USA > Ohio > Hardin County > A twentieth century history of Hardin County, Ohio : a narrative account of its historical progress its people and principal interests, Vol. II > Part 48
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
hitch and unhiteh a team of horses. After the father's death the mother cared for her children as best she could, and when her son James was seventeen they moved to the town of North Washington, he continuing to live with his mother until her death. During three years he was the engineer of the Kenton Paper Mills: moving then to Terre Hante. Indiana, he was the engineer of a large plant there, and later was similarly engaged at Indianapolis. Indiana, and Lima, Ohio, until in 1891 he returned to Kenton and his former occupation of farming. During the six years following his return he lived in McDonald township. and then purchasing another farm near Kenton he was there for three years, moving then to Hepburn, where he has since been engaged in eondueting a meat market and in farming.
He was first married to Elma .Jane Smith, a danghter of Hiram and Elizabeth Smith, and a son and a daughter were born to them .- Perry C., who is now twenty-three years of age and a mechanic in Detroit. Michigan, and Rena Lodema, twenty-five years of age and the wife of Louis Dodson, a farmer in Dudley township. There are also two grandchildren. Edward N. and Mary Ellen. Mrs. Obenour died in the year of 1891. when thirty-two years of age. and Mr. Obenour married for his second wife Ellen (Williams) Rimiek. a danghter of Cornelius Williams, now deceased. Mrs. Obenour has two children by her former marriage, Ida, the wife of William Smith, of Seattle. Washington, and Charles, a farmer near Larne, Ohio. The second union has been with- ont issue.
MARSENA STEWART SPENCER is one of Hepburn's business men. He was born in Allen county. Ohio, near Speneerville, on the 16th of May. 1869, and he is a son of one of Ohio's early and well known ministers. the Rev. David Duman Spencer. The last named was born in Miami county, Ohio, and he died at the age of seventy-four years. in 1899. Amos Spencer, his father, located in Miami county during an early period in its history, and he was a life-long farmer. The Rev. David D. Spencer after leaving the school room followed farming until 1861. and he then began to study for the ministry. In 1885 he entered the pulpit as a Missionary Baptist minister, his field of labor being Miami county. At the opening of the war between the north and the south he enlisted for service at Troy. Ohio, and at the close of his first term re- enlisted, but was discharged and pensioned before the elose of the war on account of sickness. He entered the ranks as a private, but was afterward commissioned as a first lieutenant. and at the close of his military service he returned to Troy and to his ministerial labors. For a period of five years he was stationed in Allen county, was later two years at Janesville, for three years was pastor of the Ada church, dur- ing a similar period was stationed at Liberty Center. Indiana, was then two years at the Eel River Baptist church, then returning to Liberty Center was stationed there for two more years, and then coming to Mercer county, Ohio, he served as the pastor of three appointments and branches there. In 1886 Rev. Spencer returned to his first charge. the old Manda and Marion church, and there he also ended his ministerial
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work. Through his efforts the old Foraker church was built, and his entire career as a minister was characterized with efficient service and with duties well performed. He married Mary K. Sutton, and she is now living in Spencerville, Ohio. She is a daughter of Thomas and Susan (Kephart) Sutton).
Marsena S. Spencer was one of twin sons, and his brother, Artemus Spencer, is now a teacher in Spencerville, Ohio. After leaving school at the age of fourteen Marsena S. Spencer followed farming for three years, and then entering the employ of the Erie Railroad Company he was their agent and operator at Conant, this state, for two years, and for twelve years was stationed at Foraker, leaving there for Adrian, Michigan, where he spent one year as clerk and cashier of their freight office. Returning then to Foraker he was for a time extra traveling agent, was next stationed at Kemp one year, and in 1904 he came to Hepburn as an agent and operator. In July of 1909 he left the railroad service to engage in the hay business, and in addition he owns a restan- rant and store at this place. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity at Kenton and of the Maccabees at Hepburn.
On the 28th of June, 1891, Mr. Spencer was married to HIattie I. Wheeler, who was born in Noble county, Ohio, June 21, 1871, a daughter of Enos and Lottie (Lamley) Wheeler, who are living on a farm in IIardin county, the father sixty-nine years of age and the mother sixty- six. They have two children living, and the son, Amos Wheeler, resides near them. Mrs. Spencer is a member of the Baptist church at Foraker, also belonging to its Ladies Aid Society, and she is a member of the Pythian Sisters at Hepburn and its mistress of finance. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Spencer: Ralph, who is de- ceased ; Mildred, born August 22, 1895; Gladys, born December 13, 1898; LeRoy, born February 21, 1901 ; and Harold, born July 7, 1903.
