GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 625 namely : Laura, wife of William Northrop, of Coshocton, this state; Thomas, who. married Ella Luce and is living at Springfield, this state; Leah, wife of William Huntington, of Lima, Ohio ; William, who died in the days of his childhood; Charles, who married Della St. John and is now farming in the vicinity of Edler, Colorado ; John and George, who remained with their parents and are still operating the old home farm in Cedarville township; Lulu, wife of Walter Iliff; a building contractor at Cedarville, and Mary, wife of Robert Townsley, of Cedarville township. The Johnson brothers, John and George, in addition to their general farming, give considerable attention to the raising of live stock and have Red Polled cattle, Jersey hogs and Belgian horses. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and in their political affiliations are Republicans. John Johnson is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias. JOHN SMITH For many years John Smith, who died at his home in Ceasarscreek township, this county,, January 31, 1883, eighty-four years of age at the time of his death,. had been a resident of this county since he was eighteen years of age and in consequence was thoroughly familiar with the main facts of the development of this region. during the long period covered by that tenure of residence. John Smith was a Virginian, born in Rappahannock county, in the Old Dominion, February 14, 1798, and was eighteen years of age when he came over into Ohio, riding through on horseback, and located in Greene county. For decades after taking up his residence here he made it a point every ten years to ride back to his old home in Virginia, going over the ground on horseback he had covered upon coming out here in 1816. In due time after his arrival here Mr. Smith got a tract of land in Caesarscreek township, married Margaret Burrell, a member of one of the pioneer families of this section, she having been born in' Caesarscreek township on August 16, 1806, and established his home in that township, continuing to spend the rest of his life there. Originally a Whig, he became a Republican 'upon the organization of the latter party.. He was one of the early assessors of Caesarscreek township and, as is related elsewhere in this volume in a further reference to this pioneer, had quite a time convincing some of his neighbors that it was their duty to return their property for taxation. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. John Smith was twice married. His first wife, Margaret Burrell; of whom further mention is made elsewhere in this volume, together wth something relating to the history of the Burrells in this county, died on January (39) 626 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO 23, 1849, obeing then in the forty-third year of her age, and he later married Nancy Wright, this latter union being without issue. By his first Marriage John Smith was the father of twelve children, namely : Burrell, William, Eleanor, Henry, Susan Ann, Eli, Elizabeth, Nancy, Alfred, Mary Jane, Margaret, born on February 21, 1844, who is now living on her farm in Jefferson township, this county, widow of James W. Clark, and Emily. Margaret Smith was married on May 8, 1878, to James W. Clark, who was born in Rappahannock county, Virginia, and who had rendered service as a soldier of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Not long after the close of the war James W. Clark came to Ohio and located in this county, where in the, spring of 1878 he married Margaret Smith. For eight years after his marriage he made his home on a farm in Jefferson township and then bought the farm Of thirty acres on which his widow is now living in that same township, rural mail route No. 3 out of Jamestown, and there he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on July 26, 1904. To Mr. and Mrs. Clark was born one child, a son, .John Edgar, who died in the days of his childhood. Since thedeath of her husband Mrs. Clark has continued to make her home on the home farm, the place being looked after by Orville Fawley, who with his family has made his home there since March 20, 1905. Orville Fawley was married on December 22, 1909, to Myrtle Sturgeon and has three children, Helen M., George A. and Aletha I. Mrs. Fawley was born at Jamestown, this county, daughter and only child of Albert and Flora. (Tidd). Sturgeon, the latter of whom, a daughter of Josiah B. Tidd, died in 1902 and the former of whom is now living in the village of Selma, in the neighboring county of Clark. Mr. Fawley was born at Paintersville, a son of George and Laura Fawley. CHARLES M. JOHNSON. The late Charles M. Johnson, who died at his stock farm in the vicinity of Jamestown in the spring of 1914 and whose widow is still living there, occupying .the place that has been in the possession of the Johnson family for four generations, was born in this county and all his life was spent here. He was born at Bell Center on March 23, 1861, son and only child of Alfred and Mary (McClain) Johnson, both of whom also were born in this county. Alfred Johnson was born on January 13, 1838, a son of James C. and Jane (Greenwood) Johnson, who came to his county from Virginia and settled at Bell Center. James. C. Johnson was elected to various offices of trust and responsibility. He and his wife were members of the United Presbyterian church. Upon their retirement from the farm they moved GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 627 to Jamestown, where their last days were spent, James C. Johnson dying there in 1876, at the of seventy-five years, and his widow surviving him until 1900, she being ninety years of age at the time of her death. They were the parents of three children; Alfred.having had 'a brother, Harvey, who moved to Iowa, and a sister, Delia, who married Charles Mahan and went to Van Wert, this state. Reared on the home place, Alfred Johnson received his schooling in the local schools and early took up the duties of the farm, which in time came under his control and he was for years engaged there in farming, and stock raising. He also for several terms served as a member of the board of county commissioners. On April 15, 186o, he 'married Mary McClain,' who was born on February 3, 1842, and who died in 1884. He survived his wife many years, his death occurring on August 20, 1914. He and his wife were members of the Friends church. Charles M. Johrison received his schooling in the Jamestown schools and after his marriage he established his home on the home farm, and after his father's retirement took over the management of the place, which he continued to operate until his death on March 23, 1914. Mr. Johnson was a Republican and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Jamestown, as is his .Widow. . On May 28, 1885, Charles M. Johnson was united in marriage to Lulu D. Vernon, who was born in Wood county, this state, daughter of Hannum and Semilda (Crain) Vernon, the former of whom was born in that same county, February 15, 1839, and the latter, in Illinois, December 26, 1841. Hannum Vernon was a plasterer and in 1865 located at. Dayton, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives; her death occurring there on January 5, 1892, and his, June I, 1910. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and had two children, Mrs. Johnson having a brother, Charles Elmer Vernon, born on May 16, 1876, who still resides at Dayton, where he is engaged as a city salesman for the Dayton Iron and Steel Company. Charles E. Vernon married Ethel Slorp, who died on April 3, 1918. To Charles E. and Lulu D. (Vernon) Johnson were born two sons, James A., born on January 23, 1897, and Morgan D., July 30, 1904, the latter of whom. is attending school at Jamestown. James A. Johnson. received his schooling in the Jamestown schools and later attended a school for electrical engineering at Milwaukee. He married Louise Adsit, of this county, born on April 23, 1897, and is now the head of the Jamestown Floral Company at Jamestown, operated by his father-in-law, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume. Besides owning the home farm of eighty-five acres in the Jamestown vicinity, Mrs. Johnson owns, a farm of three hundred and fifteen acres in Ross township. 