USA > Ohio > Ross County > A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio > Part 36
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man was a very successful trader, farmer and business man, invested heavily in local real estate, and at one time owned more than a thousand acres in Greene Township. His death occurred at the age of seventy years. Daniel Goodman married Elizabeth Charles. Her father, Jacob Charles, was among the pioneer settlers of Green Township and im- proved land just east of the Goodman estate, where he lived until his death. His remains are now at rest in the Crouse Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Goodman reared a family of twelve children: Harriet, John, Jeremiah, Josiah, Daniel, Charles, Elizabeth, James, Alfred, Sarah, Nancy E., and Samuel.
One of this large family of children, Charles Goodman, was born in Green Township of Ross County, February 18, 1836. Andrew Jack- son was still president of the United States when he was born. He has witnessed all the remarkable transformations and improvements record- ed during the fourscore years and he has witnessed improvement in transportation from the canal boat to the flying machine. The first school he attended was held in a log house, and he submitted himself to the primitive curriculum taught the boys and girls of that time. He also exercised his growing strength in such tasks as were assigned to him at home, and grew up to a useful and vigorous manhood. After the age of twenty-one he worked in his father's employ for a time at monthly wages, and at the death of his father received a hundred acres of land. He has been steadily identified with agriculture and stock rais- ing in Greene Township for half a century or more, and now has a place of 200 acres, one of the best homesteads in that township.
In 1876 he married Elizabeth Garrett, who was born in Ross County and is a sister of Silas Garrett, under whose name more details con- cerning the Garrett family history will be found. Mr. and Mrs. Good- man have reared three children: Sarah, Floyd, and Florence. Mrs. Goodman and her daughter, Florence, are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Goodman and his son are affiliated with Chillicothe Lodge No. 6, Frec and Accepted Masons.
OLIVER NEWTON GRIMES. While Ross County is one of the oldest agricultural sections of the state, it is not behind hand in the introduc- tion of modern equipment and apparatus for the working of the land. In this county may be found some of the most progressive farmers in America. One of them is Oliver Newton Grimes, who lives in Green Township, and finds both pleasure and profit in adapting modern ways and implements to his business.
The farm which he now owns and occupies is the place where Mr. Grimes was born February 15, 1868. The Grimes family has been identified with Ross County more than a century. His grandfather John Grimes was born in Pennsylvania, probably of Scotch-Irish ancestry. From Pennsylvania he removed to Maryland, and in 1810 set out with wagon drawn by a four-horse team for the western country of Ohio. The family located in Chillicothe, and grandfather John Grimes spent the rest of his days in Ross County. John Grimes, Jr., father of
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O. N. Griner
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Oliver Newton, was born in Maryland December 15, 1794, and was in his sixteenth year when he came to Chillicothe with his parents.
In that old settlement he found employment at different kinds of work until 1812, when he regularly enlisted in the army for service during the War of 1812, and was with the troops until the expiration of his service. He was a true pioneer. For many years after he came to Ross County there were no railroads, and he was one of those who engaged in the primitive transportation of the time, driving a stage carrying both mail and passengers to Circleville. He also entered Gov- ernment land in Madison County, and bought 120 acres of heavily timbered land in the Scioto Valley in Green Township of Ross County. When he married in 1818 he and his bride began housekeeping on the Green Township farm, and their first home was a house of hewed logs. They had one of the few homes in that community at the time. All around them was a virtual wilderness, filled with wolves, turkeys, and other kinds of wild game. His first wife did all her cooking by a fire- place and also spun and wove the cloth used for dressing her family in homespun. After locating in Green Township John Grimes began the heavy task of clearing and cultivating his land, and like his son he was very progressive and readily adapted himself to changing conditions. The first wheat crops he raised were cut with the hand sickle, and later with a cradle. In the absence of threshing machines the grain was spread on a floor and trampled out by horses. John Grimes was one of the first men to operate a threshing machine in this section of Ohio. The old threshers were all operated by horse power. As new machinery came in he bought his share of it and always kept his farm equipped with the latest implements. He was both a farmer and stock raiser, and by various additions to his estate he owned at one time upwards of 500 acres and was also known to have considerable money in the bank. The death of this honored old time pioneer occurred in October, 1871.
