USA > Ohio > Preble County > A Biographical history of Preble County, Ohio : compendium of national biography > Part 31
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Mr. Welsh has been twice married. He first wedded Miss Emma Danford, of Eaton, She died in October, 1894, and on the 21st of September, 1898, Mr. Welsh married Miss Clarissa Rossman, of Eaton. They now have one child, James. Their home is noted for its gracious hospitality, which is enjoyed by a very extensive circle of friends. In his political affiliations Mr. Welsh is a stalwart Republican and on that ticket was elected a member of the city council in April, 1899. He is wide-awake business man, alive to the best interests of Eaton, and his course as a pub- lic official has already proved of benefit to the city of nativity. His business career has been one of marked advancement and of ir- reproachable honor and his standing in commercial circles in Eaton is deservedly high.
JAMES A. FLORY.
This thrifty and successful agriculturist, residing on section 24, Harrison township, Preble county, Ohio, was born July 17, 1846,
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in Jefferson township, Montgomery county, this state, and is a son of Henry Flory, a native of the same county, born near Trot- wood. His father was a cooper by trade, but during the latter part of his life followed farming. On obtaining his majority he be- came identified with the Democratic party, but in 1860 became a Ropublican, and con- tinued to affiliate with that party until his death. In religious faith he was a Dunkard. He died at the age of forty-seven years, honored and respected by all who knew him. His ancestors were originally from Penn- sylvania. In Hagerstown, Indiana, he mar- ried Catherine Heffley, a native of that place, and immediately after his marriage brought his bride to the home he had prepared for her in Jefferson township, Montgomery county, Ohio. Sho is still living, at the age of seventy-three years, and now resides at No. 911 West Third street, Dayton, Ohio. To them were born three children, of whom our subject is the oldest ; Mary E. is the wife of James Wallace, a retired hardware mer- chant of Arcanum, Darke county, Ohio; and Albert M., who married Kate Burns, and is engaged in the hardware business in Ar- canum.
The boyhood and youth of our subject were passed upon the home farm. He was not quite fifteen years of age when the civil war broke out, but on the Ist of September, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Fourth Ohio Cavalry, being the youngest soldier in the regiment. With that command he par- ticipated in its numerous engagements and marches, the regiment having the advance of General Mitchell's division of Buell's army through Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama, and again in September, 1862, had the advance in driving Bragg from Ken- tucky, and was taken prisoner at the
battle of Lexington, Kentucky. He was paroled in October, 1862, and re-enlist- ed as a private in Company G, Sixty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he took part in the siege of Atlanta, the march to the sea, the battles of Bentonville, etc., North Carolina, remaining with Sherman's com- mand until the close of the war, and was in the great review at Washington, May 22 and 23, 1865. He was never off duty with the exception of four weeks when ill. After four long years of faithful and arduous ser- vice, he was honorably discharged at Louis- ville, Kentucky, July 17, 1865, and returned to his home in Montgomery county, Ohio.
In 1863 Mr. Flory was united in mar- riage with Miss Tracy A. Hoover, who died in 1868, and on the 2d of July, 1872, he wied- ded Miss Margaret Brock, a native of Ar- canum, Darke county, Ohio. They have five children, namely : Harry H., now a law student at Dayton; Perl, who is a private in Company E, Seventeenth United States Infantry, and is now in the Philippines; John, who assists his father in the work of the home farm, and Charles and Mary May, who are attending school. All were born in Preble county.
In 1872 Mr. Flory embarked in the nursery business near Louisburg, where he remained until 1876 and then removed to his present farm on section 24, Harrison township. It consists of seventy-five acres of land under excellent cultivation and since 1885, in connection with general farming, he has again devoted a part of his time to the nursery business and to the raising of small fruits, in all of which undertakings he has been quite successful.
Socially he is an active and prominent member of Parmelee Horn Post, No. 622, G. A. R., of Lewisburg, and has been the
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quartermaster several years. He is a mem- ber of the Brethren in Christ Church, of which he is a deacon, and politically he is a Republican, having been identified with that. party since casting his first presidential vote for General Grant. His loyalty is above question, being manifest in days of peace as well as in times of war, and he is honored and respected by all with whom he comes in contact either in business or social life.
