50 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO now has a herd of registered Shorthorns, the increase of which has come to be in wide demand. Though he makes a specialty of Class B Merinos, he raises all types of this strain and is thus able to supply a wide Market. Mr. Williamson is a Republican, but had never held an elective office until 1911, when he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners from his district. By successive re-elections he has been retained in that office and in September, 1917, entered upon his fourth term. In 1915 he was appointed by Governor Willis as a member of the State Board of Agriculture and in 1918 was reappointed to that position by Governor Cox, the only Republican thus retained 0n the board. Upon the enactment of the selective draft law following this nation's declaration of war against Germany in the spring of 1917 Mr. Williamson was appointed chairman of the draft board for Greene county and has given his most thoughtful attention to the duties of that trust. For twenty-five years he has been a member of the diaconate of the First Presbyterian church at Xenia. Of late years, since the return of his son, Robert C. Williamson, from college, Mr. Williamson has had an opportunity to relax somewhat his direct attention to the affairs of his stock farm, turning much of the management of the place over to his son and partner, who in the third generation is carrying on the great sheep-breeding industry started there by his grandfather nearly sixty years ago. The old farm house which stood on that place was destroyed by fire in April, 1897, and Mr. Williamson erected in its place the dwelling in which the family now resides. On December 6, 1887, at the home of the bride on the Bellbrook pike a few miles south of Xenia, Robert Duncan Williamson was united in marriage to Ella Gowdy, who was born on that place on June 30, 1861, a daughter of Robert and Emily (Manor) Gowdy, of the pioneer Gowdy family in this county, further and fitting mention of which family is made elsewhere in this volume. The officiating clergymen at this wedding were two of the bride's brothers, the Rev. George Gowdy and the Rev. William Gowdy. To this union one child was born, a son, Robert Gowdy, born on February 21, 1890, who, as noted above, is now a partner of his father in the operation of the home farm, continuing to make his home there since his marriage. Robert G. Williamson was graduated from Cedarville College and then entered Harvard University, earning his degree there in two years. Upon his return home from college he was given charge of the farm and has since co-operated with his father in the direction of the affairs of the same. In October, 1916, Robert Gowdy Williamson was united in marriage to Ann Dickinson, daughter of the Rev. Edwin H. Dickinson, a minister of the United Presbyterian church, now stationed at Ligonier, Pennsylvania. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 51 CHARLES DARLINGTON. In the memorial annals of Greene county and of the city of Xenia there are few names held in better remembrance than that of the late Charles Darlington, a practicing attorney at Xenia from the time of his entrance into practice there until his death in 1908. He was born at Zanesville, this state, son of Capt. James and Margaret (Bowman) Darlington, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter in this state, a member of one of the old families at Zanesville. Capt. James Darlington was a steamboat captain and during the Civil War had charge of a boat in the government service. After the war he located at Zanesville, where he became a coal-mine operator and where he and his wife spent their last days. They were the parents of two children, the subject of this memorial sketch and a daughter, Virginia, widow of Arnold Green, a Cleveland attorney. Mrs. Green is a member of the Cleveland school board. Upon completing the course in the public schools of Zanesville, Charles Darlington entered Wittenberg College at Springfield and later continued his law studies under the preceptorship of his uncle, Samuel Bowman, one of the leading lawyers of that city and who had three sons, Elden, Borden and Edward Bowman, all of whom became attorneys in that city. Upon qualifying for the practice of his profession, Charles Darlington located at Xenia and for a time was associated in practice with Judge Smith, but presently resumed his practice alone and so continued until his death, which occurred at his home in Xenia in July, 1908, he then being sixty-two years of age. Mr. Darlington never aspired to public office. Originally a Democrat, he abandoned the main wing of that party in the campaign of 1896 and affiliated himself with the "gold" Democrats, later espousing the Republican cause, and voted for Major McKinley for President, ever afterward continuing in the ranks of the Republican party. He was a Scottish Rite (32̊) Mason, a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias and was a member of the Episcopal church. On August 31, 1873, Charles Darlington was united in marriage to Lissa Snively, who was born at Ft. Wayne, Indiana, daughter of Dr. David and Olivia (Bushnell) Snively, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter at Hartford, Connecticut, both long since deceased. Dr. David Snively was for more than thirty years a surgeon in the United States regular army, serving with the rank of major, and during that time was stationed at various stations at widely separated points in the United States. He is buried in the national cemetery at Arlington. He and his wife had two children, Mrs. Darlington having had a brother, Alonzo Snively, a writer of considerable note, who died in California in February, 1913. To Charles and Lissa (Snively) Darlington one child was born, a son, 52 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Capt. Charles LeRoy Darlington, who is now (1918) serving in the National Army of the United States, having enlisted his services and entered the officers training camp at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, shortly after the declaration of war against Germany in the spring of 1917, receiving a commission as captain. Charles L. Darlington was born at Xenia on May 28, 1877, and at the age of fourteen was placed in the University school at Cleveland, attending the same 'for four years, at the end of which course he entered Yale College and after a four-years course there' was graduated in 1899. He then completed his law studies in the Cincinnati Law School and after four-years course there was admitted to the bar and opened an office in the Union Trust building at Cincinnati. Upon the death of his father in the summer of 1908 Mr.. Darlington returned to his old home at Xenia and reopened his father's office and was there engaged in practice, with offices in the Steele building, until he enlisted his services in behalf of the nation's cause in the spring of 1917. During the time of his residence in Cincinnati, Charles L. Darlington was united in marriage to Louise Swing, daughter of Judge Peter Swing, of that city. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Darlington has continued to make her home at Xenia. In her church work she has given special attention to the labors of the Missionary Society. She is one of the active members of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. WILLIAM CAMPBELL DEAN. In the memorial annals of that part of Greene county comprised in what is now New Jasper township there is no name entitled to more respectful consideration than that of William Campbell Dean, who died at his home in that township in the summer of 1888, and two of whose daughters, Miss Letitia Dean and Mrs. Susan. Ballard, are still living there. The house in which they are living on ,rural mail route No. 2 out of Xenia was erected by their grandfather, Robert Dean, in 1833. It was constructed of brick burnt on the place and finished throughout in walnut cut from the midst of the magnificent forest that then marked the place. It has been noted elsewhere in this volume. that the Deans are one of the oldest and most numerous families in this section of Ohio. The family had its beginning here in 1912, when Daniel Dean came up here from Kentucky with his family of eleven children and settled on a tract of eighteen hundred acres of land he had purchased along Caesarscreek. Daniel Dean was born in the village of Tubermore, Londonderry, in the north of Ireland, in 1766, son of Roger and Mary Dean, and was eighteen years of age when he came to this country in 1784, landing at the port of Philadelphia. For about. four 53 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO years after his arrival here he sojourned in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, "getting his bearings," and then went to Kentucky and bought a tract of land in the vicinity of Mt. Sterling, in