USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 22
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In 1873, in Concord township, this county, Elijah J. Hanna was united in marriage to Margaret J. Crin, who was born in that township in January, 1854, a daughter of William and Melissa (Barger) Crin, natives of Virginia and early settlers in this county, and to that union six children were born, namely : Anna Frances, who married J. K. Bosler, a farmer, who makes his home with Mr. Hanna in Urbana: Zeda, who married Mary Kite and is living at St. Paris, this county, engaged in the railway mail service; John, who married Ella Fitzpatrick and is engaged as a motorman on the street railway at Springfield, this state; Charles Elmer, who also is engaged in the railway mail service, who married Hazel Blose and makes his home at Urbana; Commodore, unmarried, who is a broom-maker at Urbana, and Cecil Blanch, also unmarried, who likewise makes his home at Urbana. Mr. Hanna is an active member of Brand Post No. 98, Grand Army of the Repub- lic, at Urbana, and is the senior vice-commander of the same. He former- ly was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, but is no longer actively affiliated with that order.
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A. H. MIDDLETON, M. D.
Success in any enterprise demands that some person shall learn to do some thing better than it has been done before. It is especially true in the medical profession. As a successful general physician Dr. A. H. Middleton, of Cable, Champaign county, has done much for the cause of suffering humanity and has won the evidences of deserved success for himself. He was born two and one-half miles southeast of Cable, Ohio, January 24, 1863, a son of John and Mary ( McCumber) Middleton. He is one of the best known representatives of this generation of the sterling and honored old Middleton family, members of which have been prominent in the affairs of this section of the Buckeye state since pioneer days. A full history of the family will be found in the sketch of Judge Evan P. Middleton, editor of this work, on another page of this volume:
Dr. A. H. Middleton grew to manhood in his native community and. received his education in the common schools of Wayne township. He began life for himself by teaching school, which he followed for five years in Wayne, Rush, Mad River and Adams townships. His services were in good demand and he gave eminent satisfaction to both pupils and patrons. Although giving promise of becoming one of the leading educators of this. section of the state, he finally decided that the medical profession had greater attractions for him and, abandoning the school room, he entered the Cleve- land Homeopathic Medical College, where he spent three years, making an excellent record and was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1887. On May 20th of that year he began practice at Cable, continuing until 1890, when he moved to Terre Haute, this county, but after a year there returned to Cable and has since practiced here. He enjoyed from the first a large and satisfactory patronage and takes high rank among the med- ical men of Champaign and adjoining counties. He has remained a close student of all that pertains to his profession and has kept well abreast of the times.
Doctor Middleton was married, on January 1, 1888, to Alice Baker. a daughter of A. R. and Rebecca ( Weaver) Baker. She was born in Mad River township, this county, where she grew to womanhood and attended school. In that township also her parents grew up and married. Her grandparents. Frederic and Lydia Baker, who came to Champaign county from Maryland, were pioneer settlers in Mad River township, where they spent the rest of their lives on a farm. A. R. Baker also devoted his life to
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farming in Mad River township. His family consisted of five children, one of whom died in infancy, namely: Harry; Effie married Brown Seibert : Gertrude married Monroe Berry; Alice is the wife of Doctor Middleton .. A. R. Baker died on January 1, 1917, and his wife died on February 27, 1902.
The union of Doctor Middleton and wife resulted in the birth of four children, only one of whom is now living, Rollin Perry, who married Nellie Gettles, and they have one child, Alice Jean.
Politically. Doctor Middleton is a Republican and has long taken an abiding interest in public affairs. He has held the office of justice of the peace and has also been health officer at Cable for a number of years, dis- charging his duties in both positions in an able, faithful and satisfactory manner. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church and is a trustee in the same.
HORACE M. CROW.
Horace M. Crow, city auditor of Urbana, former city solicitor and for years a practicing attorney in that city, was born in the city of Cincinnati on April 4, 1855, son of Thomas D. and Henrietta ( Downs) Crow, who. located in Urbana carly in the sixties. Thomas D. Crow was an attorney- at-law and upon locating at Urbana engaged there in the practice of his profession and was thus engaged until his death, the greater part of that time being associated in practice with his elder son, Herman D. Crow, who later moved West to the state of Washington and served eleven years on the supreme bench of that state and died on October 22, 1915, while in office.
