450 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO 1876 to 1880 with Rev. J. W. Marvin, of Knox county. Doctor Black says of this incident in his life : "I have never ceased to be grateful for the years of inspiration and intimacy spent with Mr. Marvin. Alter the blessing of a devout father and mother, no good has come to me in this world equal to the friendship and instruction of this man. I can say of him, as Garfield said of Mark Hopkins, my conception of a university is a log with a student at one end of it and Marvin at the other. To feed on such a life is an unspeakable good to any young man." Afterward he attended the Meadville Theological School at Meadville, Pennsylvania., When quite a young man Doctor Black came to Yellow Springs as pastor of the Christian church, which was then the college church. At this place he had two pastorates, and he resigned in 1892 to accept the editorship of the Herald of Gospel Liberty, the organ of the Christian denomination, published at Dayton, Ohio. While at Yellow Springs he was made the head of the English department of Antioch College. It was while he was engaged in his editorial work at Dayton that Dr. Washington Gladden visited Minneapolis in 1893 and was asked by the committee of the Park Avenue Congregational church to recommend some one for their vacant pulpit, this church at that time being the largest of the thirty-seven Congregational churches in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Doctor Gladden enthusiastically recommended Mr. Black, who went to Minneapolis, preached one Sunday and was called to the pastorate and entered upon his work within a few weeks thereafter. The field was a large one and the demands upon the pastor's time and strength were incessant. He traveled all over the Northwest, giving lectures and addresses, and in addition to his work as a speaker was associated with a group of men, among whom were Doctor Gladden, Doctor Zeublin, President George A. Gates, B. Fay Mills and Prof. John Bascom, in the editorship of The Kingdom, a weekly publication devoted to the awakening of a new social consciousness in the church. For this paper Doctor Black wrote an editorial every week. After five years of this strenuous life he offered his resignation to his church, but it was unanimously rejected. He realized that the pace he was going was telling seriously on his strength, but, unwilling to leave a people whom he deeply loved and among whom he had a delightful uplifting work, he continued for another year, at the end of which time suddenly the physical break came. Suffering from a nervous breakdown and knowing that he could not take up .continuous pulpit work again, Doctor Black moved with his family from Minneapolis to a farm near Yellow Springs, where he remained, slowly recovering his health, till in 1909 he Was asked to take a chair in Antioch College devoted to teaching the New Testament and comparative religions. A few years before he had been elected a trustee of the college, and was chosen as secretary of that body. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 451 Soon after taking up his work in the college, owing to the long absence of the president, Dr. S. D. Fess, who was serving a term in Congress, Doctor Black was made the vice-president, a position in which he served until the resignation of Doctor Fess in 1917. Following Doctor Fess's resignation Doctor Black was made the acting president of the college, as he declined, on account of his health, to accept anything more than a temporary responsibility for the management of the college. Doctor Black has contributed to the New England Magazine, The Outlook, the Christian Endeavor World, the Christian Register and the Biblical World of the University of Chicago. His deep interest in farming and animal industry has led him to write extensively on those subjects and he has contributed to the Breeder's Gazette and the Country Gentleman, while for fifteen years he has been a regular writer for the Ohio Farmer. In 1912 Merom College (Indiana) conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. On January 1, 1870, Doctor Black was married to Flora Belle Hanger, daughter of Rev. Andrew C. Hanger, minister of the Christian church. Doctor and Mrs. Black have three children, Georgia Evelyn, Wendell Martin and Russell Collins, the former of whom married Pierre W. Drake, of Yellow Springs, and has one child, a daughter, Virginia E. Wendell Marvin Black was graduated from Antioch College and afterwarl took his Master's ' degree there. He married Lydia Elder and has one child, a daughter, Eleanor D. Russell Collins Black also was graduated from Antioch College and has since given his life to music. He married Hazel Ashley, and has a daughter, Helen A. HARRY L. HACKETT. Harry L. Hackett, general manager of the National Feed Mills Company at Yellow Springs, where he has been continuously engaged in business for nearly twenty years, is a native son of Greene county and has lived here all his life, a resident of Yellow Springs since 1898. He was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Clifton on September 13, 1879, a son of James and Ellen (Cavenaugh) Hackett, natives of Ireland, who were married in Springfield, Ohio, and who later located on a farm in Miami township, this county, where the former died in October, 1916, and where the latter is still living. James Hackett and wife were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the last born, and further mention of whom, together with additional details of the history of the Hackett family in this county, is made in a biographical sketch relating to Charles H. Hackett, postmaster at Yellow Springs, the fourth son and sixth child of James Hackett, presented elsewhere in this volume. 452 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Reared on the home farm in Miami township, Harry L. Hackett received his schooling in the Clifton schools and was graduated from the high school there in 1897. He then took a course in Nelson's Business College at. Springfield and on. December 19, 1898, became employed in the grocery store of George H. Drake at Yellow Springs. continuing thus engaged for three years and six months, at the end of which time he transferred his services to the general store of C. C. Stevenson & Company and was connected with that concern for three years. He then spent a year in the grocery and meat market of Jacob Diehl and after that became associated with his elder brother, Charles H. Hackett, now postmaster at Yellow Springs, in the general hardware business, continuing that connection until November 10, 1913, when he became the manager for the John Dewein Company, since April, 1914, the National Feed Mills Company, at Yellow Springs, manufacturers of poultry and dairy feeds and engaged in the general grain and coal business. For thirteen years Mr. Hackett has been serving as village clerk. On August 5, 1902, Mr. Hackett was united in marriage to Lottie J. Loe, daughter of Isaac and Minerva (Sutton) Loe, of Yellow. Springs, who were the parents of five children, those besides Mrs. Hackett being William Loe, of Yellow Springs; John and Harry Loe, who are engaged in the lumber business at Springfield, and Cora, who died when about eleven years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Hackett are members of the Catholic church. They have five sons, Ralph and Harold, twins, born on January 4, 1904; Roger, January 22, 1910; Howard, May 23, 1914, and Paul E., January 1, 1918. WILLIAM BALLARD. Among the farmers of New Jasper township whose influence, in a generation now past, lent stability to that community, there were few who left better memories at their passing than did the late William Ballard, who died at his home in that township in the fall of 1894 and whose daughter, Miss Luella Ballard, now a resident of the village of Jamestown, still owns the old home place of two hundred and twenty acres in New Jasper township. William Ballard was a native son of Ohio and all his life was spent in this state. He was born on a pioneer farm in Adams county on March 23, 1811, son of the Rev. Lyman and Sarah (Hanover) Ballard, early settlers in that county, who later became residents of Greene county, where their last days were spent. The Rev. Lyman Ballard was a native of the state of Massachusetts, born in November, 1783. In the days of his young manhood he came to the then Territory of Ohio and located in Adams county, where he married Sarah Hanover and where he remained until 1822, in which year he came with his family up into Greene county and bought from William GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 453 Frazer a tract of land in Ross township, about three miles north of the village of Jamestown, where he established his home and where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, his death occurring in June, 1873. The Rev. Lyman Ballard is said to have been the first man in Ross township to own a wagon and four-horse team and when he used to go to mill, driving ,up to Clifton with his "grist," his neighbors would utilize this conveyance as a means of getting their "grist" taken to mill, so that his wagon usually was well filled before he had gone far on his journey. As a preacher in the old Bethel church he for years exerted a wholesome influence in the community. