AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 325 here. Dr. Brown was born in Covington, Kentucky, March 28, 1867, and is a son of L. W. and Selina (Penny) Brown. L. W. Brown was a young man when he learned the trade of a cornice maker and sheet metal worker. He became an expert workman in the latter capacity and was engaged with Post and Company at Cincinnati, Ohio, until their plant was destroyed by fire. He was then with the same company at Ludlow. Kentucky, until 1882, when he accompanied the general manager of that concern, john Kirby, to Dayton, Ohio. Here he continued in charge of the sheet metal department the remainder of his days. He died in 1895, at the age of fifty-eight years. He had the distinction of making the first metal casket for the National Cash Register Company at Dayton, and while with Post and Company drew the first plans accurately showing the position for the chimney for the headlight for locomotives. He WaS united in marriage with Selina Penny, who survived him two years. She came to the United States from England when fourteen years of age, going down the canal to Cincinnati. Ohio, where one of her brothers was one of the early tailors. She became an expert vest maker and operated the first sewing machine in that city. Four children were born of their union, namely Nina, wife of John W. O'Brien ; Richard Lorenzo; William A., of Dayton. Ohio ; and Minnie, who died at the age of seven years. Richard L. Brown spent his early boyhood in Cincinnati and Covington, and attended the public schools at the latter place and Ludlow, Kentucky. In 1885 he began the study of medicine under the preceptor-ship of Dr. Scherbenzuber of Dayton, and the following year matriculated at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, from which he received the degree of M. D. in 1889. He then embarked in practice at Dayton, where he continued until 1894, after which he was located at Jamestown, Greene County, Ohio, some years. In 1900 he returned to Dayton and remained until 1905, when he located at Springfield, Ohio. Shortly= afterward he located at Thackery, and still later at St. Paris, Ohio, but did not remain long in either place. He took up his residence and professional work in Casstown in March, 1908, and has already become well established. He is a man of recognized professional skill and knowledge, and maintains an office on Main Street. In November, 1903, Dr. Brown was united in marriage with Mrs. Shirley B. ( Riggs) Altick. widow of Arthur Altick, and a (laughter of Philip Riggs, who was a soldier in the Union Army, and after the close of the Civil War was a revenue officer. Her great-grandparents, the Drakes, were among the early settlers of Miami County. She has a son by her first marriage. Arthur Riggs Altick, who attends the Troy High School. Politically, Dr. Brown is a Republican, but has been a strong supporter of Bryan. He is a charter member of Gem City Lodge, No. 795, I. O. O. F.. of Dayton ; and formerly was affiliated with Montgomery and Greene County medical societies. Religiously, he and his estimable wife are members of the Lutheran church. ANDREW STALEY, one of Bethel Township's most respected retired citizens, resides on the old Staley homestead, a tract of 160 acres, situated in the north- 326 - HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY western part of Section 12, Bethel Township, Miami County, Ohio, on which he was born May 26, 1833. his parents were Elias and Hannah (Ritter) Staley. Elias Staley was born in Maryland and when he came first to Ohio he settled as a millwright on Mad River, not far from Dayton, and also bought a farm of eighty acres, on which he built a mill and a distillery. He later sold this property, subsequently built and sold another distillery near Dayton, and in 1816 came to Bethel Township and bought the farm of 160 acres which is now owned by his son Andrew. He never engaged in farming the place although he made all the improvements, building the mill and distillery which are old landmarks of the county. He carried on distilling and milling for many years, his death occurring in 1866. In 1826 he married Hannah Ritter, who died in 1880, and both are interred in Saylor's Cemetery, in Bethel Township. There were seven children born to Elias Staley and wife : Sarah, Mary, Simeon, Andrew, John, Levi and Elias, the three survivors being Andrew, Simeon and Levi. Andrew Staley attended the district schools in his home neighborhood during his boyhood and then gave his father assistance on the farm, in the distillery and in the flour and saw-mills. The father built three saw-mills on the place, the last one of which is still standing, although it is not in use any more, and the distillery and flour mill have not been operated since 1905. During his active years he was a very busy man and was able to turn his hand to almost anything, being a good carpenter and millwright as well as distiller, farmer and miller. On account of failing eyesight he was obliged to retire some years ago. He owns an additional farm of 105 acres, which lies in Elizabeth Township. Although his father erected all the farm buildings now standing, he has kept them in excellent repair. In his political views, Mr. Staley is a Democrat. GEORGE F. PARSONS, senior member of the firm of Parsons & Clawson, druggists, doing business on East Main Street, Troy, was born in 1847, in Miami County, Ohio, and is a son of Hon. E. and Caroline (Culbertson) Parsons. The late Judge Parsons was a native of Connecticut and he came to Miami County in 1839, becoming a prominent member of the bar, serving for ten years as common pleas judge and also being elected prosecuting attorney. After a long and useful life he died in 1869. He married Miss Caroline C. Culbertson, also now deceased, who was a daughter of Robert Culbertson, an old pioneer of this county. They reared the following children : Clara, who is the widow of Mr. Temple, and resides with her brother, George F.; Emma, who is the wife of J. G. Detmer, of Brooklyn, New York ; George F.; Caroline, who is the widow of C. P. Thomas, and resides at Tryon, North Carolina ; Robert H., who lives at Troy ; Laura, who is the wife of M. G. Nixon ; Estella K.; and Mary J., who is the wife of Charles C. West, of Mt. Clair, New Jersey. George F. Parsons was reared and educated at Troy and during his entire business career he has been associated with his present line. The present firm of Parsons & Clawson was established in 1892 and does a large business. Mr. Parsons is a Knight Templar Mason and belongs to the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 329 Troy Club of Troy and to the Troy Business Men's Association. DANIEL W. SMITH, cashier of the First National Bank of Troy, is one of the older residents of this city, with the interests of which he has been identified since Ile was twenty-seven years of age. He was born March 9th, 1835, in Montgomery County, Ohio, and is a son of Lester Smith, who was a pioneer in the business of manufacturing cut shingles here. After his years of school attendance had passed, Daniel W. Smith was taken into a general mercantile store as a clerk, where he continued until 1862, when he began work in what was then known as a branch of the State Bank of Ohio, which developed into the present First National Bank of Troy. He was advanced from the position of bookkeeper to be teller, then assistant cashier and since 1882 has been cashier of this institution. He has not only the esteem of the financiers with whom he is associated, but he has also the confidence of his fellow citizens to a marked degree, who, for forty years have elected him treasurer of Concord Township. In politics he is a Republican and has also served in the City Council of Troy and for several years was trustee of the City Water Works. For twelve years also he was a member of the Board of Education and has been for a number of years a member of the City Board of Sinking Fund, of which he is now president. In 1864 Mr. Smith was married to Miss Angeline Janvier, who is a daughter of J. T. Janvier, who was a prominent member of the Miami County bar, public prosecutor of the county, and a man of wide influence and much talent. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had six children, namely : Robert J., who is an attorney in practice at Mercedes, Texas ; Margaret, who died at the age of eleven years ; Walter S., who is superintendent for the E. W. Bliss Company, of Brooklyn, New York; Frederic H., a graduate of West Point, who is a lieutenant in the United States Army ; Eugene, who is connected with the office force of the E. W. Bliss Company; and Adeline, who is the wife of Herbert Johnston, general manager and chief engineer of the Hobart Electric Manufacturing Company of Troy. Mr. Smith and family are members of the Presbyterian Church. IRWIN A. HOLLOWAY, who has been a. resident of Piqua, Ohio, almost continuously during the past nineteen years, is a railway postal clerk, running on the Pennsylvania line between Indianapolis and St. Louis. Mr. Holloway was born in Covington, Kentucky, in 1880, and was nine years of age when his parents moved to Piqua, Ohio, where he was reared to maturity and attended the public schools. He completed a course in a commercial college, after which he was employed at office work for some fifteen months. He then was in the employ of an uncle at Syracuse, New York, for six months, at the end of which time he entered the railway postal service, at which he has since continued. He is a man of wide acquaintance in this city and makes his home at No. 507 South Main Street. In 1903 Mr. Holloway was married to Miss Cleo Collar of Ligonier, Indiana, and they have two children, Eleanor Alda and Martha Elizabeth. The family attend the Green Street Methodist Episcopal Church of Piqua. 330 - HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY WILLIAM H. DETRICK, farmer and fruit grower, residing on his estate of eighty acres of valuable land in Bethel Township, situated four and one-half miles southeast of Tippecanoe City, is one of the leading men of this section of Miami County. He was born in Bethel Township, Miami County. Ohio, December 15. 1848, and is a son of Benjamin and Catherine (Forney) Detrick. The grandfather. Adam Detrick was of German extraction but was born in West Virginia. He was a slave owner but set all his slaves free when coming to Ohio. On arriving here he located first in "Wayne Township, Montgomery County. and finding it suited him. continued to reside there until his death, which was followed by that of his wife. He engaged in farming and also operated a saw-mill. He was one of the founders of the German Baptist Church in that section and both he and wife were buried in the cemetery adjoining the Hickory Grove Church. "Benjamin Detrick. father of William H. was thirteen years old when he accompanied Ins parents to Ohio from Virginia. He assisted on the farm and in the mill and also worked in the timber cutting wood for twenty-five cents a cord. and working the mill at night in order to make a little money for himself. In that way he got his start in life. adding penny to penny and watching his capital grow until he had enough to invest. and when he died many years later he owned three farms. one of eighty acres, one of seventy-three acre and one of seventy-four acres all in Bethel Township. He worked in a saw-mill for some years and sawed the first lumber that was used in the construction of the first house in Brandt. Miami County. He married Catherine Forney, a native of Pennsylvania, and they had eleven children: William H., Samuel, Jacob, David, and Benjamin, all living, and Harvey, Jefferson, Adam, Sarah, Eva Belle, and an infant. all deceased. After marriage, Benjamin Detrick and wife settled on a farm in Bethel Township which he bought of jai). Brown, and both he and wife died there. They were members of the Breth- ren Church of Bethel. The death of Benjamin Detrick occurred in 1890 and that of his widow live years later and they were buried in the Tippecanoe City Cemetery. He was a Republican in polities and was interested in having. honest men elected to office. For a number of years he worked in the interests of good roads and served in the office of township supervisor. William H. Detrick remembers the building. of four school-houses on the same site, near his home in Bethel Township. The first one in which he was a pupil was a log cabin built in a grove of poplars hence its name and it was very primitive indeed. Light was admitted by the removal of a log from the side and the benches were rough slabs not very carefully smoothed. Later a inure comfortable building was put up and learning was made more easy for Mr. Detrick and the other country boys and girls. He attended. off and on. until he was nineteen years of age. and then gave all his time to his father until he was twenty-one, after which he worked on the home farm by the day and his father permitted him to work land for himself in order to get a start. When his thoughts began to turn toward marriage he quietly went to a Mrs. Puterbaugh and rented her farm of 173 acres, and when he was married in the fall of 1871, he had a AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 331 comfortable home to which to take his bride. Mr. and Mrs. Detrick continued to live on that farm as renters for the following thirteen years, when Mrs. Puterbaugh died and the property came into the market and Mr. Detrick immediately bought eighty acres of the northern side of the farm. which he considered the most desirable. He had to clear about thirty acres and underdrained the whole property and put up all the hue buildings. these being of block cement. He makes fruit growing his specialty and produces the finest specimens of all kinds to be found in this part of the country. He has customers all over the state and ships quantities to different points. On November 16. 1871, Mr. Detrick was married to Edith Caroline Swindler, a daughter of John and Rebecca Swindler, and ten children have been born to them, as follows: Frank. who died when aged six years; Estella, who married Frank P. Fergus and has two children—Mary M. and Alberta; Mary Anna. who married J. Heckman. and has two sons—William H. and Herbert C.; Bessie Saville. who married Sharitt. and has twin daughters—Edith Caroline and Edna Elizabeth: Araminta, residing at home, who is the telephone operator at Phoneton; Charles A.. who is deceased; Walter. who married Matilda Prakel ; Willis, who is deceased; and Ida May and Russell E., both of whom are at home. Mr. Detrick and family usually attend religious services at the Brethren Church. In politics he is a stanch Republican and has frequently given most efficient service in township offices, having been a member of the School Board for a considerable time. supervisor for two terms and trustee for two terms. With his wife, Mr. Detrick belongs to Iras Court No. 20, Sons and Daughters of Ben Hur, at Tippecanoe City. F. C. ROBERTS, junior member of the firm of Shilling & Roberts, leading undertakers and dealers in furniture and carpets at Troy, has been a resident of this city for twenty-seven years and is closely identified with its business and social interests. He was born at Christianburg, Champaign County, Ohio, in 1861, and spent his early life on a farm. Mr. Roberts was educated at Christianburg and later took a business course in a commer- cial college at Columbus. He then became a clerk in a dry goods house at Troy and continued in that capacity for thirteen years, at the end of that period buying the interest of a business man here and subsequently becoming junior partner in the firm of Shilling & Roberts. This firm does business in well equipped quarters on the southwest corner of the Public Square. In 1885 Mr. Roberts was married to Miss Mary E. Shilling, who was a daughter of .Jesse Shilling, Sr. (deceased), who was a pioneer in Miami County. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he serving in an official capacity. He is identified with the Knights of Pythias, is a Knight Templar Mason, belongs to the Troy Business Men's Association, to the Island Outing Club and to the Ohio State Undertakers' Association. He has never been especially active in politics but nevertheless has always taken a good citizen's interest in public affairs. JOSEPH EDWARD SIEGEL is a prosperous farmer and stock raiser of Con- 332 - HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY cord Township, Miami County, Ohio, and is located about five miles northwest of Troy, just north of the Troy and Covington Pike. He was born on the old Harter farm in Troy, November 1, 1873, and is a son of William and Mary E. (Shaffer) Siegel. He comes of a German family, his father and his grandfather following agricultural pursuits in that country. William Siegel came to the United States with his wife and three children, they being the only ones then living, and soon after his arrival located in Miami County, Ohio. He had but one dollar left at the time of his coming and for some years worked in a brick yard at Troy for fifty cents per day. He later rented a farm near Troy and from that place moved to the old Harter farm, which he rented and farmed successfully for thirteen years. While living there he purchased the 130-acre farm in Concord Township, now farmed by his