400 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. sponsibility which falls to the lot of every individual. The years pass and man's duties, are manifold and often of an onerous nature; but if his labors are wisely directed and his energies guided by sound judgment, he may again reach a stage in life in which he can enjoy rest from the cares of former years, having acquired. a competence which enables him to put aside the heavier burdens that were his in the prime of life. Such has been the career of Henry Hagerman McEowen, who is now living retired in Rossville. He was born in Turtle Creek township, Warren county, Ohio, on the 21st of July, 1823, and has therefore passed the seventy-seventh milestone on life's journey. The family is of Scotch lineage. The grandfather of our subject was a native of Scotland, and now lies buried near Trenton, New Jersey. Alexander McEowen, the father of Henry H., was born in New Jersey in 1787, served as a wagon boy in General Wayne's army, and died near Greenville, Ohio, in 1864. He married Miss Ollie Hagerman, also a native of New Jersey, the. marriage taking place about 1813. The father had been previously married, and by the first union had two daughters and 0ne son,— Eliza, Mary and Ord. After the death of his first wife the father married Miss Hagerman, and they became the parents of seven children, as follows : Alexander, who was born in 1814, and died in 1884, leaving a widow; Harriet, who became Mrs. Atkin-son and died leaving five children; Jane, who became the wife of Peter Bercaw and died in 1882, while of their family of seven children one daughter and two sons survive; Batie, who died at the age of twelve years ; Henry H., the next younger; Charity Ellen, who became Mrs.. Reppetowe, and died in Piqua about 1850, leaving one son; and John, who died at the age of eighteen years. After the death of the mother of these children, the father was a third time married, 2nd had one son by that union, Jacob R., who is now residing at Dawn, Darke county. Mr. McEowen, whose name introduces this review, was bereft of a mother's care when only nine years of age. He then went to live with his uncle, Henry Hagerman, a farmer of Warren county, Ohio. At the age of nineteen he began learning the wagon-maker's trade, serving a three-years apprenticeship. He followed that pursuit as a journeyman for less than 0ne year, and then began learning the plane making trade, for which he served a three-years apprenticeship. In 1850 he came to Darke county and opened a wagon shop in Ithaca. Subsequently, however, he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits for seven years, residing upon farm of eighty acres in Allen township. He then located in his village home in 1896, where he is now enjoying a well earned rest. His has been an energetic and industrious life, and his indefatigable efforts have brought to him a comfortable competence. On the 13th of September, 1851, Mr. McEowen was united in marriage to Miss Melissa Millette, who was born in Ithaca in 1834, a daughter of John and Sybil Millette. Their marriage was blessed with eleven children, three sons and eight daughters, and they lost one daughter in infancy. Florence Emily, the eldest child, was born September 28, 1852, and is now the widow of Ezra Heistand, by whom she had four children, of whom three are living. John, a farmer in Greenville township, is married and has two sons. William Henry, a resident farmer of Allen township, had eight children, of whom five sons and two daughters. are yet GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 401 living. Ollie died at the age of nineteen years. Sarah Ann is the wife of Tobias Heistand, and has ten children. Jennie is the wife of Jacob Replogle. Nellie May, who was a pianist and music teacher, died at the age of twenty-eight years. Charles W. engaged in the operation of the home farm of eighty acres, where he lives with his wife and two sons. Lillie Pearl is the wife of William Howard, of Greenville township, and has only one son. Mattie is the wife f Richard Kineson, of West Alexandria, and has two children. During the civil war Mr. McEowen loyally responded to his country's call for aid, enlisting on the 5th of August, 1862, at Greenville as a member of Company G, Forty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served until the close of the war in mounted infantry and cavalry forces, was once taken prisoner and twice his horse was shot from under him, at Martinsburg. He was incarcerated one month at Richmond, in the Pemberton building, and then released. Al,. ways found at his post, he faithfully defended the old flag and stood by the Union cause until its supremacy was established. He now holds membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, and finds much pleasure in recalling memories of tented fields in the midst of his old army comrades. In politics he is a Republican, but has never been an aspirant for office. At the age of nineteen years he joined the Methodist Episcopal church; and has since been one of its consistent representatives. He has served as a class leader, and he has always endeavored to mold his life after' the teachings of the denomination with which he is connected. His has been a useful and honorable career, such as commands the respect and confidence of all. JOSEPH W. CORWIN. Widely and favorably known in Darke county, Joseph W. Corwin needs no introduction to the readers of this volume, among whom he has lived as a respected and honorable citizen for many years. He has now reached the Psalmist's span of three-score years and ten, and to him is accorded that veneration and esteem which should ever be given those who have advanced thus far on life's journey. From the genealogical records of the Corwin family it appears that the original American ancestors emigrated from the country of Hungary, Matthews Corwin, of that country, crossing the Atlantic, and later several branches of the family settled in Kentucky, where, on the 29th cf July, 1794, in the county of Bourbon. Thomas Corwin, one of the ancestors of our subject, was born. He was celebrated for marked oratorical ability; and was an own cousin of Matthias Corwin, the father of our subject. Matthias Corwin was a native f the Blue Grass state, his birth having occurred in Bourbon county on the l0th of September, 1794. He was brought to Ohio by his parents when a child of three or four years, and located in Warren county ere the Buckeye state had been admitted to the Union. He was reared to manhood in that county, and with the family shared in all of the privations and hardships of pioneer life. He acquired his education in the 0ld-time subscription schools where advantages were meager. Having arrived at years of maturity, he married Miss Margaret Shnorf, a lady of German descent, and six of their nine children were born in Warren county, which was then known as the Miami Valley county. The father was a man of resolute 402 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. will, strong character, straightforward and honorable in all his dealings: n 1828 he removed with his family to Preble county, where he passed the remainder of his life, being called to his final rest December 2, 1881, at the age of eighty-seven years. Success had crowned his efforts in business and at his death he left to each of his children a quarter-section of land. His first purchase of land comprised a tract of eighty acres of "beech openings," and his first home was a hewed-log cabin, 18x22 feet. The kitchen was built of round logs and clapboards, and was heated by an old-fashioned fireplace four and a half.. feet broad, the smoke finding an outlet through a mud-and-stick chimney. In those pioneer days Matthias Corwin was a firm disciple of Nimrod, and many a time has his table been replenished through the agency of his trusty rifle, with which he secured venison, turkey and other Wild game. On more than one occasion Joseph Corwin, the subject of this review, has grown weary through carrying a heavily laden game bag filled by his father; and when Joseph was a lad of ten or twelve years the father was one day sitting at breakfast when he heard the crack of a rifle, and going to the cabin door saw that wild turkeys were near. He then took from its accustomed place his old flint-lock rifle, known as the Wabash, and, calling his son to accompany him, they started to capture some of the birds. Inside of an hour, in six shots, Joseph Corwin, although but a boy, had brought down five good-sized turkeys, with which he returned triumphant to the cabin home. The family endured many privations in those early. days in the attempt to transform the tract of wild land into a richly cultivated farm, but their united efforts brought the transformation desired. The father was a stanch Whig in his political sentiments in early life, and was a great admirer of William Henry Harrison. Later he supported abolition principles, and when the Republican party was formed to prevent the extension of slavery he joined its ranks and was selected to serve as a township trustee of Preble county, and proved a competent and faithful officer. He took a great interest in the public school system, and he and his wife were most earnest and consistent members of the Christian church, and aided in the erection of the various houses of worship in their locality. The world was better for their having lived, for they trained their children to lives of uprightness and exerted an influence for good throughout the entire community. Mrs. Corwin was born July 22, 1791, eight years before the death of George Washington, and on the 3d of May, 1850, at the age of fifty-eight years, she passed away. She was the mother of six sons and three daughters, of whom five are yet living, namely : Susan, the wife of Richard Bunnell, who is living retired in Arcanum, Ohio; George S., a successful agriculturist of Twin township, Darke county; William, who is also carrying on farming in Van Buren township, Darke county; Joseph W., of this review; and Margaret, wife of Severe Brown, a farmer of Brown township. Joseph W. Corwin was born in Preble county, Ohio, November 28, 1830, and is the seventh in his parents' family of nine children. He began his education in the little log school-house, 14x18 feet, built of round logs and covered by a clapboard roof. There was a six-foot chimney and across the whole end of the building was a small window, in which panes of glass 8x 10 inches GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 403 were inserted. The seats were made of slabs cut from saw logs, supported upon wooden pins, and were of different heights to accommodate the different-sized pupils. The writing-desk was . formed of a broad board resting upon wooden pins driven into the wall, and only a few moments each day were devoted to mastering the art of writing. The teaching was very primitive in character, and corporal punishment was often thought to be a very important part of the school work. During the summer months, from the time of early planting until the crops were harvested, Mr. Corwin assisted in the work of, the fields, giving his parents the benefit of his services until he had attained his majority. The first wages he ever received were earned by cutting cordwood for fifty cents per day. He has long followed the occupation to which he was reared and has steadily worked his way upward. He lost much of his earnings in early life, owing to the fact that the "wild-cat currency" was in circulation and became worthless. He has met with many difficulties and obstacles in his path to success, but he has steadily continued upon the upward way until he has now reached a position of affluence. He has had to work hard, performing the arduous task of clearing and developing the new land. When he began farming on his own account he lived upon rented rand, and for over half a century he lived upon the old family homestead; but on the 10th of March, 1883, he came to Brown township, where he now owns one hundred and fifty-five and a half acres of valuable land. Nearly' all of the improvements upon his place have been made by him; the farm is in excellent condition, and is a monument to the thrift and enterprise of the owner. Mr. Corwin has been twice married. On the 28th of December,. 1854, he married Miss Jane P. Martin, and one son was born to them, Oscar M., who is now a successful farmer of Brown township. He was educated in the common schools and now devotes his attention largely to stock raising. He married Miss Leota Riegel and has a pretty and comfortable home. Mrs. Corwin, the wife and mother, died January I I, 1856, and Mr. Corwin was again married, Miss Barbara Pease becoming his wife. They had eight children, two sons and six daughters, of whom five yet survive. Mrs. Corwin was born July 25, 1836, her parents being John and Mary (Stickler) Pease. Her father was born in New Jersey, October 5, 1796, and died at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. He followed farming as a means of livelihood, and was a Whig in his political belief until the organization of the Republican party, the ranks of which he then joined, and in his religious connections was a Methodist. His wife was a native of Pennsylvania and of German descent, and her death occurred when she was about eighty-five years of age. In the family of this worthy couple were thirteen children, six sons and seven daughters, ten of whom are yet living, six being residents of Ohio, while four are living in Indiana. The living children of Mr. and Mrs. Corwin are : Civilla, at home; Lizzie, wife of Frank Ziler, a farmer of Darke county ; Matthias Marion, who married Miss Effie Flinn and is a successful physician and surgeon of Savannah, Ohio, who graduated from the Starling Medical College, of Columbus ; Ina, who was graduated in the Ansonia high school in the class of 1895, and is now one of the successful teachers in the public schools of that place ; and Clinton, who has passed the Box- 401 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. well examination, entitling him to admission to any high school in Darke county. During the civil war Mr. Corwin manifested his loyalty to the government by enlisting on the 1st of May, 1864, as a member of Company C, One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He reported for duty at Camp Dennison, in the vicinity of Cincinnati, and was thence sent with his command to Kentucky to intercept General E. Kirby Smith. The regiment afterward went to Cumberland, Maryland, joining the Army of the Potomac,. and in an action near that place eight members of the company to which Mr. Corwin belonged were slightly wounded. On the 1st of September, 1864, he received an honorable discharge, his term of service having expired. He then returned to his home and family. He has always been numbered among the loyal citizens of his community. The Republican party has always had his stanch support since he cast his first presidential vote, for General John C. Fremont, its first presidential candidate. He has been selected as a delegate to the county and district conventions of his party, and also the state conventions, and does all in his power to promote and secure the adoption of the Republican principles. Socially he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has passed all of the chairs in the lodge, at West Manchester, Ohio. He is also a member of the order of Knights of Pythias of that place, and of Fifer Post, G. A. R., of which he has been the chaplain. He withholds his co-operation and aid from no measure or movement which he believes would prove of public benefit, and has assisted financially in the erection of six different churches in Preble and Darke counties. He is well known throughout his sec tion of the state for his sterling worth, his fidelity to principle and his upright life. His record is in many ways well. worthy of emulation, and he justly deserves representation in the history of his county. ALEX NYSWANGER. Alex Nyswanger is one of the veterans of the civil war, and is now living a retired life in Butler township, Darke county. He was horn in this county on the 28th of October, 1829; his parents being Daniel and Mary (Taylor) Nyswanger. He was reared to farm .life in Butler township, early becoming familiar with the labors of field and meadow. He assisted in the cultivation of the land until August, 1862, when, believing that his country needed his services, he responded to the call for troops, enlisting in the One Hundred and Tenth Ohio Infantry, as a private in Company H. With his command he went to the front and was wounded in the head at Occoquan, Virginia, on the 19th of September, 1864. He was then sent to the field hospital and while recovering from his injuries was engaged in cooking for two and a half months. He then returned to his company, and after three years of faithful service was mustered out near Washington and discharged from the state service at Columbus. He was a loyal soldier, always found at his. post of duty, faithfully defending the old flag and the cause it represented. He has since been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, thereby maintaining his acquaintance with his old army comrades, living again through reminiscence the scenes of camp and battlefield. In his political views he is a Republican, unswerving in his advocacy of the principles GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 405 of his party. He has never married, and since 1896 has made his home with his sister, Mrs. D. F. Harter.. DAVID F. HARTER. The farming interests of Butler township are well represented by David F. Harter, who resides on section 5, where he owns and operates a good tract of land. He was born in this neighborhood July 30, 1829, and at the age of four years came to the farm upon which he now lives. His father, David Harter, was born in Maryland, July 30, 1791, and when a lad of four summers was taken to Bedford county, Virginia, by his father, Francis Harter, who had seven sons and one daughter. He came to Ohio in 1817, and here David Harter entered a half-section of land from the government a half mile south of our subject's present home. There he and his sons cleared a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and the property is still. in the possession of the family. He married Sarah Boon, who was born on Black Water river, Virginia, about 1793. Their marriage occurred in that state, about 1811, and they became the parents of four sons and six daughters : Naomi, who became the wife of Isaac Teeter and both died in Kansas; John B., who married Catherine Cooper, of Preble county, but both are now deceased; Francis, who married Nancy Dixon and died in Bond county, Missouri; Mary, who became the wife of John A. Reader and died in 1898, in Douglas county, Illinois, where her husband's death also occurred ; Elizabeth, who became the wife of Joel Williamson and had two daughters and a son; Sarah, who married Christian Schlechty, but both are now deceased; Silas, who died in 1861, leaving a widow who married a Mr. Clark and is again a, widow, in Butler township; Elias, who died on the old homestead farm in the fall. of 1898, since which time his. wife has also passed away, leaving five sons and four daughters ; Rebecca, who married George Reigle, and after his death became the wife and subsequently the widow of John Eubank, and has four children ; and Pamelia, who is now living on the homestead farm. The mother of these children died during the civil war, at the age of seventy-two years, and the father died in 1880, in his eighty-ninth year. He was a member of the Dunkard church, served as one of the first jurors of Darke county, and was a leading and influential citizen. He located many of the roads of the locali-ty, and took an active interest in everything pertaining to the public welfare and prog-ress. In his business affairs he prospered, and at the time of his death was the owner of three hundred acres of valuable land. David F. Harter spent his boyhood days on the home farm, and cared for his parents until they were called to their final rest. At the time of the civil war he was a patriotic and loyal advocate of the Union, but feeling that his first duty was to his parents he hired a substitute to go in his place, and also paid out several hundred dollars to fill the town quota, thus giving time and money for the advancement of the Union cause. On the 4th of September, 1868, he wedded Miss Isabelle Nyswanger, and they had three children : Alonzo, who was a bright and promising youth, died. in 1887, in his fifteenth year ; Edwin Stanton, who married Carrie M. Jordan, by whom he has a little daughter, Mary, now three years old, is secretary and treasurer of the Gem City Boiler Company, 406 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. in Dayton, Ohio; and Francis Taylor, who remains upon the home farm, was married April 11, 1900, to Bessie M. Grubbs, of Butler township. For many years Mr. Harter was actively identified with the agricultural interests of his community, and, although he has sold a portion of his property, he still owns one hundred and twenty-nine acres of rich .and productive land. All of the improvements upon the farm were placed there through his own efforts, and the property is a monument to his thrift and enterprise. He erected the large barn there seen, and in 1880 he built a commodious, two-story frame residence, which stands upon a solid stone foundation and has three cellars underneath it. He has carried on general farming, making a specialty of the cultivation of wheat. His crops have been usually very good, and have brought to him an excellent income. He also raises tobacco, having about twelve acres planted to that crop, and has warehouses with a capacity of about fourteen thousand pounds. He has raised two thousand bushels of corn and fourteen hundred bushels 0f wheat in a single season, and in all his farm methods he is progressive and enterprising. He believes in the rotation of crops, in securing the best seed and in using the best improved farm machinery. His enterprise and capable management are numbered among his chief characteristics, and have in a large measure led to his creditable success. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and has served as a member of the election board and as township trustee. He is also a trustee in the United Brethren church, in which he and his wife are faithful members. His life illustrates what may be accomplished through earnest toil and well-directed efforts, and should serve to encourage others who are dependent upon their own labor for advancement in life. His career has ever been straightforward and at all times he is regarded as a trustworthy man and citizen. HANSON T. FOWLER. Among the honored and highly respected citizens of Washington township, Darke county, Ohio, none are more deserving of mention in a work of this kind than Hanson T. Fowler, who was born in that township, December 14, 1823, on what is now known as the George :Mills farm. His father, Hezekiah .Fowler, was born in Frederick county, Maryland, in 1785, and was married in Darke county, Ohio, in 1820, to Miss Isabel Duvall, who was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania; jn 1801. To this worthy couple were born ten children, and the birth of all occurred in Darke county, but only three are now living, namely : Mrs. Elsie Brubaker, a resident of Jay county, Indiana ; Benjamin, who is living at the Soldiers' Home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; and Hanson T., our subject. Mr. Fowler was reared and educated in his native county. He removed with his parents to Jackson township in 1831, where he still resides. On the 22nd of December, 1850, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Livingood, by whom he had four children, namely : W. W., a prominent attorney of Union City, who married, May 31, 1879, Miss Ella Brumbaugh, of Union City, Indiana, and they have one son named Hanson T. Fowler, Jr., who is a graduate of the schools of that city; Hezekiah married, in September, 1883. Jennie Wilson, of Greene county, Ohio, a school-teacher by whom hy has three bright daughters, Gertrude, Mildred and Ethel, and they reside on a farm in Indiana ; GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 407 Jacob married, in 1896, Miss Anna Barkley, of Greene county, Ohio, and is a collector for the Deering Binder Company and a resident of Piqua, Ohio; and the fourth child died at the age of six months. The mother of these children died December 24, 1859, and Mr. Fowler was again married, October 18, 1863, his second union being with Harriet Kemp, who was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, June 3, 1832. Of the four. children born of this marriage the two daughters died in infancy. The sons are Benjamin F., who was born December 7, 1865, and is now a practicing attorney of Fillmore county, Minnesota; and Edward F., who was born September 13, 1864, and lives on the home farm with his parents. The children were all given the advantages of the public schools and then allowed to complete their educati0n by their own efforts. In his early manhood Mr. Fowler taught school during the winter seasons in the rural school districts of his native county and of Randolph county, Indiana, receiving for his services from ten to twelve dollars per month and boarding around by turns with the different patrons f the schools he taught; and during the spring and summer seasons he hired out as a farm hand by the month, receiving for his services from eight to twelve dollars per month and his washing and mending additional. He now devotes, and has for several years devoted, his attention to farming, the rearing of hogs,. cattle and horses, and is a reader of the local papers, two general weekly newspapers and two farm journals. He is what may well be termed a self made man, and has held many minor positions of private and public trust. He is the owner of one hundred acres of excellent land, which he has placed under a high state of cultivation, .and his son, Edward F., has seventy-six acres adjoining. The latter, with the help 0f a hired man, now cultivates both tracts, while our subject lives somewhat retired, though he still attends to his garden and drives home the cows. He is now seventy-seven years f age, and his wife, who does all the work for her household, is sixty-eight years of age. They still enjoy good health and are in full possession of all their faculties. They are widely and favorably kn0wn and have a host of warm personal friends. HARMON C. COPPESS. Harmon C. Coppess is a representative of one of the pioneer families of Richland township, Darke county. He was born there April 2, 1860, and throughout his life has been interested in agricultural pursuits. n his early youth he worked in the fields, assisting in the cultivation of crops from the time of early planting in the spring until harvests were garnered in the late autumn. The public scho0ls afforded him his educational privileges and therein he gained the knowledge which has made him a practical business man. When he had arrived at years of maturity he chose as a companion and helpmate on life's journey Miss Florence Brewer, the wedding being celebrated on the 4th of September, 1881. She is a native of Darke county, her birth having occurred in Adams township, March .18, 1860, her parents being Alfred and Mary J. (Rice) Brewer. She was educated in the common schools, and by her marriage she had three children, namely : Ollie 0., who is a student in the Ansonia high school and has also been a student in music; Ivy and John C. The mother was called to her final rest June 29, 1899. She was a member of the Christian 408 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. church, and her loss was felt throughout the entire community, for she was known as a. lady of many excellent qualities, of kindly manner and genial disposition. At the time of his marriage Mr. Coppess began the operation of the old homestead farm, which he rented for two years. On the expiration of that period he purchased forty acres, which he afterward sold and again operated his father's farm for four years. When that interval had elapsed he turned his attention tb merchandising and the grain business in Dawn, being thus engaged for seven months, after which he began the operation of a gristmill. On disposing of his interest in that property he purchased eighty-eight acres of land in Brown township and has since lived upon that farm. A glance at the place indicates that the owner is one of the practical and progressive agriculturists of his community, for everything is neat and thrifty in appearance and kept in first class condition. His practical training in farm work in his youth made him well fitted for the labors of manhood, and at the present time the well tilled fields yield to him a golden tribute for the care and labor he bestows upon them. Mr. Coppess votes with the Democracy and first upheld its banners by his ballot in 1884, when Grover Cleveland was a candidate for the presidency. The public school system finds in him a stanch advocate, and he is at present serving as a member of the board. He belongs to the Christian church at Stelvideo and aided in its erection. He belongs to one of the best known families in Richland township, and his career is creditable to the family history. Passing his entire life in the county, he has become widely known, and the fact that many of his stanchest friends are those who have known him from boyhood is an indication that his career is one that has ever been worthy of commendation and respect. MICHAEL LOY. This well known and honored citizen of Jackson township, Darke county, Ohio, was born November 14, 1827. His grandfather, Jacob Loy was born in Washington county,. Maryland, in 1766, 0f German parentage, and became a fair German scholar. He saw George Washington and Cornwallis when the latter was a prisoner. He married Barbara Bock and three of their eight children were born before leaving Maryland. In 1800 they moved to Cincinnati, which at that time contained only a few huts and Camp Washington. After spending a short time there they located in Preble county., where Mr. Loy entered one hundred and sixty acres of land. The country was very wild, Indians were numerous, and the few settlers were widely, scattered. Mr. Loy built a log cabin upon his farm on Twin Creek, cleared nearly all his land, and followed the cooper's trade. He was a supporter of the Democratic party and an active man of the German Lutheran church, serving as a trustee for many years. He died upon his farm January 1854, aged eighty-eight years, and his wife, who was badly injured shooting a deer, died in 1851 or 1852, aged eighty-four years. Jacob Loy, the father of our subject, was born in Maryland, in 1794, and was nearly seven years of age when the family came to Ohio. He was never able to attend school, but taught himself as well as he could, and acquired an excellent knowledge of farm work at home. In March, 1816, he married GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 409 Susanna Temple, also of Maryland, and a daughter of John Temple. He rented land in Twin creek until 1832, when he purchased one hundred and sixty acres from Christian Kuhn for five hundred dollars. At that time there were no roads or public schools in the locality, and while serving as a school director he built a schoolhouse with money from his own pocket. He improved his land and built thereon a log house and stable. He was very stout, hardy and rugged, and a good farmer and all-around man. He served as a private in the war of 1812 and was stationed at Fort Nesbit for six months. Politically he was originally a Democrat, and supported Andrew Jackson for his first term, but later became a Whig and finally a Republican. Religiously he was a member of the German Reformed church. He died in 1885, and his wife departed this life in 1855. Their chit dren were Conrad, a successful brickmaker and general contractor ; George, who died in 1846, aged twenty-eight years; Greenberry, a farmer ; David, a resident of Greene county, Ohio ; Mrs. Catherine Fritz ; Mrs. Mary Gettner ; Michael, our subject ; Lewis; a farmer; John, who died in 1864; and Jacob Harvey, a farmer. Michael Loy began his education in a hewed-log schoolhouse, and after acquiring a fair district-school education he followed farming until his marriage in 1849, when. he turned his attention to brick-making. From 1851 to 1858 he cultivated a rented farm, and after moving to his own farm of forty-five acres in the latter year he often rented other land also. He has drained his land, erected all of the buildings thereon, and has successfully engaged in general farming. In 1849 Mr. Loy married Miss Abigail, Evans, who was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1825, a daughter of John Evans, and to them were born five children, concerning whom we record items as follows : Isaac. Newton received a good public-school education and is now the pastor of the Reformed church at Versailles ; Mary E. is the wife of Solomon Hart ; Jacob Henry, who is at home with his parents, married Catherine Null, a native of Union City, and they have two sons, David Earl and John Russell, now in school; Conrad Madison married Laura Rowe and followed farming ; and Clara Belle is the wife or James M. Lea. In 1864, during the Civil war, Mr. Loy enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and. Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer nfantry, under Captain Creveston, and took a wagon train to General Hunter, remaining in active service until the company . was mustered out. He. is now an honored member of the McPherson Post, G. A. R. He cast his first: presidential vote for Zachary Taylor, and is now an ardent supporter. of the Republican party, but has never cared for political preferment, though he served eight years as school director. He is an advocate of temperance principles and is an active and consistent member of the Reformed church, in which: he has served as deacon for twelve years. HARVEY HILL. A biographical record of Mississinawa township would be incomplete were there failure to mention Harvey Hill, who is an enterprising farmer living on section 20. Ohio numbers him among her native sons, for he was born in Clermont county, January 15, 1838. His father, Nathan Hill, was a. native of the same locality, born August 1, 1806, and the grandfather, Thomas Hill, was born in North Carolina. He there became the owner of a plantation and a number 410 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. of slaves, but he left his b0ndsmen in North Carolina, save one old negro, Uncle Dick, who was very much attached to him and followed him to Ohio; on his removal to the Buckeye state, about 1801. Thomas Hill became one of the pioneer residents of Clermont county, taking up his abode in the midst of the forest. He wedded a southern lady, a wealthy planter's daughter, who knew nothing of work or of pioneer life, but she possessed a heroic spirit and became a practical housewife, proving to her husband an able helpmate. She reared a large family of sons and daughters, but all are now deceased. One daughter, Mrs. Sarah South, removed to Danville, Indiana. The mother .of these children after her husband's death made her home with her son, Nathan Hill. When called to her final rest her remains were interred in the old family burying ground by the side of Thomas Hill. The farm has now passed out f the possession of the family, but Mr. Hill has a description and deed of the old tract of two hundred and fifty acres where his grandfather settled before Ohio was admitted to the Union. This was divided into four sections in 1822. The Hill ancestors were Irish, and at the time of the Revolutionary war Thomas Hill became one of the loyal Colonial soldiers who aided in establishing the independence of the nation. On the maternal side our subject is descended from one of the old families of Ohio. His father, Nathan Hill, on attaining man's estate was joined in wedlock, in Clermont County, to Mary Ann Frazee, who was born in that county, December 8, 1816, a daughter .of John Frazee, whose wife bore the maiden name of Miss Higbee. Their marriage occurred June 29, 1837, and was blessed with seven children : Harvey, of this review ; Ja cob, who died in infancy; Elizabeth, who was born in 1842 and died in 1843 ; Albert F., who was born in January, 1844, and died the same year ; William, who was born in December, 1844, and now resides with his family in Anderson, Indiana ; John F., who was born December 15, 1846, and is now living in Chicago, whither he went in 1891 and during the World's Fair made ten thousand dollars in the hotel business, so that he is now comfortably situated in life; and the youngest child of the family, a son, died in infancy. The mother died June 1, 1849, and the father afterward. wedded Elizabeth Bricker. His last days were spent upon the old homestead farm, where he died August 7, 1869. He had located thereon in 1854, purchasing a quarter-section of rich timber land, on the river bottoms, and in order to build a cabin he had to clear away the trees, for the forest was very dense. His first home was a very primitive one and the family lived in true pioneer style. Deer, turkeys and all kinds f small game were very plentiful and the subject of this review has often shot wild game, thus supplying the table with meat. Harvey Hill began his education in the old-time school-house, with its puncheon floors. slab seats, greased-paper windows and roughly made writing desks. He attended school from four to six months in a year during his early boyhood and was afterward in school only during the winter season. He was early inured to the arduous •labor of developing and improving land and in early life not only worked for his father but was also employed by others in preparing the land for the plow. On leaving the home farm, at the age of twenty-three, he worked out in the county until 1864, when he removed to Illinois, spending some time in McLean and Livingston counties, also a part of one season GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 411 in Iowa. On the expiration of that period he returned to the old homestead. On the 17th of November, 1873, Mr. Hill. was united in marriage, at the age of thirty-four years, to Martha Ellen Matthews, who was born in Preble county, August 5, 1854, a daughter of Robert Matthews. They located in the old home which the father had erected in 1854, and their union was blessed with two children : William Jesse, who was born November 2, 1874, and Amy Grace, who was born March 8, 1880, and is now the wife of Charles Jones, by whom she has a little son, Claudius Jones. Mrs. Hill died March 22, 1895. She was a woman of many excellent characteristics, respected and esteemed by a large circle of friends, and her loss was deeply mourned throughout the en tire community. Mr. Hill devotes his time and energies to general farming and is the owner of eighty-five acres of rich and arable land which he keeps under a high state of cultivation. Like most of the farmers of this locality he has given much attention to the raising of corn and hogs and also raises some cattle. His business affairs have been earnestly prosecuted and his diligence and careful management have secured to him a comfortable competence. He has followed in the political footsteps of his father, who cast his first presidential vote for General Jackson, and is a stanch Democrat in his political belief. n 1870 he was elected township clerk, in which office he served for thirteen consecutive years and for six. years he has served as a justice of the peace, discharging his duties with marked promptness and impartiality. He was also township trustee for five years, has been a member of the board of education for six years and is now serving his third year as infirmary director. He is a citizen whose devotion to the public welfare is most marked, and his official prerogatives as well as his efforts in private life are exercised for the benefit of those measures which he believes will contribute toward the public good. He has served for thirty years in office and has yet to meet the first political defeat. Mr. Hill has in his possession an illustrated primer which his father studied on first attending school, and this is a much prized heirloom. He has long been a witness to the development f this section of the state and from pioneer days down to the present time the name of Hill has been associated with all that is best and most commendable in connection with the public affairs and progress of his part of the Buckeye state. FRANK M. WHITACRE. Frank M. Whitacre is a representative farmer of Mississinawa township in whom his fellow citizens have manifested their trust and confidence by electing him to public office. He resides on section 6, and was born on this farm February 15, 1858. His grandfather was Jonas Whitacre, who died in 1818, after which his widow married a Mr.. Baldwin and died about 1827. By her first marriage she had four sons and two daughters and by the second union had tw0 children. After the death of the mother they were scattered; going to live with strangers, but on attaining their majority each received two hundred dollars from the old estate. The old Baldwin home is still owned by Benjamin Baldwin, who was a child of his father's first marriage and is now a wealthy resident of the county. Francis B. Whitacre, the father of our subject, was born in Warren county, Ohio, 412 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. in 1815, and sixty years ago came to Darke county, taking up his abode upon the farm where .his son Frank now resides. It was then a wild tract on which the native timber grew so thickly that he had to cut away the trees order to make room for a little cabin. The log house which he erected is still standing, having been weatherboarded since that time, and is a mute reminder of the progress which has occurred through the passing years, making this one of the best. developed sections of the entire state. Mr. Whitacre married Nancy Replogle, a daughter of Philip Replogle, who was the first settler of this locality. His descendants are still widely and favorably known in this part of Ohio. The parents of our subject were married October 8, 1837 and unto them were born five sons and five daughters : John R., who was born in July, 1838, and is living in Lightsville ; Jacob G., who was born September 21, 1840, and is living in Mississinawa township ; Robert, who was born September 5, 1842, and is now living in Jay county, Indiana; Nancy A., who became the wife of Reuben Barnhart and died July 17, 1873, when almost thirty years of age; Larissa R., who married James Barnhart and died November 3, 1867, at the age of nineteen