USA > Ohio > Miami County > Troy > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 37
USA > Ohio > Miami County > Piqua > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 37
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Mr. Hawn was married to Cynthia A. Nutter, who died in December, 1890. To them were born eight children, namely : Ada Jane, now deceased, who was the wife of Joseph Johnson and left three chiil- dren; William, who married Sarah Idd- ings, now deceased, married (second) Clara Gensliner, has one child and lives at Troy; Harvey, who assists on the home farm: Charles R., who married Mary Armstrong, resides on Mr. Hawn's farm of eighty-three aeres and has four chil- dren; James Alfred, who died aged seven- teen years; Mack, who lives in Newton Township, married a Miss Musselman and has two children; Alfred, who died when aged twenty-three years; and Roy, who follows farming on the home place. Mr. Hawn had only meager educational oppor- tunities, but he is one of the township's best informed men. In politics he is a Democrat, and he is a member of the Christian Church.
THE COVINGTON ROLLER MILLS, which has for many years been one of the leading industries of Covington, has been successfully operated by various owners, but never has it carried on such an ex- tensive business as at the present time under the management of J. A. and W. L. O'Roark, who are newcomers in Miami County, having located here May 1, 1908. The mills are equipped with all the latest deviees in machinery, having been installed with the "Wolf," the "Butler" and the "Case" machinery, and the leading flour manufactured is well known throughout this section as the "Pride of Covington" brand, although they make another high grade flour known as the "Ohio" brand, which is shipped principally to the South.
J. A. and W. L. O'Roark were both born on a farm in Rockingham County, Virginia, the former in 1860 and the lat- ter on December 9, 1870, and are sons of James and Samantha (Bazzle) O'Roark, prominent among the old families of Rockingham County, Virginia.
J. A. O'Roark was reared on the home farm in Rockingham County and early in life learned the carpenter's trade, after- wards engaging as a building contractor at Tenth Legion. Rockingham County. for a number of years. On May 1, 1908, after having disposed of his contracting busi- ness, he located in Covington, Ohio, where, in partnership with his brother, he pur- chased the Covington Roller Mills. He was united in marriage with Cleopatra Armentrout, and of their union have been horn the following children: Clyde, Lynn, Ray, Ellis, Ruth, James, and Eva.
W. L. O'Roark, like his brother, was reared on the home farm and also learned
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the carpenter's trade, at which he worked with his brother for a period of six years, when he bought and operated the Tenth Legion Roller Mills with success for six years, after which he sold the business and came to Covington, Miami County, where he formed a partnership with his brother, J. A. O'Roark, and purchased the Covington Roller Mills, which they have since been operating with uninterrupted success. W. L. O'Roark was united in marriage with Annie Magoon, and to them have been born the following children: James Lonis; Elton ; John, who died aged three weeks; Frank; Jesse; Catherine; and Virginia-all born in Virginia except Virginia, who was born in Miami County.
Both J. A. and W. L. O'Roark are men of public spirit and enterprise and take active interest in affairs which tend to promote the welfare of the community in which they live. Fraternally, they are members of the I. O. O. F. lodge and the Junior order of United American Me- chanies.
THOMAS ZIEGENFELDER, of the prominent business firm of J. B. Ziegen- felder & Son, leading grocers at Troy, with quarters on the Public Square, was born at Troy, Ohio, February 10, 1880, and is a son of James B. Ziegenfelder, senior member of the firm.
James B. Ziegenfelder was born at Troy, in 1854, and is a son of Christian Ziegenfelder, who was a native of Ger- many. Mr. Ziegenfelder is one of the town's old merchants and, in partnership with his son not only conduets the large grocery business referred to, but also op- erates an extensive greenhouse which is devoted to the growing of lettuce for the
market, shipments of the same in the early season reaching to 1,000 pounds a week.
Thomas Ziegenfelder was educated in the public schools of Troy and subsequent- ly took a business coruse in a commercial college at Dayton, upon his return becom- ing his father's partner in his enterprises. He is numbered with the most active and progressive young business men of the place and is identified with the Troy Busi- ness Men's Association. On October 28, 1903, Mr. Ziegenfelder was married to Miss Caroline Heist, who was born at Cin- cinnati but came to Troy when a child. Mr. and Mrs. Ziegenfelder have one son, Henry James. They are members of the Main Street Lutheran Church, he being on its official board. Fraternally he is an Elk.
