GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 675 intermission for many years, or until his health became so broken that he no longer could be of service in the school room. He owned a farm in New Jasper township, devoting his summers to the cultivation of the same. In 1893 he attended college at Ada, Ohio, graduating in 1894, and later taught school at Bellbrook. Then in 1896 he located on his father's old home place in Caesarscreek township and on the latter place spent the rest of his life, his death occurring there on February 19, 1908. During his long service in the public schools of this county William A. Smith was for several years the superintendent of the Bowersville schools, for two years was superintendent of the Bellbrook schools, for two years head of the schools at New Burlington and later was returned in charge of the schools at Bowersville, where he was serving when his health failed and he was compelled to retire from the school room. He was a Republican and a member of the Mr. Tabor Methodist Episcopal church. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Smith has been making her home with the family of John Bales at 33 West Third street, Xenia. It was on March 11, 1875, that William Albert Smith and Keziah Thomas were united in marriage. To that union were born four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being Lucien E. Smith, who lives on a farm in the vicinity of Mt. "labor church, seven miles southeast of Xenia ; Prof. Orma J. B. Smith, now an instructor in the University of Idaho, and William M. Smith, a farmer, living in Caesarscreek township. Milton A. Smith spent his youth mainly on the farm and his early schooling was received in such schools as his father would be teaching from term to term, his course being completed by attendance at the high school at Ada and the high school at Bellbrook. When twenty-one years of age he began teaching in the schools of this county and was for seven years thereafter thus engaged, employing his summers on the farm. In July, 1909, Mr. Smith accompanied his widowed mother to Xenia and has ever since made his home in that city. Upon taking up his residence there he entered a civil service examination and in, the following October was appointed to service in the postoffice, being put on as a substitute mail carrier. Not long afterward lie was transferred to a position as clerk and presently was promoted to the position of distributing clerk in the postoffice, a position he ever since has held. On May 14, 1913, Milton A. Smith was united in marriage to Lavina A. Martin, who was born in Maryland, -daughter of John and Amanda Martin, now living on a farm in the Cumberland valley in Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Reformed church at Xenia and he is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife reside at 410 West Main street. 676 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO ALBERT F. HERING. The late Albert F. Hering, who died at his farm home in Beavercreek township, rural mail route No. to out of Xenia, December 31, 1912, and whose widow is still living there, was born in that township on December 16, 1845, a son of Jacob and Mary (Steele) Hering, both of whom were born in that same township, members of pioneer families, Jacob Hering having been born in 1808, a son of Jacob and Barbara (Richenbach) Hering, natives of Switzerland, who settled in this county not long after their arrival in this country and were thus among the earliest settlers of this part of Ohio. They established their home in Beavercreek township and there reared their family, the one son, Jacob, and three daughters, Elizabeth, Margaret and Barbara. The younger Jacob Hering early became associated with his father in the management of the home place and after the death of his father continued the operation of the place. For twelve years he served as treasurer of his home township, was also for some years township trustee and during the most of his active life was a school director. Fraternally, he was a member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Xenia and he and his wife were members of the Reformed church. They were married in 1831 and were the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was the last born. Two of the latter's brothers served with distinction during the Civil War, Henry F. Hering being mustered out at the dose of the war as captain of Company E, Seventy-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and is now a retired physician, living at Minneapolis. John J. Hering was commissioned first lieutenant of Company E of the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, but was later transferred to Company A and was made adjutant of the regiment. After serving three months he contracted typhoid fever and was sent home, where he died in October, 1864. Albert F. Hering completed his schooling in the Xenia schools and upon attaining his majority began farming on his own account on the home place and after his marriage in 1874 continued to live there until 1893, when he bought the Bates place, remaining there until 1906, when he bought the old Harris Munger place on which he spent his last days and on which his widow still resides, a place of about one hundred and eighty acres. Mr. Hering was a Republican and was for years a member of the local school board, serving in that capacity at the time the Beavercreek high school was organized. He was a member of the Reformed church, as is his widow, and for years he was a deacon of the church and a trustee. He was buried in the Beaver Creek cemetery. In 1874, Albert F. Hering was united in marriage to Matilda Munger, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 677 who was born in the neighboring county of Montgomery, daughter of Harris and Elizabeth Munger, who later became residents of Beavercreek township, this county, and further reference to whom is made elsewhere in this volume, and to that union five children were born, namely : Clarence Franklin, now living at Osborn, where he is engaged in the railway service, and who married Alice Cora Wilson, of Madison county, and has one child, a daughter, Elizabeth Isabel; Edgar Russell, now living at Hamilton, this state, where he is engaged as a stationary engineer, and who married Catherine Turner, of this county, and has four children, Emma, Matilda, Russell, Catherine and Edward Everett; Harris Munger Hering, now assisting in the building of aeroplanes at Lorain, who on April 7, 1913, married Lena Gantz, of Alpha, and has two sons, Leroy Martin and Arthur Franklin; Mary Edna, who on March 10, 1914, married Ora A. Allen, a rural mail carrier out of Jeffersonville, and has one child, a son, Robert; and Jacob Early, who is operating the home place for his mother and who on February 27, 1915, married Daisy Nelson, of Springfield. ISAAC B. PRESTON. Isaac B. Preston, former mayor of Clifton and for years engaged in the milling business in that village, proprietor of the water-power flour-mill that was established there in 1892, and who also furnishes the electric power for the villages of Clifton, Cedarville and Yellow Springs, is a native of Missouri, born in Mercer county in that state, January 10, 1868. Mr. Preston has always been connected with the flour-milling business, as were his father and his grandfather before him, and in all his housekeeping career he has never had to buy flour but once, and on that occasion a twelve-and-a-half-pound sack of flour tided him over the emergency. His father, Jesse Preston, was born at Bloomington, Illinois, in 1831, his father at that time being there engaged in the milling business, one of the pioneer millers of that section of Illinois. Jesse Preston grew up to the milling business and when twenty years of ay became thus engaged on his own account. He married Eliza Bryan, who was born in Tennessee, and in the '50s located in Mercer county, Missouri, where he became a miller, later moving to Barry county, in that same state, where he had a mill eight miles south of Cassville. Jesse Preston died in 1891. His wife died in the year 1878. They were the parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the others being William, who died in youth ; Anna, who also died in youth; Matilda, who died in 1888; Sherman, a machinist, now living in California, 678 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO who married Angie Quinn and has two children ; Ada Caroline, who married E. J. Tartar, a blacksmith, now living at Vinita, Oklahoma, and has eight children; Berry J., unmarried, who is engaged in the milling business with his brother Isaac at Clifton, and. Anna (second), who died when a young girl. Isaac B. Preston was fifteen years of age when his parents moved from Mercer to Barry county, Missouri, in 1883; and he