years and four months ; Frederick, who was born September 2, 1849, and is living on a farm adjoining the old homestead ; Sarah E., who died at the age of eighteen years; Rachel A., at home; Mary J., who died at the age of twenty-six years; and Frank, of this review. Of this family three brothers, John R., Jacob G. and Robert B., were soldiers in the civil war. The first named joined the Fifty-second Ohio Infantry for the one-hundred-day service, while Jacob and Robert were members of the One Hundred and Tenth Ohio Infantry, the former enlisting for three years, and was wounded in the hip, the injury being quite a serious one. Robert was incarcerated. in Libby prison for nearly three months and both endured many of the hardshps which fall to the lot of the soldier in camp and on the field of battle. The mother of our subject was called to her final rest March 31, 1895, when seventy-six years of age. Frank M. Whitacre received his education in the common schools. He has never been away from home for any length of time, having always lived upon the old farmstead, in whose fields he has labored day after day in the cultivation of the crops, which have returned good harvests in the early summer and the golden autumn. He was married, January 25, 1882, to Miss Mary Ware, of Eaton, Preble county, a daughter of Kerry and Catharine (De Land) Ware, both of whom are living in Union City. Their marriage has been blessed with four children : Josie M., Walter D., Rosa L. and Fern M. The three younger children are in school. The family is one of prominence in the community and Mr. and Mrs. Whitacre enjoy the hospitality of the best homes in this section of the state. Farming has been Mr. Whitacre's life occupation. For twenty years he has cultivated the old homestead place of one hundred and twenty acres, and like most of the agriculturists of the community raises corn, wheat and hay-, making a specialty of the last named, for his upland meadows yield a splendid quality of hay. He also raises horses and cattle and the sales of his stock and farm products bring him an excellent income. He is now regarded as one of the prosperous and progressive farmers of the community, and has a fine property whose neat and thrifty appearance indicates to every GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 413 passerby his careful supervision. n his political views he is a stanch Republican and, though living in a Democratic township, has frequently been called to public office. He was the township clerk for four years, has been notary public for the past nine years, and was appointed census enumerator for his township in May, 1900. He holds membership in the United Brethren church, is the circuit steward and has acted as teacher and superintendent of the Sunday-schools. His life is upright an honorable, unclouded by a shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil, and his useful career is in many respects well worthy of emulation. MRS. DELIA VIOLA TAYLOR. Mrs. Taylor, a highly esteemed and hononer citizen of Arcanum, Darke county, Ohio, was born in Tarlton, this state, April 30, 1849, and is a daughter of Michael and Elizabeth (Van Tress) Bitler, both natives of Pennsylvania. Her paternal grandfather, George Bitler, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and from there removed to Lancaster, Ohio, where he owned and operated a large iron foundry for some time and later lived retired. He finally moved to Missouri and located near Edina, where he owned large tracts of farming land, and there died. He was twice married. Michael Bitler, Mrs. Taylor's father, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and was only four years old when brought by his parents to Lancaster, Ohio, where he grew to manhood and married. At the age of nineteen years he was licensed to preach in the United Brethren church, but as he afterward joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows while that church was opposed to secret societies, he entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry, joining the Cincinnati conference. He was the chaplain of the Forty-seventh Ohio Volunteer nfantry during the Civil war. He preached in Cincinnati two years and in the suburbs of that place for many years, but finally removed to Ithaca, Darke county, where he remained for a short time, and then. came to Arcanum, where he practiced medicine until his death, having graduated at a medical college during his younger years. He died May 10, 1889, aged seventy years, and his wife died May 25, 1896, aged seventy-six years. They were the parents of ten .children, namely : Clinton, who died at the age of eighteen years ; Mary C., who died in infancy; Sarah, deceased wife of Z. H.. Delapp ; Samuel, a resident of Gordon, Darke county ; Isadore, the wife of Joseph Brown, f Columbus, Ohio ; Delia Viola, our subject ; John, a resident of Galveston, Indiana ; Mary, the wife of Rev. J. Klingel, of Devil's Lake, North Dakota; Emma, the wife of Professor B. F. Peters, of Indiana ; and Leota, the wife of William Mummert, of Wawaka, Indiana. During her girlhood Mrs. Taylor attended the public schools, completing her education at Ithaca, this county. On the 13th of September ,1863, she gave her hand in marriage to John Smith, a prominent merchant of Arcanum, who was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, in 1828, a son of Jesse and Christina (Dietrick) Smith, also natives of that county. n 1835 he removed with his parents to Preble county, Ohio, where he made his home until 1850, and then came to Sampson, Darke county, where he remained about a year. In 1851 he took up his residence in Arcanum and embarked in general merchandising, opening the first store in the place. His popularity, strict integrity and honorable dealing soon won for him an ex- 414 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. cellent trade, which was second to none in the county. He died February 18, 1890, hon- ored and respected by all who knew him. n 1851 he married Sophia McNutt, who died February 7, 1859, leaving three children, namely : Milton W., Leonidas H. and Theophilus D., all living at the present time. By his second marriage he had eight children : Elmer Ellsworth, who died in infancy; Edwin Stanton ; Bertelle; Roy ; Maud C., the wife of Eldredge Faulkner ; .Mamie Winifred, who died at the age of five years; John A.; and Chester, who died in infancy. On the 14th of September, 1894, our subject married W. Scott Taylor, but has no children by this union. She is a lady of culture, refinement and high. social qualities, and has a large circle of friends and acquaintances in Arcanum where she makes her home. JOHN CHAMBERS ARNOLD. Wherever there is pioneer work to be done men of energy and ability are required and success or .failure depends upon the degree of those qualities. In wresting the land of Darke county from its native wildness ; in fitting it for the habitation of men ; in developing the natural resources of the community in which they live, few if any have contributed more largely. than Mr. Arnold, whose home is on section 13, Neave township, and it is meet and proper that for the arduous and important labor he has performed he should receive due reward. In the township where he still resides, Mr. Arnold was born August 20; 1826. His father, George Arnold, was born in South Carolina, March 1, 1800, but was only eight years old when brought by his parents to this state. They located first in Clinton county, but in the spring of 1817 came to Darke county, where our subject's grandfather, Moses Arnold, died at the age of eighty-seven years. He was of English descent and was born and reared in North Carolina, but about the time of the Revolutionary war moved to South Carolina, and in 1807 came to Ohio, as previously stated. George Arnold, father of our subject, was married in Warren county, Ohio, to Mary Dynes, a native of Kentucky, who was born November 4, 1800, and was about four years. old when her family moved to Warren county, this state. Her father, Chambers Dynes, was born in Ireland and was four months old when brought to this country by his parents, being. reared in Maryland. After his marriage George Arnold located on section 13, Neave township, Darke county, where lie spent the remainder of his life, dying there April 9, 1882, at the age of eighty-two years. n early life he was a Jacksonian Democrat, but later supported the Whig party, voting for Harrison in 1840, and became a Republican on the organization of that party. He filled the office of justice of the peace for nine years, and was highly respected and esteemed by all who knew him. His estimable wife died at the age of eighty years. They had a family of five children, all of whom were born in Neave township : Amelia is now the widow of Michael Floyd, and a resident of Cowley county, Kansas; Lizzie died in Missouri ; Rachel died in Darke county, Ohio ; and Mary died in Randolph county, Indiana. John C. Arnold, the third child and only son of this family, was reared in Neave township and attended school conducted in, a log building with stick chimney, rude benches and a desk made by laying a board on pins driven into the wall. As soon as GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 415 old enough to be of any assistance he commenced to aid his father in clearing and cultivating the farm, and throughout his active business life continued to engage in agricultural pursuits, but is now living retired. He remained on the old homestead and took care of his parents until their deaths, continuing. his residence there until 1885, when he built his present home on the Dayton pike three miles southeast f Greenville, where he has since lived, with the exception of two years spent in Jackson township. His fine farm of two hundred and seven acres he now rents. On the 14th of January, 1847, Mr. Arnold married M. Elizabeth Shephard, by whom he had nine children : George W., pastor of the High Street United Brethren church at Dayton, Ohio, married Adeline Pickett, by whom he had two children, Florence and Harry, and for his second wife wedded Mary Brant, by whom he has a daughter, Ruth; Mary is the Nwife of William Delk, of Arcanum, Darke county, and they have one child, Orpha; John H. married Jane Crawford, and they have seven children, Laura, Reuben, Pearl, Clifford, Sophia, Ella and. Opal; Jane is the wife of Nelson Batten, and they have eight children, Alford, Martha, Jesse, Millie, Molly, Joseph, Charles and Jasper;. Sophia J. is the wife of Oscar Jay and they have four children, Effie, Wilma, Carma and Otho; Winfield married Rebecca Eisley and they have six sons, Ora, Frank, John, Carl, Hugh and an infant; Amanda is the wife of Adrian Aten and has no children ; Martha is the wife of Archer Pearson and they have seven children, Ethel, Ruth, Virgie, Zella, Katie, Walter and an infant daughter ; Charles married Martha Galbreth and they have two children, Clarence and Douglass. Our-subject also has several. great-grandchildren. After the death of his first wife he married Mary Pickett, widow of Isaiah Pickett. His third wife was Elizabeth Clark, widow of Elisha Clark, and his present wife was Catherine (Mathews), widow of George Dynes. She was born in Warren county, Ohio, April 24, 1826, and is a daughter of Job and Catharine (White) Mathews, both natives of New Jersey, the father's birth occurring February 25, 1789, and the mother's March 17, 1799. The father died April 10, 1874, and the mother passed away December 5, 1880. Mr. Arnold served as corporal in the Home Guards during the dark days of the Civil war, having enlisted in 1864 in the one-hundred-day service. Politically he is a Republican, but has always supported the Prohibition party, having always been a. strong temperance man. He takes a deep interest in every enterprise Calculated to prove of public benefit, and is justly recognized as one of the valued and useful citizens of his 'community. n early life Ile was a friend and playmate of Professor J. T. Martz, the boys having been born and reared on farms not more than a mile. apart. CHRISTIAN SCHAEFER. The subject of this sketch, Christian Schaefer, of Greenville township, Darke county, Ohio, was born in Tabbenstadt, Luebeke county, Westphalia, Germany, on September 3, 1836. He attended the common schools of his country from April 1, 1844, until he was confirmed on April 1, 1851, at which time he made a confession of the Evangelical Lutheran faith, to which he has been true up to the present day, being 416 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. affiliated with the Lutheran church now and one of the trustees of St. John's congregation. He united in marriage with Miss Louisa Dorethea Homeier, in Germany, on May 17, 18:7, and emigrated to America with his wife soon after, locating at Dayton, Montgomery county, Ohio, on July 9, of the same year. He resided there for seven years and in 1865 came to Darke county, Ohio, locating in Greenville township, upon the farm still in his possession. A large family of children, six sons and two daughters, were the fruit of the union with his wife, who are a credit to their parents and an honor to the community in which they live. The companion of his life preceded Mr. Schaefer and all his children to eternity, having been called away by death on August 31, 1897. Christian Schaefer is one of the influential citizens of his community, of old German stock, honest, industrious, law-abiding and true. He has been and still is a successful farmer, owning the beautiful farm upon which he resides, with its handsome buildings. He is a loyal church member and a sound old Jeffersonian Democrat in politics, reliable at all times. ABRAHAM BYRD. A farmer of York township, Abraham Byrd is numbered among the native sons of Darke county, his birth having occurred here on the 27th of July, 1854. He is the sixth in the family of ten children, four sons and six daughters, born unto Abraham and Emma (Rodenfeldt) Byrd. A short history of his parents is given in connection with the sketch of George Byrd, the trustee of Richland township, who is represented on another page of this work. Abraham Byrd, of this review, was reared in Wayne township and was early inured to the labors of the farm, working in field and meadow through the summer months, while in the winter season he pursued his education in the district schools. n his leisure hours he devoted much atention to the perusal of good books and has thus added largely to the knowledge gained in the schoolroom. He gave his father the benefit of his services in the fields during his early years and later the care of his parents devolved entirely upon him, so that he was thus enabled to repay them for the loving attention which was bestowed on him through his youth. He wedded Miss Sarah Boyer on the 23d of November, 1848, and a little son graces their union. Grover C., who. is a bright and interesting boy now pursuing the work of the eighth grade in the public schools. Mrs. Byrd was born in Wayne township, May 15, 1865, a daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Cable) Boyer. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania,. born in 1833, and his death occurred November 1, 1892. Throughout his active business life he carried on farming, and, coming to Darke county at an early day, was long a representative of the. agricultural interests of this community. He was a member of the River Brethren church and in politics was a Democrat. His wife, who was born in Darke county, is still living, at the age of sixty-two years, and is an earnest Christian woman whose careful teachings have had marked influence over her family. She became the mother of twelve children, five sons and seven daughters, nine of whom are yet living, as follows : Ella, the wife of J. N. Bashore, who was formerly a teacher and is now a farmer of Wayne township, Darke county ; John, who is married and lives in Richland township ; Mrs. Byrd ; Milton, who is married and follows farming at Stelvideo, GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 417 "Ohio; Maggie, the wife f J. E. Stoner, .a horticulturist of Sedgwick, Kansas ; Emma, the wife of Clyde E. Morris, a salesman In a hardware store in Sedgwick, Kansas; Daniel and Mada, who are also living in Sedgwick, Kansas; and Eddie, who completes the family. Mr. and Mrs. Byrd began their domestic life upon a rented farm in Wayne township, where they resided for about seven years, after which they passed four years in Shelby county and then took up their abode on a farm near Gettysburg, in Darke county. Four years later they located in York township, having charge of the Bayman estate. They enjoy the high regard of many friends in this locality and are people whose commendable characteristics have won for them high respect. Since casting his first presidential vote for Tilden, in 1876, Mr. Byrd has been a stanch Democrat, but has never been an aspirant for office, preferring that his time and attention shall be given to his business interests, in which he is meeting with creditable and desirable success. He and his wife attend the services of the Methodist Episcopal church and contribute liberally to its support. Socially he is connected with the Odd Fellows lodge at Versailles, in which he has passed all the chairs, and he and his wife are members of. Rebekah Lodge, No. 216, Mrs. Byrd having served as chaplain in the order. In their life they exemplify the noble and benevolent principles of the order and are true to its humanitarian teachings. L. R. HOUSHOLDER. For sixty-three years Mr. Housholder has been a resident of Darke county, his birth having occurred in York township, July 28, 1837. He is one of the pioneer families of the locality. His father, David Housholder, was born in Pennsylvania, near Hancock, Maryland, July 21 1811, and was the only son in his parents' family. He was a man of much mechanical skill and became a millwright. He also possessed considerable ingenuity in manufacturing machinery, especially the old-time cradle. Through his active labors in this direction, as well as upon the farm, he accumulated a comfortable competence. In all his business affairs he was careful, methodical and reliable, and his word was as good as his bond. His educational privileges were meager, but experience in the practical affairs of life added largely to his knowledge. He remained in the Keystone state until he was twenty-five years of age, and was married in Pennsylvania to Miss Rachel Stahl, on the 22d of February, 1836, this date" being recorded in the old family Bible now owned by our subject. The young couple determined to seek a home farther west and in a one-horse vehicle started for Ohio. They had little of this world's goods but were possessed of resolute spirit and determined purpose and bravely met the difficulties and hardships of pioneer life. Mr. Housholder manifested the sterling characteristics of his German ancestry, for he was of German lineage, being descended from one of two brothers who came to America from the Fatherland and thus established the Housholder family in the new world. The date of their emigration was about 1700. It was in the fall of 1837 that the parents of our subject arrived in York township, Darke county, and for a short time they resided in a log cabin with their brother-in-law. Soon, however, they took up their abode upon a farm of one hundred and twenty-seven acres in York township, which was entered by Mr. Housholder 418 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. at the land office in Cincinnati, the old parchment deed being. signed by Martin Van Buren, who was then president of the United States. This gave the description of the property and the date of purchase and is still in possession of the family. Soon the plow was placed in the virgin soil; for with characteristic energy the father began to clear away the trees and develop his land. The family lived in a little log cabin, which was heated by an old-time fireplace. The meals were cooked in utensils suspended from a crane and in an old Dutch oven, and had the relish which, it is claimed, is seldom found at the present day when more modern methods of cooking are in use. Deer and turkey often formed a part of the meal, for these could be obtained by the skilled huntsman who, with his rifle, went into the woods and often brought back excellent game. Mr. Housholder was prosperous in his business undertakings and before his death had accumulated one thousand and three acres of land, situated in Brown and York townships, in Darke county, and in Cherokee county, Kansas. From the time that he cast his first presidential vote, for Andrew Jackson, he was a stanch Democrat in his political affiliations. He held the office f township trustee and filled other positions of responsibility. As a man and a citizen he was highly esteemed for his sterling worth ; and at his death, which occurred August 6, 1897, the community lost one of its valued citizens. His wife was born in Maryland, April 3, 1815, and died July 26, 1868. In the family of this worthy couple were seven sons and three daughters, of whom eight are now living, the eldest being L. R., of this review ; Esther Anna is the wife of R. B. Kunkel, a carpenter and joiner living in Greenville ; Louanna, who was educated in the Greenville high school, in Lebanon, Johnstown, Erie and Bradford, Pennsylvania, having graduated in two colleges, is now an editor and authoress of merit ; Iselius