JOHN MIKESELL, an honored resi- dent of Covington and one of Miami Coun- ty's most venerable citizens, was born October 21, 1817, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of William and Susanna (Holsinger) Mikesell.
The parents of Mr. Mikesell moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio and in 1822 settled on a farm near Pleasant Hill, Miami Coun- ty, where they spent the remainder of their lives. This farm was a wild, uncleared tract of land at that time, and John Mike- sell assisted his father to improve it and as he grew into manhood learned the wagon-making trade. He opened a shop of his own north of Pleasant Hill, which he later traded for a farm, but Mr. Mikesell shortly afterward became afflicted with rheumatism, which made farm work impos- sible. and he therefore disposed of his land and went to selling goods in a store at Pleasant Hill and later at Clayton. In
HORACE J. ROLLIN
MRS. NANCY B. ROLLIN
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1850 he came to Covington and was en- gaged in the mercantile business in this city until 1856, when he sold out and en- barked in the milling business, which he continued until 1866. During two and one- half years of this time he operated the Sugar Grove mill, and after that had charge of the Covington mills. Mr. Mike- sell next became interested in the nursery business, and for the next fifteen years sold fruit trees, meeting with success wherever he traveled, his journeys taking him over a large extent of country. In 1880 he was appointed land assessor, and in that year assessed Newberry Township. Feeling that his weight of years then entitled him to rest, Mr. Mikesell retired from active pursuits. He makes his home with his son-in-law, W. V. Swisher, at Covington.
W. V. SWISHER was born February 4, 1848, near Versailles, Darke County, Ohio, and is a son of William and Mary (Ward) Swisher. He was reared on his father's farm, which he left in 1869 in order to become a railroad man, starting in 1870 with the old C., C., C. & I., which is now the Big Four Railroad, on the run between Union City, Indiana, to Galion, Ohio, and for five years he lived at the latter place. After that road took over the I. & St. Louis, he was transferred to what is now the St. Louis Division of the Big Four and for fourteen years he was engineer between Indianapolis and St. Louis, living during that period at Mat- toon, Illinois. In 1894 he retired from the railroad and moved to his farm two miles northeast of Covington, where he resided until September, 1906, when he came to Covington. Mr. Swisher still retains his farm of sixty-five acres.
Mr. Mikesell was married (first) to Susan Fridley, who died four years later, leaving three children, namely: Andrew F., who lives on a farm north of Coving- ton ; Mary, who is the wife of John Rapp, and lives on a farm in Concord Township; . and Elizabeth, now deceased, who married Martin Mohler and left three children. Mr. Mikesell was married (second) to Eliza- beth Thompson, who is now deceased. There were seven children born to the second union, namely : Thompson, who died when aged four years; Jacob, who died in childhood; Catherine, who is the wife of W. V. Swisher, of Covington ; Elnora, who died in childhood; Charles, who died in in- fancy; Amelia, who married J. L. Miller, of Dayton, Ohio, and has one son, Joseph Mikesell; and Jennie, now deceased, who was the wife of George McGowan and is survived by one son, William Lawson. The mother of these children died Decem- ber 29, 1900. Mr. Mikesell is the oldest member and a deacon in the German Bap- tist Church at Covington.
ROLLIN .- Among the oldest families of Olio, and of this county, is that of Hor- ace Judson Rollin. Four generations have occupied the picturesque homestead, mid- way between Piqua and Troy.
Josiah Rollin, with his aged mother, came from New England in 1815, after some service in the War of 1812. His can- teen still adorns the ancestral hall; and here is his large fireplace, with its crane, broad stone hearth and great mantel, un- der a part of which is a large enclosed bake-oven. With him came his son Isaac, then a lad old enough to reap wheat and pull flax, and who in time became a repre- sentative farmer. He was among the first
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to use the reaping machine and to manu- nals of America. James Rawlins came facture molasses from cane, southern pro- duction being checked by the Civil War. One of the supporters of Fremont who was called an "Abolitionist," he long per- ceived the rising tide which was to over- whelm the institution of slavery. Isaac T. Rollin was public-spirited, belonging to that class of citizens who made Miami County what it is. He passed away in 1890, aged eighty-six.
Five of the six sons, including Horace, then not grown, served in the Union army. The eldest, Charles, who was among the first to enlist, April, 1861, in the Eleventh Regiment, and among the last mustered ont, January, 1866, with the Seventy-first, commanded a company in the latter part of the war. At his burial, the late Hon. E. S. Williams, a fellow officer, in his eu- logy, said, "What is rare, he respected the private soldier as much as the officer, and his men loved to serve under him. I knew this man in the camp, on the march, and on the battle-field; Charlie Rollin was every ineh a soldier."