son, George Siegel, and later moved upon the place which continued his home until his death in 1893, at the age of seventy years. His widow is passed the age of eighty-one and resides at the home of her daughter, Mary, in Troy. William and Mary Siegel were parents of the following children: Floyd of Van Wert, Ohio ; Christina, wife of Frank Enick of Troy, Ohio ; John of Washington ; Caroline, deceased wife of Floyd Miller ; Mary, wife of Alvin Corner ; Charles of Washington; William of Arkansas ; George, who lives on the home farm in Concord Township ; and Joseph Edward. Joseph Edward Siegel was reared on the farm and received a common school education. He has always followed farming and lived on the home place until one year after his marriage, when he rented the Herkes farm in Spring Creek Township. He remained there but one year, and then for nine years rented the William Mitchell farm in the same township. At the end of that time he located on the farm of his father-in-law, Casper Longendelpher, and has since farmed that place, which consists of 1191/, acres. In April, 1908, he purchased forty and a half acres, adjoining, from Daniel Meyers. He follows general farming and is extensively engaged in raising pure blood Percheron horses. He has about twenty-one head at the present time, including : Gondalle, imported grey mare, weight 2,200 pounds; Grinchusen, imported grey mare, weight 1,900 pounds ; Laura, grey mare, weight 1,700 pounds ; Elpso Belle, grey mare, 1,650 pounds ; and Helena, grey mare, weight 1,700 pounds. He recently erected a fine and modern stable for his horses. January 24, 1895, Mr. Siegel was united in marriage with Miss Ida Longeldelpher, who was born on the farm on which she now lives, and is a daughter of Casper and Elizabeth (Favorite) Longendelpher. She comes of an old and well known family of the county. FRANK W. PEARSON, a well known and prosperous farmer of Concord Township, Miami County, Ohio, farms the H. W. Allen farm of 305 acres, located about three and one-half miles northwest of Troy. He also owns and farms a tract of fifty acres south of Troy and in Concord Township. He was born on his father's place in that township, December 7, 1866. and is a son of George and Mary I. (Harbison) Pearson. The Pearson family in the early days were members of the Society of Friends and came to this country from AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 333 England during the time of William Penn. Owing to his antipathy to slavery, Joseph Pearson, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, moved from his home in the Newberry District of South Carolina to Miami County, Ohio. He arrived with his family in 1802, having made the trip in wagons drawn by four horses. It was prior to the admission of Ohio as a state, and the country was in a wild and undeveloped state. They located about four miles south of Troy, in Monroe Township, and there Joseph lived until his death at the age of sixty years. Thomas H. Pearson, grandfather of Frank W., was fourteen years of age at the time the family moved from South Carolina to Ohio, and was twenty-one years of age at his father's death. He died at the old home in Miami County, where he passed sixty-two years of his life. He and his wife had three children, Ann, deceased Lydia, deceased and George. George Pearson was born on the home farm in Concord Township, February 10, 1834, and has always lived on the place except for eight years spent in the West. In his younger days he spent two years in the photography business and for three years operated a saw-mill. Farming has been his chief occupation in life, and he also conducted a nursery with success. In 1856 he was joined in marriage with Miss Mary I. Harbison, by whom he had three children, Emma Frank W. and William. Frank W. Pearson spent his boyhood on the hone place and received a limited public school education. He began working on the farm at the early age of ten years and has since continued it with good results. He lived at home until his marrage in 1893, then farmed the place of his aunt, Ester Wingett, located west of Troy on the Milton Pike. After three years he farmed the Davis Green place near the Children's Home for three years, and in December, 1900, came to his present location. Just after marriage he purchased the tract of fifty acres he now owns south of Troy, from Henry Wilson and George Pearson, but has never lived upon it. It is well improved and under a high state of cultivation, eight acres of it being devoted to tobacco raising. January 25, 1893, Mr. Pearson was joined in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Stewart, who was born in Warren County, Indiana, and is a daughter of Er. and Eliza Stewart. They have one son, George E. FRANKLIN SHERMAN SWEARINGEN, township assessor of Lost Creek Township, Miami County, whose farm of eighty acres in Section 1, lies on both sides of the Casstown and Addison Turnpike Road, also on Springfield, Troy and Piqua Traction lines, was born June 20, 1864, in a log house that still stands on what was his father's farm near Winchester, Adams County, Ohio. His parents were John Llewellyn and Nancy Jane (Carson) Swearingen. The Swearingen family originated in Holland and can be traced by its members as far back as 1656. The father of Franklin S. Swearingen was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and in 1828 accompanied his father to Ohio. The family floated down the Ohio River in a flatboat until they reached Manchester, Adams County. The first selection of a farm proved to be an undesirable one and the grandfather, John Swearingen, removed to a second one and subsequently acquired 334 - HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY more than 300 acres of fine land, all of which is still held in the Swearingen name. This land was covered with such a valuable growth of timber that he subsequently sold seven uncleared acres for $1,000 in cash, a remarkable transaction for that day. He died on that farm in 1887, having reached his eighty-fifth year: His wife probably was of Welsh descent as her name was Llewellyn. and she lived to be eighty-three years of age. They had twelve children, two of whom died in infancy, and the others were : Thomas. who lives in Iowa : John Llewellyn : Rebecca Ann, who is deceased; Andrew J.. who lives in Adams County ; Minerva, who lives in Iowa : Drusilla, who lives on the old farm; Matilda. who lives also in Adams County : Benjamin. who owns the old farm : William Allen, who lives in Illinois; and Nancy Ellen. who resides in Adams County. John Llewellyn Swearingen was born October 2. 1828, and was five years old when he accompanied his parents to Ohio. Iii early manhood he was engaged in _school teaching. for several years, and afterwards became interested in stock dealing and horse buying, developing keen business perceptions along this line. and for a number of years he was engaged in buying livestock in Kentucky, bringing them from there to Adams County, where he fed them for the eastern markets. He was a prominent man in local political circles and three times was elected auditor of Adams County, his third election being with the largest majority of all and at a time when party lines were badly disorganized. He died October 28, 1873. a short time after the close of his term of public service. He married Nancy Jane Carson, who died February 1, 1903, when aged seventy-three years. They had seven children, namely: William Albert, residing in Illinois, who married Naomi Lafferty; Laura M., deceased, who was the wife of Joseph W. Shinn, also deceased; Franklin Sherman; Mary and an infant, both deceased; John E., residing at Addison, who married Lou Hughes; and Jessie, who died in early years. Franklin Sherman Swearingen remained at home until his own marriage, in the meanwhile attending the district schools and later the nigh School at West Union. After his marriage, in 1887, he bought a farm on Brush Creek but before moving on it he followed farming in Illinois for a few years, but in 1899 he sold his Adams County place and came to Miami County and bought this improved farm from David Long. Mr. Swearingen carries on his agricultural operations according to modern approved methods and believes in making machinery take the place of muscle whenever it is possible. He does not raise registered stock but handles only well established breeds. Mr. Swearingen was married August 30, 1887, to Miss Mary Edith Williams, a daughter of Henry and Laura (McClanahan) Williams, of Adams County, and they have had three children: Laura Helen, who died aged ten years; Ora Lulu and Mary Winona. Mr. Swearingen and family are members of the Methodist