His marriage in 1818 was to Elizabeth Hasselton. She became the mother of twelve children, only one of whom is now living, named James. She died about 1842. For his second wife John Grimes married Mrs. Jemima (Weaver) Schriver. At her death she left two children. For his third wife John Grimes married Nancy Weaver, a sister of his second wife. Her children were named Sarah, Susan, John, Martha, Douglas, Ransom, Oliver N. and Belle. The mother of these children survived her husband many years and passed away in 1903.
Oliver Newton Grimes, the son of his father's third wife, was about three years of age when his father died. After that he lived with his mother and assisted in the work of the home farm until he was twenty- one. In the meantime he had acquired an education in the local schools. Starting out for himself he rented land, but after five years bought the old homestead, where he now owns 279 acres and for many years has been extensively engaged in general farming and stockraising. His farm has excellent buildings, is well stocked, and equipped with all the modern improvements. Mr. Grimes is one of the few farmers in this section of
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Ohio who employ a tractor in working the fields, and he uses that for plowing his land.
On September 15, 1896, Mr. Grimes married Ida Gottman, who was born in Ross County, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Gottman. Mr. and Mrs. Grimes are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They are the parents of a son and daughter, Olive Dale and Sarabel.
AUGUSTUS SANTO. At Adelphi is the home of one of the oldest liv- ing native sons of Ross County, Augustus Santo, who for many years was in active business pursuits, but is now living retired enjoying the fruits of a well spent career.
Mr. Santo was born in Chillicothe, November 16, 1837. His father, Alexander Santo, was born in Baden, Germany, and he and two of his brothers, George and Simon, came to America. His brother, George, settled in Iowa and Simon located at Nauvoo, Illinois, when that was the headquarters for the Mormons. While living in his native land, Alexander Santo learned the butcher's trade, and then in 1831 set out for America in a sailing vessel. Six weeks after embarking he was landed in New York, and from there went by ocean and gulf to New Orleans. He came up the Mississippi River as far as Natchez, Mississippi, and after a short stay there proceeded on his way up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Portsmouth, Ohio. From there he started through the woods and came to his real destination in America, Chillicothe, which was then a very small town, completely isolated except by river and rough highways. He engaged in the butchering business at Chillicothe until 1862 when he removed to Springfield Township of Ross County, where he had previously purchased 520 acres of land at $1.25 per acre. Thenceforward his active energies were devoted to the clearing and cultivation of this land, and after three years he passed away at the age of fifty-seven. Alexander Santo married Sophia Ringwolt. She was born in Germany, and had come with her brothers and sisters to America. She survived her husband and died at the age of seventy- two. Her six children were: Laura, now deceased; Sophia and Caro- line, both widows living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Augustus; and William and John, both of whom are deceased.
Augustus Santo received his early education in the public schools of Chillicothe. However, it was not a real public school which he first attended but one kept in a log building on Park Street, and conducted on the subscription plan, each scholar paying $1.50 a month tuition. Even when he was a schoolboy he was assisting his father in the butcher business, and later worked at the trade for other parties in Chillicothe. Finally leaving Chillicothe he moved to Adelphi, and for fifteen years was employed by Augustus Rose, and then set up a business for him- self. He made a splendid success both as a meat dealer and in. the buying and handling of live stock, and a few years ago retired with an ample competence for his remaining years.
In 1869 Mr. Santo married Rose Ann Withrow, who was born at
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Adelphi, a daughter of John and Louisa (Bickley) Withrow. Mrs. Santo died in 1910. She was the second wife of Mr. Santo. His first marriage was to Louisa Rollman, a native of Chillicothe. There are two children of this marriage, Frank Edward and Lula. The daughter is now a trained nurse living in Chicago. Frank Edward, who is a commercial traveler living at Toledo, is married and has three chil- dren, William S., Mamie, and Irene. William S., the grandson of Mr. Augustus Santo, is married and has a daughter, Lucile, who is a great- grandchild.
