750 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Warren county, Ohio, organizing a new company known as King's Great Western Powder Company. He was the president of his company until his death on July 8, 1885. Lyman M. Garfield, now living retired in Xenia, was the superintendent of the plant in Greene county from 1875 until January 1, 1918, when he was succeeded by J. S. Allman. The plant has been operating at full capacity since the beginning of the present World War. The Eavey Canning Company is one of the latest industries of the city, and is doing a big business. Another recent industry is the condensing of milk, which is in the hands of the Greene County Milk Condensing Company. The manufacture of artificial ice is the business of the Shawnee Refrigeration Company, while C. H. Scott and the Fargo Mineral Springs Company are engaged in the manufacture of ice cream on an extensive scale. It is not possible, neither would it be profitable, to trace the careers of all the various business men who have come and gone since the Civil War. They have numbered hundreds and have been engaged in a wide variety of business enterprises. There have been a number of manufacturing plants of varying size in. the city in past years which have ceased operations. A gazetteer of the '8os states that the city then had a glass factory, an oil-mill, agricultural implement, factory, pump factory and wagon and carriage factories, and some years before this pianos were being made in the city. All these industries have long since disappeared, but others have come to take their places. There was once a paper-mill here, but it was subsequently removed to Cedarville. The manufacture of twine and shoes has been engaged in for many years, and these two industries remain the most important in the city. The marble works of the Dodds brothers is another of the prominent industries of the city, although the nature of their business is such that they do not employ a large number of men in the city. The American Tobacco Company has what is called a "stripping" plant in the city, usually referred to locally as simply the tobacco factory. The flour-milling industry is in charge of Belden & Sons, who also operate an elevator in connection. Other elevators are owned by Ervin Brothers & Davis and Bales & Smith. To continue the list of industries of Xenia in 1918 would be to set forth more than a score of other concerns of varying size. Among these may be mentioned the following as representative of what is being manufactured in the city today : Advertising specialties, bread, baskets, brooms, candy, canned goods, cement blocks and other products, cigars, cordage machinery, corn meal, flour, harness, hog remedies, ice, ice cream, library tables, monuments, rope, shoes, soft drinks and twine. The following pages present a comprehensive view of the business and professional life of the city as it appears on May 1, 1918. There are listed one hundred and forty different occupations, but this does not include all the occupations followed by the men of the city. While such a schedule does not GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 751 appear to he valuable at the present time as a historical document, in the years to come it will be of great value. Such a directory acquires increasing value with advancing years : BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS IN XENIA IN 1918. Agricultural implements—C. L. Babb, Greene County, Hardware Company, Huston-Bickett Hardware Company. Ambulance (private)—Allen McClain, J. Harry Nagley, J. Harry Whitmer. Architects—Harley W. Owens. Auctioneers—R. R. Grieve, John Webb. Automobile garages—Central Taxi & Garage Company, Central Garage Company, William A. Kelley, Xenia Garage Company, Elton Smith, Bocklet-King Company. Automobile livery—Curtis Hale, Herbert C. Thatcher, E. H. Hunt, H. S. Spahr. Automobile dealers—Baldner Motor Sales Company, Martin H. Schmidt, Central Garage Company, W. A. Kelley, Greene County Hardware Company, R. T. Harness, Sutton Auto Sales Agency, Hosier Sales Company. Automobile Truckers—F. W. Walker Company, White & Wike Transfer Company, Harry Spencer, Bales & Smith, L. T. Peterson, R. M. Zell, John Simison. Bakeries—F. L. Mackey, Leon Smith, Charles D. Snider. Banks—Citizens National, Commercial & Savings Bank Company, Xenia National. Barbers—J. S. Ayers & Son, Joseph Gaines, O. S. Harris, M. S. Johnson, W. H. Johnson, P. A. Landrum, Martin Langan, Rufus Mullen, I. N. Patterson, Jr., Elmer Pratt, G. H. Williams, Edward Wood, Robert Watkins. Basket manufacturer—Nathaniel Williams. Bill posters—Xenia Bill Posting Company. Binder twine and cordage—Hooven & Allison Company, R. A. Kelly Company. Blacksmiths—Edward Belt, Brownlee & Gilbert, A. A. Gwynn, James. Harris, J. H. Lutz, Harley Minshall, W. A. Purdom, F. NI. Robinett, J. T. Swadener, Charles Williamson, Confer & Dimmitt. Bonds and stocks—D. R. John. Book store—W. E. Boring. Bottling works—Fargo Mineral Springs Company, Xenia Bottling Works. Broom manufacturers—F. K. Jackson, G. G. Lackey, Strawder Liggins, Xenia workhouse. Building and loan associations—Home Building & Savings Company, People's Building and Savings Company. Butchers—J. R. Derrick, Buck & Son, City Market Company, Fisher Bros., F. W. Sanger. Cabinet makers—Thornhill Brothers, Jeffries Brothers. Candy manufacturers—K. W. Scott, Kallal Ammer, Carrie L. Ashbaugh, Xenia Candy Kitchen. Canning factory—Eavey Packing Company. Carpenters and builders—Fremont Bowen, A. E. Compton, W. H. Hatfield, J. B. Miller, C. E. Scharff, George Shaner, Moses Swischer, Y. P. Weaver, W. T. Whittington, Samuel Wiggington, A. G. Spahr, McCurran Brothers, Dice Brothers, T. C. Owens, W. H. Peterson, D. E. Knisley, Frank Shepherd. Carpet cleaner—Randall Arnold. Carriage painters—F. H. Jones, John O'Connor, David Sides, Howard Donley. Carpets—Galloway & Cherry, R. D. Adair, Hutchison & Gibney. Caterers—Maud Guy, Charles Scott. Cement-block manufacturers—Rountree Brothers, Concrete Block & Post Company. Cement contractors—Schweibold & Son, Earl Short, James Mullen. China painters—Sarah K. Collins, Stella J. Collins. Chiropractors—Frederick Heilman. 752 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Cigar manufacturers—C. F. Greenlease. Cleaners and dyers—C. H. Russell, Xenia Dry Cleaning company. Clothing dealers—Criterion, Higgins & Phillips, L. S. Hyman, C. A. Kelble, Katz. Charles A. Weaver. Coal dealers—Belden & Sons, Newton Ledbetter, Stiles Company, Xenia Coal Company, F. W. Walker & Company, Wilson Engineering & Contracting Company, Bales & Smith. Coffee, tea and spices—Grand Union Tea company, Jewel Tea Company. Corn meal manufacturers—Belden & Sons, Ervin Brothers & Davis. Creameries—Western Ohio Creamery Company, Greene County Milk Condensing Company, J. A. Long Co. Dairymen—Benjamin Glass, S. P. Mallow, R. W. McClellan, North Side Dairy, Raymond Reeves, J. A. Leveck. Decorators—W. O. Casad, Frank Johnson, Lester Barnes. Dentists—C. F. Keller, G. W. Kuhn, A. B. Kester, B. L. Lackey, J. S. McCampbell, Arthur C. McCormick, C. F. Oglesbee, N. T. Pavey, Eber Reynolds & Son, W. H. Sillito. Department stores—Hutchison & Gibney, Jobe Brothers Company. Drug stores—William H. Donges, Harry Sohn, D. D. Jones, Sayre & Hemphill. Dry goods—Samuel Engilman, Hutchison & Gibney, Jobe Brothers Company. Electric fixtures—W. B. Hill. Express companies—Adams Express Company, Southern Express Company, Wells Fargo Express Company. Fertilizer—Xenia Fertilizer Company, Geo. E. Spencer Fertilizer Company. Fish markets—Eva Leach, C. T. Rountree, Edward William, C. P. Yowler. Five and ten cent store—F. W. Woolworth Company. Florists—Floyd T. Anderson, Engle Floral Company, J. J. Lampert. Fruits—Abe Hyman, Jacob Hyman, Kallal Ammer, Frank Thompson. Funeral Directors—R. E. Holmes, Allen McClain, John H. Whitmer, T. M. Moore, Ralph M. Neeld, J. Harry Nagley, Johnson & Harris, E. W. Manley, Manley & Purnell. Furniture dealers—Robert D. Adair, J. A. Beatty & Son, Leroy Brower, Jeffries Bros. Furniture repairers—Jeffries Brothers. Gas—Ohio Fuel Supply Company. Gas fitting Asa Price, Parker Supply Company, Baldner-Fletcher Company, Luce & Spahr, proprietors. General merchandise—Famous Cheap Store, I. Friedman. Grain buyers—Xenia Grain Company. Grain elevators—Belden & Sons, Ervin Brothers & Davis, Bales & Smith. Grocers—Fetz Brothers, M. E. Davis, Million & Lippard, Robert Wright, Eavey & Company (wholesale), Mamie Baker, Aaron Bowen, William Bowen. E. W. Bradstreet, Chambliss & Son, R. A. Chambliss, Banks Corbett, Clark & Leach, M. E. Fisher, H. G. Fishering, Anna Fletcher, Fred Fraver, Nellie Gallagher, J. L. Goode, Holmes & Thomas, T. C. James, Kearney Brothers. Joseph Kennedy, Kroger Grocery & Baking Company, Lighthiser & Son. J. F. Norckauer, J. A. Payne, Elmer Pratt, H. E. Schmidt & Son (wholesale and retail). G. J. Smith & Son, William Smith, J. M. Summers, Thomas Teach, Burt Weir, J. H. Wilson, T. L. Wilson. T. N. Witham, L. & P. M. Wolf, M. F. Womack, M. J. Dunn. Hairdressers—Elizabeth Alexander. May B. Eyler, Myrtle Peters, Mrs. Pearl Maxwell. Hardware Stores—C. L. Babb, Greene County Hardware Company, Huston-Bickett Hardware Company. Harness shops—J. J. Knox, J. L. Bratton, J. W. Hamilton, J. T. Honiker. Hay dealers—G. W. Rose, James Watkins, Bales & Smith, J. P. Krise, H. S. Oglesbee. Hospitals—Espey Hospital, McClellan Hospital, Washington Hospital (colored). Hotels—Atlas Hotel, Berkley Inn, Depot Hotel and Restaurant, Frances Inn. Grand Hotel. Young's Hotel. House movers—Jeffries & Fudge. Ice dealers—Edward Jackson, F. A. Klein, L. L. Mowen, H. E. Schmidt, Shawnee Refrigeration Company. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 753 Ice manufacturers—Shawnee Refrigeration Company. Ice cream manufacturers—Fargo Mineral Springs Company, C. H. Scott. Jewelers—J. Thorb Charters, F. J. H. Schell, Tiffany Jewelry Store, S. J. Whitt, F. H. Mason. Junk dealers—Michael Abromovitz, Herman Beyer, George F. Holstein, Clayton Lowe, Xenia Iron & Metal Company, Xenia Supply Company. Laundries—Samuel Chong, G. W. Kaiser. Lawyers—Harry C. Armstrong, Michael Broadstone, C. L. Darlington, F. H. Dean, Robert L. Gowdy, John T. Harbine, Jr., M. J. Hartley, William S. Howard, Charles F. Howard, Frank L. Johnson, Harry S. LeSourd, George Little, L. T. Marshall, C. L. Maxwell, W. L. Miller, Charles C. Shearer, Marcus Shoup, E. D. Smith, Horace L. Smith, M. R. Snodgrass, Wilbur F. Trader, C. W. Whitmer, Kenneth Williamson, J. P. Kyle, Daniel G. Younkin, Charles H. Kyle, J. Carl Marshall, Harry D. Smith. Library table manufacturers—Thornhill Brothers. Livery and sales stables—Evans Brothers, J. A. Fifer, Mrs. T. 0. Mason, C. W. Ryan. Lumber dealers—Dice Brothers Lumber Company, Greene County Lumber Company, McDowell & Torrence Lumber Company, J. T. Barnett. Machine shops—Baldner Motor Company, Bocklet-King Company, R. A. Kelly Company, Harley Minshall. Mantel and grate setters—L. P. Hilliard. Meat markets—Buck & Son, W. N. Dawson, Fisher Brothers, George T. Rice, F. W. Sanger, Xenia Meat Market. Mental Healer—Jeremiah Leming. Merchant Tailors—Jacob Kany, W. D. Kelble, Model Tailors, Robert Kelble. Milliners—Mary A. Brabec, Catharine Osterly, Ida S. Sinz, Jobe Brothers. Monument dealers—George Dodds & Sons Granite Company. Music store—W. C. Sutton, D. D. Jones. Music teachers—Stella. C. Bishop, Stella B. Clark, Hazel Flagg, Ada M. Hebble, Lou S. Hughes, Mary G. Lanius, Margaret H. Moorehead, Bertha O. Tate, Harriet McCarty, Mrs. W. H. McGervey. Newspapers—Xenia 'Gazette (evening daily), Xenia Republican (morning daily), Xenia Herald (weekly). Oils—Standard Oil Company, Xenia Oil Co. Opticians—J. Thorb Charters, S. J. Whitt, F. H. Mason. Optometrists—O. P. Tiffany. Orchestras—Appollo, Powers Orchestra, Swindler Orchestra. Osteopath—R. C. Jewell. Painters (house and sign)—J. R. Ayers, G. E. Baker, 0. M. Baxley, William Cope, George Doron, W. H. Ellison, Jonah Evans, J. M. Fudge, C. H. Gorham, W. J. Martin, C. L. McAllister, Miller & Richard, G. F. Smith, F. C. Sutton, W. 0. Casad, Matthew Coulter. Paperhangers—Arthur Buckles, William Cousins, W. H. Ellison, G. W. Gearhart, C. H. Gorham, William Lawrence, R. C. Miller, W. H. Tibbs, W. 0. Casad. Photographers—E. F. Canby, J. J. Downing, George Wheeler. Physicians—A. D. DeHaven, Paul D. Espey, William H. Finley, W. A. Galloway, R. H. Grube, H. R. Hawkins, Reed Madden (Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat), Benjamin R: McClellan, C. G. McPherson, A. C. Messenger, W. T. Savage, David E. Spahr, Ida C. Woolsey, R. Kent Finley, C. H. Lindsay, H. C. Messenger and W. T. Darnell. Piano dealers—W. C. Sutton, J. A. Beaman. Piano tuners—C. M. Suydan, Roy C. Sutton. Plasterers—A. E. Bossart, J. A. Evans, C. J. Gretsinger, C. W. Gretsinger, Charles Howard, Samuel Jones, Anderson Penn, J. S. Russell. Plumbers—Bocklet-King- Company, Michael Edgeworth, A. R. Jones, J. A. North, Parker Supply Company, Asa T. Price, Baldner-Fletcher Company, Luce & Spahr. proprietors. 754 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Pool and billiards—Frank Hustmyer, L. E. John, Elmer Pratt, Charles Taylor, Xenia Pool Room, Scott & Leach, S. E. Willett, Majestic Billiard Hall. Postmaster—Harry E. Rice, since February 13, 1916. Poultry yards—Forest Hill Poultry Yards, A. G. Williams. Printers—The "Chew Publishing Company, Aldine Publishing House, Mart Berry, H. E. Kiernan, Smith Advertising Company, Xenia Herald, The Xenia Publishing Company, Eckerle Printing Company. Produce dealers—Ball Produce Company, H. B. Hole. Quilt maker—Elizabeth Thomassen. Repair shops—A. A. Holestein, J. H. Winters, Harley Minshall, Baldner Motor Company. Restaurants—Atlas Hotel, S. C. Coates, Depot Hotel and Restaurant, New Manhattan, Marchant & Baker, Paul Edwards, Eley & Meahl ("Skidoo"). Rug and carpet color restorer—Rev. A. Tobey Glymp. Saloons—Bert Blair, A. E. Brundage (known as Grand Buffet), Michael Carroll, Richard Dengess, D. A. Donavan, M. J. Dugan, W. E. Fletcher, Harris & Harris, John A. Hornick, John G. Hornick, Huston & Jeffreys, J. P. Montgomery (known as Atlas Hotel), Max Simon, Henry Sinz, Fred Harris, William A. Fiste. Sanitarium—Mrs. Julia Whittington. Second-hand stores—William H. Fishback, Anna Gurley, Andrew Pfohl, Henry Smith, Samuel Taylor. Sheet metal worker—Clem Henrie, F. B. Scott. Shoe manufacturer—Xenia Shoe Manufacturing Company. Shoe dealers—C. S. Frazer, Adolph C. Moser, Stiles & Schweibold, Jobe Brothers, C. A. Kelble, Wear-U-Well, S. Engilman. Shoemakers and repairers—George Alexander, J. L. Claude, John Dillencourt, J. T. Honiker, Mellage Shoe Shop, Miles Brothers, Julius Jacobson, F. H. Snyder, J. J. Troth, Philip LaBelle. Slaughter houses---Anderson Wholesale Slaughter House. Stationers—L. S. Barnes & Company, Sayre & Hemphill, Boring Book Store. Storage Batteries—Oscar L. Pidgeon, L. C. R. Storage Battery Station (Willard). Store Fixtures—Standard Manufacturing Company, Morris E: Bebb. Suggestive Therapist—Mrs. Emma Zell. Taxicab service—Curtis Hale, Central Taxi and Garage, William Wike. Teamsters and draymen—Jonas Bailey, J. W. Baughn, John Bush, W. H. Cardell, Frank Jenks, Mrs. William Kennedy, I. R. Leard, C. T. Moore, Fred Moore, Amos Oglesbee, J. T. Turner, T. W. Shellet, David Stilgus, C. H. Wright, Moses Hutson, Guy Thompson, Greene & Gegner. Telegraph companies—Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, Western Union. Telephone companies—Central Union Telephone Company, Springfield-Xenia Telephone Company. Theatres (moving pictures)—Bijou, Orphium. Tinners—Baldner-Fletcher Company, Luce & Spahr proprietors; F. B. Scott, Clem Henrie. Tobacco factory (stemmery)—American Tobacco Company. Turkish bath house—Theodore Mitchell. Upholsterers—J. H. McCarty. Vault. cleaner—George F. Holstein. Veterinary surgeons—W. O. Bowers, D. C. Morgan, Paul Rothermel, R. A. Wilcox, W. C. Zell. Wagonmakers— J. H. Lutz. Isaac Swadener. Wall paper—L. S. Barnes & Company, Charles Johnson, W. O. Casad. Wall Paper cleaner—Rev. A. Toby Glymp. Well drillers—W. M. Smith. CHAPTER XL. SOME GREENE COUNTY CITIZENS OF A PAST GENERATION. In every community there are some men, who, by virtue of their talents, rise to a position above the dead level of mediocrity. This may come to pass for a great variety of reasons, but the fact remains that the careers of some men bring them more prominently to the front than other men of probably equal ability. Some men, in a measure, have a certain greatness thrust upon them; others, through their own efforts, acquire such a measure of fame as insures them more than a passing notice at the hands of their fellow citizens. And thus it is in Greene county. In this county have lived men who have become ambassadors to foreign countries, editors of the largest newspapers in the United States, United States senators, members of Congress, attorney generals of the state, members of the General Assembly of the state, judges of county and state courts; others have become ministers of the gospel of national reputation ; others still became poets whose words have been sung from one end of the country to the other; while of educators, lawyers, inventors and live-stock breeders the county has had a long list of men who have brought fame to the county. A poor boy of this county left it at the age of twenty-two and is now worth his millions, and ranks as one of the greatest lumbermen of the country. There have been graduates of West Point and Annapolis who have taken their places in the army and navy of the United States and are there today in the greatest of all wars. Then there are still other hundreds and even thousands of men who have led useful lives in the county, yet have never had their names emblazoned on the pages of history. It is not possible to notice in this connection the large number of worthy citizens of Greene county who have served their county in such a way as to make them remembered ; rather the purpose of this chapter is to single out a few of the large, outstanding figures whose names have not been confined to the county with which they were immediately identified. In other chapters of the history will be found mention of worthy men who rose to an enviable place in their particular line of activity. The medical chapter, the newspaper chapter, the church chapter, the