350 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. tion in the Urbana public schools, but he left school when only eleven years old and began to work out at whatever he could find to do and until' he was twenty years old he followed various occupations. At that age he married Nora McGuire, a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Shafer) McGuire, livediVed on a farm Champaign county. The father is now deceased, but the mother makes her home in Salem. township. They were parents of nine children, namely : Sallie, living at home in Salem township; Nora, wife of Mr. Millard, of this sketch; James, in Los Angeles, California: Lessie, in Kennard,. Champaign county ; Maggie, in Dayton, Ohio; Lizzie, who. makes her home at Urbana, and Nicholas, Ollie and Theresa, all three reside in Salem township. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Millard named as follows: Harley, Blanche; Edna and Edgar are twins, and Glenna. After his marriage Mr. Millard lived in Springfield, Ohio, for about four years, where he was employed at the Kelly foundry. He then engaged in farming in Harrison township, Champaign county, for about nine years. Since 1910 he has resided at Lippencott, farming a two-hundred-acre place and he has made a success as a general farmer and stock raiser. Mr. Millard votes independently—for the best man. He has never aspired to office himselfself. JOSEPH B. SMITH. Joseph B. Smith, an honored veteran of the Civil War, and a well-known farmer and substantial citizen of Johnson township, living. on his well-improved farm of twenty-five acres located on rural route No. 4 out of St. Paris, was born in Page county, Virginia, June 15, 1845, the son of James and Catherine (Deeds) Smith, both of whom were natives of the Old Dominion State, and who are mentioned elsewhere in this volume in connection with the sketches of their sons, Henry and George Smith. Joseph B. Smith was the fifth child in order of birth born to his parents, and was but a small boy when brought, to Champaign county, Ohio, by his parents, who emigrated in 1857 from Virginia to this state. He received his education in the district schools of Johnson township, and grew to manhood here. Following the example of his two brothers, he enlisted for service in the Union army on October 21, 1863, when he joined Company C, Twelfth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, and served until the close of the war. He saw much hard service and was twice wounded, receiving a shot in the right limb, and also receiving severe blow over the head from CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 351 a revolver. After the close of the war he returned to Johnson township, this county, after being mustered out on November 14, 1865, at Nashville, Tennessee, and engaged in farming, in which vocation he has continued since that time. He has an attractive little place of twenty-five acres near the village of Millerstown, where he is very comfortably located. Soon after his return from the army at the close of the Civil War, Joseph B. Smith was united in marriage to Eliza Jane Nicholas, end to this union five children were born, namely Cary, of Quincy, Ohio : Laura, the wife of David Moody, of Urbana; Nevada, unmarried, the youngest daughter living, and Wilber, who married Hazel Applegate, and George L., living at home with his father. The mother of these children died, January 26, 1912. The family are earnest and devoted members of the. Baptist church, in which they take an active and warm interest. Mr. Smith is a Republican in politics, and while taking a good citizenship's interest in the civic affairs of his community, yet is not active in political affairs. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post No. III, St. Paris, Ohio. WILLIAM N. NEESE. William N. Neese, a farmer living on rural route number four, Urbana, Ohio, was born in Auglaize county, Ohio, February 9, 1858, a son of Josiah and Mary A. (Weaver) Neese. The father was born in Rockingham, Virginia, July 21, 1829. He was a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Bowman) Neese. Jacob Neese was married in Virginia and came with his family to Ohio. He found a location in the south part of Mad River township, and made that his home for a number of years. Then he sold that farm and bought a farm which William Deibert now owns, and there they spent. the remainder of their days. He was the father of ten children : Josiah, josephus, John, Johanna, Jorem B., Jerome, Jacob, Jeremiah, Jesse, Sarah. Three of these are now living : Jorem, Jesse and Jeremiah. Josiah Neese, father of our subject was a carpenter by trade. He married Mary A. Weaver, November 27, 1855. She was born near Terre Haute, Ohio, January 13, 1835, a daughter of William and Rebecca Weaver: She was reared on the farm and after marriage lived for a time in Mad River township, then removed to Auglaize county, Ohio. They lived there until 1864, when they returned to this county and settled in Mad River town- 352 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. ship, where they spent the rest of their. days. They were the parents of two children : William N., our subject; James A., who is a farmer and agent for a fertilizer company. William N. Neese was reared on a farm and received his education in the district schools, in which he qualified himself for teaching. He began teaching, October 4, 1877, and continued in that business until April 21, 1916, a period of more than thirty-nine years. He taught nineteen years in Mad River township, seventeen years in Urbana township, and three years in Jackson township, all in Champaign county. With the many changes and innovations in methods of_ teaching during this period it goes without saying, that, in order for a teacher to keep 'abreast of the times and meet the requirements of the modern educational methods, it must be necessary to continually apply himself to a study of the new methods. This Mr. Neese did, by attending the normal school at Ada, Ohio, in 1881 and 1883, and by study, and attention to all other. educational advantages. He has always been active in educational matters and ardently devoted to the cause. Mr. and Mother Neese are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. of Terre Haute, Ohio, and active workers in the church. He is a member of the St. Paris Lodge, No. 246, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a past grand in that order. He is also a member of Pharos Lodge No. 355, Free and Accepted Masons, and St. Paris Chapter .No, 132, Royal Arch Masons; Urbana Council No. 59, R. and S. M., and Raper Commandery No. 19, Knights Templar; at Urbana, Ohio. He is a Republican in politics. DAVID R. KIMBALL David R. Kimball, of Woodstock, well-known and substantial farmer and banker, proprietor of beautiful. "Maple Hill Farm," two miles or more south of Woodstock, in Rush township; former president of the Woodstock Bank and, since the organization of the Peoples Bank Of Woodstock, president of that latter institution, former member of the Champaign county council and for years actively identified with the affairs of his home county, is a native son of this county and has lived here all of his, life. He was horn on a farm in Rush township, July 2, 1848, son of Truman M. and Mary Jane (Tullington) Kimball, the former a native of the state of Vermont and the latter, of this state.  CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 353 Truman M. Kimball was born at Stowe, Vermont, April I, 1803, and was but a child when his parents, Ira Kimball and wife, came to Ohio and settled in this county, making their home on a farm in the neighborhood of Woodstock, in Rush township. There Truman M. Kimball grew to manhood and became a large landowner, substantial farmer and man of affairs. He was a Republican and for some years served as trustee of his home township, doing much to develop the general interests of the same and being helpful in many ways in advancing the common welfare in the eastern part of the county. In addition to his general farming, he was widely known as a stockman and did very well in his operations, for years being regarded as one of the most substantial citizens in that part of the county. His death occurred on December 19, 1894. Truman M. Kimball was twice married. His first wife, who was Mary Jane Tullington and who was born in Madison county, this state, June 18, 1813, died on February 27, 1858. To that union twelve children were born, of whom the subject of this sketch was the eighth in order of birth, the others being as follow : Claretta A., born on November 24, 1835, who married John- McIlroy,.and died on July 20, 1868; Harriet E., January 29, 1837, who married William Ellsworth and died in 1915; Lucy R., October 13, 1838, who married Erastus Guy and is now deceased; Truman M., Jr., August 28, 1840, who died in his youth; Susan, February 11, 1842, who is now living at Irwin, in the neighboring county of Union, widow of James McIlroy ; Martha J., May 15, 1843, mow deceased, who married David Chatfield and after his death married Thomas McCarthy; Marcia M., August 11, 184.5, now living at Woodstock, widow of George Lincoln; Samuel P., September 6, 185o, now living near Salem, Oregon, where he has a large fruit orchard; Jefferson F., October 6, 1852, a retired farmer and banker, now living at Mechanicsburg, this county; Charles P., February 6, 1855, who married Grace'.Cushman and is engaged in the hardware business at Woodstock, and James G., February 13, 1858, who died on August to, 1858. After the death of the mother of these children Mr. Kimball married Mary Jane Hunter, whose last days were spent in Kansas, and to that union two children were born, Rometta, who married Gail Howard and now lives at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and William C., who married Lucy Marsh- and is now living at Woodstock, a retired farmer. Reared on the home farm in Rush township, David R. Kimball received his early schooling in the schools of that township and supplemented the same by a course in Oberlin College. After his marriage he established his home (23a) 354 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. on beautiful "Maple Hill Farm”, two and one-half miles south of Woodstock and there became extensively engaged in general farming and stock raising, coming to be regarded as one of the most progressive and substantial farmers in the eastern part of the county. On that farm Mr. Kimball made his home until 1907, when he retired from the active labors of the farm and moved to Woodstock, where he built his present handsome residence and where he since has made his home. Even before leaving the farm Mr. Kimball had long been giving his active attention to the general business affairs of the community and was the president of the old Woodstock Bank of Woodstock. In 1906, the year before his removal to the village, he became one of the organizers of the Peoples Bank of Woodstock and was elected president of the same, which position he since has occupied, and in that same year erected the substantial building in which the bank has since been housed. In other ways he has also done much for the growth and development of his home town and has long been regarded as one of the leading men of affairs of that pleasant and flourishing village. Mr. Kimball is a Republican and for six years served as a member of the county council, during that incumbency giving the affairs of the county his most earliest and thoughtful attention. Mr. Kimball has been thrice married. On October 8, 1875, he was united in marriage to May Smith, of Woodstock, daughter of Courtland Smith, for years postmaster of that village, a shoemaker by Vocation, whose last days were spent at Milford, and to that union two children were born, Fannie 'Fern, who married Dr. John Hathaway, of Mechanicsburg, and has one child; a son, John, and Mabel Fawn, wife of Dr. W. H. Sharp, of Woodstock, a biographical sketch of Whom is presented elsewhere in this volume. The mother of these children died on May 4, 1888, and on May 10, 1889, Mr. Kimball married Mary Hathaway, of Union county, who died in 1906, after which he married Huldah Putnam, of Washington county, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Kimball have a very pleasant home at Woodstock and take an interested part in the general social activities of their home town,. helpful in promoting all proper causes there and throughout the county at large. Mrs. Kimball is a member of the Universalist church and is a teacher in the Sunday school of the same. Mr. Kimball Knight Templar and a Royal Arch Mason and takes much interest in Masonic affairs. He was made a Mason in the local lodge at Mechanicsburg many years ago and is connected with the local chapter of the. Royal Arch Masons at Urbana and with the commandery of Knights Templar in that City. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 355 THE MAST FAMILY. There are few families in Champaign county who have had a weightier influence upon the affairs of this county or who are more widely represented than the Mast family; the numerous progeny of the pioneer, John. Mast, who settled here in 1830, now forming one' of the most extensive connections this part of the state. In his old home over in that sterling old Mennonite community in Berks county, Pennsylvania, John Mast had been a farmer and ,school teacher. There he married and six or seven years later, in 1830, moved with his family over into Ohio and settled in Champaign county, buying here a quarter of a section of good farm land at ten dollars an acre. He had little money to invest in his land and in the necessary live stock and farming implements, and soon found himself in a financial struggle, as the markets for his farm products gave no large returns. The means of transportation in those days also were so unsatisfactory as to prove a further discouraging feature of pioneer living, and he had to haul his wheat over the mud roads to Dayton, where he received but thirty-three cents a bushel for the same. But as the country became more thickly settled, the land began to increase in value and the farmer was given better prices for his products, the gradually improving roads also affording better facilities for transportation. John Mast was not only a good farmer, but an excellent business man, and he soon began to clear off his debts and it was not long until he came to be recognized as one of the leading farmers in Champaign county, as well as one of the foremost factors in the work of developing the community in which he had settled. He took an active part in the affairs of both church and state and established a family which has ever been noted for fidelity to the true principles of community life hereabout. In 1865 John Mast retired from his farm of three hundred and twenty acres, which he divided among his children. The Mast family in America is descended from Bishop Jacob Mast, a leader in the Mennonite church, a Swiss by birth, who was born in 1738 and who was early orphaned. While he was still in his boyhood he came to this country from Switzerland with his four sisters and a younger brother, John, the children being in the care of their benevolent uncle, Johannes Mast, and settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania, where the family is still influentially represented. It was on November 3, 1750, that the party landed from the ship, "Brotherhood," at the port of Philadelphia, young Jacob Mast being then twelve years of age. They joined the Amish Mennonites in 356 - CHAMPA IGN COUNTY, OHIO. Berks county and there the lad grew to manhood, firmly grounded in the simple faith of his father and of his daily associates. There he married Magdalene Holly and there he established his home, the warrant giving him title to his tract of one hundred and seventy acres of land in Carnarvon township, that county, bearing date of November 19, 1764. There he erected a comfortable log house, close to .a lusty spring which flows directly from a stratum of limeless sandstone, and there he spent the remainder of his life, .diligent in all good works and a faithful servant in the Lord: to the people :Whom he had been