there grew up to the milling business, continuing there thus engaged, in the mill eight miles south of Cassville, for twenty-five years, at the end of which time he disposed of his interests there and came to Ohio, locating at Clifton, where he bought the water-power mill and has since been engaged in the milling business at that place. The Clifton mills were established at the fine water power at that site many years ago and the present mill is the third that has been erected at that site. Mr. Preston took charge of his present property there on April 3, 1907, and has since then made many improvements to the industry. In addition to his flour-milling business he is also operating, by the same water power, a saw-mill, stone crusher and an electric-light plant, from which latter the villages of Clifton, Cedarville and Yellow Springs derive their light. Mr. Preston is a Democrat and during his residence in Missouri for years held the position as committeeman from his home precinct. Upon coming to Greene county he continued his interest in political affairs and is now a member of the county Democratic central committee. During the term 1913-14 he served as mayor of the town of Clifton. Mr. Preston was made a Mason in 1889, made an Odd Fellow in that same year and in 1907, the year of his arrival at Clifton, became a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at that place. He also is a member of the United Commercial Travelers Association. On October 18, 1888, in Barry county, Missouri, Isaac B. Preston was united in marriage to Edith M. Hartley, who was born in Delaware county, this state, but who in 1887 had moved to Missouri with her parents, the Rev. B. W. Hartley and wife, the former of whom was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and to this union two children have been born, Cleo F., born on August 24, 1889, and Chester M., June 24, 1891. Cleo F. Preston married Fred W. Corry, of this county, who is now engaged in the milling business with Mr. Preston, and has three sons, Preston, Dewitt R. and Chester. Chester M. Preston, who also is engaged with his father in the milling business at Clifton, in 1912 married Ruth Corry, daughter of Robert E. Corry, a member of the present board of county commissioners, and to this union two children have been born, one an infant who died at birth, and Robert Chester, born on April 7, 1918. The Prestons are members of the Presbyterian church. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 679 GEORGE GREINER. The first house on what is now the site of the village of Fairfield, in this county, was built by George Greiner, a soldier of the American Revolution, who came over to this part of Ohio about the year 1805 and settled at that point, which then was included in Beavercreek eownship, but which in 1807 became organized as Bath township. There this Revolutionary soldier and his family established their home, the Greiners thus becoming numbered among the first families of Greene county, and are still represented at Fairfield, Otto A. Wilson, a great-grandson of this pioneer, now being mayor of the village. John Greiner, one of the sons of the pioneer George Greiner, was born in 1799 and was thus but six years of age when he became a resident of this county, the rest of his life being spent here. After his marriage he established hi; home in Fairfield, where he became engaged in the building trades: one of the leading carpenters in that part of the county. One of his sons, George Greiner, grew up .at Fairfield and as a young man learned the blacksmith trade, but later took up farming and was engaged in the latter vocation until 1873, when he moved with his family to Xenia and there became engaged in the clothing business. Upon his retirement from business he continued to make his home in Xenia and there spent his last days, his death occurring in 1913. He and his wife, the latter of whom horn was Patience Folkerth, were the parents of four children, two of whom died in infancy and the other two of whom, a son and a daughter, Russell and DeEtta, are still living, the latter still a resident of Xenia. Russell Greiner is one of that considerable number of the ambitious sons of Greene county who have achieved something. more that merely local fame in other places. He is engaged in the lithographing and engraving business at Kansas City and is a past president of the International Rotary Club. DeEtta Greiner was living at Xenia at the time of her marriage to the late Major William M. Wilson and is still living there at the corner of Church and King streets. Mrs. Wilson is a member of Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, as was her husband, and is the present regent of Catherine. Greene chapter of the Daughters of .the American Revolution. The late Major William M. Wilson was born at Zanesville, this state, and was twenty-one years of age when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted for service in behalf of the Union cause and went to the front as the first lieutenant of the company to which he was attached, presently being promoted to the rank of captain of Company B, One Hundred and Twenty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, attached to the Army of the Potomac. While serving with that command at the battle of the Wilderness he was captured by the enemy and for nine months thereafter was confined in Southern prison pens 680 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO before securing his exchange. Near the close of the war he was breveted major and with this rank was mustered out after a service of nearly four years. Upon the completion of his military service Major Wilson located at Xenia, in 1865, but a few years later went to Logansport, Indiana, where he became engaged in the hardware business. Upon his retirement from business he returned to Xenia, there married Miss Greiner and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1915. The major was a York Rite Mason, elevated to the commandery, Knights Templar, in Indiana, and upon his return to Ohio was demitted to the Xenia commandery. DAVID O. SHEELEY. David O. Sheeley, a retired farmer now living at Alpha and the proprietor of a farm of something more than one hundred and eight acres in the southern part of Beavercreek township, was born in that part of the county now included in Jefferson township on August 25, 1846, son of William B. and Elizabeth (Osborne) Sheeley, the latter of whom was born in Clermont county, this state, October 31, 1816. Her father, a Virginian and a Methodist preacher, blacksmith and farmer, came to Greene county with his family in 1833 and bought about one thousand acres of land in that part of Silvercreek township that later came. to be set off as Jefferson township. Her maternal grandfather, the Rev. Philip Gatch, was one of the pioneer Methodist preachers of Ohio and a noted evangelist in his day, and for twenty-one years was one of the associate judges of Clermont county. William B. Sheeley was born in Greene county on October 24, 1811, and on November 14, 1841, married Elizabeth Osborne. He became a farmer in Jefferson township and there died on May 21, 1870. His widow survived him until 1890. They were the parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being Preciosa, deceased; Mrs. Sarah Tysor, of Missouri ; Mrs. Pallas Brookbank, deceased; Moses, who died at the age of two weeks ; Isaac, deceased ; Lydia, unmarried, and Mrs. Harriet Hunt, of Clinton county. By a previous marriage William B. Sheeley was the father of two children, Reuben and George. David O. Sheeley was reared on the farm and early became engaged in farming on his own account, becoming the owner of a farm of a fraction more than one hundred and eight acres in the southern part of Beavercreek township, on which he lived until his retirement about five years ago and removal to Alpha, where he is now living, renting his farm land. Politically, Mr. Sheeley is a Democrat, and by religious persuasian is a Methodist. On April 30, 1868, David O. Sheeley was united in marriage to Alice GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 681 J. Weeks, who was born in Warren county on October 10, 1850, and who died on December 9, 1917. To that union three children were born, Charles C., John W. and Ivy Ethel, the latter of whom married William Netherton, a Beavercreek township farmer, and has eight children, William, Ethel, Arthur, Alvida, Elizabeth, Elwood, tephen and Charles. Mr. Sheeley's elder son, Charles C. Sheeley, now foreman of a machine shop at Dayton, married Catherine Greenwald and has six children, Anna, Dorothy, Bessie, David, Frederick and Caroline. Anna, the first-born of these, is married and has one child, Charles Caron. John W. Sheeley, also a machinist, now living in Detroit, married Matilda Neff and