bench and bar chapter, the military chapter and other chapters tell of hundreds and even thousands of men who have called Greene county their home. (48) 756 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Scattered throughout the histories of the several townships are found references to hundreds of the early pioneers who settled in them. A careful estimate shows that at least five thousand persons are mentioned in chapters other than the present one. And finally there are the sketches of hundreds of citizens of the county, most of whom are still living, to be found in the biographical volume. These sketches are full of excellent material for the historian of the future. The present chapter includes sketches of the following men, who, for one reason or another, seem worthy of special mention in the history of the county : Whitelaw Reid, Wilbur D. Nesbit, Coates Kinney, Thomas Barlow Walker, John Little, Benjamin Whiteman, William Maxwell and John Paul. WHITELAW REID. Whitelaw Reid, a son of Robert Charlton and Marian (Ronalds) Reid, one of the greatest of American journalists and diplomatists, was born near Cedarville, Ohio, October 27, 1837. He received his bachelor degree at Miami University in 1856 and his master degree at the same school three years later. He also had a large number of honorary degrees conferred on him later in life, such universities as Princeton, Yale, Cambridge (England), St. Andrews (Scotland), Oxford (England) and Manchester (England) doing him this honor. His first newspaper experience was gained on the Xenia News, of which paper he was editor in 1858-1859. From 1860 to 1868 he was on the staff of the Cincinnati Gazette, first as legislative correspondent (1860-1861), later as war correspondent (1861-1862), and still later as Washington correspondent (1862-1868). In 1868 he went on the staff of the New York Tribune and four years later he became chief proprietor and editor of the paper, continuing as such until 1905. To sum up his achievements from 1872 until his death in 1914 would be 'to set forth a long and distinguished list of public positions which he held. Among these may be mentioned the following : United States minister to France, 1889-1892 ; Republican nominee for vice-president of United States, 1892 ; special ambassador of the United States to Queen Victoria's jubilee, 1897; member of peace commission in Paris, 1898; special ambassador to England for coronation of King Edward, 1902; United States ambassador to England from 1905 until his death. He was the author of nearly a score of volumes of wide character, ranging from "Ohio in the Civil War" and "Newspaper. Tendencies" to "Problems of Expansion" and "How America Faced Its Educational Problems." He married Elizabeth Mills, daughter of D. O. Mills, on April 26, 1881. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 757 WILBUR D. NESBIT. Wilbur Dick Nesbit, author and poet, was born at Xenia on September 16, 1871, and was reared at Cedarville, where he received his schooling and where he began his newspaper career, in the office of the Cedarville Herald, not only learning the rudiments of the art preservative of all arts but becoming accustomed to the appearance of his own stuff in print. He remained with the Herald for two years and then went over to Anderson, Indiana, where he became a reporter on one of the daily newspapers of that city, presently going from that employment to the Muncie Star. Young Nesbit's work at Muncie attracted the attention of John T. Brush, an Indianapolis clothing merchant, who employed the young man to take charge of the advertising department of his store. In this latter employment the distinctive character of his work attracted much attention. and he presently was persuaded to join the advertising staff of the Indianapolis Journal. There he speedily earned his spurs, his work attracting attention in the East and he was presently employed as a feature writer on the Baltimore American, his column in that paper, written under the nom de plume of "Josh Wink," quickly becoming recognized as one of the best bits of feature writing done in the country. For three years Mr. Nesbit remained in Baltimore and then he responded to the inducements that meantime had been made to get him back into the Middle West and in 1899 became a feature writer on the staff of the Chicago Tribune, later going over to the Post and in this connection continued to earn additional laurels. After awhile he accepted an attractive offer from the Mahin Advertising Company of Chicago to become the director of the copy staff of that concern. Not long afterward he assumed a proprietory interest in the concern, which at the same time changed its name to that of the Rankin Advertising Agency. Mr. Nesbit has long been recognized as one of the most versatile figures in literary circles in the United States. His great poem, "Your Flag and My Flag," is known probably to as many persons as is Riley's "Old Glory." As a librettist, Mr. Nesbit's fame is securely fixed by his co-authorship of that delightful musical comedy, "The Girl of My Dreams," while in poetic and other productions he is known as the author of numerous volumes of a pleasing character. Mr. Nesbit now makes his home at Evanston, a suburb of Chicago. In 1899, while living at Indianapolis, he was united in marriage to Mary Lee Jenkins, daughter of Dr. John Jenkins, of that city, and he and his wife have three sons, Richard, Robert and Wilbur D. 758 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO COATES KINNEY. Among the leading men of letters who have been identified with the state of Ohio, there are none who have written more musical verse than the late Coates Kinney. Although not a native of Greene county, yet most of his active life was spent within its limits, and the county has always been proud to number him among its distinguished men. Not only as a literary man did he rise to fame, but as a newspaper editor, as a member of the General Assembly of the state of Ohio, as lieutenant-colonel in the Civil War and as a man prominent in the affairs of the every-day life about him was he equally well known. When his famous poem, "The Rain on the Roof," was first given to the public, it was acclaimed as one of the most musical poems of the country, and there were few papers in the United States or England that did not reprint it. Colonel Kinney was born in Jerusalem township, Yates county, New York, November 24, 1826. His parents were Giles and Myra (Cornell) Kinney, the former a native of New London, Connecticut, and the latter of Delaware county, New York. The great-grandfather of Giles Kinney came over to this country in the "Mayflower" in 1620. Myra Cornell was a daughter of Samuel and Polly Cornell. Colonel Kinney was the third of a family of twelve children born to his parents. In 1840 the Kinney family removed from New York to Springboro, Ohio, a small village in the northwestern part of Warren county. He was a leader in his class, read everything he could find and before he reached his majority was considered one of the best educated men of his county. Before reaching the age of twenty-one he was in charge of a school room and continued to teach each winter for five or six years, meantime for a while studying law in the office of Thomas Corwin, of Lebanon. He completed his law studies under the tutelage of Donn Piatt at Cincinnati and after being admitted to the bar practiced in that city for a year, and then returned to his old county, Warren, and practiced for a year. The next chapter of his life opens in Xenia, where he appeared in the latter part of the '50s. He came to Xenia to become editor of the Xenia News, and he continued in this capacity until the opening of the Civil War. He enlisted on June 1, 1861, and served until November 14, 1865. He was mustered in with a commission of major and .detailed as a paymaster in the regular army and was mustered out with the commission of lieutenant-colonel by brevet, "for long and faithful services." As soon as he was released from service in the regular army he returned to Xenia and the issue of the Xenia Torchlight, dated December 6, 1865, carries his name at its head as one of the owners of the paper. He remained with the paper until December 1, 1869, when he sold his interest in it to a stock company. The remainder of his life was largely devoted to literary work. His poem, "The Rain GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 759 on the Roof," had appeared in 1849 and established his reputation as- a poet. In 1876 when the state wanted to have its best poet produce a centennial ode, there was a universal demand that there was only one man in the state to write it—and that man was Coates Kinney. His poem created a profound impression, being delivered by the author in person before a vast concourse of people in the Coliseum at Columbus. In the '80s he issued a volume of his poems under the title of "Lyrics of the Ideal and the Real." The last forty years of his life were devoted to newspaper work. He was for a time editor of the Cincinnati Daily Times; chief editorial writer on the Ohio State Journal for a year; the