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was the second in order of birth, the others having been Joseph, Nathan, John, Elizabeth, Jackson and Martin. Jackson Ballard became the owner of the old homestead place in Ross township after his father's death. William Ballard was but eleven years of age when his parents settled with their family in this county in 1822, and he grew to manhood on the home place in Ross township. He had begun his schooling in his native county of Adams and completed the same in the schools of Greene county; early became licensed to teach school and for some years spent his winters teaching in the local district schools. After his marriage in the spring of 1842 Mr. Ballard and his wife began housekeeping in a house adjoining that of the former's father in Ross township, but after awhile moved to another farm in that same neighborhood and there resided until 1856, when they moved to the farm in New Jasper township referred to in the opening paragraph of this memorial, where both spent the remainder of their lives. William Ballard was for many years director of schools in his home district. On April 21, 1842, in Cedarville township, .William Ballard was united in marriage to Margaret Cunningham, who was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, February 14, 1820, and who was but a child when her parents, James and Mary (Leach) Cunningham, came to Greene county with their family and settled in Cedarville township. James Cunningham and wife were the parents of five children, Mrs. Ballard having had two brothers, Nelson and John, and two sisters; Martha and Sarah. To 'William and Margaret (Cunningham) Ballard were born four children, namely : Rufus H., who died on September 14, 1914, and is buried in the cemetery at Jamestown; Aniel M., who died on September 22, 1874; Elizabeth, widow of S. F. Evans, and Luella, the latter of whom still retains the old home farm in New Jasper township, though now living at Jamestown, to which village she moved on March 10, 1914, and where she lives with her sister, Mrs. Evans. The mother of these children died on October 9, 1862, about six years after the family moved to the New Jasper township farm, and was buried in the cemetery 454 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO at Jamestown. William Ballard survived her for many years, his death occurring on the old home farm on October 18, 1894, and his body also was laid in the burying ground at Jamestown. He was well past eighty-three years of age at the time of his death and more than seventy years of his life had been spent in Greene county, which he came to know as well as any man in the county. He had been twice married, on March 1, 1865, having married Anna Ellis, of Clinton county, a daughter of Abraham and Sarah (Oglesbee) Ellis. 'She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal. church. While Mr. Ballard never joined any church, he always aided church work with his means and influence. WILLIAM CONLEY. William Conley, who for many years has been the occupant and manager of the old Robert Charleston Reid farm in Cedarville township, the birthplace of the late Whitelaw Reid, former owner and editor of the New York Tribune and United States ambassador to England, was born in this county and has lived here all his life, a tenant of the Reid place since his marriage in 1889 and since the death of Whitelaw Reid manager of that portion of the estate, acting in behalf of the latter's widow, who continues to make her home in England and who has given to Mr. Conley full, charge of the place. He was born in the vicinity of Cedarville on June 23, 1859, son of Moore and Eliza (Campbell) Conley, both of whom were born in County Antrim, Ireland, and who came to this country as young people, the Conleys and the Campbells both coming on out to Ohio and settling in Xenia, where Moore Conley and Eliza Campbell were married. For some time after coming to this county Moore Conley was engaged at farm labor and .then he became a traveling representative of the King Powder Company, traveling out of. Xenia, and was thus engaged until his death at the age of fifty years. His widow spent her last days at Cedarville, where she died at the age of eighty-two years. She was a member of the Reformed Presbyterian church. There were five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being Thomas, who died in the days of his young manhood; Edwin, who became a hotel chef and died in 1902; Mary, wife of John W. Ross, of Cedarville, and Nancy, who married Isaac M. Deck and is now deceased. William Conley completed his schooling in the Cedarville high school and upon leaving school became employed on the old Reid place, then owned by the widow of Robert Charleton Reid and mother of Whitelaw Reid and now owned by the latter's widow, and, which has been in the Reid family GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 455 ever since it was bought by Robert Charleton Reid at the Virginia Military Tract land sales a hundred years and more ago. After his marriage in 1889 Mr. Conley rented the farm and has since been in charge. The Reid farm is a tract of two hundred acres situated between Massies creek and the Little Miami river, not far from the center of the triangle formed by the three towns of Xenia, Yellow Springs and Cedarville. The old Reid house, erected in 1823, and an excellent picture of which is presented in the historical section of this work, is one of the real landmarks of Greene county. As left by its builder, Robert Charleton Reid, it consisted of a two-story frame building with a one-story wing, in which were sitting room, dining room and kitchen. Some extensions later were made to the wing and the whole exterior was repaired and restored by Whitelaw Reid during his lifetime. The interior finish in the old part of the house was of oiled and polished black walnut, with handsome mantels, oak floors, excellent plastering and windows with eight-by-ten panes of glass, which were then regarded as "a costly elegance," according to a description of the house printed in "Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio." Every room on the first floor had a large fireplace finished in Xenia limestone, but the original framework later was filled in with fireproof concrete blocks and the roof and second story were covered with red tiles. The house contains sixteen rooms, besides bath-rooms, dressing-rooms and the like and has attractive piazzas and a porte-cochere. Situated on one of the highest points in the county, the ground gently sloping away, the house gives a view of many miles in every direction. When Robert Charleton Reid was married he immediately took his bride to this house. There he died in the room in which his children were all born and there his widow continued to live after he was gone. The lawn surrounding the house has remained unbroken by the plow and is thus the virgin soil over which the Indians roamed in the days when this region was given over to its aboriginal tenancy. The house was built from the hard-wood timber that was cut away to make a place for it and at first stood in an almost unbroken forest, for years after its completion there having been not more than ten acres of cleared land in sight. This was one of the few pioneer farms that did not start with a log house, the above being the original house. In May, 1889, William Conley was united in marriage to Belle Mowdy, who also was born in this county, in the neighborhood of Goes Station, in Xenia township, daughter of Ambrose and Amanda (Whittington) Mowdy, the former of whom was a miller. Ambrose Mowdy, who was born in Xenia township, March 7, 1833, and died on August 25, 1872, was a son of Peter Mowdy, who in 1837 built the mill still standing on what is now the Charles A. Bingaman farm in the vicinity, of Wilberforce in Xenia township. 