WILLIAM GINTHER. After half a century of hard and honest toil, mingled with good judgment and strict probity in all his dealings, William Ginther finds himself the possessor of a splendid estate, with homestead in Green Township. In the course of his active lifetime he has contributed a great deal to the improvement of Ross County, and has always had the reputation of sterling citizenship, and represents one of the stanch and sturdy families of German origin that established themselves in this section of Southern Ohio more than three quarters of a century ago.
He was born in Germany, August 21, 1836, a son of Andrew Ginther. The grandfather died in Germany, but the grandmother subsequently accompanied her children to America, locating in the northern part of Pike County, Ohio, where she lived to attain the great age of ninety- nine years. Her three children were: Andrew, John, and Fred, all of whom came to America with her. Fred and John settled in Hunt- ington Township of Ross County, and lived there until their death. Andrew Ginther was reared and educated in Germany, married there, and in 1840, accompanied by wife and three children, by his mother and two brothers, set out for America. They crossed the ocean on a sail- ing vessel, which was then almost the only mode of transportation across the Atlantic, and from New York made their way by rail and canal as far as Pittsburgh and thence by river boat down the Ohio to Portsmouth. From Portsmouth they journeyed north over the canal to Waverly. On reaching their destination the grandmother bought thirty acres of land, which had a few acres cleared and a log cabin as its chief improvement. That was the first home of the family in Ross County, and Andrew Ginther lived there with his mother during her last years and succeeded to the ownership of the place, which in turn he occupied until his death in 1891 at the age of seventy-nine years, fifteen days. Andrew Ginther married Razey Gader, who died at the age of seventy-eight. She was the mother of five sons and five daughters, and the two now living are William and his brother Fred, whose home is in Huntington Township of Ross County.
A child of four years when the family came to America, William Ginther has among his earliest recollections the old homestead which by the efforts of his father and uncles gradually emerged from the wilderness. While attending such schools as were maintained in the community, he also assisted in the work of the farm, and contributed
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his support to the family, his family receiving all of his wages until he was twenty-one years of age. He then worked out by the month until 1863, when he bought a tract of land in Huntington Township, the purchase price being $535.00. This land had a log cabin, and he moved his family into that humble home in 1864. Most of the farm had not yet been cleared, and while clearing it he converted much of the heavy growth into hoop poles. At that time Chillicothe was a center for cooperage industry, and hoop poles found a ready sale there. By working hard from the beginning to the end of every year Mr. Ginther accumulated a modest capital, and in 1888 he bought 303 acres of the fertile Scioto, River bottoms in fractional section 3 of Green Township. There he embarked in a remunerative business as a general farmer and stock raiser, and along those lines has accomplished his chief success. From time to time he has bought other lands, and besides his homestead in Green Township he owns a farm on Deer Creek in North and South Union Township, and another place in Pickaway Township of Pickaway County. His total holdings now aggregate 700 acres.
In 1863 Mr. Ginther married Margaret Lamenshamer, who was born in Germany and a year later was brought to this country by the parents, who settled in Ohio. Mrs. Ginther died in 1890. Mr. Ginther and family are members of Crouse Chapel of the Reformed Church. To their marriage were born four children: Henry, George, Annie, and Emma. The daughter Annie married Guy Arledge, and their five chil- dren are Richard, Nettie, Edith, Tillie, and Joseph. Emma married George Arledge and also has five children, Nellie, Russell, Lucy, George and William. The son Henry died at the age of thirty-four, leaving his widow, Mary (Gardner) Ginther, and a daughter, Matilda. George mar- ried Clara Stahl, and his two children are Fred and Ethel, Fred being married and having a child who is William Ginther's great-grandson.
ROBERT SWINEHART is one of the older members of the legal profes- sion in Ross County, and for many years has successfully practiced at Adelphi, and has served more than a generation of clients in all their legal work. He is a first class lawyer, and has given his time faithfully and intelligently to the management of the various interests entrusted to his charge.
He is a native son of Adelphi, having been born there June 27, 1846. His grandfather, Anthony Swinehart, was born in Pennsylvania, was one of the early settlers in Hocking County, Ohio, and from there moved to Ross County, buying land in Colerain Township. He married Susan Frederick, who was born either in Ross or Pickaway County, and she survived her husband, spending her last years in Clark County, Ohio.