628 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO EDWARD O. GERLAUGH. The late Edward O. Gerlaugh, who for years was looked upon as one of the leading agriculturists of Beavercreek township and whose widow is still living on the home farm in that township, he operations of the same being carried on by her youngest son, Earl C. Gerlaugh, was a native Buckeye, born on a farm in the neighboring county of Montgomery on February 27, 1846, a son of Jacob and Anna (Miller) Gerlaugh, the latter of whom was born in Virginia, but who had come to Ohio in the days of her girlhood and was making her home: with an uncle in Montgomery county at the time of her marriage. Jacob Gerlaugh was born on a pioneer farm in BeaverCreek township, this county, in 181o, a son of Adam and Catherine (Haines) Gerlaugh, both of whom were born in Washington county, Maryland, in the year 1786, there having been. but a few days difference in their birthdays. Adam Gerlaugh was a son of Adam Gerlaugh and was twenty-one years of. age when he came with his parents and the other members of the family to Ohio in 1807, the family settling in Beavercreek township, this county, as is set out elsewhere in this volume in a further reference to this pioneer family. In the winter following his arrival here the younger Adam Gerlaugh married Catherine Haines, who had been his sweetheart back in Maryland and who had come to this county with her brother, coming through on horseback, about the time the Gerlaughs had come. After their marriage Adam Gerlaugh and his wife located on a tract of land that had been purchased by the latter's father during a trip he some time previously had made to this county, and there in Beavercreek township they established their home and proceeded to develop a property that is held in the Gerlaugh name to this day. Adam Gerlaugh was affiliated with the Beaver Reformed church and his wife held to the Lutheran connection. She died on April 19, 1852, and several years later Adam Gerlaugh went to Wisconsin on a visit to one of his sons and on his return stopped in Warren county, Illinois, to visit another son and there was taken ill and died. That was in 1856, he then being seventy years of age. Adam Gerlaugh and his wife were the parents, of ten children, eight sons and two daughters, those besides Jacob having been David, Otho, Adam, Robert, Arthur, Jonathan, Henry, Frances, who married Benjamin Clark, and Mary Jane, who married Manuel Hawkers. Reared amid pioneer conditions on the farm on which he was born, Jacob Gerlaugh remained there until his marriage in 1840 to Anna Miller, after which he made his home in Montgomery county until about 1852, when he returned to Greene county and established his home on the farm in Beavercreek township on which the widow of his son Edward is now living. There GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 629 he and his wife spent the rest of their lives, the latter dying in 1893 and the former, in February, 1897. They were the parents of thirteen children, those besides the subject of this memorial sketch, the fourth in order of birth, having been William, Oliver, Lydia Ann, Taylor,- Mary Jane and Martha Ellen (twins), Haines, Harriet, Alice, Jacob, Henry and Sarah Belle. The eldest son, William Gerlaugh, went to the front as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, a member of Company E, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was taken prisoner by the Rebels at Moorfield, West Virginia, and was starved to death in the Confederate prison hole at Salisbury, North Carolina, his death occurring there on February 15, 1865. Edward O. Gerlaugh was reared on the home farm and received his schooling in the neighborhood district school. He was still in his teens when his brother William went away to war and the second son, Oliver, having died in childhood,. he was thus left as his father's mainstay on the farm, the general management of which he assumed in due time and the ownership of which he later acquired, owning there two hundred and. eighteen acres. The old farm house was destroyed by fire in 1887 and Mr. Gerlaugh then erected a new residence, where his widow still resides. In addition to his general farming Mr. Gerlaugh had long given particular attention to the raising of pure-bred Hereford cattle, was one of the first to introduce this strain in .Greene county, did much to help the development of the live-stock industr,y hereabout and was for years an active member of the Hereford Breeders Association. Mr. Gerlaugh died on February 5, 1916, and "since then the operations of the farm have been carried on by his youngest son, Earl C. Gerlaugh, who is making a specialty of the raising of Guernsey cattle for dairy purposes. On January 11, 1870; Edward O. Gerlaugh was united in marriage to Martha Ellen Harshman, .who was born in Beavercreek township, this county, a daughter of John C. and Anna M. (Miller) Harshman, the latter of whom was a daughter of Samuel Miller. John C. Harshman was born on a pioneer farm in Beavercreek township in 1807, a son of Philip and Frances Harshman, who had come over here from Maryland and had established their home in Beavercreek among the early settlers of that part. of the county, spending there the remainder of their lives. .Philip Harshman and his wife were the parents of six children. John C. Harshman grew up on that pioneer farm and. in 1841 married Anna M. Miller, establishing his home in a log cabin on a tract of two hundred acres of woodland which he had bought in the neighborhood of his home, and there he continued engaged in farming the rest of his life, gradually adding to his possessions until he became the owner of four hundred acres. He died on June 27, 1880, and 630 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO his widow survived him for twelve years, her death occurring in 1892. She also was born in Beavercreek township, in 1819, her parents, Samuel Miller and wife, having settled there upon coming to this county from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania; about two years previous to that date. Samuel Miller died at the age of sixty-three years and his widow lived to be eighty-four years of age. They were the parents of eight children, those besides Mrs. Harshman having been Samuel, Martha, Alosa, John, Daniel, Reuben and Eliza. To John C. Harshman and wife were born tine children, those besides Mrs. Gerlaugh being Sarah E., Ephraim F., Anna M., Reuben M., Freeman, Lincoln, Samuel H. and Mary C. Of these sons, Samuel H. Harshman went to the front as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, a member of Company C, Seventy-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, participated in some important battles of the war and was so broken in health by the stress of his army service that he died at the age of twenty-three years. To Edward O. and Martha Ellen (Harshman) Gerlaugh were born seven children, two of whom, William and Anna, died in childhood, the others being the following : Edward, who became a resident of Dayton and died on November 26, 1905 ; Oscar, who formerly was a member of the Ohio National Guard, with which he rendered service on the Mexican border in 1916, and who now (1918) is attached to the National Army, a member of Company G, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, United States Infantry, for service in the war against Germany ; Luella, who with her younger brother remains at home with her mother ; Jacob, who married Elizabeth Herring, daughter of E. E. Herring, and is now living at Alpha, and Earl C., born on May 17, 1886, who, as noted above, is now operating the home farm on rural mail route No. 10 out of Xenia. JOHN F. HOPKINS. John F. Hopkins, a veteran of the Civil War and a one-time farmer of Greene county, now living retired at Bellbrook, where he has made his home since leaving the farm in 1884 and where he for some time after leaving the farm was engaged in business, was born in Bellbrook and has lived there and in that vicinity all his life. He was born on January 11, 1842, son of Samuel H. and Mary A. (Shorts) Hopkins, whose last days were spent in this county. Samuel H. Hopkins was born in the neighboring county of Warren and was there married to Mary A. Shorts, who was born in Pennsylvania, but who was but a girl when her parents came to Ohio with their family and GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 631 settled in Warren county. Samuel H. Hopkins was a manufacturer of shoes and in 1840 came up into Greene county and established a factory at Bellbrook, where he was for some time thus engaged in business. He also became a landowner in the neighborhood of that village. He died in February, 1896, being then past ninety years of age. His widow survived him for some years, she being past ninety-five years of age at the time of her death. They were the parents of fourteen children, of whom eleven grew to maturity and seven of whom are still living. Of these latter the subject of this