McCarty is a Republican, but he has never aspired for office. He is a member of the Universalist church at Woodstock. JOHN H. WOOLENHAN John H. Woolenhan, a well known building contractor at Urbana and an honored veteran of. the Civil War, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Urbana since 1887. He was born on a farm in the neighboring county of Logan on September 25, 1840, son of Joseph and Hannah (Havens) Woolenhan, the former a native of the state of Maryland and the latter of this state, whose last days were spent in Logan county. Joseph Woolenhan came to this state from Maryland in the days of his young manhood and presently acquired a tract of unimproved land in Logan county and proceeded to clear and develop the same. After his marriage to a daughter of one of the pioneers of that neighborhood he established his CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 205 home on the place he had taken and there he and his wife spent their last days, useful and influential members of that pioneer community. Joseph Woolenhan originally was a Whig in his political affiliations, but upon the organization of the Republican party cast his lot and allegiance with that party and remained a stanch Republican to the time of his death. He and his wife were earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church and were helpful in all neighborhood good works. They were the parents of two children, the subject of this sketch having had a sister, Sophia, long since deceased. John H. Woolenhan grew up on the paternal farm in Logan county and received a limited schooling in the somewhat primitive schools of that time and place, the school house in which he received his schooling having been a little old log school house of the type familiar in pioneer days, with slabs for seats and but the crudest helps to learning. As the only son of the family he was from the days of his boyhood a valued aid to his father in the labors of improving and developing the home place and was working at home when the Civil War broke out. Though but twenty years of age at the time President Lincoln issued his first call for volunteers he enlisted for service in the Union army, on April 22, 1861, becoming a private of Company,- A, Thirteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served until the expiration of the three-months term of service on which his enlistment was based. Three days after his return home from that term of service he re-enlisted and went to the front as a member of Company G, First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered into the service for the second time at Dayton, being sent thence to Cincinnati and later to Louisville, where the command was organized and attached to the Department of Ohio. Later the First Ohio was attached to the Fourth Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, under General Thomas and General Ward, and in that service Mr. Woolenhan took part in the battle of Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, on to Huntsville, Alabama, and then participated in the battle of Stone's River, in which latter engagement he was taken prisoner by the enemy and held for some little time before being exchanged. After rejoining his regiment he participated in the battles at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain, Resaca, Dallas and numerous skirmishes. He served under Sherman during the Atlanta campaign and at the close of the war received his discharge at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Upon the completion of his military service John H. Woolenhan returned home and resumed the pursuits of peace on his father's farm. He married in 1866 and continued farming, at the same time taking up the carpenter 206 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. trade and presently became an expert builder, after awhile giving his, whole attention to that vocation. In 1887, seeking a wider field for his building operations,. Mr. Woolenhan moved to Urbana, started in business there as a building contractor and has ever since been thus engaged in that city, being one of the best-known builders in Champaign county. Not long after taking up his residence in Urbana, Mr. Woolenhan was made a member of that city's police force and for fifteen years served in that capacity. He is a stanch Republican and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local civic affairs, an ardent advocate of good government. In 1866, in Logan county, John H. Woolenhan was united in marriage to Anna Ferguson, of Rochester, New York, and to that union three daugh-ters have been born, namely- Jennie, who married Wesley Smith, of Urbana, now residing at Cleveland, where he is serving as auditor for the Adams Express Company, and has two children, Paul S. and Louise; Minnie, pro-prietor of a millinery store at Urbana, who married Grant Wooley, an Urbana traveling- man, and Lelah, who married Frank Conyers, an Urbana jeweler, and has one child, a son, George. Mr. and Mrs. Woolenhan are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take a proper interest in church work, Mr. Woolenham is an active member of W. A. Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, in which .he has held nearly all the offices at one time and another, and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization. ROBERT EARL HUMPHREYS. Robert Earl Humphreys, head of the firm of Humphreys & Son, proprietors of the oldest undertaking establishment in Champaign county, and for years one of the best known citizens. of Urbana, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of Enon, in the neighboring county of Clark, May 1, 1872, son of George H. and Ida L. (Miller) Humphreys, both of whom were born in that same county and the latter of whom is still living at her comfortable home in Urbana. In a memorial sketch presented elsewhere in this volume and relating to the late George Harvey Humphreys, an honored veteran of the Civil War and for years engaged in the undertaking business at Urbana, who died at his home in that city on February 27, 1916, there is set out at considerable length something of the history of the Humphreys and Miller families in CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 207 this part of the state, and the attention of the reader is respectfully called. to that sketch for further details of a genealogical character in this connection. Suffice it to say, for the purposes of this present narrative, that George H. Humphreys was born in Clark county, this state, on November 27, 1842, a son of James and Catherine (Kiefer) Humphreys, the former of whom. was born in Virginia and the latter in Maryland, who were married in the. spring of 1824 and settled on a farm in Clark county, this state, where they became useful and influential pioneers and where they spent the remainder (if their lives, the former living to nearly eighty years of age. Of their ten children, George H. Humphreys was the ninth in order of birth. He left Williamsburg College when eighteen years of age to enlist for service in behalf of the Union cause during the Civil War and went to the front with the Sixteenth Ohio Battery, with which command he served from August,. 1861, to August, 1865, being. mustered out with the rank of corporal.; After his marriage in 1868 he continued to live in Clark county, engaged in- farming, until 1872, when he moved to Urbana, where he bought an old established undertaking establishment and continued engaged there as a. funeral. director until his retirement and transfer of the business to his son and for years his partner, the present head of the business. George H. Humphreys. and wife were the parents of two sons, the subject of this sketch a younger brother, Harry French, born on October 8, 1876, who died at the age of four years and two months. Robert E. Humphreys was but an infant when his parents moved from the farm to Urbana and he was reared in that city, being made familiar with the details of his father's business from the days of his boyhood. Upon completing the course in the Urbana high school he entered Wittenberg College at Springfield, and after three years of study there took a course of one year at the Cincinnati Business College, at the end of which course he became actively connected with his father in the undertaking business at Urbana and in 1892 was made a partner of his father, the firm thereafter being known as George H. Humphreys & Son, that mutually agreeable arrangement con-tinuing until in 1915, in which year the elder Humphreys retired. selling his. interest in the concern to his son, who has since continued the business, which is now conducted under the firm name of Humphreys & Son, R. E.. Humphreys having- admitted his son, M. Humphreys, to partnership in the concern. For ten years after he became a partner in the business R. E. Humphreys traveled for the Spring field Metallic Casket Company , calling on the wholesale trade throughout the East. The concern of which he is the head is the oldest undertaking establishment in Champaign ccunty and 208 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. one of the best equipped in the state. For forty-three years its business was carried on at the southeast corner of. Church and Main streets and after Mr. Humphreys bought out his father's interest and assumed control of the business he bought the old Stadler home and converted the same into an undertaking establishment, at the same time adding to .his equipment until he now has everything thoroughly up to date .and modern in appointment. Mr. Humphreys is a Republican. Fraternally, he is a. member of all the local Masonic bodies, including the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite and Consistory, of Dayton Ohio; and is a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, affiliated with Antioch Temple, at Dayton. He also is a member of the United Commercial Travelers' Association and of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in the affairs of all these organizations takes a warm interest. On November 24, 1894, Robert E. Humphreys was united in marriage to Rovilla Edna Mumpher, daughter of John J. and Augusta (Gest) Mumpher, and to this union one child has been born; a son, Robert Mumpher Humphreys,, who is associated with his father in the undertaking business. HENRY D. McDONALD., Henry D. McDonald, one of the best known merchants of Urbana for half a century, was born in the city October 5, 1831, and died here October 9, 1901.. His whole career was spent in the city of his birth and such was his life that he merited the high esteem in which he was held by all those who knew him. He was a son of Duncan and Eleanor (Wallace) McDonald, his father being one of the earliest merchants .of the. city. . The history of the McDonald family, from the time they left Scotland Until they located in Urbana is given in the sketch of Duncan McDonald elsewhere in this volume. Henry D. McDonald Was reared in Urbana and educated in its public schools. He spent his boyhood vacations in his father's store and before reaching his majority had gained an intimate knowledge of his father's business. His father retired from the business in 1860 and at that time turned The, store over to his sons. For forty years he was engaged in business and during these two score of years he became as well known by the people of the county as any man living in it. It seems fitting to make special mention of his ability as a buyer of dry goods. He had good taste and was often offered positions in the East while CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 209 buying goods, but always refused them, preferring to remain in Urbana. His store had the best goods which the markets of New York could provide and in his annual trips to that city he selected the highest price goods which he thought could be sold in the county. His store set the pace in fashions for half a century and it was to his credit that he educated the people of the county to a realization of higher notions of art in the matter of sartorial raiment. Henry D. McDonald was married November 18, 1853, to Leah Read, a daughter of Joel and Leah Read. To this union were born six children: Joel R., born August 9, 1854, died July 23, 1896; Mary, born October 31, 1856. married Charles Brown; Emily, born May 9, 1864, died October 31, 1897: she married C. C. Glessner ; Harry R., born November 18, 1866; Leah, born June 7, 1872, now residing in Urbana; William Wallace, born December 12, 1875, died June 1, 1880. The mother of these children died, May 15, 1878. Mr. McDonald later married Elsie Critchfield, a daughter of Enoch and Maria Critchfield. Mr. McDonald was a Republican in politics and while he was interested in the general civic development of his city and county, yet he never made any attempt to court political favor. He was a member of the Presbyterian church. He will be remembered by the citizens of the older generation as a quiet and unostentatious man, below the medium height, of genteel appearance and a man who always attended strictly to his own affairs. He was one of the last of the McDonalds to engage in business and his career was a fitting close to the example set by the earlier members of the family in Champaign county. JOSEPH CARL NEER. Prof. Joseph C. Neer, county superintendent of schools for Champaign county, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life with the exception of a few months during his childhood when he lived in Kansas. l le was born on a farm in Urbana township on November 16, 1875, son of Joseph and Sarah (Chance) Neer, both of whom also were born in this county, the former in Concord township and the latter in Mad River township, both the Neers and the Chances being old pioneer families in Champaign county. Joseph Neer was a farmer and continued engaged in that vocation in this county until 1876, when he moved with his family to Kansas, (14a) 210 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. where his wife died the same year. Not long afterward he disposed of his holdings in that state and moved on down into Texas, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring some years ago. Joseph C. Neer was but eight months old when his mother died and shortly after that sad event his father sent him back to the old family home in this county and he was here reared by his uncle and aunt, Thomas and Jane Hupp. Upon completing the course in the common schools he began teaching in one of the district schools of Concord township and for four years taught in one district there, the school being conducted in a small one-room building. Meanwhile he was in attendance on the summer courses in Wittenberg College at Springfield and upon completing the course