has three children, Ruth, who is married and has one child, and Alice and John. JOHN L. McKILLIP. John L. McKillip, for some years past living practically retired at his farm home in Silvercreek township, is a native "Buckeye" and has been a resident of Greene county and of the farm on which he is now living ever since his marriage when twenty years of age. He was born on a farm west of the village of Jeffersonville, in Jefferson township, in the neighboring county of Fayette, in sight of his present home, February 17, 1840, son of James and Rachel (Mills) McKillip, the latter of whom was born in Greene county, a member of one of the pioneer families here. James McKillip was born in Jefferson township, Fayette county, a son of John and Elizabeth (Whicker) McKillip, who had come to Ohio from North Carolina in pioneer days and had settled on a tract of land north of Jeffersonville, in Fayette county. John McKillip had been drafted for service during the Revolutionary War, but sent his brother-in-law in his stead. Before his death he was given a land warrant, but the same was lost. He became a pioneer of the Jeffersonville' neighborhood, the owner of four hundred acres of land, and both he and his wife lived to the age of eighty years. Their children were Bettie, John, James, Sallie, Jane, Martha, Polly, Nancy and Thomas, and the McKillip family thus became a numerous one in this part of the state in succeeding generations. James McKillip married Rachel Mills when twenty-two years of age and established his home in the neighborhood of the place on which he was born. Upon his retirement from the farm he .came over into Greene county and located at Jamestown, where he and his wife spent their last days, both living to be seventy-one years of age. They were the parents of ten children, those besides the subject of this sketch being the following : Thomas, who died in the days of his youth ; Nancy, who also died young; Clarissa, who died in the days of her girlhood ; Sallie, who married Robert Walton and is now living in Iowa; William, deceased; Geneva, 682 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO wife of Sanford Browder, a veteran of the Civil War, living in Fayette county ; Riley, who married Mollie Spahr and went to Kansas, where he spent his last days, and Harlan and Octavia, who died in the days of their childhood. Reared on the home farm in Fayette county, John L. McKillip received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and remained at home until his marriage in 1860, he then being not quite twenty years of age, after which he established his home on the place on which he is still living, in Silvercreek township, this county, securing there a tract of eighty-seven acres and starting his farming operations with a cash balance of twenty-six dollars. As time passed he gradually added to his land holdings until he became the owner of more than twelve hundred acres of land, five hundred and fifty-five acres of which he still owns, having given more than seven hundred acres to his children as they began to do for themselves-. In addition to his general farming Mr. McKillip was for years engaged in the live-stock business. For the past eight years he has been living practically retired from the active labors of the farm. Mr. McKillip is a Republican and he and his wife are Baptists, in which faith they reared their children. When Mr. and Mrs. McKillip fifty-eight years ago entered upon possession of the place on which they are now living the only buildings on the place, were a little old log cabin and a ramshackle stable, but it was not long until they began to see their way clear to the substantial improvements of the place and in 1871 built the brick house which has ever since served them as a place of residence and in which their children were reared. It was on January 8, 1860, that John L. McKillip was united in marriage to Mary Webb, who was born on a farm south of the village of Jamestown in this county, daughter of Thomas B. and Martha (Bryan) Webb, the former of whom also was born in this county and the latter in Dinwiddie county, Virginia, daughter of Thomas and Mary Bryan, who had settled south of Jamestown upon coming to this county in pioneer days. Thomas Bryan and his wife were the parents of nine children, those besides Mrs. Webb having been Morrison, Joseph, Reese, Thomas, Mary J., Sidney, Catherine and Betsy Ann. Thomas B. Webb was born in Silvercreek township, this county, son of Samuel and Mary (Bull) Webb, Virginians, who had become pioneers of Greene county. Samuel Webb was a soldier of the Revolution and upon coming to this county settled on land south of Jamestown, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They had four children, Maria, Harriet, Asaph and Thomas B. The last-named was born in 1816 and grew up on the farm on which his parents had settled upon coming to this county. After his marriage to Martha Bryan he continued farming south of Jamestown. He died at the age of seventy years and his wife lived to be GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 683 seventy-four. They were the parents of five children, those besides Mrs. McKillip having been Mary, who married George Weymer, of the Jamestown neighborhood ; John L., who is living in the vicinity of Cedarville ; James, now a resident of Dayton, and Samuel, deceased. To John L. and Mary ( Webb) McKillip eight children have been born and six are living. Amy S., their first-born, is the wife of William Shiflett, of Jamestown. Lester, their only son, is now farming in the vicinity of Jeffersonville, over in Fayette county. He has been twice married, his first wife having been Ivy Armstrong and his second, Catherine Matthews, and has two children, Ray and John. Irene C., the second daughter, married Walter Adsit. of Dayton, and has six children, Harry, who is employed at Dayton ; Warren, who is now connected with the aviation corps of the National Army; Mary, who is employed as a stenographer in the service of the government at the aviation field at Fairfield, and Elmer, Roscoe and Roy. Flora, the next daughter, is the wife of William Johnson, a sergeant of the Dayton police force, with which force he has been continuously connected for twenty-three years. Mollie, the next daughter, married Frank Gordon, a farmer, of Silvercreek township, and has one child, a son, Guy H., and Lena, the last-born, is the wife of Foster Jenkss a farmer of Fayette county. In 1910 Mr. and Mrs. McKillip celebrated the golden anniversary of their marriage and the occasion was made one of much felicitation on the part of their many friends. WILLIAM GILMORE TAYLOR. Not only was the late William Gilmore Taylor, who died at his home in Sugarcreek township on April 19, 1918, one of the oldest continuous residents of Greene county, but he had the distinction of being a grandson of a man who in the days of his boyhood, long before this section became the habitation of white men, was for seven years an enforced resident of this region, a captive of the Indians who then had their village or "chillicothe" overlooking the river at the point now known as Oldtown, north of Xenia. That captive lad was John Gilmore, who was captured, together with his mother, at the time of the Indian massacre at Kerrs Creek, in Rockbridge county, Virginia. His father and the other children of the family were slain by the Indians and their bodies burned in the ruins of their home, the children's brains being dashed out by the savages in the presence of their mother and their bodies thrown into the burning house. The savages retained the mother and the seven-year-old son John as camp servants and brought them back to the headquarters of the tribe at the then considerable Shawnee village now marked by the picturesque hamlet of Oldtown. For seven years the widow Gilmore and her son John were kept captive here and then one 684 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO of the white men also held captive there effected his escape and made his way back East, in due time getting word to the friends of Mrs. Gilmore of the plight of the widow and her son. In Rockbridge county it had all the time been supposed that Mrs. Gilmore and the lad John had perished with the other members of the family. A rescue party of fifteen determined men was raised and this party proceeded on out here into the then wilderness, reaching the chillicothe at a time when the "braves" of the camp were away on a hunting expedition. Keeping themselves concealed until they presently saw Mrs. Gilmore making her way to the spring for water, they there apprised her of the object of their mission. She returned to the village and without creating suspicion in the minds of the squaws told her son to help her get water from the spring, the two thus returning to the clump