Church, although he was reared a Baptist. He has always taken an intelligent interest in public matters and enjoys the confidence of his fellow citizens. In the spring of 1907 he was appointed township assessor by the Board 'of Trustees and in the fall of the year he was elected to the office on the Democratic ticket. He is -a member of AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 335 Mt. Olivet Lodge No. 326, F. & A. M., at Addison.. JOHN HARTSTEIN, who, in association with his son, owns 279 acres of fine farm land situated in Concord Township, :Miami County, is one of the most highly respected German-American citizens of this section. He was born August 15, 1836, in Wurtemberg, Germany, and is a son of John and Mary Hartstein. The parents of Mr. Hartstein lived and died in Germany. The father operated a paper mill. Of his five children three are living. Two came to America. John and a brother, Louis. the latter of whom was a member of the Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil War and was killed while on guard duty. When Mr. Hartstein was a boy in his own land he attended school for a time and when he went to work he drove the oxen for a farmer until he secured a position in a cotton mill, where he worked for five years, at first as a cotton sorter and later as a fine lace-maker. In 1857 he came to America with his brother and they went to Piqua. Ohio, and started in the wagon making business. Finding that this did not pay at that time, John Hartstein went into the woods, being willing to do any kind of work, and made some money chopping wood. The first land he bought was a tract of swamp—fifty acres of it—in Concord Township. This land he cleared and drained and lived on it for forty years. In 1886 he bought eighty-two adjoining acres and lived there until 1906, when he moved to his present farm containing 126 acres, at the edge of Troy, on the Covington Turnpike Road. His other land lies on the Pleasant Hill Turnpike. Mr. Hartstein has helped to build a number of the excellent highways that run through Miami County and he has always been a man of hard work. He is one of the most independent farmers of Concord Township and has earned all he has through his own unassisted efforts. In 1862 Mr. Hartstein married Miss Hannah Weber, who was born in Ger- many and came to America with her par- ents when young. Her father, Philip Weber, settled near Sidney, Ohio. They have had seven children: Mary, Louisa, Clara, John, Charles. Anna and Catherine, the latter of whom died when aged twenty years. Mr. Hartstein and family belong to the German Reformed Church. He is a Democrat in politics. ALBIN THOMA, who is at the head of the jewelry and optical firm of his name, has been identified with his present business for a period of time covering a half century and in point of time is the oldest dealer in this line at Piqua, Ohio, where he was born in 1844. His father, Augustus Thoma, for many years one of Piqua's prominent and useful citizens, was born at Baden, Germany. in 1819, came to America in 1832, and settled at Piqua in 1838. In 1838 Augustus Thoma founded the business which is still conducted by his descendants and under practically the same name. Early in the sixties he admitted his two sons, Albin and August F. Thoma, to partnership, and it was carried on by the three members of the firm until 1893, when August F. withdrew and the business was then continued by Augustus and Albin Thoma until the death of the former, December 29, 1900. In the course of time two sons of Albin Thoma were admitted to 336 - HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY partnership and the association still continues. In September, 1866, Mr. Thoma was married to Miss Anna Weigler, who came to Piqua from Cincinnati, in 1862. Mr. and Mrs. Thoma have nine children, four sons and five daughters, namely : Albin L., who is a graduate of the New York Optical College, where he has also taken postgraduate courses ; Leo A., who is an expert engraver and diamond setter ; Joseph A., who is perfecting his education in optics and watchmaking; Adolph, who is also a student ; and Minnie, Louisa, Marie, Anna and Ida. Mr. Thoma has been a member of St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church since its organization. He belongs to the order of Catholic Knights of America and to the Knights of Columbus. He has always been a loyal citizen and early in the progress of the Civil War he endeavored to enter the army but on account of poor health was not accepted. In 1864, however, he went out as a member of Company C, 147th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and during the 100-day period served in the vicinity of Washington City. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He has been connected with his present business since 1858 and is one of Piqua's leading citizens. ELIAS GARST HAWN, one of Concord Township's most substantial farmers, who resides on the south side of the Covington and Troy Turnpike Road, about one and one-quarter miles northwest of Troy, where his home farm of 1911/, acres is situated, owns a second farm, containing eighty-three acres, which lies on the north side of the highway. He was born on the old home place in Bethel Township, Miami County, Ohio, in June, 1842, and is a son of John and Catherine (Sailor) Hawn. John Hawn was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and in early manhood came to Miami County, in company with another young man by the name of Knoop, and they were about the first white settlers in what is now Bethel Township. Indians still made their home throughout this section and wild animals prowled through the dense forests. The Knoop family built one of the earliest distilleries in this part of the county and John Hawn worked in the same for several years prior to his marriage. He subsequently acquired 170 acres of land and cleared up a farm on which he lived during the rest of his life, his death occurring when he was aged eighty-two years. He married Catherine Sailor, who was born in Elizabeth Township, Miami County, Ohio, a daughter of Philip Sailor, one of the early pioneers. There were sixteen children born to John and Catherine Hawn, fourteen of whom grew to mature years and five of whom still live, namely : Elias ; William, who resides in Bethel Township Matilda, who is the widow of John Davis ; Eliza, who married Abraham Case; and Ellen, who married David Haines. One of the older members of the family was George W., but all trace of him was lost by his kindred during the Civil War. Elias G. Hawn helped his father clear his land and later to cultivate it. His mother died when he was about fourteen years of age and shortly afterward he began to think of starting out for himself, but in those days money was not plentiful, many of the farmers being "land rich" but "money poor." He continued to live at home until his marriage and when he AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 337 finally began for himself it was with a capital of fifty cents in "shin-plaster" money. Mr. Hawn is now one of the township's wealthiest men, but he has accumulated everything he has through his own industry and excellent business management. The first farm he bought was one in Elizabeth Township, but he never lived on it, disposing of it at a profit. In 1888 he purchased his present home farm from John McClung and he has spent a large amount in improving it. His large bank barn is considered the finest structure of its kind in Miami County and people have come hundreds of miles to see it, and his other improvements are equally good. He has made farming his main business and now has several stalwart sons to assist him. Mr. Hawn was married to Cynthia A. Nutter. who died in December, 1890. To them were born eight children, namely Ada Jane. now deceased, who was the wife of Joseph Johnson and left three children; William, who married Sarah Iddings, now deceased, married (second) Clara Gensliner, has one child and lives at Troy ; Harvey, who assists on the home farm; Charles R., who married Mary Armstrong, resides on Mr. Hawn's farm of eighty-three acres and has four children; James Alfred, who died aged seventeen years; Mack, who lives in Newton Township, married a Miss Musselman and has two children; Alfred, who died when aged twenty-three years; and Roy, who follows farming on the home place. Mr. Hawn had only meager educational opportunities, but he is one of the township's best informed men. In politics he is a Democrat, and he is a member of the Christian Church. THE COVINGTON ROLLER MILLS, which has for many years been one of the leading industries of Covington, has been successfully operated by various