elected in 1788 to serve As bishop, ever "sound, hopeful and trustful in religious convictions, which. had fitted him admirably for his vocation." Bishop Mast died in 1808 and neighbors carried his body out of his old home and buried it in a quiet spot on the broad acres he had tended and loved." His grave is marked with a carved sandstone bearing inscription near the northwest corner of the wall of .what is known as Pine Grove cemetery. His widow survived him until October 26, 182o, she then being eighty years -of age, and is buried at his side. Bishop Jacob Mast and his wife, Magdalene Holly, were the parents of twelve children, of whom it is related that they had strong constitutions and general had good health and led temperate; moral, honest Christian lives and imparted these same good qualities to their children. and grand children, for which give God the glory.. During their childhood days they were commanded before retiring at night to all repeat our Lord's Prayer in concert." These children were as follow : John Mast, who married Mary *Kurtz; Magdelena, who married Christian Zook; Barbara, who married John Hochstetler and after his death John Zuck. Jacob Mast, who married Barbara Kenage and was the father of John Mast, the Champaign county pioneer; David Mast, who married Mary Kurtz; Mary, who married John Coffman; Nancy; who married Adam Kurtz; Fannie, who married John Zuck; Elizabeth, who married Christian Holly; Christian Mast, who married Susan Kurtz; Esther, who married Christian Zuck and after his death, Peter Holly, and Daniel Mast, who married Charity Zook and after her death, Catherine Kurtz and after the death of the latter, Mary Morgan. Jacob Mast, second son and fourth child of the Bishop whose name he bore, was born in 1768 and died in 1852 with infirmities incident to old age, at his home, known as the Petershime farm; north of the old Conestoga Tavern, in Carnarvon township, Berks county, Pennsylvania. His early training's was along agricultural lines and he devoted himself all his life to the cultivation of farms in the Conestoga valley, "his sterling integrity, good CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 357 sense and unostentatious sincerity of purpose winning for himself a high place in the esteem of the people," and he was frequently called upon to fill positions of honor and trust. On April 22, 1792, Jacob Mast was united in .marriage to Barbara Kenage, daughter of John and Dorothy (Nafzger) Kenage, the latter of whom was a daughter of Matthias Nafzger, a native of Switzerland, and to that union eight children were born, of whom John Mast, the Champaign county pioneer, was the first-born, the others being as follow : Joseph, who married Frances Plank and after her death married Phoebe Ann Plank; Elizabeth, who married John. Zuck; Mary, who died unmarried, at the age of twenty-seven years; Jacob K., who married Fanny Gellman; Isaac, who married Ann Gellman, and Leah, who married the Rev. George Hunter. John Mast, grandson of the Bishop and eldest son of Jacob Mast, was born in Carnarvon township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, October 29, 1793, and became a farmer and school teacher in that county. There. on December 4, 1823, he married Elizabeth Trego, who was born in Chester county, that same state, January 26, 1804, daughter of Eli and Mary Trego, and continued to make his home in Berks county until 1830, when, as noted above, .he came to Ohio and became a permanent resident of Champaign county, his death occurring at his home in Salem township on March 7, 1881. For forty-three years he was a member of the board of education, was a class leader in the Methodist Episcopal church. for fifty-four years and for forty-eight years a steward and a member of the board of trustees of the same. His wife had preceded him to the grave something. more than a, year; her death having occurred on January 25, 1880. They were the parents of .eight children, namely : Phineas Price, Miriam B., Isaac Wesley, Anna Keemer, Elizabeth F., Joseph Kenage, John Emory and Ephraim Milton. P. P. Mast, former mayor of Springfield, this state, and for years one of the most prominent manufacturers and business men in that city, died at his home there on November 20, 1898. He was the owner of much valuable land in Springfield, besides more than three thousand, acres of land in Trego county, Kansas, an equal acreage in the peach belt of Georgia and the great Bandarita ranch in Mariposa county, California. He married Anna. Maria Kirkpatrick, of Galesburg, Illinois, who died in April, ,1895, without issue. Miriam B. Mast died on March 20, 1885, unmarried. Isaac Wesley Mast, an honored veteran of the Civil War, died at his home in Salem township, on March 14, 1882. He was twice married, by his first wife, Laura A. Smith, having had one child, a daughter,. Sarah Elizabeth, who married George H. Frey, of Springfield, and has three sons, 358 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO Harrison, John and Philip. By his second wife, Anne Keating Smith, he had three children, Anna Maggie, deceased; Elizabeth, who married Francis Butler Loomis, of Marietta, this state, former United States minister to Venezuela, and later to Portugal, now living at Springfield, and had three children, of whom but one, Francis Butler, now survives, and Florence, who married Charles Kilgore. Rogers, of Springfield and died in that city in 1901, leaving one child, a son, Richard Harrison; who died in the year following. Anna Keemer Mast married Alexander J. Stewart, a veteran of the Civil War, and both she and her husband spent their last days at Erie, Pennsylvania. They were the parents of five children, none of whom are now living. Elizabeth F. Mast, now living at Los Angeles, California, is the widow of John R. Lemen, whom she married in this county and who died in South Bend, Indiana, in 1892, leaving two children, Eva Florence, who married Ezra E. Clark, a teacher of art at DePauw University, and has one child, a son, Donald, and Edward Grant now a manufacturer and traveling salesman at Chicago, who married Daisy B. Morse. Joseph Kenage Mast, who is still living in this county, was a farmer in Salem township until his retirement from the farm in 191o, since which tithe he has been making his home among his children, he now being in The eighty-fourth year of his age. He has been twice married, his first wife, Catherine Eichholtz, of Urbana, dying in August, 1883, after which he married Josephine Anderson, of Minneapolis, Minnesota.. My that first marriage seven children were born, namely : John Wesley, who was killed when nine years of age by a fall from a horse; Charles Henry, a farmer of this county, who married Mary L. Swisher and has three children, Paul Harvey; Avise Tabitha and Adrah Marst, Louise ; Joseph, Frank,. a 'farmer of Salem township and a biographical sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume, who married Malinda Instine, of Urbana, and has two sons, Burleigh Frank and Harry Wright; Emma, who married John Milton Strasser, of Urbana, now living at LaGrange, Illinois and has five children, Roland John, Marie Jeanette, Ethelyn Beatrice, Florence Louise and Joseph Mast; Elizabeth, who married Clark A. McInturff, of Urbana, now living in New York City, and has one child, a son, Joseph Mast ; Cicero Phineas, a soldier during the Spanish-American War, now a grocer at Dayton, who married Caroline Schroeder, of that city; and Ivy, wife of the Rev. J. Ernest Balmer, a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church, stationed at Williamstown, Michigan. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 359 John Emory Mast, a biographical sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume, is still living in this county, one of the best-known and most substantial farmers of Salem township. He married Minerva J. Stonebraker, of King's Creek, and has eleven children. Ephraim Milton Mast, an honored veteran of the Civil War, a member of Company M, First Ohio Light Artillery, 'died at the home of his son, John C. Mast, in Urbana, on April 7, 1910, at the age of sixty-eight years. He left this county in the fall of 1869 and had afterward lived in Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, and was a well-to-farmer. He Married in 1866 Sallie J. Brown, of Urbana, and was the father of four sons, namely: Edgar Leroy, who married Sarah Angeline Runkle, of St. Paris, this county, and has one child, a daughter, Cora Emma; John Clinton, who married Sarah Augusta Klickow, of Urbana; Charles Clinton, now living in Florida, who married Nellie Blanche Neer, of Westville, this county, and Alfred Phineas, who married Arvesta Foltz, of this county, and has two sons, Roland and Homer. SAMUEL B. WHITMORE. Samuel B. Whitmore, a farmer living on route nine, Urbana, and route five, St. Paris, Ohio, two miles west of Westville, Ohio, was born on the farm that was entered by his great-grandfather, John Whitmore. He was born in Virginia and came to Ohio in an early day and entered three hundred and twenty acres of land all heavily timbered. He cleared off a little space on which he built a cabin and then began the work of cutting off the timber and—getting enough ground, in shape for cultivation and raise a crop. This meant an immense amount of labor but it was an experience common to all pioneer settlers. In time he had considerable ground under cultivation and had a comfortable house in which to live. He built a barn on the farm and this barn is still standing. He had three sons and one daughter, Jacob, David, John and Mary.. Jacob married Catherine Zimmerman, and their children were, Barbara, Sarah, Elizabeth and Simon. Simon married Elizabeth Wiant and they had five children: Sylvia, wife of Ross Wiant; Minnie, wife of D. S. Seibert; Samuel B., Dottie, 'Wife of William Gumpert; Harry D., a farmer in this township. Simon Whitmore settled down on the farm on which he was born. He received his education in the common schools and worked on the farm. He became the owner of one hundred and ninety-seven acres of land which 360 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. he cultivated and improved. He was an active member of the Baptist church at Myrtle Tree. Samuel B. Whitmore was reared on the old home farm and received his education in the common schools of the neighborhood. On December 28, 1898, he was married to Ora E. Neff, who was born in Mad River township and educated in the schools of the vicinity of her home. The children born to this union were: S. Joe, born October 13; 1899, graduate of the common schools; Mary C., born in 1910; Lulu died at the age of four years, and one child died in infancy. Mr. Whitmore is a charter member of Magrew Lodge No. 433, Knights of Pythias. In politics he affiliates with the Democratic party. GOV. JOSEPH VANCE. Ever since the period of the incumbency of Gov. Joseph Vance in the chair of the chief executive of the great state of Ohio in the latter thirties the people of Champaign county have been justly proud of the fact that this county has furnished to the state a governor, and it is but proper and fitting that in a. collection of biographies relating to the persons who have done well their part in the work of developing this county, mention here should be made of this distinguished figure in- the civic life of the state and prominent factor in the pioneer life of .Champaign county. The Hon. Joseph Vance, a captain of militia during the time of the War of 1812, for years a legislator from .this district governor of the state during the. gubernatorial period of 1837-39, member of Congress from this district for. eight terms and a member of the state constitutional convention of 1851, was a native of Pennsylvania and a later resident. of .Kentucky, but had been a resident of Ohio since territorial days, having come here in 1801, and of Champaign county since the year in which the county was organized as a civic unit, he thus having been one of the real pioneers of this county. He was born. in the old Indian town of "Catfish", now the city of Washington, Pennsylvania, March 21, 1786, a son of Joseph C. and Sarah (Wilson) Vance; natives .of Virginia, the former of whom was a soldier of the patriot army during the war for independence, and who later moved to :Kentucky. coining thence up into the then territory of Ohio and, after a sometime residence in the region now comprised Greene county, came up into this sec- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 361 tion and became one of the organizers of Champaign: county, spending here the rest of his life, one of the most influential pioneers of this county. Joseph C. Vance was the youngest of a large family. of children born to his parents in Virginia and in the Old Dominion grew to maturity. His father, a native of Ireland, of Scottish ancestry, had come to the colonies with a considerable number of Presbyterians, emigrating from Ireland with a view to setting up homes in the new land across the water, and by the time of the breaking out of the Revolutionary War had his home well established. in Virginia. Joseph C. Vance was old enough to render service in that struggle for independence and served throughout the war as a member of Saul Vail's company with the famous rifle regiment of General Morgan. In 1781, the year the war closed, he married Sarah Wilson,. who was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, and straightway he and his bride started to what then was practically an unknown West, with a view to setting up their home amid pioneer conditions, the great western county of Virginia, Kentucky, being their objective point. When they reached a point in the immediate vicinity of the old Indian village of "Catfish", now the city of Washington, Pennsylvania, they made a temporary home and there remained for several years, during which time, in the spring of 1786, in that little village, was born their son, Joseph, who later was to become governor of the .state of Ohio. Two years later, in 1788, Joseph C. Vance loaded his little family and his few belongings on a raft and floated down the river to a point now known as Vanceburg, where he built a house and established his home in the wilderness, becoming the founder of the Vanceburg settlement. A few years later he concluded to penetrate. farther into the wilderness and again started down the river, his family and goods on a flat-boat, and stopped on the Kentucky side, a few miles above Mays Lick, where he established his home and where he developed a good farm. There, among the Indians and amid conditions typical of. a frontier settlement, the future governor of Ohio grew to Manhood, becoming a sturdy and vigorous man; inured to all the hardships. and privations common to the pioneers of that place and period. With a capacity for work and a willingness to perform the hardest kind of. manual labor, he developed his body by toil in the fields and his mind by close application to the few books that he could command as he sat about the fireside during the long winter evenings. In 1801, Joseph C. Vance again decided to move on, his true pioneering instinct leading him a gain to face the wilderness, and he came with his family across the river and up into the then territory of Ohio, settling in the region now comprised within the confines of Greene county. Four years later he "pulled up stakes" there and came up 362 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. into this section: thus .being here when Champaign County was organized in that same year. The Vance family settled at Urbana; which had just a short time before been laid out, and when it came time to establish a county seat the father: of the future governor was one of the men instrumental in having the local: seat of government located at that place. Joseph C. Vance was a man of much force of character, possessing a vigorous personality, and his pioneer neighbors turned to him instinctively as a director of affairs; he thus becoming the first director of the county. He also was elected. first clerk of the county and first recorder, and continued active in local civic affairs until his death, on August 5, 1809. Joseph Vance was eighteen or nineteen years' of age when he came to this county with his father and he was one of the first young men in the new county to apply 'for a license to marry, the faded old record of licenses in the court house showing that on December 17, .1807, he was united in marriage to Mary Lemon, the record disclosing that the ceremony was performed by the Rev. .John Thomas. Before the War of 1812 began young Vance had been elected captain of a company of local militia and his company was called. out on several occasions prior to the actual opening of hostilities in order: to quell incipient Indian uprising. Some time prior to 1812 he and his company .erected a blockhouse up in Logan county, near the Quincy, which was long .known as Vance's blockhouse. In the fall of 1812 Joseph Vance, who meanwhile had been growing greatly in favor among his pioneer neighbors, was elected to represent this district in the state Legislature and served as a member of the lower house during the eleventh and twelfth sessions (1812-13). In the fall of 1815 he again was elected to the Legislature and served through the fourteenth and fifteenth sessions, his last service in the lower house being rendered during the eighteenth session, 1819. In the succeeding election, .1820, he was elected to represent this district in the Congress and by successive re-elections served in that body from March. 