owner and editor of the Springfield Republic; part owner and in full editorial charge of The Genius of the West, a literary magazine of Cincinnati. In the midst of his editorial duties he found time to serve his community in the state Senate as a member from the fifth senatorial district. The year 1881 saw him the leading Republican speaker in the Senate, and he has the honor of being the, author of the temperance amendment to the constitution adopted the following year. The newspapers of that day credit him with being the most forceful speaker in either branch of the General Assembly. Colonel Kinney was twice married. His first wife was Hanna Kelley, of Waynesville, Ohio, and one son, Abbott, was born to this union. The son died between the ages of five and six. He was married a second time, in December, 1862, to Mary Catherine Allen, of Xenia. He died in December, 1902. THOMAS BARLOW WALKER. Thomas Barlow Walker, one of the greatest lumbermen the country has ever produced, was born in Xenia, Ohio, February 1, 1840, a son of Platt B. and Anstic Keziah (Barlow) Walker. He taught school for a time as a young man, later becoming a traveling salesman before he located in Minnesota in 1862 at the age of twenty-two. He was first engaged in that state on government surveys and later as surveyor for the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad. During this time he began investigating in timber lands and eventually became the largest lumberman in Minnesota. He is also heavily interested in California white and sugar pine land. He was the projector and builder of the St. Louis Park and the electric line to it; built the central city market and the wholesale commission district He was the originator and builder of the Minneapolis public library, and was president of the library board for thirty years. He is responsible for the building up of the State Academy of Science and its museum of science and art. He has a splendid collection of paintings that fills the large art gallery of the public library and also an extensive collection of ancient art in the museum room of the library. Attached to his home is the only free art gallery that is to be found in either America or Europe. His home in Minneapolis is at 807 Hennepin avenue. 760 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO JOHN LITTLE. In many respects John Little was one of the greatest men Greene county has ever produced. As a lawyer he ranked among the best of the county, while as a versatile man in public affairs he was easily the greatest man the county has ever produced, with the notable exception: of Whitelaw Reid. From the time he was mayor of Xenia in the sixties until his death in 1900 he was before the public in some official capacity most of the time, his succession of official position including in order the following: Mayor of Xenia, prosecuting attorney of Greene county, state Legislature, attorney general of the state of Ohio, member of Congress, member of Venezuelan commission, member of the Ohio state board of arbitration and finally a member of the court house commission of Greene county. John Little was a native son of the county, born in Ross township, April 25, 1837. He called this county his home until his death in Xenia on October 18, 1900. He lived on his father's farm until he was nineteen years of age. In 1856 he became a student in Antioch College and graduated therefrom in 1862. He then began reading law with Judge J. J. Winans in Xenia. While still reading law he was elected mayor of Xenia. He was admitted to the bar in 1865 and the following year was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, being re-elected in 1868. Before his second term as prosecuting attorney came to a close, he announced his candidacy for a seat in the General Assembly of Ohio. He resigned as prosecutor, made the legislative race and was elected by a goodly majority to the fifty-ninth session. He was re-elected and .became a political power in the state. In 1873 Little was elected attorney general of the state and two years later was elected for a second term. For seven years thereafter, 1877-1884, devoted himself to his legal practice. He had been a partner of Charles G. Shearer since 1872, a partnership which continued up until the latter took his seat as a member of the circuit court of appeals in 1887. In 1884 Little was .nominated for Congress by the Republicans of his district, and elected in the fall of the same year, serving from March 4, 1885, to March 4, 1887. At the close of his term in Congress he returned to his home in Xenia and resumed his practice, but two years later he was called upon to fill the position of the Venezuelan commission to which he was appointed in 1889 by President Harrison. Little was chosen president of the board and wrote the preliminary opinion concerning the disputed boundary line. Other official positions came to Little after his retirement from the Venezuelan commission. Governor McKinley appointed him as a member of the Ohio state board of arbitration and he held this position until his death. When the county commissioners decided to erect the present court house, they created what they called a court house commission and on that commission they placed. John Little—the last official GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 761 position to which he was appointed. The court house was still unfinished at the time of his death, October 18, 19 00. Little was married October 19, 1865, to Barbara Jane Sheets. They had two children, George and Mary. His widow died in Xenia on May 30, 1902. BENJAMIN WHITEMAN. Benjamin Whiteman was a native of Philadelphia, born on March 12, 1769. When he was only a boy, he removed with his parents to Kentucky where he received some very valuable. frontiersman experience. He was a member of General Harmar's expedition against the Shawnees and his trip up here undoubtedly influenced him to become a resident of this region later. He was married to Catherine Davis, a daughter of Owen Davis, in 1793. In the spring of 1799 he with his father-in-law came northward from Cincinnati and settled on Bever creek. After Greene county was organized, the General Assembly in the same year appointed Whiteman one of the three associate judges along with William Maxwell and James Barrett. He remained a resident of Beavercreek township until 1805 when he, with his father-in-law, Owen Davis, removed to the vicinity of Clifton after disposing of their possessions on Beaver creek. There Whitman built a large house which is standing to this day. His death occurred on July 1, 1852. WILLIAM MAXWELL. William Maxwell was a native of. New Jersey. It is quite possible that he for a short time lived in Kentucky before he came across to Cincinnati. In that city, which was then only a cluster of a few log huts, he printed the first newspaper ever published in the Northwest Territory. Maxwell succeeded Abner Dunn as the second postmaster at Cincinnati. In 1799 he with his family left the little village of Cincinnati and came north, settling on what is now known as the Maxwell farm in Beavercreek township, this county. He was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the First General Assembly of Ohio, which met at Chillicothe, March 1, 1803, and he favored the law erecting Greene county. By an act of the Legislature he was appointed one of the first three associate judges of the county on April 6, 1803. He resigned his office of associate judge on December 7, 1803, was chosen sheriff of Greene county and served until 1807. He took an active interest in organizing the state militia and held the rank of major in 1805. On his farm in Beavercreek township, he devoted himself chiefly to cattle raising. His death occurred in 1809 and his grave is located on the. old Maxwell farm, about one and one-half miles southeast of Alpha. 