Montgomery county. A couple of years later he sent back to Ireland for his mother, his father meanwhile having died, and a year later, in 1791, he married Janet Steele, who was born in Augusta county, Virginia, but Who had moved with her parents into Kentucky, and after his marriage established his home on his land in the Mt. Sterling settlement, where he continued to live until 1812, when he disposed of his interests there and,moved up here into the valley of the Little Miami and settled on the tract of land he had previously bought with a view to removing his family from the baleful influence of the institution of human slavery that had fastened itself upon the state of Kentucky. By this time his older sons were pretty well grown and it was not long until the Dean tract on Caesars creek began to be claimed from its wilderness state and as the children married homes also were established for them there. In that pioneer home on Caesars creek Daniel Dean's mother died on July 21, 1825, she then being eighty-six years of age. His wife died on November 28, 1841, and he died on January 24, 1843, all being buried in the burial ground he had established on his land and in which many others of the Deans have since been buried. In Kentucky Daniel Dean and his wife were affiliated, with the Associate Reformed church, but upon coming up here put in their lot with that of the Associate congregation then being ministered to by the Rev. Robert Armstrong, there being here no congregation of their own communion, and were ever after active workers in the affairs of that congregation, as were their children. As noted above, there were eleven of these children, namely : Robert, the first-born, who was the father of William Campbell Dean, the subject of this memorial sketch; Mary C., who married James Moore; Janet S., who married Hugh Campbell; Elizabeth, who married James Campbell; Margaret, who married John Bickett; William, who married Catherine Shook; James, who married Elizabeth Pendray and moved to Delaware county, Indiana; Joseph, who married Hannah Boggs; Ann, who married Walter Perry; Daniel, who married Jane Campbell, and Julia, who married James Hopping. As all of these reared large families of their own, the numerous connection of the Dean family in the present generation is readily accounted for. It is worthy of note that thirty-six of the male descendants of the pioneer Daniel Dean served as soldiers of the Union during the Civil War. Robert Dean, eldest son of Daniel and Janet (Steele) Dean, was born in the vicinity of Mt. Sterling, in Montgomery county, Kentucky, in 1792, and was about nineteen years of age when he came to Greene county with his father in 1812. Not long after coming here he enlisted his services in behalf of the struggle then going on between this country and England and served 54 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO as a soldier of the War of 1812, under Capt. Robert McClellan, on a tour of duty to Ft. Wayne, over in the then Territory of Indiana. On January 8, 1818, he married Elizabeth Campbell, who was born in South Carolina and who had come to this country With her parents, Samuel and Elizabeth (English) Campbell, about the year 1815, the family settling on a tract of land in the wilderness on what is now known as the Jasper pike in New Jasper township. Samuel Campbell and his wife were born in County Antrim, Ireland, and were there married, not long afterward coming to this country and locating in South Carolina, whence they moved to Tennessee, where one of their sons, William Campbell, remained and established a home. They later moved up into Kentucky and after a sometime residence there moved up here and established their permanent home. After his marriage Robert Dean established his home on a part of his father's land that had been given him and in 1833 erected there the brick house that has been referred to above. His wife, Elizabeth, died there on September 22, 1838, and he presently married Margaret Orr and continued to make his home there until his death on May 18; 1856. Meanwhile he had added to his land holdings. He was for years an elder in the congregation of the Associate Reformed church on Caesars creek. Robert Dean was the father of eighteen children, eleven of whom were born to his union with Elizabeth Campbell, namely : Daniel A., Samuel D., William C., Janet S., who married William Cooley ; John D., Mrs. Elizabeth Harding, Robert Harvey, James Henry, who moved to Illinois; Andrew H., Joseph A. and Mary. Of these children, two are still living, Robert H. and Andrew H. By his marriage to Margaret Orr, Robert Dean was the father of seven children, namely : Albert, now deceased, who was a government inspector in the cattle yards at Kansas City ; Eli, who is now living in the neighboring county of Warren; Milton, who died in infancy ; Isaac, who also died in infancy ; Cyrus, who is now a resident of Gibbon, Nebraska; Calvin, now a resident of Boulder, Colorado, and Mrs. Martha Ann Lackey, now deceased. William Campbell Dean, third son of Robert and Elizabeth (Campbell) Dean, was born on the old Dean home place in what is now New Jasper township, but which then was a part of the original township of Caesarscreek, July 24, 1822, and there grew to manhood. He received his schooling in theneighborhood schools and as a young man went to Tennessee, where for eighteen months he was employed as a guard in the state penitentiary at Nashville. Upon his return home he married and became engaged in the grocery business in partnership with his brother Daniel at Xenia, the brothers opening at the northeast corner of Main and Detroit streets, now occupied by the Steele building, the first store for the exclusive sale of groceries ever opened in Xenia. For four years Mr. Dean continued thus engaged and then he sold his interest in the store to his brother and moved down into Clinton GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 55 county, where he was engaged in farming for three years, at the end of which time he returned to Greene county and bought the interests of the other heirs in his father's old home place, then comprising one hundred and eighty-four acres, and there established his permanent home, spending the rest of his life there, his death occurring there on August 27, 1888, he then being one month over sixty-six years of age. His widow survived him for more than eight years, her death occurring on February 13, 1897, she then being seventy-six years of age. She was born, Susan Janney, in Loudoun county, Virginia, daughter of Stephen and Letitia (Taylor) Janney, Quakers (the Janneys having become established as a family in this country with the establishment of William Penn's colony), both of whom were born in that same county, where they were married, and who came to Ohio in 1831 and settled in the Springboro neighborhood, in Warren county, where Susan Janney was living at the time of her marriage to William C. Dean on October 23, 1851. To that union were born five children, namely : Letitia E., unmarried, who is still living on the old home place, which she owns jointly with her sister, Mrs. Ballard; Anna, now living at Indianapolis and wh0 has been twice married, her first husband having been William Hazelrigg and her second, William Baldock ; William A., a retired farmer, now living at Columbus, Indiana, and a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Charles S., now living at Xenia, and a biographical sketch of whom also is presented elsewhere in this volume, and Susan, who married Edgar T. Ballard and is still living on the old home place which she owns jointly, as noted above, with her sister, Miss Letitia Dean, Mr. Ballard having charge of the operation of the farm. Miss Letitia Dean and her sister are members of the Friends church. William Campbell Dean was reared in the Associate Reformed church, but after the "union" of 1858 became affiliated with the congregation of the United Presbyterian church on the banks of the north branch of Caesars creek, half a mile north of the Jamestown road. Reared a Whig, he became a Republican upon the organization of the latter party and for years served as township trustee. BERT BLAIR. Bert Blair, proprietor of a saloon at 16 North Whiteman street, Xenia, was born at New Burlington on March 9, 1873, a son of Joseph and Josephine (Smith) Blair, both of whom also were born in Ohio, the latter in Greene county and the former in the neighboring county of Montgomery, and who were married in Greene county. Joseph Blair was born on January 19, 1844, and his wife was born on February 22, 1845. She was one of the nine children born to her parents, the others being Wesley, deceased; Louis, 56 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO a former member of the board of county commissioners of Greene county, who died while serving in that office ; Joseph, who is living at New Burlington; Mrs. John