A Biographical history of Darke County, Ohio : compendium of national biography, Part 88

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 806

USA > Ohio > Darke County > A Biographical history of Darke County, Ohio : compendium of national biography > Part 88

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1848 Noah Arnold was called upon to

mourn the loss of his first wife. They had four children : Isaac N., the eldest, was born in Greenville, June 7, 1840, and while attend- ing the select schools, he put aside his text- books in 1861 to enlist in Company E, Sixty- ninth Ohio Volunteers. He served for two years and re-enlisted as a veteran. At At- lanta, Georgia, he lost his left arm which was shattered by a piece of shell, and thus his mil- itary service of four years was ended. He liad participated in many important engage- ments. After the war he went to Washing- ton, where he obtained a position in the treas- ury department, filling the place for fourteen years or until his death October 12, 1880. While in Washington he was graduated with honors in the Columbia Law College. He was married in that city to Mrs. Laura S. McConnel; Mary Jane, second child, was born in Greenville, February 22, 1842, at- tended the common schools and the Delaware Female College and afterward engaged in teaching for several terms. She was mar- ried October 17. 1866, to Harvey N. Arnold, a merchant of Greenville, by whom she has one son, Eddy Arnold. Effy A., the third child, was born in Neave township, Darke county, was married July 3, 1867, to L. E. Chenoweth, who is now a successful practic- ing attorney of Greenville and they have two children, Milly and James. George, the youngest child of this marriage, was the one whose name introduces this record.

Noah Arnold was again married in 1850, his second marriage being with Martha Banfield ( Birely) Laurimore. They lived on the old homestead until his death, January II, 1891, and had one daughter, Margaret Ella A., now the wife of W. H. H. McCool, a merchant of Jaysville, Ohio. Besides aid- ing his children liberally Mr. Arnold accu-

673

GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

mulated considerable property and his farm near Jaysville, Ohio, was one of the finest and most desirable in the county.

George Arnold, of this review, was a stu- dent at the college at Delaware, Ohio, for three years, and while there he was called into active service for one hundred days dur- ing the Civil war, being a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-second Regiment of Home Guards. After his return home, he attended the common schools at Dayton, Ohio, for a time. In 1868 he went west and held a position in the postoffice at Omaha, for some years. The following three years were spent at Fort Laramie, in the post trading business, and he was subsequently engaged in the cattle business for about nine years, having a ranch fifty miles north of the North Platte at a place called Arnold, which is now quite a flourishing town. On Christmas, 1879, he had a stroke of paraly- sis, which caused him to lose the use of his right side. At that time he was quite exten- sively engaged in the stock business, having thirteen hundred head of cattle upon his ranch in Nebraska, and was meeting with most excellent success. He returned to the old homestead in Darke county, Ohio, in 1884, where he engaged in general farming and stock-raising, keeping horses, cattle and hogs until his death, which occurred quite unexpectedly June 28, 1900. His farm con- sists of one hundred and sixty acres, and is under a high state of cultivation.

While in Nebraska Mr. Arnold was mar- ried, in 1868, to Miss Ella Taylor, a native of Greenville. They had one daughter, Blanche, who was born at North Platte, September 8, 1877, and was married August 15. 1900, to Thomas Hughes, a successful attorney of Greenville. In his political views Mr. Arnold was a stanch Republican, but at

local elections where no issue was involved he voted for the man best qualified to fill the office, regardless of party lines. Socially he was a man respected and honored by his neighors.

ROYSTON FORD.

Dr. Royston Ford, physician and sur- geon at Greenville, Ohio, was born near Jaysville, in Darke county, on the 28th day of November, 1845. His father, Mordecai S. Ford, born in Kentucky, July 18, 1807, came to Ohio when quite young with his widowed mother, Delilah Mills Ford, whose husband, also named Mordecai S. Ford, had died in the Indian war. The family lived near Ithaca, this county, until her death, June 14, 1840.

Another family to be mentioned is that of John Tillman. He was born in Virginia, April 17. 1780, and at the age of ten he moved to Tennessee, whence he removed to Ohio about two years before the territory became a state. While living in Tennessee he was married to Nancy Harless, who was also a native of Virginia, born September 10, 1790. They lived in Preble county, rcared a family of thirteen children, and died February 24, 1850, and September 1, 1863, respectively. One of these daughters was Polly Tillman, who on March 5, 1829, be- came the wife of Mordecai S. Ford, the fa- ther of Dr. Ford.