The mother, Eleanor II. Rollin, who died in 1895, aged eighty-seven, came to Troy in 1812, with her father, a member of the patriotic Hart family of New Jersey, to which belonged the signer of the Dec- laration of Independence, John Hart. This stock gave good men, including notable officers (her cousin, the gallant Col. J. IL. Hart, was wounded at Nashville) to the Federal army and to civil service.
The name Rollin was early identified with the Northwest Territory. Jonathan, elder brother of Josiah, after campaigning with Wayne, was in the first group of set- 'tlers here, 1797. And so of the name, it is among the oldest appearing in the an-
from England with the Ipswich settlers in 1632. It has been a fixed surname there for about seven hundred years; some rep- resentatives were knighted, and these are the arms granted by Edward IV. to the Cornwall family, of which the above old James of Dover was a member: "Shield sable, three swords paleways, points in chief, argent; hilts and pommels gold. Crest, an armored arm, elbow on wreath, holding in gauntlet a falchion." Similar arms denoting consanguinity, were grant- ed the ancient Hertfordshire and other branches. "As a thing associated with caste," Mr. Rollin declares, like a true American, "it is not worth a fig; as evi- dence of an carly fair degree of intelli- gence, it has some value." In America the spelling of the name was changed be- fore the Revolution to Rollins, and some now drop the "s." In England it has been Rawlin and Rawlyn, and still more an- ciently probably Rawle.
In 1656 old James was prosecuted for neglect of coming into "ye public meeting and sentenced to pay courte fees, two shillings and six pence." He found the church narrow, for he was before the Gen- eral Court at Boston among the persons "yt entertayned ve Quakers;" but he. be- ing more ingenious than the rest in his replies. "was ordered to be only admon- ished by ye honnored Governor, wch was donne."
Joseph. the great-grandfather of Hor- ace, was a soldier of the Revolution. and was at Saratoga. A cousin, Lieutenant Rollins, was at Warren's side when he fell at Bunker Hill; and abont twenty of the name served in that war. Recently, in the Union army. there were enough of the de-
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seendants of old James to have formed a large battalion, including some distin- guished officers - probably inelnding Grant's chief-of-staff, later secretary of war, General Rawlins. Ex-governor Frank Rollins of New Hampshire belongs to this family, as did an earlier Federal senator.
About forty years ago an extensive book of genealogy was compiled, which shows that this family comprises, by direct rela- tionship, or by marriage alliance. many prominent names, as Emerson, Paine, Lin- coln, Hale, Putnam, Phillips, Prescott, and scores more or less notable.
Mrs. Rollin was Nancy E. Bridge, of Cincinnati, formerly a teacher in the pub- lic schools. John Bridge, her ancestor. came from England in 1631. settling at Cambridge, Mass., on land once the site of Washington's headquarters and the Long- fellow homestead. He induced Thomas Shepherd, one of the founders of Harvard College, to join the colonists-there is a bronze statue of Bridge facing the college grounds. President Garfield was one of his descendants. The long line inchules soldiers, statesmen, educators and Uni- tarian ministers. Revolutionary annals show noble patriots :
"John Danforth was hit just in Lexington Street. John Bridge at that lane where you cross Beaver Falls. I took Bridge on my knee, but he said ' Don't mind me; Fill your horn from mine-let me lie where i he- Our fathers,' says he, 'that their sons mant be free, Left their King on his throne and came over the sea; And that man is a knave or a fool who to save Ilis life for a minute would live like a slave. ' "
This ancestor was a major and was at Bunker Hill. Col. Eb. Bridge commanded a regiment and served through the war. Rev. Mathew Bridge was among the first chaplains and died in the Revolution.
Mrs. Rollin is eligible also on the moth- er's side to membership in certain Colonial
and Revolutionary societies; her great- grandfather Gates was a soldier, and mar- ried a daughter of his captain, Winch. Her grandmother Bridge was a Morse, to which family belonged Prof. Morse, in- ventor of the telegraph. Horatio Bridge was a friend of Hawthorne ("Dear Hath"). and when the writer was strug- gling for even a moderate income stood guarantor for the cost of publishing Twice- Told Tales.
