USA > Ohio > Preble County > A Biographical history of Preble County, Ohio : compendium of national biography > Part 69
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some of the other members of the family lived to be octogenarians. By his first mar- riage, which was to Miss Lackey, the grand- father had eight children. William Ram- sey and his second wife wore laid to rest in the beautiful Hopewell cemetery, where many other representatives of the family are also sleeping. William and Nathan Ramsey, two of his sons by his first marriage, came to Ohio the year before their father and mado a little clearing in the woods on section 14, Israel township, and then returned to Ken- tucky. The next year the grandfather and his brother, John Ramsey, came to the Buck- eye state, and the latter located near Pleasant Run, in Hamilton county, Ohio. For two years past the Ramseys have held a family reunion, at which have been present about one hundred and fifty representatives of the name.
George Ramsey was a little lad of five summers when he came with his parents to Preble county, and amid the wild scenes of the frontier he was reared. He knew what it was to aid in the arduous task of develop- ing new land and to live in a little log cabin; but, though there were many hard trials and hardships to be borne, there were also many pleasures to be enjoyed that are not known at the present day. He married Miss Mar- tha Ramsey, a distant relative. She was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, May 4, 1806, and their marriage occurred in 1826. They were always farming people, whose lives were quietly passed and whose sterling char- acteristics won them the confidence and good will of all with whom they were associated. They became the parents of nine children, but ono daughter died at the age of eleven months, and another, Esther Maria, died in her fifteenth year. Their eldest son, Asa Harvey, was a United Presbyterian minis-
ter. He had preached but four sermons after leaving college when he was stricken with consumption, that dread disease termi- nating his life in his twenty-eighth year. He was a man of strong intellectual force, a graduate of two colleges and was well qual- ified for an important life work. The six living children of the family are Eliza A., the wife of John C. Ramsey, of Iroquois county, Illinois, by whom she has three chil- dren : Nathan L., of this review; John M., who is living in Israel township, has five children; Mrs. Lucy Ann Bailey, a widow who resides near Mulberry, Indiana, and has one son; William H., a retired farmer of Peoria, Illinois, who has had three children, two yet living; and George S., a retired farmer, making his home in Onarga, Illinois, who has one daughter. He is the youngest of the family and is fifty-six years of age.
Nathan L. Ramsey, of this sketch, re- ceived a common school oducation and throughout the period of his youth assisted in the operation of the home farm, perform- ing his share of the work of field and meadow. His father died in his fifty-eighth year, and Mr. Ramsey remainod at home to care for his mother until her death in 1874. He did not marry until after she passed away, but on the 22d of June, 1876, he was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary E. Calder- wood, of Middleport, Ohio. She was born in Cincinnati, in 1848, and lived in that city until oight years of age. Her father, An- drew Calderwood, married a Miss Thorn- burn, and both parents are now deceased. The mother died at the age of forty-five years, leaving seven children. The father afterward married Miss Agnes Fords, and they became the parents of four children. Of this family three sons and seven daugh- ters reached mature years and all are yet
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living, with the exception of Robert. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey have been born three children : George A., who assists his father in the operation of the home farm; Nathan Harvey, a studont in the Richmond Business College; and Martha Elizabeth, a most es- timable young lady, whose death at the age of seventeen years came as a great blow to her parents and brothers, and sho was mourned throughout the community by her many friends.
Mr. Ramsey is regarded as one of the leading farmers of his section of the county. He believes in koping the soil in good con- dition by frequent seeding to clover and by a generous use of fertilizers, such as are pro- duced upon the farm and also those which are handled in commerce. He owns one hundred and fifty acres of valuable land, a rich prairie tract upon which he raises be- tween ten and fifteen hundred bushels of corn annually and five hundred bushels of wheat, together with some oats. He always has a large pasturage, which gives the land a rest. Of this farm eighty acres once belonged to his grandfather and the original deed or patent from the government is still in pos- session of the family. He also owned eighty acres near Hopewell church, but sold that to his brother and paid a liberal price for the old homestead, which to him is the dearest spot on earth. He uses four horses in the operation of his land, has some good cattle and a flock of fine and highbred Cots- wold sheep. His swine, however, have been the source of the greatest profit to him and he annually sells many head of fine hogs, weighing between two and three hundred pounds each. He is especially proud of his flock of sheep and his good poultry, as he has every reason to be. He makos a specialty of the raising of Light Brahmas of
pure blood, and upon his place may be seen some of the best specimens of poultry to be found anywhere in the country. All of the improvements of the model farm are found upon the place, and in his business methods Mr. Ramsey is systematic, progressive and practical.