456 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Amanda Whittington was born in October, 1833, at Winchester, Virginia, and died March 24, 1912. She came to Greene county in 1849, her parents then both being deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Conley have two sons, Robert Moore and Wilber, the latter of whom is now a student in the Cedarville high school. Robert Moore Conley, United States Navy, was graduated from the Carnegie Technical Institute at Pittsburgh and is now engaged as an inspector of naval supplies being turned out at Dayton, in the service of the United States naval department. The Conleys are members of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville and Mr. Conley has served as a member of the board of trustees of that church. He is a Republican and has Served as a member of the school board and for seventeen years as supervisor of highways in his home district. Mr. Conley also is a member of the board of directors of the Greene County Mutual Insurance Association. In addition to managing the affairs of the Reid farm Mr. Conley is the owner of a farm of one hundred acres in Miami township which he ents out. WILLIAM THOMAS LACKEY. The late William Thomas Lackey, who died at his farm home in Spring Valley township on November 3o, 1916, and whose widow is still living there, was a native of the Old Dominion, but had been a resident of Ohio since he was twenty-one years of age. He was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, March 2,. 185o, son of Isaac and Eliza Ann Lackey, both of whom also were born in that county and who were the parents of thirteen children, three of whom came to Ohio, those besides the subject of this memorial sketch having been Giles Lackey, who made his home at Xenia, and Horatio T. Lackey, of Belmont. Reared on the home farm in Virginia, William T. Lackey received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and remained at home until he reached his majority, when he came to Ohio and located at New Burlington, on the lower edge of this county. Not long after his arrival here he married and located on the old McKnight farm in Spring Valley township, the place where his widow is now living and where she was born, a farm of one hundred and forty-five acres, and there he spent the rest of his life. Mr. Lackey was a Democrat and by religious persuasion was a Presbyterian, a member of the church at Xenia, as is his widow, who since his death has continued to make her home on the home farm, living in the house that was built there by her grandfather McKnight in 1837. Mrs. Lackey was born, Elizabeth Janet Lyon, in Spring Valley town ship, on the farm on which she is now living, a daughter of James and Mary GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 457 (McKnight) Lyon, the latter of whom was born on that same place, a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Fulton) McKnight, who had come to this county from Rockbridge county, Virginia, in 1807, and had settled on that place, which then was a wilderness of deep timber. There Robert McKnight put up a hewed-log house and established his home, that house, now more than one hundred and ten years old, still standing, used now as a stable. In 1837 that house was supplanted by the substantial dwelling house which has ever since served as a farm house on the place. Robert McKnight got possession of a thousand acres of land surrounding his location there. He served as a soldier during the War of 1812, rendering service in one of the blockhouses. He and his wife were members of the old Associate Reformed congregation. He died on that place in 1856, at the age of seventy-six years. His wife had died in 1854. They were the parents of three children, those besides Mrs. Lyon having been Margaret, who remained a spinster and lived to the age of eighty-nine years, and James, who married Ann McKay and made his home on a portion of the old home farm. After his marriage to Mary McKnight, James Lyon, who was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, established his home on the old McKnight place and took charge of the same, continuing to farm there the rest of his life. Reared a Whig, he became a Republican upon the formation of that party. James Lyon and his wife were the parents of three children, Mrs. Lackey having had a sister, Martha C., who married Henry Hopping and died in 1914 at the age of seventy-two years, and a brother. THOMAS CLARKSON HIRST. Thomas Clarkson Hirst, veteran of the Civil War, formerly engaged in the drug business at Yellow Springs and later and for a period of thirty years engaged as a traveling passenger agent for the Union Pacific Railroad Company, now living retired in the pleasant village of Yellow 'Springs, is a Virginian by birth, but has regarded Greene county as his home ever since the clays of his boyhood. He was born at Lincoln, in the county of Loudoun, forty miles west of the city of Washington, August 23, 1837, son of Eli Pierpoint and Hannah ( Janney) Hirst, both of whom also were natives of the Old Dominion, whose last days were spent in Yellow Springs. They were the parents of four children, two of whom, the subject of this sketch and his sister, Miss Cosmelia Hirst, of Yellow Springs, are living and two, Cornelia and John J. Hirst, deceased. Eli Pierpoint Hirst was educated at-Winchester Academy, then presided over by Prof. John Marvin, where he received thorough schooling, 458 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO particularly in higher mathematics and in the natural sciences. He devoted his earlier years to teaching, in Virginia and Ohio, and was the possessor of a fine collection of scientific apparatus with which he illustrated his school lectures. At the time of the discovery of gold in California, he went to that territory to engage in business, going via New York City and the Isthmus and then by coastwise steamer up to San Francisco, the fare from New York to the latter city being then three hundred dollars in gold. Upon reaching the "diggings" Mr. Hirst ..located at Nevada City, where he remained for three years, engaged in the lumber business and in furnishing miners' supplies. Upon his return from California in 1855 he came to this county and located at Yellow Springs, being attracted to that place by reason of the location there of Antioch College, which then was presided over by that great educator, Horace Mann, for whom he entertained profound respect, and there he died two years later, in 1857. Thomas C. Hirst was seventeen years of age when his parents took up their home in Yellow Springs and he straightway entered Antioch College, where he remained in attendance until after his father's death in 1857, after which he became engaged in farming and was thus engaged when the Civil War broke out. Early in 1862 Mr. Hirst enlisted in Company A, Ninety-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which regiment he served until constant exposure brought on what then was supposed to be a fatal illness and he was .discharged on a surgeon's certificate of disability. But after remaining for some time at home he recovered his health to a great measure and 'determined to return to the army if possible. He re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with that command served with such credit that he was recommended for promotion and was commissioned first lieutenant in Company D, One Hundred and. Eightieth Ohio, and with this latter . command served until disabled by wounds near the close of the war. He was mustered out on June 16, 1865 In 1866 Thomas C. Hirst and his brother, John J. Hirst, engaged in the drug business in Yellow Springs, under the firm name of Hirst Brothers, and continued in partnership until the fall of 1881, when T. C. Hirst was offered the position of traveling passenger agent for the Union Pacific Railroad Company, with headquarters at Columbus, and had charge of the territory embraced by the states of Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, remaining thus connected with the Union Pacific service for a period of more than thirty years. When Mr. Hirst retired at the age of seventy years his name was placed for life on the pension rolls of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. GREENE. COUNTY, OHIO - 459 JOHN .W. ROSS. John W. Ross, foreman of the Cedarville Lime Company, was born in Cedarville, on November 18, 1861, son of James and Honora (Murray) Ross, natives of Ireland, whose last days were spent in Cedarville, of which place they had been residents for years. Both James Ross and his wife Honora were born in County Down, Ireland, and lived there until after their marriage in 1845, when they came to the United States and proceeded on out to Ohio, locating ,at Xenia. James Ross was an expert stonemason and upon taking up his residence in Xenia became there engaged working at his trade and so continued until 1858, when he moved to Cedarville and was working at his trade there when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted as a member of Company D, Twelfth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the first year of the war