JESSE STUDEBAKER.
The subject of this notice is certainly en- titled to be considered not only one of the enterprising farmers of Harrison township, but also one of its respected and honored citi- zens. His residence is situated on section 4, where he owns and operates eighty-one acres of land, and besides this farm he has an- other of sixty-four acres on section 3.
Mr. Studebaker was born in Harrison township, November 7, 1838, and belongs to one of its prominent pioneer families. His paternal grandfather, Peter Studebaker, who was born in Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, was one of the early settlers of Preble county, Ohio, and here took up land from the government. The father, Ja- cob Studebaker, was born in Lancaster coun- ty, Pennsylvania, in 1808, and was a young man when he came to this county. He pur- chased land in Harrison township for one dollar and a quarter per acre, and to the im- provement and cultivation of his farm de- voted his energies throughout life, dying in 1872. In that township he married Catha- rine Lock, a native of Maryland and a daughter of Philip Lock, who was born in the same state of German ancestry, and at an early day came to Preble county, Ohio, where he, too, entered land from the government
and improved a farm. Mrs. Studobaker was the oldest in a family of nine children, and was quite young when brought by her par- ents to this county. She died at the age of seventy-three years. Fifteen children were born to Jacob and Catharine ( Lock) Stude- baker, and all but one grew to manhood or womanhood, while thirteen are still living, some residing in Ohio, others in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas and Washington. The ten sons are all farmers.
Of this family, Jesse Studebaker, our subject, is the fifth child and third son. He received only a very limited education, being able to attend school but two months, as his services were needed on the home farm. He remained with his parents until his marriage, which was celebrated December 1, 1861, Miss Catherine Hunt becoming his wife. She was born in Stillwater, Montgomery county, Ohio, November 10, 1841, and is the oldest in a family of ten children, four sons and six daughters, of whom nine reached adult age. Her parents 'were James and Elizabeth (Seybolt) Hunt, natives of Warren county, Ohio. Bazzel Hunt, the father of James Hunt and grandfather of Catherine Studebaker, was born in the state of Pennsylvania, August 4, 1787. Jane Morrow, who became the wife of Bazzel Hunt and mother of James Hunt and grand- mother of Catherine Studebaker, was born in the state of Kentucky, December 25. 1797. James Hunt, Sr., the grandfather of James Hunt, Jr., and great-grandfather of Cather- ine Studebaker, was born in the United States in 1760, his father having emigrated from England in the year 1750. James Hunt, the father of Catherine Studebaker, was born in Montgomery county, and was raised where the military home now is, and where the springs ran out from under the
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logs in the woods, October 3, 1817. Eliza- beth Hunt, the mother of Catherine Stude- baker, was born in Warren county, Ohio, October 2, 1822, her parents having emi- grated from Germany, and were sold to pay their passage across the ocean.
After his marriage Mr. Studebaker lo- cated upon a rented farm with his father-in- law, and in the fall of 1862 removed to Darke county, where he remained one year. In the fall of 1863 he located upon his present farm on section 4, Harrison township, Preble county, and throughout his active business life has successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits. He is a Democrat in politics, and has served as school director, but has never been prevailed upon to accept political office. He is a member of the Grange, to which most of his children belong.
To Mr. and Mrs. Studebaker were born twelve children, seven sons and five daugh- ters: James M. died at the age of four years. Lovina Bell married Elmer E. Ri- ley and died in 1896, leaving three children -- Allen, Russell and Nola. Emma is the wife of John Kessler, and they have two children-Jesse and Pearl. Ida is the wife of Vernando Comer, and they have four chil- dren-Ora, William, Versie and Symmie. Edward married Mary Geeting. Perry D. married Cora Hoffman and they have two daughters-Estella and Hettie B. Clara Jane died December 17, 1899. Joseph S., a graduate of the Euphemia high school, has successfully engaged in teaching for four years in Harrison township in his home dis- trict. He married Pearl M. Sodders. Will- iam O., Jesse C., Grace C. and Grover C. are all at home. All of the children were born on the present farm of our, subject with the exception of James M., whose birth occurred in Darke county. The sons now carry on
the farm of their father, and the family is well and favorably known in the commu- nity where they reside.