He holds to the Democratic faith, and though living in a strong Republican town- ship, he has sorved for eighteen years as highway commissioner, and the good roads seen are an indication of his faithful per- formance of his duty. His entire life having been passed in Israel township, he is widely known in the community, and the fact that many of his friends are numbered among those who have been acquainted with him from boyhood is an indication that his career has ever been an honorable and upright one.
ALFRED JOHNSON.
Alfred Johnson is a retired farmer of Gratis township, and his life's labors have boen crowned with a high degree of success, which is the merited reward of his earnest toil and resolute purpose. He was born August 31, 1837, on his father's farm, near the village of Winchester, a son of Jacob Johnson, one of the pioneer sottlers of Preble county, who moved to this locality from Washington county, Indiana, in 1832. He was born there in 1809 and during his in- fancy he lost his father, after which he be- came a foster son of Samuel Cosh, a shoe- maker, of whom ho learned his trade, living with him until he had attained his majority. He received a common school education and followed shoemaking in Winchester for two yoars, when there were but two houses in the village. He then purchased one hundred acres of wild land and later added another
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tract of one hundred acres. He cleared about one hundred and fifty acres of this, after which he bought ninety-nine acres, all of which he owned at the time of his death, which occurred on the 28th of June, 1891, when he was eighty-two years of age. Ho was married in his native state on the 6th of June, 1830, to Eliza Snively, and two sons were born to them ere they removed to Ohio, namely: William Honry, who died in the Buckeye state in early childhood; and John Henry, who also died in early life. The other children were natives of this state and were as follows: Mary, who died in carly girlhood; Alfred Hiram, a farmer of Gratis township; Levi, who is living on the old homestead of two hundred acres; and David who made his home with Hiram. The mother was born July 24, 1809, and died December 7, 1880. The parents began their domestic life in limited circumstances but by well directed industry they accumulated a fine property, and their upright lives gained to them the respect of all with whom they came in contact.
Alfred Johnson, of this review, with his brothers and sisters, received the usual dis- trict-school privileges, and as he was the eldest son he early began work upon the home farm, and until two years ago was act- ivoly connected with agriculture. His life has indeed been an honorable and upright one and marked by untiring industry and perseverance. He was married June 6, 1861, to Miss Mary Jane Trout, whose birth oc- curred October 12, 1838, in Lanier town- ship, Preble county, her parents being Jacob and Elizabeth (Bowman) Trout. They were both natives of Rockingham county, Virginia, where their marriago was cele- brated March 18, 1830. The father was born March 22, 1801, and the mother's
birth occurred July 1I, 1809. Mrs. Johnson is descended from two prominent and highly respected old Virginia families. At his death her father left to his widow five hundred and forty acres of choice land, contained in two fine farms, and much of this is still in the possession of the family. He was of German descent, and his parents, who were born in the father- land, died in Virginia. He possessed many of the sterling characteristics of that nation- ality-the resolute purpose, unflagging in- dustry and unfaltering perseverance. After making a prospecting tour to Ohio on horse- back he purchased two hundred and twenty acres of land in Lanier township and thon re- turned to Virginia for his wife, and in Octo- ber, 1830, started with her in a wagon drawn by two horses for the new home in the Buckeye state. They brought with thein the necessary clothing and bedding and three good cows, and after a tedious journey of three weeks arrived at their destination on the 3d of November.