and with that command served until he was mustered out on June 18, 1865. Mr. Ross participated in forty-seven battles and was twice severely wounded, being shot once through the left shoulder and once through the right foot. Upon the completion of his military service he returned to Cedarville and resumed his work as a stonemason, while thus engaged building bridges all. over the county. In July, 1882, he suffered a fatal sunstroke while working on a railroad-bridge job. His widow survived him until 1887. They were members of the Catholic church at Xenia and were the parents of twelve children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the seventh in order of birth, the others being the following : Elizabeth, now deceased, who was the wife of Michael Dailey ; James, also now deceased, who was a railway brakeman in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company; Rose, wife of John Osborn, of Xenia; Mary Ellen, deceased; Daniel, of Xenia; Kate, who is now living in Darke county, Ohio ; William, deceased; Charles, who is now living at Peoria, Illinois, where he is employed as a stationary engineer; Harry, deceased; Richard, now a resident of Dayton, Ohio, and Honora, widow of Milton Jones, of Xenia. John W. Ross was reared at Cedarville and received his schooling in the public schools of that city. As a boy he learned the trade of painter and for some time worked at that trade. He then was made custodian of the public schools and for twenty-two years held that position. On January 1, 1918, he was made foreman of the plant of the Cedarville Lime Company. Mr. Ross is a Republican. For thirty-five years he has rendered service as a member of the Cedarville fire department, for fourteen years served as constable and for some time was a member of the common council. He is affiliated with the Cedarville lodges of the Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. On July 15, 1885, John W. Ross was united in marriage to May Con- 460 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO ley, who was born at Clifton, and to this union four children have been born, namely : Effie, who is now a teacher in the Spring Valley schools; Lillie, who is teaching in the Cedarville schools; Bessie, also formerly a teacher, who married Ernest Rulls, of Dayton, and has one child, a daughter, Phyllis; and Cameron, who was graduated from the Cedarville high school in 1915. taught school for two years and following this country's declaration of war against Germany in 1917 enlisted for service. He entered the third officers' training camp, and was commissioned second lieutenant. Mr. and Mrs. Ross are members of the Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) church at Cedarville, as are their children. The Ross children early began to turn their attention to the teaching profession and for a time all at one time were thus engaged, two of the daughters still continuing their teaching service and the soldier son expecting to resume teaching upon the completion of his military service. GEORGE H. CRESWELL. George H. Creswell was born on the farm on which he is now living and which he owns, at the crossing of the Federal pike and the Cedarville and Jamestown road in Cedarville township, and has lived there all his life, even as his father had done before him, the latter also having been born there, a son of James Creswell, who was one of the sons of the Widow Creswell, who had come up into this section of Ohio from Kentucky with her eight children and had established her home in what later came to be developed the Cedarville neighborhood in the days before Greene county had been organized, the Creswells having thus become numbered as among the very first permanent settlers of this county. In a biographical sketch relating to James H. Creswell, elder brother of the subject of this sketch, presented elsewhere in this volume, there is set out at considerable length something of the history and the genealogy of the Creswell family, and it is therefore not necessary to go into those details in this connection further than to say that George H. Creswell was born on August 30, 1860, son of Samuel and Eliza Jane (Huffman) Creswell, the former of whom was a son of James and Ann ( Junkin) Creswell, both members of pioneer families here, James Creswell having been the son of James and Catherine (Creswell) Criswell, the latter of whom came up here with her children after her husband had been murdered by Indians in Kentucky and became one of the members of that old Seceder community on Massies creek to which the Rev. Robert Armstrong ministered in the early days of the settlement of this county. The Widow Criswell preferred the name Creswell, to which she was horn, to that of Criswell, her husband's name, and after the tragic death of her husband adopted the former spelling of the name and the Creswells have ever since been thus known. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 461 Reared on the home farm, George H. Creswell completed his schooling in the Cedarville high school. As the elder children of the family of ten born to his parents moved away to make places of their own he remained on the farm and during the later years of his father's life managed the place, and after his marriage established his home there. After the death of his father he bought the interests of the other heirs in the home place and has since continued to live there, the house which his father built there many years ago still serving as a place of residence. One room of this house is a part of the house erected there by his grandfather when the latter settled on the place in 1812. In 1832 his father, then a lad of twelve years, planted a sycamore sprout in the front dooryard and that tree, now grown to noble proportions, is one of the distinctive features of the place and is thought much of by the family. Since taking possession of the old home place Mr. Creswell has added to the same by the purchase of an adjoining tract of twenty-two acres and now has a farm of one hundred and ninety-eight acres. In his political affiliation Mr. Creswell is a Republican and has served for eight years as a member of the Cedarville township school board. He also is vice-president of the W. L. Clemens Real Estate Company at Cedarville. On December 28, 1892, George R. Creswell was united in marriage to Amanda Blair, who was born at Sparta, Illinois, March 25, 1867, daughter of J. Franklin and Elizabeth (Marvin) Blair, the latter of whom is still living, now a resident of Cedarville, where she has made her home since 1912, and further mention of whom is made in the biographical sketch of Mr. Creswell's elder brother, James H. Creswell, referred to above, the latter's wife being a sister of Mrs. Amanda Creswell. To George H. and Amanda (Blair) Creswell have been born four children, Irma, born on August 4, 1894; Eula, July 30, 1896; Samuel Morton, September 19, 1899, and Elizabeth, October 21, 1905, the two latter of whom are still in school, the son attending Cedarville College. The Creswells are members of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville, and Mr. Creswell has been a member of the board of trustees of the same for ten years, a member of the choir since 1880 and leader of the same for many years, having ever since the days of his boyhood given his attention to the affairs of the church with which the Creswell family have been connected ever since its establishment more than a century ago. WILLIAM M. HARDMAN. William M. Hardman, former president of the Ohio State Corn Improvement Association and proprietor of a farm in the neighborhood of Yellow Springs, was born on a farm S in Bath township on June 22, 1861, son of William R. and Rebecca (Miller) Hardman, both now deceased. 