sketch is the only one now living in Greene county, the others being the following : Mrs. Mary Catherine Willoughby, now about eighty years of age, living at Dayton ; Samuel T., of Bellefontaine; F. M., of Waco, Texas ; Mrs. Joseph Sebring; of Dayton; Mrs. Louisa J. Smith, of Dayton, and Miss Clara V. Hopkins, also of Dayton, the youngest of the family and now nearly sixty years of age. John F. Hopkins was reared at, Bellbrook, the place of his birth, and received his schooling in the schools of that village. When twenty years of age he enlisted as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War and went to the front as a member of Company F, Thirty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served for three years. Among the important engagements Mr. Hopkins took part in during this period of service were the battles of Lynchburg, Cedar Creek, Winchester and others. Upon the completion of his military service he returned to Bell-brook' and presently became engaged in farming in .that neighborhood, after his marriage in 1874 establishing his home on a portion of his father's land, becoming the owner of a farm of one hundred and six acres, and there continued farming until his wife's death in 1884, when he left the farm and returned to Bellbrook, where he since has made his home. For six or eight years after returning to Bellbrook Mr. Hopkins was engaged in business at that place in association, with his brother, but for years past has lived retired, for the past ten years having been physically afflicted in such a manner as to confine him to a wheel-chair, making his, home with his elder son, Ralph Hopkins, a building contractor of that village. On February 19, 1874, that John F. Hopkins was united in marriage to Addie C. Haney, who was born in Warren county, this state, and who died in 1884. To that union were born four children, namely : Ralph, mentioned above, a building contractor at Bellbrook, who married Bessie Martindale, who was born in the Paintersville neighborhood in the county and has six children, Mary, Stella, .Edna, Thirel, Wayne and Scott ; Henry, a farmer of this county; Marshall, who was accidentally killed, and Alexander, who died in infancy. 632 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO GEORGE BRANDT. George Brandt, proprietor of a farm in Beavercreek township, situated on rural mail route No. 7 out of Xenia, is of European birth, a native of Germany, but has been a resident of this country since he was two years of age and in consequence is American to the core, every fiber of his mental and moral being giving loyal and devoted allegiance to the great country that has been so good to him. His parents were of the class somewhat contemptuously looked on in Europe as "peasants" and he was born to that condition of life, a condition from which in his native country he hardly could have hoped to escape, so rigid there are the distinctions of "class." But his father possessed something, more than the ordinary ambition of a peasant and when the babies began to enter his home he determined that they should have an opportunity to rise out of the condition to which his family had been tied for generations. He had heard of the wonderful opportunities awaiting industry and perseverance in the great New World beyond the sea and his parents gave him money to bring him over here to see for himself whether the reports he had heard could be true. He found here all that he could have hoped for and a year later sent for his wife and the two children, a little girl and a baby boy, who in good time rejoined him in this country and in 1852 the little German family found domicile in Greene county and it was not long until prosperity began to smile on their efforts. That German peasant who had the courage to break away from the traditions of generations of his downtrodden "class" in due time became the owner of a good farm in this county and he and his wife spent their last days in the midst of comforts and in a freedom of community ful for the impulse that had promised them to seek a new home and better interest that never could have been theirs in their old home land, ever grate-conditions for their children over on this side. The "baby boy" above referred to grew up naturally amid these new conditions, as much an American in spirit as any, ever profiting by the lessons of frugality that his parents had imparted to him, and with the passing of years has prospered, being now the holder of profitable land interests in Beavercreek township besides numerous investments elsewhere. Mr. Brandt was born in the German province of Hesse, a grand duchy, February 16, 1850, son of John and Mary (Prysell) Brandt, natives of that same province, as had been their respective families for. generations. They were adherents of the Reformed faith and John Brandt was the driver of the local minister's carriage. In 1851 he came to the United States in the hope of finding conditions here favorable to the transplanting of his family to this country and made his way to St. Louis, where he knew of some GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 633 old-country friends. A year later he sent for his wife and the two children, the little girl Mary and the baby boy, George, and welcomed his family at St. Louis. Six months later, however, having meanwhile heard of the conditions existing among the people of the (German) Reformed congregation in this county, he came with his family to Greene county and found employment on a farm in Beavercreek township. He and his wife had the right idea and from the beginning of their residence in this county began to look forward to owning a home and a farm of their own. Their efforts in this direction were presently rewarded and John Brandt bought a farm of forty-six acres in that township and there established his home, that tract being a part of the considerable farm now owned there by his son George. John Brandt and his wife put in their lot with the members of Mt. Zion Reformed church and reared their children in the faith of that communion. John Brandt died on the farm which he had developed, his death occurring there in 1896, he then being seventy-nine years of age. His wife had preceded him to the grave about four years, her death having occurred in the fall of 1892, she then being eighty years of age. Of .the two children born to them the subject of this sketch alone survives, his sister Mary having died on February II, 1874, at the age of twenty-six years. As noted above, George Brandt was but two years. of age when he was brought to this country and he grew up on the farm in Beavercreek township, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools. In time, as his father grew older, he assumed complete management of the farm, in 1886 building a new house on the place. As his affairs prospered he gradually added to the original acreage of the farm until now he is the owner of two hundred and fifteen acres. In addition to his general farming Mr. Brandt has long given considerable attention to the raising of pure-bred Shorthorn cattle and 'also has considerable outside investments. By political persuasion he is a Republican, with "independent" leanings on issues of merely local importance. In March, 1892, George Brandt was united in marriage to Charlotte Ingle, who was born in Beavercreek township, on the Dayton-Xenia pike, daughter of John and Elizabeth Ingle, both now deceased and the former of whom was a carpenter, and to that union two children were born, George and Mary, both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Brandt died on December 27, 1914, and Mr. Brandt is thus without a living relative; unless there be some of whom he has no acquaintance in Europe. Since the death of his wife he has continued to maintain his home on the farm, his big house being cared for by a housekeeper, Mrs. Martha Hoffman, and is content there to spend his last days. 634 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO ARMSTRONG R. HOWLAND. Armstrong R. Howland, carpenter and builder at Bellbrook, where he has made his home for the past quarter of a century, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Greene county practically all the time since he was ten or twelve years of age, the exception being a' period of two or three years during the early '80s, when he was engaged in farming over in Drake county. He was born in Brown county, December 20, 1852, son of Ralston and Rebecca J. (Gilliland) Howland, both of whom were born in that same county, the former in 1815 and the latter in 1817, whose ,last days were spent at Bellbrook, in this county. Ralston Howland was a farmer and a "local" preacher, an exhorter in the Methodist church, who came to Greene county in 1861, after a previous residence in the counties of Brown, Adams, Highland and Clinton, and settled on a farm in the Port. William neighborhood, where he remained until 1886, when he retired from the farm and moved to Bellbrook, where he died in 1895. His wife had preceded him to the grave about four years, her death having occurred in 1891. They were the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the others being the following : Mary Ann, deceased; Elizabeth J., unmarried, who is still living at Bellbrook ; Margaret F., deceased; Daniel G., who is living at Bellbrook ; Angeline, deceased ; Sarah, deceased ; Martha, wife of J. W. Smith, living north of Bellbrook, and Emma, deceased. Armstrong R. Howland was but nine months of age when his parents moved from Brown county to Adams county and was still but a child when they moved from that county to Highland county. In this latter county the family remained for eight years and then moved to -Clinton county and after a residence of nine months in that county came up over the line into Greene county, where he completed his schooling and became engaged in farming in association with his father. He was married on Christmas Day, 1879, and in 1882 moved over into Darke county, where he was engaged in farming for two years and six months, at the end of which time, in 1885, he returned to Greene county and became engaged in farming in the Bellbrook neighborhood, continuing thus engaged until 1894, when he retired from the farm and began to give his attention to carpentering, and has ever since been engaged at Bellbrook as a building contractor. Mr. Howland is a Republican, for a number of years served as a member of the county central committee of that party, was a delegate to the state convention that nominated Asa Bushnell for governor and has frequently served as a delegate to senatorial and congressional conventions. For two terms Mr. Howland served as mayor of Bellbrook, was for twelve years township GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 635 trustee and justice of the peace and since 1906 has been assessor of his home township, having been re-elected to that office in the fall of 1917 for another term of two years. He also has for years held a commission as a notary public. He is one of the charter members of the local lodge of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, has been an office bearer in that lodge ever since it was constituted and has "been through the chairs." He and his wife are members of the Methodist Protestant church. On December 25, 1879, Armstrong R. Rowland was united in marriage to Laura Devoe, who was born in this county, daughter of Abram and Nancy (Rogers) Devoe, both members of old families here, and to this union three children have been born, namely : Herman O., born on March 13, 1882, now living at Dayton, where he is employed as an inspector for the National Cash Register Company, and who married Doris Sellers and has two children, Russell A. and Emerson ; Bertha J., February 10, 1884 who married Dr. P. L. Gunckel and is also living at Dayton, and Ohmer E., April 4, 1886, who also is living at Dayton, where he is employed as secretary and treasurer of the Dayton Power and Light Company. LEWIS W. ANKENEY. In a work of this character, dealing with the pioneer families of Greene county, there naturally appear repeated references to individual families, for some of the old pioneer stock is represented in the present generation by a numerous connection ; but of all these old families there are few that have received more frequent mention than the family of the Ankeneys, for the founder of this family in Greene county left ten children to carry on the family name and traditions, and it is thus that the name Ankeney has been associated with the development of this county since pioneer times. Elsewhere in this volume there is set out at considerable length the story of the coming of the Ankeneys to Greene county and of the family's settlement on a farm in the Alpha neighborhood, the farm now and for many years owned and occupied by Albert Ankeney, a grandson of David and Elizabeth (Miller) Ankeney, the pioneers, who had come here from Washington county, Maryland, in 1830, with their nine children ; and of how David Ankeney died suddenly in the fall of that same year, another child being born to his widow not long after his death, and of how that pioneer farm was developed by the family and has ever since continued in the Ankeney name. David Ankeney's ten children were Samuel, Mary, Henry, Margaret, Sarah, John, Nelson, Martha, Jacob and David, the last-named being the posthumous son. 636 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Of the daughters, Mary married John Steele , Margaret married the Rev. George Long and Martha married one of the Shanks. Nelson Ankeney, seventh in order of birth of the ten children born to David and Elizabeth (Miller) Ankeney and the father of the subject of this biographical sketch, was born in the vicinity of Clear Spring, in Washington county, Maryland, September 15, 1825, and was thus but four years of age when his parents came to Ohio and settled in this county and was but little more than five when his father died. He grew up on the farm now occupied by Albert Ankeney and for some years during the days of his young manhood occupied, his winters in teaching school. When twenty-five years of age he married and bought a farm a half mile north of Trebeins, but later sold the same and returned to the old home farm, where he remained for one year, at the end of which time he moved to another farm in that neighborhood and there remained until in 1876, when he bought the farm in Beavercreek township on which he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on October 7, 1902. Upon taking, possession of that place he erected a large new barn, and in 1879 he erected the dwelling house in which his widow is still living. Nelson Ankeney was a Republican and he and his family were members of the Beaver Reformed church. On May 22, 1851, Nelson. Ankeney was united in marriage to Elizabeth Sidney Coffelt, who was born on a farm two miles north of Bellbrook in this county, December 8, 1832, daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Crumley) Coffelt who had come to this, county from Virginia. Jacob Coffelt died in 1835 and his widow married Aaron Paxton and thereafter made her home in Beavercreek township, where she died in 1883 at the age of eighty-seven years. By her union with Jacob Coffelt she was the mother of seven children, of whom Mrs: Ankeney, the sixth in order of birth, is the only ,one now living, the oothers having been Aaron C., a veteran of the Civil War, who lost an arm while fighting for the Union and whose last days were, spent in the South ; Joseph, who made his home in Michigan ; William H., who established his home in Spring Valley, this county ; Clarissa, who married John LeValley ; Rebecca Ann, who married George Climber, and Harriet Jane, who died unmarried. To Nelson and Elizabeth Sidney (Coffelt) Ankeney were born four children, namely : Emma L., who married Abram W; Warner, a farmer of Starke county, this state, who later became engaged in the building and loan business and who died on December 20, 1901, since which time his widow has been making her home with her mother in this county ; Charles E., who married Emma E. Kershner and is living on the farm adjoining that of his brother Lewis in Beavercreek township; Lewis W., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, and Clara J., unmarried, who since the GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 637 death of her brother Lewis's wife has been keeping house for him and his family. Lewis W. Ankeney was born on the old Ankeney homestead place in Beavercrook township on January 13, 1856, and has been a resident of this county all his life. He completed his schooling in the old Xenia College, which then was under the direction of Professor Smith, and after leaving school resumed his place on the farm, assisting his father there until after his marriage in the spring of .1882, after which he bought the old John Steele farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Beavercreek township and for seven years made his home there, later renting one of the Cline farms and operating the same in connection with his own farm, and for twenty-five years made his home on one or another of the Cline farms, gradually adding to his land holdings until now he is the owner of two hundred and seventy acres. In 1914 Mr. Ankeney bought sixty-four