762 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO JOHN PAUL. The career of John Paul is closely connected with the early history of Greene county. Paul was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, November 12, 1758, a son of Michael and Ann (Parker) Paul. The family removed to Virginia when John was only a boy and later established themselves in Kentucky. In 1778, John Paul was with Gen. George Rogers Clark in the latter's expedition against the British posts in Illinois' and Indiana. In 1794 Paul married Sarah Thomberry Grover, a sister of Josiah Grover, at Danville, Kentucky, and sometime in the winter of 1799 or the spring of 1800, he brought his family to this region and located on United States land on the present site of Trebeins Station, three miles northwest of the Little Miami river. On this river he established the first water-power gristmill and saw-mill in the neighborhood. When the first constitutional convention of the state was called in 1802, John Paul was chosen as one of the delegates for what then was Hamilton county. When the state government was established he was elected a member of the Senate in the first General Assembly of the state which met at Chillicothe on March 1, 1803. After Greene county was erected John Paul was appointed clerk of the court of common pleas. He served in this capacity, as well as auditor and recorder, until he left the county in 1809. When the question of the establishment of the county seat of Greene county was uppermost Paul was aware that the commissioners were about to decide upon a site at the forks of Shawnee run and he journeyed to Cincinnati and bought two thousand acres of land covering that point, thus becoming proprietor of the new townsite of Xenia. He left Greene county in 1809, going to Indiana Territory and settling with his family on what became the site of Madison, thus becoming an important factor in the establishment of that city. He was the father-in-law of Gov. William Hendricks of Indiana. His death occurred at Madison on June 6, 1830. CHAPTER XLI. SIDELIGHTS ON THE HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. In this chapter are set forth a number of miscellaneous facts which have come to the notice of the historian during his collection of the material for the history of the county. None of them is of sufficient importance or length to justify its being set forth separately and hence they are grouped in this one chapter. AN INTERESTING LETTER OF 1809. One of the interesting sidelights on Xenia and Greene county is disclosed by a letter which was written in 1809 by Rev. James Towler, then postmaster of the village, to some Eastern friend, in which he sets forth some interesting facts about Xenia and the county in general. The letter follows: Xenia, Ohio, May 8, 1809. This town is the seat of justice of Greene county. It was laid out in the fall of 1803 by Joseph C. Vance, and contains at this time twenty-eight families and one hundred and fifty souls, a court house of brick, forty feet square, with a cupola. The town is washed by Shawnee creek, a branch of the Little Miami river, from whose mouth we are three miles, and fifty-five miles from Chillicothe. In the county are nine grist-mills, nine saw-mills, one fulling-mill and one nail factory. Never failing and excellent springs are numerous. The Yellow Springs, which are deemed a natural curiosity, are nine miles north of this place. It takes its name from a yellow and pale red sediment, which it emits from the water, and of which a large bank is found below the spring, over which the water has a fall of seventy feet into a hollow. It is believed the spring affords a sufficiency of water to turn a grist-mill the year round, and is said to be impregnated with copper, copperas and iron. It is considerably visited during the summer season, and affords relief for sore eyes, rheumatism, etc. It is diuretic, and the sediment when ground in oil, paints as well as Spanish brown. The falls of the Little Miami (Which is about three miles distant, fall over a rock twelve feet perpendicular, and the whole distance, two hundred feet) are of considerable importance‘ to this county. There are remains of artificial walls and mounds in several parts of the county. Our trade is chiefly in hogs and cattle, which are purchased by drovers for the eastern markets and Detroit. There are two stores in town, which I consider a great evil, as they keep our neighborhood drained of cash. We have extensive prairies. Wolves have been bad on our sheep. Corn, wheat and rye are our principal crops. The soil is generally good and pretty equally divided between upland and bottom. The settlers are principally from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Kentucky. Religion, Methodist, Seceders and Baptist. The county is twenty miles long and twenty miles broad, and is about one hundred miles from Lake Erie. OHIO SOLDIERS AND SAILORS ORPHANS HOME. Greene county is justly proud of the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home, which is located near the county seat. It has nearly completed half a century of its career and during these years has been the means of caring for 764 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO thousands of orphans of the soldiers and sailors of the state. The agitation for a home for the orphaned children of Ohio soldiers and sailors began in 1869 and it was the city of Xenia that began the agitation. At first it was planned to establish such a home on a private basis, with the hope that the state would later take over its management. With this idea in view a number of Civil War soldiers and citizens of Xenia and from various parts of the state met in the city hall on June 31, 1869, to discuss plans for the establishment of a home for such children as had been orphaned by the Civil War, the state being fairly well represented. The .chief address was made by Chaplain Collier, then acting as agent for the recently organized' Grand Army of the Republic, and he presented the matter in such a light that he aroused the citizens of Xenia to the point where they were willing to take immediate steps toward providing a home in Xenia. Two weeks later, July 13, a second meeting was held in Xenia which was still better attended, Governor Hayes, Congressman Winans, Captain Earnshaw and others addressing the people on the question. Before the meeting closed a subscription paper was started around the room and within a short time the sum of sixteen thousand dollars was pledged toward the establishment of the home. Three public-spirited citizens of. Xenia, J. C. McMillen, Eli Millen and Lester Arnold, made individual subscriptions of one thousand dollars. Once the project seemed assured the newspapers of Xenia took up the work and aroused the county to the need of such an institution. A committee was appointed to look for suitable quarters for a home, and it was soon found. On the 21st and 22nd of the same month the annual convention of the Grand Army of the Republic was held at Sandusky, Ohio, nine delegates from Xenia being present. The question of the establishment of a home was thoroughly discussed, but no definite action was taken. The delegates from Xenia, however, secured the adoption of a resolution which provided for the acceptance of the real estate offered by Xenia, together with such funds as the county had pledged. In the fall of 1869 a board of control was created by the Grand Army of the Republic, consisting of the following : Gen. George B. Wright, Major M. S. Gunckel, Col. H. G. Armstrong, Eli Millen, Judge William White, Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes (wife of the governor), Mrs. H. L. Monroe and Mrs. Ann E. McMeans. They held a special meeting on October 11, 1869, and agreed to accept the location offered. by the citizens of Xenia. It must be remembered that the whole proposition thus far was a private venture, backed though it was by the Grand Army of the Republic, and that the state had so far had nothing to do with it. Of course, it was confidently expected that the General Assembly which met in January, 1870, would assist the project in some way, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 765 but those behind the movement were going ahead just as if the state was not going to assist. During the fall of 1869 a number of orphaned children were being cared for in Xenia in the McMillen home on Main street, the board leasing the building and placing Mrs. Ann McMeans in charge. The board of control let the contract for the erection of four cottages to cost about $1,650 each. All this was done in the fall and early winter of 1869. The physical welfare of the children was placed in the hands of Dr. Joseph G. Kyle, of Xenia, while a committee was appointed to look after their spiritual welfare. This committee, composed of Th. Drees, John W. King, Daniel Millen, J. C. McMillen, A. Trader, W. Keller, A. H. Baughman, W. C. Hutchinson and J. C. Cooper, met on January 3, 1870, and selected J. H. Cooper superintendent of a Sunday school which had its quarters in the rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association. During the month of January, 1870, there were eighty-one children being cared for in the city. During this month Mrs. McMeans resigned and Major McGunckel was placed in charge of the children. During the same month the following assistants were appointed : Mrs. Edington, Chicago, matron ; Mrs. S. A. Brockaway, assistant matron ; Della Johnson, Belle fontaine, teacher ; Miss Ensign, Berlin Heights, teacher ; Miss Buchanan, Clifton, head of the sewing department. The children kept coming to Xenia in such numbers during the winter of 1869-70 that it became necessary to take immediate steps toward providing more commodious quarters for them. Consequently, on January 23, 1870, it was decided to construct a large frame building for the combined purpose of a dormitory and dining room, and also provide for the erection of five additional cottages. On the day these contracts were let, the superintendent of the home reported that he now had about one hundred children under his charge and that as many more had applied for admission. Meantime the General Assembly had convened and a bill had been introduced which provided that the state assume the management of the Home. The Legislature appointed a committee to visit Xenia and report on the situation and this committee returned to Columbus after