950 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. 1902 and has continued living there one of the best-known and most progressive farmers in that neighborhood. Mr. Black is a Republican, as is his father, and both take: an earnest interest in local political affairs. On August 12, 1902, Jasper F. Black was united in marriage to Dollie Gordon, who was born in Putnam county, Ohio, daughter of Charles and Nettie (Richards) Gordon, the former born in Perry county, Ohio, and the latter in Union county, who lived in Union county until coming to this county in 1893, moving from here to Wendall, Minnesota, in February, 1910. To this union two .children have been born, Ruth, born November 5, 1904, and Margaret, born December 15, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Black are members of the local Grange and take a warm interest in the affairs of the same. Mrs. Black is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. JOHN H. GROVE. John H. Grove, proprietor of beautiful "Groveland Farm," on the Springfield and Mechanicsburg pike, one mile southwest of Mechanicsburg, in Goshen township, this county, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in Union township, August 31, 1844, son of John and Hannah (Hull) Grove, for many years well-known and substantial residents of that community, whose last days were spent there. John Grove was born in Monroe county, Virginia, in 1798, and there grew to manhood, later coming to Ohio, where he married Hannah Hull, a native of Kentucky, and settled on a farm in Union township, this county, 'becoming one of the useful and influential residents of that neighborhood and a well-to-do farmer. He and his wife were the parents of five children, of whom three are still living, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Mrs. Sarah E. Gordon, of Mechanicsburg, and a brother, A. J. Grove, also a resident Of that city. John Grove was. a Democrat. He was a member of the Methodist Protestant church and his wife was a member of the Baptist church. J. H. Grove was reared on the home place in Union township, receiving his schooling in the local schools, and remained at home until he was twenty-five years of age, when he began farming on his own account and presently bought the place on which he is now living, "Groveland Farm," a well-kept and profitably cultivated place of one hundred and forty acres, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 951 where he and his wife are very pleasantly and very comfortably situated. Mr. Grove is a Democrat and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local civic affairs, but has never been particularly active in "politics." In 1899 J. H. Grove was united in marriage to Esther Longbrake, daughter of G. R. Longbrake, of Mechanicsburg. VERSAILIOUS G. RIDDLE. Versailious G. Riddle, superintendent of the plant of the Mechanicsburg Gas. Light Company, vice-president of the Mechanicsburg Telephone Company, formerly a member of the common council of that city and for years actively engaged there in the plumbing and heating business, was born in Mechanicsburg and has lived there since his birth. He was born on November 13, 1858, son of James and Jane (Thompson) Riddle; the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Ohio, who established their home in Mechanicsburg after their marriage and there spent the remainder of their lives. James Riddle was born at Vevay, on the Ohio river, in Switzerland county, Indiana, in June, 1818, of Scottish descent, his paternal ancestors having come to this country from Scotland, settling in Virginia, whence his branch of the family moved to Indiana in pioneer days and settled at Vevay, that state. There James Riddle was reared, and when a young man came over into Ohio and at Urbana learned the trade of tinner. Upon completing his apprenticeship, in 1837, he located at Mechanicsburg, where he opened a shop and established a business in which he continued actively engaged the rest of his life, one of the best-known business men of an early day at that place. Not long after locating in Mechanicsburg, James Riddle married Jane Thompson, who was born in the Huntsville neighborhood, up in Logan county, Ohio, and established his. home in the village where he had begun business, and there he and his wife spent the rest of their lives. They were members of the Methodist Protestant church and ever took an interested part in local good works. Mr. Riddle was a Republican and, fraternally, was affiliated with Mechanicsburg Lodge No. 113, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, of whom three grew to maturity, Stephen, who died at Mechanicsburg in 1891; Mary, widow of John Reasner, of Galipolis, this state, and Versailious G. Riddle. V. G. Riddle was reared at Mechanicsburg, the place of his birth, com- 952 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. pleted his schooling in the schools of that place, early learned the tinning and plumbing trade in his father's establishment, and has ever since been. connected with the same, continuing the business in his own name after his father's death ; he has now associated with him in the business his son, Frank M. Riddle. In 1882 Mr. Riddle was made superintendent of the plant of the Mechanicsburg Gas Light Company and has ever since occupied that position, a period of thirty-five years of continuous service in behalf of the company. He also is vice-president of the Mechanicsburg Telephone Company, and to the affairs of both of these important public-service concerns gives his most thoughtful and intelligent attention. Mr. Riddle is a Republican and for years has given his interested attention to local civic affairs, for thirteen years having served as a member of the common council from his home ward. On June 1, 1881, V. G. Riddle was united in marriage to Margaret McClaren, who was born at Iberia, in Morrow county, this state, daughter of Daniel McClaren and wife, natives of Scotland; and to this union two children have been born, Frank M., who married Ethel Culp and is associated with his father in the plumbing business at Mechanicsburg; and Irmah, wife of Robert Everhart, a farmer living in the neighborhood of Mechanicsburg, in Goshen township. Mr. and Mrs. Riddle are members. of the Methodist Protestant church and have ever taken an interested part in church work and in other local good works. Mr. Riddle is a member of the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons and has for years taken an active part in Masonic affairs. CHARLES J. COOPER. Charles J. Cooper, farmer of Concord township, this county, was born in Pike county, Ohio, near the town of Piketon, April 7, 1872, a son of John and Martha (Roberts) Cooper. The father was born in Virginia, and the mother in Pike county, Ohio. When a young man John Cooper came to Pike county, Ohio, Where he married and located on a farm, continuing to reside there until 1875, when he moved to Champaign county, locating on a farm south of Urbana, and lived there several years.. His family consisted of twelve children, ten of whom are living in 1917, an equal number of sons and daughters, namely : George, John, Harry, Roy, Charles J., Minnie, Dora, Laura, Mary and Ida. They are all married. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 953 Charles J. Cooper was three years old when his parents brought him to Champaign county, and here he grew to manhood on the home farm, where he worked when a boy, and in the winter time he attended the district schools. He remained at home, helping his father with the farm work, until he was twenty-five years old. On March 3, 1897, he married Anna Humes, who was born near Urbana, on the farm where she grew to womanhood, receiving her education in the district schools. Mr. Cooper started out in life with very little capital, but he persevered and is now owner of a valuable and well-improved farm of one hundred and forty-one acres in Concord township, on which he is carrying on general farming and stock raising. He has owned and sold three different farms. To Mr. and Mrs. Cooper one child, a daughter, Thelma Cooper, has been born, her birth occurring on August 19, 1907. Politically, Mr. Cooper is a Republican. He is a member of the Methodist church at Concord. FRANK NICHOLS. The youngest school superintendent in Champaign county is Frank Nichols. He was born in Salem township, this county, December 24, 1891, a son of James F. and Margaret Anna (Moyer) Nichols. His father was born in Logan county, Ohio, September 12, 186o, and was a son of William and Catherine (Criffield) Nichols. His mother was born in Snyder county, Pennsylvania, September 26, 1863, a daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Pressler) Moyer. James F. Nichols and wife, both of whom are now living in Salem township, are the parents of five children : Iva F., Frank, Charles Martin, McKinley. and Margaret Elizabeth. All of the children are living in the county with the exception of Charles M., who is now living in Birmingham, Alabama. Frank Nichols received his early education in the common schools of Salem township, and then completed the high-school course in Urbana. Later he was a student in Doane Academy, following which he spent two years in Denison University. Before reaching his majority he began teaching and has spent Seven years in the school room as a teacher. The first three years found him engaged in the rural schools, and this was followed by two years (1913-15) as superintendent of schools at Corwin, Ohio ; then one year as principal of the Woodstock high school, then one year as principal of the Cable high school, and he is now superintendent of Urbana 954 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. township schools. He has spent two of his summer vacations in the capacity of a bookkeeper for the Champaign National Bank of Urbana. The record which Mr. Nichols has made in the school room stamps him as one of the coming teachers of his county. Though young in years, he has evinced unusual aptitude for the profession to which he has devoted his career thus far. He is a member of the. Champaign County Teachers' Association, and of the Ohio State Teachers' Associations, and in other ways keeps in close touch with the best educational thought of the day. On December 29, 1914, Frank Nichols was married to Hazel Elizabeth Dallas, a daughter of William Boyd and Charlotte Mrgaret (Hutchison) Dallas. Mrs. Nichols was born in Urbana township, this county, March 6, 1893. Her father was born on May 4, 1854, and her mother, October 23, 1866. Mr. and Mrs. Dallas are the parents of four children : William Russell, Hazel Elizabeth, Matthew Boyd and John Ross. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols have one child, a daughter, Virginia Margaret, born on January 16, 1916. Mr. Nichols is a Republican and takes a keen interest in general problems of government, but the nature of his profession has kept him from active political work. He is a member of the Kings Creek Baptist church. FRANK M. PRINCE. Frank M. Prince, head of the Prince Motor Car Company, of Urbana, and proprietor of one of the best-equipped garages and service stations in this part of the state and local distributor for several popular makes of automobiles, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life, a resident of Urbana since 191o, in which year he engaged in the automobile business in that city. He was born on a farm in Mad River township on August 5, 1880, son of Peter W. and Mary (Browning) Prince, the former of whom also was born in this county and the latter in Morrow county, this state, and the latter of whom is still living, now a resident of St. Paris. Peter W. Prince was born on the old Prince home farm in Mad River township, of which he later became the owner, and there spent all his life, except four years, his death occurring there on April 26, 1910. He was a son of Capt. William and Sarah (Norman) Prince, both members of influential pioneer families. Capt. .William Prince, who was in command of CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 955 a local militia company during the forties, was born in Kentucky in 1807, a son of Adam and Eve (Buroker) Prince, natives of Virginia, who emigrated from that state to Kentucky in 1805 and from the latter state to Ohio. in 1809, settling in Mad River township, this county, where, in that same year or in the year 181o, he entered a quarter of a section of government land, the deed to which bore the signature of James Madison, President of the United States. That land later was conveyed to Capt. William Prince and then to the late Peter W. Prince, and is still in the family, having been thus held since its original conveyance to Adam Prince nearly a hundred and twenty years ago. Upon coming to this county seeking a location for a home, Adam Prince was attracted to the spot he located in Mad River township by the presence on the same of a fine spring. Another settler had also become attracted by the desirability of that same location and had started for the land office at Cincinnati to make his entry the day be fore Adam Prince had decided to go. The latter, however, by riding all night, passed his neighbor on the way, reached Cincinnati in good time, made his entry and was on his way home when he met his neighbor, whom he informed that the tract in question no longer was open to entry. During the War of 1812 Adam Prince passed six months on the frontier in the northwestern part of the state, leaving his family during that time in the charge of a neighbor. The Prince tract originally was covered by a magnificent growth of hard timber which gradually was cleared away to make a tillable farm. In addition to being a good farmer, Adam Prince also was a locally noted mechanic and manufactured barrels, wooden locks and all needed farm implements his locks, particularly, being marvels of ingenuity and much in demand among his pioneer neighbors. Adam Prince prospered in his pioneer farming operations and was able to provide all his children with tracts of land when they came to make homes for themselves. His wife died in 1828 and he survived her twenty-one years. They were members of the Lutheran church and their children were reared in that faith. There were four of these children, Elizabeth, Mary, William and Nancy.. Elizabeth Prince was twice married, her first husband having been Isaac Smith and her second, James Crabill. She reared a large family and her descendants are now a numerous connection of the Prince family. Mary Prince married Adam Pence and also reared a large family, the Pence connection throughout this part of the state being a considerable one. Nancy Prince, the youngest daughter, married David Vance, a kinsman of Gov- 956 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. ernor Vance, and reared five children, two of whom, John and David, became ministers of the Methodist Episcopal church. William Prince, only son of the pioneers, Adam and Eve Prince, grew up on the pioneer farm in Mad River township and made the most of the scholastic opportunities presented in his early environment, becoming locally noted as an excellent mathematician and a fine penman. In 1827 he married Sarah Norman, daughter of Christian Norman, who had emigrated from the Shenandoah valley to this county in 1805, the year in which Champaign county was created, and who became one of the substantial pioneers of this section of the state. In 1833 William Prince came into possession of the land that had been entered from the government by his father and, in addition, became the owner of considerable tracts of Western land. In 1841 or 1842 he received a commission as captain of the local militia company and held the same until the company eventually was disbanded. Captain Price was a man of large and helpful influence in his community and throughout this section of the state generally and did much to promote the common welfare, a firm and consistent supporter of all local good works. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, six of whom, Mary, David N., Peter W., Elizabeth, Benjamin F. and Lydia, grew to maturity. Mary Prince married Rhinehart Snapp, who died six years later, after which she made her home in Jackson township. David N. Prince, who married Mary Jones, was a soldier of the Union during the Civil War and was mustered out, after more than three years of active service as captain of Company I, Forty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, later making his home in Shelby county. Elizabeth Prince married John Wiant and died in 1873. Benjamin Prince, now living at Springfield, this state, for many years professor of history and political science in Wittenberg College, was graduated from that institution in 1865 and at the opening of the next session proceeded to the study of theology. In the spring of 1865 he was appointed tutor in the college ; in 1869 was made principal of the preparatory department and assistant professor of Greek ; in 1873 was made professor of natural history; in 1878, professor of Greek and history, and later professor of history and political science. In 1869 Professor Prince married Ella Sanderson, daughter of J. Sanderson, a Philadelphia lawyer and editor of the Daily News of that city, and has ever since made his home in Springfield. As noted above, Peter W. Prince was reared on the old home farm in Mad River township and later became owner of the same, making many CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 957 substantial improvements on the place. There he spent the rest of his active life; upon his retirement moving to St. Paris, where he died four years later, a well-to-do and influential resident of that community, his death occurring on April 26, 1910. His widow is now living at St. Paris. She was born, Mary Browning, in Morrow county, this state. To Peter W. and Mary (Browning) Prince were born five children, namely : John, who is farming in Mad River township; Minnie, deceased ; William, deceased, and Benjamin and Frank M. (twins), the former of whom is deceased. Frank M. Prince was reared on the home farm in Mad River township and received his school in the common schools. He was married in the spring of 1904 and continued to make his home in Mad River township, farming there and in Concord township, until 1910, in which year he left the farm and moved to Urbana, where he engaged in the automobile business, founding the Prince Motor Car Company and establishing a place of business on East Court street, remaining at that location until in December, 1914, when he bought his present garage building at 117 West Water street, and has since then been doing business at the latter number. Mr. Prince has a building one hundred feet by forty feet in dimensions and has there . an admirably equipped garage and general service station. "Service" is his motto and his many pleased customers testify to the appropriateness of the same. Upon engaging in business at Urbana Mr. Prince secured the agency for one of the most popular cars then on the market and has since acquired the agency for two other well-known cars. He carries besides a full line of automobile accessories and supplies for, motorists and makes a specialty of the high character of the repair work turned out of his garage. Mr. Prince was raised a Democrat and voted that way until 1914, since then he has been a Republican, but has not given 'special attention to political affairs. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Westville and with the local lodge of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics at Urbana. On May 25, 1904, Frank M. Prince was united in marriage to Grace 1. Stover, who also was born in Mad River township, a daughter of Joseph and Lucy Stover, who were the parents of four children, those besides Mrs. Prince being Leander Stover, of Springfield, this state; Laura, who is now living in Louisiana, and Lulu, of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Prince are members of Grace Methodist Episcopal church at Urbana and give proper attention to the various beneficences of the same, as well as to other local good works. 958 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. G. FRANK STABLER. G. Frank Stabler, a well-known and enterprising farmer of Adams township, the owner and proprietor of a fine farm of eighty acres located on rural route No. I, on the Quincy-Carrysville pike, two and one-half miles north of Carysville, was born on a farm in Adams township, December 23, 1870, the son of C. G. and Catherine (Pencil) Stabler, the former of whom was a native of Germany, and the latter of Montgomery county, Ohio. C. G. Stabler was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, and lived in his native country until he reached the age of seventeen or eighteen years, when he came to the United States, coming direct to Logan county, Ohio, where he had an uncle, and with whom he worked for some years. There he met and married Catherine Pencil, who was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, her parents being also of German ancestry. After his marriage, he and his wife located on the farm in Adams township, near where his son, G. Frank, now lives, and here the wife's death occurred. They were the parents of five children,. four of whom are now living : Mary B., wife of B. S. Young, of Rosewood, Ohio ; Barbara, who died at the age of twenty years; William, a farmer of Adams township; G. Frank, -the immediate subject of this review, and John E. G. Frank Stabler was reared on his father's farm, receiving his education in the district schools of his home neighborhood, and early in life learned the rudiments and principles of good farming. For two years after his marriage, he lived on the home place with his father, but in the spring of 1904; he purchased fifty-seven, acres of land,. where he is now living, making a total of eighty acres which he owns at the present time, and has since made this place his home. He carries on a general system of farming and stock raising, and ranks among the progressive and successful farmers of his township. On August 12, 1902, G. Frank Stabler was united in marriage to Daisy D. Stem, who was born in Logan county, Ohio, May 30, 1882, the daughter of William J. and Mary M. (Willard) Stem, both of whom were natives of Frederick county, Maryland, the former born in 1839, and the latter in 1844. They were married in Maryland in 1861, and in 1865, they came to Logan county, Ohio, where Mr. Stem's death occurred on October 22, 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Stem were the parents of eleven children, nine of whom are now living : William Earl, of Shelby county, Ohio; Ida A., wife of Armor Deitrick, of Logan county, Ohio; John, living in the state of Wash- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 959 ington;. Minnie, also a resident of Washington, the wife of Charles Moore ; Clara, wife of Van Ford, of Logan county, Ohio; Charles, also a resident of Logan county; Eva, wife of Alva Armstrong, living in Michigan; Daisy D., wife of Mr. Stabler, and Joseph G., of Illinois. The mother of these children is still living in Logan county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. G. Frank Stabler are the parents of two children : Mary Catherine, born December 10, 1905, now a student in the second grade in the Rosewood schools, and Lillian Isabelle, born May 24, 1911, a student in her first year in the Rosewood schools. Mr. Stabler is a member of the Lutheran church, while Mrs. Stabler is an adherent of the United Brethren church. Politically, Mr. Stabler is a Republican, but is broadminded and liberal in his judgment of men and affairs. CHARLES A. WIANT. Charles A. Wiant, a farmer of Johnson township, this county, was born in Mad River township, this county, November 28, 187o. He is a son of Isaiah and Nancy (Smith) Wiant, both also natives of Mad River township, the father having been born on the same farm as was the subject of this sketch, the old Wiant place having remained in possession of the family several generations, dating back to the pioneer days. The parents of the subject of this sketch grew to maturity in Mad River township, and there they married and established their home, near Westville, and where they spent the rest of their. lives, .Isaiah, Wiant's death. occuring on February 17, 1895. They were members of the Myrtle Tree Baptist church, in which they were both active. He was one of the trustees- of the church for many years. He was a Democrat, and served for some time as trustee of Mad River township. To Isaiah Wiant and wife the following children were born : F. R., who is a carpenter at Springfield, Ohio ; A. E., who lives at St. Paris, this county; Frank E., who lives at Springfield, Ohio, and is employed as motorman by the street railway company; Mary C., the wife of T. E. Lutz, of Urbana; Martha E., wife of V. E. Snapp ; Charles A., the subject of this sketch; Anna E.,. the wife, of Warren E. Neer, of Tremont City; Clarke county, Ohio, and Minnie 0., who died in infancy. Charles A. Wiant was reared on the farm in Mad River township, attending the district schools and continued working with his father on 960 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. the home place until he was twenty-seven years old. On June 2, 1897, he married Dollie B. McMorran, a daughter of David and Susan (Norman) McMorran, who lived on a farm in Johnson township, where Mrs. Wiant grew to womanhood and attended the district schools. She was born on May 28, 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Wiant began housekeeping on the Norman farm, renting the place at first, then bought the place, consisting of eighty acres. In the year 1909 Mrs. Wiant's parents transferred to them the adjoining eighty-acre tract where they now reside, the original quarter section there having been formerly owned by Benjamin Norman, Mrs. Wiant's maternal grandfather. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Wiant consists of five daughters, namely: Nevo B., born on January 11, 1899, who was graduated from the St. Paris high school with the class of 1917; Gertrude I., November 20, 1901, who is attending high school; Susan N., August 8, 1909, who is attending the district schools; Martha C., April 7, 1913, and Mary E., October 2, 1916. Mr. Wiant is a Democrat. He and his wife are members of the Myrtle Tree Baptist church, in which he is clerk and a deacon and one of the most active members of the church. FRANK C. GAUMER. In a peculiar sense newspaper men are like poets ; they are born rather than made. Theirs is a gift in somewhat the same sense that the ability to write poetry is a gift. The trite expression—"a nose for news"—means all that it says; and he who is not born with the newspaper nose ,never attains the highest pinnacle of newspaper success. The operation of a newspaper at the present time is. a far different proposition from what it was in the days of Benjamin Franklin, and the part the newspaper man plays in the life of the community served by his paper is constantly increasing in importance. It is his duty to follow the life of his fellowman from the time he was born until his death; to chronicle both events, and set forth for the public eye all that he does between these two important dates. It may he said that no man in the community knows more about what is going on—it is a part of his business to know—and the best. newspaper man is the one who comes the nearest to being in touch with all phases of the life of the people he seeks to serve ; in other words, he must, in a sense, be omniscient ; he must be a cosmopolite. That Frank C. Gaumer measures up to a high standard in the newspaper CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 961 world is evidenced by the success which has come to him in the management of the Urbana Daily Democrat. For eighteen years he has been the manager of the Democrat, has seen it grow from a weekly to a bi-weekly, from a bi-weekly to a tri-weekly, from a tri-weekly to a daily. Beginning his connection with the paper in 1899, when only twenty years of age, he has so conducted its affairs that he has made it the strongest paper in the county, by all odds. This is all the more remarkable when it is taken into consideration that the county is strongly Republican. When Mr. Gaumer took charge of the paper in 1899 it was a small affair, humbly housed, with a wavering circulation, with meager equipment, and with 'little prestige in the community. Under his skillful guidance it has grown to such proportions that it was necessary during the present year to erect a large building to handle the immense amount of business which had been developed. From a mediocre sheet of uncertain circulation it has grown to a point where the daily edition of the paper enjoys a circulation of five thousand. At the same time he has made it an advertising medium second to none in the county, and one of the best in the state for a city the size of Urbana. Many newspaper men are content to center all their efforts on their newspaper. but the best men count this only a part of their work. The wideawake newspaper man now makes more money out of his job printing than he does out of his newspaper proper. It is in this field that Mr. Gaumer has made a distinct success. In his new building he has a room set aside for what he denominates the commercial printing department. Here may be found two Mergenthaler linotype machines, there being four others in the building, and both of these machines are devoted exclusively to catalogue work and miscellaneous job printing, including the setting of the type for the American Friend, the Friends' national weekly publication, and the Missionary Advocate, the Friends' monthly missionary journal. The development of this department has been little short of phenomenal during the past few years, and its present standing is a glowing tribute to the energy and business acumen of Mr. Gaumer. Such, in brief, is the career of Frank C. Gaumer in the newspaper world. He is still a young man and the future holds still more good things for him. With his beautiful new printing house, and with the place which he now holds in his profession, there is no reason for not presaging for him in the years to come a niche high among the newspaper men of his state. He has recently acquired the Urbana Daily Citizen, the Republican (61a) 962 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. organ of the county, and will print it and conduct its business policy, its editorial management remaining in the hands of a Republican editor. How well he may succeed in this sort of an arrangement, only the future can tell. The intricacies of the newspaper history of the county are set forth in detail in the chapter relating to newspapers in the historical section of this work, and in that connection may be traced the relation of Mr. Gaumer to the complicated newspaper situation of Urbana. A brief personal mention of Mr. Gaumer is in order. He was born at Adamsville, Ohio, December 16, 1879, a son of Dr. Thomas M. and Eliza M. (Cone) Gaumer. A sketch of Doctor Gaumer appears elsewhere in this volume, to which the reader is referred for the genealogy of the family. Frank C. Gaumer was educated in the public schools of Urbana, and soon as he was graduated from the high school he entered the printing office of his father in the city. While he has centered his energies on his newspaper, he has found time to take an active part in the every-day life of the community which his paper serves. Mr. Gaumer was married on September 20, 1917, to Sarah Rhodes, a daughter of John C. and Minnie Rhodes. With his marriage, Mr. Gaumer enters upon life with a new vision of things, and with the inspiration of his accomplished wife to aid him in his chosen profession, it can truly be said tht his work will henceforth , be more pleasant for him. He is a member of the Lutheran church, and his wife a member of the Episcopal church. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and a member of the Ancient Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Dayton. BILLY "SINGLE" CLIFFORD Shakespeare employed his diversified talents to delineate more traits o character and to sound depths of deeper passions than any man who eves lived. In his plays may be found more than a thousand different characters, and there is not an emotion, not a passion, that is not given expres sion by one of these hundreds of characters of the Bard of Avon. Truly, as Shakespeare says, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women. merely players." One of these players was born and reared in Urbana, and is know throughout the length and breadth of the nation as one who can say, "Let me play the fool ; with mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” If a CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 963 Urbanian were asked to name the one man of the city who has done more to spread sunshine over the country and cause two smiles to spread where only one spread before, there would be but one answer—Billy "S." Clifford. Let him who will, explain why a man with a decent Christian name trades it off for a second-hand patronymic ; it is one of the inscrutable stage mysteries. Be that as it may, there was born in Urbana on January 24, 1869, William Clifford Shyrigh, so called by his parents, Levi and Sarah Shyrigh, long residents of the city. But to the people of the United States at large he is known as Billy Clifford, or Billy "Single" Clifford, the middle appellation being acquired in the course of his varied stage career. Some wise man has said that as the twig is bent so grows the tree, and by analogy, Billy Clifford, while still a twig was a show boy and as the twig grows to treehood, so did the boy grow to be a showman. On the site of the present theater bearing his name, Billy Clifford staged his first show while still a boy in his teens—more than thirty years ago. He must have been a lineal descendant of old Thespis, for if buskined sock ever fit a youth of Urbana, it fit this youthful follower of Aristophanes. It was but a step from the stage in the old barn to his first entry into real theatrical circles. And he has stepped in his buskins like unto him who wore the seven-league boots—big steps and ever advancing steps. He started out with the Miles Orton circus, but the experience he acquired during three seasons with this company brought him to a realization that there were better things in store for him. Accordingly, when he was nineteen years of age he welcomed the opportunity to associate himself with George Fuller Golden, one of America's foremost monologue artists of his day. During the three years Clifford was with Orton, he served in the triple capacity of snare drummer, ticket seller and, finally and terpsichorially; he had a song-and-dance turn. While with the circus Clifford became interested in the acrobatic work of George Marsh, one of his fellow townsmen, better known by the enigmatical title of "Moats." This Moats possessed an unusually supple pair of legs, and Clifford conceived the idea that he and Moats might make a good team on the stage. After a thorough course in the heating of a bass drum, Moats was ready to join Clifford, and the two drummers joined in a singing and dancing act which was sufficiently attractive from a box-office standpoint to keep them in steady employment. It may be added that Moats became the principal clown of Ringling Brothers circus, and was with them at the time of his accidental death in a railroad accident. 964 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Clifford and Golden were together for years, and played in the leading vaudeville houses throughout the United States. They had a simple skit, but so skillfully and artistically was it staged and acted by these two gifted comedians, that it never failed to win hearty applause. They had a combined song-and-dance turn, to which they added an old-fashioned clog dance, while their finale consisted of a dashing boxing exhibition of three rounds. This fistic encounter usually terminated in favor of Clifford, who, being smaller and more active on his feet, was able to dance around his heavier and slower opponent. After Clifford and Golden dissolved partnership, Clifford joined Al G. Fields and remained with the latter's show several seasons. His next step took him into vaudeville with Maude Huth as a partner, and they toured the United States with one of the largest vaudeville companies on the road. So famed did this company become that it made a trip to Europe, and there Billy and his partner spread sunshine and laughter before delighted audiences of thousands. For several years Clifford was starred under different managements in musical comedy, while for the past few seasons he has had a company of his own on the road. During the season of 1916-17 he headed his own company in "Linger Longer Lucy," a bright, sparkling, musical comedy of his own production. But despite his wanderings over the world, Billy still calls Urbana his home. It is here that he comes to spend his summer vacations, and it is here that he intends to spend his days when he forsakes the footlights. He has his beautiful theater here, which he built in 1905, one of the largest and best appointed theaters in the country in a city the size of. Urbana. He has installed a moving picture outfit in his theater and it is open every night in the year except Sunday. During the theatrical season every year, a number of high-class shows appear in the city, but every night not so taken finds a goodly audience watching the silent drama. Billy Clifford has done much for his city, but nothing in which the city takes more pride than in his theater. His many friends follow his career from year to year and rejoice with him in the success which has come to him. It has not all been a flowery bed of roses; he has worked hard and faithfully to reach the place he has in the theatrical world. That he is widely known as a clever dancer is shown by the fact that one of the stars on the Keith circuit in the summer of 1917, who has a turn calling for a reproduction of the characteristic dances of famous comedians, starts his program every night with the words—"I will first give an imita- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 965 doll of the cane dance of my friend Billy 'S.' Clifford." In the years to come Clifford will be remembered as one of the sons of Urbana who have gone forth to win fame, and who, by sheer merit, won a place for himself in the realm of things theatrical. ALDEN BEATLEY. Salem township, this county, being an excellent wheat country, the elevator business has necessarily followed and has been engaged in with gratifying results by such men as Alden Beatley, of Urbana. He was barn in Franklin county, Ohio, November 26, 1852, a son of Benjamin and Sarah (Alger) Beatley. The father was a native of Maryland, but the mother was born in Franklin county; Ohio, to which county Benjamin Beatley migrated from the old Oriole state when he was nineteen years old, and worked out as a farm hand and there he was married. He had little to start with, but being a hard worker he forged ahead by his own efforts and cleared a farm in Franklin county, becoming owner of one hundred and fifty acres, which he operated until 1869, when he moved to Champaign county, buying a farm of eighty acres in Salem township. After farming here a number of years he sold out and moved to Urbana, retiring from active life, and there his death occurred in 1893. His wife had preceded him to the grave in 1892. They were parents of seven children, three of whom are living at this writing, namely : Mrs: Almina Shaul, who makes her home in Chicago, Illinois ; Mrs. Alice Seibert, who resides in Urbana, and Alden, the subject of this sketch. Alden Beatley grew up on the home farm and he worked hard assisting his father with the general crops. He received most of his education in the public schools of Franklin county. He removed with his parents to Champaign county and remained on the farm in Salem township until he was twenty-one years old, when he took up farming for himself, renting a farm until the fall of 1884, when he began working at the Payne warehouse at Kings creek, continuing there engaged for a period of nine years; then, in 1897, he leased the elevator at Kings creek, in partnership. ..with Woodcock, which partnership continued until 1900, when the firm purchased the elevator, continuing to operate the same in partnership until 1910 when Mr. Woodcock died, leaving Mr. Beatley sole owner. He has since operated the same alone and with ever-increasing success, enjoying 966 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. an extensive trade with the surrounding country. He not only buys wheat and all kinds of grain, but also handles flour, feed, hay, coal and fencing. His business in all lines is constantly increasing as a result of his careful management, industry and honest dealings with his customers. The elevator has a capacity of twelve thousand bushels. An elevator has been on this site for a period of more than fifty years and is one of the best known elevators in Champaign and adjoining counties. In 1873 Alden Beatley was married to Nancy J. Herr, a daughter of Abraham Herr and wife, and to their union four children have been born, namely : Harry, who married Ethel Burke and has one child, Philip; Clifford, who married Nellie Taylor and has three children, Cleo, Carroll and Louise; Estella, wife of Ernest Shafer, and C. Earl, who married Alice Carson and has one child, a son, Charles E. Mr. Beatley is a Democrat. He belongs to the Masonic Order, and is a Knight Templar. He belongs to the Baptist church at Kings creek. During his long residence in this locality he has become widely and favorably known. FOSTER BUMGARDNER. Foster Bumgardner, one of Champaign county's best-known and most progressive farmers and the proprietor of a fine place of one hundred and fourteen acres on the Jefferson pike, rural mail route No. 3 out of Mechanicsburg, in Goshen township, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life. He was born over the line in Pleasant township, in the neighboring county of Clark, October 3, 1876, son of E. P. and Mahala (Clymer) Bumgardner, the former of whom is still living, now a resident of Springfield,. this state. E. P. Bumgardner, who for years was one of Champaign county's substantial farmers, also was born in Clark county, in that section locally known as "The Knobs," a son of the Rev. Abraham and Nancy (Runyan ) Bumgardner, for many years among the most influential residents of this part of the country, both members of old families hereabout, the Bumgardners and the Runyans having been among the first settlers in Clark county and originally owners of nearly all that part of the county known as "The Knobs," the two families having bought the same from the government not long after land in this section of Ohio was opened for settlement. The Rev. Abraham Bumgardner was a widely-known minister of the Metho- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 967 dist Episcopal church and in his day was one of the most popular circuit riders .in this part of the state. He also was a good farmer and became the owner of much land. As his children grew up and started out "on their own" he gradually distributed his holdings in "The Knobs" and then bought a large farm nearby the Pleasant Chapel church in Pleasant township, Clark county, which place is still known as the old Bumgardner farm, and there he and his wife spent their last days, full of years and honor. They were the parents of nine children and the Bumgardner connection is thus a large one hereabout in the present generation. After his marriage to Mahala Clymer, also a member of one of the old families of Clark county, E. P. Bumgardner settled on a farm adjoining the old Bumgardner home in Pleasant township and there made his home until 1890, when he moved up into this county and bought a farm in Goshen township. On this latter place his wife died in 1896 and he then returned to the old Bumgardner place, adjoining the farm he still owned in Pleasant township, and took over the management of both farms, continuing there until his retirement and removal to Springfield, where he is now living, past seventy-two years of age. E. P. Bumgardner has ever taken an active interest in the work of the Methodist Episcopal church and is now one of the influential workers in the Belmont avenue church at Springfield. He formerly and for years was one of the leaders in the work of the Pleasant Chapel church, in the affairs of which the Bumgardners have been deeply interested ever since the establishment of the same. In his more active years he also took considerable interest in the work of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd. Fellows, of which he was a member. To him and his wife were born five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being Sherwin, who is living on a farm nearby the old Bumgardner home in the Pleasant Chapel neighborhood; Georgia L., wife of George Turner, also of Pleasant township; Lillian, who died at the age of thirty years, and Nellie, wife of Howard Ritchie, of Pleasant township. Foster Bumgardner was fourteen years of age when he came up into Champaign county with his parents, the family settling in Goshen township, and when his father returned to Clark county he remained here and upon his marriage shortly afterward, at the, age of twenty-one, he rented a farm of two hundred and fifty acres in the neighborhood of the place on which he is . now living and on that farm made his home for eleven years, at the end of which time he bought a farm, intending to move onto the same. but before he could complete his arrangements for moving, ac- 968 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. cepted an advantageous offer and sold the place. He then rented another two hundred and fifty acre farm in that vicinity and moved on to it, making his home there for seven years. Meanwhile he had bought the farm on which he is now living, a quite desirable place of one hundred and fourteen acres, and in 1916 erected a comfortable house on the same. In the spring of 1917 he moved into that house and he and his family are now very comfortably and very pleasantly situated there. In addition to his general farming Mr. Bumgardner has long paid considerable attention to the raising of good live stock and has done well in his operations. He carries on his farming in accordance with up-to-date principles and his farm plant is one of the best equipped in that neighborhood. On November 24, 1897, Foster Bumgardner was united in marriage to Mary Alice Reedy, of Union township, this county, and to this union five children have been born,- Alta May, Millie, Lewis E., Almeda and Margaret, all of whom are attending the Mechanicsburg schools, the three elder in the high school. Mr. Bumgardner is a Republican, but has not been an office seeker. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, his connection with . the church remaining at Pleasant Chapel, and hers in the Mutual circuit, and both take an interested part in church work, as well as in the general good works and social activities of their home neighborhood, helpful in promoting all agencies having to do with the advancement of the common welfare thereabout. MARCUS C. GOWEY. Marcus C. Gowey, a prominent attorney of North Lewisburg, was born at North Lewisburg, Ohio, December 25, 1848, the son of Hartland D. and Eliza A. (Willey) Gowey. His paternal ancestry is of Dutch lineage, the family being founded in America in 163o by his ancestors, who came to New York. His father's grandfather, John Gowey, a native of Vermont, was born in Arlington, December 29, 1791. His wife, whom he married on October 7, 1811, was Fannie Judson, a member of the Judson family, which is of English extraction and was established in America on the Connecticut river above Hartford, Connecticut. In 1821 his grandparents, who had been living in Arlington, Vermont, since their marriage, removed t New York, and there made their home until 1837 when they became residents of Ohio. In 1852 John and Fannie Gowey went to Iowa and locate CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 969 on a farm where they lived their remaining days. To them were born ten children, of which the second child and eldest son was Hartland D. Gowey, the father of Marcus C. Gowey. Hartland D. Gowey received his early education in the pine woods of Alleghany county, New York. When his parents removed to Ohio in 1837, he located with them in Licking county, Ohio. There he began teaching school and remained in the profession for twenty years. In 1844 he came to Champaign county and located in North Lewisburg, where he busied himself with the upbuilding of the educational interests of this section of the state, was postmaster for thirty-three years, was elected mayor two terms, and justice of the peace, recorder and city clerk for thirty years. His sterling integrity and fidelity to his principles throughout his long residence in North Lewisburg caused his fellow townsmen to confer official trusts upon him, and endeared him to his neighbors. After these many years of service to his community, he died on September 8, 1909. In 1846 he married Eliza A. Willey, and to them were born two sons. The elder of these, John Franklin Gowey, was born in North Lewisburg, December 7, 1846. In the legal profession, in political circles and in business affairs, he achieved a national reputation. He died while consul-general at Yokohama, Japan, March 12, 1900. The younger son, Marcus C. Gowey, is the subject of this sketch. He spent his boyhood days in North Lewisburg, where he received his early education in the public schools. He decided to enter the legal profession and studied law in the office of his brother. Soon he entered upon the work on his own account, and in his practice, which has been most successful, his conduct of his .cases has been with highest justice to his client and with a strong conviction of his profession's mission to society. Even though Mr. Gowey has reached the age when many men think that it is time to retire from active business or professional life, he is yet actively engaged in his profession. On January 3, 1872, Marcus C. Gowey married Miranda L. Mumford, the daughter of M. H. and Lydia (Bennett) Mumford, who died August 5, 1904. On the 27th day of October, 1906, he married Alona H. Sanders, his present wife. They now live in their beautiful home on Townshend street. Mr. Gowey is a strong advocate of fraternal organizations, and in one of these, the Masons, he has advanced quite far. He is a member of Masonic Blazing Star Lodge No. 268, of North Lewisburg, forty-five years; of Star Chapel No. 126, Royal Arch Masons, and Raper Command- 970 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. ery No. 19 Knights Templar of Urbana. He is also a member of Launc lot Lodge Knights of Pythias, of Urbana. By virtue of his gifts as a public administrator, Mr. Gowey has been chosen repeatedly by his.neighbors and the people of the county to fill offices of trust. Over his record during his public service like that of his professional life falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. In politics Mr. Gowey has always been a Republican. JOHN HULING. John Ruling, a farmer of Adams township, Champaign county, was born in this township on December 28,.1858. He is a son of Tames M. and Mary Jane (Bowersox) Huling. The father was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, and when a boy he came with his father, Samuel Huling. to Adams township, Champaign county, the father buying a farm on which he spent the rest of his life, and which farm is still in the possession of the Huling family. On this farm James M. Huling also spent the rest of his life. Mary Bowersox was born on this farm, near Mosquito creek, a daughter of Samuel Bowersox, who came here from Pennsylvania in pioneer days, buying the above mentioned farm and became one of the leading farmers in Adams township. He finally moved from his farm to Carysville, where he conducted a store, and in later years lived in St. Paris, operating a store and a private bank. After their marriage the parents of John Huling settled on the farm where he now resides, and there the father carried on general farming successfully until his death which occurred on this place, where he had spent all his life. He was a Democrat ; and he and his wife belonged to the United Brethren church at Carysville, later at Rosewood. Nine children, all still living, were born to James M. Huling and wife, namely : Sarah, the wife of Samuel Guy of Sidney, Ohio; John of this sketch; Orpha A., the widow of John Harvey of St. Paris; Laura, the wife of Ed Ashmore of Sidney, this state; Clara, the wife of Frank Suber of Columbus, Ohio : Margaret. who married David Kizer of St. Paris; Jennie, the wife of William Williams of Columbus; Nora, at home; and Charles A., living in Adams township. John Huling was reared on the home farm in Adams township, and he attended the schools at Carysville. On May 5, 1888, he married Sarah V. Ward, a daughter of Lewis and Catherine ( Journell) Ward, the former of CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 971 whom was born in Johnson township, this county, and was the son of James and Polly Ward, who came from Virginia when young and here were married and established their home on a farm in Johnson township where they died. a. Catherine Journell was born in Johnson township, Champaign county, where she grew to womanhood and attended school. She is a daughter of Charles and Mary Journell, who were of French descent, having come to Champaign county with their parents from France. Charles and Mary Journell spent their active lives on a farm in Johnson township, where they died. To Lewis Ward and wife six children were born, namely : Alice, the wife of Allen Poorman of Perry township, this county ; Emma, who married L. F. Purt of Carysville ; Sarah V., the wife of John Huling; Daisy, now deceased, the wife of Charles Evans of Lima, Ohio ; Theresa, the wife of Frank Johnson of Beaverton, Michigan ; Charles, who lives in Pensacola, Florida. After their marriage John Huling and wife located on their present farm west of Carysville in Adams township and here they have continued to reside. To their union one child has been born, Thurman H. Huling, who was graduated from the St. Paris high school and later from the engineering department of the Ohio State University at Columbus. He is now living at Chanute, Kansas, being mechanical engineer in charge of the Ash Grove Portland Cement Company. He married Agnes Hawthorne. Politically, Mr. Huling is a Democrat ; he and his wife are members of the Carysville Christian church. HARRISON S. BAILEY. Harrison S. Bailey, one of Champaign county's best-known and most successful horsemen and the proprietor of a fine farm of three hundred and seven acres on Jumping Run creek on the Woodstock pike, one and one-quarter miles northeast of Mechanicsburg, in Goshen township, was born on the David Watson farm, four miles south of London, in the neighboring county of Madison, and has resided on his present place since his marriage in 1885. He was born on January 11, 1856, son of John Rives and Charlotte (Suver) Bailey, the latter of whom was born in that same county. John Rives Bailey was but a child when his parents settled in Madison county and there he grew to manhood and married Charlotte Suver, 972 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. member of one of the old families of that county, and who died in 1858, leaving three children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the youngest and then but two years of age, the others being Joseph S. Bailey, who after the death of his mother was reared in the family of his uncle, James Suver, of Madison county, and is now living in the state of Illinois, and Laura, who also was reared in the family of James Suver and married Ellis Bolton, of Mechanicsburg. About two years after the death of his first wife John R. Bailey married Ellen McCurdy Watson and moved to Covington, Indiana, and after a sometime residence there moved to Watseka. Illinois, where he established his permanent home. As noted above, Harrison S. Bailey was about two years of age when his mother died and until his father's second marriage he was cared for by his maternal grandparents. He then was taken by his father to the latter's new home in Covington, Indiana, and later to Watseka, Illinois, in which latter city he completed his schooling and remained until he was past fifteen years of age, when he came back to Ohio and began working on his own account in Madison county and after a while was able to rent a farm there and go to farming. Two years later he married and then, in the spring of r885, established his home on the place on which he is still living, in Goshen township, this county, where he owns a fine farm of three hundred and seven acres and where he and his wife are very comfortably and very pleasantly situated. For years Mr. Bailey had given his special attention to the raising of fine horses and has probably raised as many high-grade horses as any man in the county, the products of his well-equipped stock farm being in wide demand. During the years he has been engaged in the horse business he has trained quite a few of his most promising colts for .the track and has had considerable success on the Grand Circuit, among the best-known of his race horses having been "Red Light," with a record of 2 :13 ½ ; "Minnie," 2 :12 ½; and "Mary S.," 2 :11 ¼. In addition to his general farming and live-stock interests Mr. Bailey has also given considerable attention to the general business interests of his home community and is a stockholder in the Farmers Bank at Mechanicsburg. Politically. he is a Democrat, but has not been a seeker after public office. On January 21, 1885, Harrison S. Bailey was united in marriage to Mary Olive Millice, who was born in Goshen township, this county. a daughter of John N. and Susanna (Coile) Millice, the former of whom was born in that same township and the latter in Shenandoah county, Virginia. John N. Millice was a son of Christopher and Mary Magdalene Millice. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 973 substantial pioneers of Goshen township, and he grew to manhood in that township. His wife was but two years of age when her parents moved from Virginia to Ohio, driving through in a covered wagon, the family settling on the county line between Knox and Morrow counties, where she grew to womanhood and where she was living at the time of her marriage to Mr. Millice, she then being twenty-one years of age. To that union were born two daughters, Mrs. Bailey having a sister, Etna Clara, who married Orin Bolton, of Columbus, Ohio, and has one child, a son, Calvin R. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey have a very pleasant home and have ever taken an interested part in the general social affairs of their home community. Mr. Bailey is president of the Mechanicsburg Matinee Club and is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Mechanicsburg and a charter member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at that place, taking a warm interest in lodge affairs. JOHN T. BROWN. When Governor Cox was making up his extraordinary commission to promote and conserve the food conditions of Ohio in conformance with the necessities created by the declaration of war against Germany in the spring of 1917 he appointed John T. Brown, of Goshen township, as a member of that important commission for the county of Champaign and the appointment gave general satisfaction throughout the county, for it was conceded that it was a fitting appointment. As lecturer, under appointment of the State University authorities, before the farmers institutes of Ohio Mr. Brown had for years given his close attention to the needs of the agriculturists of this state and to the methods whereby the output of the farms of the state might be enlarged, and was therefore eminently qualified for the responsibilities and duties resting upon and attending the new and highly important war food commission. Mr. Brown not only is a good farmer and stock raiser, the owner of a fine farm in Goshen township, having a thorough practical and technical knowledge of the subject of agriculture, but has long been regarded as a soil expert, fully conversant with the possibilities of Champaign county as a food-producing center; and, as such, fully competent to accept the responsibilities of the new honors thrust upon him by the state. John T. Brown is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of Plain City, in the neigh- 974 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. boring county of Madison, March 14, 1876, son of David and Sarah E. (Taylor) Brown, both of whom were born in that same county, and the latter of whom is still living, still a resident of Madison county. David Brown was born on a farm in Summerford township, Madison county, this state, April 8, 1833, and there spent all his life, a substantial and reputable citizen. He served as a soldier of the Union during the latter part of the Civil War and was for years justice of the peace in and for his home township. He was a Republican and ever gave a good citizen's attention to local political affairs. His death occurred on August 6, 1913, and his widow, who was born on September 19, 1843, is still living. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and her children were reared in that. faith. There were twelve of these children, of whom eleven are still living, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow : Frank I., who is the official stenographer for the courts of Montgomery county; Clara, wife of Charles Ackley, of Plain City; Ida B., who is unmarried; Charles D., of Plain City, former representative from that district in the Ohio Legislature; Eva G.. wife of W. H. Sidener, of West Jefferson, this state ; Nell, wife of Ralph Demmitt, of Montgomery county; Bessie F., unmarried, who is at home with her mother; Lulu G., wife of Ashton Gregg, cashier of the West Jefferson Bank; Lucile, wife of Frank Kimble, of Salida, Colorado, and Russell H., who is looking after the home farm in the vicinity of Mechanicsburg. By a previous marriage David Brown was the father of one son, Will E. Brown, who was a resident of California for thirty years previous to his death in July, 1917. Reared on the home farm, John T. Brown received his early schooling in the schools of his home neighborhood and was graduated from the common schools in the first class following the operation of the Boxwell law. At the age of seventeen years he began to teach school and later entered the National Normal School at Lebanon, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1899; later resuming teaching, and for two years taught in the grade school and in the high school at Mechanicsburg. After their marriage in the fall of 1901 Mr. and Mrs. Brown established their home on the old Davis homestead, which they still retain, a farm of one hundred acres in Goshen township, and have continued to make that their place of residence. This farm is known as "Pleasant View Farm,” two and a half miles south of Mechanicsburg. They have one of the best farm plants in that part of the county and the agricultural operations there are carried on in accordance with the latest and most approved methods. As noted above, Mr. Brown is a member of the Grange and has long been CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 975 a lecturer in that behalf, as well as a lecturer before farmers institutes throughout the state, this latter position being under appointment from the. State University authorities, he thus being one of the most widely-known agricultural authorities in the state. It seemed therefore but fitting that Governor Cox should name him as a member from this county of the Ohio state food commission upon the appointment of that body following the declaration of war in the spring of 1917. In addition to his general farming,. Mr. Brown gives considerable attention to the breeding of registered DurocJersey hogs and is doing very well in his operations. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Bank of Mechanicsburg and has ever given close attention to the general business affairs of his home community, one of the active factors in the promotion of such movements as are designed to advance the welfare of the community as a whole. He is a Republican and has rendered further public service as a member of the local school board. On October 8, 1901, John T. Brown was united in marriage to Ella D. Davis, who was born in Goshen township, this county, July 24, 1875, daughter of John E. and Sylvia J. (Fox) Davis, and who was graduated from the Mechanicsburg high school in 1894 and later was graduated from a college of art at Columbus. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have a very pleasant home and take an interested part in the community's general social activities. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Brown is a member of the official board of the same. He is a member of Homer Lodge No. 474, Knights of Pythias. at Mechanicsburg, and takes a warm interest in Pythian affairs. Mrs. Brown is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mechanicsburg, a member of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and a member of Advance Grange. John E. Davis, father of Mrs. Brown, was born on the farm on which Mr. and Mrs. Brown now make their home, August 31, 1844, and died on February 1, 1911. His widow, who still survives him, was born in Madison county, this state, August 9, 1847, and grew up at Tradersville, where she was married. On December 23. 1863, he then being but nineteen years of age, John E. Davis enlisted for service in the Union army, a member of Company K, One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with that command served until the close of the war. During this service he was wounded three times and at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain was shot through the left shoulder. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Davis returned home and was actively engaged in farming until his retirement in 1897 and removal to Mechanicsburg, where lie spent the rest of his life; continuing to manage the farm, however, until Mr. Brown, 976 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. took charge of it in 1901. Mr. Davis was an active member of Stephen Baxter Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Mechanicsburg, was for many years commander of the post and ever took an earnest interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization. He was a member of the official board of the Methodist Episcopal church and was a member of the local lodge of Masons. He and his wife were the parents of two children, Mrs. Brown having had a sister, Luluona, who died at the age of three years and six months. The house on "Pleasant View Farm," now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Brown, was erected by the latter's father. in 1872,. but has since been extensively remodeled and improved. JOSEPH MURPHY There are many industries in our modern life which were absolutely unknown before the Civil War. Changing conditions demand new industries, and each year sees hitherto unknown industrial establishments making their appearance. In the days when Champaign county was still heavily forested there would have been no demand for such an establishment as the modern lumber company. The first company of this kind to make its appearence in Urbana does not date back more than four decades, but since that time the city has seen the location of a number of such concerns. For the past fifteen years the largest *establishment in the city devoted to the handling of lumber and building supplies has been the Murphy Lumber Company, and for years it has been the only concern of the kind in the city. This company has enjoyed a prosperous career from the year of its organization, and its founder and moving spirit, Joseph Murphy, rightly deserves a high place among the men of Urbana who have been interested in its industrial development. Joseph Murphy is one of that large group of men who have risen to a place in the world's activities through the exercise of their individual talents. Some men, as it were, have a business thrust on them others develop the business which brings them before the world. To the latter class belongs Mr. Murphy. Born in Miami county, Ohio, on August 6, 186o, a son of William H. and Mary Murphy, both of whom were natives of this state, he has spent his life thus far in the state of his birth. When he was five years of age his parents moved to Versailles, Darke county, where his father established a lumber and hardware business, which he continued until his death. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 977 Mr. Murphy received his schooling in Versailles, and upon completing the course in high school, began teaching in the district schools of Darke county, and was thus engaged for five years. He spent his summer vacations assisting his father in the lumber business, and at the end of that time became a member of the lumber firm of Kusnick & Murphy, with which his father was connected, at Versailles. Some time later he moved to Covington and there engaged in the lumber business on his own account, remaining thus engaged at that place until in 1902, when he moved to Urbana and there embarked in the lumber business, under the firm name of the Murphy Lumber Company. He still owns and operates a lumber yard at Covington under the firm name of the Covington Lumber Company. Starting in a small way, Mr. Murphy has built up a business which is the largest of its' kind in the county, and one of the largest in this. section of the state. In connection with his extensive lumber yard he also operates a planing-mill and a cement-block factory, and is thus equipped to supply all the needs of the community for building material. His large plant on Miami street, adjoining the Big Four depot, covers more than an acre of ground, the main building covering twelve thousand one hundred and twelve square feet, while the separate sheds bring the feet under cover to eighty thousand. Mr. Murphy was married in 1884 to Emma L. Worch, and to this union have been born five children Opal, the wife of Rodney W. Martin, of Dayton, Ohio ; Chalmer W., who is engaged in the lumber business at Xenia, Ohio ; Hazel, the wife of Dr. C. D. Elder, of Marietta, Georgia; Joseph Ivan, who married Lucy B. Brown, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Brown, of Urbana; and Charles H., who is still living with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy are members of the Christian church. Mr. Murphy is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, affiliated with the temple of this latter order at Dayton. In politics he is identified with the Democratic party, but has never been a seeker after political preferment. The family residence on Scioto street is a beautiful stone structure, finely furnishd, and ranks as not only the finest in the city, but also stands as one of the finest in the state. The yard presents a very attractive appearance. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy took it upon themselves to supervise the planting of the ornamental shrubbery in their yard, and the result shows that they used excellent taste in their work. One cannot find more attractive yards in the large cities. In the rear of the house is a fine stone garage, which comports in general architectural design with the house. Mr. Murphy is a firm (62a) 978 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. believer in the old fashioned gardens, but his garden combines the merits of the ordinary garden with. all the floral beauty which an artistic eye can arrange. In fact, everything about the Murphy home bears witness to the quiet taste of its owner. Thus briefly has been sketched a recital of the main facts of Murphy's life. The fifteen years which Mr. Murphy has spent in the city of Urbana has given the public at large the opportunity to judge of his value to the community honored by his residence. During all these years he has been active in all the movements which have been advanced for the betterment of the city, and every worthy cause has found in him a worthy advocate. Whether it was the paving of the street, the improvement of any of the many public utilities, or the erection of public buildings, Mr. Murphy has always been at the forefront of the group of public-spirited citizens who do things: In his personal relations 'he has been found true to the highest ideals of good American citizenship ; honest in his convictions, fearless in adhering to them, zealous in advancing them, he has in all things endeavored to fulfill to the best of his ability the duties of a patriotic citizen of the Commonwealth. Such a man is Joseph Murphy, and it is such men who are the hope of our nation today. MILES N. CALLAND. Miles N. Calland, one of Harrison township's well-known and substantial farmers and the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres on rural mail route No. 1, out of West Liberty„ was born in that township and has lived there all his life. He was born on December 8, 1877, on of Joseph and Sarah (Wilson) Calland, both natives of Champaign county, and the latter of whom died in December, 1892. To Joseph Calland and wife four children were born, three of whom are still living, all residents of Harrison township, the subject of this sketch having a brother. William A. Calland, a Harrison township farmer, and a sister, Isabel, wife of. Fred M. Johnson, also a farmer in that same townhip. Reared on the home farm in Harrison township, Miles N. Calland. received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and from the days of his boyhood was a valued help in the labors of improving and developing the home place. After his marriage in 1900, he then being twenty-three years of age, Mr. Calland established his home on the quarter section he CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 979 now owns and has ever since lived there, he and his family being pleasantly and very comfortably situated. Mr. Calland has an excellent farm plant and is doing very well in his agricultural operations, carrying on the same in accordance with modern methods and in strictly up-to-date fashion. On December 24, 1900, Miles N. Calland was united in marriage to Edith A. Couchman, who was born in Salem township, this county, September 1, 1881, and to this union three sons have been born, Gilbert A., born on March 8, 1903, who was graduated from the common schools in 1917; Joseph N., June 6, 1907, and Donald C., August 7, 1911. Mr. Calland is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mrs. Calland is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically, he is a Republican, ever taking a good citizen's interest in local civic affairs; and fraternally, is a member of the local Grange, to the affairs of which organization he has for years given his earnest attention. THE JOHNSON FAMILY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. By Thomas L. Johnson. The ancestors of the branch of the Johnson family, who were early settlers in Champaign county, came from Great Yarmouth, England. One, Thomas Johnson, in 1700, eloped with a chancery ward, Mary Baker, and settled in Calvert county, Maryland, on St. Leonard's creek. Though he had committed a penal offense in running away with a ward of court, he braved the dangers of apprehension by the authorities and started back to England. The ship was captured by the Spanish, but he finally succeeded in escaping and returned to America by way of Canada, to find his home burned by the Indians. He lived but a few years after his return. He left an only son, Thomas, born on February 2, 1702, who at an early age married Dorcas Sedgwick. Eleven children were born to this couple, and upon the death of his wife, Thomas-took unto himself a second wife, whose maiden name is not known. SONS OF THOMAS JOHNSON. In 1738 Thomas Johnson moved to Washington county, Maryland. In 1732 his eldest son was born, named for his father. This son studied law at Annapolis. was a member of the Continental Congress and was 980 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. chosen governor of Maryland in 1777. In 1791 he became an associate justice of the United State supreme court. He died in 1819. The second son, James, was born in 1736 and died in 18o9. He discovered iron ore in Washington county and built several furnaces. During the Revolutionary War he cast a large number of cannon and "furnished the Continental army with one hundred tons of bombshells." Joshua Johnson, the fourth son, was born in 1743. In early life he went to England, and after the Revolution was appointed first American consul by President Washington. John Johnson, the fifth son, born in 1745, became a physician. He died in 1811. Baker Johnson, born in 1749, also a lawyer, died in 1811. He commanded a battalion of infantry during the Revolutionary War. Roger Johnson, born in 175o, became interested in the iron business. WILLIAM JOHNSON, HEAD OF THE FAMILY IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. William Johnson, the third son, was born in 1742 at Hancock, Maryland, on the Potomac' river, about thirty-five miles from Ft. Cumberland. His early life was the usual life of the pioneer boy, so far as we know. shortly after his birth, and from about the year 175o, there began to be much interest in the western country, all through Virginia and Maryland. That same year Christopher Gist left Old Town, Virginia, on a voyage of discovery for the Ohio company. In 1754 James McBride and party passed down the Ohio in canoes and a few years later came stories of the beauty and fertility of Kentucky, which later so well deserved the name of the "dark and bloody ground." A great movement set in that way following the mighty Daniel Boone. For a long period of time it was generally understood that the territory lying to the north and west of the Ohio belonged to the Indians. while that on the south and east was open to the white man. However, the spirit of adventure and conquest was not willing to forego the virgin lands of the Muskingum and Miami valley, and sundry frontiersmen of treacherous and bloodthirsty temper, such as Cresap and Greathouse, cruelly murdering the family of the Indian chief, Logan, and other innocent Indians, brought on a condition of hatred, suspicion and open warfare, which rendered existence to the frontier of the utmost hazard. Finally Lord Dunmore organized an army to punish these Indian aggressors and a bloody battle was fought October 10, .1774, at Point Pleasant, which was most disastrous to the Indians. This victory for the frontiersmen was speedily CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 981 followed by a treaty of peace on the Pickaway plains and served to weaken the confidence of the Indian as to his ability to cope with his paleface foe, and likewise admonished him that the white man would seek out the fertile places where he had so long made his home. In 1770 Col. Ebenezer Zane and his two brothers, Silas and Jonathan, had settled at a place on the Ohio called Wheeling Fort, and a center was established where began a colony of pioneers. In 1784 Virginia, which had hitherto made claims to the Northwest Territory, ceded all rights to the new government called the United States. In 1788 Cutler and Sargent located upon their purchase at Marietta. The year 1785 had seen a settlement made where Portsmouth is now located by four families from Redstone, but the Indians were unfriendly and too powerful, and they had to abandon the enterprise. Shortly after the settlement was made at Marietta, and during the same year, some adventuresome spirits had gone down to the Symes purchase, a few miles above Cincinnati. They began a clearing iv the forest, and very soon thereafter at Ft. Washington, now Cincinnati, Ad at South Bend, a few miles down, the river flatboats landed, and cabins began to be built. In 1790 some French frontiersmen located at Gallipolis, so that before the opening of the new century, there were quite a number of cabins on the Ohio river. These events profoundly affected William Johnson, who seemed to possess a more restless spirit than his brothers. In 1765 he was married to Ellen Mills, who had reached the mature age of seventeen years, and they began to carve out their own destiny in the world, which, to them, was so. full