Holland, deceased ; Mrs. Arabella Calvin, deceased; Catherine, who is living in Indianapolis ; Mrs. Alice Peterson, of Dayton, and Nancy, of New Burlington. Joseph Blair had two brothers and one sister, namely : John, deceased ; William, of New Burlington, and Mrs. Arabella Reeves, of New Burlington. The parents of these children were natives of Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish stock. To Joseph Blair and wife were born seven children, those besides the subject of this sketch being James, a widower, who has two sons, Everett and Elmer ; Alva, who is married and has two children, Herman and Helen ; Frank, of Xenia ; Charles, of New Burlington; Lena, who married Berry Kelch and now lives in Chicago, and Dena, deceased. Reared at New Burlington, Bert Blair received his schooling in the schools of that village and became employed in a blacksmith shop there. Upon completing his trade he started out as a journeyman blacksmith, has travels taking him into every state of the Union. About 1902 he returned to Ohio and after a couple of years spent at Xenia again went West, remaining away for about seven years, or until 1911, when he again returned to Xenia and there became engaged in the blacksmith business in association with Nels Beal and so continued until in April, 1915, when he opened his present place of business in Xenia. On September 27., 1917, Bert Blair was united in marriage to Theresa Brennan, who was born in Xenia. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of the Improved Order of Red Men and of the Loyal Order of Moose. His father's people were Quakers and his mother's people were adherents of the Methodist Episcopal church. JAMES L. G. TROLLINGER. James L. G. Trollinger, proprietor of a farm of one hundred and seventy acres in Bath township, was born in that township and has lived there all his life. He was born on February 5, 1864, son of Nimrod and Martha (Shaw) Trollinger, natives of the state of Maryland, who were married in that state and who later came to Ohio and located in Greene county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Nimrod Trollinger was born in 1827 and grew to manhood in his native state of Maryland. There he married Martha Shaw, who was born in that same state in 1831, and in 1853 he and his wife came to Ohio and settled on a farm in Bath township, this county, where they established their home, reared their family and spent the rest of their lives. Mrs. Trollinger died GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 57 in 1896 and Nimrod Trollinger died in 1902. They were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the others being Mrs. Sarah Batdorf, of Fairfield, this county; Mrs. Mary Jane Paxton, of West Alexandria, this state; Mrs. Elizabeth Burrows, of the Osborn neighborhood in this county; Mrs. Emma C. Harner, of Xenia; Mrs. Julia M. Wolf, of Bath township; Mrs. Martha Ann Lambert, of New Carlisle, Ohio; John H. and Jacob William, twins, the former of whom is living in Bath township and the latter in Miami township, this county, and Charles, who died in his first year. Reared on the farm on which he was born in Bath township, James L. G. Trollinger received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood. After his marriage in 1887 he established his home on the farm on which he is now living, a part of the old home farm, and has ever since resided there. Mr. Trollinger has served as a member of the district and township school board, for some time clerk of the latter body; as township highway commissioner and as a trustee of the local cemetery association, of which latter organization he is now the secretary. On national issues Mr. Trollinger adheres to the Democratic party,- but in local issues reserves his right to vote independently of .political parties. In addition to his general farming he has given considerable attention to the raising of live stock. On November 17, 1887, James L. G. Trollinger was united in marriage to Rosa Flatter, who was born in Miami township, this county, and to this union one child has been born, a. daughter, Pearl Ann, who married Ray Wilson and has two children, a son, Howard L. Woodrow, and a daughter, Gladys Irene. Mr. Wilson is farming a part of Mr. Trollinger's farm and lives in a house across the road from the home of the latter. The Trollingers are members of the Reformed church and Mr. Trollinger has been an elder and a deacon of the local congregation for thirty years. SAMUEL EWING. The late ,Samuel Ewing; who formerly and for many years was one of the leading figures in the social life of the city of Xenia and who died at his home, "Roberts Villa," in that city on October 6, 1917, was born in Xenia and had spent all his life there. He was' born on September 22, 1833, and was thus past eighty-four years of age at the time of his death. In a notice regarding Mr. Ewing's death the. Cincinnati Enquirer -referred to the deceased as "a member of one of Greene county's oldest and wealthiest families." As such, Mr. Ewing, of course, had a position to maintain in the community in which he had resided all his life, and he maintained it to the day of his death, a typical "gentleman of the old school." 58 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Samuel Ewing was a son of John and Prudence W. (Roberts) Ewing, the latter of whom was born in Xenia on December 28, 1814, daughter of Silas ,and, Cassandra ( Sparks) Roberts, the former of whom was a Pennsylvanian and one of the early residents of Xenia, having settled there in 1808. Upon locating at the new town of Xenia, Silas Roberts bought a tract of two hundred and eighty acres of land immediately north of the townsite and extending south to the line now formed by Church street and gradually increased his holdings there until they comprised many hundreds of acres. Although some of this land was sold, the Roberts estate still comprises five hundred and seventy-eight acres and as all overtures in, the way of taking over and platting the same for town-lot purposes have been discouraged by the estate the growth of the city to the north in that section east of Detroit street has been effectually blocked, the only building save "Roberts Villa" in that tract being the public library, a lot for which was set off by the estate when the new library was projected. Silas . Roberts died on July 29, 1864.. His wife had preceded him to the grave nearly seventeen years, her death having occurred on, September 11, 1847. They. were married in 1814, and they had seven children, those besides Mrs. Ewing having been the following: Micajah, who died in 1883; Emesetta, who died unmarried in 1900; Diana, who died unmarried in 1914; Louisa, wife of John Lackey, who died in 1910; Mathias who died in California in 1850, and John, who died in 1872. After their brothers and sisters had gone, the Misses Emesetta and Diana Roberts continued to make their home on the old home place and in the '70s they erected there a quite remarkable big brick house, typical of a much-favored style of architecture of the period and handsomely and lavishly appointed and finished within. In that big house on the edge of town, and which has ever been styled "Roberts Villa," they spent their last days and there Samuel Ewing, who inherited it, spent his last days in lonely splendor, maintaining his position to the end. John Ewing, who was for years a merchant at Xenia, was born in Campbell county, Kentucky, January 6, 1800, a son of John and Margaret Ewing, who were reared and married in York county, Pennsylvania, and who in 1795 moved to Kentucky, moving thence in 1801 to Ohio, and until he was fourteen years of age John Ewing thereafter made his home in Hamilton and Clermont counties, this state. He then, in 1814, came up into this part of the state and became employed in the store of James Gowdy, one of the first merchants in Xenia. He continued that connection until he grew. to manhood, when Gowdy admitted him to a partnership and upon Gowdy's retirement from buisness in 1838 he became proprietor of the store continuing thus in business at Xenia until his own retirement in 1861. Originally the Ewing, or Gowdy, store was located at the corner of Main and Greene GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 59 streets, but in 1849 Mr. Ewing erected a three-story structure at the corner of Main and Whiteman streets and thereafter carried on his business in the latter building. He also built what. is now known as the Grand Hotel; but which in his day was known as the Merrick Hotel. He died at his home in Xenia in T893. His wife had long preceded him to the grave, her death having occurred in 1858, and he did not remarry. They were married on December 12, 1833, and were the parents of six children, those besides the subject of this memorial sketch being Miss Elizabeth Ewing, of Xenia; Miss Ida Ewing, of New York City; Mrs. Cummins