is a farmer living in Brown township; Newton S. is married and follows farming in Williamsburg, Ohio; Moses A., a farmer residing near Columbus, Kansas, and formerly a successful attorney, is a prominent and influential citizen and is serving as a member of the state legislature; Franklin is married and follows horticultural pursuits near Guthrie, Oklahoma, where he has an orchard of one hundred and ten acres; and Ella is the wife of Jerome Lodermilk, of Baldwin, Kansas, who was a teacher of music. Mr. Housholder, whose name introduces this record, obtained his elementary education in the common schools and was for a time a pupil under the instruction of Professor. J. T. Martz. He successfully passed the teachers examination at the age of twenty-two years, and has capably followed the profession in Darke county for nine terms. He has the ability to impart clearly and concisely to others the knowledge he has acquired and is regarded as a most competent instructor. He also possesses considerable mechanical ability and is familiar with the carpenter and joiner's trade. He started out on his own account empty-handed. When he had attained his majority he had no capital and earned his first money by cutting cordwood for his father at twenty-five cents per cord. He was industrious and energetic and scorned no labor that would yield him an honest living. Through determined purpose he has steadily worked his way upward, and his position as a substantial citizen of the community has for a long time been assured. GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 419 On the 20th of June, 1867, Mr. Housholder was united in marriage to Miss Pearl Nevius, who was born in Huntington, Indiana, November 24, 1846. They became the parents of five sons and four daughters, of whom eight are yet as follows : Ivie Olive, the wife of J. A. Patterson, who resides in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and is an expert oil driller ; Lucy Grace, the wife of John E.. Longcreek, a farmer of York township; Lot Franklin, who is. living in York township; Nellie Gail, the wife of Joseph Rox, a teamster of Dayton; Minnie Alice, Carl Nevius, Harry Leo and Glen George, at home. The mother of this family was called to her final rest June 27, 1897. She was for thirty years a faithful companion and helpmate to her husband along the journey of life, and her loving words and. counsels are sadly missed in the household. She held membership in the Christian church in Ansonia and was ever true and loyal to its teachings. Mr. Housholder and his children still reside upon the home farm. In politics he is a Democrat and his first presidential ballot supported Stephen A. Douglas. He is a stanch advocate of temperance and strongly favors the abolition of the liquor traffic. For two terms he served as trustee of York township and was township clerk for one year. He too, belongs to the Christian church and contributed liberally toward the erection of the house of worship. To-day he is the owner of one hundred thirty-seven acres 0f land under a high state of cultivation, and all that he possesses has been acquired through his own efforts. JOHN WALKER. John Walker, deceased, was for many years one f the honored and highly esteemed citizens f Darke county, his home being in Van Buren township. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, his ancestors having left Scotland on account of religious persecution and located in Ireland, of which country his paternal grandfather was a native. His father, Joseph Walker, was born in the North of Ireland, and on his emigration to the United States, when a young man, settled at Gettysburg, Adams county, Pennsylvania, where Ile spent the remainder of his life, becoming a very successful farmer. There he married Elizabeth Stewart, who was also of Scotch-Irish descent and had a brother John living near Gettysburg. By this union Were born the following children : William, born in 1794, took part in the war of 1812 at Baltimore, and died unmarried ; Jane, born in 1795, married her cousin, Andrew Stewart, and died in Pennsylvania; Nancy, born in 1796, married David Withrow and died in Adams county, Pennsylvania ; Andrew, born September 17, 1798, married Elizabeth Blakely, and in April, 1830, moved to Muskingum county, Ohio; Elizabeth, born December 21, 1800, married Gibson Wade and settled in Adams township, Darke county, Ohio; Joseph, born February 27, 1803, married Annie Seltzer and lived near Emmitsburg, Maryland ; John, our subject, is next in order 0f birth; and Mary, born July 1, 1808, married Nathaniel Patterson, a noted lawyer of Columbus, Ohio, where both died. The subject of this sketch was born on the old homestead at Gettysburg, March 31, 1805, and was reared in the midst of pleas-ant home surroundings, his parents being earnest members f the United Presbyterian church. His education was obtained in the common schools. He remained on the farm until. he was married, March 9, 1830, to Miss Sarah Moore, who was born in Adams county, August 23, 1868. Ten days after 420 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. their marriage they left their old home in Pennsylvania and came by wagon to Darke county, Ohio, landing in Van Buren township on the 19th f April. Mr. Walker's father had di; d when he was seventeen years of age, and he had but little to begin life with in the west. He purchased. one hundred and sixty acres of land from John Carnihan and entered a like amount, all in one tract. A. small log cabin stood on the place, and in it they made their home until the following spring, when Mr. Walker prepared brick and built a more substantial and commodious residence. In the meantime he commenced to clear and improve. his land. His first wife died December 27, 1843, leaving four .children, namely : .Elizabeth Jane, deceased, born October 27, 1831, married Levi Reck ; Sarah Mary, born July 22, .1834, married David Campbell and died in Adams township, Darke county, in 18J9; Harriet F., born April 24, 1837, is a resident of the home farm ; and Joseph S., born March 28, 1841, Married Malissa Van Winkle and lives in Greenville. Mr. Walker was again married, December 4, 1845, his second union being with Miss Ann Eliza Reck, who was born in. Bedford county, Pennsylvania, October I, 1825, and is a daughter of Jacob and Mary M. (Sipes) Reck, the former a native of Adams county, Pennsylvania, the. latter of Maryland. After the marriage of her parents they settled in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where the father died in 1839. He was three times married, his first wife being Mary Ann Benner, of Adams county, Pennsylvania, who bore him one child, Mary E., who married Rev. Thompson and went to Minnesota. His second wife was Eve Cluts, of the same county, by whom he had two children: Catherine and Sarah, who both died unmarried. His third wife was the mother of Mrs. Walker, and by that union were the follow- ing children : Ann Eliza, already mentioned ; Susan, born December 21, 1826;. Mary Jane, September 22, 1828; William, July 4, 1830; Jacob, July 3, 1832; and Samuel, June 14, 1834. The mother was left a widow with eight small children, six of whom were her own, and with her family she came to Darke county, Ohio, by wagon in 1839, locating in Adams township. She died August 30, 1868. Her father was Joseph Sipes, a native of Germany, who came to this country to escape military service, and hired out to pay his passage. One of his fellow. passengers on the voyage was a Miss Rent, with whom he soon became acquainted, and after landing they were married. They located near. Emmitsburg, Maryland, and he was stationed at Baltimore while serving as a soldier of the war. of 1812. In religious belief they were strict Lutherans. Their children were John, who died in Maryland ; Mary M., the mother of Mrs. Walker; Catherine, who married George Cads and located near Bed ford, Pennsylvania; and Henry, who made his home in Bedford county, that state. Mrs. Walker's paternal grandfather was Christian Reck, who was of German descent, and married Sophia Beaker, of Adams county, Pennsylvania. Their children were as follows : John, who married for his first wife Annie Hiner, and died in Gettysburg, Ohio; Elizabeth, who married a Mr. Lichtenwalter and came to Canton, Ohio, after her husband's death ; Jacob, the father of Mrs. Walker, was next in order of birth; Christian, who married a Miss Routzong, and lived in Canton ; Sarah, who was the Wife of John, Stutzler, of Pennsylvania ; who married Christina Miller and died in GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 421 Gettysburg; Catherine, who was the wife of Samuel Routzong, a soldier of the war of 1812; Samuel, who married Sarah Chits and died in Pennsylvania ; and David, who married .Maria Lightner, of Pennsylvania, and died in Van Buren township, Darke county, Ohio. By his second marriage Mr. Walker had three children, namely : William Harrison, who was born November 22, 1847, and died March 27, 1852 ; Catherine Ann, born April 27, 1853, who is with her mother ; and John Newton, born January 24, 1859; married Nellie G. Keefauver, and they have five children—Mary E., Hazel H., Willard Ward, Helen Gertrude and Lulu. Mr. Walker died June 23, 1895. He was a stanch Republican in politics and as one of the leading- citizens of his community he was called upon to serve as township trustee and in other local offices. Reared in the United Presbyterian church he joined the Greenville Presbyterian church on coming to this county, and remained one of its faithful and consistent members throughout life. He was a true husband and kind father, devoted to his family, and in his death the community realized that they had lost one of their most valued and useful citizens. JOHNSON K. ALBRIGHT. After years of active labor as an agriculturist, this worthy citizen of Twin township, Darke county, is now living a retired life. He belongs to an honored pioneer family of this state, and traces his ancestry back to three brothers who came to America from Germany prior to the Revolutionary war. One settled in North Carolina and one in Pennsylvania, but all trace of the third has been lost. It was from the first that our subject is descended. He served all through the Revolutionary war. His son, Philip Albright, the grandfather of our subject, was born and reared in Orange county, North Carolina, and in early life learned the tailor's trade. Some time previous to 1804 he and his wife Christina came to Preble county, Ohio, and he entered land on the present site of Lewisburg, where he erected a primitive log cabin and followed farming throughout the remainder of his life. He died November 20, 1820, his wife, December 29, 1817, and both were buried at Lewisburg. Of their children John died in Arkansas; Catherine, the wife of John Thomas, died in Preble county, this state; Elizabeth, the wife of Daniel Sharp, died in Twin township, Darke county; Barbara, the wife of Lewis Thomas, died in Preble county ; Philip died in Twin township, Darke county; Adam died in the same township ; Mary, the wife of Philip Nation, died in Eaton, Ohio ; Jonas also died in Eaton ; and Simpson, the father of our subject, died in Arcanum. Simpson Albright was born in Lewisburg, November 2, 1804, and received only a limited education. He was an excellent reader but had little knowledge f other branches of study. As his father was lame and in limited circumstances most of the farm work fell to his sons, and when he died the family were left poor. Simpson was only thirteen years of age at that time and was forced to earn his own livelihood by working as a farm hand, being thus employed until his marriage. He drifted to Anderson county, Tennessee, where he met Miss Mary Snoderly, who became his wife November 9, 1828. She was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, November 1808, and was a daughter of Philip and Mary (Thomas) Snoderly, who moved to Tennessee about 1816. 422 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. After his marriage Mr. Albright continued to make his home in that state until August, 1832, when he returned to Ohio and located in the northeast corner of Preble county. The following spring he rented a farm in Preble county, where he resided two years, and during that time bought eighty acres of wild land in Twin township, this county. At that time no improvements had been made and there were but few families in the neighborhood. Philip Mullenix had. squatted near the Albright farm and built a house, but William Nealeigh, of Lewisburg, had paid him a small sum for his right to the tract and entered the land. The property Mr. Albright rented until he could clear a small tract of his own land and erect -a cabin thereon, which was accomplished in April, 1836. The house, which was sixteen by twenty feet, was built of round logs and contained but one room. He cleared his land and transformed it into a beautiful farm, finally selling it, after his children were grown, for one hundred dollars per acre. He then moved t0 Arcanum and lived retired until his death, which occurred May 17, 1886. His wife died November 7, 1883. They were leading members of the United Brethren church of Arcanum, and were very charitably disposed, their home being a refuge for the poor and needy. n early life the father was a Democrat, but in 1854 severed his connection with that party and later became an ardent Republican. Our subject is the oldest in a family of eleven children, the others being as follows : Henry M., born in Anderson county, Tennessee; December 29, 1830, married Elizabeth Eichelberger. He was a member of Company A, One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer nfantry, in the one-hundred-day service during the civil war, and was a farmer of Van Buren township, Darke county, Ohio, where he died August 24, 1878. Henderson L., born. in Tennessee, February 19, 1832, married Catherine Leedy. He was a member of the same regiment as his brother, and now resides on a farm in Neave township, this county. Daniel S., who was born in Preble county, this state, October 6, 1834, married Elizabeth Leedy. He, too, was a member of Company A, One Hundred and Fifty-second Regiment, and is now living in Arcanum. Philip S., born in Twin township, Darke county, in 1836, married first Malinda Raines and secondly Nancy and is now a farmer of Greenville township, this county. He served for three years in the One Hundred and Tenth Ohio Volunteer nfantry, and then veteranized, remaining in the:, service until hostilities ceased. William K., born in Twin township, March 22, 1838, married Nancy Clark, and resides in Greenville. He enlisted first for nine months in the Eighty-seventh Ohio Volunteer nfantry, and after being discharged joined Company B, One Hundred and Tenth Regiment, serving until the close of the war. Adam C., born in Twin township, November 21, 1842, married Nancy Robeson and now lives in Adams county, Nebraska. He served through the war as a member of the Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Catherine S., born in Twin township, November 24, 1843, married Anderson Tillman, and died in Arcanum. Sarah Aim, born in Twin township, February 13, 1845, married George F. Hapner and resides in Arcanum. Elizabeth, born in Twin township, August 3, 1848, married Dr. Royalston Ford, of Greenville, Ohio, and died in GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 423 Arcanum. Margaret Minerva, born in Twin township, January 21, 1856, died in infancy. Johnson K. Albright was born in Anderson county, Tennessee, June 3, 1829, and was only three years old when brought by his parents to Ohio. He received his education, as he says, "in the woods." He attended school when he was not needed at home; was fond. of study and spent much time with his books. He qualified himself for a teacher, received a certificate from the county examiners and taught one year. He passed through all the different phases of pioneer life. Being the oldest son the responsibilities of the farm work fell upon him at an early age; as his father was not strong, and he did much f his father's business until leaving home. On the 11th of September, 1851, at Phillipsburg, Montgomery county, Ohio; Mr. Albright was united in marriage with Miss Mary Ann Reichard, who was born in Pyrmont, that county, December 8, 1834, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Winicke) Reichard. Two children were born to them, but Edward Henry, born September 28, .1853, died April 6, 1854; and Granville Moorey, born May 15, 1859, died May 3, 1870. Mrs. Albright died September 21, 1897, and was laid to rest in Abbottsville cemetery. She was a devout member of the United Brethren church, possessed a beautiful disposition and was a loving wife and mother. After his marriage, Mr. Albright remained with his father until the following December and then moved. to his present farm of eighty acres, which he purchased November 3, 1851. His first home here was a hewed-log house, 18x20 feet, but he and his wife were very happy in their humble abode, and in: 1876 he built his present beau-tiful home of red brick. When the civil war broke out he was operating a saw-mill, and was engaged in that business for three years. He also owned and operated a threshing machine for the same length of time. The first school house erected in the north precinct of Twin township was built on a corner of his farm, it being of round logs and about 12X20 feet in dimension. The first teacher was William McGriff, who taught the first year in an old log cabin which was built by Alfred Ayers and stood on what is. now the Aaron Wellbau place. Mr. Albright was also one of the "boys in blue" during the war of the Rebellion, enlisting May 2, 1864, in the one-hundred-day service, as a private in Company A, One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was continually on the march, and participated in Hunter's raid. Mr. Albright was discharged at Camp Den-nison, Ohio, September 2, 1864, and is now an honored member of Rosser Post, G. A. R., at Arcanum, of which he has been the commander two years. He cast his first presidential vote for Franklin Pierce, in. J852, and is now a stanch supporter of the Republican party. Quiet and unassuming, he has the confidence and respect of all who know him, and justly merits the high regard in which he is held. DAVID SWINGER. Among the enterprising, energetic and well-to-do agriculturists. of Franklin township, Darke county, Ohio, who thoroughly understand the vocation which they follow, and are consequently enabled to carry on their calling with profit to themselves, is the subject of this sketch. He was born in 424 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Franklin township, October 6, 1845, and grew to manhood on the old homestead farm, assisting in the labors of the fields and attending the district schools from the age of six to twenty-one years, when his services were not needed at home. He remained under the parental rof until after his marriage. On the 16th of April, 1868, Mr. Swinger wedded Miss Luvena Richardson, who was born near Pittsburg, Monroe township, Darke county, June 29, 1850, and belongs to one f the pioneer families f the county, being a granddaughter of William and Sarah (Markham) Richardson, natives of Tennessee, who came to Ohio at an early day and entered land near Pittsburg, Darke county. They were members of the Christian church. George Richardson, Mrs. Swinger's father, was born near Pittsburg, September 20, 1830, and died September r, 1850, at the early age of twenty years. He married Esther Haworth, a daughter f John and Sarah (Penny). Haworth, and by that union was born only one child, Mrs. Swinger. For her second husband the mother married Aaron Wellbaum, and now lives in Dayton,. Ohio. By that marriage she had eight children: Harvey, who died in infancy ; Sarah, who died at the age of eight years ; Christian, who married Sarah Vanatta and died in Hamilton, Ohio, January 15, 1898 ; Hiram, who married first Allie Dersham, and secondly Martha Daubmyer, and resides in Greenville, Ohio ; Albert, who married Margaret Morrison and died in Greenville ; Sampson, who married, first, Lizzie Hussey, and, secondly, Carrie Witt, and lives in Lexington, Kentucky ; Dora, the wife of Arthur Bond, of Dayton, Ohio; and Martha, the wife of John Emerich, of Dayton, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Swinger are the parents of six children, concerning whom we make the following observations : Esther M., born June 10, 1869, is now the widow of Isaac Newton Bashore, and they have two children, Simon and Myrtle. She lives in Franklin township, Darke county. Simon, born February s0, 1872, married Martha Kauffman and has one child, Velma Ruth. Lucinda, born February 12, 1874, is at home. Edward I., born October 22, 1876, is also at home. Annie M., born January 18, 1879, is the wife of Harvey Small, and they had three children : Iva Luvena, who died in her third year; Lucinda Venice and Ruby Norine. They moved to Madison county, ndiana, in 1895, but returned to Darke county in June, 1898, and are now living in Franklin township. Walter Ray, born April 27, 1890, is attending school. For three years after his marriage Mr. Swinger remained upon his. father's farm, and then moved to his present place of one hundred and thirty-six acres, which was deeded him by his father. He has erected good and substantial buildings, and made many other improvements, which add greatly to the value and attractive appearance of the farm. He is a stanch Democrat in politics, and since April, 1870, has been an active member of the German Baptist church, to which his wife also belongs. They are highly esteemed on account of their sterling worth and many excellencies of character, and have a large circle of friends and acquaintances throughout Darke county. ELI A. FISHER, M. D. The subject of this review is one of the leading physicians and surgeons of the northern part of Darke county, being now successfully engaged in practice at York- GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 425 shire. He is a native of this county, born. in Mississinawa township, May 24, 1864, and is a son of Ephraim Henry Fisher, who was born near Columbus, Franklin county, Ohio, May 6, 1822. His paternal grand father also was a native of Ohio and a farmer by occupation, .while his father was of English and his mother of Spanish descent, the latter tracing her ancestry back to Queen Isabella. The Doctor's father was only six weeks old when his mother died, and was left an orphan at the age of fourteen years. On the 12th of August, 1847, at the home of the bride's father in Mississinawa township, he married Sarah Peters, who was of Pennsylvania Dutch and Welsh descent on her mother's side, and English on her father's side. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher began their domestic life on a farm in Mississinawa township, which the father commenced at once to clear and cultivate. He held several township offices and was a stanch Republican in politics. During the civil war he was. drafted three times, but, having a family of ten children depending upon him, his neighbors refused to allow him to go to the front. He died in 1878, but his wife is still living, and makes her home on the old farm of one hundred and sixty acres, all of which has been cleared with the exception of twenty acres. It is pleasantly located one-half mile west of Lightsville, and consists of the eighty-acre tract given her by her father, and another eighty acres, which. Mr. Fisher purchased at one dollar and a quarter per acre. In their family were thirteen children, ten of whom reached maturity, and eight are still living, namely: Libbie 0., who lives with her mother; Harrison T., a farmer of Shelby county; Elva J. Marsh, of Dayton; Mrs. Effie L. Staight, of Paulding county, Ohio; Mrs. Harriet A. Symonds, whose husband has the old home farm; Mrs. Rachel E. Brooks, of Washington township; Eli A.,. our subject; and George W., an undertaker of Arcanum. Amy died in 1871, at the age of twenty-three years, and was buried in her bridal dress, and John P. died in 1893,. at the age of thirty-eight. Dr. Fisher received a liberal common school education, and was granted a teacher's certificate, but decided, to devote his life: to the medical profession, and entered the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, where he was graduated in 1888. In March of that year he opened an office at Pleasant Hill, but in September, 1889, he removed to North Star, and in 1896 came to Yorkshire, where lie has since successfully engaged in general practice. His skill and ability in his chosen profession were soon widely recognized, and it was not long before he received a liberal share of the public patronage. On the 16th of June, 1888, Dr. Fisher was united in marriage with Miss Ella Irena Hance, of Shelby county, a daughter of William Hance, whose grandfather, Joseph Hance, a young Englishman, during the Revolutionary war, desiring to come to America to assist the patriots, could find no means of coming except to join the British army. This he tried to do, but was too short in stature. He retired, put a deck of cards in his shoes and returned and this time came up to the standard and came over to America, where he promptly deserted and joined the American army. After the war he located in Kentucky, where the father f Will iam Hance was born, who in time emigrated to a point near Cass, Miami county, Ohio. Here William was born, October 25, 1833, and he married Margaretta Wise, October 426 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 16, 1856. To them were born three Baughters—Florence E., Ella, 1. and Minnie A., and one son, Forest P. When Mrs. Fisher was seventeen her mother died, at the age f forty-eight years, leaving four children, one son and three daughters. The Doctor and his wife have three children : Lloyd R., born March 24, 1889; Stanley Paul, born February 8, 1891; and Amy Irena, born October 9, 1895. All are healthy and bright children. Dr. Fisher is a member of the Versailles Medical Association, and of the Masonic order, and politically he is identified with the Republican party. He has served as a school. trustee, but has never cared for the honors or emoluments of public office, preferring to devote his undivided attention to his professional duties. He is very popular socially, and his friends are many throughout the county. EASAM SHUFF. Among the representative farmers of Darke county the record of whose lives fills an important place in this volume, it gives us pleasure to commemorate the name of this gentleman, who owns and operates a highly cultivated and well improved farm of eighty acres in Franklin township. He was born in Montgomery county, this state, May 7, 1832, and is a son of Samuel and Delilah (Rinert) Shuff, natives of Maryland and Pennsylvania, respectively. His maternal grandfather was a soldier of the war of 1812, and after serving out his own term of enlistment took his son's place, the latter being taken in while in the service. Our subject's father was born in 1800, and was a young man when he located in Montgomery county, Ohio, where he purchased land near Phillipsburg and engaged in farming throughout the remainder of his life, dying there in 1884. He had married in that county and his wife died about 1872: Their children were David, now a resident of Marion county, Indiana; Margaret, the wife of Joshua Weisner, of Darke county; Rachel, who married Samuel Oldham and died in Franklin township, Darke county; Easam, our subject; Elizabeth; Nancy; and Sarah, who married Jesse R. Hyer and died at Painter Creek. The first nine years of his life our subject passed on the old home farm near Phillipsburg, at the end of which time the family removed to a farm of eighty acres in Franklin township, Darke county, where he grew to manhood and was educated in the public schools. n 1856 he married Miss Sarah Jane Shaffer, a daughter of Frederick Shaffer, and to them have been born the following children : Samuel, who died at the age of two years; John, who died at the age of four; Francis, who married Florence Eck and lives in Franklin township ; Earcy E., who married Nan Ditmer and lives in Franklin township ; Molly, the wife of David Wright, of Greenville; Jesse, deceased; Lydia Ann, who married Henry Poock, of Franklin township; Zachariah, who married Minnie Surber and lives in Monroe township ; Irvin, who married Clara Eck and makes his home in Franklin township; Sylvester, Charles, Ora and Roy, all at home. For several years after his marriage Mr. Shuff lived on his father's farm, and for ten years rented the place now owned by his sisters—Elizabeth and Nancy. At the end of that time he bought his present farm of eighty acres from his father's estate, and has since made many improvements upon the GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 427 place, which add greatly to its value and attractive appearance. Although he is en-gaged in general farming, he makes a specialty of tobacco raising and is meeting with good success. He is a Republican in politics arid has capably filled local offices of honor and trust. Religiously he is an earnest member of the German Baptist church. ALLEN NETZLEY. At this time the younger generation of farmers and professional men are coming to the front and taking the lead among men in their respective callings. Darke county, Ohio, has its full proportion of young farm-ers, and among them there is none more de-serving of the success that he has attained than Allen Netzley, of Monroe township. Allen Netzley is a son of George Netzley, whose wife was Catherine Kauffman, and a grandson of George Netzley, the elder, who married Elizabeth Landis. His grandfa-ther was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and in 1836, when George Netzley, Jr., also a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, was in his fourteenth year, made the journey by wagon to Montgomery county, Ohio. From there he came to Darke county and he and his wife both died in Franklin township. Something of the history of George Netzley, Jr., is given in a biographical sketch of Eli Netzley, which appears in this work. George and Catherine (Kauffman) Netzley had eight children, of whom Allen was the fifth in order of birth. This prominent citizen and farmer of Monroe township was born on the Netzley home farm in that township, February 10, 1857. He was educated in the common schools, where his first teacher was Lydia Paterson, and in the Greenville high school, presided over by Prfessor Jacob T. Martz,. at Greenville, Darke county, Ohio, and in his vacations gave his best energies to help-ing about the work of the family farm. He. taught his home school two winters. For his wife he married Miss Dora Jones, February 4, 1882. She is a daughter of H. H. and Jane (Graham) Jones, who are favorably known for their culture and high respectability. After his marriage he located. on his present farm, a part of the family estate, which became his by purchase after his mother's death. Mr. and Mrs. Netzley have children named Hiram, Clara and Harold. They are members of the Christian church, in which. Mr. Netzley is a deacon, and are active in promoting all its important interests. He is a Republican and a citizen of patriotic impulses and much public spirit. ELI NETZLEY. It is pertinent now to consider how valu-able and important a factor in our national. progress and prosperity is the farmer. When it is remembered that he is indispensable to our very national existence, it may be thought that there is little more to say of and for him, but this sweeping statement does not by any means exhaust the subject and a big book, 'both interesting- and in-structive, might be written about the tiller of the soil and his relations to all other classes of our population, to whom he stands primarily in the relation of an essential but not too generously appreciated provider of food, which is as necessary to existence as is the air itself: Besides, history teaches. that the farmer provides not only the pabulum essential to all times and all conditions 428 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. of men, but in a broad and comprehensive sense the sinews of war as well. Since its early settlement, Ohio has poured the wealth of its land out upon the tables of the nation and the revenue from the taxation of that land has gone to help make plethoric the public treasury. The farms of Darke county have contributed their share to these ends, and the farmers of Monroe township, of whom Eli Netzley is a worthy representative, have not been laggards in the work. Eli Netzley is a son of George and Catharine (Kauffman) Netzley and was born on the old Netzley homestead, in Monroe township, January 27, 1855. George .Netzley was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, born November 23, 1823. He was reared in his native town and received some education in the German schools. In 1836, when he was thirteen years old, his parents emigrated by wagon to Ohio and settled in Montgomery county, where the boy grew to manhood, dividing his time between farm work and attendance at the public schools, which were kept in primitive log houses near his home. He early acquired a practical knowledge f the carpenter's trade, but did not work at it long. He came of a family of farmers and took naturally to the farmer's life. He married in March, 1847. His wife was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, November 8, 1829, a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Stauffer) Kauffman. For three years after his marriage he remained in that county, then moved to Monroe township, Darke county, where he bought sixty acres of land, which constituted the place now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Lowery. He later added twenty acres to this farm; then by subsequent purchases eighty acres on the west of the original homestead and forty on the north ; forty acres more ; then another forty; and still later twenty acres adjoin, ing his land on the south, until he owned three hundred acres. When he moved to the spot there was on the place a one-room hewn-log house, with a lean-to log shed on one side of it. A family occupied the log house proper and Mr. Netzley and his household were obliged to take refuge in the shed, a fragile structure with an insufficient roof resting on poles, in which they lived for six weeks. During the first night of their habitation there, -there came a heavy snowstorm and in the morning the sleepers found that they had been given an additional blanket of snow. Game was plentiful and as Mr. Netzley was an expert hunter, he drew on the surrounding wilderness for a good part of the food for his family. He pushed his work of clearing and getting his land under cultivation with much vigor and perseverance and became a prosperous farmer with productive fields and ample conveniences long before some of his neighbors who came into the country earlier. His industry and integrity gave him good standing among his fellow citizens and his friendly and helpful disposition made him well liked by all who knew him. A lover of human liberty, he was a Whig and from the birth of Republicanism a Republican: For several years he held the office of treasurer of Monroe township and from time to time he filled other offices, with the greatest credit. He died in September, 1879; his wife, February 22, 1892. The children of this worthy pioneer couple were named as follows : Mary, born December 3, 1847, who married Jacob Lowery, June 18, 1899. Uriah, born September, 1849, who married Jane Hunt and lives in Monroe township. Joseph was born July 1, 185,1, and married Sarah Minnick. He lives at Muncie, Indiana. Eli is the GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 429 subject of this sketch. Allen and Jesse are represented by biographical sketches in this work. Rosa Etta was born November 27, 1865, and married Levi Litton. David was born August 30, 186i, and married Rachel Brumbaugh and lives at Greenville, Darke county. George Netzley, the grandfather of Eli Netzley and father of George Netzley, the pioneer, married Elizabeth Landis, a daughter of David and Annie (Springer) Landis. He came to Franklin township, Darke county, from Montgomery county. He bought and improved a farm and he and his wife died many years ago. Their children Were : David, of Union City, Ohio; John, f Van Buren township; George, the father of Eli; Nancy, who never married. Eli Netzley received his primary education in the common schools of his day and locality, mostly taught in log school houses, and finished his studies at the Greenville normal school at the .age of twenty-one. During vacations he worked 'on the farm. At twenty-two he went west and spent some time in Iowa and Missouri, seeing the country and making his living by farm work at different places. Returning home he resumed work on the family homestead and after his mother's death bought sixty acres of it, cleared twenty-five acres of this por:- tion and erected adequate buildings on it. He has since improved his farm in many ways and is one of the careful, industrious and successful farmers of his neighborhood. In 1890 Mr. Netzley married Annie Mann and they have children named Harry, Eva, Albert and Ray. Mr, Netzley is a Republican and believes that the principles of his party applied to our national development will produce better results than could be brought about by any other political party. He is a studious reader of scientific works and is well versed in the world's history. He belongs to no church, but sets before his neighbors the example of an upright life. As a citizen he is public spirited and helpful to all measures which in his good judgment promise to enhance the weal of his fellow citizens. ABRAHAM SHIELDS. The subject of this review was for many years prominently identified with the agricultural interests of Van Buren township, and was one of its most substantial; as well as one f its honored and highly respected citizens. He was born on the old Shields homestead in that township, July 14, 1829, and there grew to manhood, early becoming familiar with all the duties which fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He was industrious, far-sighted and progressive, and was a man of far more than ordinary business ability and accordingly he acquired a handsome property, owning six hundred and eighty acres of land at the time of his death, which occurred October 14, 1887. By his ballot he supported the men and. measures of the Republican party and he was called upon to fill several township offices. In all the relations of life he was found true to every trust reposed in him and well merited the high regard in which he was uniformly held. On the 1st of January, 1852; Mr. Shields married Miss Salina Smith, who was born in Van Buren township, April 18, 1833, and began her education under the instruction of Mr,. Diler, of Covington, a heavy set man of great strength, who used often to whip the •young men attending his school.. To Mr. and Mrs. Shields were born the follow. ing children : Isaac W., born February 4, 1853, wedded Mary Ann Snyder and lives in 480 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD Greenville township, this county; Mary J., born January 4, 1855, is the wife of Isaac Marker, whose sketch appears on another page. of this volume; George, born February 6, 1856, died June 3, 1856 ; John, born January 12, 1857, married Jane Kendall and lives in Van Buren township ; James Samuel, born February 11, 1860, died May 12, 1891; Sarah E., born September 12, 1864, is the wife of Elman Townsend, of Van Buren township; Minerva Ellen, born July 28, 1867, is the wife of Chesley Yount, of Preble county, Ohio ; Abbie Keziah, born July 1, 1870, died August 28, 1871; Marion Wiley, born December 17, 1872, died October 22, 1892; Rhoda, born March 28, 1875, is the wife of Clarence Galbreath; and Amanda, born September 29, 1878, married Wilson. Goodman Rogers, who was born September 24, 1880, a son of Martin and Mar. tha (Hutton) Rogers, of Arcanum. Mrs. Shields' paternal grandfather was Michael Smith, who spent his entire life in Pennsylvania, and had three sons—Michael John and Frederick—who all came to Darke county, Ohio, but his daughters remained in the Keystone kale. Frederick Smith, the father f Mrs. Shields, was born in 1793, in Pennsylvania, where he was reared, and when a young man came with his two brothers to Darke county, Ohio. Here he married Nancy Ann Freeman, a native of Ireland, who came to America when a young girl. She was twice married, her first husband being Benjamin Shrives, and by that union had five children : Benjamin, who died in infancy; John, also deceased ; Polly, the wife of O. M. Eller ; Phoebe, the wife of William Westfall; and Libbie, the wife of William Thompson. After his marriage Mr. Smith located in Van Buren township, where he engaged in farming for many years. He died in Union City, Darke county, in 1865, and his wife departed this life: in 1854. To them were born five children, namely : Aaron, who married Amy Riley and lives in Van Wert county, Ohio; Amos, who married Mary Jane Hershaw and lives in Starke county, Indiana ; Celina, the widow of our subject; George W., who died in Tennessee while a. soldier of the Union army during the Civil war; and Susannah, who died in infancy. JOHN F. MILLER. Among the representative young farmers of Monroe township, Darke county, Ohio, is found John F. Miller, who is f German descent and who possesses many of the excellent traits of character for which the German-American citizens are distinguished. Frederick Miller, the father of John F., was born in Wurtemberg, Germany. On leaving school, at the age of fourteen, he learned the trade of a stone-mason and bricklayer, and at eighteen emigrated to America, landing at New York after a voyage of sixty-two days. From New York he at once came west to Dayton, Ohio, and here secured employment as a farm hand. He worked on a farm six months. Then he turned his attention to his trade, which he followed successfully for some time, after which he married, came to Darke county and settled down to farming. His first purchase of land in this county, an eighty-acre tract, he subsequently sold, investing the proceeds in one hundred and sixty acres in Monroe township, which he improved and on which he made his home the rest of his life. He also acquired by purchase two forty-acre tracts of land in Franklin township. He died in Novem- GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 431 ber, 1863. A faithful member of the Lutheran church, a strong Democrat, a public-spirited citizen, having served several years as trustee and treasurer of his township, he was a man who was as highly respected as he was well known. His widow, whose maiden name was Susannah Flory and whom