USA > Ohio > Clinton County > History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families > Part 93
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On April 7. 1870. Cyrus E. Custis was married to Lutitia Douglas, who was born on January 10, 1844. and who is the daughter of Absalom and Mary (Coulter) Douglas. To this union have been born two children: Albert Reed, who married Catherine Devanney, and Mary Douglas, who graduated from Wilmington College in 1908.
Albert Reed Custis was born in Richland township. Clinton county, Ohio. He obtained the rudiments of an education in the common schools of Richland township and later was a student in Wilmington College, having been a resident student at that institution during 1800, 1891 and 1892. For some time after he left college. he was engaged in the stone-crushing business, which he continued for about three years, during which time he did considerable contract work at Wilmington. Later, he was in the coal and feed business in Wilmington, but he is now engaged in the grain business in part- nership with William A. Ewing and owns an elevator at Melvin, Ohio. They buy all kinds of grain and sell feed, coal, cement, fencing, fence posts and many other supplies necessary on the farm.
Albert Reed Custis also farms in connection with his grain business, doing general farming and stock raising. lie owns forty-five acres of land In Richland township.
Mrs. Albert R. Custis, before her marriage, was Catherine Devanney and is the daughter of William Devanney. They have no children. Politically, Albert R. Custis is a Republienn. He is a member of the Methodist church and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. and Mrs. Albert R. Custis live at Wilmington.
Returning to the father. Cyrus E. Custis. it may be said with exact truth that he is an intelligent, pleasant, strong, healthy and uupretentions man and one who has been a natural leader in almost every phase of public life in this county. He has been repeatedly called upon to serve his fellow eltizens, because in the first public positions which be filled. he acquitted himself with credit and demonstrated his ability for larger service. Since he was eighteen years old, he has been a member of the Methodist Protestant church at Richland and during that time has served in all of the offices of the church. Four different times he has been elected to the general conference as a delegate. In 1896 he was a delegate to Kansas City, four years Inter he was a delegate at Atlantic City ; in 1904 he was a delegate to the conference at Washington, D. C., and in 1912 to the conference at Baltimore, Maryland. Since 1896 he has been a trustee of Kansas City University. Altogether he served two terms and nine months additional as com- missioner of Clinton county. He has also served several terms as trustee of Richland township. Mr. Custis has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1867 and is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
JOHN C. CASHMAN.
Farming, to which the major part of the life of John C. Cashman has been devoted. is the oldest pursuit known to mankind. It is also the one in which he will always be the most independent. Although a comparatively young man, he has made a notable success not only of farming. but of the lumber business, as well as the construction of macadam roads. He is well known to the people of this county. where he has spent practically all of his life, and where he is honored and respected as one of the younger business men of the county.
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John C. Cashman was born on January 23, 1871, at Rockville. Missouri, and is the son of Joseph and Sarah Louisa ( Vandervort) Cashman, the former of whom was born on October 1. 1831, near Antioch, in Greene township, Clinton county, Ohio, and who died on November 21. 1913, and the latter of whom was born nenr Antioch, in Green township, January 20, 1844, and' who is still living.
Mr. Cashman's paternal grandparents were Jobn and Catherine Cashman, who set- tled in Clinton county, Ohio, after having come here from Virginta in an early day. He was engaged in hauling goods to and from Cincinnati before the railroads were built. During this period he lived at New Antioch. Late in life he made a considerable amount of money and owned several farms at the time of his death. He was a man of strictly temperate habits and who, beginning as a poor boy, became well-to-do for his day and generation. He and his wife were members of the Christian church. He was buried at New Antioch.
The maternal grandparents of Mr. Cashman were John and Martha E. (Riley) Vandervort, the former of whom was born on June 2, 1813, in Warren county, Ohio, and who was the son of Jonah and Elizabeth Vandervort, a full sketch of whose family is given in the biography of Nicholas W. Vandervort, deceased. which appears else- where in this history. John Vandervort was reared on a farm and received a good common-school education and taught school several years before and after his mar- ringe. On October 20. 1842, he was married to Martha E. Riley, who was born on Novem- ber 20, 1824, the daughter of Richard and Sarah Riley. They had eight children : Sarah E., who is Mr. Cashman's mother; Mary E., Amanda, who married Alpheus King; Ella, who married Samuel H. Trovillo: Preston, Charles, Emmerson and Jobn, Jr. After his marriage John Vandervort moved to a farin three miles southeast of Harveys- burg. where he lived several years, and then removed to a farm one and one-half miles northeast of New Antioch, where he lived fifteen years. He then located neur Cuba, Ohio, where he died on December 17. 1865. At the time of his death he was worth more than fifteen thousand dollars. His widow and family later moved to Chester town- ship. where she died.