In the summer of 1830 Mr. Johnson's father came on a prospecting tour to Preble county, making the journey on horseback, and purchased two hundred acres of land in Lanier township, which is still owned by the subject of this sketch and occupied by the latter's son and daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have led very active and useful lives, being people of great industry and energy. In 1876 our subject purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres from Christian Eby, paying four thousand dollars down and giving his note for the remaining five thou- sand dollars. He offered also to give a mortgage, but Mr. Eby said that the note was good enough, a fact which indicated the confidence which was roposed in Mr. John- son by those who knew him well. For three
GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
years our subject owned and operated a saw- mill in Lanier township and for sixteen years he operated a threshing machine during the busy season, often working night and day. His life has been one of unusual activity and his labors have been crowned with a high degree of success, which is well merited. For two years past, however, he has largely rested from his labors and his retirement is surely deserved. He has upon his farm a fine dwelling, good barns and all modern int- provements. One large barn is in dimen- sions one hundred by forty-eight feet, and he has placed many rods of tiling upon the farm, and he certainly has one of the best de- veloped properties in this section of the state.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been born three children: William Henry, born July 16, 1862, and died at the age of twenty- four years, two months and twenty-four days; Lenora Elizabeth, who is the wife of Ira Flory and with their son Albert is resid- ing upon the old homestead; Minford, who is also following agricultural pursuits on the old home farm. He married Clara B. Glanders and they have one daughter, Meby, a child of five years.
In his political affiliations Mr. Johnson is a Democrat and does all in his power to promote the growth and to insure the success of his party. He has served as a member of the city council, was a member of the board of health for six years and in 1899 was elect- ed a justice of the peace, but would not qual- ify. He has frequently been called upon to serve as appraiser, has been selected by the board as road commissioner to locate roads and bridges, has frequently served on juries in Eaton, and was the township trustee of Lanier township for fourten years. On the 23d of November, 1892, he took up his abode
in the village of Winchester, but still owns three hundred and eighty-two acres in his two farms.
Every trust reposed in him has been faithfully performed, his life has ever been upright and honorable and unqualified con- fidence is reposed in him by those who know him. He well merits the respect and esteem of his fellow men and deserves great credit for what he has accomplished in business. His example should serve as a source of in- spiration to all who are forced to begin life as he was, without capital or influential friends to aid him.
WINBURN JENKINS.
Winburn Jenkins is now living a retired life upon his farm of eighty-three and a half acres on section 6, Israel township. He is an octogenarian, well preserved, and the veneration and respect which should ever be accorded old age are extended to him by all who know him. Poverty and many trials and difficulties have beset his path, but he has at length wrested fortune from the hands of an adverse fate and now in his declining years is enjoying the fruits afforded him by an ample competence which he has himself acquired.
Mr. Jenkins was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, February 9, 1817, and is now in his eighty-fourth year. His father, Peter Jenkins, was born in Hartford county, North Carolina, in 1789, and was married in 1810 to Sally Coleman, by whom he had eleven children, eight of whom reached years of maturity. Bessie died in childhood. John, who was married and had six children, died in Indiana, in 1865. Peter died unmarried, at the age of seventy-three years. Dempsey had nine children and died at the age of
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seventy years. Winburn, of this sketch, is now the only survivor. Charles died at the age of fifteen years. Sitha, who was mar- ried and had five children, died in 1848. Mary, who had four children, died in 1890, in the sixtieth year of her age. The father of these children passed away in 1832, but his widow survived him twenty years and died at the home of her son Winburn, in 1852. She was born about 1780 and was therefore seventy-two years of age at the time of her demise.
Winburn Jenkins was married shortly before his mother's death to Susan Lewis- ton, a widow, whose maiden name was Baker. She lived with his mother and aided in caring for her for a long time, and in her last illness the mother wished to see her son married, so that the wedding was celebrated before her death. Susan Baker was be- reaved of her father at the early age of eleven years, and, like her husband, has borne much adversity. Mr. Jenkins has indeed had much to contend with. A low fever cut him off from all that makes life worth living for many months and it was believed by the doctors that he could never recover; but eventually he began to grow a littlo stronger and has reached the very advanced age of eighty-three years. He has suffered many hardships, trials and privations. When a lad he worked under a slave-driver, for twelve and a half cents per day, and at the age of nineteen he worked for one year for twenty-six dollars and a half. At one time in their dire ponury he worked for four days in order to obtain a bushel of corn, which his mother carried to mill on her back, a distance of three miles, in order to have it ground into meal !