owners, but never has it carried on such an extensive business as at the present time under the management of J. A. and W. L. O'Roark, who are newcomers in Miami County, having located here May 1, 1908. The mills are equipped with all the latest devices in machinery, having been installed with the "Wolf," the "Butler" and the "Case" machinery, and the leading flour manufactured is well known throughout this section as the "Pride of Covington" brand, although they make another high grade flour known as the "Ohio" brand, which is shipped principally to the South. J. A. and W. L. O'Roark were both born on a farm in Rockingham County, Virginia, the former in 1860 and the latter on December 9, 1870, and are sons of James and Samantha (Bazzle) O'Roark, prominent among the old families of Rockingham County, Virginia. J. A. O'Roark was reared on the home farm in Rockingham County and early in life learned the carpenter's trade, afterwards engaging as a building contractor at Tenth Legion, Rockingham County, for a number of years. On May 1, 1908, after having disposed of his contracting business, he located in Covington, Ohio, where, in partnership with his brother, he purchased the Covington Roller Mills. He was united in marriage with Cleopatra Armentrout, and of their union have been born the following children : Clyde, Lynn, Ray, Ellis, Ruth, James, and Eva. W. L. O'Roark, like his brother, was reared on the home farm and also learned 338 - HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY the carpenter's trade, at which he worked with his brother for a period of six years, when he bought and operated the Tenth Legion Roller Mills with success for six years, after which he sold the business and came to Covington, Miami County, where he formed a partnership with his brother, J. A. O'Roark, and purchased the Covington Roller Mills, which they have since been operating with uninterrupted success. AV. L. O'Roark was united in marriage with Annie Magoon, and to them have been born the following children : James Louis; Elton; John, who died aged three weeks; Frank ; Jesse ; Catherine ; and Virginia—all born in Virginia except Virginia, who was born in Miami County. Both J. A. and W. L. O'Roark are men of public spirit and enterprise and take active interest in affairs which tend to promote the welfare of the community in which they live. Fraternally, they are members of the I. O. O. F. lodge and the Junior order of United American Mechanics. THOMAS ZIEGENFELDER, of the prominent business firm of J. B. Ziegenfelder & Son, leading grocers at Troy, with quarters on the Public Square, was born at Troy, Ohio, February 10, 1880, and is a son of James B. Ziegenfelder, senior member of the firm. James B. Ziegenfelder was born at Troy, in 1854, and is a son of Christian Ziegenfelder, who was a native of Germany. Mr. Ziegenfelder is one of the town's old merchants and, in partnership with his son not only conducts the large grocery business referred to, but also operates an extensive greenhouse which is devoted to the growing of lettuce for the market, shipments of the same in the early season reaching to 1,000 pounds a week. Thomas Ziegenfelder was educated in the public schools of Troy and subsequently took a business coruse in a commercial college at Dayton, upon his return becoming his father's partner in his enterprises. He is numbered with the most active and progressive young business men of the place and is identified with the Troy Business Men's Association. On October 2S, 1903, Mr. Ziegenfelder was married to Miss Caroline Heist, who was born at Cincinnati but came to Troy when a child. Mr. and Mrs. Ziegenfelder have one son, Henry James. They are members of the Main Street Lutheran Church, he being on its official board. Fraternally he is an Elk. JOHN MIKESELL, an honored resident of Covington and one of Miami County's most venerable citizens, was born October 21, 1817, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of William and Susanna (Holsinger) Mikesell. The parents of Mr. Mikesell moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio and in 1822 settled on a farm near Pleasant Hill, Miami County, where they spent the remainder of their lives. This farm was a wild, uncleared tract of land at that time, and John Mikesell assisted his father to improve it and as he grew into manhood learned the wagon-making trade. He opened a shop of his own north of Pleasant Hill, which he later traded for a farm, but Mr. Mikesell shortly afterward became afflicted with rheumatism, which made farm work impossible, and he therefore disposed of his land and went to selling goods in a store at Pleasant Hill and later at Clayton. In AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 341 1850 he came to Covington and was engaged in the mercantile business in this city until 1856, when he sold out and embarked in the milling business, which he continued until 1866. During two and one-half years of this time he operated the Sugar Grove mill, and after that had charge of the Covington mills. Mr. Mike-sell next became interested in the nursery business, and for the next fifteen years sold fruit trees, meeting with success wherever he traveled, his journeys taking him over a large extent of country. In 1880 he was appointed land assessor, and in that year assessed Newberry Township. Feeling that his weight of years then entitled him to rest, Mr. Mikesell retired from active pursuits. He makes his home with his son-in-law, W. V. Swisher, at Covington. W. V. SWISHER was born February 4, 1848, near Versailles, Darke County, Ohio, and is a son of William and Mary (Ward) Swisher. He was reared on his father's farm, which he left in 1869 in order to become a railroad man, starting in 1870 with the old C., C., C. & I., which is now the Big Four Railroad, on the run between Union City, Indiana, to Galion, Ohio, and for five years he lived at the latter place. After that road took over the I. & St. Louis, he was transferred to what is now the St. Louis Division of the Big Four and for fourteen years he was engineer between Indianapolis and St. Louis, living during that period at Mattoon, Illinois. In 1894 he retired from the railroad and moved to his farm two miles northeast of Covington, where he resided until September, 1906, when he came to Covington. Mr. Swisher still retains his farm of sixty-five acres. Mr. Mikesell was married (first) to Susan Fridley, who died four years later, leaving three children, namely : Andrew F., who lives on a farm north of Covington Mary, who is the wife of John Rapp, and lives on a farm in Concord Township ; and Elizabeth, now deceased, who married Martin Mohler and left three children. Mr. Mikesell was married (second) to Elizabeth Thompson, who is now deceased. There were seven children born to the second union, namely ::Thompson, who died when aged four years ; Jacob, who died in childhood; Catherine, who is the wife of W. V. Swisher, of Covington; Elnora, who died in childhood; Charles, who died in infancy; Amelia, who married J. L. Miller, of Dayton, Ohio, and has one son, Joseph Mikesell and Jennie, now deceased, who was the wife of George McGowan and is survived by one son, William Lawson. The mother of these children died December 29, 1900. Mr. Mikesell is the oldest member and a deacon in the German Baptist Church at Covington. ROLLIN.—Among the oldest families of Ohio, and of this county, is that of Horace Judson Rollin. Four generations have occupied the picturesque homestead, midway between Piqua and Troy. Josiah Rollin, with his aged mother, came from New England in 1815, after some service in the War of 1812. His canteen still adorns the ancestral hall; and here is his large fireplace, with its crane, broad stone hearth and great mantel, under a part of which is a large enclosed bake-oven. With him came his son Isaac, then a lad old enough to reap wheat and pull flax, and who in time became a representative farmer. He was among the first 342 - HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY to use the reaping machine and to manufacture molasses from cane, southern production being checked by the Civil War. One of the supporters of Fremont who was called an "Abolitionist," he long perceived the rising tide which was to overwhelm the institution of slavery. Isaac T. Rollin was public-spirited, belonging to that class of citizens who made Miami County what it is. He passed away in 1890, aged eighty-six. Five of the six sons, including Horace, then not grown, served in the Union army. The eldest, Charles, who was among the first to enlist, April, 1861, in the Eleventh Regiment, and among the last mustered out, January, 1866, with the