acres of the T. H. Bell farm adjoining his mother's place in Beavercreek township and has since made his home there. Of late years Mr. Ankeney has been living practically retired from the active labors of the farm, turning the management of the same over to his son, J. Blaine Ankeney, who is carrying on the operations of the farm. Mr. Ankeney is a Republican and has served as a member of the township school board. He and his family are, of the Beaver Reformed church and for the past thirty years and more he has been one of the deacons of the congregation. For years during his more active farming operations Mr. Ankeney made a specialty of raising thoroughbred Shorthorn cattle. On March 18, 1882, Lewis W. Ankeney was united in marriage to Jessie K. Cline, who also -was born in Beavercreek township, a member of one of the old families there, and who died on January 5, 1901. She was a daughter of William C. and Nancy (Harner) Cline, both of whom also were born in this county and the latter of whom is still living, now making her home at Alpha. William C. Cline was born in Beavercreek township on December 20, 1829, a son of Adam and Barbara (Herring) Cline, who had came here from Pennsylvania and were associated with the Reformed congregation in Beavercreek township. Adam Cline died in 1854 and his widow died in 1865. William C. Cline grew up on a farm and followed that vocation all his life. On August 3, 1858, he married Nancy Ann Hamer, who also was born in Beavercreek township, October 12, 1834, a daughter of John and Magdaline (Haines) Harner, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume, and to that union were born six children, namely : Lina, who married Horace Ankeney; Jesse, who married Lewis Ankeney ; Margaret, who married Thomas Lehman; William, who married Flora Routzong and Maud and John. William C. Cline died at the age of seventy-five years and, as noted above, 638 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO his widow still survives him. To Lewis W. and Jessie K. (Cline) Ankeney were born six children, namely : Fred, who became an electrical engineer and who died in Chicago; William Nelson, who married Lillian Skinner and is now living at Washington, D. C., where he is connected with the work of the department of agriculture of the United States Government, having been called to that service from Ohio State University, in which institution he had been serving as instructor in botany following his graduation from Heidelberg College at Tiffin; Catherine, who married James P. McCalmont, a farmer of Beavercreek township, living a half mile south of Shoup's Station, and has two children, Robert and Catherine L. ; J. Blaine, who took a course in the agricultural college at Winona Lake and is now managing his father's farms; Lois, now attending college at Delaware, this state, and Jessie, who died in infancy. The Ankeneys reside on rural mail route No. 10 out of Xenia. JOSEPH F. SHOEMAKER.. Joseph F. Shoemaker, merchant at Goes Station and for years postmaster of that village, formerly and for some years assistant superintendent of the plant of the Miami Powder Company at that place and from the days of his boyhood identified with the affairs of that community, was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Goes and has lived in and about that village all his life. He was born on June 17, 1858, son of Frederick and Elizabeth (Hutchinson) Shoemaker, both of whom also were born in that township, the former in 1835 and the latter in 1833, and who spent all their lives in this county. Frederick Shoemaker was a son of Isaac and Lucinda (Hite) Shoemaker, who came here from Virginia about 1810 and settled on a farm on the Columbus pike in Xenia township, two miles east of Xenia, where Isaac Shoemaker spent his last days, his death occurring in 1853. His widow survived him for many years, living to the great age of ninety-seven years. Her brothers, the Hite brothers, were soldiers in the War of 1812. Isaac Shoemaker and his wife were the parents of five sons and two daughters, and all of these sons served as soldiers of the Union during the Civil War, Frederick Shoemaker's service in that behalf havingo been begun as a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Upon the completion of that term of enlistment he re-enlisted and returned to the front as a member of the Engineers Corps. He was trained as a carpenter and followed that vocation most. of his life. Upon his retirement he moved to Goes Station and there died in 1886. His widow survived him for many years, he:- GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 639 death occurring in 1914, she then being eighty-one years of age. She also was born in Xenia township, Elizabeth Hutchinson, daughter of Joseph B. and Ann (Tenbrook) Hutchinson, Pennsylvanians, who had settled in the vicinity of Goes, in Xenia township, upon coming to this county, Joseph B. Hutchinson becoming there the owner of about four hundred acres of land. Joseph B. Hutchinson served as a member of the state militia in the old clays. He and his wife were Presbyterians and their children were reared in that faith. There were thirteen of these children, one of whom, Matthew Hutchinson, is still living, a resident of Xenia, now past seventy-five years of age. Frederick Shoemaker and wife were the parents of three sons, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being Charles Shoemaker, general manager of the Steele Tank Car Company of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, who has his office and maintains his home at Chicago, and George Shoemaker, born in 1861, who became connected with the operations of the Standard Oil Company and died in 1911. Joseph F. Shoemaker received his early schooling in the schools of Goes Station and supplemented the same by a course in the old Xenia College on Church street in the city of Xenia. For some little time he was engaged at farm labor and then took employment at the plant of the old Miami Powder Company (now the Aetna Explosive Company) at Goes and in 1883 was made assistant superintendent of the powder-mill, a position he occupied for three years, or until 1886, when he built a store building at Goes, opened there a general store and has ever since been thus engaged in business at that place. Mr. Shoemaker was appointed postmaster at Goes many years ago and continues to hold that position. He is a Republican and for twenty years also served as a member of the township school board. Fraternally, he is. affiliated with the local lodges of the Masons and of the Odd Fellows at Yellow Springs. On January 26, 1882, Joseph F. Shoemaker was united in marriage to Mary Etta Confer, who was born in Miami township, this county, daughter of George and Ann (Johnson) Confer, the latter of whom also was born in this county, a daughter of James and Catherine (Ehrler) Johnson, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter in France, she having been but a child when she came across the water with her parents, the family coming on out to Ohio and locating in Clark county, not far above the Greene county line. George Confer, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, was born in the vicinity of Hagerstown, in the state of Maryland, February 8, 1827, and was but seven years of age when he came to Ohio with his parents, George and Elizabeth (Bowman) Confer. also natives of Maryland, in 1834, the family locating on a farm in Miami township, 640 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO this county. Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker have one child, a daughter, Cora May, who married George Hall, now engaged as a traveling salesman, making his home at Goes, and has three children, Dorothy M., Mary Elizabeth and George G. The Shoemakers are members of the First Reformed church at Xenia and Mr. Shoemaker is a member of the deaconate of the same. WILLIAM A. TOBIAS. The late William A. Tobias, who died at his farm home in Beavercreek township in the spring of 1917 and. whose widow is still living there, was a member of one of Greene county's pioneer families and all his.' life. was spent here. He was born on a farm in Sugarcreek township on January 19, 1853, son of William and Jane (Miller) Tobias, the former of whom was horn in the Zimmerman settlement in this county, in 1821, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Hanney) Tobias, who had come here from Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania. Jane Miller was born in Bath township, this county, in 1824, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Wheeler) Miller, the former of whom was a soldier of the War of 1812, and who, had come here after their marriage in Maryland: William and Jane (Miller) Tobias were the parents of eight children, of whom William A. was the third in order of birth, and further mention of whom is made in a somewhat more comprehensive narrative relating to the Tobias family in this county presented elsewhere in this volume. William Tobias died on January 15, 1910, and his widow survived him less than a year, her death occurring on December 15 of that same year. They- were formerly members of the Lutheran church, but later became members of the Beaver Reformed. church. Reared on the home farm, William A. Tobias received his schooling in the local schools and remained at home until his marriage in the fall of 1881, after which he rented a farm and began farming on his own account In 1893 he bought the farm on which his widow is now living, on rural mail route No. 10 out of. Xenia, and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on April 13, 1917. Mr. Tobias was a Republican and was a member of the Reformed church. On November 24, 1881, William A. Tobias was united in marriage to Jennie Alice Gerlaugh, who was born in Beavercreek township, this county, daughter of David and Rebecca (Weaver) Gerlaugh, the former of whom was born in that same township, son of Adam and Catherine (Haines) Gerlaugh, both of whom were born in Washington county, Maryland. Adam Gerlaugh was a son of Adam Gerlaugh and was twenty-one years of age when he came with his father and the other members of .the family to Ohio in 1807 and settled on a tract of land in Beavercreek township, this county, 641 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO which the senior Adam Gerlaugh had bought some time previously when he made a prospecting trip out this way with a neighbor, Mr. Haines, who also had bought a tract of land here, the two then returning to Maryland. Mr. Haines never returned to Ohio, but the land he had bought here was later occupied by members of his family who came out here at the time the Gerlaughs came, among these being the daughter, Catherine Haines, and her brother, and in the winter following their arrival here the younger Adam Gerlaugh and Catherine Haines were married and settled on the Haines tract. There they reared their family and there Mrs. Gerlaugh died in the spring of 1852. Adam Gerlaugh survived his wife for four years, his death occurring at the home of a son down in Warren county in 1856. They were pioneer members of the Reformed church in Beavercreek township and their children were reared in that faith. There were ten of these children, eight sons, David, Jacob, Otho, Adam, Robert, Arthur, Jonathan and Henry, and two daughters, Frances, who married Benjamin Clark, of Montgomery county, and Mary Jane, who married one of the Hawkers and became, a resident of Dayton. David Gerlaugh grew up on the home farm in Beavercreek township and after his marriage to Rebecca Weaver began farming for himself, he and his wife making their home in a log cabin on the farm on which their daughter, Mrs. Tobias, is now living. That was a farm of one hundred and sixty-two acres, on which at that time there Was but a small clearing, but Mr. Gerlaugh presently got the place under cultivation and in good time built a substantial brick house, the house in which Mrs. Tobias is living, burning the bricks for the same on his place, and there he and his wife spent their last days, his death occurring on November 4, 1885, and hers, April 27, 1889. They, were members of the local congregation of the Reformed church. Of the four children born to them Mrs. Tobias was the last-born, the others being Mary, who married William Needles and is now deceased ; Harriet, who married Samtiel Rahn and is. also deceased, and Alexander, a farmer, who spent his last days at Springfield, in the neighboring county of Clark. To William A. and Jennie Alice (Gerlaugh) Tobias were born three children, D. Emerson, Edna, who died at the age of nine years, and Irene, who died in infancy. The Rev. D. Emerson Tobias, now a minister of the Reformed church, stationed at Baltimore, this state, was educated at Heidelberg College at Tiffin, Ohio, and at the Central Theological Seminary at Dayton and in 1909 was ordained to the ministry, later occupying charges at Hillsboro and at West Salem, from which latter place he was transferred to Baltimore, in Fairfield county, where he is now stationed. He married Florence Engle and has one child, a son, William A. (40) 642 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO CHARLES WESLEY ST. JOHN. The late Charles Wesley St. John, who died at his home in Xenia in March, 1914 was born on a farm two miles southwest of Paintersville, Greene county, on November 7, 1839, a son of Daniel and Eliza (Boone) t. John, the former of whom was born. in New York state and the latter in Warren county, Ohio, whose last days were spent on a farm on the 'Wilmington pike, a mile and a half south of Xenia. Daniel St. John became one Of the early residents of the Paintersville. neighborhood and a landowner there, but later moved to another farm, on the Wilmington pike, noted above, a mile and a half south of Xenia, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their children were reared in that faith. There were eleven of these children, all of whom grew up and reared families and three of whom are still living John W. St. John, a retired farmer, living in the neighborhood of Paintersville ; Isaac Wilson St. John, who. is living at Dunkirk, Indiana, and Eliza Jane, widow of F. A. Peterson, who is now making her home at Coffeyville, Kansas. Reared on the home farm near Paintersville, Charles Wesley St. John received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and lived at home. until his marriage at the age of twenty-two years, when he began farming on his own account .on a hundred-acre farm in Caesarscreek township, near Paintersville, where he remained until 1908, when he retired from the farm and moved to Xenia, where his last days were spent, his death occurring there in the seventy-second year of his age. Mr. St. John was a Republican, but had never aspired to hold public office. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is his widow. It was on November 7, 1861, that Charles W. St. John was united in marriage to Martha Peterson, of Caesarscreek township, who survives him and who is still living at Xenia. Mrs. St. John is a member of one of the old families of Greene county, a daughter of Jesse and Eleanor Ann (Weaver) Peterson, both of whom were born in Caesarscreek township, members of pioneer families there. Jesse Peterson. was a farmer and also had taught school for some .years during the days of his young manhood. He was a Republican and he and his wife were members of the Reformed church. He died on his farm and his widow spent her last days in the home of her daughter, Mrs. St., John. Jesse Peterson and wife were the parents of seven children, of whom Mrs. St. John, was the first-born, the others being A. F., deceased ; J. L., now living at Springfield, in the neighboring county of Clark ; Jacob, who died at the age of twenty years; Mary Elizabeth, deceased, who GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 643 was the wife of Felix Eyman, of Xenia; Estella, wife of Albert Trusler, a carpenter, of Xenia, and Isaac, a farmer, living in Clinton county, this state. To .Charles W. and Martha (Peterson) St. John were born five children, namely : Belle, widow of Daniel Anderson, who is now making her home with her mother at Xenia ; Otis, who married Floy Sutton and is living on a farm two and one-half miles east, of Xenia; Pliny, who married Bessie Huston and is a farmer in Spring Valley township; Elmer, who Married Lespie Fox and is living at Dayton, where he is engaged as a machinist, and Jennie, who is at home with her mother. ANDREW JACKSON TOBIAS. The late Andrew Jackson Tobias, who died at his farm home in Beaver-creek township on April 10, 1910, and whose widow is still living there, the farm being managed by her son, Samuel E. Tobias, was born in that township in 1833, a son of Jacob Tobias and wife, who had come to this county from Pennsylvania and who were the parents of eight children, Andrew having had four brothers, Peter, Jonathan, Samuel and John Tobias, and three sisters, Margaret, Catherine and Susanna. Later the family moved to Auglaize county, this state, and thence to Illinois, where Andrew J. Tobias completed his schooling. As a young man he returned to Greene county, took up carpentering here and here spent the remainder of his life, in 1882 taking up farming and becoming the proprietor of a farm of two hundred and five acres in Beavercreek township, which his widow now owns. She was born in Beavercreek township, Sarah E. Harshman, daughter of John C. and Maria (Miller) Harshman, further mention of whom is made elsewhere, and in 1863 was united in marriage to Andrew J. Tobias. To that union two children were born, Samuel E. and Emily Leonora, the latter of whom married L. E. Coy, a grocer at Dayton, and has two children, Ethel, born in 1889; and Herbert, born in 1897. Samuel E. Tobias was born on March 12, 1864, and. was educated in the schools of Beavercreek township. He early became interested in blacksmithing and continued engaged in that vocation for twenty years, at the end of which time he began to give his particular attention to gunsmithing and has since made a specialty along that line, having become recognized as one of the expert gunsmiths in the United States. Since the death of his father he also. has given his general oversight to the operations of the home farm. Mr. Tobias is a Democrat and for fifteen years served as a member of the local board of education. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and he and his family are members of the Mt. Zion Reformed church. 644 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO In January, 1883, Samuel E. Tobias was united in marriage to Jennie Belle Bates, who also was born in Beavercreek township, and to this union seven children have been born, namely : Blanche Lenora, who married Hiram Zimmer, now living in Logan county, and has two children, Leon and Elza Juanita; Elmer Fay, a farmer, living on his grandmother Tobias' farm in Beavercreek township and operating the same, who married Anna Zimmer and has four children, Elsie, Elwood, Gladys and Alberta ; Thomas C., who is at home; Esta, who died in infancy, and Elsie May, Winifred and Edythe. RUSH R. HUSTON. Rush R. Huston, proprietor of a Sugarcreek township farm on rural mail route No. 12 out of Dayton, was born in that township and has lived there all his life. He is the third in order of birth of the five children born to John and Eunice (Lambertson) Huston, the former of whom was also born in Sugarcreek township and is still living there. John Huston is a son of William Huston, who was one of the pioneer farmers of that neighborhood, having established his home there after his marriage. He came over here from Montgomery county, where he was born. William Huston was twice married. By his second marriage he had one son, William F. Huston, who is living on the old Huston home place and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. By his first marriage William Huston was the father of five children, of whom John Huston, the third in order of birth, is now the only survivor, the others having been James, Michael, Sarah and Philena. John Huston married Eunice Lambertson and to that union were born five children, namely : Nettie, who married A. C. Burgert and has seven children ; Nora, who married William Bense and has two children ; Rush R., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch ; Beryl, now deceased, who was the wife of William B. Hawker and had one child, and Marcena, who married F. J. Hawker, of Beavercreek township, and has two children. Rush R. Huston was reared on the home farm in Sugarcreek township, received his schooling in the neighborhood schools, and has been a farmer all his life. After his marriage he established his home on the farm on which he is now living and has since resided there. His wife, who before her marriage was Elizabeth Lenz, also was born in this county, daughter of William and Charlotte (Garlaugh) Lenz, the former of whom is deceased and the latter of whom is still living in Beavercreek township. Mr. and Mrs. Huston have four children, Viola May, Paul Leroy, Charlotte and Doris. Another child, John, died in infancy. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 645 HARRY ABRAM COSLER, M. D. Dr. Harry Abram Cosier, physician at Fairfield, where he has been located since the summer of 1905, is a native son of Greene county and has lived here most of his life, the exception being the period of three years during which he was engaged in practice at North Hampton, up in the adjoining county of Clark. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of Yellow Springs on May 4, 1873, posthumous child of Abram B. Cosier, who died on March 8, 1873, and of his wife, Susan V. (Stutsman) Cosier, who survived her husband many years, her death occurring on May 28, 1911. Abram B. Cosier, who was a veteran of the Civil War, was born on a farm in Beavercreek township, this county, and his wife also was a native of this county, born in Bath township. Reared as a farmer, Abram B. Cosler was engaged in that vocation all his life. During the progress of the Civil War he enlisted his services in behalf of the cause of the Union and went to the front as a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Upon the completion of his military service he returned to this county and resumed farming, after his marriage locating on a farm in Beavercreek township, where he resided four years, and then moved to near Yellow Springs, where he died, as noted above, in the spring of 1873, a little less than two months before his second son, the subject of this sketch, was born. To him and his wife was born another son, Samuel S. Cosier, who was serving as deputy county treasurer under John Nesbit, at the time of his death at Xenia in 1807. About three years after the death of her husband Mrs. Cosier moved from the farm to Yellow Springs and it was in that village that Harry A. Cosler grew to manhood. He was graduated from the high school there when sixteen years of age and then entered Antioch College, Which he attended for three years, at the end of which time he entered Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1897. Three years later lie received from that college the degree of Master of Arts. Upon the declaration of war on the part of this country against Spain in the spring of 1897 he enlisted his services and went to the front .as sergeant of Company K, Fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served until the close of the war, being mustered out on January 20, 1899. In September of that same year he entered Ohio Medical College at Columbus and continuing his studies there was graduated in 1902 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Upon receiving his diploma Doctor Cosier opened an office at North Hampton, in the neighboring county of Clark, beginning his practice there in June, 1902, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO and continued thus engaged for three years, at the end of which time he moved back down into Greene county and opened an office at Fairfield, beginning his practice there on June 27, 1905, and has ever since made that his place of residence. Doctor Cosler is a member of the Greene County Medical Society and of the Ohio tate Medical Society. Fraternally, the Doctor is a Scottish Rite Mason, affiliated with the consistory at Dayton, and is a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias. On December 29, 1903, while living at North Hampton, Dr. Harry A. Cosler was united in marriage to Emma Myers, of Dialton, a few miles north of North Hampton, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, born on November 4, 1910. Doctor and Mrs. Cosler are members of the Reformed church. JOSEPH B. KEITER. Joseph B. Keiter, proprietor of a farm of sixty-three acres in Sugarcreek township, is a native of Virginia, but has been a resident of this county since the days of his young manhood. He was born in Hampshire county, in that part of the Old Dominion now comprised within the state of West Virginia, May 30, 1847, son of Benjamin and Harriet (Babb) Keiter, both of whom also were born in Virginia. Benjamin Keiter was a farmer in his native state and in 1872 came to Ohio and in the next spring located on the old Allen place, now the Talbot farm, in this county; where he remained for seven years, at the end of which time he and his wife moved to the place where their son Joseph is now living, the latter and his brother meanwhile having bought the same, and there they spent the rest of their lives. Benjamin Keiter died in August, 1885. His wife had predeceased him about two years, her death having occurred in 1883. They were the parents of five children, three of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch and his twin sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Spahr, of Xenia, having a brother, Edward B. Keiter, of Beavertown. Reared on a farm, Joseph B. Keiter was trained in the ways of farming and has