His unremitting labor, however, at length brought to him a small capital, and
with this he purchased forty acres of land, -- his first real estate-paying fifteen dollars per acre. He incurred some indebtedness in the transaction but in time this was cleared away and ultimately he added to his property until he became the owner of one hundred, twenty-three and a half acres, a part of which was in Preble county, the remainder being across the road in Indiana. His present farm . comprises eighty-three and a half acres and is a valuable tract, yielding to him a good in- come. He came from the south in 1840, when twenty-three years of age, and his worldly possessions were only two suits of linen clothes; but with determined purpose and unflagging labor he has steadily worked his way upward step by step and in his later years is enjoying all the necessaries and many of the comforts of life.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins were born the following children: Sarah, the eldest, is the wife of Josiah Stewart, who is operating the home farm and living with Mr. Jenkins. They have five children : Chauncey A., now twenty-three years of age; John A., who is twenty-one years of age and is married and lives on his father's farm; and James W. G., Daisy L. and Martin Jacob, aged respec- tively nineteen, seventeon and fifteen years. There is also a niece in the family, aged eight years. Hattie, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins, died at the age of eighteen. Amanda, the third child, is the wife of Joseph Guard and has three children : America died at the age of twenty-two, leaving an infant son. George is a resident of Richmond, Indiana. Mary diod at the age of two years and three months. Mrs. Lewiston also had one son by her first mar- riage, Martin C., who is living in Indiana and has five children. Mr. Jenkins is a member of the Baptist church and in his po-
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litical views is a Republican. His life has been well spont and at all times has been hon- orable and upright. He certainly deserves great credit for what he has accomplished, for many a man would have been utterly discouraged and disheartenod under such un- favoring circumstances as have fallen to his lot
GEORGE W. KELLER.
Upon one of the fine farms of Somers township Mr. Keller is carrying on stock raising and agricultural pursuits, and his well improved place indicates his careful su- pervision. He was born in Milford town- ship, Proble county, Ohio, January 19, 1839, and represents one of the old Pennsylvania families. His grandfather was a native of Germany, who at an early day crossed the Atlantic and took up his abode in the Key- stone state, where ho followed farming until his death, which occurred about 1812. He reared four sons, and our subject can remem- ber all of his uncles riding on horseback from Pennslyvania to Ohio in order to see their brother in this state. Jacob Keller, the father of our subject, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, about 1791, and died in Somersville, Ohio, in 1866. His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah Spooner and was a nativo of Pennsylvania, where they were married about 1818. Mrs. Keller had a twin sister, and the two daughters looked very much alike, so that their friends were often confused in their endeavor to distin- guish them. In the Keller family were ten childron-seven sons and three daugh- ters. The first born died in early child- hood and one daughter was accidentally burned to death when a small child. Eight of the number, howover, were married and reared families. The mother of these chil-
dren died in 1847 and the father afterward married Mrs. Shier, who by a formor mar- riage had three sons and a daughter. Jacob Keller, a brother of our subject, married his stepmother's daughter.