there was graduated from that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. When the schools of Concord township were consolidated. Professor Neer was made superintendent of the township high school and held that position for four years, at the end of which time he was called to accept the principalship of the South Ward school in Urbana. a position he occupied for seven years, rendering such excellent service there that he then was made principal of the Urbana high school and was occupying that position when, in 1914, upon the creation of the new office of county superintendent of schools, under the new school law, he was elected the first county superintendent of schools for Champaign county, which position he now occupies and in the performance of the duties of which he has rendered a very distinct service in behalf of the schools of this county, coming to be recognized widely as one of the leading school men in this part of the state. Professor Neer is a Republican in his political affiliation and has for years given his close attention to local political affairs, a most earnest exponent of good government. On September 8, 1898, Prof. J. C. Neer was united in marriage to Avanell Loudenback, daughter of Elijah and Sidney (Kelly) Loudenback. and to this union has been born one child, a son, Robert. Professor and Mrs. Neer are members of Grace Methodist Episcopal church and take an earnest interest in the general beneficences of the same, the Professor being a member of the official board of the church.' The Professor is a Knight Templar and Royal Arch Mason, present junior warden of the local Masonic lodge, and is a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, affiliated with Antioch Temple at Dayton. and takes an active interest in Masonic affairs. As the first incumbent of the office of county superintendent of schools in Champaign county, Professor Neer faced a rather taxing task upon opening that office and in initiating the system under which the schools of the county have since done such admirable work, but his long CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 211 experience as a school man and his thorough familiarity with conditions both in the city and county schools, gave him the ability to meet the task intelligently and with full knowledge of the needs of the schools and his course as superintendent has met with the warm approval not only of the patrons of the schools throughout the county, but of the local school authorities. EDWIN M. GUYTON. Edwin Guyton, a farmer of Rush township, Champaign county, was born north of Mutual, Union township; this county. November is a son of Samuel and Nancy (Yeazel) Guyton, the father a native of Clark county, this state, and the mother was born in Union township, Champaign county. Samuel Guyton was brought to Union township, this county, when young and here he spent his boyhood days and attended the common schools. As a young man he took up farming north of Mutual, was married and spent the rest of his life on a farm in that vicinity. His death occurred there in October, 1913, at the age of seventy-two years. His wife died in June, 1905. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. To these parents six children were born, namely: Belle is the wife of Henry. Ackles, of Atlantic, Iowa ; Mary, unmarried, is a milliner and lives in Louisiana Edwin M., of this sketch; Minnie, who married Charles Black, is now deceased : Nellie married Robert Ray and they live at Norwood, Ohio; Myrtle is the wife of Charles Gayer, a farmer of Union township, this county. Edwin M. Guyton grew to manhood on the home farm and he was educated in the Yankee Hill school, in this county. He continued to work on the home farm until his marriage, which took place in September, 1887, to Jennie Parker, a native of Union township, Champaign county, and here she grew to womanhood and attended the public schools. She is a daughter of Frank J. and Annie (Romine) Parker, the father a native of. New Hampshire and the mother a native of Goshen township, this county. Mr. Parker spent his boyhood in New England, coming to Champaign county,. Ohio, when a young, man and located in Union township before the breaking out the Civil War. When hostilities began he enlisted in Company I, Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war, proving to be a brave and efficient soldier of the Union. After his honorable discharge he returned home and engaged in general farming in 212 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Union township until his death in 1875, his widow surviving until 1890. Jennie, who married Mr. Guyton, of this review, was their only child. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Guyton, namely : Gail Parker, born October 9, 1890; Lois Marie, born September 27, 1904, and Frances died at the age of nine months. After his marriage Mr. Guyton located on a farm in Union township, near Mutual, where he resided two years, then moved to Rush township and bought the Stephen K. Smith place of seventy-three acres, and here lie has carried on general farming and stock raising ever since, with very satisfactory results. He keeps a good grade of cattle, hogs and horses. He moved here in 1891. He has made many important improvements on the place and has a good group of buildings. Mr. Guyton is a Republican. He has been a member of the school board at Woodstock for some time and is now president of the hoard. He belongs to the Grange. TRUMAN B. GEST. Truman B. Gest, a prominent retired farmer and live-stock dealer of this county and former general manager of the Urbana Packing Company, with residence at Urbana, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Mt. Tabor on February 16, 1855, son of William B. and Harriet Matilda (Parke) Gest, he a native of Greene county, this state, and she a native of New Jersey, and whose last days were spent in this county. William B. Gest was a son of Jeremiah and Parmelia Gest, the former of whom. was a New Englander and the latter a native of Ohio, whose last days were spent in Greene county. Jeremiah Gest was one, of the early set- tlers and best-known residents of Greene county, a miller and large landowner. He and his wife were the parents of three sons, the Hon. Joseph Gest, one-time prosecuting attorney for Greene county, former representative in Congress from that district and a large landowner, who took a very prominent part in the public affairs of his home district: Truman B. Gest, who became a wealthy merchant tailor, the scene of his business activities having been in Maryland and Virginia and whose last days were spent in Urbana, where he died at the age of eighty-three years, and William B. Gest, the father of the subject of this biographical sketch. William B. Gest grew to manhood in his home county and was there married. About 1848 CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 213 he came to Champaign county and bought a farm in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood, where he established his home and where he remained until his retirement from the farm and removal to Urbana about 1883. He was one of the large landowners and stockmen of this part of the state and was widely known on account of his extensive operations. William B. Gest died in 1888, at the age of sixty-three years and his widow survived him for twelve years, her death occurring at Urbana in 1900, she then being seventy-eight years of age. She was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was ever a leader in local good works. William B. Gest and wife were the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third child born, the others being as follow : Augusta, who married J. J. Mumpher, of Urbana, and has three children, Rovilla, wife of Earl Humphries, of Urbana; Ethel, wife of Clyde Brown, of Seattle, Washington, and Helen; Laura, who died in 1883, at the age of thirty-two years, and Belle, who married J. F. Kimball, of Mechanicsburg, this county, and died in February, 1888. Truman B. Gest grew up on the home farm in this county and early began paying particular attention to the live-stock business. In addition to his extensive general farming he became a large dealer in livestock, for eight years buying cattle for Nelson Morris, of Chicago, and for twelve years buyer for Alexander Greenwald. He was one of the most active promoters of the organization of the Urbana Packing Company in 1906 and was made president and general manager of that concern upon its establishment. Mr. Gest remained as manager of the packing plant until 1915, when lie retired from active business. He has a very pleasant home in Urbana and is very comfortably situated. Mr. Gest retains his well-improved farm. in Salem township and continues to take much interest in the farming and stock-feeding operations carried on there. He is a Republican in his political affiliations and has ever taken a good citizen's interest in local civic affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office. On December 15, 1881, Truman B. Gest was united in marriage to Mamie B. Enoch, of West Liberty, this state, daughter and only child of John and Amelia ( Taylor) Enoch, prominent residents of that place, the former of whom was a son of John and Elizabeth Enoch, natives of Virginia and early settlers at Nest Liberty. To Mr. and Mrs. Gest five children have been born, namely : Laura E., wife of George L. Thomas, buyer and assistant manager of the "Hub" store at Chicago, and who had one child, a daughter, Catherine W., who died on March 2I, 1909, at the age of seven years and six months : Amelia, who married W. G. Bailey, super- 214 - CHA.MPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. intendent of the Cincinnati division of the Big Four railroad, with headquarters at Springfield, this state, and has one child, a son, William Gest; William B., of Toledo, this state, a car-route man for the G. H. Hammond Company, of Chicago; Belle K., at home, and Harriet Eliza, wife of William Marvin Johnson, of Urbana, connected with the W. B. Marvin Company and also a farmer and stockman. Mr. Gest is a Mason and a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, in the affairs of both of which organizations he takes a warm interest. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and have ever taken a proper interest in church work, as well as in the general good works of the community, ever helpful in promoting all movements designed to advance the common welfare hereabout. Mr. Gest is a public-spirited citizen and has done much to promote the industrial and commercial activities of Urbana and of the .county at large. As a stockman there are few men in that line in this part of the state better known than he and he has done much to advance the live stock industry throughout this section. ELIJAH J. HANNA. Elijah J. Hanna, an honored veteran of the Civil War and a well-known retired merchant of Urbana, is a native of Virginia, but has been a resident of this county since he was fifteen years of age. He was born in Nicholas county, Virginia, now a part of West Virginia, April 7, 1844, 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 stockman and spent all his life in his native county, his death occurring there not long after the close of the Civil War. He was twice married. His first wife, Sarah Kellison, died in 1854, leaving five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being as follow : Nathan, deceased; David, who died during the time of the Civil War ; Elizabeth, of Kanawha county, West Virginia, and C. B. Hanna, a well-known retired farmer of Mad River township, this county, now living at Urbana and a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume. Reared on the farm, Elijah J. Hanna received a limited schooling in the primitive schools of his home neighborhood. He was ten years of age when his mother died and when fifteen years of age, in 1859, came over into CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 215 Ohio and located in this county, presently becoming engaged as a 'clerk in a store in Concord township and was living there when the Civil War broke out. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted for service in the Union army as a member of Company C, Sixty-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Capt. J. Q. Baird and Col. Charles Candy, and with that command went to Virginia to join Shield& army. At the battle of Cedar Mountain Mr. Hanna was shot in the right shoulder, the bullet passing through his body and coming out near the backbone. Thus seriously wounded he was taken captive by the enemy and was sent to Libby Prison. About a month later he was paroled and sent to Ft. Delaware, where about six months later he received his honorable discharge on a physician's certificate of disability and was sent home. Upon regaining his wonted health Mr. Hanna re-enlisted as a member of the Twelfth Ohio Cavalry and with that command went to Kentucky, thence to Tennessee and thence on with Sherman in that general's march to the sea, continuing his service until the close of the war, receiving his final discharge at Columbus, this state, in 1865. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Hanna returned to this county and presently engaged in the mercantile business at Crayon and was thus engaged at that place until 1903, in which year he moved to Urbana, where he opened a second-hand store and was engaged in that line for a couple of years, at the end of which time he retired from business and has since been living retired, continuing to make his home in Urbana. Mr. Hanna is a Republican and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office. In 1873, in Concord township, this county, Elijah J. Hanna was united in marriage to Margaret J. Crin. who was born in that township in January, 1854, a daughter of William and Melissa (Barger) Crin, natives of Virginia and early settlers in this county, and to that union six children were born, namely: Anna Frances, who married J. K. Bosler, a farmer, who makes his home with Mr. Hanna in Urbana ; Zeda, who married Mary Kite and is living at St. Paris, this county, engaged in the railway mail service; John, who married Ella Fitzpatrick and is engaged as a motorman on the street railway at Springfield, this state; Charles Elmer, who also is engaged in the railway mail service, who married Hazel Blose and makes his home at Urbana; Commodore, unmarried, who is a broom-maker at Urbana, and Cecil Blanch, also unmarried, who likewise makes his home at Urbana. Mr. Hanna is an active member of Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic. at Urbana, and is the senior vice-commander of the same. He formerly was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, but is no longer actively affiliated with that order. 