USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 89
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Reared on the paternal farm in Salem township, Burton A. Taylor received his early schooling in the district school in the neighborhood of his home and supplemented the same by a course in the Urbana high school, after which for two years he was engaged as a teacher in the public schools
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of his home township. He then went over to Plain City, in the neighboring county of Madison and there became engaged as a bookkeeper in the Farm- ers Bank of that place. He presently was promoted to the position of assistant cashier of the bank and later to the position of cashier, remaining with that bank for eleven years, or until his election to the office of auditor of Madison county in 1898. Upon entering upon the duties of that office in 1899 Mr. Taylor, who in the meantime had become married, moved to Lon- don, the county seat, where he made his home until the completion of his official service. He was re-elected auditor and thus served for two terms, a period of six years, his term of service expiring at the end of the year 1905. Shortly afterward, in 1906, Mr. Taylor returned to this county and located at St. Paris, where he aided in the organization of the Central National Bank of that place and was made cashier of the same, a position he ever since has occupied. Upon the organization of that bank David McMorran was elected president and G. Lear Smith, vice-president. The present officers of the bank are as follow: President, David McMorran; vice-president, J. E. Printz; cashier, Burton A. Taylor, and assistant cashier, G. G. Jones. the directors of the bank, besides the officers above named, being J. H. Batdorf, Charles Heck, R. M. Kite and Cephas Atkinson. Mr. Taylor is a Republican and during his residence in Madison county, besides serving as county auditor, was for some time clerk of Darby township in that county.
In 1893, at Plain City, Burton A. Taylor was united in marriage to Ada Delano, who was teaching school at that place at that time. She was born in Iowa and is a graduate of the Plain City high school and of Western College at Oxford. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, B. Allen, who was graduated from the St. Paris high school and is now a student at Wooster College, and Martha E., who is a student in the high school at St. Paris. The Taylor are members of the First Baptist church and take an active interest in the various beneficences of the same, Mr. Taylor being one of the trustees of the church and a teacher in the Sunday school. He is a Royal Arch Mason, having affiliated with the Masons while living at Plain City, and is past master of the lodge at that place and a member of Adoniram chapter, Royal Arch Masons, at London. He also is a member of St. Paris Lodge No. 344, Knights of Pythias, and takes a warm interest in both Masonic and Pythian affairs. Since taking up his residence in St. Paris Mr. Taylor has given his earnest attention to the general business interests of that city and is widely known in financial circles throughout this part of the state.
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MARION CORBET.
Marion Corbet, a farmer of Wayne township, this county, was born in Rush township, this county, in 1847, a son of Amasa and Experience (Walburn) Corbet. The father was born in the state of New York, but when young his parents brought him to Ohio, the family locating on a farm at Brush Lake, in Rush township, Champaign county. Amasa Corbet had one brother, who died when eight years old, and one sister, Julia, who married James Bay of Bloomington, Illinois. John and Matilda Walburn, the paternal grandparents of the subject of this sketch, were also pioneer settlers in Rush township, where they spent their last days on a farm. They had three children, Experience, who married Amasa Corbet; a daughter, and John.
Amasa Corbet grew to manhood on the home farm in Rush township. amid a pioneer environment. He helped to clear and improve the home farm and attended the early-day schools, receiving an excellent education for those early times. He remained at home until his marriage, then took up farming for himself in Rush township, continuing successfully thus en- gaged until his death, which occurred in September, 1861, at the age of fifty-eight years. His widow also died at the age of fifty-eight, June 6, 1863. They were originally members of the Methodist Episcopal church. but later became connected with the United Presbyterian church. Politically. Amasa Corbet was a Republican. His family consisted of ten children. namely : David, who married Lorinda Stowe and established his home on a farm in Rush township, died in 1892; John, who married Elizabeth Jordan and established his home on a farm at North Lewisburg, this county ; Lewis. who first married Marinda Bonsel, and later Rosanna Good, established his home on a farm in Rush township; Olive, the wife of John Swisher. a farmer of Rush township; Martha, who married Oliver Colwell and who now, as well as her husband is deceased; Benjamin, who married Susan Swisher, devoted his early life to farming and died in Indianapolis, Indiana. where he had located: William, who was a farmer and teacher of Wayne township, Champaign county, married Sarah Wilson and they are now both deceased; Marion, the subject of this sketch; Mary Eliza, who died when three years of age, and Amasa T., who is farming in Wayne town- ship, this county.