B. Jones, of Los. Angeles, California; William Ewing, of Two Buttes, Colorado, and James Ewing, of Los Angeles. The father of these children was reared in the Covenanter church and his wife was a Methodist. EDWIN H. HUNT. Edwin H. Hunt, dealer in automobile accessories at Xenia,. was born in that city on November 18, 1886, son and only child of E. C. and Luella (Karch) Hunt, the former of whom died on January 9, 1915, and the latter of whom is still living in Xenia. She also was born in Xenia, daughter of Isaac and Cornelia (Dunham) Karch, the latter of whom was born at Bellbrook, this county. Isaac Karch was but a boy when he came to this county with his parents and he grew up, on a farm in Beavercreek township, later becoming employed as a clerk in the Millen store at Xenia, He died at his home in Xenia in 1912, he then being eighty-six years of age. The Hunts were a well-known family in Xenia in their day and are more particularly remembered by reason of the activity in local musical circles of Converse Hunt, uncle of Edwin H. Hunt, who was a singer of more than local note and who for years conducted a "conservatory of music" in Xenia. When thirteen years of age Edwin Hunt became employed in. George Galloway's drug store, where he worked for two years, at the end of which time he became a cutter in the local shoe factory. He then took employment during the summer as a baggageman on a steamer plying the waters of the Great Lakes and for two summers was thus employed. At eighteen years of age he began working in the Vanderpool bicycle establishment at Xenia and at the end of two years of that form of employment found himself possessed of a capital of fifty dollars. With this capital he opened a shop of his own for the repair of bicycles and guns, starting in the Glossinger building, and as the automobile business gradually developed added to his stock a line of accessories. In 1905 Mr. Hunt found it necessary to seek other quarters and he opened his present store at 39 West Main street, where he ever since has been engaged in business. In 1914 Mr. Hunt opened a 60 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO garage arid operated the same under the name of the Xenia Garage Company, but a year later sold that establishment and has since confined himself to his old familiar line. He was the first man in Xenia to do general automobile tire repair work, as well as the first man in that city to do acetyline welding. In June, 1906; Edwin H. Hunt was united in marriage to Evelyn Ora Ferguson, who also was born in this county, daughter of "Doc" Ferguson and wife, the former, of whom, now deceased, was for years an auctioneer in this county and the latter of whom is now living in Dayton, and to this union have been born five children, namely : Louise, born in 1907; Harold, 1909; Evelyn, 1910 ; Robert, January, 1916, and Annis, January, 1917. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt are members of Trinity Methodist Episcopal church. They own and reside on the old Clevenger place of eighteen acres on the Cincinnati pike just at the edge of town, where Mr. Hunt finds recreation in looking after a truck patch during the summers. GEORGE W. WARNER. George W. Warner, a retired farmer of Greene county, now living at Fairfield, where he has made his residence since 1886, was born on a farm three miles south of Fairfield on February 27, 1843, son of Henry and Harriet (Cosad) Warner, the latter of whom was also born in this county, her parents having been pioneers in Bath township. Henry Warner was born in the vicinity of the city of Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1803, son of George W. Warner and wife, who came to Ohio in 1826 with their family and settled in Bath township, this county. Henry Warner married here and continued to live on his father's farm after his marriage until 1845, when he moved to a farm on the Yellow Springs road, where he resided for two years, at the end of which time he moved to the village of Fairfield, but two years later returned to the old home farm. There his wife died in 1852. He survived her for many years, his death occurring in 1895. He and his wife were the, parents of ten children, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow : Mrs. Christina Koogler, of this county ; John, who died in the days of his boyhood; Paul P., a resident of the. Fairfield neighborhood; Aaron, deceased; Henry G., a resident of this county; Mrs. Sophia Dellinger, of Osborn; Mary Alice, deceased, who was the wife of Taylor Gerlaugh ; Mrs. Elizabeth Nicholas, of Versailles, this state, and Mrs. Ann Walsh, who lives two and one-half miles southwest of Fairfield. Henry Warner, the father of these children, had bought the old home place after the death of his father and there developed a fine piece of property. His parents, George W. and Christina (Harshman) Warner, came GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 61 to Ohio in 1826 and the Warners are thus one of the old families in Greene county. George W. Warner, who was given his name in honor of his father's father, was reared on the home farm" in Bath township and received his schooling in the neighborhood schools. After his marriage in 1866 he continued to make his home on the home place and there resided for ten years. He then moved to a farm a mile and a half west and there lived for nineteen years, or until his retirement from the farm in 1886 and removal to Fairfield, where he has since made his home: Mr. Warner is a Democrat and, fraternally, is affiliated with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He owned, two hundred acres of land that the Conservancy Board bought, and he then went across into Clark and Montgomery counties and bought 136 acres which he used for small grain production and potatoes. On February 6, 1866, George W. Warner was united in marriage to Elizabeth Kreider, who was born on a farm on the banks of Mad river, in the extreme northwestern part of this county, a daughter of Henry and Susan (Kirkwood) Kreider. Mr. Kreider, a blacksmith, came from Pennsylvania to Ohio in an early. day and located in Montgomery county, later coming to Greene county and moving from here to .Springfield, where he died. His wife died while living in Greene county. They had three children, Elizabeth, who married Mr. Warner; Susan, deceased, and Mary, who. married Frank Miller. The family belonged to the Reformed church. C. HOWARD LITTLE. C. Howard Little, former president, of the Xenia city council and vice-president and treasurer and general office manager of the Xenia Grain Company, wholesale grain dealers, with offices in the Allen building at Xenia and an elevator at. Bowersville, was born at the village of Jamestown, this county, February 25, 1870, son of Asa and. Margaret (Moorman) Little, both of whom also were born in this county, members of pioneer families, and who are still living, making their home at Xenia. Asa Little was born on a farm in Ross township in June, 1843, son of Robert and Elizabeth (Hiett) Little, who were .born in Hampshire county, Virginia, where they grew up and were married. In the year in which they were married Robert Little and his wife came to Ohio and settled on a farm in the woods in Ross. township, this county,. where they established their home and reared their family, becoming substantial pioneers of that community., They were among the leaders .in the local congregation of the Campbellite, or Christian, church in their neighborhood and Robert Little acquired more' than a merely local reputation as a preacher of that faith, filling 62 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO the pulpit of the local church in the absence of a regular pastor. He was reared a Whig and later became a Republican and for several years served his community as township trustee. He became the owner of a farm of about four hundred acres. He died in 1878, at the age of sixty-five years, and his widow survived him for ten years, her death occurring in 1888, she then being eighty-two years of age. They were the parents of six children, namely : J. H., now deceased, who lived at Yellow Springs; the late Hon. John Little, for years prominent in public life here ; Lucy, who married Joseph Ritenour, a farmer of Ross township and is now deceased; Mrs. Emily Birch, Wife of a merchant at Yellow Springs ; Asa, father of the subject of this sketch, and Anna, who married Henry Flagg, of Xenia, and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased. Reared on the home farm in Ross township, Asa Little completed his schooling at Antioch College and for fifteen years thereafter was engaged in teaching school, most of this time being spent in the schools of the neighboring county of Madison, although for some time he was superintendent of the schools at Yellow Springs. He als0 served for a time as superintendent of the schools at South Solon and at Sedalia. He