ANDREW P. ZELLER.
This prominent old settler of Preble county, whose home is on section 34, Har- rison township, is the possessor of a hand- some property which now enables him to spend his declining years in the pleasurable enjoyment of his accumulations. The rec- ord of his early life is that of an active, en- terprising, methodical and sagacious busi- ness man, who bent his energies to the hon- orable acquirement of a comfortable compe- tence for himself and family and still su- perintends the operation of his farms.
Mr. Zeller was born November 22, 1824, in the southwestern part of Montgomery county, Ohio, in German township, and is a son of Andrew and Mary (Houtz) Zeller, both of German descent and natives of Penn- sylvania, the former born in Berks, and the latter in Dauphin county. The paternal grandfather, who also bore the name of An- drew Zeller, was born in Berks county, Penn- sylvania, and came to Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1806, locating in German town- ship, where he died at the ripe old age of eighty-four years. He served as a drum- mer in the Revolutionary war, and was the first bishop in the church of the United Brethren in Christ. His father came from Switzerland to the United States about 1740, settling in Berks county, Pennsylvania. Three brothers came about that time, landing at Philadelphia, one of whom re- mained at that city, one went to Virginia, and one went to the interior of Pennsylvania ; and it is from the last mentioned that the
A. J. Zeller
ellerier Zeller
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direct paternal ancestry of our subject have sprung.
The father of our subject was fifteen years of age when, in 1806, he accompanied his parents on their removal to Montgomery county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood, and at the inglorious surrender of General Hull at Detroit during the war of 1812 with Great Britain, he received the message, in the dead of the night, to go to the front im- mediately for a term of six months in de- fense of his country and the protection of their homes, which were seriously exposed to the depredations of the savages or Indians, which order he promptly obeyed. October 20, 1814, he was married, in Montgomery county, Ohio, where he engaged in farming until October, 1831, when he removed to Germantown, and engaged in a general dry- goods business until 1834, at which time he came to Preble county and settled on a farm on section 34, Harrison township. In 1861 he removed to Euphemia, where he died, in January, 1864. In carly life he joined the United Brethren church, but later held mem- bership in the Methodist Episcopal church. He voted for Andrew Jackson and in 1840 for General William H. Harrison, but on the organization of the Republican party he joined its ranks, supporting John C. Fre- mont in 1856 and Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He was highly respected and esteemed by all who knew him. His estimable wife died at the age of eighty-one. She was about thir- teen years of age when, in 1807, she re- moved from her native state to Perry county, Ohio. Her father also was born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, and was a farmer by occupation.
Our subject was the only son who grew to adult age in a family of six children, four of whom reached mature years, two sons 15
dying in childhood and infancy. His edu- cation was mainly acquired in the old-time log school-houses. For a time he was a student in the schools of Germantown, Mont- gomery county. At the age of ten he came to Preble county with his parents and upon the home farm grew to manhood. At the early age of fifteen he commenced teaching, taking charge of his first school in the win- ter of 1839-40 and his next in 1846-7.
On the 17th of February, 1848, Mr. Zel- ler was united in marriage to Miss Maria Flickinger, who was born in Butler county, Ohio, June 30, 1830, a daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Kumler ) Flickinger, natives of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and the parents of fourteen children, twelve of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, Mrs. Zeller being the ninth in order of birth. Her maternal grandfather was Bishop Henry Kumler, of the United Brethren church. Her parents removed to Butler county, Ohio, in 1819, and there she was reared and edu- cated. Of the nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Zeller only three are now living, namely : John Jacob A., a farmer and hard- ware inerchant of Waterman, Illinois; Sam- uel Theodore, a grain dealer living in Ster- ling, Illinois: he owns two elevators on a branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, one at Harmon and one at Wal- ton, ten and sixteen miles east of Sterling, the capacity of which is over one hundred thousand bushels, and also one at Stone Sta- tion, on the same railroad; and Ida M., the wife of W. C. Stubbs, a physician of Celina, Ohio. The deceased are : Viola Jane. Carrie Alice, Sarah Luella, Annie Victoria, Catherine Elizabeth and Mary Linda. The two last mentioned died in infancy.