Marion Corbet was reared on the old home place and received his education in the common schools. He remained at home until the death of
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his parents. In 1867 he married Rebecca Wilson, of Wayne township, and a daughter of D. K. Wilson and wife. To this union one child has been born, Wilbert Corbet, now engaged in farming in Wayne township, who married Ella Blue, and has two children, Marion and Ethel.
After his marriage Marion Corbet located on the Wilson farm in Wayne township, later moving to his present farm, known as the Hale place, in that same township, where he still resides. He has a productive and well-improved farm, owning one hundred and fifteen acres of valuable land. on which he carries on general farming and stock raising, making a specialty of Shorthorn cattle and Jersey red hogs.
Mr. Corbet is a Republican and has served on the local school board. He is a member of Jenkins Chapel, Methodist Protestant church.
EDGAR M. CRANE.
In this age brains count for more in farming than brawn, but in pioneer times perhaps the reverse was true. One of the intelligent tillers of the soil in Salem township, this county, is Edgar M. Crane, who was born in Urbana, Ohio, March 21, 1870. He is a son of Marcus H. and Effie (Muzzy) Crane. The father was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, No- vember 10, 1843. He was a son of Zenas and Mary (Harrison) Crane. an old family of Caldwell, New Jersey, where they lived and died on a farm. Their family consisted of the following children: Marcus H., father of the subject of this sketch; Caleb, who is still living in Caldwell, New Jersey, and Anna, who still lives in New Jersey, widow of L. G. Lockward.
Marcus H. Crane grew to manhood in his native state and there attended the public schools and the Plainfield Academy. He remained in New Jersey until 1862 when he came to Ohio, where he secured a position in the foundry of Moore & Whitehead, at Urbana, later taking an interest in the firm and finally buying out the concern, operating the business himself successfully for some time. He also turned his attention to farming, buying one hundred and sixty-three acres east of Urbana, also a farm of two hundred and seventy acres north of Urbana. He became one of the progressive and well-to-do citizens of this locality.
On May 28, 1869, Marcus H. Crane married Effie Muzzy. She was born at New Carlisle, Clarke county, Ohio, February 13, 1848. She was one of five children born to Joseph and Eliza (Hunt) Muzzy, the former
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a native of Springfield, Ohio, and the latter of Whitehall, Vermont. Joseph Muzzy was a boy when his parents removed with their family from New England to Clark county, Ohio, locating near Springfield. There Joseph Muzzy died and his wife married a second time, her last husband being a Mr. Armstrong. To the first marriage four children were born, Joseph, Horace, Franklin and James. Joseph Muzzy grew up in Springfield, Ohio, and there attended school. He engaged in the dry goods business during his earlier years, later conducting a grocery store. His death occurred in 1879. His wife died in 1863. They were parents of the following chil- dren: Richard Hunt, deceased; Lucinda, the wife of Dr. Silas Edgar, of Atlanta, Georgia; Francis, of Springfield, Ohio, and Effie, who married Marcus H. Crane, and Wallace, who lives in Pennsylvania. Three chil- dren were born to Marcus H. Crane and wife, namely: Edgar Melvin, the subject of this sketch; Frances, wife of Joseph Hitt, of Urbana, and Maria Steel, who died when fifteen years of age.
The death of Marcus H. Crane occurred in 1909, and his wife passed away on April 24, 1917, at the age of sixty-nine. She had lived in Urbana forty-eight years. She was a member of the First Presbyterian church and an ardent worker in all its branches, and was one of the leaders in the missionary movements. She was at one time a teacher in the Sunday school. She was at one time president of the local Literary Club, a promi- nent member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and was closely identified with all forward movements taken up by the women of Urbana. Marcus H. Crane was also an active member of the First Presbyterian church, with which he was affiliated for more than thirty years, and for some time was a deacon in the same. Fraternally, he belonged to the Ma- sonic order, including the Knights Templars. He also belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Urbana. He was well known and respected by all who knew him.