then became engaged in the grain business at Yellow Springs and for four years was the owner of an elevator there and for a, few years also had a lease on the Oldtown mill. In 1890 he was elected treasurer of Greene county, nominee of the Republican party, and in 1892 was re-elected to that office, thus serving as treasurer of the county for two terms, or four years, during which time he made his home in Xenia. Upon leaving the county treasurer's office he bought a farm of two hundred acres in Beavercreek township and there made his home until his retirement in 1913 and removal to Xenia, where he and his wife are now living, at 816 North King street. They are members of the Christian church at Xenia. Mrs. Little was born, Margaret Moorman, in Silvercreek township, this county, daughter of Charles and Matilda (Watson) Moorman, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter in Pennsylvania. Charles Moorman was but nine years of age when he came with his parents to this county from Virginia, the family settling in Silvercreek township. To Asa and Margaret (Moorman) Little were born two sons, the subject of this sketch having had a younger brother, Arthur Ward, born in 1877, who died in 1880. C. Howard Little's early schooling was obtained in the various schools taught by his father and he completed the same by attendance at Antioch College and' at Nelson's Business College at Springfield,. When his father engaged in the grain business at Yellow Springs he became an active assistant in the management of that business and was thus engaged until 1897, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 63 when he was made office manager for the Miami Grain Company at Xenia and so continued in the grain business in the latter city until 1910, when the Xenia Grain Company was organized and he was elected vice-president and treasurer of the same and also made office manager, the other officers being G. N. Perrill, president, and A. V. Perrill, secretary. This company maintains an elevator at Bowersville and offices in the Allen building at Xenia. Mr. Little is a, Republican and was serving as president of the Xenia city council when the local government was changed to that of a commission form of government. On December 25, 1905, C. Howard Little was united in marriage to Annie Lehow, who was born in Colorado, daughter of Charles and Mary E. Lehow, both now deceased, and to this union two children have been born, Margaret, born in 1907, and Lehow, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Little are members of the Episcopal church and Mr. Little is a member of the vestry of the same. Their home is at 810 North King street. LESTER DUNCAN BALL. Lester Duncan Ball, a dealer in and shipper of poultry at Xenia, is a native son of Greene county, born in the village of Spring Valley on November 4, 1886, a son of William G. and Martha (Gartrell) Ball, both of whom also were born in this county and here spent all their lives, the former dying at Xenia on January 6, 1913, and the latter, in October, 1911. William G. Ball was born on a farm in the neighborhood of Yellow Springs and there grew to manhood. His parents came to this county from Pennsylvania.. About 1880, at Spring Valley, he married Martha Gartrell, who was born at Yellow Springs, daughter of Robert Gartrell, and after his marriage began farming on his own account and so continued until about 1895, when he became engaged in the poultry business at Spring Valley and about 1902 moved to Xenia and there opened an establishment in South Collier street, where he continued engaged in the poultry business until his death. His wife had preceded him to the grave about two years, as noted above. William. G. Ball and his wife were adherents of the Presbyterian church. They Were the parents of four children, three of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Halleck, living at Richmond, Indiana, and a sister, Helen M., who is living at Osborn, this county. The other child, Ernest, died in infancy. Halleck Ball married Maude Armentrout and to that union five children have been born, two of whom are living. Lester D. Ball "'grew up" at Spring Valley, attending the schools of 64 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO that village, and when eighteen or nineteen years of age became employed in the express company's office at Xenia and. was thus engaged for seven years, during which time he rose to the position of local agent for the company. Upon the death of his father in 1913 he left the express company's office and took over the poultry business his father had built up at Xenia and has ever since been engaged in that business, shipping: to New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other points East. On July 14, 1910, at Xenia, Lester D. Ball was united in 'marriage to Gertrude Shelly, daughter of Frank and Minnie (Mitchell) Shelly,. of Xenia, who were married. on August 2; 1887, and who have two children, Mrs. Ball having a. brother, Cary Shelly, who is now living at New Madison, this state. Mt. and Mrs. Ball have one child, a son, Lawrence .Leroy, who was born on August 2, 1913. They attend the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Ball is an "independent" voter. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Xenia. ANDREW H. CRESWELL. One of the substantial and successful farmers who has been a lifelong resident of Cedarville township is Andrew H. Creswell, who was born .on. the farm adjoining the one where he "now lives on January 2, 1856, the son of Samuel and Eliza (Huffman) Creswell, pioneers of Greene county. Samuel Creswell was born on the same farm where his son Andrew H. was born, in the year 1820, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-three years on this same farm, his death occurring in 1912. His wife, Eliza (Huffman) Creswell, died in I914, at the age of eighty-four years. They were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth, the others 'being as follows : Martha Ann, the widow of J. S. Turnbull, of Ross township; Sarah, the wife of Alexander Kyle, a farmer of Cedarville township; Mary, living at home; James H., a farmer of Cedarville township; Julia, the' wife of W. R. Sterrett, of Cedarville; William H., also a farmer of this township; George H., living on the old home farm; Nettie, the widow of James Ervin, of Xenia, and Ida, who is now living in Cedarville township, widow of J. H. Stormont. Samuel Creswell inherited one hundred and fifty acres of land at the time of his father's death, and at the time of his death was the owner of two hundred acres. He and his wife were members of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville. Mr. Cresswell was a Republican during most of his long and useful life, but for twenty years before his death espoused the cause of prohibition. He always took an active interest in the civic GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 65 and social affairs of his community and was for years a director of the school board of his township. The paternal grandparents of Andrew H. Creswell were James Creswell and wife, who emigrated from Kentucky to Ohio in a very early day, coming here in 1804 with the Rev. Robert Armstrong, and in the then new country established the Associate Reformed church, of which he and his family were devout members. They were the parents of four sons and one (laughter, all now deceased. A complete sketch of the ancestry of Mr. Creswell will be found elsewhere in this volume. Andrew H. Creswell received his early education in the district schools of Cedarville township, later attending the high school at Cedarville. He was reared to the life of a farmer, and upon leaving the paternal home purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Cedarville township, two miles southeast of the village of the same name, and has lived there ever since. He is engaged in general farming and stock raising, and ranks among the progressive farmers of the county. He has rendered public service as a member of the board of township trustees. On November 26, 1896, Andrew H. Creswell was married to Rachel Kyle, the (laughter of Joseph and Hanassah (Kennedy) Kyle. Mrs. Creswell is a member of a family that has been connected with this portion of the state for nearly a century and is a sister of the Rev. Joseph Kyle, D. D., now president of Xenia Theological Seminary. Mr. and Mrs. Creswell are adherents of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville and Mr. Creswell has served as trustee of the local congregation most of the time for forty years. JAMES H. CANADAY. James H. Canaday, chief of police of Xenia, is a native son of Ohio and has been a resident of Xenia since he was fifteen years of age. He was born at Gallipolis, in Gallia county, June 16, 1866, a son of Reuben S. and Elizabeth (Adler) Canaday, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter of whom was of