of bushes which concealed the rescue party and all quickly made their way out of sight of the village. Four days later they were overtaken by a party of Indians sent to recapture the escaping captives, but the redskins were repulsed and the widow Gilmore and her son John were presently restored to their old home and friends in Rockbridge county. William Gilmore Taylor's mother was a granddaughter of this plucky widow and a daughter of John Gilmore, the lad whose youth had been spent doing repulsive chores for his savage captors in the region now comprised within Greene county. John Gilmore became a valley farmer in Rockbridge county, a stanch Presbyterian and the father of twelve children. He lived to be ninety-six years of age and until within a year of his death walked the sides of his native mountains with vigor practically unimpaired. One of his daughters, Frances Gilmore, married Isaac Taylor, a resident of Rockbridge county, and the two came to Ohio, presently locating in Ross township, this county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Isaac Taylor was born on a vessel crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the year 1800, while his parents were making their way from Belfast, Ireland, to. this country. The Taylors located in Rockbridge county, Virginia, and there reared their family. They were the parents of four children, two sons, Isaac and Andrew, and two daughters, one of the latter of whom married a Botkins and settled in Kentucky. There in Rockbridge county Isaac Taylor grew to manhood, being trained to the trade of a tanner, and married Frances Gilmore, who was born in that county in 1803, daughter of the John Gilmore mentioned above. After their marriage Isaac Taylor and his wife, accompanied by one slave given them by Mrs. 'Taylor's father, came to Ohio, in 1829, and settled in Preble county, where Mr. Taylor promptly freed his slave. Not finding conditions there to their liking, Isaac Taylor and his wife the next year, in 1830, came over into Greene county and bought a farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Ross township, the same adjoining the GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 685 farm of Isaac Lackey, north of Jamestown, and later became the owners of eight hundred acres and there spent the remainder of their lives, the latter dying about 1880 and the former, in June, 1884. For some time after coming to Ohio Isaac Taylor was engaged in teaching school, supplemental to his work of developing his farm. He also was one of the pioneer singing-school teachers in that part of the county. He was a Democrat and at one time and another held various township offices. He was reared a Presbyterian, but later gave his mental allegiance to the doctrines of the Campbellites, though he did not formally unite with that communion. Isaac and Frances (Gilmore) Taylor were the parents of six children, of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being Mary Jane, who became the wife of Ira Adair, of this county; Magdaline, who married Jackson Ballard, also of this county ; John, who made his home at Xenia, where his last days were spent ; Daniel, who made his home at Jamestown, where he died, and whose son, Jesse Taylor, attained more than local fame as an advocate of the good-roads movement, and Isaac, who made his home in the neighboring county of Warren, where his last days were spent. The late William Gilmore Taylor, last survivor of the six children born to Isaac and Frances (Gilmore) Taylor, was born on March 19, 1832, on the farm on which his parents had settled upon taking up their residence in Ross township and there grew to manhood. He received his schooling in the local schools and after his marriage in 1859 established his home on a portion of his father's eight-hundred-acre tract and there made his home for ten years, or until 1869, when he sold the place on which he had been living and bought a farm of one hundred and seventy acres in Sugarcreek township, moved onto the same and there spent his last days. For some years past Mr. Taylor had been living practically retired from the active labors of the farm, having long ago turned over the management of the place to his eldest son, Eldorus G. Taylor, who is now operating the farm. Though reared a Democrat, Mr. Taylor became a Republican under the Lincoln administration and ever after espoused the principles of that party. He was a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church at Xenia, as is his widow, and was for years a member of the board of trustees of that congregation, and also for some time served as class leader, while Mrs. Taylor ever has taken an interested part in the work of the Ladies' Aid Society. During the Civil War Mr. Taylor served as a member of Ohio's locally noted "squirrel hunters" and with that organization went out to help repel Morgan's invasion of the state. On December 29, 1859, William G. Taylor was united in marriage to Mary Long, who also was born in Ohio, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (McMillan) Long, of Lost Creek township in the nearby county of Miami, 686 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO and to this union five children were born, namely : Eldorus Gilmore, born on January 11, 1861, who, as noted above, is now managing the home farm; William Vincent, January 22, 1865, a farmer, now living at Bellbrook, who married Nellie Cunningham and has four children, Ethel A., Hazel L., W. Virgil and Ocy; James Harvey, March 30, 1867, a carpenter, now living at Xenia, who married Ida Seiber and has twin children, Erman and Elsie; Ocy Lenore, who married James Sanders and died in Tennessee, leaving two children, Jessie and Dena ; and Dessie, who married Clinton Beal, of Sugarcreek township, and has three children, Frances, Gladys and Velda. JOHN MELVIN JACOBY. Elsewhere in this work there is mention of the Jacoby family, one of the first families to settle in the Oldtown neighborhood in Greene county. The Gowdy family, with which the subject of this sketch is connected on "the distaff side," is also one of the real old families of the county, so that wherever the Jacobys or the Gowdys are found hereabout it may very properly be taken for granted that they are descendants of the old pioneer stock which has been represented here for more than a hundred years. John Melvin Gowdy, owner of a farm northwest of Goes tation, in Xenia, township, was born on a farm in that same township on January 15, 1867, a son of James Henry and Mary (Harner) Jacoby, both of whom were also born in Xenia township, in the neighborhood of Oldtown, and the latter of whom is still living, making her home at Oldtown. James Henry Jacoby was born on a farm on the Brush road, three miles north of Xenia, June 10, 1839, son of Peter and Sarah (Gowdy) Jacoby, the former of whom was also born in this county and the latter in Kentucky. Peter Jacoby, born on September 3, 1801, was .a son of John and Mary Jacoby, who came here from Pennsylvania in the early days of the settlement of this part of Ohio and located on a tract of land on the old Brush road in the vicinity of Oldtown, the old Shawnee Indian village or "chillicothe," where John Jacoby erected and operated a pioneer mill. There Peter Jacoby grew to manhood and in 1826 married Sarah Gowdy, who was born on March 6, 1803, daughter of John And .Abigail (Ryan) Gowdy, and who was but a child when the Gowdy family, headed by her grandfather, John Gowdy, came up here from Kentucky, her parents locating in Xenia in 1809. On the gravestone of the patriarch John Gowdy, in the old. Asssociate graveyard, the name is spelled Goudy. Just when he settled in Sugarcreek township is not known, but he was there previous to 1803, as his name appears on the first enumeration of that township taken in that year, the year in which Greene county was organized as a civic unit. He died in 1814, at the age of GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 687 seventy-two years, and his widow survived him until May 6, 1838. John and Abigail (Ryan) Gowdy were the parents of eleven children, of whom Sarah, the maternal grandmother of Mr. Jacoby, was the last-born, the others having been : Mary, born on April 13, 1775; Joseph, May 20, 1777; Samuel, June 9, 1780; Robert, April 4, 1782, who had a tanyard in Xenia at an early day ; Martin, January 27, 1785; Jane, May 31, 1787; John, August 3, 1789; Alexander, April 2, 1792 Ryan, February, 1795, who was one of the first merchants in Xenia, and Abigail, July 17, 1797. To Peter and Sarah (Gowdy) Jacoby, the latter of whom died on March 2, 1869, were born eleven children, one of these having been James Henry Jacoby, father of the subject of this biographical sketch. James Henry Jacoby grew to manhood on the home place in the vicinity of Oldtown and on