Mr. Zeller, having it in mind that a collegiate course would be of lasting benefit
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to his children as a heritage, provided them with educational privileges. John Jacob A. entered Otterbein University at Westerville, Ohio, in the fall of 1864, but in the fall of 1865 he entered the Wesleyan University of Delaware, Ohio, and was a classmate of Senator Foraker. Samuel Theodore en- tered the Chicago University in the fall of 1871 and was there during the great fire. Viola Jane entered Wesleyan College at Cin- cinnati, Ohio, in the fall of 1872, and later became a student in the Otterbein Univer- sity, and subsequently continued her edu- cation in a conservatory of music at Cin- cinnati, Ohio. Carrie Alice also entered Otterbein University in 1876. Ida Melu- zena matriculated in that institution in 1880, and Sarah Luella became a student there in the fall of 1884, while Annie Victoria was afterward in the Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, in the fall of 1889. Those deceased passed away during their college days.
After his marriage Mr. Zeller remained on the old home farm for one year, after which he spent five years on a farm of his own in Franklin township, Warren county, Ohio. At the end of that time, however, he returned to the old homestead in the spring of 1854, on section 34, Harrison township, which he purchased of his father and re- sided there until locating on his present farm 01: section 34, in the same township, in 1865. He has always engaged in general farming, and as success has crowned his well-directed and energetic efforts he is now the owner of five hundred and thirty acres of valuable farming land in Preble county, the culti- vation of which he still superintends. At different times he has owned other lands in this locality and also property in Iowa and Nebraska. He has some valuable property
on Dearborn and State streets, Chicago, and property in Lewisburg and Euphemia, Ohio. He has also given a bonus of five hundred dollars to the Cincinnati & Northern Rail- road and right of way through one of his farms as a public benefaction. He is a wide- awake, progressive business man, of sound judgment and keen discrimination, and has the confidence and respect of all with whom he comes in contact, either in business or so- cial life.
After the annexation of Texas and the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, he belonged to a volunteer company of light infantry. He received the call to the front in the forenoon while he was plow- ing corn, being summoned to Eaton, the county seat. He immediately unhitched his horse from the plow, donned his uniform, and with his cartridge box over his shoul- der and his musket in his hand, he rode on horsoback to Eaton, a distance of ten miles, in less than an hour. There he met his company ready for service. Volunteers were called for and the response filled the quota of the county for a call of fifty thou- sand men issued by President Polk. When its services were no longer needed the com- pany was discharged and the men permit- ted to return home.
At the breaking out of the civil war in 1861, when President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand men who were ur- gently needed to crush out the rebellion, and the treasury was empty, Mr. Zeller donated forty dollars to buy a horse for one who was willing to go-and he went, never to return. Later in the war he always cheerfully paid his quota of money required to raise vol- untees and also the war tax. He was fortu- nate enough to escape the drafting, but dur- ing the latter part of the war he hired an
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alien at a high price to act as his substitute as a volunteer. The man went to the front and he, too, never returned. Mr. Zeller re- mained at home in active life on a big farm, liberally furnishing money for carrying on the war. During the progress of hostilities, in July, at what was a most inopportune time, Mr. Zeller, having a large harvest of grain in the shock, received a message that Morgan was making a raid in southern Ohio, and loyal men must go to the rescue. He hastened to Eaton, where the report was re- ceived that men had heard cannon booming at Hamilton. With a large company he boarded a long train of box cars and moved rapidly toward that place. The men were armed only with haversacks and tin cups. When they arrived they found Hamilton full of men, but few were equipped for war and the town was ill-prepared to receive them. There were no accommodations for the men and many were compelled to lie upon the bare ground. Mr. Zeller was one of the number, and in this way he contracted ague, from which he suffered for seven con- secutive summers. After a short time spent in Hamilton the news was received that Morgan's forces were being scattered and the men were permitted to return to their farms and their homes.
Mr. Zeller cast his first presidential vote for Zachary Taylor, the Whig candidate, and on the dissolution of that party was a Republican until 1896, when he supported W. J. Bryan for the presidency; but in 1900, the money question being put in the back- ground by the Democratic party, and other important questions coming up, he voted for William McKinley. He has served as township trustee and school director, and also as a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a faithful and con-
sistent member, having contributed for the building and rebuilding of their church the sum of nine hundred dollars. Fraternally he is a member of the Grange. His esti- mable wife holds membership in the same church, and like her husband has many warm friends in the community where they reside.