216 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. A. H. MIDDLETON, M., D. Success in any enterprise demands that some person shall learn to do some thing better than it has been done before. It is especially toe in. the medical profession. As a successful general physician Dr. A. H. Middleton, of Cable, Champaign county, has done much for the cause of suffering humanity and has won the evidences of deserved success. for himself. He was born two and one-half miles southeast of Cable, Ohio; January 24, 1863, a son of John and Mary (McCumber) Middleton. He is one of the best known representatives of this generation of the sterling and honored old Middleton family, members of which have been prominent in the affairs. of this section of the Buckeye state since pioneer days. A full history of the family will be found in the sketch of Judge Evan P. Middleton, editor of this work, on another page of this volume. Dr. A. H. Middleton grew to manhood in his native community and.. received his education in the common schools of Wayne township. He began life for himself by teaching school, which he followed for five years. in Wayne, Rush, Mad River and Adams townships. His services were, in good demand and he gave eminent satisfaction to both pupils and patrons. Although giving promis.e of becoming one of the leading educators of this section of the state, he finally decided that the medical profession had greater attractions for him and, abandoning the school room, he' entered the Cleveland. Homeopathic Medical College, where he spent three years, making an excellent record and was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1887. On May loth of that year he began. practice at Cable, continuing until 1890, when he moved to Terre Haute, this county, but after a year there returned to Cable- and has since practiced here. He enjoyed from the first a large and satisfactory patronage and takes high rank among the medical -men of Champaign and adjoining counties. He has remained a close student of all that pertains to. his profession and has kept well abreast of the-times. Doctor Middleton was married, on January 1, 1888, to Alice Baker, a daughter of A. R. and Rebecca (Weaver.). Baker. She was born in Mad. River township, this county, where she grew to womanhood and attended. school. In that township also her parents grew up and married. Her grandparents, Frederic and Lydia Baker, who came to Champaign county from Maryland, were pioneer settlers in Mad River township, where they spent the rest of their lives on a farm. A. R. Baker also devoted his life to CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 217 farming in Mad River township. His family consisted of five children, one of whom died in infancy, namely: Harry; Effie married Brown Seibert;. Gertrude married Monroe Berry; Alice is the wife of Doctor Middleton.. A. R. Baker died on January I, 1917, and his wife died on February 27, 1902. The union of Doctor Middleton and wife resulted in the birth of four children, only one of whom is now living, Rollin Perry, who married Nellie Gettles, and they have one child, Alice Jean. Politically, Doctor Middleton is a Republican and has long taken an Aiding interest in public affairs. He has held the office of justice of the peace and has also been health officer at Cable for a number of years, discharging his duties in both positions in an able, faithful and satisfactory manner. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church and is a trustee in the same. HORACE M. CROW. Horace M. Crow city auditor of Urbana. former city solicitor and for years a practicing attorney in that city, was born in the city of Cincinnati on April 4, 1855, son of Thomas D. and Henrietta (Downs) Crow, who located in Urbana early in the sixties. Thomas D. Crow was an attorney-at-law and upon locating at Urbana engaged there in the practice of his. profession and was thus engaged until his death, the greater part of that time being associated in practice with his elder son, Herman D. Crow, who, later moved West to the state of Washington and served eleven years on the supreme bench of that state arid died on October 22, 1915, while in office.. Upon completing the course in the Urbana public schools, Horace M. Crow entered Ohio Wesleyan University and after a course of two years: there began teaching school and was thus engaged, in. Champaign and Franklin counties, for three years, in the meantime studying law. He later became a clerk in a mercantile establishment at Urbana, but continued to study law, under the direction of his father and brother; and in December, 1878, was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of his profession at Urbana. In the spring of 1881 he moved to Van Wert, was married in the fall of the next year, and continued to make his home at Van Wert until 1884., serving one term as deputy clerk of the courts while living there. Upon his return to Urbana in 1884, Mr. Crow resumed. the practice of law in that city and was thus engaged there until in February, 1887, when he moved to. 218 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO Columbus, where he entered upon the duties of the office of deputy in the office of the clerk of the state supreme court, to which he had been appointed, and upon the completion of his service in that capacity in 1893 returned to Urbana and resumed his practice. In 1895 he was elected city solicitor and served in that capacity until 1899, in which year he re-entered the practice of the law and has since been practicing alone. In 1910 Mr. Crow was elected city auditor and is still serving in that important public capacity. In 1893, upon the organization of the Industrial Building and Loan Association at Urbana, Mr. Crow was elected secretary of that association and has ever since occupied that position. It was on October 19, 1882, while living at Van Wert, that Horace M. Crow was united in marriage to Frances Kenaga, daughter of W. F. Kenaga and wife. M r. and. Mrs: Crow are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take a proper interest in church work, as well as in the general social activities of their home town. Mr. Crow is a member of the local Masonic lodge and takes a warm interest in the affairs of the same. He is one of Urbana's active, public-spirited citizens and has been helpful in promoting numerous agencies designed to advance the common welfare hereabout. ALBERT C. NEFF. Albert Cleveland Neff, manager of the Urbana Telephone Company and one of the best-known men in Champaign county, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life, with the exception of some years spent in the telephone service in the neighboring cities of London, Beliefontaine and Kenton. He was born .at Terre Haute. in Mad River township, March 26, 1865., son of Jacob and Celesta (Baker) Neff, both of whom were born in that same township, members of pioneer families in that part of the county, the former dying at his home in Mad River township and the latter is living at Dayton, to which city she moved after the death of her. husband. Jacob Neff was born on a pioneer. farm in Mad River township on October 2, 1838, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Strickler) Neff, who came to this county from Virginia in 1830 and settled On a fatm in Mad River township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Samuel, Neff became one of the most substantial and influential pioneers of the .Terre Haute neighborhood and for twenty years served as trustee of his home township. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 219 lie also was elected to the office of justice of the peace, but declined to serve in that capacity. He was one of the leaders in the local congregation of the Methodist church and took an active part in all neighborhood good works. Samuel Neff died in 1865 and had lived to rear the largest family ever reared in Mad River township, eighteen children. He was thrice married. By his first wife, Elizabeth Strickler. he had ten children, five of whom, Isaac, Mary, Peter, David and Abraham, were born in Virginia, and five, John, Henry G., Joseph, Caroline and Jacob, in this county. The mother of these children died on March 23, 1840, and in October of that same year Samuel Neff married Rachel Romick, who died in 1845, leaving four children; Michael. Barbara. Samuel R. and Daniel W. After the death of the mother of these children he married Rachael Landaker, who died in December, 1863, and to that union were born four children, Aaron, Caroline, Jonas and Emma. Reared on the home farm, Jacob Neff received his schooling in the neighboring schools and early learned the trade of wagon-making, presently opening a wagon shop in the village of Terre Haute in partnership with Ananias Lutz, which he operated in connection with his farming, and became one of the best known men in that part of the county, his wagon shop ever being a popular gathering place for the farmers of that vicinity upon their shopping trips to the village. Jacob Neff married Celesta Baker, who also was born in that township, daughter of Peter and Ann Baker, pioneers of that neighborhood, and to that union three children were born, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Cliffie A., who married E. H. Foltz, and a brother, Adene, who is living in Dayton, Ohio. Jacob Neff died at Terre Haute in 1889 and his widow is still living in Dayton, Ohio. Albert C. Neff grew up at Terre Haute, receiving his schooling in the schools of that village, and early prepared himself for teaching, for fifteen years thereafter being engaged as a teacher in the schools of Mad River and Jackson townships and in the high school at Mutual, this county. In 1899 he became connected with the office of the Central Union Telephone Company at Urbana and a year later was made manager of the office of that company in the neighboring county seat of London, remaining thus engaged in that city for four years, at the end of which time he was given charge of the offices of the company at Bellefontaine and Kenton, serving as manager of those offices until 1904. He then returned to Urbana and was manager of the Central Union Telephone Company, until 1910, when the Urbana Telephone Company, an independent concern, offered him the position of manager of the office and plant of that company at Urbana and he 220 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. accepted, ever since serving in that capacity. During Mr. Neff's managerial connection with the Urbana Telephone Company he has done much to extend the service in that city and adjacent territory and by the introduction of the modern automatic system has done wonders in the way of popularizing the service of the company with which he is connected. In 1889 Albert C. Neff was united in marriage to Ida B. Fansler, daughter of George and Sarah Fansler, of Mad River township, and to this union two children have been. born, Esta and Hazel, both of whom are at home. The Neffs are members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Neff is a Mason and an Odd Fellow and takes a warm interest in lodge affairs. He has served as noble grand of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and as chief patriarch of the encampment. Politically, he is an "independent." WALTER ELLSWORTH. Walter Ellsworth, a farmer of Rush township, Champaign county, was born August 2, 1861, in Plymouth county, Iowa. He is a son of William and Harriet (Kimball) Ellsworth, both natives. of Rush township, Champaign county, Ohio. The paternal grandparents of the subject of this sketch were Jacob and Sarah (Runyon) Ellsworth, natives of Vermont, from which state they came to Champaign county, Ohio, in an early day, locating on a farm in Rush township. They reared a large family, several of their sons serving. in the Union army during the Civil War. William Ellsworth, who was one of the younger children, grew up on the home farm, and he was educated in the public schools and was married in Rush township. In 1845 he made the overland trip to Iowa in wagons. He was one of 'the pioneers of that state. He owned a good farm, which he developed from the virgin prairies, and spent the rest of his life in that state, dying near Sioux City. His family consisted of five children, namely : Frank is farming near Grand Valley, Corson county, "South Dakota ; Abbie married Ezra Woodward, of Columbus, Ohio; Walter, of this sketch; Henry is a farmer of Rush township, this county; and Mary is the wife of Jacob Swisher, of Mechanicsburg. The mother of the above named children married a second time, her last husband being Ephraim Woodward, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and an early settler of Wayne and Rush townships, this county. His death occurred in 1902 at the age of ninety-one years. His widow survived until CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 221 1911, dying, at the age of seventy-four years. One child, a daughter, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Woodward, names Jane, who is the wife of Jsnames Sparks, of Irwin Station, Ohio. Walter Ellsworth had little opportunity to obtain an. education. He was a child when his parents brought him to Champaign county. As .a boy he was bound out for four years to James McElroy, and he worked at different places until he was married, July 13, 1884, to Estella Smith, a native of Woodstock, this county, where she grew to womanhood and attended school. She is a daughter of Philip A. and Mary (Hopkins) Smith, who spent their lives on a farm in Rush township. He died October 16, 1881. She died January 22, 1910. They were members of the Christian church. Politically, Mr. Smith was a Democrat, and he was at one time trustee of his township. To these parents only two children were born, namely : Leon C., who is a conductor on the Norfolk & Western railroad, with headquarters in Columbus, married Gertrude Caisson, and they have one child, Philip H.; and Estella, wife of Mr. Ellsworth, of this sketch; Fannie Walker is an adopted daughter. To Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth two children have been born, namely : Truman, who is now employed at the Dupont Powder Works in Washington; and Howard, who died at the age of eighteen. After his marriage, Mr. Ellsworth located in Woodstock, this county, where he continued to reside until 1886, when he bought his present farm of eighty acres in Rush township, which he has since operated with gratifying results, carrying on a general farming and dairying business. Politically, Mr. Ellsworth is a Republican. Fraternally, he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Woodstock. Mrs. Ellsworth is a member of the