Hocking County was probably the birthplace of Eli Swinehart, father of Robert. Eli Swinehart was reared in Ross County, learned the sad- dler's trade, and followed that for many years at Adelphi, where he died at the age of sixty-five. He did a great part of his work as a saddler in the days when horseback riding was one of the necessary means of travel, when railroads and canals were few and far between. Eli mar-
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ried Sarah Madden, who was born in Ross County, a daughter of Peter and Susan (O'Neal) Madden, both natives of Pennsylvania and early settlers in Ross County. Mrs. Eli Swinehart died at the age of seventy, having reared twelve children.
Reared and educated at Adelphi, Robert Swinehart found employ- ment for some years as clerk in a. dry goods store. His ambition for a professional career led him to utilize all his spare time in reading law, and he was finally admitted to the bar and has since devoted all his energies to private practice with office in Adelphi.
On October 3, 1871, Mr. Swinehart married Mary J. Denig, who was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Dr. George W. Denig. Her mother's name was Wilds. Her father was an early physician in Chilli- cothe, where he practiced several years. Mr. and Mrs. Swinehart have five children : Russell D., Earl W., Flora R., Mary Adele and Georgia Marie. The oldest son, Russell D., who is now deputy internal revenue collector at Columbus, married Virginia Baldwin, and they have a daugh- ter named Virginia Judith. Earl W., the second son, is now a resident of Baltimore, Maryland, where he is practicing orthodontia, and by his mar- riage to Grace R. Reigle has a son named Darwin R. The daughter, Flora, is the widow of Fred A. White, and her two children are Kathleen R., and Frederick A. Mary Adele is now the wife of Horace A. Curtis of Chicago, Illinois, and has a daughter, Mary Adele. Georgia is the wife of H. G. McFarren, now secretary of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, at Bucyrus, Ohio.
WILLIAM R. BITZER. It is a substantial tribute to a family when it can be said that what one generation has secured and won from the dominion of the wilderness, the next following has continued to improve and has increased in value many fold. That is real progress and with- out such work a community would stand still. Such has been the dom- inating fact in the history of the Bitzer family in Ross County, where the name has been represented for a century. William R. Bitzer rep- resents the fourth generation in this section of Ohio, and is one of the most progressive and successful farmers of Colerain Township.
His great-grandfather, William Bitzer, a native of Pennsylvania, emigrated to Ohio when it was still a part of Northwest Territory. He became one of the first to locate in Coleraine Township of what is now Ross County. Jacob Bitzer, grandfather of William R., was a native of Pennsylvania, but was still young when brought to Ohio, where he was reared among pioneer conditions. For many years after the family settled in Ross County all kinds of game abounded, and as a boy he had Indians for companions. On reaching manhood he secured a tract of timbered land, hewed a farm from the wilderness, and remained a resident there, in comfortable prosperity and in the esteem of his neighbors, until his death at the age of eighty-six. Jacob Bitzer mar- ried Barbara Metzgar, a daughter of Jacob Metzgar. She died at the age of eighty-two.
William Bitzer, a son of Jacob and father of William R., was born
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in Colerain Township of Ross County, and was reared and trained to a life of industry and honor. He contributed his early labors to the support of the family household, and when able to do almost a man's work he was paid only 121/2 cents a day for his time. His wages increased with his efficiency and by saving most of his earnings he was able to invest in a team and such farm implements as were then in common use, and with that equipment started out independently as a renter. He and his bride began housekeeping in a log cabin. Hard work on the part of both of them brought prosperity, and later they bought 1371/2 acres in section 18 of Colerain Township. The only im- provements on the land were a set of log buildings and half of the acreage in fields. Here William Bitzer engaged in general farming and stock raising, and prosperity came to him in large measure. He died in 1904, leaving his land thoroughly cultivated and well tilled and improved with excellent buildings. On February 14, 1861, he had mar- ried Mary Ann Creachbaum. She was born in Harrison Township of Ross County, March 5, 1834, and her father John Creachbaum, a native of Pennsylvania, was a son of George Creachbaum, who had moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio about 1797, and was one of the first white men to make permanent settlement in Harrison Township of Ross County. George Creachbaum improved one of the first farms in that township, and lived there until his death. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Gates, who was a daughter of Adam Gates, a native of Pennsylvania, and one of the very early settlers in Green Township of Ross County. John Creachbaum during his youth learned the trade of cooper and was identified with that industry in Harrison Township, where he also owned a farm. John Creachbaum married Catherine Rowe, a daughter of Peter and Mary Rowe. In the Creachbaum family were the following children : Mary Ann, Elizabeth, Ann Maria, Sarah, Peter, and Rebecca. Mrs. Mary Ann (Creachbaum) Bitzer is still living at the home of her son, William, and though eighty-two years of age is well preserved in bodily health and mental faculty. She has many interesting stories to relate of her early life spent in the wilderness of Ross County, and is a connecting link between the modern present and the pioneer past. When she was young her mother did all the cooking by an open fireplace, and all the cloth used to dress the members of the family was carded and spun at home. There were no mowing machines, no reapers, nor threshing outfits. Grass was cut with a scythe, grain was cut with a sickle, and the threshing was done by horses or oxen walking over the threshing floor. Mr. and Mrs. William Bitzer reared four children, named Leah, Flora, Mary and William R.