Edgar M. Crane, the immediate subject of this review, grew to man- hood in Champaign county. He received excellent educational advantages, attending the local public schools and the Urbana high school, and later spent two years in the University of Wooster, at Wooster, Ohio. After leaving college he began his business career by accepting a position with the Citizens Bank of Urbana, but he decided that a business career that would keep him indoors was not so fascinating as agricultural pursuits, in which he could lead a simpler and more wholesome life; so he abandoned banking and turned his attention to general farming on land east of Urbana, where he remained twelve years, or until 1910. He then located on his present
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fine farm of three hundred and seventy-five acres, known as the old Jennings farm, in Salem township. He has made many important improvements on the place, and keeps his fields in excellent condition, everything denoting that a gentleman of industry and good management is at the helm. In connection with general farming, Mr. Crane pays a great deal of attention to- stock raising, feeding a large number of cattle annually for the market.
Mr. Crane was married in April, 1915, to Goldie Brinnon, who was born in Union township, this county, where she grew to womanhood, a daughter of Charles and Nora Brinnon. To Mr. and Mrs. Crane one child, a daughter, has been born, Dorothy M. Crane.
Fraternally, Mr. Crane is a Royal Arch Mason, affiliated with Har- mony lodge and the chapter at Urbana. He belongs to the Presbyterian church and, politically, is a Republican.
ISAAC J. KAUFFMAN.
Farming is both profitable and pleasant when skillfully done, as in the case of Isaac J. Kauffman of Salem township, this county. He was born in Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1870, a son of Charles and Keziah (Dunlap) Kauffman, both natives of Pennsylvania, the father of Lancaster county and the mother of Clearfield county. Charles Kauffman was fourteen years old when he left school and went to work, earning his own living. Later he went to Clearfield county, where he was married and there he worked for some time in the timber and about saw-mills. In 1877 he came to Ohio and settled in Salem township, Champaign county, first living on the Abel North farm one year, also spent a year on the B. M. Madden farm, then moved to the I. B. Thomas farm where he resided for a period of fifteen years. From there he moved to the William Gamon place where he spent two years, then moved to Wyandotte county, this state, where he made his home for seven years, after which he returned to Champaign county, locating near Woodstock, on the Pete Black place, where he lived three years, then moved to Zanesfield, Logan county, where his death occurred in December, 1914, at the age of sixty-nine years. His widow is still living there. Ten children were born to Charles Kauffman and wife, namely : Isaac J., the subject of this sketch; John W., who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, and has been an engineer on the Pennsylvania railroad for the past twenty-one years: Stephen G., an electrical contractor of Columbus, Ohio:
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Charles M., who is farming in Monroe county, Michigan; Myrtle, who lives in Fremont, Ohio; Edward, who is a steam-shovel engineer and lives in Newark, Ohio; Hoad, who is farming in Salem township, this county ; Nora, who lives in Columbus, this state; Walter, who lives in Columbus, where he works as an electrician, and Morris, who lives at home with his mother.
Isaac J. Kauffman was reared on the farm and received a common- school education at Kennard. He lived at home until his marriage on Janu- ary 28, 1892, to Dora A. Wilkins, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio. She is a daughter of Howard and Rebecca ( Martin) Wilkins, natives of Vir- ginia, from which state they came to Ohio in an early day, locating in Salem township, Champaign county, where they engaged in farming, the father dying here in 1903. His widow is still living in Salem township. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins eight children were born, namely: William G., who is a retired farmer and lives at Kennard, this county; James W., who lives in Salem township, this county: Margaret Belle, wife of Jacob Woodruff, of Salem township; Sarah Minerva, wife of C. S. Unkefer, of Salem township; Fred L., who also lives in Salem township; Dora A., wife of Mr. Kauff- man, the subject of this sketch; Anna S., wife of Edward B. Thomas, of Salem township, and Charles G., who also lives in Salem township.
To Mr. and Mrs. Kauffman seven children have been born, namely : Freda, who married Marshall Miller, a farmer of Salem township, and has one child, John, and Ray, Emmett, Naomi, Ralph, Nellie and Alfred. These children are all at home but the eldest.
After his marriage Mr. Kauffman located on the Abel North farm in Salem township, where he spent three years, then moved to Kennard, where he resided for nine years, engaging in teaming and hay bailing. In 1904 he moved to the place on which he now lives, known as the Fulweider farm, which consists of two hundred and fifty acres, where he has made many important improvements and has been very successful as a general farmer and stock raiser. He has worked hard and managed well and is one of the leading young farmers of his township.
Mr. Kauffman is a Democrat and has for some time been more or less active and influential in public affairs. He has served as trustee of Salem township for the past eight years, his long retention in this office indicating that he has discharged his duties in a highly acceptable manner, honestly and conscientiously looking after the best interests of the people. He is a. member of the Friends church.