Christian church at Woodstock. JESSE G. BOTKIN. Jesse G. Botkin, well-known florist and hot-house gardener at Urbana, proprietor of the well-appointed "East Lawn Gardens" at the edge of that city, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life. He was born at Plattsville, in the neighb1869 county of Shelby, March 5, 1869. son of Amos and Elizabeth (Vorris) Botkin, both of whom also were born in that same county. For a number of years after his marriage Amos Botkin remained in Shelby county, where he was engaged in farminnd 222 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO then moved to Clark county, where he established his home on a farm and where he is still living, being now in the eighty-fifth year of his age. To him and his wife seven children were born, of whom six are still living, but of whom only two are residents of Champaign county, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Mrs. Samuel Neff, living here. Having been but a child when he went with his parents from Shelby to Clark county, J. G. Botkin was reared on the home farm in the latter county and in the schools of that county received his early schooling. He supplemented that schooling by a course in Ohio Wesleyan University and two years after leaving that institution took up seriously the vocation of gardening and after a careful study of the technical side of that difficult vocation as made gound keeper and gardener for the National Home for the Junior Order of United American Mechanics at Tiffin and laid out the present beautiful grounds of that institution. Two years rater Mr. Botkin determined to go into gardening as a business and with that end in view came to Champaign county and began gardening on a tract of land he secured near King's Creek, in Salem township. A year later he moved to Urbana, where he bought nine acres of land on the edge of the town and there established' his "East Lawn Gardens," which have become so popular as a source of supply not only for choice garden products, but for the choice products of the florist's skill, among the people of Urbana and the county at large, Mr. Botkin long having been regarded as the leading market gardener and florist in. Champaign county. When Mr. Botkin started "East Lawn Gardens" his financial means were somewhat limited and he was compelled to start in a small way, his initial plant under glass consisting of but six hot-beds. He now has more than six thousand square feet under glass and more than two hundred and fifty hot-beds and in addition to his extensive florist business raises for market large quantities of celery and lettuce and several hundred of thousands of cabbage plants annually. He has his plant equipped with the Skinner irrigation system and has one of the best equipped plants of the kind in this part of the state. Mr. Botkin is a Republican and gives a good citizen's attention to political affairs, but has never been a seeker after public office. In 1893, at Tiffin, this state, J. G. Botkin was united in marriage to Ella Kramer, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Kramer, and to this union seven children have been born, Wenner, Esther, Jesse Lee, Ethel, Morris, Theodore and Otto. Mr. and Mrs. Botkin are members of the First Methodist Episcopal church at Urbana and take an interested part in church work and in the general social activities of the city. Mr. Botkin is a Mason and is a CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 223 Knight Templar in that ancient order. He is past chancellor commander of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, a member of Salem Grange at King's Creek and an honorary member of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and also past. grand in Urbana Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the affairs of all of which organizations he takes a warm interest. JOHN M. EICHHOLTZ. John M. Eichholtz, one of the oldest and best-known retired farmers of Champaign county, now living at Urbana, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1836, and was but three years of age when his parent, John and Mary (Myers) Eichholtz, also natives of Lancaster county, drove across the country into Ohio seeking a new home in 1839. Upon coming to this state the elder John Eichholtz rented a farm in the neighborhood of Midway and lived there for one season, at the end of which time he moved to Salem township, this county, and there bought a tract of two hundred and sixty acres of partly improved land, paying for the same fifteen dollars an acre. About fifty acres of that tract had been cleared and there had been erected on the same a log cabin and a log barn. joint Eichholtz completed the clearing of the place and made substantial improvements on the same, spending there the remainder of his life. His widow spent her last days in Urbana. They were the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch now is the only survivor,. the others having been Jacob, Catherine, Henry, Marv, Solomon, Cynthia and two who died in infancy. John M. Eichholtz was reared on the pioneer farm of his father in Salem township, receiving his schooling in the primitive schools of that time and place, and from the days of. his boyhood. was a valued assistant to his father in the labors of developing and improving the home place. He remained at home until he was twenty-seven years of age and then went to Dayton, where he became employed in cooper shop, remaining there two years, at the end of which time he returned home, but after a winter spent there went to Stark county, this state, where he bought a small farm and where he was married. He later established his home on a better farm in that county and there he remained for twenty years, at the end of which time he came to this county and bought a quarter of a section of land near Kingston, in Salem township, not far from the home of his boyhood, and 224 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. there he lived until his retirement from the farm and removed to Urbana in 1916. Some time after locating in Salem township Mr. Eichholtz bought the old Talbott farm of one hundred and ten acres and in addition to his farm holdings is also the owner of considerable real estate in the city of Urbana and is accounted quite well-to-do. He has been a hard worker all his life and is very properly entitled to be called a self-made man, for the property he has accumulated has been secured through his own well-directed efforts. As noted above. it was shortly after he located in Stark county that John M. Eichholtz was united in marriage to Almira Baer, of that county. who died, leaving two children, daughters, Anna, who married Bruner Kenaga, who died, leaving two children, John and Grover, and who, after the death of her first husband married Thomas Allen, of Urbana, and died leaving another child, a daughter, Clara, who is now keeping house for. her grandfather, George Allen,. of Urbana, and Mary, who died unmarried.. GEORGE W. STANDISH. George W. Standish, superintendent of the Champaign county infirmary and "poor farm," is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in Rush township on February 20, 1860, son of George W. and Ellen (Riddle) Standish, and is a representative in the ninth generation by direct descent from Capt. Miles Standish, one of the most famous of the Pilgrim Fathers, whose courtship of Priscilla Mullens was commemorated by Longfellow, in his “Courtship of Miles Standish," wherein it is pointed out that the bashful Captain Standish engaged the services of his friend, John Alden, to present his court to the sprightly Priscilla, whose heart, instead of responding to the Captain's plea. prompted her to hint quite openly to John that he might fare well in a similar suit if he would but speak for himself. Though Captain Standish did! not get the fair Priscilla, he presently did marry another of the Pilgrim maidens and reared a family, the descendants of whom now form a considerable family, represented widely throughout the country. Alexander Standish (eldest son of Captain Miles Standish) married the eldest daughter of John Alden and Priscilla and the subject of this sketch is a direct descendant of them. Capt. Miles Standish came with the Pilgrims to America in 162o and led the exploring expeditions to discover a suitable place for settlement. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 225 He was appointed military captain of the colony in 1661 and was thus the first commissioned military officer in New England, and rendered valuable' service in repelling Indian hostilities. In 1625 he visited England as agent of the colony and returned with supplies. in 1626. Captain Standish founded Duxbury in 1632; was a member of the executive council, and for many years treasurer of the colony. George W. Standish traces descent from (1) Capt. Miles Standish through the latter's son, (2) Alexander, (3) Ebenezer, (4) Moses, (5) Moses, (6) Moses, (7) Miles, (8) George W., Sr., (9) George W., Jr. The senior George W. Standish was born in New York City on March 24, 1838, and came to this county in the days- of his young manhood, following here the trade of butcher and settling in Rush township after his marriage to Ellen Riddle. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted as a member of Company G, Ninety-fifth. Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with that command went to the front. While thus serving he was taken prisoner by the enemy and was sent to Libby prison, where he remained until exchanged. He later re-enlisted as a member of Company D, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and while serving with that command died at Cumberland, Maryland, June 29, 1864. The junior George W. Standish was but. four years of age when his soldier father died and he was reared at Woodstock, in the schools of which village he received his schooling. He early began to work as a farm hand and after his marriage rented a farm and began to farm on his own account, at the same time engaging in the buying and selling of hay and straw. He later bought a farm and was there engaged in farming until 1906, in which year he was appointed superintendent of the county infirmary and the quarter of a section of land surrounding the same, in which capacity he has so well performed the duties attending that important commission that the county commissioners have ever since retained him in that position. Since Mr. Standish's appointment the commissioners' have erected a hospital at the infirmary, the same having a capacity for twenty-five persons, and Mr. Standish keeps the place in first-class condition, his methods of management conforming in all ways to the latest and best approved principles for the management of eleemosynary institutions of this class. In 1886 George W. Standish was united in marriage to Martha Cushman and to this union two children have been born, daughters both, Winnie, who married James Zerkle, and Louise, who married Floyd Winner and has one child, a daughter, Miriam. Mr. and Mrs. Standish. are members of the (15a) 226 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Universalist church at Woodstock and take a proper part in church work, as well as in the general good works of the community in which they live. Mr. Standish is a Republican and has long been accounted one of the leaders of that party in his part of the county. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Patriarchs degree of the same, and has served. his loyal lodge as noble grand and the. encampment as chief patriarch, having for years taken a warm and active interest in Odd Fellowship. LEE G. PENNOCK. Lee G. Pennock, city treasurer of Urbana. former postmaster of that city, former former of the city council, fthmer deputy comity treasurer and for years one of the best-known merchants in Urbana, was born in the neighboring county of Logan, but has been a resident of Urbana since he was seven years of He was born on September 19, 1865, son of John P. and Eliza (Gordon) Pennock, who moved from Logan county to Urbana in the early seventies, John P. Pennock becoming connected with the Hitt & Fuller dry-goods store in that city, a connection he retained for years . Having been but seven years of age when he moved to Urbana with his parents, Lee G. Pennock received all but his primary schooling in that city and upon leaving school began working in the 'Gamier carriage factory and was thus engaged for several years, at the end of which thy e he took employment with the Illinois Car Company and for a time worked in the plant of that company at Urbana. He then began working in the W. E. Brown clothing store and was thus engaged for nine years, at the end of which time he was made deputy treasurer of the county, serving during the incumbency of D. B. McDonald, county treasurer. During this time Mr. Pennock also served as a member of the city council and during that service was the chairman of the finance committee of the council and of the purchasing committee. In 1907 Mr. Pennock was appointed postmaster of Urbana, his appointment having been sent to the Senate by President Roosevelt three times before it finally was confirmed and he served in that important public capacity from 1907 to August, 1913. Upon the completion of his official service, Mr. Pennock engaged in the retail lumber business at' Urbana, but a short time later sold his business to the Murphy Lumber Company and engaged in the grocery business, buying the old Berry grocery CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 227 stand that was established in 1845, and has since been thus engaged at that old-established stand, doing a very good business. Mr. Pennock is a Republican and for years has been looked upon as one of the leaders of that party in this county. In addition to the public service rendered by him and which has been mentioned above, he is now serving as treasurer of the city. In 1893 Lee G. Pennock was united in marriage to Edna M. Ellis, daughter of Robert Ellis and wife, and to this union one child has been born, .a daughter, Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Pennock are members of the Presbyterian church, Mr. Pennock being a deacon of the local congregation, and take a proper part in church work, as well as in the general social affairs of their home town. Mr. Pennock is a Knight Templar and a Royal Arch Mason, a member of Harmony Lodge No. 8, Free and Accepted Masons,. at Urbana; a member of Urbana Chapter No. 34, Royal Arch Masons; a member of Urbana Council No. 59, Royal and Select Masters, and of Raper Commandery No. 19, Knights Templar, and takes a warm interest in Masonic affairs, long having served .as secretary of Harmony lodge, of which he was also past