at that time of stirring events and important issues. Jacob, their first child, was born in 1767, and other children followed : Hannah, Ellen, Lydia and Jane, and two sons, Barnett and Otho. WILLIAM JOHNSON GOES WEST. The restless spirit of the times seemed to possess William and he felt that he must get away from present surroundings and become a party of that hardy throng which braved all dangers and hesitated at no hardship to reach the unknown West. But he had an invalid mother, not his own mother, but one who had come in and cared for the brood she found in the home. This mother, being unable to travel, there was much discussion in this valley cabin as to what should be done. This new, rich, alluring West must seen and some of the prizes it offered to the early corner secured ; so William, his wife, his small children, his eldest boy, Jacob, being twelve years old, 982 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. and the helpless grandmother, decided to go out to this great West. They at once made preparations to travel over the road cut out of the forest by the unfortunate Braddock, toward the Ohio country. Their few possessions were gathered up, a litter was constructed between the pack mules into which. the helpless grandmother was placed and goodbye was said to the old home. Thus they moved out to find the new home beyond the Alleghenies. This move was in the fall of 1778, and when they came near Redstone Old Fort, an important place on this famous road, and where it first reaches the Monongehela, a halt was made and the new home chosen. The grandmother did not live to see the waters of the Ohio, for she died during the winter of 1780. Redstone Old Fort, or as it was sometimes called, Ft. Burd, was at the junction of Redstone creek and the Monongehela, and is now the site of the busy city of Brownsville. William did not long remain here. He crossed over into Washington county, Pennsylvania, on the west side of the river, and busied himself for some ten years in the business of clearing up the forest, making occasional visits to surrounding settlements, but all the while hearing the call of the great, splendid West to come out and be one of her sons—to start as her child in the most primitive way, and to live in a close and intimate relationship. The records show that William Johnson enlisted in the Revolutionary War in 1777, and served until June, 1778. In January, 1780, he received a Virginia certificate for a tract of land "situate on the waters of Charteris creek." It was surveyed and contained three hundred and ninety-one acres. The patent was obtained November 20, 1786. On May 6, 1795, he sold this land. In April, 1786, he was appointed justice of the peace. Jacob, the eldest son of William Johnson, now grown to manhood, was a vigorous, healthy, young man, fond of travel and anxious to see what was happening down in this great valley of the Ohio. Accordingly he sought some. experience as a boatman. The river on which he had spent his boyhood, the beautiful Potomac, was not such a great stream as the Ohio and the Ohio swept away in the West, and the Mississippi, and far off, at the end of a five-months trip, was that fabled City on the other side of the world New Spain, New Orleans. In the fall of 1798, William and Jacob Johnson, father and son, possessed by this spirit which truly harried men out of the Eastern settlements, must needs go to a country in Ohio, called the "Mad river country." So they procured some boats and, trusting to the river current, committed themselves to the Monongehela, and in due season reached Cincinnati, or Ft. Washington. They came up the Miami, and into this "Mad river country," CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 983 concerning which the Indians told such good things. Shortly before they came, Isaac Zane had purchased a large tract of land and was living in his blockhouse on the present site of Zanesfield, Logan county, and William and Jacob visited him, spending a day or two. A very early settler in Logan county was on one Job Sharp, who had located about midway between East Liberty and Middleburg, and having heard that a man by the name of Johnson and his son were stopping at Zane's a pressing invitation was sent that they partake of the Sharp hospitality, and they accordingly stayed over night with Mr. Sharp. There were a goodly number of Indians in the Mad river country and the house of Isaac Zane and his half-breed Wyandotte wife was a favorite place of rendezvous. The Johnsons looked over the place they came to see, and. were greatly pleased with its apparent fertility, and also felt that they could live here without too much crowding. On this expedition William and Jacob called at McPherson's store, kept by an Indian trader about six miles south of the present site of West Liberty. They saw the valley of Kings creek. and all the beautiful land lying to the west, and felt that here somewhere would be an ideal spot for a home. This country was then the Northwestern territory and the population within the bounds of what is now Champaign and Logan counties did not exceed a dozen white families. I have mentioned Jacob's tendency to see something of the world, and on one of the trips down the Ohio, in the vicinity of Wheeling Fort, he met a young widow by the name of Martha Boggs McFarland, and, though he had grown to the mature age of thirty-two without having fallen under the spell of feminine wiles, this Ohio Valley woman captured his affections and being of a frank disposition, he immediately inquired if he might not claim her as his wife ; without needless waiting they were married in 1799. Whether Jacob first met the noble woman who became his wife when he was on the trip to the Mad river country, or on some prior visit, this chronicler cannot say. Capt. William Boggs, father of Martha, was a true pioneer. He was born in Berkley county, Virginia, and married Jane Erwin. Just when they left Virginia is not known, but Martha was born the year of Lord Dunmore's War, 1774, at Laurel Hill, Pennsylvania, near the summit of the Alleghenies on the Braddock road. Captain Boggs moved down to the vicinity of Wheeling, and Martha was in the fort at the time the Indians attempted to capture it, and it was with kindling eye and animated face that she used to recite to her children the story of that vivid incident in. 984 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. her girl's life. Captain Boggs lived in the vicinity. of Wheeling Fort for several years, later moving to an island in the Ohio just below Wheeling. which was called Boggs'. Island. Here his wife fell sick and died in the night. Having no neighbor nearer than Wheeling Fort, the eldest daughter, Lydia, a girl of sixteen, took a canoe and alone in the darkness, on this great river, paddled up to the fort, arousing the sleeping inmates in order that some of the good women might come to care for the body of her dead mother. At the time of the death of his wife, Captain Boggs had eight children, Lydia, the sixteen-year old girl, being the eldest. A widow by the name of Barr, taking pity on his helpless condition, consented to come and be mother in his . household and she accordingly came as she promised bringing along her own family of eight children. To this number of sixteen were later added two. So well did the Boggs and Barr families agree, that two weddings were had without going out of the family. two of the Boggs children marrying two of . the Barr children. Shortly after the marriage of Jacob Johnson and Martha Boggs, Capt. William. Boggs moved to the Pickaway Plains, being the first pioneer settler and suffering much hardship. He settled within a few rods of the .spot where the treaty of peace was made at the close tot Dunmore's War. He and his descendants were prominently identified with the settlement and development of that locality. WILLIAM AND JACOB JOHNSON COME TO CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. Upon the marriage of Jacob Johnson and Martha Boggs, they went back to Washington county, Pennsylvania,. and there on January 26,. 1800. their first child, Mary, was born. Jacob was thirty-four years of age and Martha twenty-six, and this crowded Washington county was no place to get on and make a home for the little ones. So a family council was called. the father, William, acting as chief adviser. He and Jacob told the others about the rich "barrens" of Mad river, Macochee and Kings creek, near where the Mingoes lived, and how much better it would be there than in hilly Washington county. The wives thought that though it was a long way from old friends, it would be better, while the children danced in glee in anticipation of the long journey which was to form one enlarged picnic. So in the spring of 1803 we find them launching a flatboat and putting aboard the household goods of three families, William Johnson, Jacob Johnson, his son, and Robert Russell, a son-in-law. Jacob's family consisted of his wife, Martha, the two boys, who bore the name of McFarland : Mary, their CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 985 first born, and Lydia, a second daughter. Robert Russell had married a sister of Jacob, and they were also coming to Ohio. Pushing away in their commodious flatboat in the early spring of 1803, when the current was swift, one can imagine the light, happy hearts of all the company as they floated down the noble river with eager anticipations of the goodly country in the Mad river valley. Of course, sharp, lookouts had to be kept for the perils of the navigation, and dangers from the lurking Indian and the river pirates. The beauty of the blossoming killikinic and the snowy dogwood appealed to them as they swept between the heights of the lower Monongehela. How eager were they all, especially the women and the younger children, to see old Ft. Duquesne, now newly named Ft. Pitt ; and how interested they all were when William and Jacob pointed out the mouth of Yellow creek, where the Logan family had been so brutally murdered ;,and with what interest was noted all that Martha had to tell when they reached Wheeling Fort, of her girlhood and her friendship with the hero of Indian warfare, Lewis Wetzel, and the heroic defense of the little fort; how they landed at the island in midriver for a last look at the lonely grave of. Martha's mother ; of the eagerness to see where the "Yankees" had settled at Marietta, and what progress they had made in founding a New England in the Ohio wilderness; the great desire to see Point Pleasant at the mouth of the Kanawaha, where the Indian slaughter took place October, 1774: and doubtless they all joined in singing its commemoration song : "Let us mind the tenth day of October, Seventy-four, which caused our woe; The Indian savages they did cover The pleasant banks of the Ohio." We do not know how much time was consumed in this journey. If all conditions were favorable, ten days time was considered a quick trip from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, floating by night as well as by day. Reaching Cincinnati, they prepared to come to their new Ohio home. They passed through Dayton, on the Miami, where there was a mill and where they could get "flour for bread." They passed through what is now Springfield, and probably stopped at the public house kept by Griffith Foos. Later they came through the site of Urbana and here were four log cabins. They were a little indefinite as to just where they would finally locate their habitation. The low land at that time was very productive of "chills and fever," and the early settler chose, if wise, some more elevated place for building his home. So they passed over the bottoms or flat land and came 986 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. up the south branch of Kings creek and halted on the gravelly bluff just south of the creek, and a few rods east of the present Ludlow road. Here they all remained during the fall of 1803 and all of 1804, and the winter of 1805. They had very few neighbors. Upon the site of the house formerly occupied by Col. John Thomas, lived a man by the name of Davis. but no other white inhabitants Occupied this smiling valley at that time. JACOB JOHNSON SETTLES IN MINGO VALLEY. During the winter of 1805, Jacob planned to move to Mingo valley and arrangements were made for the purchase of the Denny and Tarbell surveys containing four hundred and seventy-eight acres on the north side of the valley, where the Indians had lived. Ii pursuance of this plan, on April I, 1805, Jacob and Martha with their five children came across the prairies from Kings creek and occupied the log cabin out of which the Indians had moved. There was very little timber of much size in the valley, and standing where the old Johnson cabin stood, one could look across the valley to the higher land at the south. Martha in telling her children of one of one of the incidents of the moving day, said that in the valley were a great many wild-plum trees and that she remembered well how beautiful they .looked with the snowy burden of bloom that April afternoon from this new home. The Indian cabin into which they moved was not a suitable place for this mother to bring up her daughters, who must be good housewives, so a new cabin had to be built. During the early fall of that year the father and other members of the family were busy in getting ready the new house. so as to be comfortable for the winter, as well as to have the newest and finest house in the valley. The chimney was the last part of the house to be finished and great anxiety was manifested by the good housewife that they might be able to have supper in the new house the day they moved. There was some uncertainty about the chimney, but fortunately it had been finished as the day closed, and there was no doubt that the .supper could be prepared in the new home. As she looked up from her work of putting things on the table, lo! there stood Mr. Davis, their nearest neighbor, who had come two miles to sit with them at their first meal in the new house. The "Indian field" had been cleared and cultivated, but it was of comparatively small area. So. Jacob went busily at work, clearing away the brush and small timber in the "barrens," as it was called, so as to be able to put in the crops. His father, William, during the year of 1805, purchased CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 987 three hundred and seventy-five acres immediately south of Jacob's purchase, and in the spring of 18o6, William moved from Kings creek to the south side of the valley and erected a house. A short distance east of the house built by William, his son, Barnet, erected a house and later the youngest son, Otho, who lived there until the year 1838, when he moved to Illinois. Here Jacob and Martha faithfully did their duty toward making a homeland getting on in the world. The neighborhood began to fill up and relatives began to locate in the vicinity. The usual pioneer development went steadily forward. The lives these pioneers led were very simple. They werembitious to get the farms cleared and put under cultivation. Their personal wants were few. They were very much interested in their neighbors and there was a feeling of brotherhood that is little known today. When misfortune came there was no lack of sympathetic friends, who came with hearts full. of help and comfort. There was a feeling of mutual interest through the entire community. The lives of our pioneer ancestors were doubtless narrow and their contact with the great outside world was limited, but they, were honest and sincere men and women, and, though they knew nothing of fashionable society and their clothing did not hang as on the tailor's model, vet they worthily wore the habilaments of true manhood and womanhood. The fall of 1805 found this couple installed in the new house, and the Indian cabin abandoned. As was the fashion in those old days, each two years found a new baby in the home, and Mary had, as she thought, no end of cradle rocking, and the trundle bed kept getting more crowded year by year. God was good ; the rains came ; the sun shone ; seed time always came around, and