This young couple lived for two years near her father's home, in Preble county, at- ter which one hundred and sixty acres of new land were bought, in Van Buren township, Darke county. Here they lived the hard life of early settlers and succeeded in mak- ing a comfortable home. Besides being a farmer, Mordecai Ford was a minister of

674

GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

the Christian church, and also took an active interest in education. Eleven of their chil- dren lived to manhood and womanhood, and became useful members of the community. All of them taught school and five of the sons practiced medicine. In the order of their birth their names are as follows: Jo- seph, John, Henry, Delilalı, Nancy, Worley, Elijah, Martha, Royston, Mary and Lydie Ann. The father died November 23, 1867, but the mother lived to direct the affairs of the family until the 19th of March, 1888.

The youngest son, the subject of this sketch, was reared on the old homestead and there began his education in the district schools. He remained on the farm until he was eighteen years of age when he respond- ed to his country's call for troops. In 1863 hie and his brother Worley became members of the Twenty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Na- tional Guards, commanded by David Put-

11am1. The 2d of May, 1864, Governor Brough called out the Ohio National Guard to serve for one hundred days. The next day the Twenty-eighth Regiment of Ohio National Guards went to Camp Dennison, near Piqua, Ohio. Soon afterward they were combined with two companies from Clark county, and sworn into the service of the United States as the One Hundred and Fifty- second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with Colonel Putnam commanding. The 12th of May this regiment was sent to New Creek, West Virginia, thence on the 30th to Martinsburg, which they left on the 4th of June, accompanied by parts of three other regiments, all under command of Colonel Putnam, in charge of a supply train of two hundred and nine wagons, and with orders to reach General Hunter at all hazards, who was then somewhere in the Shenandoah val- ley. By hard marching they overtook Hun-

ter's army at Lexington, Virginia, on the IIth of June, having passed through Win- chester, Middletown. Cedar Creek, Stras- burg, Fisher's Hill, Woodstock, New Mar- ket, Harrisonburg, Staunton and other places noted for the many conflicts between the Union and rebel armies. They remained with Hunter's army west of Lynchburg un- til June 17, when Colonel Putnam was or- dered to return with two hundred wagons, many sick and wounded soldiers and prison- ers, but on account of rebel forces in the val- ley he had to take a long route across the Alleghany mountains by way of White Sul- phur Springs, Huntersville, Beverly, Philippi and Webster, where the Baltimore & Ohio Railway was reached.

In all they had marched over four hun- dred miles through a rough country, ob- structed frequently by parties of rebels. On the return march, rations were scarce. Be- fore they reached Beverly ear corn was once issued to the men, seven ears of corn to eight men, but the next day a supply of crackers was obtained. From Webster they went to Cumberland by train, reaching that place July 2, 1864, and there the regiment remained until the 25th of August, when it returned to Camp Dennison, Ohio. There on the 2d of September it was mustered out of the service and on the 5th of that month its members received their pay and final dis- charge.

After his return from the war Royston Ford taught school one winter, and a few years afterward he began the study of medi- cine under the direction of his brother John and Dr. D. Robeson, at Arcanum. He took his first course of lectures at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and later studied in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Cincinnati, where he was graduated in 1880. He be-

675

GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

gan the practice of medicine at Saratoga, Indiana, where he remained for five years, after which he spent three years at New Madison, this county, where he built up a good practice.

In 1870 Dr. Ford was married to Miss Lizzie Albright. After her death in 1883 lie became dissatisfied with his location, and, leaving New Madison, came to Greenville, where he has since enjoyed a much larger practice. In 1885 he wedded Miss Clara B. Albright, a niece of his first wife, and a daughter of Daniel Albright, of Darke cotin- ty. In 1894 he pursued a post-graduate course of study in Chicago, taking special work in a polyclinic school. In recent years he has spent considerable time in colleges and hospitals, observing the latest and best treatments of the diseases of women and children. During the last two years he has given special attention to the use of electric- ity in therapeutics and has obtained excel- lent results. He is a member of the Darke County Medical Society, and his extensive reading and investigations have made him one of the best physicians of this locality.

Socially he is connected with the Green- ville Lodge, I. O. O. F., and with Jobes Post, No. 157, G. A. R. He was United States examining surgeon for pensions dur- ing the Harrison administration.