AZEL FRANK BALLINGER .- Among the prominent and prosperous farmers of Hardin county, Ohio, is Azel Frank Ballinger, who owns a fine farm in Dudley township. Mr. Ballinger was born August 5, 1879, on the old Ballinger homestead, and is a son of Layman and Louisa (Nash) Ballinger, the former of whom died in 1898, at the age of fifty- five years. Layman Ballinger was born November 25, 1844, in Logan county, Ohio, being a son of Henry and Rebecca C. (Moore) Ballinger. The Ballinger family originally came from England and settled in New Jersey. Joshua Ballinger came to Ohio from New Jersey in the early days, and located in Logan county near Middleburg. Henry Ballinger was born about one mile south of Middleburg, being the elder of the two children born to Henry and Patience (Bishop) Ballinger. Rebecca C. Moore was born in New Jersey, and when five years old came to Ohio with her parents. After her marriage to Mr. Ballinger, November 23, 1837, they settled on the farm in Perry township about two miles north of East Liberty, where they spent the remainder of their lives; he being eighty-six at the time of his death and she seventy-three years of age. They were both members of the Methodist Episcopal church from early life until their deaths.
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
Layman Ballinger, the father of Azel F., followed farming all his life. He had lived in Champaign county until the age of fifteen when he went to Logan county, later going to Hardin county, where he took up farming on one hundred acres in Dudley township. In October, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Seventeenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry for three years. He took part in the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and Pittsburg Landing, Atlanta and others. During the last year and a half he served as orderly sergeant to which office he had been promoted. Ilis wife, Louisa Nash, was born July 13, 1846, in Belle- fontaine, her father, John Nash, was a native of Pennsylvania, of Irish descent. His wife, Elizabeth Ann Peterson, was born in Virginia, of German parentage, her father, Jacob Peterson, being one of the pioneers of Ohio. Layman Ballinger and wife had several children, of whom one daughter is living besides Azel. She is Effie, wife of Carl Davis, a farmer of Dudley township.
After receiving a good education in the public schools of his native county, Azel F. Ballinger helped with the work on his father's farm, and thoroughly learned the details of all kinds of farm work. When he was nineteen years of age his father died, and the young man tried to take the latter's place in managing the farm, remaining with his mother and sister until 1906, when on account of his wife's health he took a trip with her to California, and carried on farming one year in that state. He returned to the old homestead, of one hundred and twenty acres, which he now owns, and besides general farming carried on extensive stock raising. The farm is situated in the midst of a fine farming country, and is one of the handsomest and most picturesque in the county. In 1907 Mr. Ballinger bought a half interest in a hardware business in Mt. Victory, known as C. E. Cook & Company, but eighteen months later sold his interest and returned to farming. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias of Mt. Victory, and belongs to the Christian church. He taken an active interest in public affairs, is a stanch Republican and has served two terms on the school board.
In 1900 Mr. Ballinger married Almary Fisher, who was born June 12, 1881, on the old historie Wheeler farm which was owned from 1875 until 1880 by her grandparents, John and Sarah (Barrett) Haley, who now reside in Goshen township. This farm is located on the Sandusky road. Mrs. Ballinger is a daughter of Alford and Mary (Haley) Fisher, the former of whom, an old pioneer of Dudley township, died in 1898, and the latter died in 1903. Alford Fisher's father was an attorney and served as justice of the peace. Besides Mrs. Ballinger Mr. Fisher and his wife had children as follows: John, of California; Ray, a barber, living in Missouri; Alford, a teacher in Goshen township; and Alpha, wife of Roy Rosebrook, living with Mr. and Mrs. Ballinger. Mr.
and Mrs. Ballinger have one child, Zelma, aged six. Mrs. Ballinger is a member of the Christian church and of the Pythian Sisters. Mr. Ballinger has the largest maple-sugar grove in the county, the industry of sugar-making being but little carried on in this part of the state. The trees are the finest of their kind and yield a fine quality of sap.