Joseph Cashman, father of John C., was a farmer all his life. Immigrating to Missouri, he owned a prairie farm in that state, but on account of the ague returned to Clinton county, and purchased a farm in Washington township near Cuba, where he lived until within six years of his death. He then removed to Martinsville, Ohio, and there dled. A man of strictly temperate habits, he never swore, used tobacco, nor Intoxicating liquors in any form. He was a Christian gentleman and one who is well remembered by the people of this county for his clean mind and his honorable, upright habits. He owned two hundred acres of land at the time of his death. At the age of seventeen years he joined the Christian church and continued an active worker in this church all his life. Before the organization of the Republican party he was a Whig. but after its organization he identified himself with the party of Lincoln and Fremont.
Five children were born to Joseph and Sarah Louisa ( Vandervort ) Cashman, of .whom John C. was the fourth. The others were: Elmer, who lives on a farm in Vernon township: Etta, who married James West, deceased, and who lives on her father's home farm: Minnie, who married Martin I. Shiveley, a resident of South Chillicothe, Ohio: and Lulu, who died on August 3. 1878, at the age of four years.
John C. Cashman was four years of age when the family removed from Missouri to Clinton county, Ohio. He attended the public schools of Cuba, Ohio, and also the normal school at New Vienna, after which he taught school for nine years in Clinton county, in Vernon and Adams townships. He then took up farming and after renting his father's farm purchased one hundred and twenty-eight acres of land and two years Inter sold the farm for a profit. ['pon removing to Breathitt county, Kentucky, he engaged in the manufacture of lumber and there purchased a large tract of timber land,
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and with the use of a portable saw-mill turned out five million feet of lumber, which he sold. After three years in Kentucky, in 1910, Mr. Cashman returned to Wilmington. Previously he had built a home in this city, in the spring of 1907. Upon returning from Kentucky he purchased one hundred and seventy-two acres of land in Washington town- ship. The Cashman family now live in town, however. Mr. Cashman manages his farm and is engaged in building macadam roads under contract. He built the first macadam road ever constructed in Clinton county.
On May 7, 1896, John C. Cashman was married to Corinna Blanch Smithson, who was born in Clinton county, Ohio, in Clark township, the daughter of William and Martha Smithson, both of whom are living. The father is a building contractor and lives on Library avenue, in Wilmington. Mr. and Mrs. Cashman have had five children : Claude Merland, born on April 19, 1897; Donald William, April 30, 1904; Robert Joseph, September 27, 1906; Neal Elmer, June 14, 1911; and Martha Louise, December 23, 1912.
Mr. and Mrs. Cashman and family are members of the Central Christian church of Wilmington, and Mr. Cashman is an elder in this church. He became a member of the Christian church at the age of eighteen at the old Macedonia church in Washington township, and served as superintendent of the Sunday school. Throughout his entire life Mr. Cashman has been identified with the Republican party.
FRIEND P. SPENCE.
One of the most successful farmers of Clark township, Clinton county, Ohio, is Friend P. Spence, a native of Perins Mills, Clermont county, Oblo, born on September 27, 1840, the son of Edmund and Mercena (Perin) Spence, natives of Pennsylvania and Boston, Massachusetts, respectively.
The paternal grandfather of Mr. Spence was Shackleford Spence, a native of Ireland, and of Scotch-Irish descent. After coming to America, he settled in Pennsylvania, but died later at the home of his son, Edmund, at Batavia, in Clermont county. Mr. Spence's maternal grandparents were born in England and settled in Boston, Massachusetts. Rela- tives of this family came to America in the first settlement of Boston. Mercena Perin. who maried Edmund Spence, came to Michigan with her brothers and later immigrated to the state of Ohio.
The late Edmund Spence, the father of Friend P., was never able to attend school, and at the age of seventeen began working for Samuel Perin, a cousin of Mercena Perin. He served as recorder of Clermont county for six years. Subsequently, he entered the dry goods business at Batavia and later was engaged in the same business at Cincinnati. Later in life he returned to Perios Mills, in Clermont county, Ohio, and became one of its best known citizens, holding various township offices, Including that of assessor and trustee. He was an active Democrat throughout his life.
Friend P. Spence was educated at Perins Mills, and at the age of sixteen years began farming. On December 19, 1873, he moved to a farm at the edge of Martinsville of one hundred and eighty acres, where he now lives. Mr. Spence owns, besides this farm, two hundred and seventy acres elsewhere. During the Civil War, he was a member of the famous organization known as the "squirrel hunters." At Martinsville he has a magnificent home and is surrounded with all of the comforts of life.