WILLIAM W. HINDSLEY.

The subject of this review is now a lead- ing grocer and prominent citizen of Green- ville, Ohio. He was born in Randolph county, Indiana, June 1, 1850, and is a son of Joseph and Nancy ( McGuire) Hindsley, both natives of North Carolina. His pater- nal grandfather was John Hindsley, a sea- faring man, who spent many years on the

Atlantic, sailing principally between New York and the West Indies, engaged in the fruit and coffee trade. In early manhood the father of our subject removed with his parents to Randolph county, Indiana, where he spent the remainder of his life as a farmer, dying there in 1888, at the age of seventy- three years. His wife is still living in the same county, in her seventy-ninth year. To them were born nine children, six of whom lived to be grown, and five are still living.

Of this family William W. Hindsley, our subject, is the seventh in order of birth. He spent his boyhood and youth on the home farm in Randolph county, Indiana, assist- ing his father in its cultivation, and attend- ing the district schools of the neighborhood. In 1879 he was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Denniston, who was born in Darke county, Ohio, in 1859, and at the time of her birth had six grandmothers. Her parents were Joseph and Anna ( Money ) Denniston. Her father was born in Hill Grove, Wash- ington township, this county, in September, 1836, a son of Samuel and Susan ( Wasson) Denniston, and died January 1, 1894. Her mother was born in Jay county, Indiana, in 1837, and died August 8, 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Hindsley have one son living, Joseph Chelsey, born November 3. 1883, who is now a student in the high school of Green- ville.

· After his marriage Mr. Hindsley settled in Mississinawa township, where he engaged in farming for some time. Subsequently he conducted a grocery store in Rose Hill for two years, and in December, 1895, came to Greenville, where he soon afterward erected a good store building on Fort Jefferson ave- nue and stocked it with a good grade of fancy and staple groceries. He now enjoys a well established trade, having by fair and

676

GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

honorable dealings secured a liberal share of the public patronage. While a resident of Greenville a comparatively short time, he has become thoroughly identified with its in- terests, and is well known as an enterprising and reliable business man, one who keeps abreast with the times. He and his wife are members of the Church of Christ, and all who know them hold them in the highest esteem.

DANIEL HENNE.

. By the death of this honored and up- right citizen Greenville sustains an irrepar- able loss and is deprived of the presence of one whom it had come to look upon as a guardian, benefactor and friend. Death often removes from our midst those whom we can ill afford to spare, whose lives have been all that is exemplary of the true, and thereby really great citizen. Such a citi- zen was Mr. Henne, whose whole career, both business and social, served as a model to the young and an inspiration for the aged. He shed a brightness around everything with which he came in contact by reason of his upright character. By his usefulness and general benevolence he created a mem- ory whose perpetuation does not depend upon brick and stone but upon the sponta- neous and free-will offering of a grateful and enlightened people. His connection. with Greenville's development and growth and with the work of improvement was largely instrumental in placing the city in the proud position which it today occupies, yet there has never been in Darke county a man more free from ostentation and display. It is only because his goodness could not be hid that it was known to the world, and hic more frequently denied than affirmed an

opinion that he had done some noble deed- such was his horror of appearing ostenta- tious and his dread of receiving the thanks of those whom he benefitted. His memory however is enshrined in the hearts of many who knew him and is a blessed benediction to all.

Mr. Henne was of German birth, hav- ing first opened his eyes to the light of day in Mindersbach, oberamt Nagold koenig- reich Wurtemberg, in 1839. There he at- tended school until fourteen years of age, obtaining a good education in his native tongue. After putting aside his text-books to learn the harder lessons in the school of experience, he was first instructed in the miller's trade, which he followed for four years. He then determined to seek a home in America, believing this country offered better advantages to ambitious young men. Accordingly he crossed the Atlantic, land- ing at New York in 1857. He made his way westward at once, locating in Hamil- ton, Ohio, where he remained until 1863, at which time he went abroad, visiting in his native land for two years. He there re- newed the acquaintances of his former years and viewed the haunts of his boyhood, after which he returned to the land of his adop- tion in 1865, and was employed as a farm hand by the month in the vicinity of Hamil- ton, Ohio, for a year. In the latter part of 1866 he came to Greenville and became con- nected with the milling and grain business as a member of the firm of Poak & Henne. That relation was maintained for several years, but for twenty-five years prior to his death Mr. Henne was alone in business. He made a specialty of buying grain and shin- ping it to eastern markets, his shipments reaching two hundred thousand bushels in a single season. In business circles he sus-

677

GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

tained an unassailable reputation, and the patronage of anyone when once gained was never lost.