January 31, 1861, was married to Mary E. Harner, who was born at Oldtown, a daughter of Charles and Mary (Morgan) Harner, also members of old families in this county, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. After his marriage James H. Jacoby continued farming and was thus engaged until his retirement in 1899. He died on May 28, 1907, and was buried in the cemetery at Xenia. As noted above, his widow is still living at Oldtown. To James H. and Mary E. (Hamer) Jacoby were born eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being the following : Sarah, wife of Frank Carlisle, of Springfield, this state; Charles. Martin, who died at the age of three years; David W., who. married Mary Carl and is living at Springfield, where he is engaged in the contracting business; Mary H., who died at the age of four years; Martha Isabel; wife of Herbert Keenan, of Oldtown; James Henry, a motorman on the traction line, who is unmarried and continues to make his home with his mother, and Morgan Franklin, who married Maude Harner and is engaged in farming in Xenia township. John Melvin Jacoby grew up on the home farm, received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and in time began working as a farmer on his own account. After his marriage he rented a farm and continued farming the same until 1902, in which year he bought the place northwest of Goes Station, in Xenia township, rural mail route No. 2 out of Yellow Springs, where he ever since has made his home. The original tract he bought there had in but forty-five acres, but he has since enlarged his .holdings to eighty-four acres. Mr. Jacoby is a Democrat and is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Alpha. On February 22, 1897, John M. Jacoby was united in marriage to Florence Settler, who Was born in Beavercreek township; this county, daughter of Michael and Ella (Ditman) Settler, the latter of whom is still living, and to this union two children have been born, Hallie, born in 190o, and Ralph, 1910. 688 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO CORNELIUS ZIMMERMAN. Cornelius Zimmerman, a soldier of the Civil War and a farmer of Beavercreek township, now living practically retired on his farm on rural mail route No. 7 out of Xenia, was born in that township on October 9, 1844, son of Jacob and Mary (Shoup) Zimmerman, both of whom also were born in that township, members of pioneer families, as will be noted in references made elsewhere in this volume to the Zimmerman and Shoup families in this county. Jacob Zimmerman was born in 1806 and died on June 14, 1867. In addition to his farming operations he also kept a grocery and the hamlet that sprang up around his store was given the name of Zimmermans, which it bears to this day. He and his wife were members of the Church of the Brethren and their children were reared in that faith. They had six children, two of whom died in infancy, the others besides the subject of this sketch being Catherine, who married Abraham Coy and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased ; Caroline, also deceased, who was the wife of Cyrus Roup, and Martha J., wife of George F. Ferguson, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere. Reared on the home place, Cornelius Zimmerman received his schooling in the local schools. During the progress of the Civil War he enlisted in the hundred days service and upon the completion of that service resumed his place on the farm, also engaging in the threshing business, which latter he kept up during seasons for about thirty-five years. He married in the summer of 1866 and thereafter farmed on his own account, occupying various farms in the neighborhood until about eighteen years ago, when he bought the farm of sixty-seven acres on which he is now living and has since made his home there. Mr. Zimmerman is a Republican. For more than forty years he has been a member of the Church of the Brethren and for thirty-eight years has served as treasurer of the local congregaton of that church. He is an ardent friend of prohibition. Mr. Zimmerman has been twice married. On June 21, 1866, he was united in marriage to Ada Crawford and to that union were born seven children, namely ; Frank, now living at Dayton, who married Lena Leonard and has two daughters, Sarah and Lydia ; Nettie, widow of Charles Moler, who has two sons, Floyd E., of Springfield, who is married and has a son, Charles A., and Ralph E. ; William T., now living at Oakwood, a suburb of Dayton, who married Susan Wolf and has seven children, Martin, Mary, Robert, Caleb, George, Thomas and Martha ; Cora M., who married Newton J. Coy and has three children, Roy, Crawford and Dorothy; John H., now living at Springfield, who has been twice married, his first wife having been Elizabeth Anderson and his second, Bessie Willard ; Nellie, who married GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 689 Charles Wright, of Beavertown, and has three children, Harold, Fred and Louise; and J. Garfield, now living at Piqua, who married Elsie tine and has a son, Loren. The mother of these children died on July 2, 1880, and in December, 1882, Mr. Zimmerman married Mary C. Trubee, of Zimmerman, and to that union two children have been born, Russell, who is at home, and Lester I., who married Bonnie Moore and is now living at t. Louis, Missouri, a teacher in the high school of that city. EDWARD N. RICHMAN. Edward N. Richman, of Fairfield, was born on September 4, 1875, in Montgomery county, Ohio, the son of William and Caroline (Newcom) Richman, both of whom were natives of Ohio. William Richman was born in Madison county on September 22, 1834, and was reared on a farm in that county, receiving his education in the district schools. In his young manhood he was a dealer in horses and other live stock, but later took up farming and made a specialty of stock raising. He moved to Montgomery county about 1872, the year of his marriage to Caroline Newcom, who was a native of that county, and there he spent the remainder of his, life, his death occurring in 1910. His 'widow still survives him, living on the old homestead near Dayton. William Richman and wife were the parents of six children, 'of whom Edward N. is the eldest, the others being Laura, wife of B. E. Barney, living on the old home farm in Montgomery county; Dora, wife of Herbert Seitner, a farmer living near Centerville, Montgomery county ; William E., who married Amber Selby and lives in Dayton; Ruth, wife of L. Horlecher, living in Belmont, and Carrie, unmarried, living at home with her mother. Edward N. Richman received his elementary education in the Belmont school and later became a student at the Normal College at Lebanon, from which institution he was graduated. on June 8, 1893. After leaving college, lie worked as a bookkeeper in Buffalo, New York, remaining in that city for five years. In 1898 he returned to the home farm in Montgomery county, and engaged in farming, remaining there until 1901, when he moved to Madison county, where he continued his farming operations on a farm for his father. He remained there until after his father's death in 1910, when he purchased a farm near Fairfield, on which he and his family lived until the fall of 1917, when he disposed of his farm and moved to Fairfield. purchasing there a tract of nine acres close to the village, which he has platted and is selling out in lots. In 1905 Edward N. Richman was united in marriage to Nellie Young, (43) 690 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO daughter of Ransom Young, who was a native of Greene county, born February 19, 1844, and whose death occurred in 1898. Mrs. Richman was born and reared in Fairfield, receiving her education in the village schools. Ransom Young and wife (Alice Helmer) were the parents of three children : Mrs. Jessie Whitson, who died January 27, 1893 ; Nellie, the wife of Mr. Richman, and Paul, who married Birdie. Wider, and lives in Fairfield. Mr. and Mrs. Richman are members of the Reformed church and Mr. Richman is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a member of Mad River lodge at Fairfield. GEORGE K. SCHAUER. George K. Schauer, who is engaged in the seed business at Osborn, this county, was born on a farm in the neighboring county of Miami on August 30, 1859, son of George and Catherine (Brown) Schauer, the former of whom was born in this county in 1825 and the latter in the state of Maryland, in 183o. George Schauer, who spent most of his life as a farmer in Greene county, was a son of Samuel Schauer, who had settled here in 1818, and he was reared on a farm in the vicinity of Byron. After his marriage he for a time lived in Miami county, but later returned to this county. He and his wife were members of the Lutheran church and their children were reared in that faith. There were