harvest invariably followed. Assuredly, this home was the dwelling place of peace and of filial and parental love. THE CALAMITY OF 1821. The children were growing up. Mary had been married at the age of seventeen and Hiram and Nelson were vigorous, healthy boys able to do quite a little, when a calamity came to the family. On Christmas eve of 1821, the father, Jacob, was hauling some logs, having one end loaded upon a sled, the other end dragging upon the ground. One of the horses was young and spirited. He was driving, walking behind the sled, when suddenly the free end of the log slid round, catching his foot between the heavy log and a tree stump. He stopped the team and called to Nelson to come and release him, but the horses became restive, and he could not 988 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. control them, and consequently his foot was pulled round as the team started, the bones broken, and the tendons badly torn. Here at this Christmas time was a calamity indeed; the father wholly incapacitated and three boys to do the work and pay for the farm, the eldest of whom was barely thirteen. Every effort was made to save the foot, but surgery in those days was only in its infancy, and so it was finally decided that the leg must be amputated. I wish an artist could paint the scene as it has been pictured to me, so that it might be put upon the wall of some great hospital to tell the Story of the progress made in surgery during the years intervening. This was long before the blessed days of chloroform, and nothing was known of antiseptics. The day was fixed to take off the leg of Jacob Johnson, and it happened to be a bitterly cold day in February. The whole countryside was interested, and everybody came for ten or more miles. The house was small and could not contain all who came, so big heaps of logs were made outside and set on fire to provide warmth for the neighbors. Doctor Mosgrove, from Urbana, Doctor Carter, and a student, Doctor Lord, were in charge of the operation. A large table was brought near the middle of the room and upon this the patient was placed. The room was crowded with people. Upon a' bed opposite, so as to see that all was going well, sat Martha, and by her side the youngest son, Alfred, then about five years old. Near them were interested and sympathetic neighbors. The surgeons began the work, and to many it seemed grewsome, but when they vacated their places, others eagerly sought them. Sitting by the side of the five-year-old boy was a near neighbor, Thomas Lindsay, who, like some others, feeling that such exhibitions are not wholesome, fell over in a faint. The work stopped for a moment while the fainting man was carried into the open air. The patient was of stoic mould, and bore the pain unflinchingly; except once, he groaned when an unusually painful period came. I say I should like to see some artist faithfully put this scene on canvas—the face of him so brave under the knife ; the lineaments of rugged old Dr. Mosgrove, a name so long honored in this county ; the face of her sitting on the bedside, looking into the future as she thought of the battle with the wilderness; the face of the five-year-old lad as he sat with his hand in that of his mother, fear and wonder alternately running across his child's countenance; the features and expression of the curious, and yet kindly sympathetic friends and neighbors, anxious to help this helpless man in his awful trouble, and this woman in what seemed to them worse than widowhood. Such a picture by a competent artist would tell a story which this generation can only know CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 989 as it comes to it from those who lived in the period of the "cabin and the clearing." The year of 1822 finds this family with the father disabled, but the blow became softened by time. The boys grew up and the mother became cheery and happy, having learned as a girl, the necessity of making the best everything. Thus things assume a more cheerful aspect. The boys as they grew up toward manhood felt that they must make a success in life, and while the father could not be of any actual physical help, he was ready with wise advice and suggestion. Hard and faithful work counted in those days, as always, and it was evident that the' farm would be paid for and all would go well. So it was decided that they would have a new house, and that a part of it, at least should be of brick. During the summer and fall of 1832, the brick was made and the house completed. It was a one-story house, with a low attic, and it had the large rooms and cavernous fireplaces of the day. Later, a frame part of substantially the same size was built. This house was occupied by the family until 1870. THE SONS OF JACOB JOHNSON. I have spoken of the three boys working together, and this they did to an unusual degree, for all they had was in common and all there was belonged to each. Somehow, each seemed to feel it a duty to remain at the family hearthstone. When Hiram reached the age of forty-three, he concluded he was sufficiently mature to take a wife, but he waited until after the father had passed out of life, and it was evident that Nelson and Alfred could and would care for the aged mother. Jacob died on July 4, 1845, lacking but eight days of having reached the age of seventy-nine years. On March 6, 1854, death came and ended the busy life of Martha—it had indeed been a busy life during the eighty-one years of its existence. Three years before her death, in 1851, Hiram had married, and now Nelson and Alfred were alone in the world. Alfred, being younger and more venturesome perhaps, insisted that there must be a housewife and one who had more interest than the mere housekeeper. He took into the house very shortly after his mother's death as his wife, one who had ministered unto that mother in her last months of life. A new farm was bought and Hiram went and occupied it, and Nelson and Alfred stayed on in the old house. Other farms were bought and whatever was purchased was the property of the three brothers. The common money bought the dresses of the wives, and the clothing of the children ; whatever was had. What they 990 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. possessed belonged to the three. They did business as H., N. and A. Johnson, or more familiarly "the Johnson boys." They had bought, from time to time, large amounts of land, so they owned at one time something like two thousand acres, and were largely engaged in the live-stock business. In 1868 Nelson married Anne E. Gilbert, and went to live on the farm about a mile east of the village of Mingo, Hiram sometime prior having moved to a farm south of Kings Creek, near the Ludlow road. About the time of Nelson's marriage, as the children of Hiram and Alfred were growing up, it was thought best that a division of their property be made. This was done to the entire satisfaction of each. and the only necessity for calling in a lawyer was to take the acknowledgments to the respective quit-claim deeds. I think I .am warranted in saying the business dealings of these brothers were somewhat unusual. They were partners for forty years without a serious difference, and they divided a large property without a word of dispute. CHILDREN OF JACOB AND MARTHA JOHNSON. Mary, the eldest child of Jacob and Martha Johnson, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1800. At the age of seventeen she married Robert Blair. To this marriage two children were born, Jacob and Alonzo, both of whom, inheriting the pioneer instinct, in early manhood sought their homes in Illinois. In 1831 Mary married Col. John Thomas, and for many years resided near Kennard. Three children were born to this second marriage, and two, Ivan and Marion Thomas, were long prominent citizens of this .county: Mary Thomas, familiarly called by the neighbors "Aunt Polly," died in January, 1884. Lydia, second child of Jacob and Martha, was born in 1802, and married James O'Neal. The newer West had great attractions for them, and in 1830 they moved to Indiana. Lydia died in 1868. Lavinia, the third child born in 1806, died at the age of eighteen. Hiram, the eldest son to reach manhood, was born on August 6, 1808. He was a stalwart man, standing something over six feet and possessing great strength. In 1851 he married a neighbor girl, Margaret Brown, who was a helpmate to him in every sense. They lived on a farm about a mile east of Mingo until 1868, when they moved to a farm recently purchased, east of the Ludlow road, about four miles northeast of Urbana. Here they lived out their lives, worthy of . the great respect in which they were held by their neighbors. Hiram died in October. 1900, and in a few years Margaret followed. Four of their children grew to adult years. Jacob. the CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 991 youngest, died in early manhood. Maria married Ellwood McClellan and now resides a short distance north of Urbana, and Boggs Johnson, still unmarried, resides with his sister, Mrs. McClellan. The youngest son, Ivan, lives near the old farm on the Ludlow road. Nelson Johnson, second son of Jacob and Martha, was born July 1, 181o. He was a great lover of books and reading, and especially of history. and had a great interest in the lore of the early settler. He possessed a remarkable memory and was fond of telling Alfred's children stories of the early days. The story of many of the incidents narrated in this sketch came from ,his lips. In 1868 he married Anna E. Gilbert, and in this marriage he had the good fortune to secure a wife who admirably fitted his nature and temperament. He died in August, 1895. His widow still resides at the old home east of Mingo, and with her lives their only daughter, Their two sons died : Rodney, in early childhood, and Amos, in recent years, in the prime of young manhood. Alfred, the youngest son of the pioneers, Jacob and Martha, was born June 10, 1817. He was of a quiet disposition, but active and energetic, a man of unusually deep. feeling and affection ; but was brought up in the old school which preached the doctrine that the exhibition of all feeling should be stifled, lest it be an expression of weakness. Of the three brothers, Alfred was the more active in meeting the public in the conduct of their business. Shortly after his mother's death in 1854, he married Ann Elizabeth Stone, and they lived together for over fifty-one years in a most happy companionship. It was his earnest desire that he should live to help commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the settlement of his .patents ,on the farm, at Mingo; and that wish was granted: He died September 9, 1905, and at his request his body was taken to the little cemetery on the farm, where lie four generations of his family. His widow continued to reside in Mingo, until the last few years, when failing health prompted her to make her home with her daughter in Marion during the winter. She was always eager to get "back home" among her friends in the village. On June 28, 1917, at the age of almost eighty-eight years, she passed into the Beyond, and she sleeps in the little cemetery on the "Johnson farm." CHILDREN OF ALFRED AND AN NE ELIZABETH JOB NSON. The children born to Alfred and "Lizzie" Johnson were as follow : Thomas L. Johnson, the eldest son, became a lawyer, went to Cleveland as a young man, and is now a practicing attorney in that city. 992 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. John B., the second son, lived for some years in Kansas, and then in Chicago, and has recently moved to DeFuniack Springs, Florida. Otho G. lived for many years on the old farm, but now resides in the village of Mingo. Martha, eldest daughter, married Daniel W. Strayer, and resided in Degraff for a few years, and later moved to Marion, Ohio. Charles N. until recently lived in Kansas City, where he was engaged in the live-stock business. He recently returned to this county, and now resides on the John Enoch farm, near West Liberty. Alfred, the youngest son, lived in the West and died at Mexico, Missouri, in 1912. Merton, the youngest child, married Adolphus Russell, and now resides in the village of Mingo. THOMAS N. OWEN. Thomas N. Owen, a farmer of Rush township, this county, was born in that same township on July I, 1837, a son of John Owen, also a native of that township, whose parents came here from Virginia, locating in Rush township in pioneer days. There they cleared and developed a farm and spent the rest of their lives. They had only one son, John Owen, father of the subject of this sketch. John Owen married Margaret Hazel. After his death she married Samuel Rogers and four children were born to that union, namely : Catherine, Maria, Emily and Frank. John Owen followed farming on the homestead, the place where his son- Thomas N. now lives. The father spent his life there from the age of seven years. His death occurred in 1889 at the age of seventy-six years. His wife was a native of Champaign county, where she was reared. She was a daughter of Isaac Hazel and wife, natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Rush 'township, this county in an early day and devoted their lives to farming here. They were parents of six children, namely : Thomas, James, Augusta, Sarah, Margaret and Artemisia. To John Owen and wife were born four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being Artemisia, who married Richard Swisher and after. living in Rush township for some time moved with her husband to Kansas, where both died ; Sarah, now deceased, who was the wife of Henry Swisher ; Nancy Ann, who died in young womanhood, unmarried. Thomas N. Owen grew up on the home farm and attended the rural CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 993 schools in Rush township. He remained at home until his marriage and later bought the old home place of two hundred and twenty-two acres. He was married in November, 1858, to Margaret Clark, who was born in Huntington, Pennsylvania. She is a daughter of Asa Clark, a native of Pennsylvania. who was an early settler in Union county, Ohio. Mr. Owen has devoted his life to active agricultural pursuits and has been very successful. He has kept the home place well improved and well cultivated and raises a great deal of grain annually, most of which he feeds to live stock for the market. He has kept the buildings well repaired. Five children have been born to Thomas N. Owen and wife, namely : Pearl, .a son, who married Ella Saxby and is farming in Rush township, this county, and has three children, Thomas, Bart and William ; Ida Belle, who married Oscar McAdams of Union township, and who died some time ago, leaving three children, James, Merton and Thomas ; John, who is operating the old home place in Rush township, married Carrie Bower, a nati ve of Warren county, Illinois, and has four children, Wilford, Ben, Howard and Claire ; Asa, who is farming in Rush township, married Josephine Cushman, and has three sons, Clark, Ralph and Arthur; Jennie, who married Ben Rutan, of Marysville, Ohio, and has three children, Glen, Lucy and Milton. On May 2, 1865, Mr. Owen enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at Woodstock, and was sent with the troops to Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, remaining there until he was mustered out and honorably discharged. Mr. Owen is a Republican. THOMAS MELANCTHON GAUMER. The late Thomas M. Gaumer was born in Adamsville, Ohio, February 2, 1848, a son of Jonathan and Mahala (Barrett) Gaumer; a grandson of Daniel Gaumer and a great-grandson of Jacob Gaumer. The Gaumer family, which has numerous members in many parts of the United States, is of German origin ; however, the coming of the founder of the family to the New World was at so early a period that the date of that immigration is not known. The known history of the Gaumer family in the United States begins with Jacob Gaumer, Sr., whose family lived at various times in Virginia, Maryland, and in Lehigh and Somerset counties, Pennsylvania; in which latter state he was born about the middle of the eighteenth century. Some (63a) 994 