475 - BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES Daniel Sharp, a substantial farm of Union township and owner of a large stone quarry, belongs to a family which has long been identified with the development of that part of Highland county. His father, James Sharp, came from Pennsylvania when very young and very poor, but set to work manfully and in course of years became an influential man in his township. He erected and long operated a saw and grist mill at the place known as Sharpsville church. From utter poverty he worked his way up to a position of substantial comfort and became the owner of about 400 acres Of land. About the time he arrived in Highland county there came also from Pennsylvania a family named Cloud, and James Sharp afterward met and married their daughter Margaret, with whom he lived happily until his death in the seventy-fourth year of his age. Of his nine children six are living, including Daniel Sharp, who was born in Union township, Highland. county, Ohio, February 4, 1837. He grew up on his father,s farm, was trained to all kinds of work connected therewith and on reaching maturity, himself became a farmer and has since continued in that occupation. He has met with his share of success and at present owns 275 acres of good land, besides a large stone quarry, which he had operated for thirty years. Being a good business man and popular citizen, Mr. Sharp was twice elected to the office of township trustee and served out both terms. In 1863 Mr. Sharp was married to Catherine, daughter of James and Margaret (Mann) Bobbitt, early settlers and well-to-do people of Union township. James Bobbitt was a miller by trade, long owned and conducted a mill at Lynchburg, and built the one owned by Murphy & Sons. He died December 26, 1896, aged seventy-eight years, and his wife December 20th, 1893, in her eighty-fifth year. Mr. Sharp and wife have two children, a son and daughter. Frank married Miss Mattie McDaniel, of Highland county, and has three children : James D., Mabel and Florence. Leora B. became the wife of Polk McDaniel, a merchant of Willettsville. William Shawver, one of Penn township,s substantial citizens and mechanics, is descended from an old pioneer who settled in Highland county before the war of 1812. The senior William Shawver was born in Virginia about 1793, reared by an uncle and learned the trade of a blacksmith. Before he was twenty years old he was swept westward by the great tide of emigration then setting in that direction, and landed in Highland county when it was just beginning to assume something like a civilized shape. William was young, robust and filled with the pioneer,s hopefulness, so he set manfully to work and did his share towards converting the wilderness. He married Margaret, daughter of William and Sarah (Ruble) Brooking, who were also Virginians, and in the course of years added to the, rising generation the following large family of children: Sarah, wife of 476 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND. Harvey Baker of Dodsonville ; Vincent, carried off by cholera at the age of twenty Mary, wife of Jasper Wasson (deceased) ; Rebecca, wife of Charles Shaffer, of Midland City; Nancy, who married John Clark, of Cincinnati, and died in Missouri ; Eliza, widow of Jeremiah Mole', now at Independence, Iowa; Margaret, widow of John Stroup, of Clermont county ; Peter, who died .at the age of thirty-five ; Charles, died in youth ; .William, sketched further below; George, a farmer of Kansas; Alsada, widow and second wife of Jasper Wasson ; Lucinda died at the age of twenty, and Evaline died after arriving at maturity; William Shawver, tenth of the children in age, was born in. Highland county, Ohio, July 5, 1839, received the ordinary schooling, and after he grew up learned the carpenter,s trade. In February, 1865, he volunteered as a recruit in the One Hundred and Eighty-fifth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and was later transferred to the One Hundred and Ninety-second regiment, of which he was a member when the war closed. While at Camp Chase he contracted the measles and was for a long time in hospital there and at Camp Dennison. His brother Peter was also in the service. After his return home from the army, Mr. Shawver resumed work and for the last twenty years has been engaged in carpentering. He has a comfortable home on the Careytown and New Vienna pike about midway between these towns in Penn township, Highland county. He married Mary A., daughter of Thornton West, a native of Wales, who came to Clermont county at an early day. The latter was married in DeWitt county, Illinois, to Julia M. Williams, who was brought there by her parents from Kentucky., William and Mary (West) Shawver have six living children, of whom the eldest is William Harvey, telegraph operator and carpenter at Madisonville, near Cincinnati ; he married Nettie, daughter of Squire Riley of Blanchester, and his children are Hazel, Harry, William. Morris and Harold. Oscar A., second son of William, Shawver, married Ida, daughter of Frank Hampton of Madisonville, and is connected with the car shops at that place. Della May, eldest daughter of Mr. Shawver, married Charles Stout of Lima, and is the mother of Leora May, Oscar C., Carl, Bryan and Everett. Iva Lou Shawver married G. W. Osborne, a traveling salesman of Washington Court House. Altha B. married Albert Lytle, a blacksmith at Highland, and her children are Lizzie, Ray, Ruth, Leonard, and Floyd. Bertha E. died. in infancy. Mary, wife of Charles Smith, resides with her father. Quinnetta, the second-born child, died. in infancy. Mrs. Mary Shawver, the mother of these children, died February 14, 1901. Jacob P. Shivers, formerly a merchant and postmaster at New Petersburg, and now engaged in farming near that place, was born August 26, 1869, son of Robert E. Shivers, a native of Virginia. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 477 The latter came to Highland county in his youth, before the war of the rebellion, in which he served as a soldier of the Union, in the Eighty-ninth regiment Ohio infantry, for two years from 1861, retiring from the service on account of disabilities incurred in the campaigns for the preservation of the nation. In June, 1865, Robert E. Shivers married Ruth B., daughter, of Jacob Pearce, one of a noted early, family in Highland county. Her mother,s maiden name was Jane Brown. To them were born the subject of this sketch ; Carl F. Shivers, living at New Petersburg ; Jennie M., deceased ; Leora G., wife of Richard Harrington, farming at Rainsboro ; Sarah M., wife of S. P. Blaser, a farmer near New Petersburg ; Robert E., living ,at home; Lillie May, wife of Ernest Perie, a farmer near New Petersburg; Bessie C., Ruth Ann and William. Jacob P. Shivers was married June 19, 1895, to Emma Elizabeth Montgomery. She is a daughter of John W. and Sarah E. (Wolfe) Montgomery, and her father is a son of Thomas Montgomery and his wife Hannah Spargur, both members of pioneer families for many years prominent in the county. Mrs. Shivers' brothers and sisters are: Emma Elizabeth, Vernon O., Clarence R., George W., Essie M., Frederick N. and Cecil L. Mr. and Mrs. Shivers are-leaders among the younger people of the township, and everywhere held in high esteem. Two children have been born to them : Leslie H., March 23, 1896, and Hazel M., July 10, 1898. Isaac N. Smith, M. D., one of the progressive citizens of Green, field, Ohio, has long been identified with the professional life and business development of that place and of western Ross county. Though a native of Fayette county, he was educated in Greenfield and there spent his boyhood and early manhood. His father, William Smith, now a venerable man more than eighty-six years old, goes back in recollection to almost to the very beginning of Highland county. His birth took place in Greenfield, July 17, 1815, or about ten years after the county was created by act of the legislature. Of later years he has made his home in Greenfield. Isaac N. Smith, after receiving such literary education as the common schools afforded, attended the South Salem academy, and later matriculated at the Medical college of Ohio and devoted himself assiduously to preparation for his chosen profession. In 1874 he finished the course at that excellent institution and was graduated with the degree of M. D. From that date up to the present time, with the exception of one year, Dr. Smith has been in continuous practice at Greenfield. Prom that point he is called in the line of his professional duties to attend patients over a wide area of territory in the adjoining counties of Ross, Fayette and Highland. He is also special examiner for the Phoenix life insurance company of New York. But it is not simply as a physician that Dr. Smith has been an integral feature of 478 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND. Greenfield’s life. He has been identified more or less directly with all the enterprises calculated to advance the development of the community. He is a stockholder in the Home Telephone company, whose organization was a distinct gain to the business and social life of the city. Dr. Smith has been