George W. Keller, who was the ninth child in his father's family, received but limited school privileges, and when only nine years of age began work upon the home farm. At the age of sixteon he did a man's work, cradling flax and assisting in the labors of the harvest field. His life has been a busy and useful one, but in recent years he has been forced to put aside tho more arduous duties of business, owing to failing health. For five years after beginning business on his own account he operated a rented farm in Butler county and in 1876 he came to Proble county, where he purchased his present farm of eighty acres, for forty-five hundred dollars. To do this he incurred an indebt- edness of three thousand dollars. When the place came into his possession it was in a state of poor repair, but he cleared the land, planted crops and in the course of time se- cured abundant harvests. For a number of yoars he resided in the old brick house which was built by Dr. Brown nearly one hundred yoars ago, and a part of this dwelling is still standing near his new home. Mr. Keller has not only paid off his indebtedness but has spent over three thousand dollars in mak- ing improvements upon the farm. In 1880 ho erected his present commodious and sub- stantial residence, at a cost of two thousand dollars, and removed from the old home into the new in the latter part of the year. He has good barns and all the necessary out- buildings and his improvements are modern and complete. He carries on mixed farm- ing, raising corn, wheat and oats. The rota- tion of crops keeps the soil in good condition
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and he raises annually about twelve hundred bushels of corn, while his wheat fields yield about forty bushels per acre. He makes a specialty of the raising of registered Poland China hogs, sells from thirty to thirty-five head annually and has sold stock hogs for seventy to eighty dollars each. One sow, which he sold for thirty-five dollars, was afterwards considered so valuable by the owner that he refused five hundred dollars for her. The cellar in his home is a natural curiosity, the floor being a level rock, which was struck at the proper depth to be used for this purpose. It forms .the entire floor of one cellar and nearly all of the other.
On the 12th of December, 1865, Mr. Keller was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Murray, who was born June 25, 1843, and resided in Oxford township, Preble county. Six children were born of this union, but the eldest, an infant daughter, lived but a few days. Sarah Selina died January 7, 1869, at the age of fifteen years. Thomas Andrew, born April 26, 1870, died September 15, 1897, leaving a widow. Bertha is the wife of William Wright, of Morning Sun, and they have lost one child, but have two living children. Benjamin Franklin is married and resides near Camden. George Murray, who was born May 8, 1886, is at home with his father. The mother of these children died January 14, 1893, and the children are now all away with the exception of the youngest son.
Mr. Keller has no party or society af- filiations. He has, however, served for six- teen years as road commissioner and has proved a very competent and capable official. His activity in business affairs has brought him gratifying success and he is now classed among the substantial farmers of his community.
MARTHA A. JONES.
Martha A. Jones resides at College Corner and is widely known in Israel town- ship and Preble county. Her entire life has been passed in this township. She is a daughter of Thomas and Joanna (Duckett) Jones. The mother was born in Kentucky in 1810 and the father was born in Monroe county, Virginia, in 1797. Their marriage was celebrated in 1828 and soon afterward they located in Preble county on a small farm, close to the one which their daughter Martha now owns. In their family were fifteen children-five sons and ten daugh- ters, their eldest child being Martha, who was born December 16, 1828, in Israel town- ship. Eliza Jane, the second, became the wife of Joseph Laughlin and died at the age of forty-four years, leaving six children. Sarah is the wife of Jacob Davis. Mary died at the age of twenty-two years. Harriet died at the age of twenty-one. William passed away when eight years of age. The seventh was a daughter who died in infancy. Caroline, the next of the family, is now the wife of Charles Fessenden, who is living near Morning Sun and has five children. Thomas departed this life when seven years of age. James died at the age of four months. Joanna died at the age of ten years. John died in infancy. Margaret is the wife of Riley Kingley, of Dayton, Ohio. Ruth died at the age of seven years; and Charles Henry died at the age of five years. The father of these children was a farmer by occupation and followed that pursuit in order to provide for the wants of his chil- dren. He and his wife, together with their sons and daughters, were Methodists in their religious faith and were earnest Christian people whose lives were in harmony with
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their professions. A self-made man, what- ever success he achieved was due entirely to his own efforts. When he emigrated from Virginia to Ohio he had no capital and worked by the month as a farm hand for some time, but by industry, enterprise and sagacity, together with the assistance of his wife, he accumulated a good farm property upon which his widow resided until her death, when the estate was divided, Miss Martha Jones inheriting a part of the farm. The father died on the 10th of June, 1875, and the mother was called to her final rest on the 20th of February, 1895. The grand- father, William Jones, always remained in Virginia, where he followed the occupation of farming until life's labors were ended in death. His widow, however, spent her re- maining days in College Corner, where she died in the '40s, at the age of seventy-seven.
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