462 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO William R. Hardman also was, born in Bath township, a son of pioneer parents, his father, Peter Hardman, having settled in this county in 1808 upon his arrival here from Virginia. Peter Hardman was born on July 23, 1776, a son of German parents, who had located in Hardy county, in that portion of the Old Dominion now comprised within the bounds of West Virginia, upon coming to this country in 1764 and had there established their home. Upon coming to Greene county he established his home on a tract of land in Bath township, and there spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on July 30, 1859, he then being eighty-three years of age, and was buried in the Mitman cemetery near Fairfield. William R. Hardman grew to manhood on the pioneer farm on which he was born and in turn became a farmer on his own account. He married Rebecca Miller, who was born in Pennsylvania and who was but a girl when her parents came to this county in pioneer days, and to that union were born four children, namely : Charles L., now living in Dayton, who married Carrie Mentel and had one child, a son, Walter M., who died at the age of twenty-one years; Lee A., who died at the age of eight years William M., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, and Harriet, who makes her home at Yellow Springs, but who is employed in the office of the Hooven-Allison Company at Xenia. In 1876, William R. Hardman moved to the farm now owned and occupied by his son William M., and there spent his last days, his death occurring on December 26, 1907. His widow died on March 30, 1918. Mrs. Rebecca Hardman was a member of the first band of crusaders in Osborn in the early '70s and often told of a circumstance of those trying times. ,A saloon keeper poured a ring of powder around the group of praying women, then setting it afire, hoping thus to frighten them away. from his place of business. There is another member of the family, Delia Burr Hardman, who, while not born into it, yet has held the place of a sister since her adoption at the age of four years. She took care of Mrs. William R. Hardman during the several years of the latter's invalidism, and now makes her home with Harriet Hardman in Yellow Springs. William M. Hardman spent his early boyhood on the farm on which he was born in Bath township and was fifteen years of age when his parents moved to the farm on which he is now living. After a four-years. course at Antioch College he entered upon a definite career as a farmer, giving particular attention to corn growing. Twenty-five years ago Mr. Hardman began the development of a variety of corn which he ever since has stuck to and which he brought to such a high standard that it commanded the recognition of corn experts over the state and became officially designated as GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 463 "Hardman's Favorite," and as such has secured wide cultivation throughout the state. During this time Mr. Hardman was taking an active part in the affairs of the farmers associations hereabout and in the affairs of the Ohio State Corn Improvement Association and in 1907 was elected president of the latter body, an office in which he was continued for three years. On November 12, 1912, William M. Hardman was united in marriage to Bertha Currier, of Dayton, a daughter of the Rev. Charles W. and Fannie (Parker) Currier, the latter of whom is now living at Dayton. Mrs. Currier is a daughter of Prof. James K. Parker, who is well remembered in Greene county by reason of his activities in connection with Wilberforce in the early days of the establishment of that university. When the Methodist Episcopal church in 1856 laid the foundations for the creation of Wilberforce University, Prof. James K. Parker was put in charge of the school and for eighteen months during the formative period of that institution did there a remarkable work. His intense hatred of the institution of slavery and his devotion to the cause of the enslaved negroes and such freedmen as were able to make their way into the free state of Ohio seeking light and leading through the sources made available by the beneficent operations of the movement which led to the establishment of Wilberforce, caused him to throw his whole soul into the work that there unfolded before him. In consequence of these activities Professor Parker met with a degree of opposition and a persistence of persecution that is difficult to understand in this generation, but he would not be daunted, even when his barns were burned, and fought it out, his services in that connection giving his name an unalterable place in the hearts of all who have in the years since those trying and troublous days been connected with Wilberforce. The Rev. Charles W. Currier, father of Mrs. Hardman, was a native of Massachusetts, born in the city of Lowell, December 22, 1842. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted his services in behalf of the Union and served for five years, finally coming, to be an officer in command of colored troops at Louisville. Upon the completion of his military service he took a course in a business college at Chicago and later became engaged in farming in Tennessee. Meanwhile he had been turning his attention to studies with a view of fitting himself for the gospel ministry and presently entered Denison University at Granville, this state. Upon completing the course there he entered the theological seminary at Newton Center, Massachusetts, and in due time was ordained as a minister of the Baptist church, his first charge as a minister being as pastor of the First Baptist church at Xenia. He later became financial secretary of Denison University at Granville, and after a year spent there moved to Winfield, Kansas, on account of his health, 464 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO where he continued engaged in the ministry until his death, April 17, 1889. The Rev. Charles W. Currier and his wife were the parents of three daughters, Mrs. Hardman having two sisters, Edith, now living at Dayton, who married Walter Crebs and has two children, Frederick and Harriet, and Helen Currier, who is employed in the office of the Miami Loan Association at Dayton. ORVILLE B. ARMSTRONG. Orville B. Armstrong, who is engaged in the milling business at Fairfield, manager of the Fairfield Feed Mills, of which his father, George H. Armstrong, who is engaged in the milling business at West Alexandria, is the proprietor, is a representative in the third generation of the continuous milling operations of the Armstrongs in this county, his grandfather, Samuel Armstrong, having been the builder of the mills at Clifton. He also has an 'uncle, J. E. Armstrong, who is engaged in the milling business at Bellefontaine. Mr. Armstrong was born at Springfield, in the neighboring county of Clark, April 11, 1891, son and only child of George H. and Otilla (Hause) Armstrong, the latter of whom was born in that same county and the former, in Shelby county, this state. George H. Armstrong, who, as above set out, is now engaged in the milling business at West Alexandria, is a son of Samuel Armstrong, a veteran miller of this section of the state, who erected the Clifton mills and was long engaged in the milling business in that village, he and his son, G. H. Armstrong, operating the mill there in partnership. Mrs. Otilla Armstrong, mother of the subject of this sketch, died in 1898 and G. H. Armstrong afterward married Emma Fennimore. Orville B. Armstrong was but an infant when his father moved to Clifton to take charge of the mill there and he was .reared in that village, receiving his schooling there. From the days of his early boyhood he was instructed in the details of the milling business, under the direction of his father and his grandfather, and in 1916 when his father bought the mill at West Alexandria he was put in charge of the Fairfield mill and has ever since been thus engaged. On June 24, 1915, Orville B. Armstrong was united in marriage to Inez Lovette, of Yellow Springs, and to this union has been born one child, a son, George Wendell, born on May 13, 1916. Mrs. Armstrong was born in this county, and had lived at Clifton and at Yellow Springs, in which latter place she was engaged in teaching at the time Of her marriage. She was graduated from the Clifton schools, as was her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong are members of the Reformed church. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 465 THOMAS S. STEVENSON. In the historical section of this work considerable attention is paid to the moot point as to first actual permanent white settler in the territory that in 1803 came to be organized as Greene county, and there perhaps always will remain some doubt relating to this point, but of the very early settlement of the Stevenson family here there is no doubt, for the coming of the three brothers, Thomas, John and Samuel Stevenson, up here from Versailles, Kentucky, in 1797, to take possession of a grant of one thousand acres of land that had been awarded to their father in the Military Tract here is well established. That tract covered the present location of Wilberforce. When the Rev. Robert Armstrong came up here from Kentucky and organized the Seceder colony into a congregation the Stevensons donated a plot of three acres on which to erect a church and establish a cemetery there on Massies creek and Stevenson's cemetery to this day perpetuates the memory of the thoughtful generosity of the donors. The old Stevenson school house was built on Stevenson land and the highway that was cut through the forest that then covered the tract is still known as the Stevenson road. In a home facing that ancient highway, his farm in Xenia township being