In Greenville, on the 17th of February, 1867, Mr. Henne was united in marriage to Miss Anna M. Weitbrecht, who was born in Germany and with her parents came to America when only a year old. They had three children by this union, Rosina Ger- trude, Jacob Frederick and Daniel. Mrs. Henne is a lady respected by all who know her. She has a good German education and iu her are combined good social and benevo- lent qualities with successful business quali- fications. Iler daughter is the honored wife of Rev. E. E. Ortlepp, for many years the acceptable pastor of the Lutheran church of Greenville. Ohio. The sons became enter- prising and prosperous grain merchants, con- tinuing the business so successfully estab- lished by their father until February 26. 1900, when Jacob Frederick died and was laid to rest beside his father in Greenville cemetery. The younger son, however, is still in the business.

Mr. Henne became one of the wealthiest men in Darke county, but the most envious could not grudge him his prosperity so hon- orably was it won and so worthily used. Courteous and kind to all, no one had more fast friends than he. Honest and fair in all his dealings, he lost no customers and his business increased up to the time of his death. He died October 23, 1897, and in his death Greenville lost a good citizen and the poor and afflicted a fast friend. During his last days he was attacked by a peculiarly severe form of quinsy, and this disease forced him to remain at home for several days. No evil results, however, were feared until a week later, when his condition changed alarmingly and after several hours of suf-

fering heart failure surpervened. IIe passed quietly and peacefully away.

"Night fell; and a hand, as from the dark- 11ess,

Touched him and he slept."

The funeral services were conducted in the Lutheran church by Rev. J. Dieterle, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, who was an intimate friend of the deceased, and his remains were laid away in the Greenville cemetery, where a large and costly granite monument marks his last resting place.

He had done much for the city along many lines. In 1878 he was elected town- ship treasurer and so well did he fill the office that for nearly twenty years he was forced to accept a re-election, always gained by overwhelming majorities. A few years before his death he retired from active po- litical life, because of the growing demands of his business, and it is safe to say that no official was ever so regretted by the people he served. He was prominent in educa- tional matters and did good work for the school system during his several terms as secretary of the board of education. The full measure of Daniel Henne's charity will never be known in this life. No one ever appealed to him in vain on behalf of any needy or suffering one, but his horror of publicity was so great that luis good deeds were carefully concealed by him. There was not a poor man in all this region that did not love and revere Mr. Henne, but any attempt to thank him for the benefits he conferred was met by a request for silence. He enjoyed giving, but he had an intense dislike of any appearance of display in the bestowal of benefits. It was his practice to cause the quiet delivery of flour to dozens of poor families about Christmas time, but

678

GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

when questioned about it hie invariably de- clined to admit that he was the benefactor. But while caring for the wants of the desti- tute he also made ample provision for his family. Their residence on East Main street is a fine, substantial brick dwelling. erected in 1876, and is supplied with fur- nace and with all modern conveniences and improvements. One who knew him wel! wrote the following beautiful apostrophe :

"Strong, sturdy, honest Daniel Henne! Greenville mourns for you to-day, for there are not many such men as you were. Yo1 hic your worthy deeds from your fellows. but God's poor have written them on an im- mortal page with prayers and tears for you."

Well might the lines of Oliver Wendell Holmes apply to him :

"You see that boy laughing : you think he's all fun;

But the angels laugh, too, at the work he has clone :

The children laugh loud as they troop to his call,

But the poor man that knows him laughs loudest of all."

MARK McDONALD.

place of his nativity, he having been born here September 18, 1842. His father, Wil- liam McDonald, was born in Warren county. Ohio, July 8, 1808, the son of John McDon- ald, who came from his native state of South Carolina and settled in Warren county in 1800. he being a son of William McDonald, who was born in the highlands of Scotland and who was a worthy representative of the sturdy clan McDonald. The paternal grandmother of our subject bore the maiden name of Sarah Stubbs, and she was a daugh- ter of John Stubbs, who came to Ohio from Georgia, being of Irish lineage. She died in: 1840, at the age of sixty years, and her husband. John McDonald, lived to attain the age of seventy, his death occurring in 1848. They were the parents of four sons and four daughters, namely: William, Joseph. Thomas and Mark; and Hannah, Lydia, Margaret and Patience. Each of the children married and reared a family, with the exception of Hannah. and the only sur- vivor is Mrs. Margaret Bradfield, of Joplin, Missouri.