a member of the first Presbyterian church for over thirty-seven years, having attached himself to that organization in 1864. Anthony Sonner, notable among the pioneers of Highland county, and a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was a native of Virginia, where he married Elizabeth, daughter of George A. Geeting, one of the early bishops of the United Brethren church. They resided in the Shenandoah valley before coming to Ohio, and had six children—George, William, David, Jacob, Ann and Sarah—with whom they came west and settled in the northeastern part of White Oak township, on White Oak creek. Anthony Sonner and his sons built the first substantial grist mill in Highland county, at their place of residence, which was known for many years as Sonner,s mill, and was one of the widely known land marks of the county in early days. Anthony and his wife were the moving spirits in the organization of the United Brethren church in the county, and both lived long and useful lives, he passing away at the age of eighty-two years, and she at eighty, mourned by their children and grandchildren and many friends. Jacob. Sonner, a younger son of Anthony and Elizabeth Sonner, was a miller by trade, and carried on the Sonner mill for many years. He was born in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, came to Highland county with his parents, and was one of the prominent men among the early settlers. He was fairly successful in business, owned a farm of three hundred acres besides the mill property; was - honored with several township offices, and was an active member of the United Brethren church. He died at the age of seventy-five years and his wife at sixty-eight. The latter was Christina Ambrose, a native of Virginia, and the mother of eight children : William Sonner, now a prominent resident of White Oak township; George, deceased ; John Anthony, in Illinois ; Matthias, in Missouri; Isaac,. of Salem; Anthony, in Illinois ; Elizabeth, deceased, and Rachel, in Illinois. William. Sonner was born April 8, 1823, on the farm now owned by William Workman, in White Oak township, and remained at his father's home until early manhood, when he married Priscilla Robinson, a native of Ross county, and began housekeeping on the old home farm. Later he removed to Indiana with his family and remained there four years, but then returned to White Oak township and bought a farm. Since then he has increased his land holdings to 294 acres and has prospered as a farmer and stock raiser. He is BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 479 a member of the Christian church and an active Republican in politics. His seven children are: Minott, a resident of Taylorsville; Charles, deceased; Sarah, wife of John Davidson, of Concord township ; William, of White Oak township ; Melissa and James, at home, and John, deceased. Minott E. Sonner, grandson of Jacob Sonner, and son of William, was born on 'the farm now owned by A. J. Fender, ' in White Oak township, December 30, 1865, and was educated in the district school and the Hillsboro high school. The excellent education thus obtained enabled him to teach school with much success for eight years in early manhood. He married Mary E. Hatcher, a native of the same township, and daughter of R. J. and :Rachel Hatcher, and they lived for three years on the Hatcher farm, after which they removed to Taylorsville, where they still live, with one child, Floyd H. Mr. Sonner, in 1895, purchased of E. L. Ruble, a general store at Tay- lorsville, which he has since managed with much success, dealing also in farm implements and machinery, and owning a small farm. He was appointed postmaster at his town in 1896, and he still holds this positio . In .politics he is a Republican, and in religious affairs he is a member of the Christian church. George Sonner, the eldest son of Anthony. Sonner, was born January 1, 1804, and married Hannah Caley, daughter of Frederick Caley. They began housekeeping on the farm where their son, George, now. lives. He was an intelligent, industrious, and successful farmer, owning 175 acres of land, which he cleared and put in good condition. His death occurred at the' age of sixty-two years, while his wife survived to be seventy-two.' Their children were four in number of whom Cynthiana, Samuel and Mary Jane are deceased, and George, a well-known citizen of White Oak township, is the only survivor. George Sonnet, the younger, was born where he now lives, August 26, 1848, was educated in the district school, and in early manhood married Edna, daughter of John M. Dorman, of Highland county. He is the owner of seventy-five acres of well-improved land, and he is engaged in the management of this, and is one of the busy men of -the township He is a member of the United Brethren church, a Republican in politics, and highly regarded by his neighbors. Mr. Sonner and wife have two children, both living at home, Berger C. and James L. The former is engaged in operating various kinds of steam farm machinery. The latter is a teacher in the public schools of Highland county, having secured his first certificate when he was seventeen years old. Lewis J. Sonner, tile. manufacturer and enterprising citizen of Hamer township, is a grandson of Jacob Sonner, who, as has been 480 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND. mentioned, built the first gristmill in the township, it being located on White Oak and put up about the time the old Gossett mill was erected on the same stream in the south part of New Market. He married Tena Cailey and had eight children. Isaac Sonner, sixth of these children, was born in White Oak township about 1839, and as he grew up was instructed by his father in the milling business. In early manhood he married Isabelle, daughter of Philip Gibler of Highland county, and located in White Oak township, where he was engaged in the mill until a few years ago. He then changed his occupation to that of farming and has since followed that business in Hamer township. His six living children are Ellen, wife of John Bell of New Market township; Edward, of Salem township,. the subject of this sketch; Jessie, of Delaware county ; Philip, of Wisconsin ; and Carrie at home. Annie, the youngest child, has passed away. Lewis J. Sonner, second of the children in age, was born in White Oak township, Highland county, Ohio, September 5, 1863, and upon reaching manhood engaged in the threshbusiness,ess, which he followed about eleven years while living in New Market township. Subsequently he located at Winkle postoffice and embarked in the sawmill business, which he continued about five years and disposed of his interests. His next venture was as a manufacturer of tile, in which line he met with success, using the latest improved machinery and doing a good business with the neighboring farmers. His dwelling and barn were built with all the modern improvements and are among the best in the township. As a business man he is enterprising and resourceful, full of energy and push and an advocate of progress and development. In the spring of 1902 he was elected assessor of Hamer township on the Republican ticket, and his popularity is attested by the fact that though the township is usually overwhelmingly Democratic, he received a plurality of twenty votes. He is a member of East Danville lodge, No. 844, order of Odd Fellows, and one of the most popular men in the fraternity. In early manhood he was married to Mattie E., daughter of Jackson and Narcissus Walker, of Highland county, by whom he has three living children : Warren, Cordie and Glenn. Two died in infancy. Joseph W. Spargur, a noted pioneer of Highland county, was born in Surrey county, N. C., March 1, 1781, son of John W. and Christina Spargur, and was there married to Rachel, daughter of Bowater and Phoebe (Sumner) Burrows. In the year 1804 Joseph W. and his family, and his brother Reuben, came to Highland county, and settled on Fall creek, a mile west of the site of New Petersburg, and in what is now Paint township. After some years spent in clearing their farms, they built in 1810 a grist mill on Fall creek, which is now owned and operated by Milton Worley, who has recently remod- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 481 eled it. In 1815 the brothers sold their mill and lands and Reuben returned to North Carolina, while Joseph packed his goods and moved, cutting a road through the forest as he went, to the 'Rocky fork of Paint. creek. There, in partnership with David. Reese, he bought several thousand acres of wild land, built a log house and within a year built a log darn across the creek, and began the erection of a saw mill, grist mill, wool-carding and fulling mills, which he successfully operated for a few years, a period during which the country was rapidly taken up by new settlers. He also built him a substantial brick dwelling house, which is yet- in use. Then he encountered disaster. Having gone to Pittsburg, with a lot of flour and other supplies that he had hauled to the Ohio river from the mills, he made what seemed a satisfactory sale on sixty days, time, but was annoyed by a dream that his mills had been washed away and John, his