master. THOMAS NEELD. Thomas Neeld, an honored veteran of the Civil War, former trustee of Salem township and one of the best-known retired farmers of Champaign county, now living at Urbana, where he has made his home for the past ten years or more, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life. He was born at Waynesville, in Warren county, this state, May 16, 1837, son of Joseph and Ellen (Halloway) Neeld, the former .a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. Joseph Neeld was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and there grew to manhood, learning there the trade of a shoemaker as a young man he came to this state and located at Waynesville, where he presently opened a shoe shop and became quite successful in that line. There he married. Ellen Halloway, who was born in that place, and to that union were born five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others, being as follow : Martha,. born on February 4, 1837, who died at the age of eighteen years ;. Lavina, June 18, 1841, widow of John Marsh, who is now making her home at Topeka, Kansas; Mary E., June 18, 1844, who married Alfred Hale and is also living' at Topeka, and Eliza E., November 25, 1845, who first married Elias West and after his death married the 228 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Rev. Parker Moon, a noted preacher of the Friends church, and is now living at Carthage, Missouri. The mother of these children died in the latter forties and Joseph Mundel, the father, survived her several years, his death occurring in 1854, he then being fifty years of age. Thomas Neeld received his schooling in the schools of Waynesville and at the age of eighteen began farming in his home county, continuing thus engaged until he went to the front as a soldier of the Union in 1861. He was married in January of that year and on May 17 following, enlisted for service during the continuance of the Civil War as a member of Company F, Sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, known as the Gray Regiment. After some preliminary service in West Virginia Mr. Neeld went with his regiment to Nashville and was later present at the battle of Pittsburg Landing and then took part in the siege of Corinth. He then was transferred to the gunboat service and serving in Company F, First Marine Regiment. Mississippi Brigade, on the gunboat "Baltic," took part in the siege of Vicksburg and in some other important engagements along the river, including the battles of Greenville, Milligan's Bend, Fort Gibson, General Banks' expedition up the Red River, and numerous skirmishes, receiving his final discharge at Vicksburg on January 19, 1865. Upon the completion of his service Thomas Neeld returned to his home at Waynesville and presently moved from there to a farm in the vicinity of Hillsboro, in Highland county, this state, where he remained for about fifteen years, at the end of which time he came with his family to Champaign county and settled on a farm in Salem township, where he lived, actively engaged in farming, from 1882 to 1906, in which latter year he retired from the farm and moved to Urbana, where he since has made his home. Mr. Neeld is a Republican and has for years taken an active part in local civic affairs. During his residence in Salem township he served for six years as trustee of that township and in other ways contributed of his time and energies to the public service. For, four years he served as a member, of the county infirmary board and during his many years of residence here has gained a wide acquaintance throughout the county. Thomas Neeld has been twice married. It was in January, 1862, that he was united in marriage to Martha Ann Knotts, who was born in Highland county, this state, daughter of James and Elizabeth Knotts, and who died at her home in Salem township, this county, in 1901. To that union eight children were born, namely : Walter, of Columbus, this state ; Mary, who married Perry Swisher and is now deceased ; Charles, a carpenter and farmer, of Salem township, who married Maggie Derr and following her CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 229 death married Elida Wademan and by the latter union has one child, a daughter, Martha M.; Mertie, who married John Pool and died, leaving two children, Miller and Roscoe; Lewis, a coal dealer, of Springfield, this state, who married Catherine Gibson and has two children, Thomas and Martha C.; William, who is engaged in railroad construction work and who married Louise Jones and has two children, Mabel and Joseph; Gertrude, who died at the age of five years, and Arthur, who married Martha Vingard and died at the age of twenty-eight years, leaving his widow and four children; George Perry, Louis and Edna. In 1905, Mr. Neeld married, secondly, Ella Pangle, who was born in this county, a daughter of James and Susanna (Shepard) Pangle, who came to this county from the neighboring county of Clark, where they originally had settled upon coming from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and were substantial farming peope Wayne township, this county. James Pangle and wife were the parents of six children, of whom. Mrs. Neeld was the second in order of birth, the others being as follow : Effie May, now deceased, was was born on August 31, 1864; William H., Novembe 10, 1868, also deceased: Bert E., March 29, 1871, who married Ella Racer and makes his home in Urbana; Emma, January 23, 1875, deceased, and Margaret R., July 29, 1878, also deceased. Mr. Neeld is an active member of Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, and takes an earnest interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization, in which he has, at one time and another, held nearly all the offices and is now serving as junior vice-commander of the post. CHARLES FREYHOF. Charles Freyhof, well-known florist and market-gardener at Urbana, is a native of Kentucky, but has been a resident of this state since the days of his childhood. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of Bardstown, in Bullitt county, Kentucky, not far south of Louisville, September 26, 1859, on of John and Eva Freyhof, both natives of the Rhine country in Germany, who came to America in the clays of their youth, were married in Kentucky and there established their home in 1848. John Freyhof became a farmer in the Bardstown neighborhood and was making good headway toward getting a good start when Morgan's raiders made a swoop down on his farm during the Civil War and took his horses, leaving in the place of the same some old "plugs" that were valueless for farming purposes. This incident 230 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. of war so disgusted him with the location in which he had settled that he decided to "pull up stakes" and get into a city. With the "plugs" left by the Morgan raiders he drove with his family and his household goads to Cincinnati, settling there at Glendale, a suburb of the city, where he began working as a gardener for General Thompson, where he remained until 1871, when he came up into this part of the state and located at Urbana, where lie bought a twenty-acre tract of ground on the edge of the city and began market-gardening, which vocation he followed there the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1890. His wife had preceded him to the grave six years, her death having occurred in January, 1884. They were the parents of nine children, of whom seven are still living, but of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one now living in this county, the others being George W., William, Louis, Kate, Louise and Mrs. Lizzie Monroe of Coldwater, Michigan. Charles Freyhold was but a child when his parents practically were driven out of Kentucky by the Morgan raiders and his early youth was spent in Glendale; where he received his elementary schooling. He was twelve years of age when they moved to Urbana and he completed his schooling in the high school in that city, later taking up gardening with his father and was thus associated with the latter until 1884, when he rented the home place and started to operate it on his own account. The same year he married and moved to a farm near Urbana, where he was engaged in farming for six years, at the end of which time he moved to Cincinnati. After a year spent in that city Mr. Freyhof returned to Urbana, bought the market garden where he is now engaged in business and has ever since been thus engaged at Urbana, for years having been regarded as one of the leading florists and gardeners in Champaign county. Upon starting in business there Mr. Freyhof had but a few hot-beds and started in a modest way, but he now has more than three thousand square feet under glass and has built up an excellent business. Mr. Freyhof is a Republican and takes a proper interest in political affairs, but has not been an office seeker. It was on September 25, 1884, that Charles Freyhof was united in marriage to Cynthia Roof and to this union three children have been born: Grace, wife of Joseph Leonard, Oscar and Theodore, who married Alva McLaughlin. The 'Freyhofs are members of the Lutheran church and 'take an active part in the various beneficences of the same, Mr. Freyhof having served for two years as an elder in the church, for nine years as a deacon and for four years as secretary of the official board. He is a member of Mosgrove Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Urbana, of which CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 231 lodge he is the present noble grand; is past chancellor commander of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias and for sixteen years has been secretary-treasurer of the local "tent" of the Knights of the Maccabees. He also is treasurer of the local encampment of the Odd Fellows and is a member of the relief committee of the local lodge of that order. PETER ARMBUSTER. Peter Armbuster, well known manufacturer of "stogie" cigars at Urbana, is a native of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life, with the exception of a few years spent in the West. He was born in the village of Temperanceville, Belmont county, November 2, 1865, son of Peter. and Magdalena (Harerr) Armbuster, the former of European birth and the latter born in Ohio. The elder Peter Armbuster was born in the kingdom of Wurtemburg, where he grew to manhood and where he was trained as a carpenter and builder. As a young man he came to this country and for two years was located at Wheeling, West Virginia, where he followed his trade. He then came across the river into this state and located at Temperanceville, in Belmont county, where he married Magdalena Haren, who was born in Monroe county, this state, and until 1875 was engaged in the carpenter business at that place. He then bought a hotel at Temperanceville and continued there in the hotel business for more than forty years. He also became an extensive landowner in that vicinity and was accounted a well-to-do citizen at the. time of his death. He and his wife were the parents of nine children and his widow and six of these children are now living at Urbana. The junior Peter Armbuster was reared at Temperanceville, where he received his schooling, and early became employed on one of his father's farms, remaining at home until he was twenty-one years of age, when he went West, where he remained for three years, at the end of which time he returned home and in February, 1890, became engaged in the manufacture of "stogie" cigars at Temperanceville, in a partnership, under the firm name of Dorster & Armbuster. In June, 1892, Mr. Armbuster's brother, John Armbuster, bought Dorster's interest the business and in September of that same year the brothers moved to Urbana and set up their establishment in that city, the date of their arrival there being the 18th of that month. he business was a success from the start and in 1899 the demand of the 232 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. growing trade required the erection of a new factory, a building thirty-two by sixty feet, two stories and a basement. In 1908 the capacity of the plant was increased by the erection of an additional story, which,. with the basement now gives four working floors for the busy establishment.. In February, 1916, Peter Armbuster bought the interest in the concern held by his brother, John, and is now the sole owner of the business, one of the leading "stogie" factories in the country. When Mr. Armbuster started in business the capacity of the plant was about fifteen hundred "stogies" a day. Now the plant is turning out more than three hundred thousand a month and from thirty to forty persons are employed in the industry. Mr. Armbuster's leading brands are the "1890," the "A. B. S.", the "A. B. C." and the "New Armbuster." On April 23, 1896, about four years after moving to Urbana, Peter Armbuster was united in marriage to Elizabeth Thuenker, daughter of Richard and Mary (Bresnahan) Thuenker, and to this union two children have been born, Beatrice and Peter Donald. JOHN L. BARGER. John L. Barger, a well-known and progressive farmer of Harrison township, living on rural route No. 1, out of West Liberty, Ohio, was born in the western part of Virginia, in Botetourt county, on August 13, 1861, the son of William L. and Sarah E. (Wilhelm) Barger, both of whom were natives of the same state, she of Rockingham county. William L. Barger lived all his life in Virginia, his death occurring in 19̊2, while his widow still survives him, making her home in her native state. William L. Barger and wife were the parents of thirteen children, eight of whom are still living: John L., the immediate subject of this brief review ; William C., a resident of Charleston, West Virginia; Mrs. Anna McPherson, living in Craig county, Virginia; Fred, living in West Virginia ; Ira, a resident of Charleston, West Virginia ; Frank, also a resident of Charleston; Mrs. Emma Ruedelbarger, living in Virginia, and Martin, also living in Virginia. John L. Barger lived at home with his parents until he reached the age of twenty-two years, receiving his education in the limited district schools of his home neighborhood. In young manhood he left his native state and came to Champaign county, Ohio, and for some time was employed by the month as a farm hand. After his marriage he engaged in farming for him- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 233 self and has since been continuously engaged in agricultural pursuits. He is a general farmer and stock raiser and has met with a very commendable degree of success in his chosen calling. On January 11, 1887, John. L. Barger was united in marriage to Anna M. Hewling, who was borti in this township, the daughter of Abel and Euphemia (Ross) Hewling, well known and respected farmers of the township, the latter of whom is still living at her home in the township, while the former is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Hewling were natives of Champaign county, Ohio, he being born on May 31, 1813. His father, Joseph Hewling, was among the first settlers in Harrison township, coming from New Jersey. He married Margaret Johns and he died aged eighty years; she died aged eighty-six years. Abel Hewling became well-to-do, owning five hundred and four acres of land. Mr. and Mrs. Barger are the parents of eight children, as follow : John W., living in. Bellefontaine, Ohio; Harry, of Springfield, Ohio; Cecil, a farmer living in Johnson township, this county ; Florence, at home; Lewis, of Newport, Rhode Island, is in the United States navy, in which he enlisted in June, 1917, being now in the naval training station ; Elizabeth, living at home; Max and Mary, students in the local school. The family are earnest and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Wesley chapel in Harrison township, in which they take an active and interested part, Mr. Barger serving as trustee of the church. He is a Democrat in politics and takes a good citizen's interest in public affairs, especially those pertaining to the welfare of his home community. JOHN W. KENNEDY. The late John W. Kennedy, an honored veteran of the Civil War and a former well-known farmer of Concord township, this county, but who for some years prior to his death in 1916 had lived retired at Urbana, where his widow is still making her home, was a native son of Champaign county and lived here all his life. He was born near the village of Mutual, in Union township, March 2, 1843, son of Daniel and Sarah Kennedy, natives of Virginia, who became early settlers in the Mutual neighborhood. Daniel Kennedy was a miller and was for years employed in the Arrowsmith mills; spending his last days in that community. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, namely : Samuel, who died while serving as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War; George, deceased ; John W., the subject of this 234 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. memorial sketch; Kate,- widow of Nathan Elliott, who is now making her home at Spring Hill; Ella, who died unmarried; Daniel, who is living at Bellefontaine ; Thomas, deceased, and one who died in infancy. John W. Kennedy received a limited education in the schools at Mutual and early began working at farm labor and in the saw-mill, and was thus engaged when the Civil War broke out. Though but eighteen years of age when President Lincoln issued his first call for volunteers, he responded to that call and went to the front as a private in Company C, Second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with that command for three years, participating during that time in some of the severest service of the war. His toes were frozen off as the result of a season of dreadful exposure during the service and at the battle of Chickamauga he received a bullet wound in the forehead, from which he suffered all the rest of his life. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Kennedy returned to his home in this county and resumed the peaceful pursuit of- farming. He presently acquired a farm of sixty-one and one-half acres in Concord township and after his marriage in the summer of 1883, established his home there, remaining there until his retirement from the farm in 1904 and removal to Urbana, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on February 19, 1916. Mr. Kennedy was an active member of W. A. Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, at Urbana, and ever took an earnest interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization. Healso belonged to the Relief Corps in Concord township, and handled funds for relief of widows and orphans of the Civil War. It was on June 14, 1883, that John W. Kennedy was united in marriage to Katharine E. Seibert, who was born in a log cabin on West Ward street, in the city of Urbana, July 5, r842, daughter - of George and Ann (Remsburg) Seibert, the former a native of the state of Virginia and the latter of Maryland, who were married in Circleville, Ohio, and, later came to Champaign county. Upon coming to this county George Seibert bought a farm in the ,vicinity of George's Chapel, but later disposed of his interest there and moved to Urbana, where he began clerking in the store of George Moore. Upon the outbreak of the Mexican War he enlisted for service and went to the front with General Scott's army, but before the close of the war was discharged on a physician's certificate of physical disability, he having developed a serious dropsical affection. His last days were spent at Mansfield, this state. His wife died at Urbana. They were the parents of three children, Mrs. Kennedy having had an elder sister, Frances, now deceased, who married John M. Carter, who also is dead, and a younger brother, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 235 George Seibert, a well-known attorney-at-law at Urbana and former clerk of courts for Champaign county. For fifty years Mrs. Kennedy has been a member of the Episcopal church at Urbana and her life has ever been devoted to good works, always doing what she could to make better the conditions of living in the community in which she was born and which she has spent all her useful life. JOHN J. ANDERSON. John J. Anderson, a well-known retired building contractor, of Urbana, former marshal of that city, former president of the city council and an honored veteran of the Civil War, is a native of Virginia, born in Augusta county, that state, but has been a resident of Urbana since the year 1856. He was born on March 9, 1835, son of John and Frances (Clark) Anderson, both natives of that same county, the former of whom was the son of John Anderson, who was the son of John Anderson, a native of Scotland, who came to this country and settled along the Middle river, near the old stone church, in Augusta county, Virginia, where he established his home and where he spent the remainder of his life. The subject of this sketch is therefore the fourth John Anderson in direct line. His grandfather, John Anderson, son of the Scottish Immigrant, married .Isabel King, of Virginia, and had two children who grew to maturity, Isabel, who married Thomas Clark and spent her last days near Middletown, and John, third, the father of John J. The third John Anderson grew up on the old Anderson home Place in Augusta county and farmed there all his life, one of the best-known citizens of that community, being known, on account of his connection with the militia, as Captain: Anderson. From the time he was fifteen years of age until his death he was a deacon in the Presbyterian church and was for years local school director. He married Frances Clark, who was born in fhat same neighborhood, and to that union ten children were barn, namely : Mary, now deceased, who married Greenburg Rhodes, of Augusta county, Virginia, also deceased; James W., an Urbana druggist and a notable worker in the church, who married Caroline Baldwin and died in 1915 ; George D., who married Rebecca Barger and who for thirty years . was a miner and farmer in California, retiring then and returning to his boyhood home in Virginia, where he spent his last days; Jane C., who married Henry Korner and both of whom are dead; Isabel, who married Daniel Korner and who, as well as her husband. died in California : John J., the immediate subject of 236 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. this biographical sketch; Francis, who died in infancy; Norvall W., who became connected with his brother, John J., in the building line in- Urbana in the latter fifties and who enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil War, going to the front with Company A, Second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was killed at the battle of Stone's River ; Martha E., who died in infancy, and Sarah Margaret, who, in 1864, married George Killian, a farmer of Augusta county, Virginia, now deceased, his- widow making her home in Salem, Virginia. Capt. John Anderson, father of these children, died in 1856 and his widow, in company with three of her sons, James W., John J. and Norvall W., and her youngest daughter, Sarah Margaret, came over into Ohio and located at Urbana, but in 186o, she returned to her old home in Virginia and there spent her last days, her death occurring in 1885. John J. Anderson was about twenty-one years of age when he located in Urbana and there he and his brother, Norvall, engaged in carpentering and were thus associated in business together until the breaking out of the Civil War, when both enlisted for service in the Union army, the ,younger brother later meeting a soldier's fate at the battle of Stone's River. It was on the President's first call for volunteers that the Anderson brothers enlisted, John J. going to the front as a member of Company K, Second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and his ill-fated brother as a member of Company A of that same regiment. Upon the completion of the three-months' service, in July, 1861, John J. Anderson re-enlisted and was attached to Company G, Third Ohio Cavalry. His first service under fire was at the battle of Shiloh and he afterward was in many battles and skirmishes, serving in the Army of the Cumberland until the close of the war and was a member of the command which took Jefferson Davis, president of the defeated confederacy, captive. Not long after entering the service, Mr. Anderson was promoted to the rank of first sergeant, later being raised to the rank of orderly sergeant. At the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee; he was severely wounded, and was for some time compelled to lie in the field hospital. He received his final discharge at Nashville, Tennessee, in the fall of 1865. Upon. completing his military service John J. Anderson returned to Urbana and resumed. his vocation as a building contractor. He was married in the fall. of 1868 and continued working at his trade until his election to the office of city marshal in 1872, serving in that important capacity for twelve years. In 1872 he stopped contracting and opened a store, handling coal, cement, and bUilding materials. He conducted this store until he retired from active business in 1907. For six years he also CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 237 served as a member of the city- council and four years of that time was president of the council. For two years he was a member of the city board of health and in other ways has contributed of his time and energies to the public service. Anderson is a Republican and has ever given his earnest attention to local political affairs, an ardent champion of good government. It was on September 17, 1868, that John J. Anderson was united in marriage at Urbana to Harriet E. Kimber, who was born in that city, daughter of Amer and Phoebe Kimber, natives of Pennsylvania, whose last days were spent in Urbana, where. Amer Kimber for years was engaged as a stone mason. Mrs. Anderson died on September 23, 1912. She was an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is Mr. Anderson, the latter being a member of the board of trustees of the local congregation of that church. He is a past commander of Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, and has for years taken an active part in the affairs of that patriotic organization, all the offices in which he has filled at one time and another. Mr. Anderson is the oldest Odd Fellow in Urbana, is past noble grand of the local lodge of that order and has for many years taken an active part in lodge work. WILLIAM KISER. The late William M. Kiser, a well-known and substantial retired farmer of Champaign county, who died in 1908 at his home in Urbana, where for sonic years he had been living in comfortable retirement, was a native son of this county and lived here all his life. He was born on a pioneer farm in Mad River township on June 12, 1836, son of George and Sarah (Crabill) Kiser, the former of whom also was born in that same township and the latter in the neighboring county of Clark, prominent among the early settlers of the southern part of this county, who spent their last days there. George Kiser was a son of Philip Kiser and wife, of German stock, who were among the earliest settlers in Champaign county, having come here in the early days of the settlement of this part of the state and establishing their home in Mad River township, taking a useful part in the development of that region from its primitive state. Philip Kiser was a soldier in the War of 1812 and he became a large landowner in Mad River township and a man of much influence in the pioneer neighborhood in which his last days were spent. George Kiser also became an extensive landowner in his turn 238 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. and had a tine piece of farm property in that same township. His first land was a tract he entered from the government and he gradually added to that until he became one of the most substantial farmers in that part of the county. He married Sarah Crabill, a daughter of one of the pioneers of the adjoining county of Clark and established a very comfortable home on his farm. He and his wife were members of the Baptist church, taking an active part in church work, and their children were reared in that faith. They were the parents of nine children, of whom but four grew to maturity and of whom but one, Emery Kiser, formerly a resident of Springfield, died in March, i917. The others, besides the subject of this memorial sketch, were Wilson, a farmer of Mad River township, who later went to Pueblo, Colorado, where he spent his last days, and i..:orge, who died years ago. William M. Kiser grew up on the old Kiser farm ill Mad River township, receiving his schooling in the primitive schools of that community, and in turn became a farmer on his own account in that same township, remaining on the old home place, of which he presently became the owner, until 1897, when he retired from the active labors of the farm and moved to Urbana, where he bought a comfortable residence and where he spent the rest of his days. In addition to his general farming Mr. Kiser had long given considerable attention to the raising of high-grade live stock and had done quite well in his operations, at the time of his retirement being regarded as one of the most substantial farmers of that section of the county. In his political affiliation he was a Democrat and for some time was a member of the schobl board in his local