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
ANDREW J. WALLACE, a retired farmer living in Taylor Creek township, was born in Fayette county, Ohio, March 27, 1827, son of William and Polly (Campbell) Wallace, both natives of Kentucky. William Wallace removed to Ohio and settled in Bell Center, in 1832. He bought a farm in the neighborhood and there spent the remainder of his life passing away in 1875, at the age of eighty-two years. His widow survived him a few years and died in 1881, at the age of eighty- two years. His father, Joseph Wallace, was a native of Virginia, and he and his wife both died in Kentucky. The children born to William and Polly Wallace were: Andrew J., of this sketch, and Elizabeth, wife of William Ramsey, of Bell Center, Ohio. Mr. Wallace had a brother who served in the war of 1812.
After receiving a good education in the public schools, Andrew J. Wallace helped his father with the work of carrying on the farm, until twenty-eight years of age, when he married and located on his present farm in Hardin county. He took up one hundred and twenty-three acres of land that was partly cleared, and has remained on the farm ever since, now owning three hundred and twenty-five acres in the home- stead and two farms adjoining, altogether four hundred and fifty acres. Since 1907 he has lived a quiet, retired life and his interests are cared for by his son William, who manages the farm. Mr. Wallace is a Republican and has served as township trustee, during the time his home was included in Linn township. He is a member of the Presbyterian church of Bell Center. Mr. Wallace is a man of great industry and ambition, a useful, publie-spirited citizen, and a farmer of intelligence and judgment.
Mr. Wallace married Caroline Laughlin, born in Guernsey county, Ohio, February 7, 1833, daughter of Hugh and Maria (Clark) Laughlin, natives of Pennsylvania, who located in Logan county, Ohio, in 1830. Her paternal grandfather was John Laughlin, and her maternal grand- father, Thomas Clark, was a Presbyterian minister. Mrs. Wallace died in April, 1898, mourned by a wide circle of friends. She was a woman of high character and worthy deeds and had done a great deal for the cause of religion and other objects. She was a member of the Presbyterian church. To Mr. Wallace and his wife children were born as follows: Cornelia, married C. Porter and they have three children,- Ivan, Ellen and Mabel ; Edna, married E. E. Obenouer, of Bell Center, and they have four children,-Florence, James, John and Sterling; Elizabeth, married Joseph Emory, and they have two children,-Wal- lace and Gladys; Tad, married Thomas Mansfield, of Bell Center, and they have one child, Harry; and William, married Mary Hannah, daughter of William I. and Chloe Ann Wallace, bearing the same sur- name, but not a relative.
William Wallace has full charge of his father's farm and like his father is making a specialty of stock raising, which he carries on with great success. He has some registered sheep, "Dew Rock" hogs and standard bred horses. He has about six hundred sheep at present. He is one of the most extensive stock raisers and shippers of the town- ship, and displays excellent management in his manner of conducting
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his business. He is enterprising and progressive and prominent among the modern and up-to-date farmers of Hardin county. Mr. Wallace is a Republican, and although very popular in the community has never held office. He belongs to the Presbyterian church.
WILLIAM J. MATHEWS .- One of the most enterprising and success- ful citizens of Hardin county, Ohio, is William J. Mathews, a native of the county, who was born in Washington township, November 4, 1856, son of Elihu and Margaret J. (Rusk) Mathews. He was one of a family of four children, of whom two survive Emmor S., of Washington township and himself. Elihu Mathews located in Cessna township in 1834, and taught school eighteen years. He later purchased a farm in Washington township, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was educated in Hardin county and became a prominent farmer and suceessful man. He was born in Crawford county, Ohio, in 1826, and died in September, 1909. His wife passed away in 1904.
W. J. Mathews was reared on a farm and attended the district school; later he was a student at the college at Ada, Ohio, and fitted himself for teaching. He was successfully engaged in this profession eight years, in Hardin county. After his marriage, in August, 1884 Mr. Mathews and his wife lived a year and a half in Washington town- ship and then settled in Cessna township, where they own one hundred and sixty acres. He carries on general farming and is making a specialty of stock-raising, paying special attention to breeding Ram- bouillet sheep of pure blood.
Mr. Mathews is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church as is his wife and they belong to the church at Huntersville, Ohio. He was county secretary of the Sunday schools at one time, and is actively interested in church work. He is also a member of Pleasant Hill Grange and for four years was steward of the Ohio State Grange. Mr. Mathews has served his county and township in many useful positions. He is a man of quiet, unassuming manner, who is well known through- out the community and highly esteemed. He has made many friends, and his business relations have been pleasant and profitable. Ilis land is located in section 8 and 17, in Cessna township, and he has made all modern improvements. The house is one of the best and most comfort- able in the township, and the other buildings are in good order.