European birth, who later became residents of Xenia, but after some years of residence in that city returned to Gallipolis, where their last days were spent. Reuben S. Canaday was born on August 26, 1841, of Scotch-Irish and French-Canadian parentage, and was but a youth when he left his native Virginia and came to Ohio, locating at Gallipolis, where he presently became engaged in the butcher and grocery business and where, on July 4, 1861, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Adler, who was born in the (4) 66 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO grand duchy of Baden on July 28, 1840, and who was but eight years of age when she came to this country with her parents in 1848, the family locating at Gallipolis, Ohio. After his marriage Reuben S. Canaday continued in business at Gallipolis until the spring of 1881, when he disposed of his interests there and moved to Xenia, arriving in the latter city with his family on April 7 of that year. There he became engaged in the grocery business and so continued until 1892, when he and his wife returned to Gallipolis, where they spent the remainder of their lives, his death occurring on June I, 1906, and hers, March 7, 1913. They were the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being as follows : William R., of Logan, West Virginia, who married Laura Betz and has three children; John P. and George B., twins, who died in infancy; Reuben H., of East Liverpool, Ohio, who is married and has one child; the Rev. Fred L. Canaday, unmarried, who is an evangelist and makes his home at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Scott, 0f Rutland, this state, who is married and has one child; Myrtle, who married U. S. Losey, now living at Columbus, Indiana, and has two children, and Belle, who married J. C. Kearney and is now living at Detroit, Michigan. James H. Canaday's early youth was spent in Gallipolis, where he completed the eighth-grade course in the public schools. He was fifteen years of age when his parents moved to Xenia in 1881 and for a. few years after his arrival in that city he was engaged in his father's store. He then became employed as a clerk in the H. E. Schmidt grocery and was thus engaged for twenty-one years, or until the time of his appointment to the position .of chief of police for the city of Xenia on February 1, 1914. The Chief is a Democrat. Chief Canaday has been twice married. On September 15, 1887, he was united in marriage to Della Strickle, who was born in Xenia, a (laughter of Samuel Strickle and wife, the latter of whom was an Anderson, also born in Xenia, and to that union were born four children, namely : Robert, born on May 26, 1890, now living at North Platte, Nebraska, who is married and has one child, a son, James Woodrow ; Lawrence, October 31, 1893, also now living in. Nebraska, who is married and has one child, a son, James William; Thyra, January 29, 1896, who died on November 12, 1898, and Fern, June 23, 1898, who is now living in Cincinnati. The mother of these children died at Gallipolis on September 4, 1898, and on January 10, 1901, Mr. Canaday married Gertrude Gatrell, who also was born in Xenia, daughter of William and Mary (Ginn) Gatrell, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Marion W., born on May 16, 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Canaday are members of Trinity Methodist Episcopal church at Xenia. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 67 WILLIAM HULICK BLAIR. The late William Hulick Blair, former editor of the Cedarville Herald, who (lied in Loveland in 1909, and whose widow and daughter are now making their home in Cedarville, was a native son of Ohio and all his life was spent in this state. He was born at Georgetown, in Brown county, April 16, 1857, son of Brice R. and Margaret (Kirkpatrick) Blair, the latter of whom spent her last clays at Clifton, this county. Brice R. Blair also was born in Brown county, this state, and there became a cabinet-maker and contracting carpenter, following that vocation the rest of his life. He was twice married. His first wife, Elizabeth Dim-mitt, died in 1851. To that first union there were born ten children, Erastus, Ezekiel, George, Ann, Kezia, John (now a resident of Ripley, Ohio), Irene (Mrs. McCreight, of Jamestown), and three who died in childhood. Upon the death of the mother of these children Brice R. Blair married Margaret Kirkpatrick and to that union were born three children, the subject of this memorial sketch having had a sister, Emma, who is a teacher in the Girls Industrial School at Delaware, this state, and a brother, Charles Blair, now deceased, who was engaged in newspaper work in Cincinnati. Brice R. Blair died in Brown county and his widow later came to Greene county, her last days being spent at Clifton, where she died on March 10, 1908. They were members of the Presbyterian church and their children were reared in that faith. William H. Blair spent his youth in his native county and there received his schooling, later becoming a school teacher.. He early took up newspaper work and became a trained editor and publisher. Years ago he came to this county and became engaged in the newspaper business at Jamestown, at the same time becoming associated there with his brother-in-law, M. T. McCright, in the mercantile business. Mr. Blair later bought the Cedarville Herald and for about eight years was editor and publisher of that paper, establishing his home at Cedarville. His newspaper activities were not confined to the Herald and he became the owner of a string of newspapers in this part of the state, including the Morrow Tribune as well as a German paper at Morrow, the Tri-County Press at Loveland and a paper at Blanchester, continuing actively engaged in the newspaper business until his death on April 11, 1909. He also for some time had been a resident of Loveland. Mr. Blair was a Republican and his newspapers reflected his views on the political questions of the day. He was a Mason, past master of the lodge at Jamestown, and a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He was a Presbyterian, affiliated with the church at Loveland. On September 22, 1894, at Cedarville, William H. Blair was united 68 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO in marriage to Edith Satterfield, who was born in that village, daughter of James P. and Jane T. (Milbourn) Satterfield, who were born at Martinsburg, West Virginia, where they were married, later coming to Ohio and locating on a farm in the neighborhood of Urbana, from which place they presently moved to Cedarville, where Mr. Satterfield became engaged in the mercantile business and also operated a lime kiln. James P. Satterfield was born on February 8, 1826, and died at the age of seventy-five years. His widow, who survived him for some years, was born on June 12, 1826, and lived to be eighty-two years of age. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their children were reared in that faith. There were five of these children, those besides Mrs. Blair, the last in order of birth, being Robinson, who was a bookkeeper and who died in 1888 ; Stewart, a retired farmer, now living at Atlanta, Illinois; Collett, an artist and a traveling man, now a resident of Los Angeles, California, and Oscar, who is a rural mail carrier out of Cedarville. To William H. and Edith (Satterfield) Blair one child was born, a daughter, Kathleen M., who was graduated from the high school at Loveland, later attended Miami University and Cedarville College and is now a member of the teaching staff of the Cedarville schools, making her home with her mother. Mrs. Blair and her daughter are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Cedarville. HON. HORACE ANKENEY. The Hon. Horace Ankeney, former member of the Ohio state Legislature from this district and a former member of the Ohio state dairy and food commission, was born in a log house on the farm on which he is now living, in Beavercreek township, this county, rural mail route No. 7 out of Xenia, February 11, 1850, son of Samuel and Margaret (Gettard) Ankeney, further and fitting mention of whom, together with a comprehensive review of the history of, the Ankeney family in Greene county, is made elsewhere in this volume. Samuel Ankeney was a son of David and Elizabeth Ankeney, who settled in this county in 1830, having come to this state in that year from Maryland, and the Ankeneys have ever since been prominently represented here. Horace Ankeney grew up on the home farm in Beavercreek township, received his early schooling in the schools of that neighborhood, prepared for college by attendance at a select school at Xenia and in the fall of 1867, he then being but seventeen years of age, entered Miami University, from which institution he was graduated in 1872 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, later receiving from the university