five of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being Sarah C., wife of Simon H. Wolf, of Springfield, this state ; Lenora J., wife of Benjamin Wolf, of Osborn; Samuel William, deceased, and Flora, wife of J. C. Smith, a Dayton dry-goods merchant. Reared in this county, George K. Schauer received his early schooling in the schools of his home neighborhood and supplemented the same by a course in the Covington high school and .for fourteen years thereafter was engaged in farming. He then became engaged in the sale of agricultural machinery at Osborn, selling direct to the farmers, agent for the "Champion" line, and there sold the first self-binders introduced into that community. Five years later he became engaged in the dry-goods business at Osborn and was thus engaged for four years, at the end of which time, in 1912, he established his present business in the seed' line, making a specialty of fine seed corn. Mr. Schauer's business is largely conducted through the mail-order system. In 1886 George K. Schauer was united in marriage to Elizabeth Kline, daughter of Samuel and Rachel (Herr) Kline, and to this union six children have been born, namely : Grace, who died at the age of sixteen years ; Sumner, who Married Edna Glasser and lives at Osborn, where he is engaged in business with his father; Rachel. living at home. who has had both a musical GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 691 and a commercial training; George A., who married Catherine Bagford and is also living at Osborn, where he is engaged in business with his father; Anna, a school teacher, who is making her home with her parents, and Dewey, who is a clerk in a grocery store in Osborn. The Schauers are members of the local Lutheran church. Mr. Schauer is a Republican. RICHARD SPARROW. Richard Sparrow, a veteran of the Civil War, who for years has been making his home at Clifton, this county, was born on a farm in the neighboring county cf Clark on May 11, 1844, a son of John and Mahala (Kelly) Sparrow, the former of whom was born in the state of Maryland and the latter in Kentucky, whose last days were spent at Clifton. John Sparrow was reared in his native Maryland and as a young man came to Ohio and located in Clark county, where he presently married and established his home on a farm, continuing there engaged in farming until he was sixty-six years of age, when he retired and moved to Clifton, where he spent the rest of his life. He and his wife were the parents of twelve children, six sons and six daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch and his sister, Mrs. Sarah Caroline Griffith, are the only ones now surviving. Reared on the 'home farm in Clark county, Richard Sparrow received his schooling in the local schools of that neighborhood and was living there when the Civil War broke out. On February 15, 1864, he then being but nineteen years of age, he enlisted for service in behalf of the Union cause and went to the front as a member of Company I, One Hundred and Tenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, attached to the Army of the Potomac, tinder General Grant, and with that command served until the close of the war, being mustered out on June 25, 1865. During that period of service Mr. Sparro was three times wounded, once at the battle of Cold Harbor and twice at the battle of Petersburg. Upon the completion of his military service he returned to the home farm in Clark county and after his marriage a couple of months after his return from the army, began farming on his own account. In 1881 he moved to Clifton, where he ever since has made his home. Mr. Sparrow is a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and by political inclination is `.`independent." About thirteen years ago Mr. Sparrow and his family suffered a serious loss by fire which destroyed their dwelling house, but in the rebuilding of the same they constrticted better than before. On August 24, 1865; Richard Sparrow was united in marriage to Lavina Wike, who also was horn in Clark county, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Williams) Wike, natives of Pennsylvania, and to this union five children 692 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO have been born, namely ; Silas E., deceased ; Elizabeth, who married Charles Flopping, of Yellow Springs, and has four children, Edwin, who married Frieda Centers and lives at Dayton, George Bert, Jeremiah Lee, who is now engaged as city meat inspector at Atlanta, Georgia, and Emma Lavina ; Ulysses Clinton, now living at Dayton, who married Katherine Pauley and has four children, Helen, Richard, Alice and Charlotte ; Katherine Jane, now deceased, who married Grant Hopping and had two children, Edna, who married Lewis Lindell, and Arthur, of Yellow Springs and Harry, Who died When nine years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow are members of the Presbyterian church. HENRY H. EAVEY. The late Henry H. Eavey, president of the Citizens National Bank of Xenia, founder and head of the wholesale grocery firm which bears his name, a soldier of the Civil War, former president of the local school board and for many years a conspicuous figure in the commercial life of Xenia, who died at his home in that city in the spring of 1918 and whose widow is still living there, was a native of the state of Maryland, but had been a resident of Greene county since the days of his infancy, and has thus been a participant in the affairs of this community all his, adult life. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of the city of Hagerstown, Maryland. August 6, 184o, son of John and Margaret (Knode) Eavey, who in the following spring came to Ohio and settled on' a farm in Greene county, the child Henry then being under one year of age. Reared on the home farm, Henry H. Eavey received his schooling in the local schools and remained at home until he was sixteen years of age, when he took employment in the retail grocery store of David Hinton at Xenia, his wages for that service being fixed at eight and one-third dollars a month and "board," the latter being apportioned to him at such boarding houses as owed his employer grocery bills. At the end of nine months he relinquished this employment as a bad job and returned to the farm, but a few more months of farm life convinced him that he was not cut out for a farmer and in the fall of 1859 he returned to Xenia and entered the grocery store of .D. A. Dean, which was situated on the corner now occupied by the Steele building, and was thus engaged when the Civil War broke out. In July, 1862, Mr. Eavey enlisted for service and went to the front as a member of Company H, Ninety-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served for five months or until his discharge by reason of physical disability caused by injuries he had received while a prisoner of war at Lexington, Kentucky. Upon his return to Xenia Mr. Eavey resumed his former position in the Dean store, which meantime had GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 693 been purchased by Frank E. Arnold, and remained there until in May, 1865, when he opened a store of his own. in West Main street. From the beginning this venture was successful and on July 1, 1869, Mr. Eavey, in association with M. C. Allison and James Carson, inaugurated the wholesale establishment which still bears his name, the firm opening for business with a capitalization of eighteen thousand dollars in the building now occupied by the Smith Advertising Company on East Main street. In 1880 Mr. Carson and Mr. Allison withdrew from the firm, the former going to Springfield and the latter becoming engaged in the cordage business at Xenia, and Mr. Eavey took into partnership with him J. D. Steele. and W. B. Harrison, the new company, under the firm name of Eavey & Company, erecting the brick building on West Main street, which was the home of the company until destroyed by fire in February, 1908. Both Mr. Steele and Mr. Harrison withdrew from the firm within seven or eight years after the association was effected and invested their capital in the cordage business, S. F. Evans, of Jamestown, buying an interest in the grocery business following their withdrawal. This latter partnership, however, did not last longer than a year or two and then Mr. Eavey took his sons, William E. and H. Earl Eavey, into business with him, a mutually agreeable arrangement that continued until the death of the elder Eavey, whose sons had gradually assumed the responsibility of the business as their father retired from the more active duties of the business which he had built up and to which he had devoted his life for nearly half .a century. In addition to his business interests at Xenia Mr. Eavey had helped in the establishment of other wholesale grocery houses and