oldest son, drowned. On reaching Portsmouth he received confirmation of the dream, that a flood in the creek had swept away his dam and wrecked his mills, but when he got to Sinking Spring he was told. the glad news that his son was not drowned. Still later he received advices that the firm to which he had sold his goods had become bankrupt, so that the old saying was verified that disasters never come singly. Within two years, however, this energetic pioneer had built the new mills that are yet in operation and he replaced the old dam with a permanent stone structure. By his first wife, Rachel, he was the father of ten children. After she died, in 1823, he married, in .1824, Abigail Moore, and they had eight children. All of the children were reared to manhood and womanhood. Mr. Spargur died March 6, 1845, and his second wife survived to January 23, 1886. About the year 1856 several of his children and their families emigrated to Iowa, and others have gone west from time to time, so that the family is represented in nearly every state west of Pennsylvania, while collateral branches from North Carolina are found throughout the south and southwest. Philip Spargur, a brother of Joseph, came from North Carolina in 1809, and settled on a large tract of land near the present site of New Petersburg, with his wife and ten children. In 1833 another brother, Henry, and family, and with them, the father, John W. Spargur, came and settled near Spargur,s mills, where the father died in a few years, and was interred in the Quaker cemetery in Paint township. Henry had twelve children, making forty children in all for the three brothers. In 1846 two sons of Joseph Spargur, Joseph, Jr., and Allen, bought of the administrator of their father,s estate several hundred acres of land, including the mill privileges. Subsequently a division was made, and Allen took part of the lands and the mill, which he operated until his death, February 4, 1864. Allen was born October 20, 1815, and was married in 1839 to Eliza- H-31 482 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND. beth (daughter of John Wade), who is yet living in Rainsboro at the age of eighty-two years: Nine children were bona to them, of whom five grew up—Mary A., wife of Elisha Beaver, living on a farm near Rainsboro, with four sons and two daughters living; Henry W., a lumber dealer ..at Bainbridge, who married Elizabeth Kerns, and has four children : John S., a merchant, who married Anna Murdock, and has four daughters living; Marnida E. wife of E. F. Lucas, a. farmer of Marshall township, who has two E., and Joseph A. W. Spargur, a prominent citizen of Brush Creek township. Joseph A. W. Spargur was born June 9, 1844, was educated in the district school, and in youth taught school in Iowa. At twenty-one he leased the Spargur mills, operated them two and a half years ; then was a retail merchant in New Petersburg for three years; next was a commercial traveler for two years. Leasing the Spargur mills again in 1815, he bought out the interest of the heirs in 1884, put in the roller system, and since then has maintained the mill, with constant improvement, as one of the best in the county. This historic mill is now in the hands of. the third generation of the family. Mr. Spargur was married October 19, 1869, to Clara C., daughter of Dr. A. A. and Ruth A. (Pearce) Murdock of New Petersburg. She is a granddaughter of James and Susannah Murdock, pioneers of Paint. township, and Benjamin and Catherine Pearce, very early settlers of this community. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Spargur are Olive M., born in 1872, who was educated in the common schools and the female academy at Hillsboro, taught school two terms, and in 1892 married J. W. Watts (son of State Senator Watts, and. grandson of Thomas Watts, who was an Ohio pioneer from Virginia), who is an attorney at Hillsboro; Ernest, born in 1875, a graduate of the Northwestern. Ohio university at Ada, and bookkeeper in the Farmers, and Traders bank at Hillsboro ; Leon, born in 1877, and educated at the university at Ada, and now assisting in the management of the Spargur mills ; Bessie A., a graduate of the Hillsboro high school ; Roy, born. in 1881, educated at the Hillsboro high school and a machinist at Springfield ; and Herbert, born in 1884, now taking a three years, course at the Ohio Normal university at Ada. On: August 19, 1875, the heads of the Spargur families of the county held a reunion and dinner at Redkey’s grove near Rainsboro, with such success that a meeting was set for the next year at about the same date. This was attended by more than a thousand of the Spargur family and their friends, and the reunion, which has ever since been had annually, speedily became one of the most popular events in the county. A speaker,s stand was erected, at which many prominent men have been heard, with music for the entertainment of the gathering. During the last twenty-four years it is estimated BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 483 that the annual attendance has been as large as five or six thousand people, who meet for the quiet and whole-souled enjoyment of fraternal relations. Berry W. Spargur, of Paint township, a successful farmer and worthy citizen, is a grandson of the pioneer, Joseph W. Spargur, mentioned on preceding pages. His father, James Spargur, born March 31, 1827, was the son of Joseph W. Spargur by his second marriage to Abigail Moore, who was born January 15, 1807, died January 23, 1886. James married Elizabeth, daughter of Berry Smith. Her father came to Highland county from Henry county, Va., in 1807, being at the time but a youth, and in 1820 married Isa Beavers, daughter of Thomas Beavers, another Virginian pioneer. By a second marriage, to Rebecca, daughter of George W. Butler, James Spargur had several children : Flora and George, who died about thirty years of age; Maggie, wife of J. J. Hughes; Amanda, wife of Henry Copeland; Fannie, widow of Werter Rittenhouse; Olive, wife of Sylvanus Ross ; James, of Paint township, and Charles (deceased), and Rosa. Berry W. Spargur, son of James and Elizabeth, was born December 25, 1850, on the farm where he now resides. He received a good education, and was engaged for three years in teaching school. Since then he has given all his time to farming, in which his industry and good judgment have been rewarded with a gratifying degree of remuneration. He bought his present farm of 180 acres, three miles south of Rainsboro, in 1876, and has recently built a handsome home. His farm is a model one, and very productive of grain and livestock, and a good young orchard is coming into bearing. In June, 1888, he was married to Flora Countryman, daughter of William and Mary (Stultz) Countryman, and of one of the old and influential families of the county. Mr. Spargur is a member of Rainsboro lodge, No. 453, Knights of Pythias, and his wife is a member of the Rathbone sisters. They have three children : McHenry, born April 13, 1889; Grace, born June 21, 1890; Charles Homer, born April 19, 1894. Bowater W. Spargur, trustee of Brush Creek township, and one of the successful farmers of the county, is a worthy representative today of the pioneer family described in the previous sketch. He is a grandson of the pioneer, Joseph W. Spargur. His father, Joseph Spargur, born March 3, 1809, in his youth learned the trade of a miller at the old Spargur mill, one of the landmarks of Highland county, and in early manhood married Nancy Beavers, who was born and reared in Paint township, daughter of Thomas Beavers, of Virginia, who settled near Rainsboro in 1820. They had fourteen children: William, now living in Iowa; Sally, deceased ; John, in Colorado ; Rachel, deceased; Allen, in Iowa; one who died in 484 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND. infancy ; Nancy, Joseph, Icy, Calvin, deceased ; Thomas, of Paint township; Tenie, of Iowa; Bowater W., and Mary, of Brush Creek. The father, Joseph Spargur, operated the mill for a good many years, and later bought and occupied part of the farm where Bowater W. now lives. He acquired 266 acres of land, was quite successful in the accumulation of property, and was active and influential in his social and political relations, serving several terms as justice of the peace and in other township offices, and being generally recognized as one of the most devoted members of the Universalist church at Rainsboro. He lived to the age of eighty-four years, and his wife to seventy. Bowater W. Spargur, subject of this sketch, was ,born on the farm where he now lives, June 22, 1856; was educated in the district school, and in early manhood married Emma Bales, daughter of Andrew and Lucinda (Pummill) Bales, of Paint township: Upon the death of his father he bought the old home place of 266 acres, where he has ever since been successfully engaged in farming and stock raising. He has been active in political and social life, sustaining the record of his family as influential in the councils of the old Democratic party, and becoming a valued member of the lodge of Knights of Pythias, No. 453, at Rainsboro. He has held the office of constable one term, and is now