he married at Brookville, Ohio, survives him, and at this writing is seventy-four years of age. The fruits of their union are : Mary, now Mrs. Peter Neswonger; Susannah, now Mrs. William Murray; Jennie, who died at the age of seven years; John F., whose name introduces this sketch; Amelia, now Mrs. Harvey Hausborger; and Maria, now Mrs. Christopher Bechler. John F. Miller was born on his father's farm in Franklin township, Darke county, Ohio, October 24, 1856, and. received his education in the district schools of Franklin and Monroe townships. He spent his youth in assisting in the work on the home farm, and has continued to reside thereon up to the present time, having acquired eighty acres of the homestead. On this land he has carried forward the work of improvement, ditching, erecting buildings, making fences, etc., until his farm is classed with the best in the locality. Mr. Miller married, July 22, 1881, Miss Belle Grise, a daughter of Peter Grise, and their children are as follows : Opal, who died in infancy; Frederick P., born September 15, 1883; Jennie, September 29, 1885 ; Susannah, February 19, 1888; and Roscoe, Au-gust 19, 1890. Like his father before him, Mr. Miller is a stanch Democrat. He is also a Knight of Pythias and, an Odd Fellow, maintaining membership in these orders at Arcanum. JESSE NETZLEY. Soldiers, statesmen and professional men, however necessary they may be in car-rying forward our work of advancement and of civilization, do not constitute the real foundation of our national prosperity. The great industrial class fills this place' in our political structure, and in that class our farmers are the most important and depend-able element. The farmers of Darke county, Ohio, are up to date in all ways and are by far the most important part of the county's population from more than one point of view. Monroe township has its full proportion of pushing, well-to-do and reliable tillers of the soil, and one of the best known and most highly respected of them is the gentleman whose name is the title of this brief sketch. Jesse Netzley was born on the old family homestead of. the Netzleys, in Monroe township, April 12, 1861. At the age of six years he entered the public school taught by Miss Sybil Smith in the Cassel school house. He continued attending school during the winter season and assisting his father in the work of the farm during the spring, summer and fall until he was nineteen years old, and remained with his father until 1884, when, at the age of twenty-three, he married Miss Eunice Hunt, a daughter of Richard and Rebecca (Oakes) Hunt. The marriage of the young couple was celebrated in the month of August of the year mentioned, and they located immediately thereafter on a portion of the Netzley homestead, which Mr. Netzley now owns, having bought it after the death of his mother. Mrs. Netzley died June 29, 1888, leaving- a son, named Elmer. January 11, 1892, Mr. 432 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. Netzley married Miss. Minnie D. Rof, a daughter of Allen G. and Jane (Anderson) Roof, who has borne him children named Edward, Chester, Clark and LeRoy. In politics Mr. Netzley is a Republican, wholly committed to the policy of President McKinley and having full faith in the future of our country if its progress is sought along the lines which now open out to his view of current interests and their influence upon our national future; but he is not and never has been a seeker for office or any personal advantage that might come to him through politics or political favor. His public spirit leads him to espouse every movement tending to improve the condition of the people of his county and state. He is a Knight of Pythias. Jesse Netzley is a grandson of George .Netzley, who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and married Annie Springer and brought his family from Pennsylvania out to Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1836, making the long and wearisome journey by wagon. This emigrant and his good wife ended their days in Franklin township, Darke county. When they located in Ohio, their son, George, the father of Jesse Netzley, was only thirteen years old. A somewhat detailed account of the career of George Netzley, who married Catherine Kauffman and had eight children, of whom Jesse was the sixth in order of nativity, is included in the biographical sketch of Eli Netzley, which appears in this work. FRANK S. GORDON. Among the enterprising and progressive citizens of Greenville whose active connection with the affairs of the city have been an important factor in its substantial growth and development is Frank S. Gordon. who is widely known as the senior partner in the Gordon & Alter Company. He possesses untiring energy, is quick of perception, forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution, and his close application to business and his excellent management have brought to him the high degree of prosperity which is to-day his. Mr. Gordon is of Scotch lineage and in his life exemplifies many of the sterling traits of the Scottish race. The family was founded in America in 1684 by ancestors who came from Scotland and aided in establishing the town of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. They were also instrumental in founding St. Peter's Episcopal church at that place. The original American ancestor died in 1722 and his remains were interred in the cemetery near the town which he had founded. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Philip Gordon, was born in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, and, emigrating westward, became a pioneer settler of Darke county, Ohio. He married a Miss Hayden, who also was born in Hunterdon county, New Jersey. He made the journey westward by wagon, traveling through wild districts where white man had never lived. He made his home in the town of Gordon, which was named in honor o f the family. Henry Gordon, the father of our subject, was likewise a native of New Jersey and there remained until he had attained man's estate. He arrived in Ohio in 1838, locating in Miami county, and soon afterward came to Darke county, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits for a number of years and subsequently returned to Miami county. He married Miss Nancy Owen, who was of Welsh lineage, her ancestors having come GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 433 to the new world from the little rock ribbed country of Wales. They settled in Botetourt county, Virginia, and later representatives of the name removed to Knoxville, Tennessee, and thence to Darke county, Ohio, taking up their abode in Twin township. Here the father of Mrs. Gordon was recognized as a leading member of the Democratic party and was honored with a number of local offices. The mother of our subject died in Twin township, in 1862. Her son, Frank S. Gordon, was then only about one year old, for his birth occurred in that township on the 5th of March, 1861. He spent his boyhood days in the town of Gordon, where he mastered the rudiments of an English education in the common schools, under the direction of Professor J. T. Martz. In his fifteenth year he entered the store of Nathaniel Webb, of Greenville, with whom he remained for some months in the capacity of clerk. He afterward entered the employ of Wilson & Hart, dealers in dry goods, remaining with that firm until 1887, when, with the capital he had acquired through his economy and well-directed efforts, he engaged in merchandising on his own account, entering into partnership with John H. Martin, under the firm name of Martin & Gordon. That connection continued for three years, on the expiration of which period the business was incorporated under the name of Gordon & Grant, and later the present title of the Gordon & Alter Company was assumed, the present officers being Franklin Alter, president ; Frank S. Gordon, vice-president and general manager, and Henry A. McCaughey, secretary and treasure.. They own one of the leading stores of Darke county, occupying three; floors and the basement of a building 40x85 feet. Each floor has its own special depart ment, the third floor being devoted to carpets and rugs. The company employ from fifteen to twenty-five people and carry a large and well selected stock of dry goods. Close attention is given to the needs and wishes of the patrons and their business is steadily and constantly increasing both in volume and importance. The employes recognize the fact that faithful, service means promotion as opportunity offers, and Mr. Gordon and the other members of the firm are so fair and considerate to their help that the most harmonious relation is ever maintained between employer and employe. Mr. Gordon. is a man of resourceful business ability, whose efforts have by no means been confined to one line. He is connected with various important concerns in Greenville, including the Hollinger Fence Company, of which he has served as the president since its organization. He is a man of keen discernment and his splendid executive force and resolute purpose have secured to him prosperity in every undertaking with which he has been associated. In September, 1884, occurred the marriage of Mr. Gordon and Miss Etta McCaughey, a daughter of Rev. William McCaughey, a Presbyterian clergyman of Darke county. They now have two children—Ralph F. and Virginia E. Mr. Gordon is a member of Greenville Lodge, No. 146, F. & A. M., and of the Knights of Pythias fraternity. He and his wife hold membership in St. Paul's Episcopal church, of which lie is the treasurer. He withholds his support from no movement or measure which is calculated to secure advancement along material, social, intellectual and moral lines. His career has ever been such as to warrant the trust and confidence of the business world, for he has ever conducted all transac- 434 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. tions on the strictest principles of honor and integrity. His devotion to the public good is unquestioned and arises from a sincere interest in the welfare of his fellow men. JOSEPH ALEXANDRE. The subject of this sketch is one of the important factors in the business circles of Yorkshire, Darke county, and his life is an exemplification of the term, "the dignity of labor." He has met with many ups and clowns in life, but has never become discouraged and is now successfully engaged in business as a wholesale dealer in eggs and poultry, which he ships principally to New York. He is a native f Darke county, born in York township, May 24, 1857. His father, Andrew Alexandre, was born in Hannoville, France, May 1, 1828, and came to the United States at the age of twenty-three years, having stood his first draft for the army. He was seventeen days crossing the ocean from Havre, France, to New York city. His means were limited, but he soon found employment on the construction of the Big Four Railroad. He is a wagon-maker by trade, but since 1873 has engaged in the saw-mill business in Darke county. Here he was married, in 1854, to Miss Mary Couchot, who also was born in Hannoville, France, in May, 1834, and in 1837 was brought to America by her parents. Theirs was a long, tedious and hazardous voyage, which lasted two months. To Mr. and Mrs. Alexandre were born nine children, eight sons and one daughter, namely : John F., a wagonmaker, who died in February, 1886, leaving a widow and two sons; Joseph, our subject; Albert, a farmer of Wabash township, this county; Alexander, a resident of North Star; Mary, the Wife of Frank George, a merchant of that place; Nicholas, a blacksmith of Versailles ; Andy, who is engaged in merchandising at Osgood for the firm of George Brothers ; August, at home with his parents in North Star, and is the clerk of Wabash township; and Frank, who, died in infancy. Joseph Alexandre received a fair common school education in Frenchtown, near Brock, this county, and also pursued his studies for a time in a log school house in Wabash township, attending school until eighteen years of age. He remained at his parental home until he was married, January 22; 1882, to Miss Mary Connaughton, who was born in Wabash township, July 1855. Her parents were Timothy Connaughton and Mary, nee Hill, both f whom. were born in county Roscommon; Ireland; but were married after their emigration to America, in Hamilton, Ohio. They are now deceased and are buried at Frenchtown. Of their eight children seven—four sons and three daughters—reached manhood or womanhood. Those still living are John, a farmer of Wayne township, this county; Patrick, a farmer of Wabash, township; Maggie ; Eddy; Timothy; and Mary, the wife of our subject. Bridget married August Ganbaux and died in middle life. Mr. and Mrs. Alexandre have no children of their own, but have given a home to Irene Smith, born in Cunel, Wyandot county, Ohio, March 1, .1891. For six years after his marriage our subject followed farming, but was obliged to give up that occupation on account of failing health, and for a time was interested in the breeding of horses. He purchased three thoroughbred stallions of Norman, English and French stock, for which he paid five GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 485 thousand dollars, but this venture prove unprofitable and for a few years he and his brother operated a threshing machine. Since 1897 he has given his time and attention to his present business and during the busy season ships a carload of eggs per week, while during the year he ships on an average of six thousand dozen per week. His sales now amount to about eight hundred dollars per week, or some forty thousand dollars per year. He is an enterprising and progressive business man, and his success is certainly worthily achieved. The Democratic party finds in Mr. Alexandre a stanch supporter of its principles, and in 1899 he was elected county commissioner by thirteen hundred majority over Mr. Meyers, the Republican candidate.. There were two other candidates in the field, and his nomination plainly indicates his personal popularity and the confidence and trust reposed in him by his fellow citizens. Religiously he and his wife are members of the Catholic church. THOMAS C. MAHER. Thomas C. Maher, son of James and Catherine (Fanning) Maher, was born August 20, 1859, in Champaign county, Ohio, and was the tenth in order of birth in a family of fifteen children. He is of Irish line-age; his parents were both natives of Ireland, the father being born in Tipperary county and the mother in Queens county. In 1849 they emigrated with their family to the United States, arriving at New Orleans, whence they made their way up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, taking up their abode in Cincinnati, Ohio. The father was a con: tractor and in this way was engaged in the construction of public. works. In 1864 he took up his abode in Darke county, Ohio, where he carried on farming and contracting, having purchased a farm north of Greenville, upon which he resided until his death. He died in 1873, leaving the mother with many children to support. There was also an indebtedness on the farm, but in the face of many difficulties she bravely prosecuted her labors, kept her children together, educated them and paid for the farm. She is still living and from her children she receives the love., care and respect which is certainly due to the mother whose labors and sacrifices for. them were so great in earlier years. Although now in her seventy-sixth year, her mental and physical fac-ulties are yet vigorous and she is a well preserved and estimable old lady of Greenville. Thomas C. Maher, whose name introduces this review, removed with his parents to Darke county in 1864 and was reared upon the home farm, his educational privileges being those afforded by the district schools of the neighborhood. He remained on the old homestead until reaching his twentieth year, when he entered the Greenville high school, then taught by Professor J. T. Martz. On completing his education he engaged in clerking for a time, and in 1885 he accepted the position of deputy clerk of the courts of Darke county, continuing in that position for several succeeding terms, capably filling the office for twelve and a half years. On the expiration of that period he turned his attention to the real estate, insurance and loan business, having an office in connection with that of Hon. J. C. Clark, a prominent attorney of Greenville. He now represents the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company and the Preferred Accident Insurance Com-pany. and writes considerable business annually. He also handles both city and farm 436 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. property and is well informed concerning real estate values. His knowledge enables him to capably direct the purchases and sales of his patrons. In 1898 he became associated with other leading business men of Greenville in the organization of the Citizens' Loan & Savings Association, of which he has since been secretary and one of its leading organizers. On the 6th of November, 1887, Mr. Maher married Miss Catherine Ryan, of Greenville, a daughter of Daniel Ryan, one of the early residents of Darke county. Her mother bore the maiden name of Catherine Eagan. Mr. and Mrs. Maher now have four children : Cecilia and Mary, in school ; Clarence and Clara, twins. Theirs is one of the pleasant and hospitable homes of Greenville and they enjoy the kind regard of many friends. Mr. Maher is a very public-spirited citizen, who takes a deep and sincere interest in everything pertaining to the general welfare. He has served as the secretary of the Darke County Agricultural Society since 1897, and its success is due in no small measure to his labor and influence. EDWARD GLANDER. Edward Glander, who figures. conspicuously in connection with the business interests of Greenville and is accounted one of the representative men of the city, was born in Preble county, on the 27th of July, 1860, his parents being Detrick and Sena ( Hudof ) Glander, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father was born in the year 1818, and after spending the first eighteen years of his life in the land of his nativity he determined to seek a home in the new world, believing that he might thereby better his financial condition. Accordingly, in 1836. he bade adieu to friends and family and sailed for the United States, landing in New York city. He did not remain in the eastern metropolis, however, but made his way at once to Buffalo, New York, thence to Cleveland and Columbus, and after spending a short time in the last named place proceeded to Dayton. Subsequently he removed to Preble county, where he owned and operated a distillery, in which business he continued until 1874, when he disposed of his interests there and came to Darke county. In 1877 he took up his abode in Greenville, where lie still resides. Twenty years previous to that day lie had been married to Miss Sena Hudof, and unto them were born ten children, four sons and six daughters, all of whom are living, with the exception of one daughter, who died in infancy. Under the parental roof Edward Glander was reared and accompanied his parents on their various removals. To the public school system of the state he is indebted for the educational privileges which he enjoyed and which fitted him for life's practical duties. On putting aside his text-books he became his father's assistant and under his direction received his business training. In 1881 he purchased the wholesale and retail beer business of Chris Jenney and also purchased a three-story brick block in which is located the J. P. Wolf tobacco works. Mr. Glander occupies a part f the first floor and basement, while the remainder of the building is rented, bringing to him a good income. His sales of the commodities which he handles are extensive and are constantly increasing, showing that the public have confidence in his business integrity. n 1890 he built extensive ice houses and leased the artificial ponds of D. L. Meeker for ten years, and in GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 437 1900 he extended the lease for an additional ten years. From these he secures pure spring-water ice, with which he supplies his customers. n 1898 he was one of the incorporators of the Greenville Lumber Company. He was a director the first year and is now serving as vice-president. He is also a director in the Farmers' National Bank. His close application, capable management and marked energy have been important factors in winning him success. In 1884 occurred the marriage of Mr. Glander and Miss Mary J. Frank, of Kirkwood, Illinois, a daughter of Jacob Frank. Their children are : 'Sadie, Alice and Clarence. Mr. Glander is recognized as one of the enterprising citizens of Greenville, active, progressive and reliable in his business methods, and by his well directed efforts he has acquired a very desirable competence. JONAS WELTY HARTZELL. The subject of this sketch is one of the honored veterans of the Civil. war and an enterprising and progressive .agriculturist of Greenville township, Darke county, Ohio. His grandfather, Jonas Hartzell, was a native of. Germany, and as a young man came to the United States, locating in Adams county, Pennsylvania, where he spent the remainder of his life engaged in farming. The father, who also bore the name of Jonas, was born and reared in that county, and there