4, .1821, to March 4, 1833, six terms, during which period of service he became one of the best known members of the Ohio delegation in the national House of Representatives and a man of much. influence in that legislative body. In the fall of 1836 he was elected governor of Ohio and thus served as chief executive of the state during .the years 1837-39. In the fall of the year following his retirement, froth the governor's office, Governor Vance was elected to represent this district in the state Senate and served in that body during the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth sessions (1840-41). He then was re-elected a member of Congress from this district and returned to Washington, serving two terms (1843-47), at the end of which time-he retired CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 363 to private life, with the avowed intention never again to allow his name to be proposed for public office. However, when the constitutional convention of 1851 was called; Governor Vance was found as one of the leading members of that historic body and it was while in the active performance of his duties as a member of that convention that he was suddenly stricken with paralysis and was compelled to relinquish his duties. He never recovered from the stroke and died on his farm, two and one-half miles north of Urbana, less than a year later, August 24, 1852, he then being in the sixty-seventh year of his age. CLINTON A. NEESE. Clinton A. Neese, engineer of the Thackery Creamery Company, was born in Mad River township, July 26, 1875. He is a son of Reuben. B. and Laura (Weaver) Neese. Reuben B. Neese was born in Mad River township, a son of Elias and Sarah (Foltz) Neese. The Neese family were natives of Virginia and came to Ohio at an early day. They were among the early settlers of Champaign county. Laura Weaver Neese, mother of our subject, was born in Mad River township, the daughter of W. E. and Elizabeth (Leonard) Weaver. The Leonards were also of old Virginia stock. The father and mother of our subject were both reared in Mad River township. After marriage they settled near Terre Haute and he was engaged in work at the carpenter trade for about forty years. They are now living in the village of Thackery. They had six children, all of whom are still living. They are : Clarence, Thackery, Ohio; Clinton A.; Elliott S., Seattle, Washington; Warden O., Hobart, Washington; Thaddeus K., Seattle, Washington ; Mabel, wife of William Hecker, Mad River township. Clinton A. Neese was reared to manhood in Mad River township. At the age of sixteen years he went to Arkansas, where he was employed for two years working on the farm for John W. Weaver. Then he went to Birmingham, Alabama, where he remained for one year; then to Dallas, Texas, for four months. He then went to Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where he was employed for sometime as hoisting engineer, and in the machine shops at that place. In 1900 he returned to Champaign county, Ohio, where he was employed by McMorran Brothers working in grain elevators for fifteen years. Then he was with the Furnas Ice Cream Company, at St. Paris, Ohio, for one year. In 1916 he came to this place and was made engineer 364 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. of the Thackery Creamery Company, and has been thus employed since that time. On September 4, 1903, Clinton A. Neese and Lottie B. Faulkner were united in marriage. She is a (laughter of George W. Faulkner. Further mention is made of the Faulkner family in another place in this work. Mr. Neese is a member of the Junior Order of Mechanics, of Terre Haute, and is a Republican in politics. Mrs. Neese is a member of the Lutheran church at Thackery. WILLIAM J. CARSON. Wliliam J. Carson, an enterprising farmer and stock raiser of Salem township, Champaign county, was born in Ross county, Ohio, April 9, 1851. He is a son of William and Martha (Bradford) Carson, both natives of Ohio, he of Ross county and she of Montgomery county. The father grew to manhood and was married in his native county, and there he owned a farm, which he operated until 1854, when he came to Champaign county, locating in Urbana township, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres, for which he paid thirty dollars per acre. His means were very limited when he started out in life, but by perseverance and good management he prospered and at one time owned four hundred and twenty-five acres of valuable land here, carrying on farming on an extensive scale. He was also one of the leading stock raisers of his locality. He was a leader in public and church affairs in Urbana township, being an active worker in the Presbyterian church. He continued to operate his farm here until 1891, when he retired from active life and moved to Urbana, where his death occurred in 1903, at the advanced age of ninety years. He was born in 1813. His wife was born in 1825 and died in 1896. To these parents four children were born, namely : William J., of this review ; Robert, deceased ; James, also deceased, and Anna, who is living in Urbana. William J. Carson grew to manhood on the home farm, and he received his education in the rural schools of Urbana township. He remained on the home place, farming with his father until 1881, when he was married and moved to Salem township, locating on one of his father's farms, the same place he now lives on, which place reverted to him upon the death of his father. He has kept the land well improved and well cultivated. He has an attractive home and numerous convenient outbuildings. His holdings embrace three hundred and forty-five acres and is one of the' most success- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 365 ful farmers and stock raisers in his township. He feeds large numbers of cattle and hogs annually for the market. Mr. Carson was married in February, 1881, to Ida Pence, a daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Dugan) Pence, natives of Urbana township, Champaign county, and lived and died there. Mrs Carson was born in Urbana township on her father's farm. To Mr. and Mrs. Carson eight children have been horn, namely : Nellie lives in Columbus, Ohio; Mabel, who married Fred Pearce, has one child, Betsy ; Alice married Earl Beatley, lives in Columbus, Ohio, and has one child; Charles ; Grace is the wife of Golden Dagger; they live in Columbus, Ohio, connected with the Ohio State University agricultural extension department ; Jeanette is the wife of Ray Wilbur Vorhis; Beatrice lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; John is single and lives on the farm with his parents; Marcella is at home, attending high school. These children were all given excellent educational advantages and are all graduates of the local high school. Politically, Mr. Carson is a Republican. He served as a member of the school board in his district for ten years. He belongs to the Grange. in Salem township, and the United Presbyterian church at Bellefontaine, Ohio. His wife and children belong, to the Baptist church at Kingston. SAMUEL J. C. BATES. Another of the successful tillers of the soil in Salem township, who has been content to spend his life in Champaign county, is Samuel J. C. Bates, who was born on the old Captain Thomas farm here, September 13, 1862. He is a son of William W. and Selinda (Kenton) Bates. The father was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, and when a young man he came with his mother to Champaign county, where he subsequently married and settled on a farm in Concord township, where he lived a few years. In 1857 he settled in Salem township on the James Kenton farm where his son, the subject of this sketch, now lives, Mr. Kenton having been the latter's grandfather. James Kenton built the brick house on this place in 1840, burning all the brick for the same himself. He also built the barn in 1847, for which he got all the timber off his own farm. William W. Bates and wife spent their lives on the farm, his death occurring. in 1871 at the -age of fifty-two, his widow surviving until March 18, 1897, dying at the age of seventy. In early life William W. Bates was a miller and operated the 366 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Vance mill for some time. He was first a Whig and later a Republican. His wife was a member of the Baptist church at Kings Creek. They were well known and highly respected in their community. Eight children were born to them named as follows : Mary, who died in 1868, married M. V. Patten and they located in Montgomery county, Ohio ; Duncan died when young in years ; Janie also died in early life; James K. died in 1887; Benjamin died in 1888 ; Samuel J. C., of this sketch; Gustaf lives in Spring Hill, Ohio ; Lucy is single and makes her home with the subject of this review. Samuel J. C. Bates grew up on the home farm, where he assisted with the general work when a boy, and he received his education in the district schools. He has always remained on the home farm, which he has kept well improved and under a high state of cultivation, rotating his crops and carrying on diversified farming in such a manner that the soil has retained its original fertility. He has never married, neither has his sister, Lucy, who has also remained at the old home and keeps house for him. They are both members of the Baptist church at ,Urbana, and politically, he is a Republican, but he has never been active in public affairs nor aspired to political office. FRANK HOWELL BRINE Y. One of the enterprising farmers of Rush township, Champaign county, is Frank Howell Briney, who was born near Yellow Springs, Clark county, Ohio, in September, 1851. He is a son of Mark DeMoss Briney, a native of Warren county, Ohio. His grandfather was pilot on the Ohio river. Mark D. Briney grew up in his native county and married Amanda E. Ebersole, who was born in Springfield, Ohio. Her people came to America from Holland. The Ebersole family located in Clark county, Ohio, and there the parents of Mrs. Mark D. Briney spent the rest of their lives, the father dying at the age of sixty-five and the mother at the age of seventy years. Mr. Briney was a preacher in the Christian church for many years in Champaign and Clark counties. He was also a school teacher and farmer. He was first a Whig, later a Republican. Mr. Briney moved to Champaign county in 1854. To Mark D. Briney and wife the following children were born : John K., who was a soldier in the Civil War, was killed at Port Republic in 1862, while a private in Company A, Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Emily married John E. Emmons, and they both died in Pennsylvania ; Jennie is CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 367 the widow of Charles Emmons and she resides in Cleveland, Ohio; Horace died when young; Mary is single and lives at Kirkwood, Missouri; Frank H., of this sketch ; Sallie is single and lives in Cleveland; Rose, deceased, was the wife of Leroy M. Reed ; Florence died in early life ; Charles died single, and Mark also died single. Frank H. Briney grew up on the farm and he attended the Black school in Rush township. He lived at home until his marriage, September 7, 1880, to Clara Belle Smith, who was born in Clinton, Dewitt county, Iowa. She is a daughter of Rozalvo and Betsy (Cranston) Smith, both natives of Rush township, Champaign county, Ohio. Rozalvo Smith was a son of Dexter Smith and wife, natives of Vermont, from which state they came to Champaign county, in pioneer days, locating at Woodstock on a farm, where they spent the rest of their lives. Mrs. Clara Belle Briney was their only child. Rozalvo Smith was a soldier in the Civil War, belonging to the Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Mr. Smith married a second time, his second wife being Elizabeth Hewett, and four children were born to their union, namely : Elmer M., who lives in Chicago ; Ulla Dell, of Rockport, Illinois, and Nora and Mattie, deceased. Five children have been born to Frank H. Briney and wife, namely : Horace B., died in infancy ; H. Clifford received a good education in the Woodstock schools and is a graduate of Ohio State University, and he is now in New York City with the George Battin Advertising Company ; he married Catherine Stone ; Mabel C., who is at home, was educated at Woodstock and the University of Urbana, and a graduate of Miami University, and she is now principal of the Woodstock schools ; F. DeWitt, who was educated in the home schools, also the high school at Pendleton, Oregon, now lives in that town ; Leroy, who is now assisting his father on the home farm, was educated in the local schools, the schools of Columbus, Oberlin College, and the College of New York City. Frank H. Briney has always lived on the old home place, which he has kept well improved and well cultivated. He has been successful as a general farmer and stock raiser. He keeps Jersey cattle and does a dairy business : also handles Percheron horses and Duroc-Jersey hogs. Politically, he is a Republican, and he and his wife are members of the Christian church at Woodstock, Ohio, and they are active in church work. Both were superintendents of the Sunday school. He was county organizer for Sunday schools for five years. His wife has driven over four thousand miles in her Sunday school work. One or the other of them has been vice-president of the County and president of the township Sunday School Associations for over twenty- 368 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. five years. He has been clerk and deacon in the church, also held other offices in the same. Mrs. Briney is descended from one of the oldest families of the Buckeye state. Her great-grandfather, John Cranston, a native of Rhode Island, who married a Miss Edwards, came to Ohio in 1808 and settled in Union county, where they spent the rest of their lives. Their children were : Phoebe, Stephen, John B., Ephraim, Christopher and Edward. John B. Cranston, Mrs. Briney's maternal grandfather, married Betsy Lathrop, of Connecticut, and they came to Champaign county, in :pioneer times, locating in Rush township, where he hired out, first receiving thirty-seven and one-half cents per day. He devoted the rest of his life to farming here. His family consisted of the following children : Mary Ann, who married Joseph Johnson; Peleg, John, Dollie, Betsy, and Ann B. The last named is the only one living at this writing, 1917; she makes her home on the old homestead, where she has resided for seventy-nine years. CHARLES H. ESPY. Charles H. Espy, progressive farmer, engaged in stock raising for thirty years, and holder of various public offices of trust, living on route 2, Degraff, Champaign county, was born on the old Espy farm near Springhill, Ohio, on March 18, 1861, a son of David H. and Rebecca (Kinsinger) Espy. David H. Espy, at the outbreak of the Civil War, joined the Union forces by enlisting in Company G. Sixty-sixth Volunteer Infantry. He saw considerable service and was in many engagements during that long struggle between the states. He received severe wounds at the battle of Cedar Mountain and was removed to the Alexander, hospital, in which institution he died some time later. His widow married William Ritter, who is now deceased, and she is living at Degraff, Ohio. David H. Espy and wife were the parents of one child, Charles H. Espy, the subject of this sketch. Charles H. Espy was reared on the old home farm in Adams township and was educated in the public schools of the district. At the age of thirteen, and following his mother's second marriage, he started to work on farms by the month at ten dollars per month and continued thus engaged for about five years. He then commenced at team work, at which he remained for another five years. During those ten years he was saving all CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 369 available money with the view to acquiring land of his own. He subsequently bought forty acres of land, which he immediately put into cultivation, setting the tract out to general farming. As he prospered in his farming operations he added to his holdings, finally becoming the owner of two hundred and twenty-eight acres of prime land. In addition to his farming activities, he is also extensively engaged in the breeding and shipping of live stock, with which branch of agricultural life he has been identified for thirty years, and in both phases of work he has met with marked success. He is also the owner of two nice residence properties in Bellefontaine, this state. On December 30, 1883, Charles H. Espy was united in marriage to Mary Wilson, who was born in Adams township in 1862, a daughter of William A. Wilson and wife. She was reared on her father's farm and educated in the common schools of her home district. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Espy three children have been born as follow : Ethel, who was graduated from the Rosewood high school and is now the wife of J. W. Burkhold, of Rosewood, this county; Bonnie, also a graduate of the Rosewood high school, who later married F. E. Bailor, and Raymond, who was graduated from the high school and is now a student in the State University. These children are members of the United Brethren church at Rosewood. Mr. Espy has long been a supporter of the Republican party and has ever taken .a keen interest in public affairs. He served for a period of six years as county commissioner and for five years was treasurer of Adams township. Later, he became a member of the district school board, serving in that capacity for eight years, and during his incumbency the Rosewood schools were built. His services in all of these responsible positions met with general approval and his work on behalf of the schools has always been recognized as above the average, his efforts on behalf of educational matters being at once genuine and practical. His interest in fraternal organizations is not less marked. He is a member of Rosewood Lodge No. 242, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which order he is a past noble grand. He is also a member of the encampment, of which he is past chief patriarch. He holds membership in the Knights of Pythias at Degraff, Ohio, and in the affairs of these several bodies he takes a prominent part. Mr. and Mrs. Espy display a warm interest in all community affairs and are ever ready to assist in all movements having for their object the welfare of the township and county. (24a) 370 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. JOHN EMORY MAST. John Emory Mast, one of the best-known and most substantial pioneer farmers of Champaign county and the proprietor of a fine farm in Salem township, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born in that township on September 12, 1838, son of John and Elizabeth (Trego) Mast, natives of Pennsylvania, the former born in Berks county and the latter in Chester county, who became residents of Champaign county in 1830 and here reared their family and spent the remainder of their lives, being long accounted among the most influential and useful residents of the community which they had helped to develop from its wilderness state. Elsewhere in this volume, under the head of "The Mast Family", there is set out at some length something of the genealogy and the history of that well-known family in this county and the attention of the reader is respectfully called to that interesting narrative for additional information in connection with the present sketch. The pioneer John Mast and wife were the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters, of whom further mention is made in the narrative above referred to, and of these children the subject of this sketch was the seventh in order of birth. Reared on the pioneer home farm in Salem township, John E. Mast has lived there all his life, his present fine farm including a portion of the old home farm which his father divided among his children when he retired from the active labors of the farm many years ago. On April 13, 1869, at Mutual, this county, he was united in marriage to Minerva J. Stonebraker, who was born in this county, a daughter of Arnold, S. and Sophia (Remsburg) Stonebraker, and to this union eleven children have been born, Ellis Heber, Marie May, Lulu Grace, Willie E., John Arnold, Clayton, Clarence Simpson, Jennie Irene, Cleveland H., Evelyn Sophia and Earl Talmage. Mr. and Mrs. Mast are earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Kings Creek and their children were reared in the faith of that church. Ellis Heber Mast, born on May 24, 1871, is now living at Cleveland, where he is engaged as a conductor on an electric railroad Marie May Mast, born on February 10, 1873, was married at Urbana on January 6 1901, to William C. Brucker, who was born at Oketo, Kansas, July 12, 1871, son of Fred and Emma (Zimmerman) Brucker, the former a native of France and the latter of Prussia. After their marriage William C. Brucker and wife lived in Gage county, Nebraska, for five years, at the end of which time, in 1906, they moved to the farm on which they are now living in CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 371 Jewell county, Kansas. Lulu Grace Mast, born on January 22, 1875, was married on July 29, 1897, to David L. Thomas, who was born in Canada on September 30, 1870, son of David J. Thomas, and who is now living at Fernhill, Ontario. To them six children have been born, namely : Mast Leroy, born on April 29, 1898 ; Glenn Abner, September 15, 1899, who died on April 25, 1900; Blanche Leona, April 16, 1901; Evelyn May, May 20, 1903; Velma Ferne, July 10, 1905, and Earl Theodore, June 10, 1907. Willie E. Mast, born on September 8, 1876, died on September 27, following. John Arnold Mast, born on November 25, 1877, is now living near Ozone, Idaho, on a four-hundred acre farm. Clayton Mast, born on December 15, 1879, died on April 8, 1880. Clarence Simpson Mast, born on December 15, 1879, is now living at Abington, Illinois, where he is engaged as teacher of science in the Abington College. On August 22, 1906, at Delaware, this state, he was united in marriage to Clara Glenn Buck, who was born on January 5, 1880, a daughter of the Hon. Henris Edmund and Jennie (Glenn) Buck, of Delaware. Jennie Irene Mast married Clifford Johnson (deceased) who was born on June 29, 1882; she lives at Coffeyville, Kansas; Cleveland H. Mast, born on December 13, 1884, died on December 14, 1886. Evelyn Sophia Mast, born on February 10, 1887, died on December 18, 1891. Earl Talmage Mast, born on December 29, 1890, is now living at Cleveland. JAMES W. BLACK. James W. Black, farmer and banker, of Salem township proprietor of the old Black homestead which was entered there by his grandfather, Capt. Alexander Black, back in 1809, an extensive landowner and for years actively engaged in the live-stock business, one of the most substantial citizens of Champaign county, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born on the place on which he is now living and of which he is now proprietor, a place that has been in the family for more than one hundred years, October 28, 1854, son of James and Caroline (Culbertson) Black, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Pennsylvania, who were for years accounted among the most influential residents of the, northern part of this county. James Black was born in Clark county, Kentucky, February 8, 1798; son of Capt. Alexander and Jane (Crockett) Black, Virginians, who came 372 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. up into Ohio in 1809 and settled in Salem township, this county, there establishing the old Black homestead that has ever since been in the possession of the family. Capt. Alexander Black was born in the colony of Virginia on October 14, 1765, a son of Capt. William Black, who became captain of a company in the patriot army during the Revolutionary War. Capt. William Black, who was a son of Alexander Black, who had come to the Colonies from Ireland and had settled in the Old Dominion, joined the Continental army at the age of fifteen and before the War of Independence was at an end was promoted to the rank of captain. He later crossed the mountains into Kentucky, locating at Strouds Ford, three miles from Winchester, where he remained for three years and during which time he became a companion of Daniel Boone. In 1792, in Rockbridge county, Virginia, Capt. William Black married Jane Crockett, a cousin of David Crockett, and then returned to Kentucky to make his permanent home. He served with General Scott's Kentucky Volunteers and was with General Wayne when the latter scored his decisive victory over the Indians at the battle of the Maumee in August, 1794, being wounded in the face in that battle. In 1809 he came up into Ohio with his family and settled in this county, entering a tract of land in Salem township. During the War of 1812 he was given a captain's commission and with his company guarded the settlers against the attacks of Tecumseh and his Shawnees and against Batiste, who with his Wyandots had gone over to the English. Capt. Alexander Black was a warm personal friend of Gen. Simon Kenton and had no love for the Indians. He continued to make his home in this county, a substantial and honored citizen, until his death in 1854. His widow survived him for five years, her death occurring in 1859. James Black was eleven years of age when his parents came up into Ohio and he grew to manhood on the homestead farm in Salem township and there spent the remainder of his life, one of the leaders in the community life of this region, and a very successful farmer and stockman. He received excellent schooling for that period and became a very well informed man. From the days of his boyhood he took an active part in his father's live-stock operations and when fourteen or fifteen years of age began to accompany the drovers on the long trips through the wilderness with droves of cattle or hogs for the Detroit market. He grew to be a man of powerful physique and was accounted one of the hardiest pioneers of this section. In early life he was a Henry Clay Whig, but upon the formation of the Republican party threw in his allegiance with that party and was ever thereafter a stanch Republican and one of the local leaders in that party. James CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 373 Black lived to be past eighty-four years of age, his death occurring on July 3, 1882. His widow survived him less than a year, her death occurring in 1883, she then being eighty-three years of age. It was in 1832 that James Black was united in marriage to Caroline Culbertson, who was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1810, daughter of James Culbertson and wife, who became pioneers of Champaign county and here spent their last days. James Culbertson was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, son of Samuel Culbertson, a native of England, who had served with the patriot army during the Revolutionary War and who settled in Lancaster county, where his last days were spent. James Culbertson served as a private during the War of 1812 and later came to this county, where he died in 1835. To James and Caroline (Culbertson) Black were born eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the last-born, the others being as follow : Jane, who married William Kiser, of Logan county, this state, and died there, after which her husband married her younger sister, Lucy, who died in Los Angeles in 1915 ; Susan. who married John W. Staub .and died in Logan county; Lucy, mentioned above, who died in Los Angeles in 1915 ; Alexander, who married Mary Courts and is now living retired at Eddyville, Iowa ; Caroline, who died unmarried; John R., now deceased, who for years was a partner of his brother, James W., and of whom more extended mention is made below, and Lizzie, now deceased, who was the wife of Daniel Donovan. John R. Black was born on the old home place in Salem township and there grew to manhood, completing his schooling in the high school at West Liberty. He early took up farming and stock raising, making a specialty of the latter, and was a partner of his brother, James W. Black, in operations in that line until his retirement from business in 1901. In addition to his extensive land interests in this county he also was the owner of property in West Liberty and was a stockholder in the Farmers Bank of that place. He ever gave his earnest attention to the promotion of the agricultural interests of his home county and was for fifteen years a member of the board of managers of the Champaign County Agricultural Society, for some years serving as vice-president of the same. He was a stanch Republican, ever giving a good citizen's attention to local civic affairs, but was not included in the office-seeking class. He was a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and took a warm interest in the affairs of these fraternal organizations. On December 9. 1886, John R. Black was united in marriage to Belle Robbins, of Logan county, who was born in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, September 21. 374 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. 1856, a daughter of John W. and Rebecca (Huff) Robbins, the former of whom was born in the state of New York and the latter in Hunterdon county, New Jersey. John W. Robbins was a blacksmith and in 1857 came to Ohio with his family and settled in Logan county, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring at West Liberty in 1887, at the age of fifty-four years. He and his wife had three children, Mrs. John R. Black having a brother, William, who is now living in California, and a daughter, Mrs. James W. Black. John R. Black died on May 16, 1904, and his widow is now at West Liberty.. She has three children, Maude, Wayne C. and Yale D. James W. Black was reared on the old home farm in Salem township and has lived there all his life. He received his schooling in the public schools and after his marriage in 1882 he and his wife took up their residence in the fine old house that his grandfather, Capt. Alexander Black, had erected there in 1818. Upon beginning his farming operations on his own account James. W. Black entered into a partnership with his elder brother, John R. Black, and this mutually agreeable arrangement continued until the latter's retirement in 1901, since which time Mr. Black has carried on the extensive operations begun by the brothers alone, continuing to make a specialty of live stock. Mr. Black has about six hundred acres of valuable land, besides valuable real estate interests at West Liberty and is a member of the board of directors of the Farmers Bank of West Liberty, in which sound old concern he has quite a goodly block of stock. Mr. Black is a stanch Republican and has ever taken an active interest in local political affairs, but the only public service he has sought has been as a member of the school board, in which capacity he has rendered admirable service in behalf of the local schools. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Liberty Lodge No. 96, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and takes a warm interest in the affairs of the same. On December 21, 1882, James W. Black was united in marriage to Lizzie Robbins, who was born in the neighboring county of Logan, March 8, 1862, daughter of John W. and Rebecca (Huff) Robbins and sister of Mrs. John R. Black, mentioned above, and to this union four children have been born, Burr R., Geneva B., Howard C. and Virginia. Burr R. Black, born on January 15, 1885, is now assistant cashier of the Farmers Bank of West Liberty. He married Hazel Stickinger and has one child, a daughter, Beatrice, born in November, 1914. Geneva B. Black, born on March 9, 1891, married Raymond F. Hughes, who is connected with the J. W. Bobbs wholesale grocery firm at Columbus, and has two children, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 375 Maxine,. born in October, 1914, and James Raymond, October, 1916. Howard C. Black, who was born on May 24, 1894, remains at home, a valued assistant to his father in the management of the home place. He was graduated from the West Liberty high school and supplemented that course by two years of attendance at the State University and a year at Oberlin College. Virginia Black, born on August 23, 1901, is still in school. The Blacks have a very pleasant home, one of the historic old places in the county, and have ever given proper attention to the general social activities of the community. JACOB I. CLARK. Jacob I. Clark, farmer and stock raiser of Salem township, Champaign county, was born in Clarke county, Ohio, January 31, 1872. He is a son of Jacob and Susanna (Swisher) Clark, both natives of Virginia, where they grew to maturity and were married. Upon leaving their native state they came to Champaign county, but in a short time went on to Clarke county, where they lived on a farm eighteen or twenty years, then returned to Champaign county, locating on the Jennings farm in Salem township, where they spent three years, then moved south of Hagenbaugh village, buying a farm there of one hundred and twenty-six acres, where they spent the rest of their lives. Isaac Clark, father of Jacob Clark, was also a native of Virginia and he came to Champaign county, Ohio, shortly after his son, Jacob, moved here, but later moved to Clarke county, where he remained a number of years, then came back to Champaign county, locating in Wayne township, southeast of Cable, and there spent the rest of his life. Eleven children were born to Jacob Clark and wife, seven of whom are now living, namely: Joshua, Gabriel, Samuel, Elmer; Charles and John are deceased : Laura married W. E. Briggs, Cora married Griffith Fox, Eliza married John Powell, and she is now deceased Della who married Abe Hondshall she also is deceased. Jacob I. Clark, of this sketch, grew up on the home farm and he received his education in the district schools of Salem township, Champaign county. He worked with his father on the farm until he was twenty-five years old, then started farming for himself, buying a place of one hundred and eleven acres and he has since made his home on this place, carrying on general farming and stock raising. He later added to his original holdings until he now has one hundred and ninety-seven acres, which he has brought up to a 376 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. high state of improvement and cultivation. He is a breeder of good graded live stock. He feeds the grain raised on his place. Mr. Clark was married on December 16, 1896, to Lucinda Nincehelser,. a daughter of Joseph and Lucinda (Eicholtz) Nincehelser. The death of Mrs. Clark occurred on January 27, 1912, leaving one child, Maryvon Clark. The death of the father of the subject of this sketch occurred on May 6, 1903, but the mother is still living, making her home near Hagenbaugh, Salem township, this county. Politically, Jacob I. Clark is a Republican. He was a member of the school board in his district for a period of eight years. He is an active member of the Baptist church at Kings Creek and is an ordained deacon of the same. MA JOR ALEXANDER F. VANCE. Major Alexander F. Vance, president of the National Bank of Urbana and for years one of the most active and influential figures in the business and civic life of Champaign county, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life with the exception of the period spent in the service of the Union during the Civil War and for about five years afterward when he was engaged in business in New York City. He was born on what is known as old Eichholtz homestead in Salem township, this county, January 26. 1840, son of Judge Alexander F. Vance and grandson of Gov. Joseph Vance, the latter of whom was a son of Joseph C. Vance, a Virginian and a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolutionary War. The latter became one of the leading factors in the organization of Champaign county, helped to establish Urbana as the county seat, became the first director of the county, served as first clerk and as first recorder and in other ways did much toward establishing a proper social order hereabout in the days of the beginning of things out here on what then was practically the frontier of Western civilization. Elsewhere in this volume in a biographical sketch relating to Gov. Joseph Vance, the only resident of Champaign county to become governor. of the great state of Ohio, there is set out at considerable length further details of the history of the Vance family, one of the very first families of Champaign county, and the attention of the reader is respectfully invited to a consideration of that sketch in connection with this. Judge Alexander F. Vance, who served as judge of probate of Cham- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 377 paign county longer than any other man ever elected to that office, was a native son of this county, born on the old Vance farm on August 25, 1811, son of Joseph (afterward governor) and Mary (Lemon) Vance. He grew to manhood in this county and completed his schooling in old Miami University. On August 6, 1835, he married Mary R. Ward, a daughter of Col. William Ward, one of the most prominent citizens of this section of Ohio, and after his marriage established his home on what is known as the old Eichholtz farm, where he remained for several years, at the end of which time he moved to Saratoga and was there in charge of a mill until a short time before his father's death in the summer of 1852, when he returned to the old home and upon his father's death received the old homestead. There he continued to make his home until 1859, when he moved to Urbana and there engaged in business, opening a hat store in a building at the southeast corner of the square, and was thus engaged at the time of his election to the office of judge of probate for Champaign county in 1860, after which he sold his store. By successive re-elections Judge Vance was retained as judge of probate until 1879, a longer period of service than that of any other incumbent in this office. When the Civil War broke out Judge Vance raised a company and was elected captain of the same. This command was mustered in at Camp McArthur and Judge Vance tendered its services to the governor, but the state's quota at that time was already filled and the offer could not be accepted. Circumstances prevented Judge Vance from enlisting, but he was represented in the war by four sons. Upon retiring from the bench he continued to make his home in Urbana and there spent his last days, ever active and useful in good works. He and his wife were earnest members of the Presbyterian church, of which he was a ruling elder for, many years. The Judge was a Royal Arch and York Rite Mason and a member of the council, Royal and Select Masters, becoming a Royal Arch Mason on May 15, 1845, and a Knight Templar in 1869, and for many years was one of the most prominent figures in Masonic circles in this county, an active worker in Harmony Lodge of that order at Urbana. He and his wife lived to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary and were the parents of thirteen children, of whom eight grew to maturity, those besides the subject of this biographical sketch being William W., Joseph C., John, C. H. Colwell, Mrs. Rev. John Woods, Mrs. Thomas C. Berry and Ella P. The junior Alexander F. Vance was the third in order of birth of the children born to his parents and was about seventeen years of age when his 378 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. parents moved from the old home farm to Urbana, where he completed his schooling. When eighteen years of age he accepted a clerkship in the dry-goods store of Simon Weaver at Urbana and later became bookkeeper in the office of his uncle, proprietor of the Stony Point mills, serving in that capacity until 1862, when he was made a clerk in the paymaster's department of the Union army and in January, 1865, was promoted to the position of paymaster, with the rank of major of cavalry. Upon the completion of his service in the army Major. Vance went to New York City and was there engaged in the wholesale boot and shoe business for five years, at the end of which time he returned to this county and was here engaged in farming until January 1, 1875, when he was elected teller of the old Third National Bank of Urbana. He was afterward made assistant cashier and, upon the death of E. G. Wiley, cashier, on February 28, 1881, he was elected cashier, continuing as such when the Third National was succeeded by the National Bank of Urbana. He was elected vice-president on January 17, 1910, and president on January 10, 1911. For several years also the Major served as president of the Natural Gas Company and has in other ways take an active part in the business affairs of the city and county. He is a Republican and has for years been regarded as one of the leaders of that party in this county, but the only public position he has sought was that as a member of the board of education, in which capacity he served for some years, rendering an admirable service in behalf of the schools. In February, 1868, Major Alexander F. Vance was united in marriage to Mary Glen Jamieson and to this union has been born one child, a daughter, Louise. wife of Charles Brand, a well-known and substantial farmer of this county. Major Vance is one of the most prominent and distinguished Masons in the state of Ohio, being a member of the supreme council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors-General of the thirty-third and last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the northern Masonic jurisdiction of the United States of America, the supreme power of the Rite. He became affiliated with the consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, on February 18, 1873, and in 1885 received the thirty-third degree at Boston. In the local bodies of the Masonic order the Major has taken an active part for years and has served as master of his lodge; as high priest of the chapter, Royal Arch Masons; thrice illustrious master of the council, Royal and Select Masters, and eminent commander of the commandeiy, Knights Templar. He is one of the best-known and most influential Knights Templar in the state, having served as grand commander of the grand commandery of Ohio. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 379 It is worthy of note that in this family, grandfather, father and son, the subject, have all been masters of the Harmony Lodge No. 8, Free and Accepted Masons of Urbana, Governor Vance having been master of this lodge in 1815 and again in 1817. GEORGE W. SHAFER. George W. Shafer, one of Salem township's best-known and most progressive farmers and stockmen and the proprietor of a fine farm in the Kings Creek neighborhood, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm near Terre Haute, in Mad River township, May 25, 1864, son of Nicholas and Louise (Cook) Shafer, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in this county and both of whom are now dead. Nicholas Shafer grew up on a farm in his native country and remained there until he was twenty-six years of age, when he came to this country, landing here with but a five-franc piece (one dollar) in his pocket. For a short time after coming to this country he worked as a farm hand in Virginia, receiving for that service twenty-five cents a day. He then made his way over into Ohio and stopped in the Terre Haute neighborhood, in this county, where he worked as a farm hand until his marriage there to Louise Cook, who was born in this county, daughter of pioneer parents, after which he bought a farm and began farming on his own account. His first farm was a tract of one hundred and twenty-five acres, in the vicinity of Terre Haute, where he made his home until 1867, when he moved to Salem township and bought a farm of three hundred and fourteen acres at the point then known as Saratoga. There he established his home and as he prospered in his farming operations added to his holdings until he became the owner of nine hundred and seventy-five acres of land in Salem township and was regarded as one of the most substantial farmers in that part of the county. He also gave much attention to the raising of live stock, particularly sheep, and always had about three hundred head of the latter on his place. Nicholas Shafer died in 1900. His wife had preceded him to the grave about eleven years, her death having occurred in 1889. They were the parents of five children; the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Elizabeth and Martha, and two brothers, Henry and Charles. George W. Shafer was about three years of age when his parents moved from Mad River township to Salem township and in the latter town- 380 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. ship received his schooling and grew to manhood. From the days of his boyhood he was a valuable aid to his father and brothers in the labors of the home farm and remained on the home farm until his marriage in 1890, when he began farming for himself on a farm north of the place on which he is now living, to which latter place he moved in 1904 and has ever since made his home there. Mr. Shafer is the owner of two hundred and fifty acres, but only farms one hundred and six acres of this himself, renting out the remainder.. In addition to his general farming he has long given considerable attention to the raising of hogs, feeding from one hundred to one hundred and fifty head annually, and has done very well. His place is well improved and equipped in truly up-to-date fashion and is regarded as one of the best farms in that neighborhood. Mr. Shafer is a Democrat, but has not been a seeker after public office. On July 15, 1890, George W. Shafer was united in marriage to Florence Stick, who also was born in Randolph county, Indiana, daughter of Samuel and Mary Stick, and to this union has been born one child, a daughter, Alice, who is at home with her parents. The Shafers are members of the Kings Creek Baptist church and take a proper interest in the affairs of the same, as well as in the general good works of the community, helpful in advancing all worthy causes thereabout. Fraternally, Mr. Shafer is affiliated with the Urbana lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that popular organization. ALBERT L. HUNTER. The late Albert L. Hunter, who died at his home in Salem township in 1909, and whose widow is now living at Kings Creek, was born in that township and there spent all his life, becoming one of the most substantial farmers in that community. He was born on a pioneer farm in that township in 1845, son of Nathaniel C. and Helen M. (Purdy) Hunter, prominent residents of that community, the former of whom also was born there, on the old Hunter homestead, son of John and Jane (Humphries) Hunter, the former of whom was born in Virginia, son of Nathaniel and Ann (Porter) Hunter, natives of Ireland, who came to this county after their marriage and settled in Virginia, where they remained until 1910, when they came to this state and after a brief residence