serving his first term as township trustee. Four children have been born to cheer his home: Melissa, Edith, Joseph and Allen. Earl Alvern Squier, who holds the prominent and responsible position of treasurer of Highland county, is a citizen of Greenfield where he has long been influential both in politics and business. His grandparents were Ludlow and Anna (Drake) Squier, of New Jersey origin, whose children were Phoebe, Abraham, Nelson, Sarah Anna and Rachel Jane. Nelson Squier, third of the children in age, was born in Washington county, Pa., in May; 1824, and came with his parents to Athens county, Ohio, and in 1866 removedmany to Greenfield, where he was engaged any years in the drug business.. In 1847 he was united in marriage with Murvinah, daughter of David McKee, by whom he had four .children : Milford Alonzo, who died at the age of thirty ; Charles C., real estate dealer in Greenfield ; Wilbur Ludlow, horse trainer in that city ; and the subject of this sketch. Earl Alvern Squier, youngest of the family, was born in Athens county, Ohio, in May, 1864, and at the age of twenty-one purchased his father's drug store in partnership with J. D. Eldrick. The firm of EIdrick & Squier continued the business until 1887, when Mr. Squier bought the interest of his partner and remained sole proprietor for nine years, When he sold a half interest to H. G. Simons. Under this partnership the business is still conducted and has been in existence continuously since 1866. Mr. Squier was a member of the Greenfield board of education six years, served ten years as mas- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 485 ter of exchequer for the Greenfield lodge Knights of Pythias, and holds membership in the order of Elks, Modern Woodmen. of America and the Ancient Order United Workmen. In 1899, he was nominated by the Democratic party as their .candidate for treasurer of Highland county and was triumphantly elected. 1901, he was put forward again as leader of his party,s ticket and received the cordial endorsement of a re-election for another term. Those familiar with the county's affairs declare that it has never had a more popular treasurer than Mr. Squier, who seems to have found a way to discharge his responsible duties that pleases all classes, irrespective of 'party. December 3,1.889, he was married to Nellie B., daughter of O. .W. Cone, who was formerly in the wholesale notion trade at Chillicothe.           Their children are Nannie M., born October 9, 1891; Jaunatta. Mae, born July 3, 1893 ; and J. Alvern, born August 3, 1897. Samuel M. Storer, one of the leading farmers of Washington township, is the grandson of an Ohio pioneer, James Storer, a native of Pennsylvania, who married a Miss Hover in that state, and early in the period of settlement came west and made his home in Adams county, where he reared a family of four children; three sons and one daughter ; the sons were Stacey, Wilson, and Henry H. Henry H., the father of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared in Adams county and married there to Celia Dryden, a native of the same county. There they lived' until about. the year 1848, When he bought a farm of 100 acres in Washington township, now owned by J. H. Storer. Subsequently he enlarged his possessions-to .500 acres, dealt extensively in live stock in addition to raising the same, and altogether was one of the notable men. of his day. He was honored with the office of township treasurer, and in the Presbyterian church held the office. of deacon and was considered one of the main supporters of local religious work. He died at the age of sixty-eight years and his wife at eighty. Their children were James, deceased ; Samuel M. ; William, of Oxford, Ohio; .Sarah E., deceased ; Judie A., wife of Dr. Glasgow, of Belfast, O. ; and Anna B., Stewart A., and Emma J.. deceased. Samuel M. Storer was barn in Jackson township, July 6, 1843, and was educated in the district school until the time of the civil war, when, though but a bey of eighteen years he patriotically .Offered his service's in defense of the nation. Ile enlisted in Company L of the Second. Ohio. cavalry regiment, was mustered in at Camp Dennison, and thence went with his command into Kentucky and Tennessee. Throughout the war he took part in many raids, marches and skirmishes, as Well as famous battles. He was in the fighting around Knoxville; in 1863, and in 1864 participated in the battles of the Wilderness and Hanover Court House, in Virginia. 486 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND.   While on Wilson's raid, in Virginia, he was seriously wounded, so that he was compelled to lie for three months in Camp Stoneman hospital at Washington, D. C. Fever and wounds made him unfit for duty, and after a short visit home he was put in charge of a ward in one of the military hospitals, where he remained until the close. of the war. In all he served two years and nine months. Resuming the work of the farm after the war, he was married in 1868 to Martha Shannon, daughter of a prominent Highland county family, and they began married life on a farm opposite his present place of 115 acres, which he subsequently purchased, and which he has enlarged to 344 acres. After the birth of five children—Emma V., wife of Joshua Gall, of Marshall township, and Adda M., Henry, T., and Charles B., deceased, and James H.—his wife died, and about three years later Mr. Storer married Ellen Trout, daughter of James Trout, a respected citizen of Jackson township. They have one child, Ettie M., wife of Robert Countryman. Mr. Storer has a very valuable farm, upon which he erected in 1885 a substantial and comfortable dwelling. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, in politics a Republican, and highly esteemed by his neighbors. Alexander L. Stroup, the popular trustee of Salem township, bears a name which was very familiar in the early development of Highland county. His grandfather, Michael Stroup, one of the most picturesque and interesting of the western pioneers, came to' New Market late in the fall of 1801, and there Was something both comic and heroic in the picture he presented. On his head he carried an eighteen. gallon copper kettle, on his back a. pack of tools, and in his hands a quantity of wood. With this outfit the wearied traveler rested after his long and tedious journey from Maryland and made arrangements to go into business. He was a manufacturer of hats and in this capacity became famous in after years throughout the pioneer settlements of central Ohio. The next spring George Parkinson, a hatter from Pennsylvania, arrived in New Market and entered into partnership with Michael Stroup. This resourceful pair soon ha.d constructed a hewed log shop with a.. shingle roof, the first building of that kind in all the region around, but there was no wool to be obtained fotmakingking in that vicinity, so, Michael Stroup mounted his horse and rode:Lexingtongton, Where he purchased one hundred pounds for as many dollars and brought back the load on horseback. In March, 1803, Michael Stroup was married to Polly Walker, who had emigrated to the falls of Paint Creek with her stepfather and mother four years before, and -to New Market in the spring of 1801. This marriage was the greatest event of the kind that had occurred in the settlemeandan.d has been already described in this volume., as well as other events of Michael Stroup's BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 487 career. Michael and Polly Stroup lived together fifty-seven years and raised a family of fourteen children, all but one of whom reached maturity and married. He died in Dodson township in 1860 and his wife in 1866. Henry Stroup, one of the children, of this remarkable pioneer 'couple, was born in New Market township, Highland county, Ohio, in 1805, and when a young man became a fiatboatman on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.. He married Lucinda Liggett, a native of Clinton but reared in Highland county, and a daughter of William Liggett. He settled in Dodson township on a farm of 120 acres which he so greatly increased that before the end of his life lie owned 500 acres of well improved land. He was prominent in the community and highly esteemed, held various township offices and enjoyed the reputation of being a good business man. Both himself and wife were about sixty-five years old at the time of their respective deaths and they became the parents of seven children. Of these, Mary J. and Delilah, first and second in order of birth, have passed away; Tillie A.. is the wife of A. Tebau of Clinton county; Rebecca is the wife of Absalom Tedrick of Dodson township ; William. is residing at the old home place and Michael lives in Dodson township. Alexander L. Stroup, youngest of the family, was born in Dodson township, Highland county, Ohio, October 27, 1851, and after he grew up engaged in farming which has been the exclusive business of his life. In early manhood he married Laura, daughter of Jacob and Jane Cochran, of Highland county, and after four years' residence in Dodson removed to Salem township. He purchased eighty-eight acres which he has since improved by the erection of a