Seventy-first, commanded a company in the latter part of the war. At his burial, the late Hon. E. S. Williams, a fellow officer, in his eulogy, said, "What is rare, he respected the private soldier as much- as the officer, and his men loved to serve under him. I knew this man in the camp, on the march, and on the battle-field ; Charlie Rollin was every inch a soldier." The mother, Eleanor H. Rollin, who died in 1895, aged eighty-seven, came to Troy in 1812, with her father, a member of the patriotic Hart family of New Jersey, to which belonged the signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Hart. This stock gave good men, including notable officers (her cousin, the gallant Col. J. H. Hart, was wounded at Nashville) to the Federal army and to civil service. The name Rollin was early identified with the Northwest Territory. Jonathan, elder brother of Josiah, after campaigning with Wayne, was in the first group of settlers here, 1797. And so of the name, it is among the oldest appearing in the an nals of America. James Rawlins came from England with the Ipswich settlers in 1632. It has been a fixed surname there for about seven hundred years ; some representatives were knighted, and these are the arms granted by Edward IV. to the Cornwall family, of which the above old James of Dover was a member sable, three swords paleways, points in chief, argent ; hilts and pommels gold. Crest, an armored arm, elbow on wreath, holding in gauntlet a falchion." Similar arms denoting consanguinity, were granted the ancient Hertfordshire and other branches. "As a thing associated with caste," Mr. Rollin declares, like a true American, "it is not worth a fig; as evidence of an early fair degree of intelligence, it has some value." In America the spelling of the name was changed before the Revolution to Rollins, and some now drop the "s." In England it has been Rawlin and Rawlyn, and still more anciently probably Rawle. In 1656 old James was prosecuted for neglect of coming into "ye public meeting and sentenced to pay courte fees, two shillings and six pence." He found the church narrow, for he was before the General Court at Boston among the persons "yt entertayned ye Quakers ;" but he. being more ingenious than the rest in his replies, "was ordered to be only admonished by ye honnored Gouernor, well was donne." Joseph. the great-grandfather of Horace, was a soldier of the Revolution, and was at Saratoga. A cousin, Lieutenant Rollins. was at Warren's side when he fell at Bunker Hill ; and about twenty of the name served in that war. Recently. in the Union army. there were enough of the de- AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 343 scendants of old James to have formed a large battalion, including some distinguished officers — probably including Grant's chief-of-staff, later secretary of war, General Rawlins. Ex-governor Frank Rollins of New Hampshire belongs to this family, as did an earlier Federal senator. About forty years ago an extensive book of genealogy was compiled, which shows that this family comprises, by direct relationship, or by marriage alliance, many prominent names, as Emerson, Paine. Lincoln, Hale, Putnam, Phillips, Prescott. and scores more or less notable. Mrs. Rollin was Nancy E. Bridge. of Cincinnati, formerly a teacher in the public schools. John Bridge, her ancestor. came from England in 1631. settling at Cambridge, Mass., on land once the site of Washington's headquarters and the Longfellow homestead. He induced Thomas Shepherd, one of the founders of Harvard College, to join the colonists—there is a bronze statue of Bridge facing the college grounds. President Garfield was one (if his descendants. The long line includes-soldiers, statesmen, educators and -Unitarian ministers. Revolutionary annals show noble patriots : "John Danforth was hit just in Lexington Street John Bridge at that lane where you cross Beaver Fails. 1 took Bridge on my knee but he said Don’t mind me; Fill your horn from mine—let me he whose I be– Our fathers,' says he, 'that their sons mint he free, Left their King on his throne and came over the sea: And that man is a knave or a fool who to save his life for a minute would live like a slave, This ancestor was a major and was at Bunker Hill. Col. Eb. Bridge commanded a regiment and served through the war. Rev. Mathew Bridge was among the first chaplains and died in the Revolution. Mrs. Rollin is eligible also on the mother's side to membership in certain Colonial and Revolutionary societies; her great-grandfather Gates was a soldier, and married a daughter of his captain, Winch. Her grandmother Bridge was a Morse, to which family belonged Prof. Morse, inventor of the telegraph. Horatio Bridge was a friend of Hawthorne ("Dear Hath" ). and when the writer was struggling for even a moderate income stood guarantor for the cost of publishing Twice-Told Tales. Mr. Rollin is a painter, and among the lovers of Art who purchased his works appear the names of the late Henry Howe, historian. the Hon. Whitelaw Reid, the late Rabbi Lillienthal, and others well known. His "Old Lane" was shown on the line of the National Academy. "Mother's Spinningwheel," once well sold, was returned to him before the owner passed away, and can now be seen by callers; as can certain moonlight studies. A Miami County pastoral, painted out-of-doors, elicited a letter from Mr. Noble, long the head of the Cincinnati Art School (after study at Paris and Munich. This is introduced to help those who imagine foreign study neccessary, and applies to other pursuits "Now I mast tell you in thoughts while looking at it : ` By Jove! that 's a charming picture—so fresh, so free from conventionism. so utterly natural. I advised Rollin to go to Paris (where he is sure to become a mannerist, copying the style of others because it is the fashion for those who go there to do so). Now I reverse my opinion. Let him alone with Nature and Lis own nature. which is so honest and true. He will be getter uninfluenced by others, let them be ever so good in Their way, for their way is not his way, his being in keeping with his own nature, and his way of seeing Nature. and the rendering of it to be true to his own impressions. He is the author of “Studio, Field and Gallery," published by the Appletons, a book which received such fine reviews from great journals that Mr. Appleton sent a 344 - HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY congratulatory letter. Another book, "Yetta Segal," is a story with a deep, pegculiar motive, as the publishers' announcement indicates: "This work embodies a new and comprehensive theory of racegblending. Mr. Rollin is doubtless the first to formulate a philosophy showing the movement to be evolutionary, universal and destined to culminate in the cosmopolite of the future. But while he shows it to be based on purely biological laws, he warns pioneer movers of the dangers to them." The great cyclopedias and the text-books of ethnology and biology either omit the subject or treat it in a fragmentary and inconclusive way, although there are several hundred million known racial composites, including the beautiful and intellectual. Moreover the movement is spontaneously increasing; therefore science and reason must decide whether it is abnormal, morbid and temporary, or normal and inevitable. Mr. Rollin declares the latter and that the key-note is the compensative: in the interchange needed values are given and received ; even the less developed type, from another environment, has some element of strength peculiar to itself to impart, mental, physical or psychical. The more advanced may have deteriorated at some points, or may be naturally lacking in certain qualities necessary to the future symmetrical man. It is simply a phase of evolution. Man's organization becomes more and more complex. This author (declared to be "rarely. original") waited many years for authoritative indorsement. Recently Prof. Boaz, lecturing at Columbia University, declared that we—those of advanced type—not only embody the blood of the ancient Mongol but also that of the primitive Negroid ! Nine years after the date of Yetta Segal (whose author had held the belief, in cruder formulation, for about twelve years) came the first book of Luther Burbank : " Training of the Human Plant" (1007). Mr. Rollin had predicted years before that the famous worker must inevitably perceive the reason for human racial convergence, or type fusion, and had corresponded with him. "I highly prize your book," he wrote. "Will send you mine just as soon as I receive a copy. Of course, no one can doubt that the future race will be composite, all the leading races today are such. Am glad to know that