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. time after the "embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world at Concord bridge, Jacob Gaumer left his farm and those dear to him to follow the martial fortunes of Washington, from Ft. Du Quesne to Yorktown, as drum major. In 1806 Jacob Gaumer and his family pushed out of Ohio from Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and settled on a tract in the unbroken wilderness, eight miles north of Zanesville, in Muskingum, county. Later, however, he moved to another tract in the woods near Adamsville, in the same county. At the latter place his death occurred in 1820, and that of his wife in 1814. Jacob Gaumer's son, Daniel, and his family remained back in the Keystone state when his father came out to Ohio in 1806; but in 1809 he, too, found the lure of the West irresistible and followed his father to Ohio with his family and settled near Adamsville, in Muskingum county. His death occurred there in 1859, and that of his wife, Hannah (Baughman) Gaumer, in 1874. All four of these pioneers, as well as Dr. Thomas M. Gaumer and many others of the family, are buried in the New Hope Lutheran cemetery, near Adamsville, Ohio, the land for which was given by Jacob Gaumer from his farm soon after he located at that place. Daniel Gaumer, too, heard the call of his country in the time of its need and went forth to do or die in the War of 1812. He was the father of fourteen children, the eleventh of whom was Jonathan Gaumer, the father of Dr. Thomas M. Gaumer. Jonathan Gaumer was born in Ohio, in 1822, and died in 1895. His wife, Mahala Barrett, the mother of Doctor Gaumer, was born in 1823 and died, November 9, 1915, in the ninety-second year of her age. The father of Doctor Gaumer devoted his whole life to agriculture, but he was often called to fill local offices. He was the father of nine children, and among them are the following : Dr. Thomas M., the eldest; Charles N., a prominent citizen and newspaper man of Mansfield, Ohio; Hannah J. : Rachel V.; Daniel H., who is deceased; Mary ; Martha ; and Cidda. The Gaumer family has been one of prominence and influence in Muskingum county. Two of Doctor Gaumer's brothers have been members of the Ohio Legislature, and Charles N. Gaumer, of Mansfield, was a member of the national House of Representatives from 1890 to 1894. Daniel H. Gaumer. of Zanesville, was a representative in 1888-89, a state senator in 1890-91, and was postmaster in Zanesville at the time of his death in 1898. While still young in years, Thomas. M. Gaumer removed with his parents to a farm in Muskingum county, which continued to be his home until 1876. He was educated in the public schools and at Denison University at Granville, and subsequently taught school for a number of years. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 995 Having determined to devote his life to the practice of medicine, he entered the Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati, and was graduated therefrom in 1876. The year previous he married Eliza M., daughter of Barton and Julia (Walker) Cone, and thus became allied with a family as meritorious as his own. Barton Cone was born in Monroe township, Muskingum county, Ohio, August 23, 1824, and was a son of Jared Cone, a pioneer of Muskingum county. Jared Cone was the son of Jared, the son of Mathew, the son of Jared, the son of Daniel, who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1626, came to America with two brothers in 1660, and settled in Haddam, Connecticut, where he died in 1706. Mrs. Gaumer's paternal grandmother, Eliza (Schoff) Cone, was the daughter of Philip Schoff, one of the heroes of the Revolution, and Elizabeth (Ramsey) Schoff. Through these Mrs. Gaumer is descended from a long line of ancestors who were numbered among the founders of this great country, and who sprang from the ancient families of Europe, now celebrated in song and story. Philip Schoff, Sr., a pioneer of Guernsey comity, Ohio, was a hero of three wars, and was probably the youngest soldier whose name appears upon the official records of the War of the American Revolution. When a lad of scarcely nine years, in 1778, he carried a gun in helping to defend a little frontier settlement in Pennsylvania (where he was born), from an attack by British and Indians. During the "Whiskey Insurrection" in 1794, he, as a young man, made the memorable march over the mountains to western Pennsylvania where anarchy was quelled and peace and order restored. During the War of 1812 he served, from Guernsey county, in the Ohio militia. In Indianapolis, Indiana, there is a patriotic organization, a chapter of the United States Daughters of the War of 1812, which has been named in honor of this hero of three wars, the Philip Schoff Chapter of Marion County. The Indiana state society, as well as the Marion county chapter of the United States Daughters of 1812, was organized by Philip Schoff's great-granddaughter, Mrs. Fanny R. W. Winchester ; and both organizations have done much valuable patriotic and historical research work, recognized powers for all that is uplifting and beneficial in the life of the community. Philip Schoff's father was also a Revolutionary War patriot, and he laid down his life for the cause of American independence. He crossed the Delaware with General Washington and fought at Trenton and Princeton in that dark winter of 1776-77 when the patriot cause was at its lowest ebb. The Schoffs of Ohio are descendants of one of the ancient families of German nobility. They were among the earliest crusaders to the Holy Land, and later the family took a lively part in the Protestant Reforma- 996 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. tion which followed Luther's nailing of the ninety-five theses to the door of the Wittenberg church. Mrs. Charles Peabody Wilder, a granddaughter of Philip Schoff, born in Muskingum county, Ohio, and who died in Indianapolis, Indiana, began the compilation of the Schoff family history. She died long before the necessary data had been gathered for the work, but her daughter, Mrs. Fanny R. W. Winchester, has resumed the work where her mother left off and will soon have ready for publication a valuable contribution to Ohio's genealogical lore. Through Elizabeth Ramsey, the wife of Philip Schoff, Sr., Mrs. Eliza M. Gaumer is descended from one of the most ancient and illustrious families of Scotland, which dates from the time of David I, of Scotland, in 1140. Sir Walter Scott, who had a high regard for the Ramsey family, makes honorable mention of their valiant services in Scotland's cause in one of his historical novels, "Fortunes of Nigel." Fordoun, the historian, and many other writers have eulogized the members of this famous family of Scotland's nobility. Through her Schoff ancestry Mrs. Gaumer has three Revolutionary sires, for Elizabeth (Ramsey) Schoff's father was an officer in the patriot army. Moreover, Mrs. Gaumer's father served in the Civil War. After his marriage and graduation, Thomas M. Gaumer located in Wyandot county, Ohio, and after practicing medicine for a time removed to Adamsville, which continued to be his home until 1882. In the meantime his aspirations had undergone a change, and he seems to have found less enjoyment in his profession than he expected. At any rate, after weighing the chances, he decided in favor of journalism, and thereafter medical science knew him only as an erstwhile practitioner. After purchasing the Champaign Democrat at Urbana, he edited and published the same for about a year, and then, in partnership with his brother, D. H. Gaumer, published the Zanesville Signal, a daily paper. After disposing of his interests in the Signal in 1887, he repurchased the Champaign Democrat, and from then until the time of his death, September 3o, 1893, his energies were devoted to making this sheet a practical and interesting news dispenser. He was a stanch Democrat, a keen observer of men and events, and had the faculty of finding out what the public wanted to know. His editorials evinced a world of common sense, and an intelligent understanding of all sides of prevailing public conditions. He was a member of the Lutheran church, and was fraternally associated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife, who survives him, is the mother of three sons : Charles Edmund, Frank Cone, and Bruce Barton. Mrs. Gaumer is a member of the Independent Bible Students Association, of which the late Pastor Russell was president. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 997 HARVEY S. RECK. Harvey S. Reck, who has been connected with the Pennsylvania Lines for the past thirty years, was born near Gettysburg, Darke county, Ohio, October 8, 1866. He is a son of Wilkins and Eunice B. (Hoover) Reck, both of whom were natives of the same county. Wilkins Reck, a son of Michael and Mary (Warwick) Reck, was born on November 14, 1841, near Gettysburg, Ohio, and was married to Eunice B. Hoover on August 10, 1865, shortly after he was honorably discharged, with the rank of sergeant, from Company H, One Hundred and Fifty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Michael Reck was a son of John William and Ann (Hiner) Reck, and was born near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, being one of eleven children. John W. Reck was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, on a farm near Gettysburg, in the year 1785. John W. was the first of the family to locate in Ohio, coming to Darke county with his wife and children in 1828. He entered nine hundred and twenty-eight acres of land in that county on November 14, 1828, and lived in the county until his death. He became one of the wealthiest men in e county and had the honor of laying out and naming the town of Gettysburg in his adopted county. The family have been prominently identified with Darke county for the past ninety years. It was there that Michael Reck, the grandfather of Harvey S. Reck, located with his parents when he was eighteen years of age. Michael was married on November 23, 1836, to Mary Warwick; his second wife; and to this union were born ten children. As stated above, Wilkins, the father of Harvey S., was one of these ten children. Wilkins and his wife became the parents of six children. Harvey S., the oldest of the six children, was reared on the old Reck homestead and received his elementary schooling in the district schools and completed his education in the high school at Covington, Ohio. Upon reaching his majority, in 1887, he decided to learn telegraphy, and with this end in view became a student in the telegraph office of the Pennsylvania Lines at Bradford, Ohio. Within a year he was fully qualified to take charge of a telegrapher's key and was given a temporary position in the office at Bradford, for three months. In- November, 1888, he was transferred to a telegraph office at Piqua, remaining there for four years. In 1891 Mr. Reck was married and the same year was promoted to a responsible position in the Pennsylvania office at Piqua, where he was sta- 998 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. tioned for the next nineteen years. In April, 19143, he was appointed agent of the Pennsylvania station at Covington, Ohio, being given full charge of the office.. That his work was eminently satisfactory to the company is shown by the fact that two years later, February 1, 1912, he was placed in full charge of the office at Urbana, Ohio, where he is now stationed. It is not too much to say that the company does not have a more efficient and trustworthy employee than Mr. Reck. The responsibilities of the position in a city the size of Urbana are very exacting and demand a man of unusual executive ability. That Mr. Reck meets every requirement of such a position is evidenced by his retention in the office here where his administration of its manifold duties are equally satisfactory to the company and to the people of the community which he serves. Mr. Reck was married on March 15, 1891, to Hattie G. Fall. She is a daughter of Joshua and Phoeba (Eirhart) Fall, and was born on September 2, 1871. They have two daughters : Hazel K., born on September 13, .1892, and Thelma E., born on April 13, 1894. Both daughters are graduates of the Urbana high school, and make their home with their parents. RAYMOND H. SMITH. Raymond H. Smith, the son of Frank and Anna (Hewett) Smith, was born in Woodstock, Ohio, March 9, 1886. Mr. Smith spent his early years in the village of his birth, and it was there he received his common and high school education. The perspective acquired from his early training, his own talents, and the opportunities for men of superior training filled him with the desire to acquire a higher education. Accordingly lie entered Ohio State University at Columbus, and took the course in civil engineering. After he graduated from the university, he speedily found places where his training, coupled with his own natural ability, was in demand. When an engineer was needed for the very important task of installing the sewage-disposal plant at Urbana, the superior ability of. Mr. Smith commended him to the city authorities for the task, and he was employed to take charge of that undertaking. The plant was completed in due time, and is now considered the best in the state, in a town the size of Urbana. Advancement followed Mr. Smith's completion of this engineering project, and he is now deputy county surveyor of Champaign county, and also serves most acceptably as highway superintendent. His very careful and expert CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 999 administration of his duties in these capacities has met with such approval on the part of the voters of Champaign county, that it is quite probable the next election will find Mr. Smith elevated to the office of county surveyor. While in the university Mr. Smith was captain of Company B, Field Battalion, Ohio Signal Corps, and has seen considerable active service in the field. On September 22, 1915, Mr. Smith married Mary Francis Robison, the daughter of James S. Robison and Lida (Hedges) Robison. Mr. Smith is a quiet, unostentatious man, who impresses one with the strength of his personality. He always attends strictly to business, which he transacts with dispatch, deliberation and exactitude. Whenever he has served the public, he has done so with his whole soul. His career, begun under such favorable portents, promises well for a life full of unstinted and valuable service to his fellowmen. The history of the Smith family has been traced back to 1700 by Raymond H. Smith and shows a prodigious amount of research on his part. The family have been connected with Champaign county for nearly a century, being one of the first families to locate in the Woodstock community. It is probable that there are few families in the county whose genealogy has been more carefully worked, out than this one of the Smith family. The genealogy as worked out by R. H. Smith is given in the succeeding paragraphs. It will be noticed that there are some names and dates which are missing, it being impossible in several cases to get exact information. THE SMITH FAMILY IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. Thomas Smith was born in England about 1700 and crossed the Atlantic, settling at Hadley, Massachusetts, between 1730 and 1740. He had four sons, Aaron, who was killed in the Revolutionary War ; Stillman, Jesse and Sylvanus. His son, Sylvanus Smith, was a native of Connecticut, and was twice married, his second wife being Amy Sprague. Sylvanus served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, as ensign. His children were Sylvanus Jr., Justin, Aaron, Philip, Samuel, Jesse, Stillman, Lester and Dexter. Justin lived in Vermont and raised a large family, as did Aaron ; Philip came to Ohio in 1835 (aged eighty years) ; Jesse served in the War of 1812 and afterward went to Michigan ; Stillman was also in the War of 1812 and was killed by a cannon ball at Niagara ; Lester married in Vermont and carne to Ohio in 1828 (aged seventy years). He was the father of a large family ; Dexter, the youngest, came to Ohio in 1830, where he reared .a large family.