BARNETT W. HUFFMAN.
Barnett W. Huffman is serving as deputy sheriff of Preble county. He was born in Somers township, October 25, 1843, his par- ents being Alexander and Elizabeth ( Wal- ters) Huffman, natives of Ohio and Mary- land, respectively. They were married in Somers township, Preble county, and the fa- ther, a successful and enterprising farmer, occupied a fine property. His great energy and industry enabled him to successfully conduct his business affairs and at the time of his death, which occurred when he was sixty-six years of age, he owned a valuable farm of three hundred acres, which was di- vided among his heirs. His wife, surviv- ing her husband for two years, passed away at the age of sixty-seven. Their family numbered three sons and a daughter, of whom our subject is the eldest. Joseph married Miss Nettie Baston, of New Lexing- ton, Perry county, Ohio. He was a gradu- ate of Delaware College, became a lawyer of prominence and was judge of the common pleas court of Perry county at the time of his death, which occurred in 1892. The third of the family is William, a retired farmer residing in Eaton and the owner of a valti- able tract of land in Dixon township. Olive Jane, only daughter, is the wife of Minor J. Larsh, a railroad conductor living in In- dianapolis.
Barnett W. Huffman, who is widely and
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GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
favorably known in Preble county, pursued his education in the district schools of Dixon township until about sixteen years of age, when he was placed in a select school in Richmond, Indiana. He declined a colle- giate education offered him by his father, but completed a thorough English course un- der private instruction in Richmond. On laying aside his text-books, he returned to his father's farm and assisted in the cultiva- tion and operation of the land until twenty- four years of age. On the 30th of May, 1865, he was married in his native township to Miss Elizabeth Conger, also a native of Dixon township. She was reared and edu- cated within three miles of her husband's home, and her parents were Eli and Lucinda Conger, very prominent and highly respected people of Preble county. Her only brother, James H. Conger, is a grain merchant of Eaton, and her sister Carrie is the wife of Colonel Andrew L. Harris, ex-lieutenant- governor of Ohio, who served for two terms in that capacity while President Mckinley occupied the chair of the chief executive of the state.
After his marriage Mr. Huffman en- gaged in farming in Union county, Indiana, where he owned and operated a tract of land of one hundred acres. After thirteen years spent upon that farm he sold the property and purchased a quarter-section of land in Dixon township, Preble county, which he still owns. This is one of the most valuable farms in the county, being improved with excellent buildings, natural groves of sugar maple and with all of the modern accesso- ries and conveniences of the model farm. Wishing to retire from the more arduous du- ties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist, yet not desiring to be entirely idle, he pur- chased a forty-acre tract of land near Eaton,
to which he removed with his family, living there in comparative comfort and ease for two years. In 1896 he sold that model little home and came to the city, where for four years he was engaged in the sale of farming implements and fertilizers, in connection with Colonel Robert Williams. The enter- prise proved a very profitable one. Colonel Williams being elected to the legislature, Mr. Huffman conducted the store alone for two years, after which the business was sold. He was appointed deputy sheriff under Al- bert L. Borradaile, the present sheriff, in 1898, being chosen to the position from among fourteen applicants. In his two: years' service he has demonstrated that Mr. Borradaile made a wise choice in his selec- tion of an assistant, for he has ever been. found faithful in the discharge of his duties. In the Republican county convention held at. Eaton, August 18, 1900, he was nominated for the office of sheriff. He has ever been a man of marked patriotism, and his loyalty to his country was shown in 1864 when he enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He spent his term of enlistment mostly at Cumberland, Maryland. Another evidence of his patriot- ism was a gift which he made to a cavalry volunteer, a young friend of his, to whom he presented the first horse he ever owned. The horse was killed in battle, but the rider escaped and is still living. A public-spirited and progressive citizen, national issues as well as local affairs have for a him a deep interest. He is now connected with Mul- haren Post, No. 3, G. A. R., of Eaton.
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