modernly constructed house and has devoted his time chiefly to the cultivation of the soil and stock-raising. He has been several times elected trustee of the township and is serving his third term in that capacity. Mr. Stroup is a; member of the Christian church, a man of excellent standing in the business world and a good citizen in all that the word implies. Jacob, the eldest of his two children, died February 19, 1902, in his twenty-second year; Emmett, the other son, remains at home. John H. Stroup, a well-to-do farmer of the Dodsonville neighborhood, belongs to a family long established and well known in that part of Highland county embraced in Dodson township. His grandfather, Michael Stroup, was 'a notable character in the early history of that region of Ohio. Born in Pennsylvania in 1780, he came to Highland county in the first year of the nineteenth century. For twenty-five years he followed his trade with success and became known far and wide as "the New Market hatter". He bought land extensively in Dodson township and in the course of time went there to live. It is related that in 1824 he built a large brick residence on this property which had been occupied for some years as a tenant 488 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND. by Zachariah Walker, brother of. Michael Stroup's wife, who was Mary Walker. While this building was in progress, Harriet Stroup, the ten-year-old daughter of Michael and Mary, assisted by hersis,ter Margaret, who was still younger, came out from New Market and with the help of a brother cooked for the workmen. At the time this house was built it fairly "astonished the natives," as it surpassed any residence for miles around. It is still standing as one of the venerable landmarks of the olden time, though many subsequent brick structures in that region have deprived the Stroup homestead of its original distinction. Zachariah Walker in 1820 started the first distillery in the township on this farm of Michael Stroup, with two small stills of ninety to onehundred. gallons capacity each. In the same year the first school house. of the township was built on the land of Michael Stroup, on the north side. of Dodson Creek, and it was a typical backwoods .structure made of round logs with puncheon floor and slab seats. From all this it will appear that the Stroup family had their full share in starting the infant township of Dodson on the road to industrial as well as educational development. Michael Stroup at one time owned two thousand acres of land most of which is still in possession of his posterity. He died in 1860, and his wife six years later, after rearing a large family of sons and daughters. Simon Stroup, one of the sons, married Barbara Pulse, whose father was among the first .who settled in the county. Simon became an influential citizen of Dodson township, of Which. he was assessor for thirteen years in succession, and had a family of twelve children of whom five are living. Among the number is John H. Stroup', who was born in Highland county, Ohio, February 6, 1849. He. grew up on his father's farm and eventually became a farmer himself on the 105 acres of land inherited from his grandfather's estate. In 1872 he was married to Jemima H. Bogart, of Hamilton county, Ohio, by whom. he has six children: Emilia. B., Eva L., Samuel, Lillie P., Sophia G. and Elliott. Mr. and Mrs. Stroup are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Lewis F. Stroup; one of the substantial farmers of Highland county, bears a name that was well known there before the organization of Dodson township, where the family subsequently made their investments. As far back as 1801, Anthony. and Michael Stroup, who came from Huntington, Pennsylvania, made their entrance into Highland county and settled at New Market. Michael was just twenty-one years old when he located. there and some time after his arrival was married to; Mary Walker, 'born in Kentucky in 1786. Of his subsequent career, the main facts are given elsewhere, and need not here be repeated. He was a man of great energy, and it is said, in illustration of this trait of character that he walked all the way from New Market to Mexico to join the Ohio troops while the BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 489 war was prevailing in that country. Of his twelve children, only one, Dina Duval, is now living. One of the sons, Simon Stroup, married. Barbara, daughter of David Pulse, and became a prominent and prosperous farmer in Dodson township, having inherited two hundred acres of his father's large real estate holdings. He held the office of assessor for thirteen consecutive years and in other ways figured infiuentially in the affairs of his township. Of the twelve children born to himself and wife, only five are now living, four sons and one. daughter.. Among the former is Lewis F. Stroup, who was born in Highiand county, Ohio, October 22, 1837, and grew up on the farm, meanwhile attending the neighborhood schools. He started in business for himself at an early age and has made. a "success of general farming and stock-raising, owning 112 acres of good land and a fine residence which he built in 1888. September 10, 1863, Mr. Stroup was married to Mary E. Drais, of Highland county, and they have had the following children: Clement E., David, Charles and Ulric; Minnie, wife of Isaac Shaffer ; Flora, wife of Mahlon Thompson, who died in 1899 ; Luca, wife of Joseph Wilkin; Ciara, wife of Henry Swearingen, and Luella, at home. Simon Kenton Stroup, one of the enterprising farmers of Dodson township, bears a. name which recalls to students of Highland county history many stirring events of the "brave days of old." Next to Daniel Boone himself, of whom he was a friend and companion, Simon Kenton was the most famous of those Indian fighters who shed such luster over the annals of early border warfare. Many of his adventures took place in that part of Ohio now contained in Ross and Highland counties, and Dodson township of the latter was the scene' of one of his most noted engagements with the Indians, which has already been, described. There is reason for joining together the names of Stroup, and Kenton, as the grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a. friend and admirer of the bold borderer who so bravely bore the banner of advancing civilization. Michael Stroup arrived in Highland county from Pennsylvania in 1801, just nine years after the occurrence of the battle above mentioned. He knew Simon Kenton quite well and the family traditions relate a story which would indicate that they were connected in business at one time. Kenton,, it seems, employed Michael Stroup to open a road from New Market to Chillicothe, and he subsequently accomplished the task with the aid of only one man. Michael Stroup always insisted that he never got his pay for this work, but the reason for the non-payment is not now known. He made money, however, by his trade as a hatter at New Market, invested heavily in land in Dodson township arid became one of the large real estate. holders in the county. His marriage to Mary Walker, and subsequent career, has been noticed in preceding pages, also the life of his son Simon, who 490 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND. married Barbara Pulse, and had a large family of children, among them the subject of this sketch. Simon Kenton Stroup, son of Simon and Barbara, was born in Highland county, Ohio, April 14, 1851. He grew up on the farm and in due time inherited 145 acres of his grandfather's estate, upon which he now resides. He is regarded as one of the enterprising and up-to-date farmers of Dodson township and his farm beali all the evidence of the fact in its neat appearance and handsome improvements. In 1890 he erected a commodious barn, which was followed in 1897 by a fine new residence, and few farms in the county are better equipped or more conveniently arranged. In. 1879 he was married to Dorothy A. E., daughter of John and Sallie (Wilkie) T'edrick, early settlers of Highland county. They have four children: Della, wife of Howard Cochran, of Salem township ; Mirtie M., Sallie E., William Arlie Stroup. Mr. Stroup and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. William A. Styerwalt, member of the Greenfield city council, is an efficient member of the Boden Milling company and one of the most experienced men of the state in his chosen line of work. He has been in the milling business practically all his life, being familiar from boyhood with the hum and whirmiiimill machinery. It would be difficult to teach him much about. that department of the business with which he is connected and he has long been recognized among the craft as a miller of the first rank. He has not only been a long time in the business but he Has worked at it in many different mills in many different places. Born in the state of Pennsylvania, he was reared in the counties of Summit and Medina, Ohio, to which he was brought at an early age. He was about eighteen years old when he began work in a milling establishment in Medina county and from that day to this he has not been out of hearing of the whirring wheels for any great length of time. His