Upon completing the course in the Urbana public schools, Horace M. Crow entered Ohio Wesleyan University and after a course of two years there began teaching school and was thus engaged, in Champaign and Frank- lin counties, for three years, in the meantime studying law. He later be- came a clerk in a mercantile establishment at Urbana, but continued to study law, under the direction of his father and brother, and in December, 1878. was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of his profession at Urbana. In the spring of 1881 he moved to Van Wert, was married in the fall of the next year, and continued to make his home at Van Wert until 1884, serving one term as deputy clerk of the courts while living there. Upon his return to Urbana in 1884, Mr. Crow resumed the practice of law in that city and was thus engaged there until in February, 1887, when he moved to
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Columbus, where he entered upon the duties of the office of deputy in the office of the clerk of the state supreme court, to which he had been appointed. and upon the completion of his service in that capacity in 1893 returned to Urbana and resumed his practice. In 1895 he was elected city solicitor and served in that capacity until 1899, in which year he re-entered the practice of the law and has since been practicing alone. In 1910 Mr. Crow was elected city auditor and is still serving in that important public capacity. In 1893. upon the organization of the Industrial Building and Loan Associa- tion at Urbana, Mr. Crow was elected secretary of that association and has ever since occupied that position.
It was on October 19. 1882, while living at Van Wert, that Horace M. Crow was united in marriage to Frances Kenaga, daughter of W. F. Kenaga and wife. Mr. and Mrs. Crow are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take a proper interest in church work, as well as in the general social activities of their home town. Mr. Crow is a member of the local Masonic lodge and takes a warm interest in the affairs of the same. He is one of Urbana's active, public-spirited citizens and has been helpful in pro- moting numerous agencies designed to advance the common welfare here- about."
ALBERT C. NEFF.
Albert Cleveland Neff, manager of the Urbana Telephone Company and one of the best-known men in Champaign county, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life, with the exception of some years spent in the telephone service in the neighboring cities of London, Belle- fontaine and Kenton. He was born at Terre Haute, in Mad River town- ship, March 26, 1865, son of Jacob and Celesta (Baker) Neff, both of whoni were born ,in that same township, members of pioneer families in that part of the county, the former dying at his home in Mad River township and the latter is living at Dayton, to which city she moved after the death of her husband.
Jacob Neff was born on a pioneer farm in Mad River township on October 2, 1838. son of Samuel and Elizabeth ( Strickler) Neff, who came to this county from Virginia in 1830 and settled on a farm in Mad River township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Samuel Neff be- came one of the most substantial and influential pioneers of the Terre Haute neighborhood and for twenty years served as trustee of his home township.
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He also was elected to the office of justice of the peace, but declined to serve in that capacity. He was one of the leaders in the local congregation of the Methodist church and took an active part in all neighborhood good works. Samuel Neff died in 1865 and had lived to rear the largest family ever reared in Mad River township, eighteen children. He was thrice married. By his first wife, Elizabeth Strickler, he had ten children, five of whom, Isaac, Mary, Peter, David and Abraham, were born in Virginia, and five, John, Henry G., Joseph, Caroline and Jacob, in this county. The mother of these children died on March 23, 1840, and in October of that same year Samuel Neff married Rachel Romick, who died in 1845, leaving four children. Michael, Barbara, Samuel R. and Daniel W. After the death of the mother of these children he married Rachael Landaker, who died in December, 1863, and to that union were born four children, Aaron, Caroline, Jonas and Emma.