The parents of our subject were William and Mary ( Boswell) McDonald, and the lat- ter was born in 1814. the daughter of Will- iam Boswell, of North Carolina. Her death occurred in 1847, her marriage to Mr. Mc- Donald having been solemnized about 1840. She was the widow of Elihu Gist. To Will- iam and Mary McDonald two children were born-Mark, the subject of this review : and a daughter who died in infancy, in 1847.

Prominently identified with a branch of industrial activity which has important bear- ing on the progress and prosperity of any community, Mr. McDonald would on this score alone merit representation in any com- pilation touching the history of Darke coun- Mark McDonald attended the little log school-house in the vicinity of his home un- til 1855. there gaining the rudiments of his education. He later attended college at Dayton, and was for a time a student in the Whitewater Academy. Reared amid the ty, but aside from this his ancestral line has been one which has long been associated with the history of the Buckeye state, and to this honorable record he has himself con- tributed by his well directed efforts in Hol- lansburg. Harrison township, which is the | invigorating discipline of the farm, he waxed

679

GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

strong in mind and body, and at the out- break of the war of the Rebellion his patriot- ism was deeply stirred. In 1861 he enlisted for service, as a member of Company G, Forty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and i11 1864 he re-enlisted in the one-hundred-day service, as a member of Company B. One Hundred and Fifty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was honorably dis- charged from the service by reason of phys- ical disability, resulting from a severe cold which he had contracted while on guard duty during his first term of service, which terminated in 1862. The cold so affected his head as to cause extreme deafness, and from this time he has never recovered, being almost totally deaf at the present time, in recognition of which disability the govern- ment consistently grants him a pension of twenty-seven dollars a month. In politics he is an ardent supporter of the Republican party.

Mr. McDonald was united in marriage to Miss Kate Hill, daughter of Hugh L. Hill, and their only child is William McDon- ald, born June 8, 1868. He married Miss Gladys Williams, daughter of Dr. James W. Williams, and they are the parents of three children : Frank W., born in 1891 ; Fred L., born July 14, 1893: and Helen L. H., born . August 2, 1897.

Mr. McDonald has had a varied busi- ness experience, having been engaged in the saw-mill business and associated with the dry-goods business both as a salesman and in personally conducting an enterprise of that character, and for the past nine years ' he has been successfully carrying on busi- ness as a contractor and builder, having erected many excellent buildings throughout this vicinity. He enjoys a reputation for careful and faithful work and fidelity to

the terms of contract in every instance. He came to Hollansburg in November. 1864, and has been established in his own home here since 1879. there being but two other men in the town who have lived here an equal length of time. He maintains a deep interest in all that concerns the welfare of the place and its people, and is ever ready to lend his influence in any legitimate enter- prise for the public good. Mrs. McDon- ald is a member of the Universalist church. A member of no church, Mr. McDonald nevertheless always aids in support of the church, and his views on religious matters are with the Friends or Quakers. Though when a youth our subject was supposed to have developed consumptive difficulties, vet he is now a man of fine physique and robust health, his only infirmity being his deaf- ness. He is vigorous both in mind and body, is genial and courteous in his bearing, and with his wife enjoys an unmistakable popularity among the people who know them so well.

IRVIN MOTE.

Among those who served upon the battle- fields of the south and aided in preserving the Union when the southern states at- tempted to secede is Irvin Mote, a highly es- teemed resident of Greenville. He was born in: Miami county, March 27. 1830, and is a representative of a family that since pioneer days has left its impress upon the develop- ment and progress of this section of the state. His great-grandfather. James Mote, was a native of England, and on crossing the At- lantic to America he took up his abode in New Jersey, and afterward removed to the south, locating near Augusta, Georgia. In 1802 Ohio was admitted to the Union as a

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A Biographical history of Darke County, Ohio : compendium of national biography, Part 88

Author: Publication date: 1900 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 806

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 806