you see so deeply into nature and see that 'the whole Universe is of one piece.' It takes a poet scientist and a science poet to know this, and neither of them separately can fully understand it. Race hatred, which is almost universal at first, is found among plants as well as among human beings. In human beings it is almost invariably found in those of very inferior minds (by my observation). As you say, the subject is not only interesting and important but is transcendent and infinite. "I am, as you suppose, one of the busiest men on earth, but would like you for a neighbor very much; why not move to a better land, you will live twenty years longer for it, I am sure." An autograph copy of Burbank's work came, inscribed : "With admiration and respect." In the first chapter (written before he had heard of the synthetic philosophy of Rollin) fusion is explained paralelly. It should be noted that both authors —who do not wish to see the movement thoughtlessly accelerated—sound a note of AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 345 warning to the individual. Nature does not always act according to our conception of kindness, and while favoring the perpetuation and improvement of the race is sometimes relentless to the individual, intelligence is protective. "Increased knowledge," says Mr. Rollin, "means increased circumspection." As to this homestead, a writer in the Farm and Fireside has said : "Drawn by the love of art, music and literature, many persons visit Rollin Place yearly ; and all pilgrims to this Mecca are cordially welcomed. Mr. and Mrs. Rollin possess none of the exclusiveness which mars the character of many talented persons." They hope for the cessation of wars among Christian nations (so called) ; and for the regulation of those unjust commercial profits which degrade certain capitalists and pinch the "plain people" of Lincoln. THOMAS LLOYD HUGHES, D. D., deceased, for many years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Piqua, Ohio, was a brilliant and scholarly man, whose life was consecrated to religious work, although fields offering greater prominence and success, as measured by pecuniary returns, were opened to him. No estimate of material value can be placed on such work as his was—the constant fight for purity in home and business life, the elevation of the moral tone of the community, the helping hand extended to the down-fallen, and the thousand and one little benefactions and charities performed—but the benefit is a lasting one, even to generations unborn. Rev. Hughes was ever a potent factor for good. and his death, which occurred June 17, 1900, was mourned by the people as an irreparable loss to the community. Thomas L. Hughes was born in Jackson County, Ohio, April 27, 1850, and was a son of Hon. Thomas L., Sr., and Ann (Jones) Hughes. The father was a native of Wales, where he lived until his thirty-fifth year, then emigrated to America. He engaged in mercantile business at Oak Hill, Jackson County, Ohio, where he continued for some years, and then engaged in the manufacture of pig iron, becoming secretary and treasurer of the Jefferson Furnace Company, and being the holder of a considerable amount of the company's stock. He was a man of great prominence in his county and was frequently called upon to serve the public in an official capacity. He was justice of the peace some years, one of the commissioners of Jackson County, and was elected on the Republican ticket as a member of the Ohio State Legislature. He was a well educated and learned man and possessed marked literary ability. He was a contributor to Welsh magazines and wrote the only life of Christ ever published in the Welsh language in America. He was a. devout member of the Welsh Presbyterian Church. After a long and successful career, in which he accumulated a handsome property, he passed from this life in March, 1896, at the advanced age of ninety years. He was married in Cincinnati to Miss Ann Jones, who was born in South Wales, and who was a young lady when she came to America. She died in 1857 at the early age of thirty-seven years. Five children were the offspring of this marriage, namely : Jane, wife of M. D. Jones, of Jackson County, Ohio ; Thomas Lloyd, Jr.; Anna, who died at the age of thirty-eight 346 - HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY years and who was the wife of Dr. W. E. Williams, of Jackson County : and Winifred. who died at the age of thirty-five years and who was the wife of .J. A. Jones. of Oak Hill, Ohio. Rev. Thomas L. Hughes attended the common schools of his native village and at the age of fourteen years entered Ohio University. After his graduation from that institution he pursued a post-graduate course in Princeton University. He then studied law in the Cincinnati Law College and was admitted to the bar in Jackson County in 1S74. He was engaged in law practice in Jackson for two years. and during that time served one term as city solicitor. Although his progress in the profession had been very flattering. Air. Hughes felt that his life work lay in another direction and consequently gave up law. In 1876 he pursued a partial course of study in Lane's Seminary. and was ordained to preach in June. 1877. His first charge was the Eckmansville Church, Adams County. Ohio. where-he remained three and a half years. and was then successively pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Pomeroy two and a half years. and at Shelbyville. Indiana. nine years. During his pastorate at the latter place, he built a 1111W church and the Portage Mission Chapel. In September. 1392. he accepted the call to the Presbyterian Church at Piqua. Ohio. where he continued until he answered the Final Summons. As a pulpit orator he was eloquent and convincing; his sermons were masterly. Although a deep thinker and a learned man, he clothed his arguments in language which could be comprehended by those less fortunate in the matter of education than he. He held his congregation closely together. and excelled as an organizer and practical worker, being possessed of unusual executive ability. In 1899 he was elected moderator of the synod of Ohio. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Hanover College, in recognition of his scholarly attainments and excellent work in the church. He was a member of the board of trustees of the Oxford Seminary and also of Lane's Seminary at Cincinnati. Rev. Mr. Hughes was married at Portsmouth. ohio. to Miss Hortense Clare. who was burn in .Jackson County, Ohio, and to their union were horn six children. as follows: .James Clare, as lawyer by profession and present mayor of the city of Piqua ; Catherine. wife of J. B. Wilkinson, of Piqua Anna. wife of Clarence W. Peterson. of Piqua: Thomas L.; Mary, and Emma. wife of Harry G. Levering, of Kansas City, Missouri. JAMES SMITH. who comes of an old and respected family of Lost Creek Township. Miami County, Ohio, is the owner of 180 acres of good land. He lives about six and one-half miles northeast of Troy. He is a native of Montgomery County, Ohio. the date of his birth being .January 27, 1856. and he is a sou of Alexander and Isabella ( Waymeyer) Smith. Alexander Smith was the youngest of a large family of children, but owing to his great size was known as the "big brother." He was horn in Rock Bridge County, Virginia. where he learned the trade of a blacksmith. but when about twenty years of age he moved from that state on account of his anti-slavery views, and first located at Dayton. Ohio. Through his influence the other members of the family later AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 347 moved to Ohio. Shortly after his arrival he built a shop at Frederick, about twelve miles from Dayton, and later he became the owner of a farm in Butler Township, Montgomery County, on which he built a blacksmith shop. He worked at his trade and farmed until 1862, when he sold out and moved to Lost Creek Township, Miami County. Here he purchased the farm now owned by his son, Benjamin Franklin Smith. and passed the remainder of his day,. He was married in Montgomery County to Isabella Waymeyer, who was a native of that county and whose death occurred two years prior to that of her husband. They were parents of the following children: Sarah, widow of Joseph Ray and a resident of Kansas ; Jane, wife of Jonathan Tobias, of Staunton Township ; Benjamin Franklin, of Lost Creek Township: James ; Wesley, who lives in Lost Creek Township ; Harrison, of Nebraska; and William, who died young. James Smith was a very small boy when his parents moved to Miami County, in 1862, and he received a limited educational training in the public schools. he spent