Mr. Rollin is a painter, and among the lovers of Art who purchased his works appear the names of the late Henry Howe, historian, the Hon. Whitelaw Reid, the late Rabbi Lillienthal, and others well known. His "Old Lane" was shown on the line of the National Academy. "Moth- er's Spinningwheel," once well sold, was returned to him before the owner passed away, and can now be seen by callers; as van certain moonlight studies. A Miami County pastoral. painted out-of-doors, elicited a letter from Mr. Noble, long the head of the Cincinnati Art School (after study at Paris and Munich. This is intro- duced to help those who imagine foreign study necessary, and applies to other pur- suits ) :
.. Now. I must tell you my thoughts while looking at it : ' By Jove! that's a charming picture-so fresh, so free from conventionism, so utterly natural. I advised Rollin to go to Paris (where he is sure to become a mannerist, copying the style of others because it is the fashion for those who go there to do so). Now I reverse my opinion. Let him alone with Nature and his own nature, which is so honest and true. He will be better uninfluenced by others, let them be ever so good in their way, for their way is not his way, his being in keeping with his own nature, and his way of seeing Nature, and the rendering of it to be true to his own impressions. ' ''
He is the author of "Studio, Field and Gallery." published by the Appletons, a hook which received such fine reviews from great journals that Mr. Appleton sent a
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congratulatory letter. Another book, "Yetta Ségal," is a story with a deep, pe- culiar motive, as the publishers' announce- ment indicates: "This work embodies a new and comprehensive theory of race- blending. Mr. Rollin is doubtless the first to formulate a philosophy showing the movement to be evolutionary, universal and destined to culminate in the cosmopo- lite of the future. But while he shows it to be based on purely biological laws, he warns pioneer movers of the dangers to them."
The great cyclopedias and the text-books of etliology and biology either omit the subject or treat it in a fragmentary and in- conclusive way, although there are several hundred million known racial composites, including the beautiful and intellectual. Moreover the movement is spontaneously increasing; therefore science and reason must decide whether it is abnormal, mor- bid and temporary, or normal and inevita- ble. Mr. Rollin declares the latter and that the key-note is the compensative: in the interchange needed values are given and received; even the less developed type, from another environment, has some ele- ment of strength peculiar to itself to in- part, mental, physical or psychical. The more advanced may have deteriorated at some points, or may be naturally lacking in certain qualities necessary to the future symmetrical man. It is simply a phase of evolution. Man's organization becomes more and more complex. This author (de- clared to be "rarely original") waited many years for authoritative indorsement. Recently Prof. Boaz, lecturing at Colum- bia University, declared that we-those of advanced type-not only embody the blood
of the ancient Mongol but also that of tlie primitive Negroid !
Nine years after the date of Yetta Ségal (whose author had held the belief, in cruder formulation, for about twelve years) came the first book of Luther Bur- bank: "Training of the Human Plant" (1907). Mr. Rollin had predicted years before that the famous worker must inev- itably perceive the reason for human racial convergence, or type fusion, and had corresponded with him. "I highly prize your book," he wrote. "Will send you mine just as soon as I receive a copy. Of course, no one can doubt that the future race will be composite, all the leading races today are such. Am glad to know that you see so deeply into nature and see that 'the whole Universe is of one piece.' It takes a poet scientist and a science poet to know this, and neither of them separately can fully understand it. Race hatred, which is almost universal at first, is found among plants as well as among human beings. In human beings it is almost invariably found in those of very inferior minds (by my ob- servation). As you say, the subject is not only interesting and important but is transcendent and infinite.
"I am, as you suppose, one of the busi- est men on earth, but would like you for a neighbor very much; why not move to a better land, you will live twenty years longer for it, I am sure."
An autograph copy of Burbank's work came, inscribed : "With admiration and respect." In the first chapter (written before he had heard of the synthetic philos- ophy of Rollin) fusion is explained para- lelly. It should be noted that both authors -who do not wish to see the movement thoughtlessly accelerated-sound a note of
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warning to the individual. Nature does not always act according to our conception of kindness, and while favoring the per- petuation and improvement of the race is sometimes relentless to the individual, in- telligence is protective. "Increased knowl- edge," says Mr. Rollin, "means increased circumspection."
As to this homestead, a writer in the Farm and Fireside has said: "Drawn by the love of art, music and literature, many persons visit Rollin Place yearly ; and all pilgrims to this Mecca are cordially wel- comed. Mr. and Mrs. Rollin possess none of the exclusiveness which mars the char- acter of many talented persons."