a part of the original Stevenson tract, resides the subject of this sketch. Thomas S. Stevenson was born on the farm on which he now lives, on the Stevenson road in Xenia township, rural mail route No. 5 out of Xenia, September 20, 1852, a son of James and Jane (Knox) Stevenson, the latter of whom was born in the Clifton neighborhood in 1807, a daughter of Robert and Jane Knox, natives of Scotland, who had come to this country with their respective parents in the days of their youth, were married here and became early pioneers of the Clifton settlement. Robert Knox had a farm up over the line in Clark county, a mile north of Clifton. He was a skilled cabinetmaker and varied his farming operations by making much of the household furniture used in that neighborhood in those days, as well as by making the coffins that were needed in the settlement. He and his wife were Seceders and their children were reared in that faith, later becoming United Presbyterians. There were five of these children, two sons and three daughters, and of these Jane was the youngest. James Stevenson was horn on the farm on which his son Thomas is now living, in 1806, son of Thomas and Mary (Kirkpatrick) Stevenson, the latter of whom was born in Kentucky. Thomas Stevenson was a Virginian by birth, but had come up here from Kentucky with his brothers, John and Samuel, to take over the tract of land their father, a Virginian and a soldier of the Revolution, had been granted in the Military Tract here, as noted (29) 466 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO above, the Stevensons having some time earlier gone from Virginia to Kentucky and become pioneers of the Versailles settlement. The Stevensons were of the old Virginia colonial stock and the paternal grandmother of the elder Thomas Stevenson was a Warrick. She was slain by Indians in the Virginia colony. John Stevenson, one of the brothers mentioned above, served for two years as a soldier during the War of 1812 and was made a major. James Stevenson inherited one hundred and sixty acres of his father's estate and there established his home. To this tract he added by purchase five hundred and fifty acres adjoining on the west and thus had a farm of more than seven hundred acres. Reared a Whig, he became a Republican upon the organization of the latter party and for nine years (three terms) served as a member of the board of county commissioners. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church at Xenia. She died in 1877, being then seventy years of age, and his death occurred in 1882, he then being seventy-six years of age. They were the parents of four children, of whom, the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being Robert K., who was given a part of the home farm and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1911 ; John B., who also was given a part of the home farm, erected there the house in which his brother Thomas is now living, later sold that place to the latter, bought a large farm in the Yellow Springs neighborhood and there spent his last days, his death occurring in 1915, and Mary Jane, who married R. R. Knowles and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased, the subject of this sketch being now therefore the only survivor of the family. Robert R. Knowles, who formerly and for years was engaged in the drug business at Xenia, was educated for the law and for some years practiced that profession, but later engaged in business. He was a onetime chairman of the Greene county Republican central committee. Thomas S. Stevenson was reared on the home farm in Xenia township and received his early schooling in the Stevenson school nearby his home, supplementing the course there by attendance for three rears at Morton's Select School at Xenia. In the division of the home acres he received one .hundred and thirty acres and after his marriage in 1877 established his home on that tract. Ten years later, in 1887, he traded his farm for that of his brother John on the Stevenson road and on this latter place of ninety-five acres has since made his home. His wife also was born in this county, Lillie B. Wolf, a member of one of the old families in the county, daughter of Joshua Wolf and wife, of Byron. Her mother died when she was an infant. Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson have no children. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 467 AARON COY. Aaron Coy, proprietor of a farm on the Dayton-Xenia pike in Beaver-creek township, rural mail route No. 8 out of Dayton, and a minister of the Brethren church at Zimmermans, was born on that farm, which is situated about four miles east of Dayton, December 19, 1846, a son of Nicholas and Charlotta (Shoup) Coy, both of whom were born in that same township, the former in the vicinity of Alpha and the latter just north of Mt. Zion church. Nicholas Coy was born on January 21, 1811, a son of Adam Coy and wife, the latter of whom was a Martin. Charlotta Shoup was born about 1820, a daughter of Moses Shoup, a pioneer minister of the Brethren church, both the Coys and the Shoups having been among the earliest settlers of Beavercreek township, as will be noted by reference to the history of these families presented elsewhere in this volume. Nicholas Coy inherited forty acres of his father's place on the Shakeston pike. After his marriage in the latter '30s he made his home on the farm on which his son, Aaron, is now living, a tract of one hundred, and sixty-three acres, of which but nine acres then had been cleared, and set himself to the task of clearing the place, In 1863 he bought .a tract of ninety-six acres a mile and a half east of there and in 1868 moved to the latter place and there spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in April, 1897. His wife had long preceded him to the grave, her death having occurred on January 25, 1874. They were the parents of eight children, whom they reared in the faith of the Brethren church, the family being connected with the church at Zimmermans. Of these children Aaron was the fourth in order of birth, the others being Elizabeth., who married John Engle; Benjamin, who spent all his life in Beavercreek township ; Jane. who married William Nisley; Catherine, now living at Zimmermans, widow of Franklin M. Haverstick ; Martin, who was drowned white fishing ; Ella, who died at the age of twelve years, and Oren, who died at the age of fifteen. Reared on the home farm, Aaron. Coy received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and from boyhood gave his attention to farming. When his father moved from the home place in 1868 he and his brother Benjamin took charge of the place and farmed it together until after Aaron Coy's marriage in 1871, when he and his wife bought the place and ,there established their home. Mrs. Coy died on October 11, 1910, and Mr. Coy is still living on the old place. For thirty-five years or more he has been serving as a minister of the Brethren church at Zimmermans, an elder duly elected by the congregation. He still takes part in the operation of the farm, though he some time ago sold a part of the place to his son, I. N. Coy. He is a Republican. 468 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO It was on February 23, 1871, that Aaron Coy was united in marriage to Diana Funderburg, who was born in the neighboring county of Clark on May 17, 1847, a daughter of Daniel Funderburg and wife, the latter of whom was a Kepplinger, and who later became residents of Bath township, this county, and to this union five children were born, namely : Daniel, who made his home in Beavercreek township and died on March 4, 1917; Jesse, who is now living near Vandalia, Ohio ; Ira and Irvin, twins, both continuing to make their home on the home place and the latter of whom married Grace Bear; and Carrie, wife of A. D. Wenrick, who occupies the farm adjoining Mr. Coy's farm on the west, the latter having nine and one-half acres of Aaron Coy's farm on which they have their home. JOHN COY. Elsewhere in this work there is set out at considerable length the story of the coming of Jacob Coy and his family from Maryland to the then Northwest Territory and of the interesting personal history of Jacob Coy and of the establishment of himself and family here in 1800, two or three years before Ohio's admission to statehood and Greene county's formal organization. Jacob Coy was thus one of the first settlers of what later came to be organized as Beavercreek township. It is said that the first school conducted in that township was opened in a little log building erected on the Jacob Coy farm and that in that same place there was conducted the first formal religious services held thereabout, the present congregation of the Reformed church in that neighborhood being