at various times was thus interested in concerns at Springfield, Findlay ands Dayton, this state, and at Ft. Wayne and Huntington, Indiana. Mr. Eavey also was one of the incorporators of the Citizens National. Bank of Xenia, served for ten years as vice-president of that concern and on January 15, 1897, was elected president of the bank, a position he held until his death. In 1880 he was elected a member o f the board Of education, was for thirteen years treasurer of the same and also served for some time as president of the board. For years he also was a member of the Woodland cemetery board. He was an elder of the local congregation of the Reformed church and was a member of Lewis Post No. 357, Grand Army of the Republic, and of the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons.. Mr. Eavey died at his home in Xenia on April 18, 1918, and was buried in Woodland cemetery. Henry H. Eavey was twice married. His first wife, who was Catherine Winters, daughter. of the Rev. Thomas H. Winters, died in December, 1891, leaving four children, Mrs. Arthur H. Perfect, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and William E. Eavey, Mrs. George R. Schuster and H. Earl Eavey, 694 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO of Xenia. In February, 1896, Mr. Eavey married Alice Galloway, who survives him and who is still making her home at Xenia, residing at 106 West Market street. Mrs. Eavey is a daughter of the late James C. Gal loway, a member of one of the real pioneer families of Greene county and further mention of whom, together with a comprehensive narrative relating to the Galloway family in this county, is. presented elsewhere in this volume. FRANK B. TURNBULL. Frank B. Turnbull, manager of the Cedarville Telephone Company, was born on the old Turnbull homestead place in Cedarville township on June 27, 1867, a son of Alexander and Sarah J. (Barber) Turnbull, both of whom also were born in this county, members of pioneer families, and whose last days were spent here. Alexander Turnbull was born on a ,pioneer. farm two miles northeast of Cedarville on January 24, 1838, a son of John Turnbull and wife, the latter of whom was a Kyle, and the former of whom was a native of Scotland who came to this country as a young man and settled in Greene county, as is set out elsewhere in this volume. John Turnbull was twice married and by his first wife was the father of five sons, William, Samuel, Joseph, Thomas and Alexander. By his second marriage he was the father of the following children : Hugh, who is living north of Cedarville; David, now deceased, who was an undertaker at Cedarville, later moving to Monmouth, Illinois, where he engaged in the same business and where he also served for a time as sheriff ; Charles, who is still living north of Cedarville; Minnie, who died unmarried; 'Anna and Martha; also deceased, and Ritta, who married W. L. Clemens and is living east of Cedarville. Alexander Turnbull grew up on the old home farm and continued farming all his life. During the progress of the Civil War he served for four years as a soldier of the Union, a member of Company D, Twelfth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was twice married. On December 16, 1863, he was united in marriage to Sarah J. Barber and to that union were born five children, namely : Effie, born on December 20, 1864, who died on January 21, 1884; Rachel, March 31, 1867, who married J. C. McMillen and is now living at Columbus, this state; Anna, February 1, 1877, now deceased, who was the wife of John Ervine, of Xenia ; Frank B., the immediate subject of this sketch, and William A., postmaster of Cedarville, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume. The mother of these children died on May 30, 1896, and Mr. Turnbull later married Mrs. Sarah Barber, widow of Al Barber, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. Alexander Turnbull GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 695 died on April 7, 1916. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church and his children were reared in that faith. Frank B. Turnbull was reared on the home farm, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools, and remained at home until his marriage in the spring of 1897. He later became a resident of South Charleston, in the neighboring county of Clark, where he was engaged in the livery business and in the buying and selling of horses until his removal in 1900 to Cedarville, where he since has made his home. Mr. Turnbull is the owner of a farm, to the general direction of which he gives his personal attention, but his time is chiefly devoted to the affairs of the Cedarville Telephone Company, of which he is the general manager. On April 28, 1897, Frank B. Turnbull was united in marriage to Lydia Bradfute, who was born at Cedarville, a daughter of David and Martha Bradfute, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, and to this union has been born one child, a son, Robert Alexander, born on December 25, 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Turnbull are members of the United Presbyterian church. Mr. Turnbull is a Democrat. GEORGE F. KEMP. George F. Kemp, of Beavercreek township, proprietor of a farm of one hundred and fifty-five acres in the New Germany neighborhood, was born on that farm on July 21, 1868, son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Lafong) Kemp, the latter of whom was born in that same township in 1834, a member of one of the pioneer families thereabout and further reference to which family is made elsewhere in this volume. Jacob Kemp was born in Mad River township, in the neighboring county of Montgomery, July 30., 1825, and during the days of his young manhood was engaged in teaching school. He then became engaged. in the grocery and dry-goods business in Dayton and there remained until in April, 1868, when he came over into Greene county and settled on the farm on which his son George is now living and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on January 13, 1899. His widow survived him until 1913. They were the parents of five children, of whom George was the fourth in order of birth, the others being Angeline Margaret, unmarried, who is living in Montgomery county ; Cassandra, who died at the age of four years ; Lafayette, who also died when four years of age, and Wilmer S., who married Anna Smith and is living in Montgomery county. Reared on the home farm, George S. Kemp received his schooling in the local schools in the neighborhood of his home and for a while after attaining his majority was engaged variously in carpentering, railroading and painting, but presently resumed farming on the home place and has ever 696 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO since been thus engaged, having established his home there after his marriage in the fall of 1891. In addition to his general farming Mr. Kemp has given considerable attention to the raising of Poland China hogs and Holstein cattle. On November 26, 1891, George F. Kemp was united in marriage to Lina M. Hering, who also was born in Beavercreek township, daughter of Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Lantz) Hering, further reference to which family is made elsewhere in this volume, and to this union five children have been born, namely : Ferdinand, who died in infancy ; Mary, wife of Asa Newton, of Beavercreek township; Elnora Catherine, George B. and Almeda. DAVID ARCHER. David Archer, member of the board of trustees of Beavercreek township, proprietor of a farm in that township and proprietor of an extensive stone quarry there, residing on rural mail route No. 8 out of Dayton, was born in Beavercreek township on January I, 1847, a son of John and Mary J. (Boroff) Archer, the latter of whom was born in that same township. John Archer was born at Centerville in the neighboring county of Montgomery on August 8, 1823, and as a young man came over into Greene county, where he spent the rest of his life, farming and operating as a stone contractor and builder. On March 18, 1845, he married Mary J. Boroff, and to that union ten children were born, two of whom died in infancy and one in childhood, the others besides the subject of this sketch being William. deceased; Charles, now living at Troy, this state; Oliver F., a Beavercreek township farmer; Daniel,. deceased; Mrs. Lida R. Helmer, of Beavercreek township, with whom heir brother David makes his home, and John E.. now a resident of Belmont, this state. John Archer died on November 21, 1884, and his widow survived him until February 24, 1903. She was born on April 24, 1823. Reared on the home farm in Beavercreek township, David Archer received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and continued farming until he was twenty-three years of age, when, in the