married Eliza Welty. With his wife and three children he came to Darke county, Ohio, 1835, and .entered forty acres of land and at the same time purchased eighty acres. n his native state he had worked at the hatter's trade, but after coning to Ohio devoted the remainder of his life to. agricultural pursuits, and at one time was the owner of two hundred and forty acres of fine farming land. His first home here was a rude log cabin. He died on his farm in 1884, and his wife, who survived him several years, passed away in 1893. Both were members of the Jaysville Methodist church, and lie was a Democrat in politics. Concerning the children of this worthy couple we make the following remarks : Louisa married Stanley Gower and died in Darke county ; Catherine married William Howe, who was a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the civil war, and she died in Darke county, in 1897 ; Elizabeth, twin sister f Catherine, is now the widow of William Townsend and a resident of Jaysville ; Sarah Ann is the wife of Alfred Slade, of Jaysville; Charles married Emily Sheppard and lives in this county; Edward married Lyra Burns and lives in this county; Jonas W., our subject, is next in order of birth ; Hannah is the wife of John Seabring, of North Star; Loretta is the wife of Abraham Long; and James married Phoebe Blakely and lives in New Weston. Our subject was born on the home farm in Greenville township, May 2, 1841, and pursued his studies in the old log school • house of that locality, but completed his education in the old church under the instruction of J. T. Martz. He manifested his patriotism during the civil war by enlisting at' Greenville, in September, 1861, in Company D, Sixty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Captain Hitchcock, Colonel Lewis Campbell and Colonel J. H. Brigham. He participated in twenty-one battles, and at the close of the war was honorably discharged, at Cincinnati, in June, 1865. Returning to his home, Mr. Hartzell was 438 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. married, May 2, 1867, to Miss Catherine, Thomas, who was reared in Greenville, and they began their domestic life upon his prtownship.m o'f eighty acres in Greenville township. Throughout his active business life he has successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits, and his career has been such as to commend him to the confidence and respect of all with whom he has come in contact. Religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Politically is a Republican. Mr. Hartzell's first wife died in 1890, leaving five children, namely : Anna C., the wife of James Thomas ; Iona, the wife of Elmer Shields; Andrew, who married Alice Galbreth, and is now in Arizona ; Ira E., who was connected with the Darlington scouts under command of Roosevelt in the Cuban war, and nownfantryivate in the First Ohio Volunteer Infantry is with the army in the Philippines; and Jennie E., who is at home. In December, 1891, Mr. Hartzell was again married his second union being with Mary Thomas, of Hollansburg, Darke county. GEORGE D. NEWBAUER. Occupying a representative place among the leading citizens of Darke county, Ohio, in George D. Newbauer, who owns and occupies a nice farm in Adams township and who for more than three decades has been identified with the educational work of this county, devoting a portion of each year to school teaching. Mr. Newbauer is a native of Darke county. He was born on a farm March 15, 1852, and is of German descent, his parents having emigrated to this country some years previous to that time. Jacob Newbauer, his father, was a native of Alsace, Germany (at the time of his birth a French possesnion), and was there reared and married. In the year 1836, accompanied by his family, he came to America, landing in New York city, and shortly afterward coming to Montgomery county, Ohio, via Buffalo and Cleveland. After a brief sojourn in Montgomery county he removed to Darke county and took up his abode in Greenville township, where he spent the rest of his life and where he died at the age of sixty-eight years, respected by all who knew him. Both he and his wife were members of the Lutheran church, in which faith they reared their family. Mrs. Jacob Newbauer was by maiden name Miss Elizabeth Lorenz and she, too, was a native of Alsace, Germany. She was born December 5, 1813, and died January 29, 1900 They were the parents of ten children, seven of whom reached adult age, and of that number six are still living, namely : Lewis P., a farmer of Greenville, Darke county ; Jacob, a retired farmer residing in Greenville, this county; Minnie, the wife of E. Williams, a farmer of Greenville township; Elizabeth, the widow of Jacob Robey, is a resident of Hartford City, Indiana ; John A., also a resident of Hartford City ; and George D., whose name introduces this sketch and who is the youngest member of the family living. George D. Newbauer was reared in Greenville. township and the first and only school he attended was the district school. There he laid the foundation of an education that has been broadened year by year by observation, home study and a wide range of reading. So closely did he apply himself to his studies when a boy that he soon mastered the branches taught in the district schools, and at the early age of sixteen began his career as teacher, having success- GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 439 fully passed an examination before the school board. His first school was in Van Buren township. The next year he was employed in District No. 6, Adams township, where he taught four successive winters. Afterward we find him in District No. 9, Greenville township; District No. 9, Brown township; Woodington, four years; the Detling District, two years; in Allen township, and for the past four years he has been teaching in Greenville township. Thus for over thirty years he has been connected with the township schools of this county, has come in close touch with many of the leading people f the county, both as pupil and patron, and is perhaps as well known as any teacher in Darke county. n connection with his school work he was also for some time interested in the publication of The School Visitor, an educational monthly, which he and John S. Royer established in 1879, and which was devoted to the study of mathematics and grammar. Mr. Newbauer was married, September 9, 1875, to Miss Mary E. Clapper, a native of Adams. township, Darke county, Ohio, and they are the parents of seven children, as follows : Lillie May, George Edward, Emma E., John Jacob, Mary E., Clarissa M. and Georgiana, all at home except the eldest, Lillie May, who is the wife of Charles Watters and resides in Greenville. Mr. Newbauer has a valuable house and lot in Greenville, Ohio, a pleasant home and a nice farm of eighty acres on section 28 in Adams township, where he resides and carries on general farming, devoting his energies to the care and management of his farm when not occupied in the school room. Politically Mr. Newbauer casts his vote and influence with the Democratic party. We add the following from the pen of J. T. Martz : "From a long personal acquaintance with George D. Newbatter, which gives me a good opportunity to know his intellectual qualifications, I wish to say that in science and literature he stands at the head of his profession, and I consider him a natural mathematician. In his youth, while engaged in his daily vocations on the farm, he would be computing numbers, making calculation and solving problems that many in advanced years and more experience than he could not master. He loved intellectual arithmetic for the mental solutions and training it gave; and no, matter how intricate or complex the problem his mind was never satisfied until a comprehensive solution was reached. "He attended the district school until nearly sixteen years of age, When he went be-fore the Darke county board of school examiners and secured the highest grade certificate that the examiners were allowed to grant to any one not having experience in teaching. I might further say that he never failed, nor secured the lowest grade certificate, in all his thirty years' teaching. At the age of sixteen he began to teach school, and gave entire satisfaction to his employers. "His construction of a table giving the Easter Sundays from 1778 to 1878 was a mathematical achievement which placed him in the front rank with eminent mathematicians of academy and college, while his contributions to the various mathematical publications gave him a world wide reputation. Later he extended this table over four hundred years, giving ages of the moon and dates of movable feasts. "His mathematical career began in 1870, by contributing problems and solutions to the mathematical department f the Greenville Times, which department was edited by that 440 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. distinguished mathematician, Enoch B. Seitz.. He next contributed to the School-day Magazine, published in Philadelphia, until the same was discontinued in 1875. He also contributed to the following periodicals : Yates County Chronicle, National Educator, Normal Monthly, Ohio Farmer and the Philadelphia Weekly Press, in which he encouraged his daughter Lilly in securing the Twenty-Weeks prize; and in that paper, dated May 8, 1891, occurs the following: `Lilly Newbauer has captured the first prize awarded for the twenty consecutive weeks' correct work. From December 17, 1890, to April 29, 1891, inclusive, she has not missed a solution and has fairly won the promised prize, a handsome mapped and illustrated dictionary of the Bible, which will be forwarded at once. "He was the prime mover in starting the School Visitor, published at Ansonia, Ohio, and had charge as editor of the department of Practical Mathematics and Notes and Queries in the same. He also made many contributions to the Wittenberger, The Analyst and the Educational Department ,of the Greenville Journal of 1900. In Mr. Newbauer's thirty years' experience as a teacher, he has ever been seeking to elevate the standard of qualifications for teacher and pupil in the county, and is noted for the care and thoughtfulness of his work. "He is especially distinguished for his unassuming manners, strict integrity and upright life. In his devotion to principle he is unyielding. A man of the most unimpeachable integrity and morality, he fully vindicates in his own personal character his consistent life. Accuracy is a leading characteristic of his mental as well as his moral nature, and having learned by experience what the duties of a teacher are he has be come a painstaking, indefatigable instructor. Far-seeking and thoughtful, his views of teaching are eminently practical and sensible, and success has abundantly crowned his efforts." THOMAS J. ROBESON. Thomas J. Robeson, one of the highly respected citizens of Van Buren township, is a native of Darke county, his birth occurring in Butler township, February 2, 1841. His father, John Robeson, spent most of his life on a farm in Van Buren township, where lie passed away September 15, 1872. He married a cousin, Margaret Robeson, and to them were born five children : Martin, who died in infancy; Thomas J., our subject; Allen, a resident f Gladwin, Michigan: William A., deceased ; and Mary E., the wife of Elias Bidwell. Our subject was only a year old when the family located in Van Buren township, and eleven years of age when they moved to the farm near Jaysville, where he grew to. manhood. His education was begun in an old log school house, and his early advantages were limited, as he was reared in a re gion then wild and sparsely settled. He assisted his father in clearing and improving the farm, and experienced many of the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life. He remained upon the home farm until his father's death, and then located upon his present place, where he owns twenty-five acres of land, which he has improved and placed under excellent cultivation. In 1864 Mr. Robeson married Miss Sarah Fry, a daughter of Thompson Fry, and they had four children, namely : Nancy A., the wife f Milo Perkins, of Arcanum : Dora, the wife of L. T. Grubb, of Arcanum; Betsey GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 441 Jane, who died in 1893; and Opal, at home. The mother died August 4, 1899. While a boy Mr. Robeson broke his arm and this prevented him entering the service during the civil war. He has efficiently served as a constable in Van Buren township one term, and is a stanch supporter of the Democratic party. Religiously he is an earnest member of the United Brethren church, and is now serving as a trustee of the same. ANDREW POE. One of the old and much respected citizens of Monroe township, Darke county, Ohio, is Andrew Poe, who, has carried on farming operations at his present place for forty years. Mr. Poe is of French origin. His grandfather, George Poe, was a native of Fayette county, Pennsylvania ; his grandmother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Mater, was born in France, and in her girlhood came to America on a visit, while here meeting and marrying George Poe. They subsequently came to Ohio and located in Montgomery county, near Salem, where he died, his death being the result of in jury . received by falling from .a barn. He was a captain in the Revolutionary war. His son George, the father of Andrew, was also a native of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and at the time the family removed to Ohio was eight or nine years old. He was married, near Germantown, Ohio, to Elizabeth Arnett, a daughter of Bartholomew Arnett. Mr. Arnett was a Hessian soldier in 1776, and deserted and joined the American ranks to fight for independence. After his marriage the younger George Poe removed to Darke county, where he spent the rest of his life,. his chief occupation being farming. He died at Arcanum, in 1890, at the age of eighty-eight years. His first wife's death occurred some years before his. His second. wife survives him. She was Mrs. Polly Fry,. nee Townslee, and resides at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Henry Besecer. Mr. Poe's children by his first wife, were named as follows : Andrew, the direct subject of this sketch ; George and Bartholomew, deceased ; Daniel, Isaac and John C., deceased. Andrew Poe was born in Salem, Montgomery county, Ohio, June 14, 1826; received his education in one of the primitive log school houses of that period, and as he grew up learned all the details of pioneer. farming. After his marriage, which event occurred in Phillipsburg, Ohio, Mr. Poe located near there and remained until 1840,. when he moved to Monroe township, Darke county, where he has since lived. At the time of his settlement here he bought forty-two acres of land, thickly covered with forest; and the work of clearing and making. a home at once occupied his energies. As soon as he cleared a little patch of ground he built :a cabin, 18x22 feet, one room with a loft above it, and here he established his family, has since lived and labored, carrying on general farming, and has been fairly prosperous in his undertakings. Mr. Poe's wife was formerly Miss Sarah Eisenbarger, and they are the parents of five children, namely : Isaac, f Arcanum,. Ohio ; Lewis, of Beamsville, Ohio ; Simon, of Mami county, Ohio; Lafayette, of Salem, Ohio; and Albert, a resident of the same. township in which his father lives. Politically Mr. Poe is a Democrat. He. belongs to no church. 442 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. GEORGE J. WELBOURN. George Joshua Welbourn is one of the leading agriculturists and stock raisers of Darke county, his home being on section 19, Mississinawa township. He follows the most advanced and progressive methods, and has one of the most highly improved farms and most desirable homes in this section of the state. He is one of Ohio's native sons, his birth having occurred in Marion county, on the 29th of April, 1841. His father, George Welbourn, was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1793, and soon after attaining majority came to America. He was a :son of Benjamin Welbourn, who was a free-holder and was worth at least three hundred thousand dollars. His farm of one hundred and sixty acres was valued at three thousand dollars per acre. A man of democratic principles and spirit, he preferred to mingle with the yeomanry of his country rather than the aristocracy, and would often go to the market with his own farm produce, while his servants remained at home in idleness. He wedded Miss Mary Miller, and they became -the parents of nine children—William, George, Foren, Michael, Hannah, John, Benjamin, Mary and Joseph. All came to America with the exception of Benjamin, Foren, Hannah and Joseph. of the family William and Michael crossed the. Atlantic in 1818 and took up their abode in Marion county, Ohio. They were free to take their choice of land lying between the old homestead in Marion county and Lower Sandusky. Each brother secured a quarter-section and became well-to-do farmers, and at their death left families. John Welbourn, of the same family, also came to Ohio, but later all trace of him was lost. His sister Mary reared thirteen of her fifteen children in England, and in her widowhood came to America, living with her children in Kansas, where she died at an advanced age. George Welbourn, the father of our subject, crossed the Atlantic in 1820, landed in Philadelphia, and crossed the Alleghany mountains. He was obliged to pack his baggage over the mountains, for it was all his team could do to haul an empty wagon up the steep slopes. They were all day in crossing the ridge. He married Miss Jane Lawrence, who also was born in Lincolnshire, England, March 16, 1808. She was present at the crowning of Queen Victoria. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Welbourn occurred in 1836. The lady crossed the Atlantic in 1835, with her parents, Edward and Martha (Steeper) Lawrence. Their sons, James and William, had crossed the Atlantic in 1832. In the family were eight children, of whom Mrs. Welbourn was the eldest. She was born March 16, 1808; James was born February 21, 1810; George March 31, 1814; Ann in 1822; Richard, a Methodist minister, who was born January 17, 1821, and died in Hardin county, Ohio, April 28, 1895; William Lawrence, the next of the family, was born February 19, 1812, and died in Illinois; Sarah, born February 12, 1819, died April 15, 1839; and Elizabeth, born December 27, 1816, is also deceased. The father died on the 1st of May, 1864, at the age of eighty-three years, and his wife passed away April J7, 1855, at the age of seventy-seven. Of this family James Lawrence, the eldest son, wedded Susanna Welbourn, who was not a relative of our subject. James Lawrence died June 29, 1883, leaving three GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 443 hundred and eighty acres of very valuable land. The marriage of George Welbourn and Ann Mills was blessed with three daughters—Susanna, Elizabeth and Mary. Susanna is the widow of James Lawrence, of Marion county, and six of her seven children are now living. Elizabeth became the wife of John Duncan, of Morrow county, Ohio, and died at the age of thirty years, leaving one child. Mary is the widow of Jonathan Denton, of Doniphan county, Kansas. The daughters were born in Ohio. The mother died in early life, and the father afterward married Miss Jane Lawrence, by whom he had five sons and a daughter. William, the eldest, died in 1853, at the age of twelve years; George is the second of the family; Edward is a well-known physician of Union City, Indiana ; James, a practicing attorney, died in Union City, leaving four sons; Jane also died in Union City; and Benjamin died at the age of four years. The parents were married May 31, 1837, and took up their abode on an eighty-acre farm which 11-. Welbourn had entered from the government office in Chillicothe, walking from Marion county, that state, in order to secure the title for the tract. Later he purchased eighty acres of timber land. He died on the 8th of October, 1855, leaving a widow and four of their six children, also three children by a former marriage. He was then about sixty-three years f age. Mrs. Welbourn remained a widow for over forty years, and died at the home of her son, Dr. Welbourn, in Union City, at the age of eighty-four. She was a woman of great courage, strong intellect and. of resolute purpose, and carefully reared her children. She carefully instilled into their minds lessons of practical industry, economy and unfaltering honesty. Both Mr. and Mrs. Welbourn were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and were faithful Christian people. George Welbourn, whose name introduces this record, received but limited educational privileges. He was early inured to farm labor, beginning work in the fields almost as soon as old enough to handle the plow. He is not only familiar with the most advanced methods of agriculture but also possesses much mechanical ability and is an architect and draughtsman. He has modeled all f the buildings upon his place. He was married April 29, 1863, to Sarah A. L awrence, the wedding ceremony being performed by his uncle, Richard Lawrence. The lady was born in Indiana, near the Ohio line, and is a daughter of George and Anna (Clough) Lawrence, the former a native f Lincolnshire, England, and the latter of