the outgrowth of those humble pioneer meetings. Jacob Coy lived to be ninety-three years of age, his death occurring in 1836. His widow, Susanna, survived him about four years and was eighty-three years of age at the time of her death. They were the parents of twelve children and as most of these lived to rear families of their own the Coy connection thus became one of the most numerous in this part of the state, as will be noted elsewhere in the reading of this volume. The late John Coy, who died at his farm home in Beavercreek township in the fall of 1892 and three of whose children are still living there, was one of the numerous grandsons of the pioneer couple above referred to. He was born in Beavercreek township on September 3, 1811, a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Ritter) Coy, the former of whom was one of the sons of Jacob and Susanna Coy. Peter Coy was well grown when he came with his parents to this section of the then Territory of Ohio in 1800. He had received good schooling in his native state of Maryland and became one of the early school teachers in Greene county. After his marriage to Elizabeth GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 469 Ritter, who was a member of one of the pioneer families in that neighborhood, he established his home on a farm in Beavercreek township and there he and his wife spent their last days. They were the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was the first-born, the others being the following : Jacob, born on February 25, 1813; Anna Maria, June 5, 1814, who died unmarried; Tobias R., September 2, 1816, who died in infancy; Sarah, August 2, 1819, who married Thomas Young, of Miami county, and spent her last days in that county ; Emanuel, August 10, 1822, who died in infancy, and Susanna, August 12, 1825, who married Jacob Romspert, of Beavercreek township. John Coy was reared on the farm on which he was born and in his youth was given good schooling, his school-teacher father supplementing the instructions he received in. the locl schools. He married Catherine Cosler, who was born in the neighboring county of Montgomery, daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth (Durnbaugh) Cosier, the former of whom was born in that same county and the latter in Greene county, and after his marriage established his home on the farm on which he spent the rest of his life. His wife died there on May 24, 1883, and he survived her for nearly ten years, his death occurring on October 7, 1892. They were members of the Reformed church, with which the Coys have been connected ever since the organization of the same in this county, and their children were reared in that faith. There were eight of these children, namely : Jacob Henry, who married Eliza D. Boroff, became a farmer in Beavercreek township and died in Wayne township, Montgomery county, at the age of fifty-seven years; Sarah Elizabeth, now living in Montgomery county, widow of Jacob Hawker, a farmer of that county, who died on December 20, 1907, leaving one son, Harrison C. Hawker, who married Clara C. Bullock and is living in Montgomery county; Valentine P., who married Sevilla Folkerth and is farming in Beavercreek township; Rebecca, who is still living on the home place in Beavercreek township, rural mail route No. 16 out of Dayton; John A., who also still lives there and is carrying on the operations of the farm; David E., who married Helen V. Weeks and is farming in Montgomery county; Mary C., who is living on the home place with her brother and sister; and Effie, who died at the age of two years. The Coys are members of 'the Reformed church and John A. Coy is a Republican, as was his father. The Coslers also have a numerous connection throughout this part of the state, the family of which Mrs. Catherine Coy was a member having been one of the pioneer families in this section. She was the seventh in order of birth of the children born to her parents, the others having been Lewis, Henry, John, Daniel, Valentine, David, Elizabeth, Martha and Barbara. 470 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO JOSIAH LAYMAN. Josiah Layman, proprietor of a New Jasper township farm on rural mail route No. 1 out of Jamestown, was born in that same neighborhood and has lived thereabout all his life. He was born on June 25, 1849, son of Christian B. and Susanna (Spahr) Layman, the latter of whom was born in that same section of Greene county, in 1825, a daughter of Mathias and Susanna (Hagler) Spahr, further and fitting mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, Mathias Spahr having been one of the sons of Philip Spahr, who had come over here from Virginia with his family and had become one of the influential pioneers of the New Jasper settlement. Christian B. Layman was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, in 1816, and was nineteen years of age when he came with his parents, Jacob and Sarah H. (Baker) Layman, also Virginians, to Greene county in 1835, the family locating at Jamestown. Jacob Layman had been a tanner in Virginia, the owner of a tanyard, but upon coming to Greene county devoted his energies to farming, buying a tract of two hundred acres just at the south edge of the village of Jamestown, where he made his home until 1845, in which year he, moved to what is now the Samuel Sutton farm on the Hook road in Xenia township, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were members of the .New Jasper Methodist Episcopal church and were the parents of the following children : John, the eldest, who remained in Virginia and there established his home; Christian B., father of the subject of this sketch ; Mrs. Betsy Greenwood, Mrs. Mary Cherry and David, Henry, George and Robert, who went to Illinois and the latter of whom is still living there, a resident of Christian county in that state. As noted above, Christian B. Layman was nineteen years of age when lie came to Greene county. After his marriage in 1842 to Susanna Spahr he rented a farm and began farming on his own account, but in 1849 bought a farm on the New Jasper pike, where he established his home and where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, her death occurring in 1907 and his on May 10, 1910. Christian B. Layman was a large man of the weight of two hundred pounds. He was a Democrat and he and his wife were members of the New Jasper Methodist Episcopal church. They were the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being Jacob Milton Layman, unmarried, who makes his home with his brother Josiah ; Virginia Eliza, who married Hiram Golder, a New Jasper township farmer, and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased, and Mathias, who died at the age of four years. Josiah Layman was reared on the home farm on the New Jasper pike, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 471 received his schooling in the Zaza district school, and remained at home until his marriage in the summer of 1874, after which he began farming on his own account. Later he bought a farm of fifty-five acres, the place on which he is now living, and there has since made his home., In 1914 Mr. Layman bought an adjoining tract of land and now has one hundred and eleven acres, where he and his son, Ralph Layman, and his son-in-law, E. H. Huston, are carrying on their farming operations. Mr. Layman is connected with the New Jasper Methodist Episcopal church and by political affiliation is a Democrat. Mr. Layman has been twice married. On June 25, 1874, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Hight, daughter of Andrew and Sarah Hight, of Jefferson township. She died in the following year and on April 12, 1882, Mr. Layman married Emma Pence, who was born in Highland county, this' state, in 1862, daughter of Martin and Sarah Pence, who had come to Greene county and had located in New Jasper township. Mrs. Emma Layman died on April 2, 1909. Mr. Layman has two children, Jessie Elizabeth, who married E. H. Huston, living on part of the Layman farm, and has one child, a son. Leo, and Ralph, who, as noted above, is still living on the home farm, assisting in the operations of the same. JOHN WESLEY CAMDEN. John Wesley Camden, a farmer and horseman of Beavercreek township and the proprietor of the old Johns place, one mile south of Shoups Station, rural mail route No. 8 out of Dayton, is a native of the Old Dominion and was there reared, but has been a resident of Ohio and of Greene county since 1882, having come here in the days of his young manhood. He was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Lexington, county seat of Rockbridge county, Virginia, February 15, 1856, son of George W. and Mary (Coffman) Camden, both also natives of Virginia, the latter of whom spent her last days in Greene