in Madison county came over into Champaign county and establihed their home in Salem township, where they spent the CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 381 remainder of their lives. In a memorial sketch relating to the late Nathaniel C. Hunter, father of the subject of this memorial sketch, presented elsewhere in this volume, there is set out at considerable length something of the history of the Hunter family in this county and to that interesting narrative the reader is respectfully referred for additional details in this connection. Reared on the old home place, Albert L. Hunter received his early schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and supplemented the same by a course in the college at Delaware. From the days of his boyhood he had been a valuable aid to his father in the labors of the farm and after his marriage in the late fall of 1876 he established his home on the old home place and there continued farming for five years, at the end of which time he took a farm in the vicinity of Cable, where he remained for nine years. He then moved back to the old Hunter farm, bought two hundred acres of the same, and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there in August, 1909, he then being sixty-two years of age. Albert L. Hunter was an excellent farmer and did well at his farming operations, developing a fine farm. He was a Republican and ever gave a good citizen's attention to local political affairs, but had not been a seeker after public office. He was a member of the Mt. Tabor Methodist Episcopal church, as is his widow, and took a proper part in all neighborhood good works. In November, 1876, Albert L. Hunter was united in marriage to Mary Frances North, who also was born in Salem township, on the old North homestead, a daughter of Abel and Elizabeth (Herr) North, the latter of whom is still living, now making her home at Kings Creek. The late Abel North and his wife were the parents of ten children, of whom Mrs. Hunter was the first-born, the others being as follow : Lucy, who married J. S. Ewing and is now deceased; Adelaide and Adrelina, twins, the former of whom married J. N. Fields and is now living at Cleveland, and the latter of whom was burned to death when twelve years of age ; Sarah Elizabeth, who died at the age of seventeen years; Charles L., who is now farming the old North home place; Cora, now deceased, who was the wife of Prof. John Hamilton, superintendent of the city schools at Cincinnati ; William North, a prominent attorney at Cincinnati ; Grant, who died in youth, and Birdie, wife of Prof. I). C. Bryant, principal of schools at Columbus. To Albert L. and Mary Frances (North) Hunter, four children were born, namely : Grace, who married Quinn M. Yocum, a farmer, of Salem township, and has two children, daughters, Helen M. and Margaret E. ; Edna, who married Alva Kiser, of Troy, this state, and has three children, Truman A., Paul and Mary V. : Fern P., born on November 22. 1882, who 382 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. married the Rev. Milton S. Swisher, a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church, now living in Illinois, and died on November 13, 1905, leaving one child, a daughter, Dorothy, who is now making her home with her grandmother, Airs. Hunter, and Sarah Elsa, who married Daniel C. Lemon, a farmer, living in the neighborhood of St. Paris, in this county, and has two children, Mildred and Donald. Besides these children, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter have an adopted son, John Hunter, who is now farming the home place. Some time after the death of her husband Mrs. Hunter moved to 'Kings Creek, where she is now living and where she is very comfortably and very pleasantly situated. THOMAS RAWLINGS. The late Thomas Rawlings, for years one of Champaign county's best-known and most substantial farmers, who died at his delightful farm home on Pretty Prairie, in Urbana township, in the fall of 1912, was a native son of this county and lived here all his life. He was born on a pioneer farm in Urbana township, August 28, 1836, son of James and Susanna (McRoberts) Rawlings, the former of whom was born in the state of Kentucky and the latter in this county, whose last days were spent on their farm in Urbana township. James Rawlings was but a child when his parents came up here. from Kentucky and settled on a tract of land in Urbana township, this county. becoming useful and influential pioneers of the-Pretty Prairie neighborhood. He grew to manhood on that farm and married Susanna McRoberts, who was born in this county, daughter of pioneer parents, and after his marriage established his home on a farm on the Springfield pike, in Urbana township, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of six children, of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being as follow : William J. W., now deceased, who married Electa Mumper, now living in Urbana, and a memorial sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume ; Mary, who married Thomas M. Todd, a farmer of Urbana township, and who, as well as her husband, -is now dead ; Elizabeth J., widow of John P. Knight, a farmer of Urbana township and a memorial sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; James, now deceased, who was a farmer in Urbana township and who married Laura Townley, who also is now deceased, and Douglas W., CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 383 also deceased, whose widow, who was Alice Townley, now lives in Springfield. Reared on the home farm in Urbana township, Thomas Rawlings received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and from the days of his boyhood was a valued assistant to his father and brothers in the labors of developing and improving the home place, remaining there until his marriage in the spring of 1864, when he established a home of his own on a farm on Pretty Prairie, where he spent the remainder of his life, successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising, long ago becoming recognized as one of the substantial farmers of that community. Mr. Rawlings was a Republican and ever took a good citizen's interest in local political affairs, but was not a seeker after public office. He built up an excellent farm and at the time of his death on September 18, 1912, left his widow in good circumstances. It was in March, 1864, that Thomas Rawlings was united in marriage to Sarah Emily Humes, also a native of this county, born on a farm on Dugan Prairie, in Union township, a daughter of Samuel and Mary, A. (McNeill) Humes, both of whom were born in Virginia and who came out here after their marriage and settled on Dugan Prairie, becoming substantial and useful pioneers of Union township, and spent the rest of their lives on their well-improved farms. Mrs. Humes died at the age of sixty-seven and Mr. Humes survived her for some years, he being eighty-four years of age at the time of his death. They were earnest members of the Buck Creek Presbyterian church, of which congregation Mr. Humes was for fifty years an elder, and their children were reared. in the .faith of that communion.. There were ten of these children, of whom Mrs. Rawlings Was the sixth in order of birth, the others being as follow : Sidney Elizabeth, who was born in Virginia shortly before her parents came to this county and who married Charles Stanbury and went to Illinois, where she spent the rest of her life: John Seymour, who married Caroline Porter and also spent his last days in Illinois: Nancy Margaret, who died unmarried; Samuel R., who also .died unmarried David Merrill, who went to the front as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War and died in service; William Andrew, who married Elizabeth Price and is also deceased; James Calvin, who died in his youth: Mary Eliza,, who also died young, and Edwin K., a retired farmer, now living in Urbana, who married Caroline Mumma and has had five children, Crystal (deceased), Florence, Blanche, Bertha and Homer. Shortly after the death of her husband Mrs. Rawlings rented her farm of one hundred and eighty-four acres of land and moved to Urbana, where 384 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. she is now living and where she is very pleasantly situated.- She has been for many years a member of the Buck Creek Presbtyerian church, as was her husband, and has ever taken an active interest in church work and in other neighborhood good works, helpful in many ways in advancing the cause of the common welfare in the community in which she has lived all her life. W. W. WILSON. W. W. Wilson, president of the Citizens National Bank of Urbana and an honored veteran of the Civil War, is a native son of this county and has lived here practically all his life. He was born on a farm in Concord township on May I, 1842, son of Elias R. and Mary (Russell) Wilson, both of whom were born in that same township. Elias R. Wilson died in 1846, leaving his widow and two sons, the subject of this sketch having a brother, John R. Wilson. The widow Wilson later remarried, but this fact did not materially increase the prospects of the boys and when eight years of age W. W. Wilson found himself face to face with the serious responsibilities of life, beginning then practically to look after himself. He took up farming and was thus engaged when the Civil War broke out. Later he worked his way through school and was graduated from the Urbana high school. Upon the first call to arms in April, 1861, W. W. Wilson became a member of a company of Home Guards, of which A. F. Vance, Sr., was captain, and in September of that year he enlisted for a period of three years as a member of Company G, Sixty-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and in the following January went to the front with his command, bearing the rank of sergeant. In the following June, at the battle of Port Republic, Virginia, Mr. Wilson received an injury to one of his legs which totally disabled him from further service and which later necessitated three different stages of amputation. While thus suffering Mr. Wilson was 'captured by the enemy and for four months was held prisoner, being confined successively in the Weier's cave prison at Waynesboro, in the prison at Lynchburg and in Libby prison, until he finally was exchanged, and in December, 1862, he .received his honorable discharge on a physician's certificate of disability. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Wilson returned to Urbana. During the sessions of the Ohio Legislature in 1866 and 1867 he served as journal clerk for the House of Representatives and in the latter part of 1867 was appointed United States revenue collector for this district. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 385 That position he held for eleven years, or until the time of his appointment to the position of cashier of the Citizens National Bank of Urbana, a position he held until his promotion, in 1916, to the presidency of the hank, which position he now occupies, one of the best-known and most influential figures in financial circles in this part of the state. Mr. Wilson is an active member of W. A. Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Republic, at Urbana, and has for years taken a warm interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization. In 1868 W. W. Wilson was united in marriage to Anna Virginia Russell, who died in 1898, leaving- three children, William R., Carrie V. and Frank C. In 1900 Mr. Wilson married, secondly, Mrs. Mary B. Murray, widow of Rev. James Murray. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mr. Wilson has been a steward for fifty years. He also for years was superintendent of the Sunday school and for many years has been and is still a teacher in the same. JOHN M. JAMISON. John M. Jamison, a well-known interior decorator at Urbana, was born in that city and has lived there the greater part of his life. He was born on September 25, 1850, son of David and Mary (Bell) Jamison, the former a native of the state of Pennsylvania and the latter of whom was born in Urbana, a member of one of the oldest families in this county, the Bells, of Irish descent, having been among the very first settlers in Urbana. David Jamison was a young man when he came to this county from Pennsylvania and located at Urbana, where he married and where he engaged in the manufacture of carriages, one of the first persons thus engaged in that city. In 1852 he moved to Marysville, Illinois, and a few years later moved from that place to a farm in the near vicinity of Marysville, later called Potomac, in Vermillion county, that same state, where he became a well-established farmer and where he spent the remainder of his life. He and his wife were the parents of twelve children, four of whom are still living, the subject of sketch having two sisters, Mary Ellen and Belle, and a brother, Merrill Jamison. When his parents moved to Illinois J. M. Jamison remained at Urbana with his aunt, Mrs. Sarah Smith, and was reared by her in that city. He (25a) 386 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. received his schooling in Urbana and early learned the trade of carriage painting, a vocation he followed for years afterward. When eighteen years of age he started out as a "journeyman" carriage painter and in this capacity visited numerous cities throughout the country, in several of the cities in which he worked being made foreman of the shops in which he was employed. During all this time, however, he kept in close touch with his home town and in 1891 returned to Urbana, in order to take care of his cousin, John N. Smith, Sarah's son, in his declining years, as he had cared for him in his youthful days, and he since has made his home there. Upon his return to Urbana Mr. Jamison set up an establishment for interior decoration and has since been quite successfully engaged in that line, having built up an extensive business. On September 18, 1869, J. N. Jamison was united in marriage to Adeline Keneaster, daughter of Henry. Keneaster and wife, and to this union two children have been born, Harry, who married Anna Young and has one child, a son, Jack, and Marie, wife of Warren Law. The Jamisons have a pleasant home in Urbana and take a proper interest in the general affairs of the city. GEORGE WAITE. One of the leading lawyers and esteemed citizens of Champaign county during the generation that has just passed, was the late George Waite, for a long lapse of years a well-known figure in the city of Urbana, where his influence for good in the general welfare of the locality was by no means a negligible quantity. He was born at Woodstock, Ohio, January 12, 1862. He was a son of Cicero and Julia (McDonald) Waite, both natives of Champaign county, where they grew up, attended the common schools and were married. The mother was a daughter of George and Rachael McDonald. The father of the subject of this memoir established his home at Woodstock, where he engaged successfully in the manufacture of tile. His first wife, mother of George Waite, died there, and the father later married again and spent the last years of his life in Union City, Indiana, where his death occurred. His second marriage was without issue, and only two children were born to his first marriage, George, of this sketch, and Cyrus, now a resident of Anderson, Indiana. George Waite grew to manhood at Woodstock, where he received his early education in the public schools. He began life for himself as a teacher.. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 387 which profession he followed for a period of twelve years in Champaign and Union counties. He was a very successful educator and his services were in great demand. He was a man of advanced ideas and introduced many advanced methods into the schools where he taught. He was always popular with both pupils and patrons. Finally deciding that a legal career held greater opportunities for him, Mr. Waite abandoned the school room for the bar. He had been for some time, during his leisure hours, perusing Blackstone and Kent, and he read law under Judge E. P. Middleton, later took the regular course in the Cincinnati Law School, where he made a good record and from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1892. Returning to Champaign county he began the practice of his profession at Urbana, forming a partnership with Sherman S. Deaton, the partnership continuing until the death of Mr. Waite. They built up a large and satisfactory legal business. Mr. Waite, with his habits of industry, strict application to business, natural aptitude to the legal profession, and care in the investigation and preparation of cases, had the right to confidently expect a larger and wider boundary for the exercise of his abilities, and he was not disappointed ; his career at the bar was eminently satisfactory. Mr. Waite was married in 1887, to Mollie Hanley, of Woodstock, Ohio, where she was reared and educated. She is a daughter of David and Catherine Hanley, who lived on a farm near Woodstock for many years, dying there. To David Hanley and wife the following children were born : Margaret, deceased; Catherine, living in Columbus, Ohio ; Julia, living in Anderson, Indiana; David, who makes his home at Urbana, Champaign county; Mollie, who became the wife of Mr. Waite, of this review ; Guy, who died in Woodstock; Ann, living at Anderson, Indiana, and several other children who died in early childhood. To George Waite and wife one child, George Waite, was born, his birth occurring at Woodstock, Ohio, August 3, 1890. There he spent his childhood, and received his education in the public school of Urbana, including the high school. Later, he was a student in Wittenber • Cone e al 388 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. the blue lodge of Masons, the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and the 'hi Alpha Delta legal fraternity. George Waite, Sr., was a member of the Masonic order, including the chapter and council, also the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was a member of the Universalist church. His death occurred on July 27, 1913, in his fifty-second year, while still in the prime of life and usefulness. SAMUEL W. CAREY. Samuel W. Carey, one of Urbana's progressive and enterprising florists of Urbana, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born on July 14, 1879, son of David and Sarah J. (Perry) Carey, the former of whom was born in this state and the latter in Pennsylvania and the former of whom is still living at Urbana at a ripe old age. David Carey was born in Defiance, this state, but when he was a child his parents moved to Piqua, where he received his schooling and where he grew to manhood. While living in Miami county he married Sarah J. Perry, who was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and who was but four years of age when she came to this state with her parents, the family first locating at Gallipolis and later moving to Piqua, where she was living at the time of her marriage. Shortly after his marriage David Carey came to Champaign county and became engaged in farming at Lippincott Station, later moving down in the Dugan Valley section, where for thirty years he was engaged in farming. He then moved to Urbana, where he is still living, one of the oldest and best-known residents of that city. During his residence on the farm Mr. Carey was quite extensively engaged in the raising of broom corn and after moving to Urbana became connected with the Urbana Broom Company and was thus connected until his retirement from business some years ago. To him and his wife seven children were born, of whom six are still living, those besides the subject of this sketch being William N., George E., Charles J., Mary and Hattie. S. W. Carey received his schooling in the schools of Urbana and at the age of fourteen years began working in the greenhouse of the Reeser Floral Company, with which he was connected for about eight years, during which time he thoroughly familiarized himself with the details of the florist business and at the end of which time he started a greenhouse of his own and as since continued in that business, gradually building up his plant to its CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 389 present extensive proportions, and has long been recognized as one of the leading florists in this part of the state. Upon starting in business for himself Mr. Carey erected two greenhouses, seventy feet in length, carrying about two thousand square feet of glass; and this has been enlarged as the growing demands of his trade warranted until he now has seven greenhouses, one hundred and forty feet in length, carrying about fifteen thousand square feet of glass. His extensive plant is well equipped and up-to-date and his floral products cover a wide variety, suitable to all demands requisite to the needs of this section. Mr. Carey is a Democrat and gives a good citizen's attention to local political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office. In 1906 S. W. Carey was united in marriage to Catherine A. Plank, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Plank, and to this union four children have been born, Howard, Claude, Sarah E. and Goldie. Mr. and Mrs. Carey are members of the Lutheran church and take a proper interest in church work, as well as in the general social activities of their home town. Mr. Carey is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the blue lodge, the chapter and the council at Urbana, and takes a warm interest in Masonic affairs. In the, conduct of his business he is energetic and enterprising and is accounted one of the public-spirited business men of Urbana. HENRY A. CHURCH. Henry A. Church, superintendent of beautiful Oakdale cemetery at Urbana, is a native of the old Green Mountain state, but has been a resident of Ohio and of this county since he was eight years of age and is therefore very properly entitled to be numbered among the old settlers of Champaign county. He was born at Woodstock, in Windsor county, Vermont, November 29, 1847, son of Joel and Elizabeth (Bennett) Church, both natives of that same county, who in 1855 came to Ohio and settled on a farm in the neighborhood of Woodstock, in Rush township, this county. There Joel Church died on August 27, 1861, about six years after his arrival in this county, he then being thirty-eight years of age. His widow survived him many years, her death occurring in November, 1907, she then being in the eighty-fourth year of her age. They were the parents of two children, sons both, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Charles B. Church, who is engaged in the insurance business at Los Angeles, California. 390 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Reared in this county, Henry A. Church received his early schooling in the common Schools here and supplemented the same by a course of two years in college at Delaware, this state. Upon leaving college, he took service with the Urbana Elevator Company and was engaged with that concern for four years, at the end of which time he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and was thus engaged at Urbana for two years. He then spent 'seven years engaged in the agricultural-implement business and was thus engaged from 1877 to 1885, two years as a traveling salesman and five years locally connected with the business. In February, 1886, Mr. Church was appointed superintendent of Oakdale cemetery at Urbana, a position he ever since has occupied and to the duties of which he has ever given his most thoughtful attention. During his long period of superintendency Mr. Church has succeeded in effecting many beautifying changes in Oakdale, which has long been recognized as one of the most admirable and beautiful cemeteries in Ohio, the people of Urbana and of this section being very properly proud of the manner in which this silent city of the dead is kept up. Mr. Church 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. On September 17, 1872, Henry A. Church was united in marriage to Sarah E. Miller, who was born in Urbana, a daughter of Sylvanus and Margaret (Pence) Miller, who came to this county from Rising Sun, Indiana. After a sometime residence in. Urbana, Sylvanus Miller moved to Concord township, this county, and upon his retirement from the farm returned to Urbana, where he died in 1882, at the age of sixty-two years and past. His wife survived him many years, her death having occurred in 1914, she then being ninety years of age. They were the parents of seven children, those. besides Mrs. Church, the last-born, being Charles (deceased), John (deceased), James T. (deceased), Edward F., of Toledo, Ohio ; Fannie (deceased), and Irene B., of Springfield, this state. To Henry A. and Sarah E. (Miller) Church five children have been born, four of whom, Harry, Harley, Arthur and Frank, died in childhood, the survivor being Sylva, who married Charles D. Siegel, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has two children, Lois and Arthur. Mr. and Mrs. Church are members of the Baptist church at Urbana and take an active interest the various beneficences of the same. Mr. Church is a Knight Templar an Royal Arch Mason and is affiliated with the Royal and Select Masters, member of the blue lodge, the chapter, the council and the commander (Knights Templar) at Urbana, and takes a warm interest in Masonic affairs CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 391 WILLIAM SUNDAY. William Sunday, a retired farmer, living at Kingston, Salem township, Champaign county, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, December 15, 1847. He is a son of John and Ann (Herman) Sunday, both natives of Pennsylvania, where they grew up, were married and established their home. The father was a carpenter by trade, which he followed in his native state until 1852, when he removed With his family to Miami county, Ohio, where they lived a year or two and then came to Champaign county, locating on a farm three miles southwest of Urbana, which he rented. John Sunday remained in this county until. 1871, when he went West and bought a farm in Clay county, Illinois, where he farmed the rest of his life,. dying in the year 1898. His wife died in 1904. They.. were parents of eight children, five of whom are still living; namely : Mary, :Sarah,. Missouri, Frank and William. The last named is the only one of the family now living in Champaign county. William Sunday grew up on the farm, and he attended school in Urbana township, Champaign county. When a young. man he began farming here, which he continued until 1870, then went to Clay county, Illinois, where he farmed a year, in partnership, then married and began farming. for himself, remaining in that county until 1882, when he returned to Champaign county, locating on a farm four miles southwest of . Urbana, renting land there for some time, then moved to Salem township and bought. seventy acres, which he operated until 1913, when he retired from active life and moved to the village of Kingston, owning three acres and a cozy home, and here he has since resided. Besides' working his own land he rents a small tract of corn land each season in his vicinity. Mr. Sunday was married in 1871, to Mary E. Thackery, a daughter of John and Rachael (Hammond) Thackery, and to their, union two .children have been born, one of whom died in infancy; Anna May is the..wife of A. B. Swisher, the village blacksmith of Kingston,. and they have two children, Herman R. and John Harold. Mrs. Mary E. Sunday was born three miles southwest of Urbana, Ohio. Her father came to this country from England, when fourteen years old, landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with his parents, the family coming on to Champaign county, and locating in the southwestern part of the county, in the timber. Here John grew to manhood and helped clear and.. develop the farm. After his marriage he moved to Mad River township, this county, where he spent the rest of his 392 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. life on a farm. She was a native of Philadelphia, from which city she came to Champaign county with her parents at an early date. Ten children were born to John Thackery and wife, six of whom are still living, namely : Martha, James, Mary, Alma, Minerva and Joseph. Politically, Mr. Sunday is an independent Democrat. He is a member of the Baptist church, in which he is now a deacon, and is active in church work. SCOTT KITE. The subject of this sketch lives on his farm in Mad River township, three and a half miles east of St. Paris, and one-half mile north of the Piqua and Urbana pike. His farm consists of three hundred and twenty acres lying in Mad River township and about sixty acres in Jackson township, all the land and well improved. Scott Kite was born on this farm, in the old brick house which is still standing, April 15, 1856. He is a son of George W. and Nina (Fuson) Kite. George W., who was horn on this farm and reared here, was a son of Adam and Elizabeth Kite, who came to this county from Virginia. in r808, and settled here on government land which he entered. Here they lived and died and are buried in the old Kite burying ground on this place. Nina Fuson was born in Champaign county, Ohio, a daughter of Rev. William Fuson, an old pioneer Baptist minister and circuit rider. He was one of the best known men of his day, a man of sincere convictions and with the courage to declare them anywhere and at all. times. He lived and died in Jackson township and his remains now he in Mt. Zion cemetery in this town ship. After marriage George W. and Nina Kite settled on part of the old Kite land, living in a log cabin. Later they built the brick house, for which they burned brick on the place, this house being the one in which the subject was born. There they lived until Mrs. Kite died, when he removed to another farm located on the Piqua-Urbana pike, where he spent the remainder of his days. For his second wife he married the widow of Isaiah Kite. George W. and Nina Kite were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject is the only one living and the youngest one of the family. The children were named: Jane, Angeline, James, Diadena, Sarena, Thomas P., John, Scott. our subject ; Elizabeth and William. The family were members of the Myrtle Tree Baptist church and always took an active part in the affairs of their CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 393 church. The father was regarded as one of the pillars of the church. He was a man of great industry and was regarded as a. successful man in his day. He accumulated considerable means and was the owner of about four hundred acres of land. In politics he was a Democrat, but did not take an active part in political affairs. Scott Kite was reared on the old Kite farm, in Mad River township. He was educated in the district schools of the township and lived at home until grown to manhood. He was married, November 5, 1874, to Ella Pence, daughter of Amos and Clarinda (Browning) Pence. After marriage they set up housekeeping in the house where they now live, later removing to the red brick house. and then, after that house began to decay, they removed back to the new modern home which they now occupy, which was built in August, 1902. It has thirteen rooms and is modern, having electric lights and other improvements. To Mr. and Mrs. Kite three children have been born : Richard, who died in infancy; Daisy May married Elmer Apple and they have two children, Donald S. and Doretha E. Grace Maude married Wilber Faulkner, of Springfield. Ohio, and they have two sons, Kite and Wilbur. Mrs. Kite is a member of the Myrtle Tree Baptist church. In politics Mr. Kite affiliates with the Democratic party and he served six years as trustee of his township and twenty years on the township school board. IRWIN F. GARARD. Agriculture, in its varied 'phases, has claimed the attention of Irwin F. Garard, of Salem township, Champaign county, and he has made a success of his chosen life work, partly because he likes it and partly because he is energetic and persistent. He was born in Fond-du-Lac county, Wisconsin, July 10, 1856. He is a son of John R. Garard, who was born in Berkeley county, now a part of West Virginia. In 1845, when a young man, he came on