second employment was in a mill at Akron, Ohio, where, he remaiuntiintil 1886 when he accepted an offer toto Wilmingtongton in Clinton county, Ohio. Here he remained for ten or twelve years and finally, in 1898, made his last move which brought him to Greenfield as a member of that popular and enterprising firm, the Boden Milling company. Mr. Styerwalt is not only appreciated for skill in his trade but for his geniality as a man and usefulness .as a citizen. He had not been long in Greenfield before the voters of his ward determined to avail them. selves of his services as a member of the city council and accordingly he was elected to that body in 1900 and has since retained the position. He also finds time for cultivating the -social side of life, and is a member of the Masonic order and the Woodmen of the World. January 4, 1878, he was married to Viola H., daughter of Stephen Kunkler, a farmer and contractor of Medina county, resident at BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 491 Wadsworth. Mr. and Mrs. Styerwalt have four children: Oliver E., an employe in the Greenfield postoffice; Peari M., Myrtle V. and Raymond' W. The family's religious affiliations are with the Methodist Episcopal church, in which Mr. Styerwalt holds membership in Greenfield. Robert Sumner, deceased, late a substantial farmer of Paint township, was highly respected during his lifetime as a worthy descendant of one of those noble old Quaker families who have done so much for the development of Highland county. His father, Absalom Sumner, who was born in North Carolina in 1786, rode across country to Ohio when a young man to spy out the land as did Joshua of old. Pleased with the outlook, he concluded to become a resident of the fertile region drained by the Scioto. He bought two thousand acres of land, cleared a few acres, built a log cabin and then started back to North Carolina to fulfill a marriage vow made before ieaving with one of the fair damsels of the old "Tarheel state." Unlike the custom now, with palace cars and ocean steamers, a bridal trip in those days often meant a long and wearisome ride over mountains and forests to a home which. had little better to offer than a bed of leaves on a puncheon fioor and a meager fare of home-made hominy. H6 was a member of the Friends which is the same as saying that he was a moral man, loving liberty and hating slavery. He kept a station on the famous underground raiiroad, and many a poor gave was checked through to freedom over the old Quaker's line. He was quite active in church affairs and exercised much infiuence in his community untii his death, which occurred January 17, 1865. By his second wife, Abigail Sumner, he had six children of whom Eli, Joseph, Hannah, and Robert have passed away. The living are Mrs. Lucy King, a. widow, residing in Indiana, at the age of eighty-five years, and Sylvania, widow of J. M. Conaway, of Atlanta, Ind. Robert Sumner, the youngest of the children, was born on his father's farm in Paint, township, Highland county, Ohio, July 4, 1827. In early manhood he married Tabitha, daughter of Jacob Fittro, a West Virginia contribution to the population of Highland county and one of the early arrivals. Robert Sumner spent his entire life on his Paint township farm with the exception of three years devoted to the lumber business in Indiana. He was a devoted member' of the Friends, holding various official positions, and when he died, October 6, 1890, his remains were deposited in the Quaker cemetery near the unpretentious building where he has spent so many hours in sincere devotion. His good wife, who was an adherent of the same simple faith, survived him several years and passed away December 9, 1899. Their union resulted in the birth of three children, the only survivor being Sarah Ellen Sumner, who was born August 6, 1872, and married George G. Garman, a native of Penn township, 492 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND. Highland county. Mr. Garman was born August 3, 1868, son of Hezekiah and Sarah A. (Rogers) Garman, the former of West Virginia and the latter of Texas, who were married November 14, 1844, and the father died in 1875. Mr. and Mrs. George G. Garman have had three children : Roy, who was accidentally scaided to death when a little over two years old ; Ora S., nine, and Tabitha Nellis, seven years of age. Mrs. Garman inherited from her father 535 acres of land, divided into three.farms, and her husband carries on general farming and stock raising. He is a member of Paint lodge, No. 453, Knights of Pythias, at Rainsboro. Absalom Tedrick may be described as one of the self-made farmers. of Highland county, inasmuch as the property he now owns is the result of his own industry and lifetime savings. His forefathers were Marylanders who made the long journey overland in 1830 and found homes in Highland county when that part of the state was still crude and but sparsely settied. Jacob, Tedrick was married in Maryland to Catherine Potter before the emigration to the west was undertaken, and he was accompanied by his father, John Tedrick, who ended his days in Highland county. Jacob Tedrick died in 1863 and his wife in 1900, having reared a family of twelve children of whom nine are living. Among the latter is Absalom Ted-rick, who was born in Hamer township, Highland county, Ohio December 24, 1842. He was reared on the farm, trained to do all sorts of farm work and when he reached manhood . was qualified fo the business on his own account and has been successful in his operations. The sixty-five acres of land which constitute Mr. Tedrick' home. place have been accumulated by himself in the course of an industrious life. As a citizen he stands high. and is popular, as is proved by the fact that he was township trustee for ten years, member of the school board for fifteen years and five years president o that body. Mr. Tedrick belongs to the Lynchburg lodge of Free and Accepted Masons and the Ancient Order United Workmen. In 1865 he was married to Rebecca E. Stroup, member of a strong family connection identified with Highland county's history almost from its beginning. Her father, Henry Stroup., was one of the twelve children of Michael Stroup, the latter a Pennsylvania pioneer who arrived in 1801 and became wealthy and highly infiuential in the townships of New Market and Dodson. Mr.. and Mrs. Absalom Tedrick have an only son, George Edward, who received a good education and taught school eleven. years. At present he is a farme and cultivates eighty-five acres of land which he has accumulated b his own exertions. George Edward Tedrick is a man of excellent business qualifications and was appointed as a representative of th Democratic party to audit the books of the Highiand county corn missioners. He married Miss Ida L. Smith, of Dodson township. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 493 Frank Tedrick, one of the prosperous farmers of Union township, comes of a family who were identified with affairs of Highland county from the first decade after it was organized as a body politic. His great-grandparents were George and Mary (Hickson) Tedrick, natives of Virginia who reached Ohio in 1815, located in Highland county and there spent the remainder of their lives. They had four children, among the number being a son named John, born while his parents were living in Buckingham county, Va. He married Lydia Burton, was a soldier in the war of 1812, came with the elder relatives to Highland county and there ended his days. His, son Frederick married Rosana Pugh, by whom he became the father of Frank Tedrick, who was born in Dodson township, Highland county, Ohio, February 13, 1854. As soon as he reached manhood he went into business for himself and now owns 107 acres of good land which he has cultivated with success. January 13, 1876, he was married to Lizzie, daughter of John and Susannah (Shoemaker) Webster, both of Highland county. Mrs. Tedrick's grandparents on her father's side were Thomas and Elizabeth (Pulse) Webster, early settlers of Highland county, and her maternal grandparents were James and Susannah (Newton) Shoemaker, who were among the first of the Virginia immigrants who settled in that part of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Tedrick have four children: John F., a farmer of Highland county; Harley S., also a farmer ; Hattie H., a successful teacher of music; and Edna S., at home. The family are members of the Christian church. James Scott Templin, during his eighty-eight years, saw practically all of the growth, progress and development of Highland county. His birth occurred eight years after the county was organized and one year before the laying. out of the town of Leesburg where he spent the greater part of his life. So there was little of importance happening in this county from its origin until 1901 which was not known to Mr. Templin, and he bore his full share in that long era of development which has made Highland one of the best counties in the state. His father was Salmon Templin, who moved in from Pennsylvania as early as the first half of the year 1800. This was five years before Highland became a county and fourteen years before