Reared on the home farm, Jacob Neff received his schooling in the neighboring schools and early learned the trade of wagon-making, presently opening a wagon shop in the village of Terre Haute in partnership with Ananias Lutz, which he operated in connection with his farming, and became one of the best known men in that part of the county, his wagon shop ... ever being a popular gathering place for the farmers of that vicinity upon their shopping trips to the village. Jacob Neff married Celesta Baker, who also was born in that township, daughter of Peter and Ann Baker, pioneers of that neighborhood, and to that union three children were born, the sub- ject of this sketch having a sister, Cliffie A., who married E. H. Foltz, and a brother, Adene, who is living in Dayton, Ohio. Jacob Neff died at Terre Haute in 1889 and his widow is still living in Dayton, Ohio.
Albert C. Neff grew up at Terre Haute, receiving his schooling in the schools of that village, and early prepared himself for teaching, for fifteen years thereafter being engaged as a teacher in the schools of Mad River and Jackson townships and in the high school at Mutual, this county. In 1899 he became connected with the office of the Central Union Telephone Company at Urbana and a year later was made manager of the office of that company in the neighboring county seat of London, remaining thus engaged in that city for four years, at the end of which time he was given charge of the offices of the company at Bellefontaine and Kenton, serving as man- ager of those offices until 1904. He then returned to Urbana and was manager of the Central Union Telephone Company, until 1910, when the Urbana Telephone Company, an independent concern, offered him the posi- tion of manager of the office and plant of that company at Urbana and he
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accepted, ever since serving in that capacity. During Mr. Neff's managerial connection with the Urbana Telephone Company he has done much to extend the service in that city and adjacent territory and by the introduction of the modern automatic system has done wonders in the way of populariz- ing the service of the company with which he is connected.
In 1889 Albert C. Neff was united in marriage to Ida B. Fansler, daughter of George and Sarah Fansler, of Mad River township, and to this union two children have been born, Esta and Hazel, both of whom are at home. The Neffs are members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Neff is a Mason and an Odd Fellow and takes a warm interest in lodge affairs. He has served as noble grand of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and as chief patriarch of the encampment. Politically, he is an "independent."
WALTER ELLSWORTH.
Walter Ellsworth, a farmer of Rush township, Champaign county, was born Angust 2, 1861, in Plymouth county, Iowa. He is a son of Willian and Harriet ( Kimball) Ellsworth, both natives of Rush township, Champaign county, Ohio. The paternal grandparents of the subject of this sketch were Jacob and Sarah ( Runyon) Ellsworth, natives of Vermont, from which state they came to Champaign county, Ohio, in an early day, locating on a farm in Rush township. They reared a large family, several of their sons serving in the Union army during the Civil War. William Ellsworth, who was one of the younger children, grew up on the home farm, and he was educated in the public schools and was married in Rush township. In 1845 he made the overland trip to Iowa in wagons. He was one of the pioneers of that state. He owned a good farm, which he developed from the virgin prairies, and spent the rest of his life in that state, dying near Sioux City. His family consisted of five children, namely : Frank is farming near Grand Valley, Corson county, South Dakota; Abbie married Ezra Woodward, of Columbus, Ohio; Walter, of this sketch; Henry is a farmer of Rush town- ship, this county; and Mary is the wife of Jacob Swisher, of Mechanics- burg.
The mother of the above named children married a second time, her last husband being Ephraim Woodward, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and an early settler of Wayne and Rush townships, this county. His death occurred in 1902 at the age of ninety-one years. His widow survived until
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I911, dying at the age of seventy-four years. One child, a daughter, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Woodward, namely; Jane, who is the wife of James Sparks, of Irwin Station, Ohio.
Walter Ellsworth had little opportunity to obtain an education. He was a child when his parents brought him to Champaign county. As a boy he was bound out for four years to James McElroy, and he worked at dif- ferent places until he was married, July 13, 1884, to Estella Smith, a native of Woodstock, this county, where she grew to womanhood and attended school. She is a daughter of Philip A. and Mary (Hopkins) Smith, who spent their lives on a farm in Rush township. He died October 16, 1881. She died January 22, 1910. They were members of the Christian church. Politically, Mr. Smith was a Democrat, and he was at one time trustee of his township. To these parents only two children were born, namely: Leon C., who is a conductor on the Norfolk & Western railroad, with headquar- ters in Columbus, married Gertrude Crossan, and they have one child, Philip H .; and Estella, wife of Mr. Ellsworth, of this sketch; Fannie Walker is an adopted daughter.
To Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth two children have been born, namely : Truman, who is now employed at the Dupont Powder Works in Washing- ton ; and Howard, who died at the age of eighteen.
After his marriage, Mr. Ellsworth located in Woodstock, this county, where he continued to reside until 1886, when he bought his present farm of eighty acres in Rush township, which he has since operated with gratifying results, carrying on a general farming and dairying business.
Politically, Mr. Ellsworth is a Republican. Fraternally, he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Woodstock. Mrs. Ellsworth is a member of the Christian church at Woodstock.
JESSE G. BOTKIN.
Jesse G. Botkin, well-known florist and hot-house gardener at Urbana, proprietor of the well-appointed "East Lawn Gardens" at the edge of that city, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life. He was born at Plattsville, in the neighboring county of Shelby, March 5, 1869, son of Amos and Elizabeth ( Vorris) Botkin, both of whom also were born in that same county. For a number of years after his marriage Amos Botkin remained in Shelby county, where he was engaged in farming, and
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then moved to Clark county, where he established his home on a farm and where he is still living, being now in the eighty-fifth year of his age. To him and his wife seven children were born, of whom six are still living, but of whom only two are residents of Champaign county, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Mrs. Samuel Neff, living here.
Having been but a child when he went with his parents from Shelby to Clark county, J. G. Botkin was reared on the home farm in the latter county and in the schools of that county received his early schooling. He supplemented that schooling by a course in Ohio Wesleyan University and two years after leaving that institution took up seriously the vocation of gardening and after a careful study of the technical side of that difficult vocation was made ground keeper and gardener for the National Home for the Junior Order of United American Mechanics at Tiffin and laid out the present beautiful grounds of that institution. Two years later Mr. Botkin determined to go into gardening as a business and with that end in view came to Champaign county and began gardening on a tract of land he secured near King's Creek, in Salem township. A year later he moved to Urbana, where he bought nine acres of land on the edge of the town and there established his "East Lawn Gardens," which have become so popular as a source of supply not only for choice garden products, but for the choice products of the florist's skill, among the people of Urbana and the county at large, Mr. Botkin long having been regarded as the leading market gardener and florist in Champaign county. When Mr. Botkin started "East Lawn Gardens" his financial means were somewhat limited and he was compelled to start in a small way, his initial plant under glass consisting of but six hot-beds. He now has more than six thousand square feet under glass and more than two hundred and fifty hot-beds and in addition to his extensive florist business raises for market large quantities of celery and let- tuce and several hundred of thousands of cabbage plants annually. He has his plant equipped with the Skinner irrigation system and has one of the best-equipped plants of the kind in this part of the state. Mr. Botkin is a Republican and gives a good citizen's attention to political affairs, but has never been a seeker after public office.
In 1893, at Tiffin, this state, J. G. Botkin was united in marriage to Ella Kramer, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Kramer, and to this union seven children have been born, Wenner, Esther, Jesse Lee, Ethel, Morris, Theodore and Otto. Mr. and Mrs. Botkin are members of the First Methodist Epis- copal church at Urbana and take an interested part in church work and in the general social activities of the city. Mr. Botkin is a Mason and is a
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Knight Templar in that ancient order. He is past chancellor commander of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, a member of Salem Grange at King's Creek and an honorary member of the Junior Order of United Ameri- can Mechanics, and also past grand in Urbana Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the affairs of all of which organizations he takes a warm interest.
JOHN M. EICHHOLTZ.
John M. Eichholtz, one of the oldest and best-known retired farmers of Champaign county, now living at Urbana, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. August 1, 1836, and was but three years of age when his par- ent, John and Mary (Myers) Eichholtz, also natives of Lancaster county, drove across the country into Ohio seeking a new home in 1839.