county. George W. Coffman was born in 1820, a son of Duncan Camden and wife, natives of Pennsylvania, who had made their home in the Lexington neighborhood in Virginia, and there he grew to manhood, becoming a skilled carpenter and builder. During the time of the Civil War he was detailed to oversee the carpenter work in the Jordan iron mills, foreman of all the carpenters there employed, and at the close of the war was put in charge of the place by the government to keep things going, and was thus engaged at the time of his sudden death in 1865, he having worked up to the day of 472 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO his death, when he was stricken with heart disease. His widow, who was born in 1831, daughter of John Coffman, was thus left with six small children, the subject of this sketch at the time being but nine years of age, and for some time her lot was a pretty hard one, but she kept the family together and all worked together to keep up the home, the mother and her two daughters doing dressmaking and plaiting straw and making straw hats, while the four boys worked at such jobs as their hands could find to do, their winters being chiefly occupied in boiling down pint knots and cones and making pine tar for axle grease, for which they found a ready market. These six children of George W. and Mary (Coffman) Camden were as follow : Ben, who died in 1882 and whose eldest son, Wyatt Camden, now living at Dayton, was reared by his uncle, the subject of this sketch ; Nannie, still living in Virginia, widow of E. W. Vest ; John W., the subject of this biographical review ; George, farmer of New Jasper township, this county ; Lizzie, wife of J. C. Bare, now living at Anderson, Alabama, and William, who died at the age of nineteen years. John W. Camden had very little opportunity for schooling during the days of his boyhood, conditions during and immediately following the war having thoroughly disorganized the local schools in the neighborhood of his home, and the only real schooling he received was a term of "subscription" school some time after the war and he had to walk six miles daily to and from that school. As noted above, he, together with his brothers, spent his boyhood and young manhood in such labors as his hands could find to do, and he remained at home until he was twenty-six years of age, when he came to Ohio and became employed on the Squire Clemens stock farm in New Jasper township, this county, presently being made foreman of the farm of two hundred and thirty-one acres, and for fifteen years was thus engaged. In the meantime, in the fall of 1885, Mr. Camden married and in 1896 bought a farm of forty-seven acres in the vicinity of Alpha. on which place he made his home for four years, at the end of which time he bought the old Johns place of sixty-eight acres, which place had been held in the Johns name since the granting of the original patent of which it was a part, and has since made his home there. Mr. Camden's first wife died in the spring of 1890 and his mother then came to keep house for him and she spent the rest of her life with him, her death occurring in 1893, she then being sixty-two years of age. During his residence in Beavercreek township Mr. Camden has taken his part in the general affairs of the community, was for five years truant officer in the township and also served for some time as supervisor of roads in his district. In addition to his general farming he has ever given special attention to the breeding of fine horses and keeps a registered Percheron stallion. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 473 Mr. Camden has been twice married. On September 9, 1885, he was united in marriage to Lizzie Moore, who was born in New Jasper township, daughter of William and Harriet (Wilkison) Moore, and who died without issue in May, 1890. On September 28, 1892, Mr. Camden married Louie E. Toland, who also was born in New Jasper township, daughter of J. C. and Mary Elizabeth (Clemens) Toland, the former of whom is still living, a resident of New Jasper township, and to this union four sons have been born, Floyd W., Fred Leroy, William, who died on January 3, 1918, at the age of nineteen years, and Forest. Mr. and Mrs. Camden are members of the Methodist Episcopal church., Politically, Mr. Camden is a Democrat. THOMAS ALEXANDER ARTHURS. The late Thomas Alexander Arthurs, who died at his farm home in Cedarville township in 1906, was a native son of Ohio and had lived in this state all his life, a resident of Greene county since the days of his young manhood. He was born in the city of Springfield, in the neighboring county of Clark, August 2, 1850, son of Thomas Alexander and Jane (Taggart) Arthurs, whose last days were spent there. The elder Thomas Alexander Arthurs was born in County Armagh, Ireland, as was his wife. They were married in their native land and then, in 1847, came to the United States and proceeded on out to Ohio, locating in Springfield, where they established their home and where they spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of three children, all of whom are now deceased, the subject of this memorial sketch having had a brother, Robert, and a sister, Annie, who died in April, 1917, wife of J. G. Nelson. The younger Thomas Alexander Arthurs was reared in Springfield and received his schooling in the local schools. As a. young man he came down into Greene county and here was married. He later became engaged in farming in Cedarville township,. farming for nine years on one farm and for eleven years on another and then in 1904 bought the farm on which his widow is now living, known as the Dan McMillan farm of one hundred and forty-three acres, and there continued his operations until his death, which occurred on June 18, 1906. Mr. Arthurs was a Democrat and for some time served as director in his home school district. He was affiliated with the Congregational church at Springfield. On November 6, 1876, in this county. Thomas A. Arthurs was united in marriage to Jane Mathison, who was born in Perthshire, Scotland, and who 474 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO was but a child when she came to this country with her parents, John and Catherine ( Blair) Mathison, in 1852, the family locating at Tiffin, Ohio. Three years after taking up his residence at Tiffin John Mathison died. His widow later married James Anderson and in 1858 came to Greene county. where she spent the remainder of her life, she being eighty-six years of age at the time of her death. By her first marriage she was the mother of four children, of whom Mrs. Arthurs was the last-born, the others having been Mary (deceased), John (deceased) and Jessie, who married Charles Stewart. By her second marriage she was the mother of one child, a daughter, Rebecca, wife of Joseph Adams, of Yellow Springs. To Thomas A. and Jane (Mathison) Arthurs were born five children, namely : Warren, who married Genevieve Harvey and is now living at South Charleston, in the neighboring county of Clark, where he is engaged as manager of the Houston store; Stewart Thomas, who is at home running the farm; Eva Jane, also at home ; Mary Belle, who died in the days of her girlhood, and Dr. John Robert Arthurs, who was graduated from the Selma high school and 'from the dental department of Ohio State University and for the past four years or more has been practicing his profession as a dental surgeon at Dayton. Doctor Arthurs married Goldie Line and has one child, a son, John Robert. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Arthurs has continued to make her home on the home farm. She is a member of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville. ROBERT HARVEY McCLELLAN. The late Robert Harvey McClellan, who died at his farm home in Beavercreek township in the spring of 1917 and whose widow and son are still living there, the latter carrying on the operations of the home place, was a native son of Greene county, and all his life was spent here, a resident of the community in which he had lived ever since establishing his home there after his marriage in 1880. He was. born on a farm in Sugarcreek township on September 0, t852, son of Isaiah and Ann (Hamilton) McClellan, who had come up here from Kentucky and had established their home in that township, where their last days were spent. Isaiah McClellan was a member of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia and his children were reared in the faith of that communion. Isaiah McClellan was twice married and by his first wife, Sarah Woodburn, was the father of two children, Sarah, who died in 1918, and Margaret, who died in 1880. By his union with Ann Hamilton he was the father of four children, of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was the