Leesburg had existence even in imagination. White people were very scarce in that region when Salmon Templin arrived on the scene and as yet there was not a single settler in what afterward became Fairfield township. Some years after his arrival he married Catherine White and among their children was James Scott Templin, born in Highland county in 1813. Educational facilities were scarce, in those days, even the historic old logcabin schoolhouses being few and far between. For a short time young James Templin had the good fortune to attend a seminary at Hills- 494 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND. boro, but most of his learning was acquired during the long winter evenings by the fiickering light of tallow-dip candles. This habit, acquired in youth, never deserted him and ail his long life he was a close student and omniverous reader, with the result of being considered one of the best informed men of his community. In early manhood he identified himself with the interests of Leesburg and remained connected therewith during all the days of his active life. In fact, none of the citizens of this town did more to expand its trade and push it forward than James Scott Templin. In 1844 he engaged in the mercantile business at Leesburg and for many years was one of the leading merchants in a wide area of territory surrounding that village in all directions. He was always a moving spirit in the civic life of town and township and the records show that when Leesburg was first organized as an, incorporated town, Mr. Templin was elected one of the three trustees, John C. Batten and Gerrard M. Johnson being the others, with Thomas E. Johnson as mayor and Silas Trion as recorder. Mr. Templin was a firm believer in the principles of Freemasonry and never lost an opportunity to advocate and urge on others the beneficent advantages of this world-famous order. To him more than to any other was due the installation at Leesburg of a local iodge, and throughout his entire life he was regular in his attendance and enthusiastic in his support of this fraternal cause. Mr. T'emplin was a man of plain habits, gentle manners, highly cultivated and in sympathy with all that was ennobling and elevating. He had the absolute confidence of the people who knew him well, was popular in the best sense of that word and often called on to fiii minor offices of trust and honor. His long and useful life terminated at Leesburg in 1901 and it is safe to say that few of her citizens were ever followed to the grave with more sincere mourning. Daniel L. Tice, of Clay township, is one of the successful and infiuential farmers of Highland county, and is particularly entitled to credit for achieving his present station without the aid of ancestral acres, depending upon his own industry to rise from the position of a farm laborer to landowner and prosperous farmer. He is the grandson of a native of New Jersey, who went into the patriot army of the Revolution in boyhood, became a lieutenant and had a good record as a soldier. William Tice, son of the, latter, was born near Trenton, N. J., February 22, 1801, and married Catherine Tice, a native of the same state, after which union the young couple came to Guernsey county, Ohio, and later to Clermont, where the father was occupied as a shoemaker and reared a family of twelve children. Of these, the eldest, John, fell while fighting for the Union, at the battle of Atlanta. Elias, Albert, Eiizabeth, Ruth, Jane, and Delilah reside in Clermont county Thomas in Kansas, and James in Dayton, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 496 Ohio. Daniel L. Tice, the third child, and subject of this sketch, was born in Clermont county, February 10, 1836. He found employment as a farm laborer as soon as he was old enough, and in early manhood was married to Mahala Dunham, a native of the same county. They went to housekeeping, very poor in this world's goods, on a farm in Brown county, and two years later removed to Clay township where, in the course of the war of the rebeiiion, he purchased a small farm of thirty acres. During the lattei part of the great war he served his country as a member of Company G-, Hundred and Ninety-second regiment Ohio voiunteer infantry, being mustered in at Camp Chase and sent to the Shenandoah valley, where the regiment did duty for some time. In all he served seven months, part of the time at a Maryland hospital. After the muster out of the regiment at Winchester, Va., Mr. Tice returned to his home and family and resumed his work as a farmer. Selling his small farm he purchased seventy-five acres in Hamer township, and after living there three years he bought the piece of one hundred acres where he now lives. He is now the owner of a valuable tract of 1117 acres, well improved, and is recognized as a competent agriculturist and stockman and good business man. Mr. Tice is a member of the Grand Army post at Buford, and of the Church of Christ, and politicaiiy adheres to the Democratic party. He has five children living: Viola, wife of L. Coffman, of Clermont county ; John William, of New Market township ; Isaac, of Clay township;: Mary E., wife of X. W. Campbell, of Sardinia, Ohio; Edward superintendent of the schools at New Vienna. The sixth child, George F., is deceased. Arthur M. Tolle, of Clay township, was born in Concord township, Highland county, August 11, 1859. He is a son of Harrison Tolle, a native of Kentucky, and grandson of Joseph Tolle. Harrison Tolle was born in Kentucky, June 16, 1818, was reared at the farm home and educated in the district school, and in early manhood married Rachel Nailer, a native of Concord township, and daughter of Richard and Rachel Naiier. They began housekeeping in Concord township, and lived there until 1862, when he bought and moved to a farm, in Clay township. He was engaged in the ministry of the New Light church for nearly forty years assigned to .various charges, and was widely known and held in high esteem by all who knew him. At the close of a useful and worthy life he died in Clay township, at the age of sixty-four years, and his wife, survived. to the age of seventy-three. Their children were: John, now' living in Buford; Lodeema and Cindilla, of Mount Orab ; Lorana, at the old homestead ; Morilia and Ann, deceased ; Arthur M. ; and Melvina, who lives at Franklin. Arthur M. Tolle, at twenty-seven years of age, left home and engaged in the general mercantile busi- 496 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND   ness at Buford, as a member of the firm of L. and A. M. Tolle. In this he continued for five years and meanwhile was married to Ella, daughter of John and Elizabeth Brown, and they began housekeeping on the place they now own, adjoining the home of her parents. In 1896 they moved to Alabama, but remained only one year, after which they returned to their former home, where they now reside. Mr. Tolle farms about 114 acres, and is quite successful in general agriculture and the raising of fine live stock. He is a member of the Methodist church, and is one of the leaders among the younger men of the township. Mr. and MTolieolle have three children: Marie, John, and Rachel E. Rodney T. Trimble, M. D., who has been a practicing physician at New Vienna for over thirty years, is a member of one of the most distinguished families of Ohio. The very name recalls all the stirring scenes of state,ste's early history—the period of exploration, the periodsettiement,ent, the hardships, trials and deadly dangers which beset those who first crossed borderiandland between civilization and savagery. For the Trimbles were in the very vanguard, at the front as surveyors and settlers, in the lead when fighting was to be done, and called on to legislate and govern when peaceful pursuits had succeeded to the wild and lawless methods of the aborigines. No history of Ohio is complete that does not contain the name of Trimble many times repeated and biographies of the heroic spirits who bore that name like an orifiamme across the Alleghenies, down the great river and throughout the mighty wilderness bordering it on either side. As far back as 1745 John Trimble emigrated from the north of Ireland to America and settled near Orange Court House, Va. He was a surveyor and in 1763 while on the frontie was killed by the Indians, his young married daughter and son James being taken captive at the same time but rescued by Captain Moffett and twelve men who rode one hundred miles in six days and surprised the savages in camp. James was born about 1755 and in 1774 participated in famousoils battle at PoPieasantsant between the American forces under General Lewis and the Indians led by the celebrated Chief Cornstalk. He gained the rank of captain in the Revolutionary war and in 1782 was married to Jane, a daughter of John Allen, of Augusta county, Va. Two of tlady,sdy's brothers were killed in the was for American independence. Allen, the second son of Captain Trimble, who subsequently became governor o Ohio,' was born November 24, 1783, and when ten months old his parents, in company with five hundred colonists, migrated to Woodford county, Ky., and settled near the present site of Lexington. Though