followed that vocation all his life. After his marriage in 1885 he established his home on the place on which he is now living and where he had previously for some time resided, the family having taken up their residence there about 1880, and has ever since made his home there. It was in February, 1885, that Joseph B. Keiter was united in marriage to Emily Edwards, who was born and reared in Cincinnati, daughter of I. N. Edwards, and to this union five children have been born, namely : Ida GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 647 N., wife of Lawrence Coy, a farmer of this county; Lina Etta, wife of J. W. Bellmeyer, a Spring Valley township farmer ; Lawrence, who is also a Greene county farmer, residing on the Fairfield pike; Warren Sheldon, a soldier of the National Army, now (spring of 1918) in training at Camp Sherman for foreign service, and Florence and Margaret, at home with their parents. CHARLIE K. COX. Charlie K. Cox, a rural mail carrier living at Yellow Springs, was born in that village on February 28, 1873, a son of Richard and Susanna (Crist) Cox, the latter of whom was born in the neighboring county of Clark and both of whom are now deceased, the former having died in the fall of 1903 and the latter, in 1908. Richard Cox also was born in Yellow Springs, he having first seen the light of day in the house in which his son, the subject of this sketch, later was born. It was in 1849 that he was born and he grew up at Yellow Springs and there became a blacksmith, becoming associated with his brother, S. W. Cox, in the blacksmith business, the brothers continuing thus engaged together for years. During the last twenty years of his life Richard Cox was a wide traveler and his death occurred while traveling in Central America. It was in the fall of 1903 that he died and his widow survived him about five years, her death occurring at Yellow Springs in 1908. In April, 1872, Richard Cox was united in marriage to Susanna Crist, who was born in the neighboring county of Clark, a daughter of Adam and Margaret (Fhlore) Crist, and to that union three children were born, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Clifford, born in 1874, who is engaged as a salesman for a wholesale grocery house at Springfield, and a sister, Olivia T., who for the past eighteen years has been employed in the postoffice at Yellow Springs. Reared at Yellow Springs, Charles K. Cox received his early schooling in the schools of that village and at the age of seventeen years began working in a saw-mill there. In 1895, he went to Springfield, where he took a course in a business college and was thus enabled to return to the saw-mill as bookkeeper for the concern. After a while he transferred his services to the bank and was for several years engaged as a bookkeeper in that institution, after which he for two years was engaged at farming, having bought a farm in Miami township. At the end of two years of agricultural experience he sold his farm and took a position on the stock farm of E. S. Kelly, continuing thus engaged until 1905, in which year he received an appointment as a rural mail carrier out of the Yellow Springs postoffice and has 648 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO ever since been thus engaged, now carrying the mail on rural route No. 1 and making his home at Yellow Springs. Mr. Cox is a Republican and is a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and, of the Modern Woodmen of America. On December 23, 1898, Charles K. Cox was united in marriage to Mary E. Dunevant, who was born on a farm in Spring Valley township, this county, daughter of Zadock and Sarah (Frazer) Dunevant, both of whom were born in Ohio, the former in Darke county and the latter, at Wilmington, in the neighboring county of Clinton, and who were the parents of nine children, of whom Mrs. Cox was the eighth in order of birth, the others being the following : Mrs. Florence Linder, of Yellow Springs ; Luther, who died in childhood; Samuel, of Yellow Springs, who married Matilda Wilson, who is now deceased ; John, deceased ; Mrs. Margaret Holland, deceased ; Mrs. Alice Osborne, deceased Mrs. Emma Linson, who is living in the vicinity of Yellow Springs, and William, who married Mary Baker and who also lives in the Yellow Springs neighborhood. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. \ ARTHUR EDWARD WILDMAN. Arthur Edward Wildman, proprietor of a farm in Cedarville township, rural mail route No. 1 out of Cedarville, was born on a farm one mile north of the village of Selma, in the neighboring county of Clark, August 10, 1869, a son of Marion and Elizabeth (Walton) Wildman, both of whom were born in Greene county, members of pioneer families in this part of the state. Marion Wildman was born in Cedarville township, this county, in November, 1838, a son of Edward and Hannah (Thorne) Wildman, the latter of whom was born in that same township, her parents having been among the early Quaker settlers in that part of the county and prominent among the "conductors" of the "underground railroad" that was maintained between the various Quaker settlements in this state for the purpose of assisting runaway slaves to freedom. The Thornes came up here from Tennessee. The Wildmans also were Quakers and Edward Wildman was for years a leader in and the heaviest contributor to the Friends meeting at Selma. Edward Wildman was born in the year 1800 and was about nine years of age when he came to this state with his parents, John Wildman and wife, from Virginia, the family settling on the northern edge of Cedarville township, this county, but later moving up into the Selma settlement in the adjoining county of Clark, where the Wildman homestead thus came to be established. Reared on that place, Edward Wildman established his GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 649 home there after his marriage to Hannah Thorne and became the owner of more than twelve hundred acres of land on the line between Greene and Clark counties. In 1873 he was gored by a bull and received injuries which resulted in his death. He and his wife were the parents of four children, of whom Marion was the third in order of birth, the others having been William, who continued to make his home on the Wildman homestead tract a mile east of Selma; John, who developed a farm property in Cedarville township, this county, and Rachel, who married Israel Hollingsworth and is now living in the vicinity of Richmond, Indiana, to which place she and her husband moved in 1899. Though born in this county, Marion Wildman was but a child when his parents moved up over the line and established their home in the Selma neighborhood and there he grew to manhood, receiving his schooling in the Selma schools. During the days of his boyhood it not infrequently became a part of his duties to assist his grandfather Thorne in the operation of the "underground railroad" by hauling runaway slaves from the Thorne "station" to the next "station" north at North Lewisburg.. He had a birthright in the Friends meeting at Selma and was ever devout in his service. but never forward. After his marriage he bought a tract of one hundred, and fifty acres a mile north of the village of Selma, but in 1874 traded that farm for the, Samuel C. Howell farm in Cedarville township, this county, and on the latter place established his home. He had inherited about three hundred acres adjoining the Howell place and after acquiring the latter place had seven hundred and thirty acres, of which all but about one hundred and fifty acres lay in Greene county. He had a brick house, just off the Columbus pike, and in addition to his general farming fed about one hundred and fifty cattle for the market every year. Originally a Republican, Marion Wildman in his later years espoused the cause of the Prohibition party. In 1897 he retired from the farm and moved to Richmond, Indiana, where he died on February i8, 1901, and where his widow and youngest daughter are still living. Marion Wildman was twice married. His first wife, Elizabeth Walton, was born in Spring Valley township, this county, in 1842, and died at her home in Cedarville township on May 28, 1884. She was a daughter of Moses and Mary (Cook) Walton and a sister of Capt. Moses Walton, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in, this volume, the Waltons having been early residents at Spring Valley. To Marion and Elizabeth (Walton) Wildman were born four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being Howard, now a resident of Clark county ; Mary, who died unmarried in 1908, and Ethel D., also unmarried, who is now making her home at Selma. Following the