district and in other ways did his share in contributing to the public service. He was a member of the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons at Urbana and for years took a warm interest in Masonic affairs. William M. Kiser died at his home in Urbana on October 31, 19o8, and his widow is still living there, being very pleasantly situated in a delightful home at 708 South Main street. Mrs. Kiser was born, Sarah C. Peck, in Perry county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of John and Mary (Powers) Peck, both of whom were born in that same county and who came to Ohio with their family many years ago and settled in Clark county, where Sarah C. Peck grew to womanhood and where she was living at the time of her marriage to Mr. Kiser. Her father, John Peck, was a blacksmith and upon settling in Clark county he established a smithy there and continued in that vocation until his death, both he and his wife spending their last days in that county. They were the parents of five children, of whom Mrs. Kiser. was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow : Elizabeth, who married John Regle, of CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 239 Clark county, and later moved to Topeka, Kansas, where she died; Catherine, wife of John Enoch, of Springfield, this state; Ellen, deceased, who was the wife of David Zerkle, and Susan, also deceased, who was the wife of James Rector. To William M. and Sarah C. (Peck) Kiser five children were born, namely; Pierson, who is now living in the West; Serepta, wife of Charles Dagger, a farmer of Concord township, this county; Mary, who died in 1887; Elmer H., a farmer of Mad River township, this county, and Laura, who is at home with her mother. These children were well educated and are doing well their respective parts in life. Mrs. Kiser is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and has ever taken a warm interest in church work and in other community good works, helpful in many ways in promoting movements designed to advance the common welfare. T. E. DYE. T. E. Dye, chairman of the Democratic central committee in Champaign county and for years actively and successfully engaged in the insurance and real-estate business at Urbana, is a native Hoosier, but. has been a resident of Urbana for the past quarter of a century and is one of the best-known and most influential citizens of Champaign county. He was born on a farm eight miles from the city of Richmond, in Wayne county, Indiana,. December 19, 1866, and was but sixteen years of age when his father died. He later came to this state and became employed in the plant of the Columbus Buggy Company at the state capital, but two years later returned to his boyhood home in Indiana and resumed farming: Several years later he became engaged in the fire-insurance business in that state and was thus engaged there until 1893, the year following his marriage, when he returned to Ohio and located at Urbana, where he since has made his home. Upon moving to Urbana Mr. Dye bought an interest in the old established insurance. agency of Blake & Cameron, of that city, and later bought the agency, which he since has Operated alone, having built up an extensive business in the general insurance and real-estate line throughout this and adjoining counties. Mr. Dye has the local agency of several of the leading insurance companies of the country, including that of the Ohio Farmers Insurance Company, and his is regarded as one of the leading agencies of the latter company in the state. Ever since taking up his residence in 240 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Urbana, Mr. Dye has given his close and earnest attention to local political affairs and has for years been recognized as one of the leading Democrats in this part of the state. He is now chairman of the Democratic county committee for Champaign county and in that capacity has rendered yeoman service in behalf of his party. He is also a member of the state executive committee of his party. In 1892, the year before taking up his residence in Urbana, T. E. Dye was united in marriage to Anna Burke, daughter of Thomas and Mary Burke, of Liberty, and to this union three children have been born all sons, T. O. Dye, of Rochester, New York, and Paul F. and Roy Dye, who are at home. The Dyes are members of the Catholic church and take a proper part in the general affairs of the parish. Mr. Dye is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has served as noble grand, the highest officer of the same. He takes an active part in the general business affairs of his home town and has for years been regarded as one of the most influential men not only at Urbana, but throughout the county at large. T. O. Dye is at the officers training camp, Madison Barracks, New: York. Paul. F. is at Ft. Benjamin Fiarrison, Indianapolis, in the officers training camp. JACOB H. WILKINS: Jacob H. Wilkins, a farmer of Wayne township, Champaign county, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, December 18, 1862. He is a son of George W. and Sarah A. (Pickeral) Wilkins, both natives of Randolph county, Virginia. The father grew up in the Blue Ridge mountains of his native state and there he was married. He followed the trade, of shingle making. in the mountains until 1855, when he moved to Belmont county, Ohio, where he turned his attention to farming, renting a place for some time, later buying a farm of his own. He remained in that county until 1876, when he removed to Champaign county, locating in Wayne township on the farm where his son, Jacob H., now resides. He rented the place and spent the rest of his life engaged in general farming there, his death occurring in 1893. His widow is still living, making her home with her daughter, Jennie. Twelve children were- born to George W. Wilkins and wife, six of whom are now living, namely : W. F., of Salem township; Jennie ; Albert lives in Marion, Ohio: L. H. lives at Mingo, Champaign County; Anna and Jacob H. Jacob H. Wilkins grew up on the farm in Belmont county and received CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 241 his education in the public schools in that county and in Champaign county. He continued working on the farm with his father until his marriage. He then moved to Columbus, where he operated a dairy for nine years with gratifying results. He then returned to Wayne township, Champaign county, and bought the old Cowgill place, consisting of one hundred and three acres, and here he has since resided. He has added eighteen acres, the place now containing one hundred and twenty-one acres. He has kept the land well cultivated and under a fine state of improvement. He carries on general farming and stock raising, feeding much of his grain to live stock, especially hogs, marketing a large number annually. Mr. Wilkins was married in 1884 to Lydia L. Wilkins, of Hocking county, Ohio, and a daughter of John and Sarah Wilkins. Five children have been born to Jacob H. Wilkins and wife, namely : Ethel, who married Floyd Linville, has one child, Roy Harvey.; Mary, who married Emerson Ritter: Walter married 1Vlaggie Ritter; Agnes is single and lives at home; Clara is deceased. Politically, Mr. Wilkins is a Republican and served as trustee of Wayne township for six years. He is a member of the Friends church. JOHN P. MUNDEL. John P. Mundel, an honored veteran of the Civil War and one of the best-known retired farmers living at Urbana, is a native of the old Keystone state, but has lived in this county since 1869, a resident of Mad River township until his retirement from the farm and removal to Urbana, where he is now living, very comfortably situated. He was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, July 26, 1842, son of James and Ann (Miller) Mundel, both natives of that same county, where they spent all their lives. James Mundel was a potter and a substantial citizen. He was a Republican in his political affiliations and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcoapal church. They were the parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow : Isaac, who was an auger-maker in Pennsylvania and is now deceased; Anna May, who married Daniel Grayson, of Pennsylvania, and is also deceased; David, a ship builder, who served during the Civil War as a member of the Eighth Delaware Regiment and of the One Hundred and Seventy-fifth Pennsylvania (16a) 242 - CHAMPA1GN COUNTY, OHIO. Regiment; William, Who came to this State, and was a mechanic at Springfield; Francis A., a painter; who died in Indiana.; Granville, who came to this state and was a potter, at Mansfield and one son who died in infancy. Reared in his home county in Pennsylvania, John P.. Mundel reiceived his schooling there and early learned the potter's trade under the skillful direction of his father, beginning to work in thepottery when nine years of age, and he was thus engaged until he enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil War. The date of his enlistment was September 5, 1861, and he went to the front as a member of Company E. Purnell's: Legion, Maryland. Volunteers, being sent down the eastern shore of Maryland to Camp Charles, Virginia, where the command was in camp from October, 1861, to February, 1862; thence on to Harper's Ferry: and on to Bolivar Heights, where they put up breastwork's, mounted cannon and proceeded to shell the city of Charlestown, eight miles away. Later. engagements participated in by Mr.Munder included the battle of Front Royal; Virginia, May 31, 1862; Cedar Creek, June 1 ; Catlett's Station, August 2. In the last named engagement the command with which he was serving met with a reverse and retired, forming a square in the woods; later taking refuge in an old freight warehouse at Catlett's Station. There Mr. Mundel was captured by the enemy, but in the confusion presently created by a heavy downpour of rain he made his escape and rejoined his command in camp, resuming the campaign in Virginia with the battle of Gainsville on August 28; Groveton, August 29, and the second battle of Bull Run, August 30. In the latter. battle Mr. Mundel was shot through the right foot and was temporarily out of the fighting. The only other wound he received duringthe war was a bullet hole in his left side, received at the battle of Cold Harbor in June,1864, a wound which kept him confined in the hospital at Alexandria and later in the hospital at Arlington for some time. Barring the time thus lost recuperating, from his wounds, Mr. Mundel participated the active service in which his regiment took part, including some of the bloodiest engagements of the war, and received his final discharge on October 24, 1864. Upon the completion of his military service John P. Mundel returned to his home in Chester county, Pennsylvania, was married there the next fall and remained there until 1869, in which year he came over into Ohio and settled in this county, taking up farming and gardening in Mad. River township, and was thus engaged there until his retirement and removal to Urbana. Upon moving to Urbana. Mr. Mundel bought a house at 612 Storms and after a residence of nineteen years there bought his present house at 425 South Walnut street, where he since has made his home and where he and CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 243 his wife are very comfortably situated. Mr. Mundel is a stanch Republican and for the past twenty years has been serving as assessor. Since leaving the farm he has been quite extensively engaged in the sale of nursery stock. It was on November 23, 1865, that John P. Mundel was united in marriage to Anna E. Goss, of Boston, Massachusetts, and to this union two sons have been born, Frederick K., who is connected with a big shoe store at Indianapolis, Indiana, and Francis A., a cigar-maker at Urbana, Mr. and Mrs. Mundel are members of the Presbyterian church and give proper attention to church work. Mr. Mundel is an active member of Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, and takes a warm interest in the affairs of the same, having held nearly all the offices in. that patriotic organization at one time and another. He also is a member of the Union Veterans' Union. DAVID A. POOL. David A. Pool, an honored veteran of the Civil War and a well-known retired farmer of this county, who has been living retired in Urbana since 1909, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life, with the exception of a few years during the seventies, when he was farming in the neighboring county of Shelby, and for some time in his youth when the was living in Logan county. He was born on a farm in Concord township on September 30 1845, son of Thomas A. and Nancy T.. (Monroe) Pool; who came to this county from Shelby County and later moved to Logan county, where they spent their last days. Thomas A. Pool was a member of one of the first families: of Shelby county, his parents, George and Vercy (Wilkinson) Pool having been among the early settlers of that county, entering a tract of land there froth the government and establishing their home there. in .pioneer days, spending the remainder of their lives in that county. They were the parents of seven children, all now deceased, and of whom Thomas A. was the second in order of birth, the others having been as follow : Polly, who married Mason Arrowsmith and became a resident of Champaign county; Esther Jane, Who married James Mulford, of. Logan county, later moving to Jay county, Indiana; William, who lived in Logan county ; Samuel, who made his home in Shelby county; Gatch, who lived in Logan county, and Anna, who married Joseph R. Smith and also lived in Logan county. Thomas A. Pool was reared on the paternal farm in Shelby county, 244 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. growing up familiar with pioneer conditions in that neighborhood, and remained there until his marriage, after which he came over into Champaign county and settled on a farm in Concord township, later moving up into Logan county, where he spent the rest of his life, a well-known and influential resident of the .community in which he lived. In addition to his farming operations he also was for years engaged as a building contractor and built numerous school houses and dwelling houses. For twelve years he was a member of the board of county commissioners of Logan county and was serving on that board at the time of his death. He was. a Republican and was long regarded as one of the leaders of that party in Logan county. For years he was a class leader in the Methodist church and took an active part in church work and in other good works. He was a well read man and was well: informed on general and current matters. Thomas A. Pool died at his home in Logan county