The only son among these children, William R. Bitzer, was born in Colerain Township, May 12, 1868. As a boy he attended country schools, learned farming by practical experience, and as a youth he worked a part of his father's land on the shares. After the death of his father he bought the interests of his sisters in the homestead. and has since conducted it and made a success of general farming and stock raising.
At the age of twenty-eight, Mr. Bitzer married Jessie M. Damm,
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who was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, a daughter of Daniel and Susanna Damm. Mr. and Mrs. Bitzer have eight children: Russell E., Nolan D., Marie, Dorothy, William, Bertha, Florence and Frances R. Mr. Bitzer's parents were both active members of the United Brethren Church and he and the other children were reared in the same faith.
THE RICHARD ENDERLIN WELFARE HOUSE. Chillicothe has long been known as one of the most progressive cities in the state in caring for . those in need. Every community-however high the average intel- ligence, however great the general prosperity-has in its midst some members who through poverty or sickness, or both-since one often begets the other-are unable to care for themselves. Good men and women are ever ready to lend a helping hand to these unfortunates, but the aid given is only temporary and is often so unwisely planned, though well intentioned, as to leave the recipient in a state worse than before. To extend such wide and systematic aid as may be of permanent value to the one who is "down and out," whatever the cause, is the aim of all true charity, and how to accomplish this end is a problem for the wisest. A long step in this direction, so far as this community is con- cerned, was gained when Col. Richard Enderlin gave to the city a beau- tiful home to be used for all time as headquarters for carrying on systematic welfare work, thus putting the care of the needy on a solid and permanent basis not otherwise possible.
Philanthropy is not a new thing with Colonel Enderlin. Those who knew him in his early manhood, when his income was meager, tell how even then he was ever ready to aid those to whom misfortune had come. Mention of this is not made to extol Colonel Enderlin, but merely to show that the wise provisions made in his gift were the result of the wisdom and thought of a lifetime of service to his fellow man.
The Richard Enderlin Welfare House, Incorporated, was presented to the city in April, 1914, and the necessary proceedings were at once begun to secure a charter of incorporation under the laws of the state of Ohio. The board of directors named in the papers of incorporation are: Mr. William Zurcher, chairman; Mr. W. F. Sulzbacher, Mr. J. P. Rigney, Mr. Carl Enderlin, and Mr. J. H. Greenbaum. This board is self-perpetuating, the remaining members in the event of a vacancy, filling the same by vote. The purpose and intent of the donor are best expressed in the following extract from the articles of incorporation :
"The said corporation is formed for the purpose of establishing, maintaining and conducting an institution, free to all persons, regardless of age, race, color, religious or political affiliations, to whom, temporarily and in emergencies, may be dispensed charity, aid, relief, medical treat- ment and nursing; receiving funds by donation, bequest or otherwise; holding, investing and disbursing the same; and the doing of all things necessary and incidental to the purpose of this corporation, including the power to purchase and acquire all personal and real property, and the right to sell and dispose of the same; it being expressly understood Vol. II-19
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