its visit on February 28 with one unanimous opinion—that the care of the orphaned children of the soldiers and sailors of the state should be assumed by the state. Here is where politics stepped in and Xenia came very near Losing the Home altogether, despite what the citizens of the city. had already done, and despite the fact that the Home was now getting well established. It is not necessary to enter into a discussion of what happened in the Legislature, it being sufficient to state that when the bill passed, providing that the state should take over the management of the Home, it was specifically provided that the establishment should be at White Sulphur Springs instead of at 766 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Xenia. The friends of the Home then established at Xenia had actually contributed money and property to the amount of thirty thousand dollars, all of which they stood ready to turn over to the state. But their gift was rejected. The matter was discussed in the Legislature for several weeks before the bill became a law on April 14, 1870, but as it finally passed the Home was to be taken from Xenia and placed at White Sulphur Springs. At the latter place there was then the state reform and industrial school for girls, the state owning one hundred and eighty-nine acres at that place. There seemed to be nothing for Xenia to do but acquiesce. But the matter did not settle itself as easily as the legislators may have thought it would. The governor, acting under the law, appointed a board of directors composed of R. P. Buckland, James Barnett, J. Warren Keifer, B. F. Coate, W. F. Force, J. S. Jones and H. G. Armstrong—none of them from Xenia. The board met on April 21, 1870, to organize and take the preliminary steps toward the removal of the Home from Xenia to White Sulphur Springs. It was found that there were at that time no fewer than one hundred and twenty-five children being cared for at Xenia and that immediate steps would have to be taken to provide for them. It was represented to the board that they had been practically dependent on volunteer donations from the citizens of the state, and particularly from the people of Xenia and immediate vicinity. It was ordered by the board that it assume the control of the children at once, but leave, them in their present home at Xenia until arrangements were made to care for them at White Sulphur Springs. On April 29, 1870, the board met at Delaware and inspected the property at the latter place, finding it then occupied by the reform and industrial school for girls. They soon came to the conclusion that the buildings there were not in any way suitable for the housing of the children. The situation at this point seemed to be in confusion. The Legislature had ordered the children to be removed to the new location, and yet on examination. it was seen that they could not be accommodated there. But the Legislature had said' that they must go. It was at this juncture that the board of control of the reform and industrial school laid the matter before the attorney general of the state, asking him to pass on the law. In the meantime the management of the other institution had addressed the school, asking when it would be ready to turn over sufficient room to accommodate the children at Xenia-. No reply being received, and feeling that something had to be done, and done at once, the board of the Orphans Home met at Delaware on May 13, 1870, and adopted the following resolution : Whereas, In the opinion of the ,board, the White Sulphur Springs property will not accommodate comfortably and well, all the children of diseased and disabled soldiers and sailors .of the class contemplated by the law of Ohio as orphans, to be provided for at a Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home; therefore, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 767 Resolved, That in view of the above opinion, the board will accept and receive, under the law of the state, by donation or bequest, a suitable tract of land, of the number of acres required by law, at a convenient and accessible point, with the necessary buildings and equipments thereon, for the accommodation of not less than two hundred and fifty orphans, and upon such acceptance, open, and establish a home for Ohio soldiers' and sailors' orphans, as is prescribed by law. It is not necessary to discuss the legal aspect of the situation here, but it turned out later that the attorney general of the state decided that a strict interpretation of the law would keep the institution at White Sulphur Springs intact, and that therefore the location of the children's home at Xenia was within the intent of the law. At a meeting of the board of the Home in Xenia on May 25, 1870, the board of the reform and industrial school stated substantially these facts in a letter which they addressed to the board of the Home. Thus the matter was finally settled, and the Home was finally and legally located at Xenia. There were some legal obstructions to remove before the matter was finally settled, but the children continued to reside in Xenia and are there yet in 1918. In the summer of 1870 the buildings which had been contracted for in the fore part of the year were completed and turned over to the ,state. During the summer Dr. I. D. Griswold was appointed superintendent, with his wife acting in the capacity of matron. When the buildings were formally turned over to the state on August 16, 1870, there were 123 children in the home, their average age being nine years. Nearly the same number were ordered admitted on this date, the board estimating that there were approximately B00 children then in the state who were entitled to the privileges of the institution. The original act provided for the maintenance of only 250 children, but in 1871 the Legislature made another appropriation to take care of a larger number. The original amount of land was one hundred acres, but this amount has been increased from time to time until the Home now contains 360 acres. The history of the institution from August 16, 1870, the day that the state took it over, down to the present year has been one of steady growth. New buildings have been added as they were needed, the state having always been a generous supporter of the institution. A system of practical education was early introduced, and the children taught some useful trade. When they leave the Home they are equipped to step out into the world and make their own way. On February 16, 1879, the administration and domestic buildings were destroyed by fire, the total loss being about $75,000. The Legislature at once made appropriations to replace the buildings. None of the Cottages was burned and no lives were lost. On April 27, 1884, a cyclone tore off the roofs from the hospital, laundry, and several other buildings ; completely demolished the barn, wagon and tool sheds, and some 768 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO other smaller buildings. It also removed a large portion of the east veranda of the main building. Of course, fences and trees were leveled completely. Only two employees were slightly injured, although there were about seven'. hundred and fifty men, women and children in the buildings at the time. The damage to the Home was repaired at a cost of about $7,500. The number of children in the Home is constantly changing, the last report showing 694 in attendance-353 boys and 341 girls. The number has averaged about 700 the year around for several years, although at the close of the school year. there is always quite a number who leave. The children are housed in two-story cottages, the single cottages providing quarters for about twenty and the double cottages about fifty children. The buildings in 1918 include the following structures : The administration building, with a . domestic building attached, the two forming an Egyptian cross; twenty single and twelve double cottages; nursery building of two stories with accommodations for fifty children; two school buildings; chapel with a seating capacity of 1,000; armory for use of cadets and special occasions; hospital and five hospital wards; and a miscellaneous group of buildings including a laundry, ice plant, storehouse, power house, mechanical building, industrial buildings, .water pumping station, greenhouses, slaughter house and all the necessary farm buildings. The domestic building contains a dining room on the first floor wth seating accommodation for i,000 people at a time, the second floor of this building being used as sleeping rooms for the employees, and also for a linen storehouse. All buildings are heated with hot water and lighted with electricity. The following trades are taught : Printing, electrical, machinist, plumbing, tailoring, shoemaking, baking, carpentering, painting, tinning, plastering, blacksmithing, barbering, butchering, farming, gardening, laundering and flower culture. The superintendents of the institution from the beginning, wth the dates of their appointments, are as follows : Dr. L. D. Griswold, April 29, 1870; Dr. A. E. Jenner, May 15, 1874; Mrs. Adelia A. Nelson and James Hoyle, October 22, 1874; W. P. Kerr, November 17, 1874; Major William Shaw, March 29, 1876; Dr. George Keifer, July 20, 1878 ; N. R. Wyman, April 17, 1879; Major William Shaw, 1880; W. J. Alexander, August 15, 1884; Dr. C. B. Jones, March, 1885 ; Noah Thomas, November 1, 1886; Gen. Charles L. Young, April 1, 1890; David Lanning, May 16, 1895; Nelson A. Fulton, November 15, 1898; Gen. Charles L. Young, May 1, 1900, James L. Smith, August 12, 1904; E. D. Sawyer, February 22, 1909 ; Joseph P. Elton, July 15, 1910; J: S. Kimbrough, July I, 1916; Joseph P. Elton, since July 16, 1917. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 769 FIRST AND LAST HANGING IN GREENE COUNTY. There has never been but one legal execution in Greene county, and it has been so long ago that few people now living in the county remember it. The story may be briefly told. On the evening of Wednesday, June 20, 1849, Jesse Ransbottom killed his wife at the village of Fairfield. He was in the house waiting for her to return from a visit, and as soon as she stepped in the door, she saw that he meant to do her harm. Turning quickly she fled from the house, closely followed by the maddened husband. He caught her a short distance from the house and after a desperate struggle cut her throat from ear to ear. The murderer returned to the house and attempted to cut his own throat, but only succeeded in making a couple of harmless scratches across his throat, saying afterwards that "it hurt too bad." Ransbottom was immediately arrested, making no attempt to escape. It was brought out at the subsequent trial that he was jealous of his wife. The trial was begun on October 18, 1849, with Judge Vance presiding. Joseph G. Gest was the 'prosecuting attorney and handled the state's case, while Ellsberry & Sexton appeared for the defendant. The prisoner pleaded not guilty and the following jury was then impaneled : Bennet Lewis, Peter Babb, Walter Perry, Nathan Plowman, William Baker, Michael Dougherty, George Glotfelter, James A. Brown, Samuel W. McCoy, Abraham Ellis, John D. Burrell and David Puterbaugh. The jury heard the evidence of about twenty-five persons and returned a verdict of murder in the first degree. The judge sentenced the prisoner to death by hanging, making the date of execution January 25, 1850, thus giving the doomed man about three months to meditate on his sins. After Ransbottom was sentenced there were repeated efforts made to have the governor commute the sentence. Ransbottom apparently believed that he was going to be released and it was not until the car enters began to construct the scaffold under his jail window that he gave up hope. He watched the erection of the gallows with an intense interest. The jail then stood on the corner of the court house yard. The gallows had been surrounded by a high board fence, enclosing a piece of ground eighteen by thirteen feet. The fence was, eighteen feet high, with the boards three feet in the ground, the enclosure facing Greene street. The ground within was covered with sawdust. In the exact center was driven a small stake, to which a rope was attached, the rope running over wheels placed in a beam overhead and thence down the side of .the upright holding the beam. At the end of the rope was a heavy iron ball, about two feet from the ground. Thus 770 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO was the scene of the only hanging in' the county as described by the Xenia Torchlight in its first issue following the execution. The hour of the execution finally arrived—three o'clock in the afternoon. At the appointed hour the prisoner was led out from the jail by the sheriff and a minister. Ransbottom walked alone, with a firm step, cool and apparently indifferent to his fate. He stepped up on the scaffold, stood beside the rope, quietly and without any trace of emotion, folded his hands across his breast and waited for the sheriff to do his duty. When asked if he had anything to say, he reverently said : "Oh, Lord! have mercy on me ! Oh, my poor mother ! My poor wife! My poor children !" The sheriff then adjusted the rope about his neck and stepped back in order to be ready to spring the trap, but before doing so, asked the prisoner whether he had anything more to say. "Yes, will you see that I am buried up yonder (pointing north toward Champaign county) ?" queried the man in a strangely calm voice. The sheriff, who had his grave already dug just outside the edge of Xenia, was a little flustered, but he managed to reply, "I'll see that you are buried decently." The black cap was then pulled over his head. He folded his arms carefully over his breast—and waited. He did not have to wait but a few seconds. The sheriff pulled the trap, the wretched creature dropped with a thud, the attendant physician held his watch the legal time, the rope was cut and the first and last execution Greene county has ever had was at an end. He had died without a struggle, the local, paper saying that not a muscle moved after he dropped. INSPIRATION OF "SHERIDAN'S RIDE," It is a matter of local interest to know that the man who proved the inspiration for the composition of the famous war poem, "Sheridan's Ride," was born and reared in Greene county and that the stirring poem was written in that Greene county man's house at Cincinnati. In "Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio" (Vol. II, p. 392) it is noted that "this famous poem beginning with— `Up from the South at ,break of day, Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay,' "was a great factor in spreading the fame of Sheridan, and goes linked with it to posterity, together with the name of T. Buchanan Read, the poet-painter, who wrote it for James E. Murdoch, the elocutionist. Read died, May 11, 1872, in New York, while Murdoch is still [1888] living in Cincinnati, where he is greatly respected, and at the advanced age of eighty years." The history of its production is thus given in the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette of July 17, 1887, by Henry W. Teetor : GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 771 Sheridan's Ride" was composed Monday, November 1, 1864, in the front room of a three-story brick building, yet standing, and now known as No. 49 West Eighth street, then occupied by Cyrus Garrett, Esq., brother-in-law of Mr. Read. The simple story of the composition. of the famous ode is this : The evening of that day had been set apart for the Murdoch ovation, which took place at Pike's Opera House. Mr. 'E. D. Grafton, the eminent artist, had met Garrett upon Fourth street in the morning and handed him Harper's Weekly, containing the picture of "Sheridan's Ride to the Front." After a word of conversation in regard to the illustration, Garrett took the picture to his residence and soon after the subject of the celebrated ride, as sketched, came up. The following is Mr. Murdoch's account of that conversation, as told upon the stage by way of prelude to reading the poem : "During the morning a friend with whom I was conversing happened to pick up the last issue of Harper's Weekly, on the title page of which was a picture of Sheridan. 'There's a poem in that picture,' said my friend. 'Suppose I have one written for you to read tonight ?"But,' I replied, 'I shall not have time to look it over and catch its inner meaning and beauties, and besides I am not in the habit of reading a poem at night written in the morning.' " That friend was Cyrus Garrett, who had previously familiarly said to his brother-in-law, "Buck, there is a poem in that picture." To which Read replied, "Do you suppose that I can write a poem to order, just as you go to Sprague's and order a coat ?" After this Read and Murdoch parted—Read to his room and Murdoch to his musings. When Read retired to his room, he said to his wife : "Hattie, do not let me be interrupted. I am not to be called even if the house takes fire." During his seclusion, Read called for a cup of strong tea and then resumed his pen. About noon his work was done. The poem was given to his wife, to copy, while Read at once left home and, going to the studio of his friend, said, "Grafton, I have just written something fresh—hot from the oven—and left Murdoch committing it for a recitation tonight." Concerning the reception of that poem, as inimitably interpreted by Murdoch, the Commercial's report was, "Peal after peal of enthusiasm punctuated the last three glowing verses. So long and loud was the applause that Mr. Murdoch was called to the footlights, and Mr. Read only escaped the congratulations of the audience by refusing to respond, as he could not adequately do, he seemed to think, to the clamorous utterances of his name." Cyrus Garrett, who has thus above been set out as the inspirational ,source of the poem "Sheridan's Ride," was born in Greene county and was reared here in the household of his maternal grandfather, Matthew Quinn, who came up here with his family from Kentucky in 1803, a member of the considerable colony of Seceders (Associate Presbyterians) that settled in that year on Massies creek and formed the nucleus of the numerous congregation to which the Rev. Robert Armstrong, the