Mr. Mathews married Mamie E. Williamson, who was born in Pleasant township, March 18, 1861, daughter of Nathaniel and Serena (Davis) Williamson. Mrs. Mathews was educated in the district schools, Kenton high school and Ada Normal, and taught five years in the Hardin county schools.
OREN L. WILLIAMS is numbered among Hardin county's native sons and among its representative farmers and business men. He was born in MeDonald township on the 6th of September, 1869, a son of James W. and Sarah J. (Lyles) Williams, in whose family were the following seven children: Fred. Lewis C. (deceased), Oren L., Rose, Norman, Sherman and Nora (deceased).
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Oren L. Williams, the third born son and child in the family, was reared on the home farm in McDonald township, and during the days of his youth he supplemented his attendance in the district schools during the winter months with farm work in the summers, and thus continued until about his eighteenth year when he left the school room to give his undivided attention to farm work and to learning the car- penter's trade. After his marriage he settled on a farm in McDonald township, and on his twenty acres there he was engaged in general agricultural pursuits and at the work of his trade until he sold his land in that township to come to Lynn township. He is renting two hun- dred acres of land here, and follows a general line of farming. He has served as a member of the school board and as a health officer, and in politics he is a Republican voter.
On the 3d of November, 1888, Mr. Williams was married to Harriet J. Hesser, born in Eden township of Wyandot county, Ohio, September 13, 1871, and from Pleasant township in Hardin county, where she had located in about 1884, she came to McDonald township, where her father is still living. The six children of Mr. and Mrs. Williams are: Ernest J., born January 26, 1890; Ray, born October 5, 1891; Clara B., born September 19, 1893; Ina Blanche, born June 16, 1895; Lavina, born October 3, 1898; and Walter A., born January 19, 1901. Mr. Williams has membership relations with the Odd Fellows fraternity, affiliating with Amicitia Lodge, No. 79, and with Scioto Encampment, No. 179, at Kenton. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Foraker, and is now serving his church as a class leader.
WILLIAM H. KINNEAR has lived in and been identified with the interests of Hardin county throughout his entire life, and he owns one of the best farming estates in Lynn township. He was born in Pleas- ant township of Hardin county March 19, 1860, a son of F. D. and Mary J. (Caruthers) Kinnear, born respectively in Hardin county and in Pennsylvania. He was reared on a farm in Lynn township and attended its district schools. At the age of eighteen he left the school room to take up the active duties of farm life, but he remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-one. His present homestead farm contains one hundred acres of choice land in Lynn township, and there he is also extensively engaged in the raising of good stock, including horses, cattle and sheep, and he has been successful in both his general farming and stock-raising.
On the 15th of February, 1893, Mr. Kinnear was united in marriage with Miss Jessie May Fuls, who was born and reared in Lynn township, born on the 6th of January, 1872, a daughter of John H. Fuls. The two children of this union are Ilo J., born December 22, 1893; and Paul W., born December 1, 1897. The family are members of the Lynn Valley Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Kinnear is an active and efficient church worker, a class leader and a member of its board of trustees, and he is also the superintendent of the Sunday school. His political affiliations are with the Republean party.
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DANIEL FLANAGAN
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY
DANIEL FLANAGAN, for many years editor and principal owner of the Kenton Democrat, died at his late home on North Main street on the 14th of February, 1901. Ile was born in county Clare, Ireland, in 1840, and came with his parents to this country in 1848. They landed at New Orleans, and later came to Butler county, Ohio, where the young man grew to mature years. From Butler county he went to the office of the Cincinnati Enquirer, where he learned the trade of a printer, and he remained there, after acquiring the trade, as a reporter upon the staff. His residence in Kenton dates from December 8, 1866, the Sunday on which the Catholic church of this city was dedicated by Archbishop Purcell. He soon made a bargain with Charles Zahm for the Advocate, supposed to be the organ of the Hardin county Democracy, but in those dark hours of Democracy immediately following the war it took a courageous man indeed to successfully publish a Democratic paper. But Daniel Flanagan demonstrated that he had the acquired ability. Changing the name of the paper to the Kenton Democrat he made it a paper that won for itself and its editor a reputation more than local. He was soon known over Ohio as the editor of one of the stanchest organs of Democracy, and yet while always a Democrat with an almost idola- trous devotion to party he so conducted himself among his fellows that he won many friends in the eamp of his political enemies.