an owner of slaves by inheritance, Captain Trimble had an instinctive aversion to the institution and as. soon as Ohio adopte an anti-slavery constitution he liberated all his bondsmen and deter BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 497 mined to remove with his family to the free state across the river. As early as 1802 he had come on an inspection tripe with his son Allen and located twelve hundred acres of land on Clear creek, later moving to a situation three miles northeast from Hiiisboro, to which he came in 1804 and built a double log house. He died the same year while on a trip to Kentucky, after which his widow and son Allen closed out the estate and removed to Highland county in the spring of 1805. Several of the sons of Captain Trimble arose to distinction. William A., the eldest, opened a law office at Hillsboro in 1811 and the following year was chosen as major in General McArthur's regiment, with which he took part in the sortie from Fort Erie and fell at the battle of Lundy,s Lane, shot through the lungs. Recovering after a long illness, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel and in 1819 was elected to the United States senate, but died in 1821 while holding that exaited office. His younger brother, Carey A. Trimble, who was a lieutenant in the same regiment, was captured on. the frontier and taken to Quebec, from which place he was exchanged in June, 1813, and returned home by way of Philadelphia. At the latter city his brother John A. was attending school and the two returned together to their Ohio home, coming through by the tedious stage route, then the chief means of overland travel. Allen Trimble, most distinguished of the family, served many years in both branches of the Ohio legislature, and in 1822, being speaker of the senate, became acting governor upon the election of Governor Brown to succeed W. A. Trimble in the United States senate. He was the recognized leader of the Whig party in the state and in 1826 was elected governor, being re-elected two years later despite the great wave then sweeping over the state for "Old Hickory" Jackson, who was first elected president that year. In 1814 four of the Trimble brothers, Allen, Carey, James A., and John A., were associated together in a mercantile venture at Hillsboro, but the first two retiring in a few years, the partnership was continued by the others until 1855. John A. Trimble, the junior member of this firm and youngest of the eight children, was born in Kentucky in May, 1801, and was consequently about four years old when his widowed mother made her permanent settlement in Highland county. As a member of Trimble Brothers he was prominently identified with the business affairs of Hillsboro for more than thirty-five years. Aside from mercantile life, he was clerk of the Highland county courts for two terms, for some time in the insurance business and served for eighteen years as postmaster at Hillsboro. He died at his home in that city in 1886, after reaching the ripe age of eighty-five years. In 1829 he married Lavina, daughter of Dr. William and Jane (St. Clair) Boys, the former a distinguished physician of Staunton, Va. The children resulting from this union were Will- H-32 498 - THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND iam, Jane St. Clair, Rosa (who died in childhood), Mary, Ella, Augusta, Cyrus B., John A. (who died in early manhood), Rodney T., and Alice M. The two last named, who are residents of New Vienna, in Clinton county, are the only survivors of the family. Rodney T. Trimble was born in Hillsboro, Ohio, October 13, 1846, and was educated in the public schools, supplemented by private instruction under the tutelage of his brother. In 1866 he entered the Ohio Medical college and in 1867-68 attended lectures at. the University of Pennsylvania, receiving a diploma from that famous institution with the class of 1868. Immediately after leaving college Dr. Trimble located for practice at Hillsboro and remained there until 1871. He then removed to New Vienna, Clinton county, which has since been his theater of operations and the central headquarters from which he has practiced his profession for more than thirty years. In December, 1896, Dr. Trimble was married to Emma, daughter of Dr. Samuel and Mary (Rogers) Smith, formerly of Oxford, Ohio, and later of Vincennes, Ind.., her place of nativity. being Highland county. The doctor is a member of the medical societies of Clinton and Highland counties, also the Miami Valley, State and American medical associations. He is prominently connected with many of the fraternities as drill. appear from the following list of his titles and memberships : past-master of New Vienna. lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; Hillsboro chapter, Royal Arch Masons; past eminent commander of Highlcommanderydery, Knights Templar ; member of Syrian temple of Cincinnati; Ancient Arabic Order _Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; past grand of New Vienna. lodge, No. 92, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; past chancellor of Charter Oak lodge, No. 311, Knights of Pythias; member of Hillsboro. lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Dr. Trimble's brother, Cyrus B., was a promising attorney until cut off in the flower of .manhood by typhoid fever. His brother, John Alexander, was visiting with relatives in Virginia when the civil war opened and joined the Confederate army on the staff of General Imboden. Sampson Turley, well known throughout the county for many years as one of the leading farmers of Brush Creek township, is a son of Sampson Turley, born in 1780 in South Carolina. The elder Sampson Turley moved to Virginia with his parents in boyhood and there married Catherine Shoemaker, a native of that state, where ho lived for several years, going out during the war of 1812-15 as a soldier of the republic. In 1816 he moved with his wife and family to Brush Creek township, and in 1825 bought the farm of 223 acres where his son Sampson now resides. He was a. man of industry and integrity and had more than ordinary success as a farmer, acquiring a comfortable estate, and living to the age of ninety-three years. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - 499 His wife died at seventy-five. Their children were Mary, Margaret, Nancy, Jane, Hepzibah, Giles, all deceased ; and Sampson, the subject of this sketch, and James B., now residing in Kansas. Sampson Turley, the younger, was born May 24, 1823, on the farm now owned by Owen Countryman, in Brush Creek township, receiving his education in the district school, and in early manhood married Eliza Taylor, a native of Loudoun county, Va. After the death of his father he became the owner of the old homestead, and at one time owned in all 362 acres. He has been nearly eighty years a resident of the township, and from his youth he has held the high esteem and confidence of his neighbors. In his church, the Methodist, lie is an active worker, holding the office of trustee, and in politics he adheres to the Republican party. Mrs. Turley died, after a long and useful life, February 10, 1899, but nearly all their children are living. These are:: John M., whose home is in Paint township ; Daniel C., of Brush Creek ; Francis R., of Sinking Spring; A. J., of Brush Creek township ; Sarah C., living at the old home:, Alberta J., wife of William 0. Setty, of Brush Creek township ; Flora L., deceased ; and Harley C., of Brush Creek. Willis A. Tway, one of the enterprising farmers and business men of Marshall township, is of Virginia parentage though a native Ohioan. His father, Levi Tway, married Catharine Glaze and came with her to the west in the first half of the nineteenth century. A few years later he died, leaving Willis A. as the only child of this union, but subsequently Mrs. Tway was married to Jacob Fultz, by whom. she had nine children. Willis A. Tway was born June 23, 1857, while his parents were living in Fayette county, Ohio, and after he grew up worked on the farm for some years. November 28, 1880, he married Mary, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Smith) Melson, and member of a well-to-do family. The parents of Isaac were Hiram and Elizabeth (Core) Melson, Virginians who settled in Pike county, Ohio, at an early date, and the brothers and sisters of Mrs. Tway were Samantha J., widow of Henry Glaze, of Indiana ; John J., who died in infancy ; Clara, wife of Millard Kneisley, a farmer of Marshall township ; James Walter, a farmer of Pike county ; Amanda, a millinery trimmer at Jackson Center ; twins, who died in infancy ; and Sarah Alice, housekeeper for her father. After his marriage Mr. Tway continued farming but also embarked in the milling business which he has since prosecuted extensively. He is senior member of the firm of Tway & Squiers, who own one hundred acres of timber land in North Carolina, where they have a portable mill. Besides the lumber they themselves cut, they buy the products of several other mills and ship to dealers in carload lots from a point in Tennessee. Mr. Tway owns a farm in Marshall township and his wife has 161 acres where they reside, one mile east