man who named Xenia, later ministered so faithfully. Matthew Quinn was born in Ireland, a son of Nicholas Quinn, and was educated at Dublin for the ministry, but did not follow that profession ; instead, coming when twenty-three years of age, in company with his brother Nicholas, to the United States. He was married in Pennsylvania and after a sometime residence there moved to Kentucky, remaining there until he came up here with his family in 1803 and established his home on the southwest quarter of section 5, township 3, range 7 (now and long since known as the Routzong farm), where he and his wife Mary spent the remainder of their lives and where, as it is narrated, "they reared, in the fear of God and in the highest respect of their neighbors, a (49) 772 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO large family. Matthew Quinn, as became his large talents, liberal education and fine culture, straightway became a man of much influence in the rapidly forming community. He was a. devoted Christian gentleman and morning and night led his family before the Throne of Grace, thus bringing them up in the full nuture and admonition of the Lord. He died in 1836, leaving the legacy of a good name as a priceless heritage to his family." It might properly be added to this little sidelight on this pioneer that he was buried on his farm and that his grave is still there carefully guarded against agricultural intrusion, the family which has been in possession of the place for many years having thoughtfully cared for it. Matthew Quinn was the father of ten children, Samuel, John, Amos, Hervey, Elias, Matthew, Rosenna, Nancy, Letty and Ann, the latter of whom married Robert Dow and was the mother of Judge Duncan Dow, formerly one of the most familiar figures in public life in Ohio. Samuel Quinn married one of the Flopping girls and moved to Monmouth, Illinois. He had four children. John Quinn married Mary Nash and had four children. In 1849 he started overland for California and died on the plains in Arizona. Amos Quinn, who was for seven years sheriff of Greene county and in 1835 representative in the Legislature from this district, married Jane Goe and had three children, Elias, who became a lumber dealer at Xenia, Sarah and Alice, the latter of whom, widow of the late John B. Lucas, is still living. Amos Quinn was regarded as one of the leaders of his generation in Greene county and is referred to as "a brilliant gentleman, his own cultured father having been his teacher." Hervey Quinn married one of the Humphrey girls and had several children. Elias Quinn died unmarried and Matthew Quinn died in youth. Rosenna Quinn married David Garrett and lived to be past ninety years of age, her last days being spent in the home of her daughter, Frances, wife of the Rev. Gilbert Small, at Idaville, Indiana. She was the mother of four children. Nancy Quinn married Henry Heffley and had four children and Letty Quinn was the mother of Cyrus Garrett, mentioned above and in connection with whose association with the writing of "Sheridan's Ride" this pioneer "sidelight" is presented. AN UNPUBLISHED POEM OF READ'S. The association between Cyrus Garrett and his brilliant brother-in-law, Thomas Buchanan Read, was ever of the closest. Garrett became a wealthy manufacturer at Cincinnati, head of the firm of Garrett & Cottman, whose plows had a wide celebrity in their day, and by reason of the Reads residing with him his home was for years a sort of a rendezvous for the literary and artistic "lights" of that city. Read's greatest poem, that wonderful epic of "the crossing," the Western emigration period, entitled "The New Pastoral," GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 773 was dedicated to Cyrus Garrett and upon the occasion of the latter's twenty-second wedding anniversary Read read a poem which he had written especially for that event. The same later was printed for private circulation and Mrs. Lucas, who often visited in the home of her cousin Cyrus at Cincinnati and was an intimate friend of the poet, still has a copy of the poem, which does not appear in the general works of the author and which is therefore here presented for the first time to the public eye under the title: IMPROMPTU LINES. In the days when the Gods had the rule of the earth, Young Mercury, glowing with mischief and mirth, Stole away from bright Venus her beautiful son ; Then as swift as his feathery sandals could run, Sought the forge where stout Vulcan with earth-shaking blows Was shaping those red bolts which Jupiter throws ; And cried "I have brought you the bravest of fellows That ever was known to take hold of a bellows." So speaking, he held little Cupid out kickin' By the wings, as a market-man holds out a chicken, And he and the smith went to bandying jargon, Each striving with each for the best of the bargain. At last it was finished—and what do you guess He gave for the urchin?—he couldn't do less— (Though Mercury thought it couldn't be stupider)— A bundle of bolts just finished for Jupiter ! Then the kid-napper stating what haste he was under, Took a drink, and made off with his armload of thunder! While poor little Cupid went dismally skulkin' Through the dust and the cinders that lay round Vulcan. Again roared the bellows :—half ready to melt, The white iron hissed and came down with a pelt On the terrible anvil, and shed such a blaze Of fire-works, Cupid was lost in a-maze, And stood all a-droop, more in fright than in pain, Like a storm-beaten chanticleer out in the rain. Just then there was seen coming down the highway, A lady, attired—it needs not to say In what fashion, at least not as now in our day— Her dress was becoming, be sure, for, between us, She came in the guise of no other than Venus! When Vulcan beheld her, entranced at the sight, (The smiths to the ladies are always polite) He invited her in and was sorry to trace The shadow of pain over-veiling her face; But e'er she could tell what was grieving her so, She heard from the corner the twang of a bow ; Through his heart the stout smith felt the swift arrow flee, And drop't like a poor stricken ox on his .knee! Cried Venus, indignant, "You murdering young urchin, It is you I have been all the morning a searchin'! If but once I can catch you, you worst of wild minions, I'll strip every pen-feather out of your pinions! (50) 774 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Will you dare aim at me with your impudent dart?"— He dared !—and the swift arrow slaughtered her heart! And the bright Queen of Beauty, just there at the stith, Fell a captive for life in the arms of the smith ! While Cupid with laughter shook out his bright pinions,— And the smith-shops henceforth were his favorite dominions. Fair Flora and Ceres, missing Venus and Cupid, Thought life on Olympus was getting quite stupid, And even the Muses and all of the Graces Declared it was growing the dullest of places— So, down they all hurried, and crowded their bulk in The great sparkling workshop of jolly old Vulcan ; And there on the anvil they pledged a great vow That the thing they most prized in the world was a plow ! And declared none but Venus, so lovely and winnin', Should mate with a blacksmith, and tend to his linen. So Venus and Vulcan took up their abode In a cottage adjacent, that stood by the road; She gave up her loves and her doves, so bewitchin', And sewed on the buttons and looked to the kitchen. He gave up his toil for the thundering God, And turned all his bolts into shares for the sod. Now many a plow that was shaped by his hand, Turns up the subsoil of our beautiful land ; From the lakes to the gulf, far as sight can pursue, There travels the "Rover," in color true blue, Preferred by all nations, the Dutch and the Scot-man, Especially when warranted "Garrett & Cottman." Cincinnati, April 6, 1859. —T. BUCHANAN READ. SOME PRICES IN GREENE COUNTY IN 1818. When the sparseness of the population of Greene county in the first ten years of its existence, the scarcity of money, the high price of manufactured articles and the accompanying low price paid for the produce of the settlers are taken into consideration it is not a matter of wonder that the pioneer household was self-sufficient. The pioneer grew his own wool, and the good housewife and her. daughters washed it, carded it, spun and wove it into cloth. Then she turned tailor and made it into garments for the entire household. The farmer grew his own flax, which in turn was made into garments ready to wear without its leaving the farm. The settler raised his own hogs for his meat and lard, boiled down the sugar sap for his own sugar, ground his own corn for "johnny cakes," distilled his own whisky and made his own shoes. The means of transportation were so clumsy that manufactured articles from the factories in the East could be obtained only at great expense and effort. Therefore this new county of Greene offered but few inducements to the enterprising merchant. There is much talk about the high cost of living now, but the cost of manufactured commodities then was much higher than now and the amount the settler received for his produce was almost paltry.