From 1879 until 1885 Mr. Flanagan edited the Herald of Delaware, D. S. Fisher, now of Warren, being the proprietor of the Democrat. While editing the Herald Mr. Flanagan secured control of the Union Democrat of Urbana and conducted the two papers for three years. In 1885, by a transfer of properties, he again assumed control of the Kenton Democrat and held it until his death. Associating with him his brother Thomas and his brother-in-law, Alfred Mathews, he erected a fine home for the Democrat on East Franklin street, and the paper has been issued from that office to the present time and is still in the control of Mr. Flanagan's children, who have associated with them their father's former partners. Ilis good and faithful wife, who was Clotilda B. Mathews, a daughter of Bernard Mathews, deceased, one of Hardin county's most prominent and well-to-do pioneer citizens, preceded him in death. Mrs. Flanagan was a woman of the noblest attributes, a woman who was ever an influence to highest attainments of character, and one whose life was rich in deeds of kindness. It was truly said of her that she was one of God's loveliest creatures. Her death hastened that of Mr. Flanagan.
Daniel Flanagan was of a distinct type, a type of editors that is now fast disappearing. Ile was an editor in practice as well as theory; he was an editor who felt it his stern duty to be ever present at his office looking after the management of his paper. Rev. Father Sieben- foercher spoke truly over his bier, "Daniel Flanagan was a very busy man. Ile never went slowly. He seldom had time to rest." This was all very true, and had he been less a worker and had he been more willing to leave the responsibilities of the office partly resting upon other shoulders he might still be alive, but he was never content to do this, and he died a martyr to his work. That he died in the harness must have
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been to his liking, for he was not one to enjoy ease. He would not have been content to retire from the editorial chair, and perhaps 'twere best that he should have been suddenly summoned. God moves in a mys- terious way, and what we of earth often call a blow the great Creator of all would term a blessing.
Daniel Flanagan was not a child of wealth, but a creature of hard experience, a builder in the storm. Poverty and hardship have ever been the greatest school masters of the race and have forced into promi- nence many a man who otherwise would have remained unknown. Com- ing with his parents from Ireland at a tender age, settling in Ohio at a time when this was "the west" to our eastern brethren, the future editor early learned the lessons of labor in a great school, the office of the Cincinnati Enquirer. There he learned the newspaper trade from
feeding the press to writing editorials. He had quickly shown the newspaper instinct, and though blessed with but a meager school educa- tion he soon developed into a witty, forceful and keen writer, and his associates of the Enquirer recognized his ability and power. With the ambition characteristic of the Celt young Flanagan was soon looking out for a paper of his own, and through the courtesy of the noted Bloss he came to Kenton and lived here all these years, mingling with its people, helping to build up the town and wielding a great and unmeas- ured influence as the editor of the oldest paper in the county. In the years that Mr. Flanagan presided over the Kenton Democrat he demon- strated to the people with whom he came in contact two things at least. He was brave enough to defend his opinions and his character was never failing. No one who knew Mr. Flanagan will deny this. Though he may have had his faults-and who has none- he possessed a charity that covers a multitude of sins. Though he may have been sometimes in the wrong-and no one is always in the right-he had the inoral and physical courage to stand for the right as he saw it, and he never failed to defend his opinions and defend them with a vigor that caused his opponents much worry.
His life as the editor of the county organ of Democracy was much like the stormy petrel. He was always in the thick of the fight, and around him the smoke of political battle was ever circling. How strange- ly coincident that he should have entered his editorial career in Kenton at a time when his party, bleeding from the wounds of internecine strife, was ingloriously retreating, and he laid down his pen at a time when the same party, having wandered far from the teachings of its fathers, and met with the defeat foretold by him and others prominent in the party's counsels who were ever true to the teachings of the party's founders, was trying like the prodigal to find the path that led to the old homestead where there was a plenty and to spare. The editorial life of Mr. Flanagan was daily echoing to the din of battle, and yet he seemed to enjoy it. That he reveled in the conflict, that he thrived under stern opposition and prospered under bitter criticism were soon evidenced here. The Democrat had not long been under Mr. Flanagan's control before the party began to win back its former prestige. And this, too, in the face of the most bitter and uncompromising opposition of the
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