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WILLIAM R. YOCOM.
A venerable agriculturist, now living in retirement, in Wayne town- ship, being now in his eighty-third year, is William R. Yocom, who has always been a well-known and highly esteemed citizen of Champaign county. He was born December 12, 1834, in the above-named township, and is therefore one of the oldest native-born citizens in the county, which he has lived to see develop from a pioneer settlement to one of the leading farming sections of the country.
The first member of this family in America was Solomon Yocom of Virginia, who removed to Kentucky in 1802, settling near Mount Sterling, and in 1820 came to Ohio, locating at Urbana. After buying horses and other live stock there for some time he settled two miles east of Granite Hill and opened up Sulphur Springs, clearing and developing the land round about that place. His first building was a log cabin. Later he moved to Urbana on account of the prevalence of malaria at Sulphur Springs. He finally bought land near George's Chapel, and later died while living with his son, John W. Yocom, his death occurring there in 1855. His wife had preceded him to the grave in 1838. He was a harnessmaker and saddiemaker by trade. He was also a local preacher and often preached to the Indians in the early days, with Sol Hinkle. He was a Methodist. Seven children were born to Solomon Yocom and wife, namely : Kate, Nancy, Sallie M., John Wesley, Betsy, Caroline and Lucy Ann. Kate Yocom married John Miller and three children were born to them, Solomon, who married Pruetta Studebaker; Nancy, who married Peter Kenny, and Robert. Nancy Yocom married Levi King, and they were parents of two children, Polly, who married Daniel Baylor, of Union township, and after his death married Thomas Middleton, of Wayne township, and Charles K., who lives in Springfield, Ohio. Sallie M. Yocom married Reuben Adams and these children were born to them: Eliza, who married Levi Elliot, a soldier in the Union army, who established his home in this county; Mary Ann, who married John W. Diltz, who established his home in Union township, this county; Caroline, who married Alex Miller and located in Goshen town- ship, this county; John W., who died when young; Lucy Ann, who married James Edge and moved to Indiana; Solomon, who lived at Mutual, and who was killed in a saw-mill; Sarah, who now lives in London, Ohio, the widow of Andrew J. Stone, a soldier in Company C, Sixty-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil War, who died in December, 1898.
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John Wesley Yocom, the only son in the family, is mentioned in succeeding paragraphs in this article. Betsey Yocom married John Worrell, who lo- cated in Urbana, and they had the following children: James, who was a machinist in Springfield, Ohio, and later in Richmond, Indiana; Frank, who was a soldier in the Civil War, and who died at Memphis, Tennessee, after serving in the war; Adam, also a soldier in the Civil War and a locomotive engineer, who died in Indiana; William, also a Union soldier, and a loco- motive engineer, also lived in Indiana; Moses B., a blacksmith, who served in the Union army and after the war located in Ohio. Caroline Yocom married James Bailey, of Urbana, Ohio, and had one child, Charles, who lived with his grandfather, Solomon Yocom, until he was twenty years old, then went to Madison county, Ohio. He married Sallie Crawford. Lucy Ann Yocom, the seventh and youngest child, married Davidson Bayless, a farmer of Union township, this county, and they became parents of four children : Susie, widow of David Syler, of Miami county, Ohio, now making her home in the city of Cleveland; Lemuel, who married Martha Craig and located first in Union township, this county, but now makes his home in Logan county, Ohio; Louisa, who married John Syler, of Miami county, Ohio, and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased, and Gould who lives in Michigan.
John Wesley Yocom, father of the immediate subject of this sketch, was the only son of Solomon Yocom and wife, and the fifth child in order of birth. He was born in Kentucky in 1805. He spent his boyhood in the Blue Grass state, being fifteen years of age when his parents brought him to Champaign county, in 1820. He helped clear and develop the home farm here, working hard and enduring the usual privations of pioneers. He remained at home until 1827, when he married Susanna Watson. She was a native of the vicinity of London, Ohio, and a daughter of David and Betsey (Helvestine) Watson. David Watson was born in 1770. When a boy he followed the sea six or seven years, later settling in Virginia. finally came to Madison county, Ohio, where he was one of the first settlers, locating southwest of London, where he cleared and developed a farm in the wilderness, when settlers were few and trading centers far remote. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. He and his wife both died in Madison county, this state. Their children were named as follows: Susanna, born in 1808; Jesse, who lived on a farm in Madison county; Betsy, who mar- ried Joseph Surves, who established his home in Madison county; Samuel, who married Nancy Crider and established his home in Madison county ;
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Isabella, who married Samuel Crider, of Madison county; Stephen, who married Alma Dungan, and they also lived in Madison county; David, who married Elizabeth Jones and also lived in Madison county; Mrs. Jose- phine Brown, also of Madison county, and the two youngest children, daugh- ters, who died in infancy.