his Master degree. Upon his GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 69 return from the university Mr. Ankeney resumed his place on the farm and during the succeeding two winters was engaged in teaching in his old home school, meantime continuing to systematize his farm operations on that part of the home farm of which he had taken charge and on which he is still living, having permanently established his home there after his marriage in the fall of 1879. During the early '80s Mr. Ankeney was elected director of the county infirmary and he was retained in that position until his resignation in 1889. In 1881 he was elected director of schools in his district and he retained that position until 1901. In this connection it may be said that Mr. Ankeney's administration of affairs at the county infirmary was marked by reforms in that institution that attracted state-wide notice. It also is worthy of note that it was while he was a member of the school board in Beavercreek township that township was the first township in the state to adopt the system of township supervision of schools. During his later service in the Legislature Mr. Ankeney took an active part in promoting reforms in the laws regulating the country schools of the state. Mr. Ankeney's first nomination for the Legislature came to him in 1890, but he was unsuccessful in that race, as well as in a succeeding race. In 1899 his friends insisted that he again make the race and he was elected by a large majority. He was re-elected at the next election and thus served as a member of the House during the sessions of 1900 and 1902. Upon the completion of his legislative service Mr. Ankeney was elected a member of the state dairy and food commission, taking his seat in that body in February, 1903, and thus served for two terms, at the end of which time he returned to the operation of his farm, which since has engaged his attention. Mr. Ankeney and his family are members of the Reformed church and he is the vice-president of the foreign missionary board of that church in the United States, this office constituting him ex-officio a member of the executive board of that body, which holds meetings about eight times a year in Philadelphia, which meetings he attends. In 1888 he was elected treasurer of Heidelberg Theological Seminary, then located at Tiffin, but now the Central Theological Seminary at Dayton, and he still occupies that position. He also is treasurer of the Ohio State Rural Life Associaeion. Politically, Mr. Ankeney is a Republican and has for years been an, active factor in the activities of that party throughout this part of the state. On October 14, 1879, Horace Ankeney was united in marriage to Lina Gertrude Cline, one of his former pupils, who also was born in this county, daughter of William and Nancy A. (Hamer) Cline, and to this union seven children have been born, namely: Florence., wife of the Rev. W. T. Mabon, of Bellefontaine ; Samuel, who is engaged in business at Dayton; Alfred. who is engaged in missionary service in Japan; Elizabeth T., who is at 70 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO home; William M., who was graduated from the medical department of the Western Reserve University at Cleveland in 1918; Herman K., at home, and Rachel H., now a student at Heidelberg University at Tiffin. HON. WILLIAM BRADFUTE BRYSON. The Hon. William Bradfute Bryson, representative from Greene county in the Ohio state Legislature, a member of the Greene county board of education, an extensive landowner and well-known horseman, was born on the farm on which he is now living, one mile north of Xenia on the Clifton-Oldtown pike, in Xenia township, August 19, 1854, a son of James and Nancy A. (Bradfute) Bryson, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Greene county, whose last days were spent on the home farm north of Xenia. James Bryson was born on a farm in the neighborhood of Watsontown, in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, March I, 1815, and was nineteen years of age when he came to Ohio with his parents, Robert and Hannah (Corry) Bryson, the family settling on a farm just north of Xenia. Robert Bryson and his wife also were born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, of sturdy Covenanter stock, and it was on account of the presence in Greene county of a considerable colony of Covenanters that they determined to come out here and establish their home. In 1834 they disposed of their interests in Pennsylvania and drove through with their family to the point which they had determined on as their future place of residence, coming through. with their essential household goods in a wagon and driving their stock along with them. Upon his arrival in Greene county Robert Bryson bought a tract of two hundred acres a mile north of Xenia, on the Clifton-Oldtown pike, in Xenia township, and there established the family home, he and his wife spending the remainder of their lives there. They were the parents of eight children, of whom James Bryson was the second in order of birth, the others being as follows : Matthew, who went West and spent his last days in Nebraska; Robert, who died while attending Miami University, where he was preparing for the ministry; Hester, who married John Miller and spent her last days on a farm on Clarks run in this county; Nancy, who married Samuel Nisbit and spent her last days at Cedarville; Ellen, who was the wife of John Williamson, also of Cedarville; Rebecca, who was unmarried and who after her mother's death remained as housekeeper for her father, and Ann, who died during the days of her girlhood. As noted above, James Bryson was nineteen years of age when he came to Greene county in 1834 and he at once took an active part in the labors of developing and improving the home farm, remaining with his father until the latter's death, when he bought the interests of the other heirs and there con- GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 71 tinued to make his home for years. He added to the original home farm until it contained more than three hundred acres and also bought the old Sexton farm adjoining, on which is the spring which traditionally is said to have been the birthplace of the great Indian chief Tecumseh. In 1879 James Bryson bought a tract of three hundred acres one miles north of Xenia and there in 1880 he erected a large brick house,. facing the Springfield pike, where he made his home the rest of his life. He also owned a hundred-acre farm on the Little Miami, near the village of Trebein, and had other interests in the county. Upon the organization of. the Republican party James Bryson became affiliated with the same. For years he was a member of the board of trustees and an elder of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia, continuing earnest in good works until his death in 1911, he then being at the age of ninety-seven years. On March 17, 1853, James Bryson was united in marriage to Nancy A. Bradfute, who was born. in Cedarville township, this county, January 1o, 1828, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Anderson) Bradfute, of the Cedarville neighborhood, the former of whom had come to this country from his native Scotland as a young man and had settled in this county. To James and Nancy A. (Bradfute) Bryson were born four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born; the others being Nettie, who died when four years of age, in 1861; Robert Edwin, born on July 29, 1860, a retired farmer now living in North Detroit street in Xenia, who married Ella Williamson and has four children, Harold, Agnes Louise, Martha Lucille and James C.; and Agnew E., unmarried, who continues to live on the farm in Xenia township where his father spent his last days and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. William B. Bryson was reared to the life of the farm. Upon completing the course in the district school he entered the old Xenia College on East Church street and after a further course there entered Monmouth College at Monmouth, Illinois, and was graduated from the same in 1876. While at Monmouth .Mr. Bryson became acquainted with the girl, a fellow student, who a few years later became his wife. Upon his graduation. from college Mr. Bryson returned to the home farm and entered upon the duties of operating the place. In 1881, shortly after his marriage, he bought the home place of three hundred and twenty-five acres, remodeled the house and there established his home on the place on which he was born and on which his grandfather had settled upon coming here in 1834. In 1913 this house was destroyed by fire and Mr. Bryson straightway erected a new dwelling place. Mr. Bryson has added to his holdings until he now is the owner of nearly seven hundred acres in the vicinity of Xenia, including the Collins farm of two hundred acres, the Carroll farm of one hundred acres adjoining