On March 6, 1873, Mr. Spence was married to Hannah M. Turner, the daughter of Daniel Turner, whose parents. Michael and Elizabeth (Beltz) Turner, came with four children from Bedford county, Pennsylvania, to Clermont county, Ohio, in 1808. Michael Turner was a native of Germany. Eight children were born after the removal of this family to Oblo, but Daniel was the last member of the family born in the Keystone state. The trip to Oblo was made in a flat-boat. Daniel Turner accumulated, during his life, eight hundred and fifty acres of land on the East fork in Clermont county and one hundred and sixty acres in the southern part of Clinton county. He also owned two
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FRIEND P. SPENCE.
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MR. AND MRS. FRIEND P. SPENCE.
Photograph taken at the time of their marriage. In 1873.
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hundred and thirty-three acres in Highland county, a total of twenty-two hundred and forty-three acres. Most of his money was made in raising and selling hogs. He was also engaged in the pork-packing business in Cincinnati and, although he could only write his own name, he was a man of very astute business ability. Daniel Turner, who married Susan Malott, had thirteen children, twelve of whom grew to maturity. He was for many years a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and a director in the Cincinnati & Eastern railroad. In this connection he was instrumental in the con- struction down the valley of the East fork.
Mr. and Mrs. Spence were the parents of six children: Leota M., who married Melvin Townsend: Alfred B., who lives at home; Edmund 8., who lives in California ; Daniel T., living in Martinsville; Isaac, deceased; and Susan, who married John Trenary, of Blanchester, Ohio, and they have one child, Jobn. Mr. Spence is an independent voter, and has served as school director. Mrs. Spence died on November 16, 1882.
EARL WIRE BENLEHR.
Earl Wire Benlehr, an enterprising young farmer of Union township, was born on April 13, 1891, in U'nion township, Clinton county, Ohio, and is the son of George H. and Hannah (Bowermaster) Benlehr, the former of whom was born on October 16, 1846, in Union township, Clinton county, and the latter of whom was born on March 8, 1846, in Greene county, Ohio.
George H. Benlehr is a well-known quarryman of Clinton county and a veteran of the Civil War. His parents were Frederick and Lavina Jane (Haws) Benlehr, the former of whom was born near Berlin, Germany, in 1810, and who died on December 25, 1800, and the latter of whom was born on April 23, 1824, in Union township, and who died on April 10, 1849. George H. Benlehr's paternal grandparents were natives of Germany, his grandfather having died in Germany and his grandmother having died en route to America. Mr. Benlehr's maternal grandparents were John and Sarah (Gib- son) Haws (sometimes spelled "Hawes"). After the death of John Haws, his widow 'married George Hartman, who died in 1852. She died in 1867. Frederick Benlehr, the grandfather of Earl Wire, was the founder of the Benlehr family in Clinton county. In 1835 be purchased a farm in Union township and later operated a butcher shop in Wilmington, living on the farm, however, in the meantime. Frederick and Lavina Jane Benlehr had three children, of whom Earl Wire's father was the youngest. The others were: Louisa, born on February 8, 1840, who is the wife of William E. Parker, of Independence, Iowa, who was former superintendent of the Lee county schools; and Sarah, November 5, 1841, who is the wife of Jacob Schlotter, a florist at Keokuk, Iowa.
George H. Benlehr was educated in the public schools of Union township. His mother died when he was three years old and after her death, his father married Eliza- beth Lynn and they had three children. George H. lived with his Uncle Jim and Aunt Sarah Haws and before that with his Grandmother Haws while she lived.
When he was only seventeen years old, George H. Benlehr enlisted in Company H. One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment, Ohlo Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war, July 15, 1865, when he received an honorable discharge. For many years after the war he lived on the farm, but in 1913 moved to Wilmington. Nearly twenty years ago he bought the Babb quarry at Todds fork and has been engaged in crushing stone for building purposes ever since. His wife, who was Hannah Bower- master before her marriage, was the daughter of R. A. and Ann ( Venard) Bowermaster, the former of whom was a native of Cookstown, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Clinton county. Ohio. R. A. Bowermaster came with his parents to Clinton county, Ohio, and later moved to Bowersville, Greene county, Ohio, where be was a carpenter by trade.