John Wesley Yocom had little opportunity to obtain an education, attending for a short time the pioneer rural schools. After his marriage he moved to the old camp ground in Champaign county, where he lived four years; then to a farm in Wayne township, where he spent the rest of his life. His widow survived until November 20, 1892. He became one of the leading farmers and stockmen of his locality. He was a Republican. He and his wife were members of the Union Methodist Episcopal church, which congregation often held services in their home before the church was built, and he was active in the affairs of the church. His family con- sisted of eight children: James W., Mary Jane, Hester, William R., Caro- line, Isabella, Louisiana and Emily. James W. Yocom, who was for many years a teacher in the schools of Union township and who died in 1898. married Mrs. Hannah ( Millice) Elsworth and had five children, namely : Viola, who married James Perry, of Union township; John, who married Lulu Reams, also of Union township; Elmer, who married Fannie Corbett and lives in Union township; Alfred, who married a Miss Beltz and lives in Marion, Ohio, and Jesse, who died when fourteen years of age. Mary Jane Yocom, who died in 1894, was the wife of John Best. They estab- lished their home in Wayne township, this county, and three children were born to them, namely: Enola, who married Statin Middleton and lives in Wayne township: Carrie, wife of David Perry, of Columbus, Ohio, and John Wesley, of Wayne township, who married a Miss Shaul, now deceased. Hester Yocon died in 1845. William R. Yocom, the immediate subject of this sketch, was the fourth child in order of birth. Caroline Yocom married O. S. Barber and lives in Urbana. Isabella Yocom died unmarried in 1858. Louisiana Yocom, now deceased, was the wife of William Yeazell. Emily Yocom married Benjamin Millice and lives near Mechanicsburg. Mr. and Mrs. Millice have two children, Cora, who married William Romanie, of Mechanicsburg, and William, who married Lulu Moody, and lives near Mechanicsburg.
William R. Yocom grew to manhood on the home farm in his native county and attended the old-time subscription schools in his community, receiving a limited education, walking three miles to the school house, which was of logs, about one-half the way being through the heavy woods. He
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has become a well-informed man on general topics by wide imiscellaneous reading. He remained at home, assisting with the work on the farm, until he was twenty-seven years old. On March 26, 1862, he married Martha Chedister, who was born in Wayne township, this county, a daughter of Holdridge and Mary Chedister, pioneers of that township. Mrs. Yocom lived only six months after her marriage, dying on October 7, 1862, and Mr. Yocom subsequently married Margaret Linville, who was born in Penn- sylvania in 1849, and whose parents brought her to Champaign county when she was eight years old. She was a daughter of Thomas Linville and wife. To this second marriage four children were born, namely: Quinn M., who is farming in Mad River township, this county, and who married Grace Hunter and has two children, Helen and Margaret; Jason C., who is farming in Union township, and who married Elvie Johnson and has three children, William H., Robert and Clyde; Jesse, who died unmarried at the age of twenty-two years, and Samuel L., who lives at home, operating the home farm, and who married Laura Cooper and has one son, Raymond.
After his marriage William R. Yocom located near the old home farm in Wayne township, buying one hundred acres. Not long after his second marriage he bought the farm on which he now lives. He was a man of industry, good management and sound judgment and, prospering with ad- vancing years he has become the owner of one thousand acres of excellent farming land in Wayne and Union townships, and has long been regarded as among the leading general farmers and stock raisers in Champaign and adjoining counties. He farmed on an extensive scale for many years, but now that old age has come on he has turned the operations of his great estate over to his son, for the most part. He always raised large herds of live stock and fed a number of carloads of stock annually for the market. dealing especially in hogs, sheep and horses. He has an attractive and commodious residence in the midst of picturesque surroundings, and numer- ous modern and substantial outbuildings ; in fact, his lands are well improved in every respect, everything about his place denoting thrift and good man- agement.
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