Upon coming to this state the elder John Eichholtz rented a farm in the neighborhood of Midway and lived there for one season, at the end of which time he moved to Salem township, this county, and there bought a tract of two hundred and sixty acres of partly improved land, paying for the same fifteen dollars an acre. About fifty acres of that tract had been cleared and there had been erected on the same a log cabin and a log barn. John Eichholtz completed the clearing of the place and made substantial improvements on the same, spending there the remainder of his life. His widow spent her last days in Urbana. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, of whom the subject of this sketch now is the only survivor, the others having been Jacob, Catherine, Henry, Mary, Solomon, Cynthia and two who died in infancy.
John M. Eichholtz was reared on the pioneer farm of his father in Salem township, receiving his schooling in the primitive schools of that time and place, and from the days of his boyhood was a valued assistant to his father in the labors of developing and improving the home place. He remained at home until he was twenty-seven years of age and then went to Dayton, where he became employed in cooper shop, remaining there two years, at the end of which time he returned home, but after a winter spent there went to Stark county, this state, where he bought a small farm and where he was married. He later established his home on a better farm in that county and there he remained for twenty years, at the end of which time he came to this county and bought a quarter of a section of land near Kingston, in Salem township, not far from the home of his boyhood, and
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there he lived until his retirement from the farm and removed to Urbana in 1016. Some time after locating in Salem township Mr. Eichholtz bought the old Talbott farm of one hundred and ten acres and in addition to his farm holdings is also the owner of considerable real estate in the city of Urbana and is accounted quite well-to-do. He has been a hard worker all his life and is very properly entitled to be called a self-made man, for the property he has accumulated has been secured through his own well-directed efforts.
As noted above, it was shortly after he located in Stark county that John M. Eichholtz was united in marriage to Almira Baer, of that county, who died, leaving two children, daughters. Anna, who married Bruner Kenaga, who died, leaving two children, John and Grover, and who, after the death of her first husband married Thomas Allen, of Urbana, and died leaving another child, a daughter, Clara, who is now keeping house for her grandfather, George Allen, of Urbana, and Mary, who died unmarried.
GEORGE W. STANDISH.
George W. Standish, superintendent of the Champaign county infirm- ary and "poor farm," is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in Rush township on February 20, 1860, son of George W. and Ellen (Riddle) Standish, and is a rep : tive in the ninth generation by direct descent from Capt. Miles Statensn. one of the most famous of the Pilgrim Fathers, whose courtship of Priscilla Mullens was commemorated by Longfellow, in his "Courtship of Miles Stan- dish," wherein it is pointed out that the bashful Captain Standish engaged the services of his friend, John Alden, to present his court to the sprightly Priscilla, whose heart, instead of responding to the Captain's plea, prompted her to hint quite openly to John that he might fare well in a similar suit if he would but speak for himself. Though Captain Standish did not get the fair Priscilla, he presently did marry another of the Pilgrim maiden - and reared a family, the descendants of whom now form a considerable family, represented widely throughout the country. Alexander Standish (eldest son of Captain Miles Standish) married the eldest daughter of John Alden and Priscilla and the subject of this sketch is a direct descendant of them. Capt. Miles Standish came with the Pilgrims to America in 1620 and led the exploring expeditions to discover a suitable place for settlement.
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE W. STANDISH
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He was appointed military captain of the colony in 1661 and was thus the first commissioned military officer in New England, and rendered valuable service in repelling Indian hostilities. In 1625 he visited England as agent of the colony and returned with supplies in 1626. Captain Standish founded Duxbury in 1632; was a member of the executive council, and for many years treasurer of the colony. George W. Standish traces descent from (I) Capt. Miles Standish through the latter's son, (2) Alexander, (3) Ebenezer. (4) Moses, (5) Moses, (6) Moses, (7) Miles, (8) George W., Sr., (9) George W., Jr.
The senior George W. Standish was born in New York City on March 24, 1838, and came to this county in the days of his young manhood, fol- lowing here the trade of butcher and settling in Rush township after his marriage to Ellen Riddle. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted as a member of Company G, Ninety-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with that command went to the front. While thus serving he was taken prisoner by the enemy and was sent to Libby prison, where he remained until exchanged. He later re-enlisted as a member of Company D, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and while serving with that command died at Cumberland, Maryland, June 29, 1864.
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