New Hampshire, but both are now deceased. Mrs.. Welbourn is a child of the pioneer days, living in this section of the country when it was a border settlement, upon the very outskirts of civilization. n order to attend school she had to follow a cow path through the woods for a mile. On one occasion she came upon a drove of deer in the path and the animals stood looking at her. For a few moments she hesitated, undecided whether to approach or retreat, but concluded to throw a stick at the animals, which she did, and they fled, so that she was enabled to proceed on her way to school. This occurrence took place just over the Indiana line, near her present home. On another occasion when hunting the cows in the woods she followed the sound of the cow-bells and became lost upon a farm where there was a small clearing, now their present home, and to that the cows made their way instead of going home. She was accompanied by her 444 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. mother, and they concluded to remain upon a log until morning, although they heard the weird hoot of the owls and the' howling of the wolves. The husband and father, however, returned to his home, and, finding the loved ones missing, he realized the situation and instituted a search. Soon they were found and very quickly returned to their little .cabin. Mrs. Welbourn completed her education by a collegiate course at College Corner, in Jay county, Indiana. By her marriage she has become the mother of six children : Jane, now the wife of Manford Aukerman, who resides in this locality, and by her marriage she has four children; George E., a farmer of the same neighborhood, who has .a wife, three sons and two daughters ; Luella Horine, who resides near the old home and has one son and one daughter ; Lillie, the wife of William Crumrine, a farmer of Mississinawa township ; Ollie Ida and Mattie Isolena. They have been provided with .good educational privileges, thus fitting them for the practical and responsible duties of life. n the spring of 1863 Mr. Welbourn left the old family homestead in Marion county, and with his saddle-bags mounted his horse, taking with him all his earthly possessions, valued at about, two hundred dollars. It was his intention to go to Illinois, but a journey of two days brought him to the home of his future bride, and he concluded to abide in Darke county. This section of Ohio was then an almost unbroken wilderness, and his father-in-law here owned one hundred and sixty acres of land, which Mr. Welbourn afterward inherited. After his marriage our subject began his domestic life upon an eighty-acre tract of land which now forms the northern portion of his farm. He cleared that property, but after his father-in-law's death came to his present home and developed this tract. He owns three hundred and thirty-eight acres. His real estate possessions also include twenty-four town lots, in Union City, Ohio, and many of these are improved with substantial buildings. When he started out in life for himself he had only his horse and assets to the amount of two hundred dollars. Later he inherited about seven hundred dollars from his father's estate. His first home was a log cabin, 15x30 feet. His second residence was a frame, 19x30 feet, which he built in forty days, beginning on the 15th of October, 1883. He built his barn the following winter, and in 1899 he erected his present fine home, which is a model of beauty and comfort, supplied with all the modern improvements and conveniences of a city home. It is built in a most substantial manner and finished in beautiful quarter-sawed oak, which he took from the trees upon his own place. The farm is one of the most highly improved in this section of the country. He has his own gas well, which has been drilled to a depth of twelve hundred and four feet, and furnishes light and heat for his own home and that of his son and of his son-in-law. There are also excellent water works upon the place, operated by the Hawley & Dunn automatic system. There .are three flowing wells of water, and he has several hydrants at different places about the farm, so that he can force a strong stream into the house and outbuildings in case of fire. The fields are under a very high state of cultivation and yield to the owner a golden tribute return for the care and labor he bestows upon them. In his political views Mr. Welbourn is a Republican, but has never sought public office. However, he served as a road super- GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 445 visor for several years and has been a member of the school board. He belongs to the Rose Hill Property Protection Company, and has served as one of the pursuers, whose duty it is to capture all robbers. At the age of fifteen years he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and for the past twenty years has been a member of the United Brethren church. His life has indeed been an honorable and upright one, and all who know him esteem him for his sterling worth, his fidelity to principle, his manly courage and fearless support of his honest convictions. HENRY C. JACOBI. This well-known and highly respected citizen of Greenville, Ohio, has throughout life been prominently identified with the business interests and public affairs of Darke county. He was born three miles east of the city, in Greenville township, March 21, 1854, and is a son of Henry and Margaret (Knott) Jacobi, natives of Hamburg, Germany, the former born April 25, 1814, the latter in 1824. It was in 1853 that the par•nts emigrated to America and took up their residence in Darke county, Ohio, on the farm where our subject was born. Both died in Versailles, the father in 1894, the mother in 1882. In their family were nine children, but only two are now living : William and Henry C. William was born in 1859, and now lives in Versailles. He wedded Mary Klase, and they have three children. Our subject spent his boyhood mostly upon a farm of one hundred and twenty acres near Versailles, and his educational advantages were only such as the country schools afforded. At the age of eighteen. he removed with the family to Versailles, where he became interested in the saw-mill business, and later carried on the butcher business at that place for ten years. On the 12th of June, 1877, Mr. Jacobi was united in marriage with Miss Anna Jetter, a native of Huron county, Ohio, who died January 2, 1895. By this union were born five children, namely : William, Henry, Albert, Charles and Clara. William was married in September, 1899, to Florence Gutermuth, but the others are all at home. They have been provided with good educational advantages, and Henry and Albert are both graduates of the Greenville high school. The former is now a trusted employe. of the Farmers' National Bank of that place. As previously stated, Mr. Jacobi has always taken quite- an active and prominent part in public affairs. His fellow citizens, recognizing his worth and ability, have elected him to positions of honor and trust, and it is needless to say that he proved a most competent and praiseworthy official. He served as a justice of the peace of Versailles six years, and the mayor of that place two years, at the end of which time, in 1894, he was elected sheriff, on the Democratic ticket, and held that office for four years. In the meantime he moved to Greenville, where he still makes his home, at 420 Martin street. When he retired to private life he became the manager and secretary of the Greenville Lumber Company, in which he is an extensive stockholder, and now devotes his time and energies to that business. Besides his property interests in Greenville, Mr. Jacobi still owns a good farm of sixty acres near Versailles. Industrious, enterprising and progressive, he has met with a well deserved success in life, and is numbered among the best citizens of Greenville. 446 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. JACOB R. STOCKER. Jacob R. Stocker, ex-county clerk of Darke county, Ohio, and one of the representative farmers of the county, is a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred near the city of Lancaster February 3, 1857. Mr. Stocker is of German descent. His father, Andrew Stocker, was born and reared in Germany, came to this country when a young man, married Miss Margaret Rader, and settled, in 1865, near Miamisburg, in Montgomery county, Ohio, which was the family home until 1872. That year he re-moved to Darke county and took up his abode in Adams township, purchasing at the time fifty-two acres of land, to which he added by subsequent purchase fifty acres more. On this farm he still lives. His wife died in 1868, at the age of forty-two years. Their union was blessed in the birth of twelve children, ten of whom reached mature age, namely : John R., of Webster, Ohio; Jacob R., the immediate subject of this sketch ; Andrew R., of Miamisburg, Ohio; Lizzie, deceased ; Mary, of Miamisburg; Henry P., of Darke county ; Albert Franklin, Flora and Adam, all of Darke county ; and Elmer, of Lawrenceville, Illinois. The father has long been a consistent member of the Lutheran church. Jacob R. Stocker grew up on his father's farm, receiving his education in the com-mon schools and early became familiar with every detail of farm work. Farming has claimed the whole of his time and attention since he reached man's estate, excepting the term of years he served in official position. In August, 1891, he was nominated for the office of county clerk, was duly elected at the November election and assumed the duties of that position in February, 1892. In 1894 he was renominated and elected and served a second term, at. the expiration of which he moved to his present farm, located one mile south of Greenville, which he had purchased three years previously. This farm comprises one hundred and seventy acres of fine, well improved land and is devoted to general farm-ing and stock purposes. Mr. Stocker was married, September 20, 1877, to Miss Rhoda A. Coppess, a daughter of Daniel Coppess, of Richland township, Darke county, and the children of this union are seven, namely : Evan E., Orion D., Edward A., Roy, Bessie, Orville and Clifford. The political affiliations of Mr. Stocker have always been with the Democratic party. He has frequently served as a delegate to county and congressional conventions, ever working for the best interests of his party, and his election to county office was a fit recognition of worth. Reared by Lutheran parents, he is identified with the Lutheran church and is one of its leading supporters. Fraternally he maintains a membership in the Improved Order of Red Men and in the Uniform Rank. WILLIAM ROBESON. After a long and useful career William Robeson is now living a retired life on his farm in Van Buren township, enjoying a well-earned rest. He comes of good Rev-olutionary stock, his paternal grandfather, Andrew Robeson, having fought for American independence. He spent his entire life in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. The father, David. Robeson, was born and reared in that county, and there married Mary Ann Beard, a native of Germany, who came to GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 447 the United States at the age of fourteen years, with two sisters and a brother, and worked two and a half years in New York city to pay her passage. In November, 1817, David Robeson, with his family, .started for Ohio in a one-horse wagon, but was taken ill on the road and was unable to continue his journey until the following spring. He first located eight miles below Dayton, in Butler county, where he made his home sixteen years, and then sold two horses and purchased eighty acres of land in Butler township, Darke county, at one dollar and a quarter per acre. Being an old man at this time, his sons cleared the farm and built a hewed-log house, eighteen by twenty feet, which was heated by an old-fashioned fire-place. He died in 1836, aged seventy-eight years, and his wife died in 1845, age about seventy years. She was an earnest member of the Presbyterian church, while he was a Baptist in religious belief. n their family were six children, namely : David, who died in Van Buren township ; Daniel, who died in Brown township, this county; Elizabeth, who married Jacob Brown, and died in Darke county ; Margaret, who married John Robeson, and died in this county ; William, our subject; and Rosamond, who married James Dungan and died in Indiana. The subject of this sketch was born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, October 21, 1817, and was only three weeks old when his parents started for Ohio, consequently he remembers nothing of the journey. He attended school but three months throughout his life, there being no free schools in his locality during his boyhood ; but he has acquired a good, practical education through his own unaided efforts. He was the youngest, son of the family, and after the others left home.he remained with his parents, assisting in the arduous task of clearing the land and transforming it into highly cultivated fields. On the death of his father he inherited forty acres of land, and remained at home caring for his mother, until she, too, was called to her final rest. In 1843 he sold the place and bought his present farm of one hundred and twenty acres, to which he has since added twenty acres. When he located thereon only thirty acres had been cleared, and to its further improvement and cultivation he devoted his energies for many years, but since 1893 has lived retired. He erected all the buildings on the farm, and met with success in its operation. In 1849 Mr. Robeson married Miss Esther Dungan, who died in 1874. To them the following children were born : David, who died at the age of fifteen years; Isaac, a farmer of Van Buren township ; Ann, who died in infancy; Joseph, who died young; Margaret, who also died young ; Deborah, now Mrs.. Curtner, who lives with our subject; Mary Ann, the wife of Cyrus F. Young, of Jaysville ; Ida, the deceased wife of Crawford Brown; Alfred, Oada and William,who all died young; and one who died in infancy. FRANKLIN P. HARTLE. He whose name initiates this sketch is a representative of one of the old and honored pioneer families of Richland township, Darke county, Ohio, and as he himself is a native son of the county and has worthily upborne the honors of a worthy name, there is eminent propriety in giving a brief resume of his personal and genealogical history in this compilation. A native of this county, Mr. Hartle was born May 30, 1852, being the eldest of the children of David and Eliza- 448 - GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. beth (Shults) Hartle, concerning whom complete and detailed information is given on other pages of this work. Franklin P. Hartle received his educational discipline in the district schools in the vicinity of his home, and it is needless to say that the advantages in this line were meagre, for his youth was passed under the pioneer influences, when the march of development had but just begun, but he has broadened his education through personal application and association with the active affairs f life, thus learning lessons which have made him a man of distinct intellectual strength and comprehensive knowledge. As a youth his time was in constant demand, and his services required in the arduous work of clearing away the forests on the home farm and making the same ready for cultivation. Mr. Hartle began life upon his own responsibility at the age of twenty years, when he commenced working for wages, and on attaining his majority he had but meager capital upon which to base his future career and lay the foundations of his success. Youth, confidence and energy consider no obstacle insuperable, however, and the young man was confident of his own ability to face the world and win his way, and his confidence was amply justified, as the results of his well directed effort clearly show in these latter days of the century. On the 30th of October, 1873, Mr. Hartle was united in marriage to Miss Rachel Ann Martin, and of this union one son and four daughters have been born, namely : Bethey, who is the wife of Frank Smith, a prosperous agriculturist of Richland township, was educated in the common schools and is a lady f distinct popularity ; Mollie L., who is still attending school, is well advanced in her studies, having already passed the Boxwell examination, which entitles her to admission to any high school in the county; Charlie Earl is in school, as is also Maudie; while the youngest, Clo Hilda, lends life and brightness to the family circle. Mrs. Hartle is a native of Fountain county, Indiana, having been born near Attica, September 15, 1858, the daughter of Silas and Maria (Shields) Martin. There was one other daughter in the family, but Mrs. Hartle alone survives. Her father was born in Darke county, Ohio, and devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. He is now deceased, but his venerable widow is still living, being a resident of Versailles, Ohio. Mr. Hartle is a Republican in his political adherency, having cast his first presidential vote for General Grant, and he is at all times a zealous advocate of the principles advanced by his party. On various occasions he has served as delegate to the county conventions, in which he has taken active part. Socially Mr. Hartle is identified conspicuously with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, into which he was initiated at Versailles, Ohio, on the 23d of September, 1873, while he became a charter member of the Ansonia Lodge, No. 605, on the 18th of June, 1875. He has passed all the chairs in the lodge and is a member of Encampment, No. 90, while his wife and daughters, Bethey and Mollie, are members of the adjunct organization, the Daughters of Rebekah, retaining their membership in Lodge No. 396, at Ansonia, this county. The elder daughter, Mrs. Smith, has passed all the chairs in the lodge. The family are well known and highly esteemed in Richland township. and their circle of friends is one of representative character. No history touching the annals of this county could be GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 449 complete without reference to the subject of this review, and this brief sketch is sure to be read with interest. GOTLEAP RIESLEY. Among the leading young farmers of Monroe township, Darke county, Ohio, is included the subject of this sketch, G. Riesley, who, as his name indicates, is of German origin. Mr. Riesley's father, Frederick Riesley, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in the year 1828 ; was reared on a farm, received a common-school education, and served in the German army during the revolution. In 1854 he came to the United States, landing at New York, and from there coming direct to Darke county, Ohio, where he was employed by the month to do farm work for Frederick Stauffer. In this county he was married to Miss !Jacobin Kuhn, also a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, the date of her birth being 1826. She came with relatives to this country about 1845. After their marriage they settled on a rented farm in Franklin township, Darke county, where they lived a few years and by industry and economy accumulated sufficient means with which to buy a little farm f their own. He first purchased forty .acres, to which he added subsequently .another forty, and still later sixty acres more. He exchanged his eighty acres for one hundred and sixty-five in Monroe township to which he moved in 1882, and where he spent the close of his life, dying October 29, 1884. His wife survived him several years, her death occurring July 7, 1891. They were members of the Lutheran church. and politically he was a Democrat. The children of this worthy couple are three in number, the subject of this sketch and his two sisters—Anna Mary and Lydia. Gotleap Riesley was born February 15, 1857, in. Franklin township, Darke county, Ohio, and grew up on his father's farm, working on the farm in summer and attending the district school during the winter months. He was married September 27, 1883, to Miss Fannie Ingloff. Mrs. Riesley was born near Trotwood, Montgomery county, Ohio, June 7, 1861 and when four years old was brought by her parents to Monroe township, Darke county, where she was reared. Her parents, John and Christianna (Myers) Ingloff, were natives of Wurtemberg, Germany, who came to this country in 1845 in the same vessel that brought Mrs. Riesley, the mother of our subject. Mr. Ingloff was a tailor by trade, working as such for a time after coming to this country, then carried on farming for a number of years. and now lives retired in Dayton, Ohio. He and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. Their children are Christianna, the wife f George Alleman; Lizzie, the wife of Alexander Mack; John, Mary, the wife of Charles Bless ; and Mrs. Riesley. Mr. Riesley continued to reside at the homestead after his marriage until his father's death. The portion of the home farm which he inherited he sold and shortly afterward purchase his present farm, one hundred and forty-seven and one-half acres, in Monroe township, on which he has made numerous improvements, thus materially increasing the value of his farm. Mr. and Mrs. Riesley have seven children, namely : Fred. Lawrence, John N., Edward Freeman, Willis O., Carl William, Russell R. and Ira Estry. Reared in the Lutheran faith Mr. and