horseback from his native state to Ohio. The old saddlebags in which he brought his clothes along are still in possession of the subject of this sketch. He first stopped in Greene county, working in a saw-mill there about a year, the .mill being busy getting out timber with which to build the woodwork of the Big Four railroad. He then came to Champaign county. locating on Pretty Prairie, in Urbana township, where resided his sister, Ruth, who had married Hamilton Hedges. There he took up farming and 394 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. married Mary Jane Osborn, of Urbana township. Later, Mr. Garard bought a farm just south of the town of Urbana and farmed there about five years, then went to Fond-du-Lac county, Wisconsin, where he remained about two years, returning to Champaign county in 1864, locating in Salem township. where he bought a farm where Mrs. Cogal now lives and stayed there five years, then bought the farm where T. I. Taylor now lives. He built a substantial home there in 1896 and improved the place in a general way. He later moved to Urbana, where his death occurred on April 9, 1905, at the advanced age of eighty-two years. His wife died in 1885 in Salem township. He was a Democrat and active in public affairs. He made the race for county commissioner and was only defeated by a few votes. He also received the nomination of his party once for representative to the state Legislature. He belonged to the Presbyterian church. He also took a great deal of interest in the Champaign county annual fairs and held various offices in the association. He did much to make the fairs here a success during his lifetime. He was well known throughout the county and highly esteemed by all who knew him. Nine children were born to John R. Garard and wife, named as follow : Mrs. Nellie Armstrong, who died on May 30, 1917, lived in California: Martha is single and lives in Kingston, Ohio ; Addie died in February, 1912: Irwin F., of this sketch ; Warren H. lives in Urbana, Ohio; Mrs. Martha Miller lives in Findlay, this state ; Sidney W. is engaged in mercantile business at Kingston, Ohio; Frank M. and Mary F. are twins ; Frank M. lives in Nashville, Tennessee, is a, lawyer by profession and now holds the office of assistant city attorney there; Mary F. is the wife of Aaron L. Covault, a train dispatcher for the Erie Railroad Company at Marion, Ohio. Irwin F. Garard received his education in the public schools of the country, also spent one term in school at Urbana. He and two sisters remained at home with their father until the latter's death. On April 4, 1911, he married Elizabeth Runyan, of Clark county, Ohio. Mr. Garard was a member of the police force at Urbana, Ohio, for three and one-half years. He was also connected with the Urbana Ice Company for a period of seven years and spent one year in the car shops there. He also worked one year at concrete bridge construction. On March 11, 1915, he 'located in Salem township, where he has since resided, owning a well-improved farm of eighty acres. Mr. Garard is a Democrat and has been active in the affairs of his party for many years. He is at present serving in the office of trustee of Salem CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 395 township. He at one time made a close race for the office of county commissioner. Fraternally, he is 'a member of the Knights of Pythias. His wife belongs to the Baptist church. For two years, 1897-1899, Mr. Garard was a guard at the Ohio state reformatory at Mansfield, Ohio. C. D. LOUDENBACK. C. D. Loudenback, cashier for the Northwestern Light and Power. Company, of Urbana, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life, with the exception of the time spent in college and a few years spent in Arizona during the days of his young manhood. He was born at Westville, in Mad River township, son of Eugene F. and Martha (McCormick) Loudenback, both members of old families in this county, the latter of whom was a daughter of Jeremiah McCormick,. and: both of whom died when their son, the subject of this sketch, was a child. Eugene F. Loudenback also was born in Mad River township, son of David and Charlotte M. (Hebbard) Loudenback, who were. among the most prominent of the early settlers of that part of the county, David, better, known as Squire Loudenback, having been one of the wealthiest and most influential men of his generation in Champaign county. Squire Loudenback was a Virginian by birth, born in Page county, in the Old Dominion, March 20, 18o8, and was nine years of age when his parents, David and Susanna L. Loudenback, came with their family to Ohio and settled in Mad River township, this county. It was on November 1, 1817, that the Loudenbacks arrived in this county and the family ever since has been prominently represented here, other reference to this family being made elsewhere in various portions of this work: The elder David Loudenback and wife were the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters, Benjamin, Ann, David, Rebecca, Emanuel, Barbara, John and Martin. The junior David Loudenback, the Squire, grew up on the home farm in Mad River township, and on June I, 1829. began teaching, school there, his pay for such service being ten dollars a month, out of which sum he had to pay his board, and he taught for fourteen consecutive terms, meanwhile continuing engaged in farm work. He later began clerking in a store at Westville and was thus engaged for three years, during which time he became engaged as a money lender, or private banker, at the same time carrying on a general real-estate business, and he gradually extended his operations along 396 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. this line until he presently came to be recognized as probably the wealthiest man in Champaign county and one of the wealthiest in this part of the state. At one time Squire Loudenback was the owner of twelve hundred acres of land, all of which he had under cultivation. He also was one of the chief stockholders in the old Third National Bank of Urbana, now the Urbana National Bank, and had other large interests hereabout. During his school teaching days he had been employed for some time as deputy county surveyor and there were few men who had as intimate and thorough an acquaintance with Champaign county as he. For ten years he also served as clerk of Mad River township and in 1842 he was elected justice of the peace in and for that township and by successive re-elections was retained in that magisterial office for thirty-six years, during which time never was one of his decisions reversed. The Squire also was for thirty years treasurer of his home township and in other ways did much for the public service. He was ever in demand as an administrator f estates or as a guardian of minor wards and it is still said that there never has been in this county a man who was called on to administer as many estates or to act as guardian for as many children as was Squire Loudenback. From 1830 until the time of his death he was a member of the Universalist church and was largely instrumental in building up the church of that denomination at Westville. He cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson for President and remained ever afterward a stalwart Democrat, for many years one of the leaders of that party in this part of the state. Squire Loudenback was twice married. It was in 1838 that he was united in marriage to Charlotte M. Hebbard, member of one of Champaign county's pioneer families, and to that union were born nine children, Eugene F., Hylas, Noah, Eliza, David, Henrietta, Charles G., Lucy A. and Devilla. The mother of these children died on June 26, 1857, and on July 22, 1858, the Squire married Mrs. Elizabeth A. (Custer) Smith, to which latter union were born three children, Rienzi, Rolla and Glendora. The eldest of these children, Eugene F. Loudenback, father of the subject of this sketch, completed his schooling in Urbana University and afterward became' associated with his father in the real estate and loan business, making his home at Westville. He married Martha McCormick, daughter of Jeremiah McCormick and wife, pioneers of this county, and to that union were born three children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one now living. Eugene F. Loudenback continued in business with his father and was quite successful. but his promising business career was cut short by his early death. His widow (lid lint long survive him. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 397 Bereft of his parents in his youth, C. D. Loudenback was reared by his grandfather, and upon completing the course in his home school, took a course in Miami University at Oxford, this state, during which period of study his health began to fail and he went to Arizona, seeking restoration in the equable climate of that region. When restored to his wonted health Mr. Loudenback returned to this county and was engaged here in looking after his land interests until in 1907, when he became connected with the Northwestern Light and Power Company of Urbana and was made cashier of the same, a position he ever since has held. Mr. Loudenback is a Democrat, as were his father and his grandfather before him, and has ever given a good citizen's attention to political affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office. On May 17, 1897, C. D. Loudenback was united in marriage to Lulu B. Winchester, daughter of Clement Winchester and wife, and to this union has been born one child, a son, Richard. Mr. and Mrs. Loudenback are attendants at the Universalist church and take a proper interest in church work, as well as in the general social and cultural activities of their home town, and are helpful in promoting local good works. Mr. Loudenback is a member of the Springfield lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization. MINOR CARTMELL. Minor Cartmell, one of the best-known of the older residents of Urbana, an honored veteran of the Civil War and a retired cabinet-maker and woodworker, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life. He was born on a farm five miles west of West Jefferson, on the national road, in Madison county, August 18, 1845, a son of Joseph H. and Rebecca (Bayless) Cartmell, both of whom also were born in this state, the former in this county and the latter in the neighboring county of Madison. Joseph H. Cartmell was born on a pioneer farm in Union township, this county, on October 23, 1809, son of John Cartmell and wife, the former of whom was one of four brothers who had come over here from Virginia about the year 1800 and had become pioneers of this county. John Cartmell settled in Union township and there he and his wife; Sophia Lance, established their home, early becoming recognized as among the leading and most influential pioneers of that section of the county. They were the parents of nine CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 398 children, of whom Joseph H. was the second in order of birth, the others being as follow : Nathaniel, who became a well-established farmer in Union township; Sarah, who married John McManaway, an auctioneer of Clark county, Ohio ; Nancy, who married David L. Tullis ; John, a farmer and merchant, who died at Marysville, in the neighboring county of Union ; Isaiah, a farmer and stockman, of this county ; Margaret, who married Seth Mahill. Thomas, a farmer of this county, who married Susanna Longbrake and during the period of the Civil War went to Illinois, where he spent the rest of his life, and William, who was a merchant at Marysville. Joseph H. Cartwell grew to manhood on the paternal farm in Union township and after his marriage to Rebecca Bayless, he rented a farm in Madison county, Ohio, on the National pike for five years, then established his home on a farm of his own in that same township, becoming a well-to-do farmer and stockman, and there he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on May 8, 1879. he then being sixty-nine years of age. His widow survived him for fourteen years, her death occurring at the home of her son, Minor Cartmell, on May 4, 1893, she being born on January 7, 1815. Joseph H. Cartmell and wife were the parents of four sons, those besides the subject of this sketch, the second in order of birth, being Joseph B., who died of measles in June, 1863, while serving as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, he then being but twenty years of age; Sidney, who died in October, 1863, at the age of sixteen years, and Benjamin M., a farmer, now living at Columbus. Kansas. Minor Cartmell grew up on the home farm in Union township and received his. schooling in the neighborhood schools. On May 2, 1864, he then being eighteen years of age, he enlisted for service during the Civil War as a member of Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for the hundred days service, and was mustered out on August 31 of that same year, returning home. On February 7, 1865, he re-enlisted as a member of Company E, One Hundred and Eighty-fifth Ohio, and with that command served until some months after the close of the war, receiving his final discharge on September 25, 1865. During the first period of his service Mr. Cartmell was located on the James river, near Richmond, and while there suffered a severe attack of measles, the same malady from which his elder brother had died in camp a year before. Upon going out with the One Hundred and Eighty-fifth he was stationed at Eminence, Kentucky, doing guard duty, and on May 12, 1865, marched with his command from Lexington to take a position at Cumberland Gap, one hundred and thirty-seven miles distant. At that latter place he was sta- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 399 tioned until the middle of September, when the command marched back to Lexington and from there was returned to Columbus, where it was mustered out on September 25. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Cartwell returned home and began working as a cabinet-maker, later taking up carpenter work and wood turning and became a skilled workman along those lines, later opening a repair shop at Urbana, which he conducted until his retirement from business, since which time he has been "taking things easy" at his pleasant home in Urbana. Mr. Cartmell is an active member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and has for years taken an earnest interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization. As a member of one of the oldest families in Champaign county and a continuous resident of this. county all his long and useful life, he is thoroughly familiar with the history of the county from pioneer days and his recollection of . events previous to and during the war and of the later incidents which have gone to make up the history of the county is clear and illuminating. Mr. Cartmell has been twice married. His first wife, who was Nancy Wilson, also a native of this county, died on May 9,..1908, and on September 15, 191o, Mr. Cartmell married Eleanor Hickman, of Columbus, Ohio, who died on February 24, 1911. To his first union five children were born, two of whom, Clifton W. and Florence M., died in youth, the others being Eve-line, who lives in Urbana, widow of Pearl C. Todd Clarence W., teller in the Champaign National Bank at Urbana, and Olive Lucile, who is at home with her father. JOHN A. FOWHL. The late John A. Fowhl, for years one of Urbana township's best known and most substantial farmers, who died at his pleasant farm home in that township in the spring of 1912, was a native of the old Keystone state, but had been a resident of this county ever since the days of his young manhood. He was born in Pennsylvania on October 21, 1848; a son of Philip Fowhl and wife, farmers, who spent all their lives in that state. Reared on the home farm in his native state, John A. Fowhl received his schooling in the schools of the neighborhood of his home and remained there until he was twenty-one years of age, when, in 1869, he came to this county and began working as a farm hand. He was active, energetic and enterprising and early began laying- plans for buying a farm of his own