his time at hard work mil lived on the home farm until the death of his father, as did the other sons. Alexander divided his property shortly before his death, and James received a good farm of 100 acres, where he now lives. He and his brother, Frank, also purchased 160 acres, which they rent out. He has followed general farming and is one of the substantial citizens of the township. He has traveled quite extensively through the west and southwest parts of this country, and the more he travels the better is his opinion of the community in which he lives. Politically, he is a Republican. J. M. SPENCER, a prominent young business man of Troy, Ohio, is secretary of the Hobart Electric Manufacturing Company, to which position he was elected in August, 1908. He was born in Piqua, Ohio, in 1883, and is a son of Moses G. Spencer, deceased. Moses G. Spencer was born in County Donegal, Ireland, and about the year 1862 became a resident of Piqua, Miami County, Ohio. He engaged in the dry goods business for a time and later operated a grain elevator as a member of the firm of Spencer & Miller. His death occurred at Piqua in 1900. J. M. Spencer was reared in Piqua and received his preliminary education in the public schools. After graduating from the Piqua High School in 1901, he entered Wooster University, and in 1905 received the degree of Ph. B. from that institution. He then became identified with the Troy Umbrella and Canopy Company at Troy, and continued with that concern until he formed a connection with the Hobart Electric Manufacturing Company. He is also identified with several other Troy enterprises. In 1907 Mr. Spencer was united in marriage to Miss Caroline McCulloch, of Freeport, Pennsylvania. Religiously they are members of the Presbyterian Church. While in college Mr. Spencer became affiliated with the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He also is a member of the Troy Club. JOHN FRANKLIN McALPIN, whose productive farm of seventy-five acres is situated in Staunton Township, on the Troy and Piqua Turnpike Road, three miles northwest of the former city, is one of the township's representative men. He was born May 12, 1863, at Little Rock, 348 - HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY Arkansas, and is a son of John Harvey and Rachel J. (Nash) McAlpin. The father of Mr. McAlpin was born in Tennessee, in July, 1830, but has been a resident of Ohio for forty-five years. Although a southern man by birth and rearing, he was opposed to slavery and was not willing to serve in the Confederate army when his native State was in rebellion against the Union. He was drafted, however, as a soldier and suffered hardship in making his escape. He came to Ohio with his family, from Arkansas, about 1864, settling four and one-half miles northeast of Piqua, where he lived for six years. He then moved on the Mitchell farm, one mile south of Piqua, where he remained for nineteen years. In 1890 he purchased his present farm, which lies three-fourths of a mile from his son's farm. He married Rachel J. Nash, who was born in a southern state, and still survives. The following children were born to them : James M.; Cassandra C., who is the wife of Jotham DeWeese; a babe that died and John Franklin. John Franklin McAlpin, known to his friends as Frank, was one year old when his parents came to Miami County. He remembers the first school he ever attended, this being held in a little brick building near Piqua. He began work on the farm before he was out of boyhood, always living at home until his marriage, with the exception of one year, which he spent in the wilderness of southwestern Kansas. After he returned he was married on January 7, 1886, to Miss Elizabeth J. Maxwell, a daughter of Jonas Maxwell, and they have one son, Earl M. The latter is an expert stenographer, being a graduate of a commercial school at Piqua. After his marriage, Mr. McAlpin rented a farm east of Miami City and resided on it for three years, later rented the home farm for one year, and in 1898 bought his present excellent property from George Edge. He has made many substantial improvements, but the farm residence was already on the place. Mr. McAlpin is a strong Republican in his political principles. At present he is filling the office of turnpike superintendent. He belongs to the Odd Fellows lodge at Troy. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church at Piqua. WILLIAM E. HENDERSON, proprietor of the Piqua Creamery, at Piqua, has been a resident of this city for the past eleven years and during this period he has thoroughly identified himself with her best interests. Mr. Henderson was born September 26, 1854, near De Graff, Logan County, Ohio, where he was reared and attended school. Mr. Henderson's first business connection was in the mercantile line, he begingning as a clerk in the drug store of M. D. Brown, at St. Paris, and later becoming a member of the firm, which became Brown & Henderson. After selling his interest there, he became manager of a grain elegvator at De Graff, which he operated for three years, and after retiring from that connection he was engaged in farming and stockraising for several years. During five years of this period he was manager of a creamery at De Graff. In 1898, with the experience thus gained, he came to this city and established the Piqua Creamery, one of the largest and best equipped creameries in this section. It has a capacity of 20,000 pounds of butter per week AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 349 and he receives his cream from Miami, Shelby, and Champaign County farmers and produces a quality of butter that is in constant and increasing demand. He gives employment to some twenty men, who are subjected to the strictest sanitary supergvision. Be is a stockholder also in the Troy Creamery. Mr. Henderson was married in 1878, to Miss Clara A. Riker, of St. Paris, Ohio, and they have two children—Paul A., who is engaged in engineering work in Idaho ; and Homer R., who is associated in business with his father. Mr. Henderson and family are members of the Green Street Methodist Episcopal Church and he is a member of its board of trustees. JOHN E. HENNE, one of Troy's most highly respected retired citizens, who was active in business in this city for a number of years and identified with the growth and development of this section to a large extent, was born in 1846, in Germany, and when fourteen years of age emigrated to America and located at Troy, Ohio. Mr. Henne worked at the shoemaking trade for two years after reaching Troy, and then attempted to enter the army, but was refused on account of his youth. He then became a shoe clerk and worked in a store until 1865, when, in partnership with his brother, Charles Heinle, he established a shoe store, which they conducted for fourteen years. Mr. Henne then built on South Main Street and engaged in a restaurant business there until 1902, after which he carried on an insurance business until I i09, when he retired from all business activity. In addition to his comfortable residence at No. 652 South Market Street. he has other residence and two business properties in Troy and a farm of 117 acres which is well improved, situated on the Pleasant Hill Road, three miles from the city. Mr. Henne has been a very active citizen and at present is serving on the Board of Review. Formerly he was a member of the Trojan Battery and served as first lieutenant and also as treasurer of the organization. Mr. Henne was one of the organizers of the People's Building and Savings Association Company of Troy, Ohio—capital stock $1,000,000—of which he was one of the first directors and is now vice-president. In 1865 Mr. Henne was married to Miss Margaret Anna Eitel, who died September 10, 1908, leaving five children, namely: Anna, who is the wife of Judge E. W. Maier ; Lillian, who is the wife of George Daugherty, agent for the American Express Company at Troy ; Harry and Frank, both of whom are in the jewelry business; and Lafayette. For many years Mr. Henne has been identified with the order of Odd Fellows. CHARLES CHAFFEE, one of Elizabeth Township's most respected citizens, who resides on his well improved farm of twelve acres, situated in Section 35, one mile south of Casstown, was born in Middlesex County, New Jersey, February 10, 1833. His parents were Charles and Mary Ann (McCullough) Chaffee. The Chaffee ancestors came originally from France and settled in New .Jersey, and there the grandfather, Thomas Chaffee, spent his whole life. All his ten children settled in the same State. Charles Chaffee. father of Charles Chaffee of Miami County, was married in early manhood to Mary Ann McCullough, who