his place on 72 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO the east and the Kelsey farm of about one hundred acres on the south. In 1890 Mr. Bryson began definitely his career as a successful breeder of fine horses. Not only has he earned a reputation as a breeder of fine horses, but for years his services as a lecturer before farmers institutes have been in demand and he also has done good service by giving a course of lectures on the subject at Wilberforce University. For years he kept a stable of a hundred or more head of fine horses, but of late years has not carried on his operations in that line quite so extensively, the popularity of the automobile having lessened the market for driving horses, though he still keeps in his stables from forty to fifty head to meet the demand. Mr. Bryson's specialty has been the Wilkes strain and for twenty-five years he has held annual sales at his farm. For years Mr. Bryson kept a string of horses, making the circuit of the best tracks in the country and kept on his place a competent trainer, racing merely to create marks for his sires, among some of his most noted horses having been the following : "West Egbert," son of "Egbert," Mr. Bryson's first fast sire; the sire "Tom Keene," with a mark of 2 :04 1/4 and the sire of more than thirty fast colts; "Wilmons," 2 :17 3/4, son of "Simmons," sire of a number of fast colts, one of which, "Harry Mack," had a mark of 2 :08 3/4 and. another, "Robert K.," 2 :10 1/2, and "Wildemar," 2 :16%, son of "Wilmons" and sire of twelve fast colts. For two seasons Mr. Bryson has been the judge at the Ohio State Fair Association's race track and has many times acted as judge in show rings. He also for years has served as a member of the county fair board. Mr. Bryson has for years been looked upon as one of the leaders of the Republican party in Greene county. In 1914 he was elected to represent Greene county in the state Legislature and served during the session of 1915, doing conspicuous service in that session as ,chairman of the House committee on prison reform. In 1916 he was re-elected and though the Republicans occupied the minority side of the House during the session of 1917 he was able, by diplomatic methods, to render some really valuable service, particularly as a member of the committee on agriculture, and was successful in getting through more bills than any other Republican member of the House. For many years Mr. Bryson served as a member of the Xenia township school board and is now a member of the Greene county board, of education. When an attempt was made in the House of Representatives to do away with district supervisors, an important department of the new system of education in this state, Mr. Bryson vigorously defended the system and his speech in the House on that subject was given the credit for having defeated the reactionary attempt to weaken the new system. On November 10, 1880, at Monmouth, Illinois, William B. Bryson was united in marriage to Mary Louise Graham, who was born in that city, a GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 73 daughter of David and Elizabeth Graham, the former of whom was one of the founders of. Monmouth College, the proprietor of a dry-goods store in Monmouth and the owner of fifteen hundred acres of land in the vicinity of that city. Mrs. Bryson is a graduate of Monmouth College. Mr. and Mrs. Bryson have three sons, William Graham, James Robert and David Brown, all of whom have followed their parents in the ways of learning at the latters' alma mater. William G. Bryson, the eldest son, also got his wife at Monmouth, he there having met Jessie Graham, who though bearing the same surname as that of his mother is not related to the latter by ties of consanguinity, and not long after his graduation from Monmouth married her. They have two daughters, Mary Elizabeth and . Sarah Frances. William G. Bryson is operating a part of his father's farm north of Xenia and he and his family live across the highway from the home of his parents. James R. Bryson, who also was graduated from Monmouth College, married Mary Fay and now lives on one of his father's farms, the old Carroll place, which he is operating. David B. Bryson is now (1918) a student at Monmouth College and is a member of the College Glee Club, in-which he sings bass. The Brysons are members of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia. For years Mr. Bryson has been an elder of his church and for thirty-three consecutive years has been superintendent of the mission Sabbath school maintained by that church at Goes Station. ASA CLAY MESSENGER, M. D. Dr. Asa Clay Messenger, health officer for the city of Xenia, a member of the school board of that city, formerly and for years resident physician at the Ohio State Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home at Xenia and since that period of service and for the past fifteen years engaged in the general practice of his profession at Xenia, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Xenia since the spring of 1892. He was born at Jackson, county seat of Jackson county, November 20, 1861, only son and last born of the four children born to Capt. Henry, Clay and Sophia Eliza (Isham) Messenger. Capt. Henry Clay Messenger's father was a native of New Hampshire and his mother, of Vermont. They were married in the East and then came to Ohio, locating at Granville, in Licking county, where they established their home, but later removed to Utica, Licking county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. The Captain there grew to manhood and early became qualified as a civil engineer, in which capacity he was working for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad when, at Jackson, he met and married Sophia Eliza Isam, who was born in that city, daughter of Dr. Asa W. Isham, a pioneer 74 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO physician of that place, one of the acts for which he still is gratefully remembered there having been the gift of the tract of ground upon which the first Presbyterian church in Jackson was erected. Captain Messenger was stationed at Jackson when the Civil War broke out. He at once proceeded to raise a company, which was organized as Company C, Fifty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry ; was chosen captain of the same and was .commanding the company when stricken with mortal illness in camp, his death occurring at Moscow, Tennessee, in April, 1863. His body was brought back to Ohio and was interred in the cemetery at Jackson, where many years later the body of his widow was laid beside it. She remained faithful to the memory of her soldier husband and her last days were spent in the home of her son, Doctor Messenger, at Xenia, she having accompanied him to that city when he located there in 1892, her death occurring- there in February, 1916. She was a member of the Presbyterian church. To Captain Mecsenger and his wife were born four children, the Doctor having had three sisters, namely : Nellie M., who married the Rev. C. E. Tedford, a Presbyterian minister, and died at Huntsville, Ohio, in 1907; Mary M., wife of the Rev. J. K. Gibson, present chaplain of the National Soldiers Home at Dayton, and Fannie M., wife of the Rev. Reese W. Edwards, of Jacksonville, Florida, pastor at large for the Presbyterian church in the state of Florida. Following his graduation from the high school at Jackson, Doctor Messenger took a post-graduate course in the high school and then entered the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1884. Upon receiving his diploma Doctor Messenger opened an office at Coalton, in his native county, and five years later, in his old home county of Jackson, was married. He remained in practice at Coalton from January 1, 1885, until his appointment seven years later by Governor McKinley to the post of resident physician at the Ohio State Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home at Xenia, entering upon the duties of that position in the spring of 1892. Doctor Messenger continued his service at the Home for eleven years, or until 1903, when. he opened an office and became engaged in general practice at Xenia, where he ever since has been thus engaged. In that same year the Doctor took a special course in the study of diseases of children at the Post Graduate Medical School at New York. The Doctor is a member of the Greene County Medical Society, of the Ohio State Medical Society, of the American Medical Association and of the Ohio Second District Medical Society, which latter he has served as secretary and as president. For the past twelve years or more Doctor Messenger has been the local health officer at Xenia, was one of the organizers of the Miami Valley Health Officers Association, and has served on the officiary of that organization. For the past twelve years the Doctor also has been serving as a mem-