spring of 187o, he took up the operation of the stone quarry on his father's place and has ever since been operating the same, for years making a specialty of preparing stone slabs for the construction of grave vaults, a continuous resident of the place on which he is now living since 1869. Mr. Archer is a Republican and for the past nine or ten years has been serving as a member of the board of township trustees. He is affiliated with the Odd Fellows and with the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Archer's sister, Lida, with whom he makes his GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 697 home, has been twice married, and by her first marriage is the mother of two children, a daughter, Miss Osee A. Burke, a teacher in the Beavercreek schools, and a son, John A. Burke, of Dayton, who operates a garage. She married, secondly, Edward Helmer, son of Squire Helmer, of Beavercreek township, and by that union is the mother of one child, a son, Wando Harold. MILLARD D. FLACK. Millard D. Flack, colored farmer and dairyman, formerly and for twenty-five years a school teacher and now the proprietor of a place of eighty acres in the Wilberforce neighborhood, is a North Carolinian by birth, but has been a resident of Ohio and of Kentucky since he was ten years of age. He was born of slave parents, Robert and Elizabeth (Tucker) Flack, in the vicinity of Morgantown, in Rutherford county, North Carolina, June 9, 1859, and remained there until after the Civil War, when, in 1869, his parents came to Ohio and located in Clermont county, where Robert Flack was able to buy a small tract of land and engage in farming on his own account. Robert Flack died in Clermont county in 1873, at the age of forty years, leaving two children, both of whom are still living, the subject .of this sketch having a sister, Susan, widow of Samuel Jones, who is now making her home with him at his place near Wilberforce. The widow Flack married Robert Scott, who presently moved up into Warren county and thence after a few years to Springfield, where he was living when, in 1885, while engaged in working in the timber he was murdered by white men, his body being chopped to pieces ; a crime for which one of the men implicated was sentenced to twenty years in the penitentiary. Robert Scott was a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, having. served with one of the Ohio infantry regiments. His widow died in Cincinnati in December, 1916, she then being eighty-five years of age. She was a member of the Baptist church and her children were reared in that faith. Having been but ten years of age when his parents came to Ohio from North Carolina, Millard D. Flack received his early schooling in the schools of Clermont county. He then took a course in Berea College in Kentucky and began to teach school, spending his winters in the school room and his summers at farm work. He presently became the owner of a tract of thirty acres in Madison county, Kentucky, where he was married, and his wife was the owner of a tract of seventy-five acres. For twenty-five year he was engaged in teaching in Kentucky, beginning in the rural schools and in .ti:ine being advanced to the town schools and became in turn principal of the colored 698 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO schools at Richmond, at Nicholasville and at Stanford, all in Kentucky, the holder of a life certificate, or teacher's license. This long service as a teacher in Kentucky was interrupted for a period of two years beginning in 1900, when he returned to Ohio and was for two years engaged in the butcher business at Wilberforce, but at the end of that time he returned to his home in Kentucky and resumed farming and teaching in Madison county, remaining there until the spring of 1916, when he returned to this county with his family, he and his. wife having disposed of their land interests in Kentucky, and bought a tract of eighty acres on the Columbus pike in Xenia township and in January, 1917, moved onto the same. On December 23, 1891, Millard D. Flack was united in marriage to Eliza lane Turner, a daughter of Cyrus and Esther (Haines) Turner, of Kentucky, an interesting story of whom is carried in a biographical sketch relating to John J. Turner, brother of Mrs. Flack, presented elsewhere in this volume, and to this union six children have been born, namely : Mrs. Viola Gilmore, who is teaching school in Somerset, Kentucky ; John Turner Flack, now a soldier of the National Army, a sergeant, stationed in the spring of 1918 at Camp Grant, Illinois, preparatory to service abroad; Elizabeth, who is at home; Estella, who died at the age of five years, and Lida and Helen. The Flacks are members of the Baptist church and for twenty years during his residence in Kentucky Mr. Flack served as a deacon of his local congregation. He is a member of the colored order of Masons. Mrs. Flack's mother died on March 21, 1918, at the age of eighty-six years. CHARLES EDWIN CONFARR. Charles Edwin Confarr, a veteran blacksmith at Clifton and former mayor of that city, was born at Clifton on June 19, 1850, son of John and Eve Catherine (Stimmel) Confarr, Virginians, the former of whom was born on March 20, 1811, and the latter, April 1, 1811, who became residents of Clifton about 1843 and there spent their last days. John Confarr was born in Frederick county, Virginia, and there grew to manhood. He was early apprenticed to a blacksmith and completed his apprenticeship when he was nineteen years of age, afterward becoming engaged in business as a blacksmith on his own account in his home county. He was married in 1831 and continued to make his home. in Frederick county until about 1843, when he came to Ohio with his family, four children having by that time been born to him and his wife, and located at Clifton, where he set up a blacksmith shop and was occupied at his trade there until his retirement from the business in 1872. He continued to make his GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 699 residence at Clifton after his retirement and there died on March 30, 1895. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the eighth in order of birth, the others being Eliza Ann, William Newton, Mary Catherine, John Wesley, Mrs. Sarah Louise Wheeler, of Dayton, Isaac Thorne, Henry Cyrus, who died in childhood, and Mrs. Susanna Cornelia Boase, of Clifton. Reared at Clifton, Charles E. Confarr received his schooling there and when sixteen years of age took up the work of blacksmithing, an assistant in his father's shop. Upon completing his trade he went to Portsmouth, Ohio, and there worked in a paper-mill for eight months, at the end of which time he went to California and after nine months spent there at mining returned to Portsmouth and resumed his work in the paper-mill. He was married in Indiana in 1883 and presently returned to Clifton, where he established his home and where he ever since has resided. In 1885 he built the blacksmith shop he now occupies and has since been engaged in business there. Mr. Confarr has been a member of the local school board for the past twenty years and served for some time as mayor of Clifton and also for some time as town clerk. He is a Democrat. He has been a members of the Masonic order since 1874, affiliated with the lodge of that order at Yellow Springs; has been a member of the. Clifton lodge of the Knights of Pythias since 1895 and is also one of the old members of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. For the past fourteen years or more Mr. Confarr has been the treasurer of the Clifton Presbyterian church. On December 25, 1883, at Moores Hill, in Dearborn county, Indiana, Charles E. Confarr was united in marriage to Belle Lloyd, daughter of John W. and Clarissa Ellen (Lambertson) Lloyd, of that place, who were married on June 23, 1850, and who were the parents of seven children, of whom four are still living, Mrs. Confarr having two brothers, John F. and Omar Lloyd, living at Indianapolis, where the latter is engaged as superintendent of mail carriers in the postoffice, and a sister, Mrs. Alice Eudora Craven, also of Indianapolis. The deceased children of the Lloyd family were Helena, William and Henry. Mr. and Mrs. Confarr have one son, John Lloyd Confarr, born on October 13, 1887, who was graduated from the Clifton high scho61 in 19̊5 and in the fall of that same year entered Cedarville College, from which institution he was graduated in 1909 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. For two years after leaving college John L. Confarr was engaged in teaching school and then he became engaged in the mercantile business at Cedarville, a member of the Robert Bird's Sons Company. On October 22, 1913, at Cedarville, John L. Confarr was united in marriage to Verna Bird, of that place.