They hope for the cessation of wars among Christian nations (so called) ; and for the regulation of those unjust com- mercial profits which degrade certain capi- talists and pineh the "plain people" of Lincoln.
THOMAS LLOYD HUGHES, D. D., de- ceased, for many years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Piqua, Ohio, was a brilliant and scholarly man, whose life was consecrated to religions work, al- though fields offering greater prominence and success, as measured by pecuniary re- turns, were opened to him. No estimate of material value can be placed on such work as his was-the constant fight for purity in home and business life, the elevation of the moral tone of the community, the help- ing hand extended to the down-fallen, and the thousand and one little benefactions and charities performed-but the benefit is a lasting one, even to generations in- born. Rev. Hughes was ever a potent fae- tor for good, and his death, which occurred June 17, 1900, was mourned by the people
as an irreparable loss to the community.
Thomas L. Hughes was born in Jack- son County, Ohio, April 27, 1850, and was a son of Hon. Thomas L., Sr., and Ann (Jones) Hughes. The father was a native of Wales, where he lived until his thirty- fifth year, then emigrated to America. He engaged in mercantile business at Oak llill, Jackson County, Ohio, where he con- tinued for some years, and then engaged in the manufacture of pig iron, becoming secretary and treasurer of the Jefferson Furnace Company, and being the holder of a considerable amount of the company's stock. He was a man of great prominence in his county and was frequently called upon to serve the public in an official ca- pacity. Ile was justice of the peace some years, one of the commissioners of Jack- son County, and was elected on the Re- publican ticket as a member of the Ohio State Legislature. He was a well edu- cated and learned man and possessed marked literary ability. He was a con- tributor to Welsh magazines and wrote the only life of Christ ever published in the Welsh language in America. He was a devout member of the Welsh Presby- terian Church. After a long and successful career, in which he accumulated a hand- some property, he passed from this life in March, 1896, at the advanced age of ninety years.
le was married in Cincinnati to Miss Ann Jones, who was born in South Wales, and who was a young lady when she came to America. She died in 1857 at the early age of thirty-seven years. Five children were the offspring of this marriage, name- ly: Jane, wife of M. D. Jones, of Jaek- son County, Ohio; Thomas Lloyd, Jr .; Anna, who died at the age of thirty-eight
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years and who was the wife of Dr. W. E. Williams, of Jackson County; and Wini- fred. who died at the age of thirty-five years and who was the wife of J. A. Jones. of Oak Hill, Ohio.
Rev. Thomas L. Hughes attended the common schools of his native village and at the age of fourteen years entered Ohio University. After his graduation from that institution he pursued a post-gradu- ate course in Princeton University. He then studied law in the Cincinnati Law College and was admitted to the bar in Jackson County in 1574. He was engaged in law practice in Jackson for two years. and during that time served one term as city solicitor. Although his progress in the profession had been very Hattering. Mr. Hughes felt that his life work lay in another direction and consequently gave up law. In 1576 he pursued a par- tial course of study in Lane's Seminary. and was ordained to preach in June. 1877. His first elarge was the Eckmansville Church, Adams County. Ohio, where he re- mained three and a half years, and was then successively pastor of the Presby- terian Church at Pomeroy two and a half years, and at Shelbyville, Indiana, nine years. During his pastorate at the latter place, he built a new church and the Port- age Mission Chapel. In September. 1892. he accepted the call to the Presbyterian ('hureh at Piqua, Ohio, where he continued until he answered the Final Summons. As a pulpit orator he was eloquent and con- vincing; his sermons were masterly. 11- though a deep thinker and a learned man. he clothed his arguments in language which could be comprehended by those less fortunate in the matter of education than he. He held his congregation closely to-
gether, and excelled as an organizer and practical worker, being possessed of un- usual executive ability. In 1899 he was elected moderator of the synod of Ohio. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was eon- ferred upon him by Hanover College, in recognition of his scholarly attainments and excellent work in the church. He was a member of the board of trustees of the Oxford Seminary and also of Lane's Sem- inary at Cincinnati.
Rev. Mr. Hughes was married at Ports- mouth, Ohio. to Miss Hortense Clare, who was born in Jackson County, Ohio, and to their nion were born six children, as fol- lows: James Clare, a lawyer by profes- sion and present mayor of the city of Pi- qua : Catherine, wife of J. B. Wilkinson, of Pigna: Anna, wife of Clarence W. Pe- terson. of Piqua: Thomas L .; Mary, and Emma, wife of Harry G. Levering, of Kan- sas City, Missouri.
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