on March 20, 1869, he then being fiftyLone years of age. His widow survived him many years, her death occurring in March, 1910. She was born in 1821, a daughter of David and Florence (Taylor) Monroe, and was the third and last born of the children born to that union, the others having been Angus, who went West in the fifties and there died, and. Susan, who married J. P. Neer and lived in Concord township, this county. David Monroe was a farmer of Concord township and was twice married, his second wife having been a Fletcher. To that second union three children also were born, Florence, who married a Wilson and lived at Degraff; Felina, who married Henry Huling, of Logan county, and Rebecca, who married James McFarland. To Thomas A. and Nancy T. (Monroe) Pool seven children were born, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow : Philena, who married Marion Pegg, of Shelby county; George .W., a retired farmer, now living at Quincy, this state; Mary, who married Robert Moore, of Logan county, and is now deceased; John, a carpenter and blacksmith, now living at Sawtelle, California; Flora, widow of George Stewart, who is now making her home at Quincy, this state, and Emma, widow of J. W. Allinger, of Sidney. David A. Pool was reared on a farm and completed his schooling in the schools at Degraff, after which he taught school for a time. On May 10, 1864, he then being but eighteen years of age, he enlisted for service in the Union army and went to the front as a member of Company F., One Hundred and Thirty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served until the close of the, war, the greater part of the service being performed in the line of guard duty at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, on the James river. Upon the completion of his military service CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 245 Mr. Pool returned home and after the death of his father in 1869 he took charge of the home farm. After his marriage in the spring of 1871 he located on a farm in Shelby county, where he remained for five years, at the end of which time he came to this county and located on a farm in Adams township, later moving to a farm in Salem township, where he established his home and where he remained, quite successfully engaged in farming, until 19̊9, in which year he retired from the farm and moved to Urbana, buying a house at 115 Lincoln avenue, where he and his wife have since made their home and where they are very comfortably and very pleasantly, situated. It was on March 2, 1871, that David A. Pool was united in marriage to Louisa J. Harbour, who was born in Concord township, this county, daughter of Henry and Nancy Harbour, pioneer residents of that community, who spent their last days there, and to this union eight children have been born, namely : John H., night clerk in the Urbana postoffice, who first married Myrtle Neeld and after her death married Charlotte McDarr ; Thomas Emmet, a mail carrier at Columbus ; Otto, who married Effie Powell and is engaged in farming in Salem township, this county; Clarence, who married Lulu Wood nancy and is farming his father's farm in Salem township; Verdie, who married Fern Anderson and who since the death of her husband has been making her home with her parents; Carl, unmarried, who is farming in Alberta, Canada; Harry, a member of the class of 1918, Northwestern Medical College, Cleveland, and Raymond D., who died in 1902, at the age of twelve years. Mr. and Mrs. Pool are members of Grace Methodist Episcopal church and take a proper part in church work, as well as in the general good works of the community. Mr. Pool is a member of W. A. Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, at Urbana, and takes an active interest in the, affairs of that patriotic organization. SAMUEL F. BLACK.  Samuel F. Black, farmer, who owns land in both Rust and Wayne townships, Champaign county, was born in Wayne township, this county, November. 26, 1851. He is a son of Peter and Catherine (Felgar) Black, who were married March 9; 1850. Peter Black was born in Wayne township. Champaign county, and he was a son of Peter Black .of Pennsylvania, who married Mary Hughes of that state. He was of German stock. He was the first of the Black family to come to Champaign county, Ohio, and  246 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. was an early settler in Wayne township, becoming owner of one thousand acres at Brush Lake, and here he spent the rest of his life. His family consisted of the following children ; Isaac .was the eldest; Sarah married Samuel Mitchell; Hannah married, first, J. Harlan, and later Hartland Gowey; Lydia married John Chapman : Peter, father of Samuel F. Black of this sketch. Peter Black was reared on the home farm here and attended the early-day schools, taught in a log house. He went to Iowa about 1849, locating in Henry County, Where he spent one year, then returned to Champaign county and bought a farm in Wayne township, on which he spent the rest of his life, dying December 26, 1900. His wife died February 11, 1907. He :became, like his father before him, one of the leading farmers of his locality, owning about one thousand acres of valuable land at Brush Lake, and carried on general farming and stock raising on an extensive scale. His.family consisted of nine children, namely: Samuel F., subject of this sketch; Isaac F., born October 3, 1853, married January 2, 1876, Eliza Corbett, and they live near Mechanicsburg, this county; Henry E., born January 14, 1856. married Jennie. Swisher, who lives-pear Cable, Champaign :county, he being now deceased; Jasper A., born September 26, 1858, died November 8, 1864; Peter A.; born, September 25; 1861, married Etsie Freeman and they live in Rush township; Mary L., born August 28, 1863, married William Berry, of Cable; Emma, born April 2, 1866, died December 20, 1891, she had married Joseph Diltz, December 27, 1888: Charles B., born March 10, 1868. is engaged in the real estate business at Ithica, New York: he married a Miss Giten, first, and later Bertha Shistzer; Cora, youngest of the seven children, was born September 18, 1871, and died February 11, 1896. Samuel F. Black was reared on the home farm, and he attended the district schools in Wayne township. He remained at home until 1876 when he took, up farming for himself in Wayne township on rented land, later bought his present excellent farm, in January, 1907, on which he has made many improvements and has since carried on general farming and stock raising successfully. He has a good farm of one hundred and thirty-seven acres and a fine home and good outbuildings. On September 8, 1890, he married Laura G. Stokes, of Salem township, this county, and a daughter of William and Margaret (Petty) Stokes, of Salem township, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. Black also owns fifty acres in another part of Wayne township. He carries on general farming and stock raised stock successfully. He raises a good grade of Cattle, horses, hogs and sheep. Politically, he is a Republican. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 247 SAMUEL CHANCE, M. D. The late Dr. Samuel Chance, formerly and for years one of Urbana's best-known druggists and physicians, was a native of this county and here spent all his life. He was born in the village of Westville on September 15, 1833, a son of James and Mary (Kenton) Chance, the latter of whom. was the daughter of Thomas Kenton. James Chance was a native of Maryland, who came to this county in the clays of his young manhood and later married and established his home on the old Kenton homestead, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was twice married, his second wife having been Deborah Morris, widow .of .John Morris. By. his first marriage,he. was the father of four children and by his second, two. Reared on a farm, Samuel Chance received his early schooling in the Westville schools and afterward taught school and sold clocks for a . time. He then entered Miami Medical College and was graduated from that institution in 1859. He married in that same year and after a year spent in hospital work entered upon the practice of his profession at Kings Creek, in this county, where he was located for five years, at the end of which time he moved to Urbana, where he opened a drug store and was there engaged in the drug business and in the practice of his profession until his retirement in 1888: After his retirement Doctor Chance continued to make his home in Urbana and there spent his last days, his death occurring in 1892. Doctor Chance was a Democrat and took an active part in local politics. He was a Knight Templar Mason and took a warm interest in. Masonic affairs. He was a member of the Baptist church and took a proper interest in church work. It was on June 1, 1859, that Dr. Samuel Chance was united in marriage to Elizabeth Steinbarger, who was born near Urbana, a daughter of David and Lucy H. (Gaines) Steinbarger, both natives: of Virginia, the former of whom was a son of John Steinbarger, a native of Germany and a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolutionary War, .who first settled in Virginia and later moved to Indiana Territory and settled near Taylorsville, in the White Water valley,: where he spent his last. days. After the death of his father David Steinbarger came over into Ohio and settled in this county, engaging. in, the milling btisiness on Mad River. To Dr. Samuel Chance and wife two children were born; Lucy, who is at home with her widowed mother and who has for years been the assistant secretary of the Home Loan Company of Urbana, and Frank S., station agent for the Erie Railroad. Company 248 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. at Urbana. Frank S. Chance was born at Urbana on September 15, 187o, and was graduated from the high school there in 1891. After a year spent in a drug store at Dayton he entered the employ of the Erie at Urbana and in 1916 was made agent for the company at that place. He married Stella. Whittaker and has two children, Harry and Helen. DARIUS T. RUNKLE. Darius T. Runkle, agent for the Erie Railroad Company at Mingo, this county, president of the school board of that village and for many years actively identified with the growing interests of that place, is a native son. of Champaign county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a. farm in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood, in Salem township, September 22, 1850, son. of Lewis and Janet (Parks) Runkle, natives of New Jersey, who were married in that state; where they remained. Lewis Runkle was there engaged in the bIacksmithing business until about 1840, when they came to Ohio and settled in Champaign county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Upon coming to this county Lewis .Runkle bought an eighty-acre farm near Mt. Tabor and there established his home. He was a good farmer and prospered in his operations, becoming one of the substantial and influential farmers of that section of the county, giving all his children, after their marriage, ample assistance in the way of securing homes for themselves. Lewis Runkle died at his home in Salem township on February 23, 1901, and his widow survived him for eleven years, her death occurring in 1912. They were the parents of six children, those besides the subject Of this sketch being as follow : John H., of Mingo; Dr. W. S. Runkle, of Washington, Kansas; Don P. Runkle, of Mingo; Ida, wife of Frank Benson, of Le Mars, Iowa, and Ada, wife of Robert Kelly. Reared on the home farm, Darius T. Runkle received his early schooling in the schools in the neighborhood of his home and upon completing the course there went to Columbus, where he took a course in a business college, upon the completion of which he was engaged as a clerk in the store of J. Guthridge at Mingo. Two years later he began working in the local office of the Erie Railroad Company at Mingo and on October 1, 1874, he then being twenty-four years of age, he was made agent for the Erie at that station and has ever since occupied that position, having thus been in the service of the railroad company longer than any other station agent on that division of CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 249 the road. Mr. Runkle has ever given his close attention to the duties attending his service with the railroad company and has likewise labored diligently for the upbuilding of the village in which he so long has made his home. He is now president of the local school board and in other ways has contributed of his time and energies to the public service, long 'having been. recognized as one of the leading citizens of Mingo. In 1874 Darius T. Runkle was united in marriage to Louie J. Johnson, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah J. (Guthridge) Johnson, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Nellie, who married L. C. Petry and has one child, a daughter, Ruth Mary. Mrs. Runkle died on December 28; 1902. Mr. Runkle' is a member of the Baptist church and for forty-five years has been clerk of the local congregation of that church. He also is a member of the board of deacons of the church and has ever given his earnest attention to church affairs. He is a Knight Templar Mason and gives his. close attention to the affairs of the order. LEVI S. RAFF. Levi S. Raff, an honored veteran of the Civil War and a retired carpenter and cabinet-maker. living at Urbana, was born in Wayne county, this. state, September 29, 1848, son of Henry B. and Jane (Rutter) Raff, both. of whom were born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and who had come to this state in the days of their youth, their last days being spent in West. Liberty. Henry B. Raff was left an orphan when seven years of age, one of the four children left by his parents, three sons and one daughter, the other sons. having been John and Christopher. He later came to this state with the Rutter family and with them settled in Logan county, Levi and Polly Ann. Rutter and their family being among the early settlers of that county. They had seven children, Jay, James, Levi, Josiah, Louis, Mattie and Jane. Henry B. Raff grew to manhood in Logan county, receiving a limited schooling in the primitive schools of that time and place. He married Jane Rutter, youngest daughter. of Levi Ruitter, and then located in Wayne county. For some time he was engaged as a foreman in railroad work and in 1853 returned to Logan county, where he was living when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted for service in the Union army and went to the front as a member of Company I, Forty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer infantry, and