Earl Wire Benlehr is one of nine children born to his parents, all of whom are living: Cleo Lavina, born on May 5, 1868, who married Ed Bean, a resident of High-
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land county ; Cora, September 4. 1871, who married Seymour Murphy, deceased, and she now lives with her father; Charles E., February 6, 1874, who is a missionary in India for the Christian church : Sarah L .. December 21, 1876, who is the wife of Thomas Pond, of Muncie, Indiana; Catherine. June 26, 1879, who became the wife of John Fleming, of Mercer county ; Grace F .. May 24, 1882, who married Ralph Duffy. of Urbana, Oblo; George A .. December 18, 1884, who is a railroad engineer at Lancaster, Ohlo; Fred A., July 4, 1887, who is a quarryman and lives at home with his parents; and Earl W., who is the subject of this sketch.
Earl Wire Benlehr attended the public schools of Union township and received practically all of his education at the old "Dutch" school. in district No. 11. However. he attended the public schools in Wilmington, Ohio, and helped his father on the farm in the meantime until 1907, when he rented a farm in Union township, for two years. After that he moved to Huntington. Indiana, where for one year he was a freman on the Chicago & Erie railroad. In 1910 he returned to Clinton county and after his mar- riage, began renting his father's farm of seventy-five acres on the Xenia pike in Union township. Mr. Benlehr still farms that land in addition to seventy-five acres adjoining.
On December 14, 1911, Earl Wire Benlehr was married to Myrta Mae Sprague, who was born in U'nton township, Clinton county, Ohio, February 14. 1890, and who is the daughter of George Bruce and Cornella Catherine (Pidgeon) Sprague, both of whom are living, the former of whom is a prominent farmer and lives on the Port William pike in Union townsbtp. Mr. and Mrs. Benlehr have one child, Dorothy Hannah, born on May 10. 1913.
Earl W. Benlehr is a Democrat. He and his wife are members of the Christian church in Wilmington. He is a capable young farmer and business man and popular in the community where he lives.
ELI HAINES.
Of the many respected citizens and successful farmers now living retired in Wil- mington, Obio. Eli Haines, who owns a farm of one hundred and twenty-three acres in Clinton county, should be mentioned. He is descended from one of the very earliest settlers of this county, his great-grandfather. Jacob Haines, who was a native of Penn- sylvania, having come to Oblo in 1803 and to Clinton county in the spring of 1804.
EN Haines was born on August 9. 1857. in Caesars Creek township. Greene county, Ohio, the son of Samuel and Mary (Bales) Haines, the former of whom was born in 1518, near New Burlington, Ohio, and died in October. 1903, and the latter of whom was born in Greene county, Ohio, in 1820, and died in 190G.
Mr. Haines's paternal grandparents were Zimri and Elizabeth (Compton) Haines, the former of whom came from New Jersey with his parents. Ile was married neur New Burlington. Obio, and. having learned the enbinet-maker's trade in Philadelphia, followed this trade to some extent in early life. After coming to Ohio, he became a farmer, buying his land very chenply. During the early years of his life. he owned about twelve hundred acres of land. He and his wife were members of the Friends church. He died at the age of eighty-seven, and she at a very advanced age.
Jacob Haines, who may be regarded as the founder of the Haines family in Ohio. was born in Pennsylvania, February 19, 1778, and when a young man moved with his parents to Guilford county, North Carolina. In 1800 he was married to Mary Leonard and three years later came to Ohio, remaining at Waynesville for a short time, after which he came to I'nion township, Clinton county. In the spring of 1804. His family consisted of his wife and one child, Zimri, who spent most of his life in this county. Jacob Haines passed away on June 17, 1554.
The maternal grandfather of Ell Haines was Elisha Bales, who lived in Greene
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county, Ohio, on the middle fork of Caesars creek, where he owned a farm of two hundred acres.
Samuel Haines grew up in Greene county, Ohio, and after Inheriting a part of his father's bome farm, added to it until he owned five hundred acres. He was & promi- nent man in local politics in Greene county and held several township offices. He was a Republican and a member of the Friends church, both he and his wife being elders in the church. They had eleven children, two of whom died in infancy and four of whom died in later life, namely : 'Amos, who died when a young man and who was a promi- uent church worker; Sarah, who married H. C. Faulkner and died in May, 1913; Zimri, who died of typhold fever at the age of thirty-three; Elisha, who also died of typhoid fever after his marriage. The living children are: Eunice, who married Ed Bales, of Greene county, Oblo; Ell, the subject of this sketch; Hannah, who is the widow of Professor Calvin, and lives in Spring Valley, Ohio, and Alfred, who is a farmer of Greene county.
Eli Haines attended the public schools of Paintersville, Ohio, and lived at home on the farm until he was married. He purchased one hundred and twenty-three acres of the home farm and still owns that tract of land. In October, 1908, he purchased twenty-seven acres of land at the edge of Wilmington, Oblo, where he built a modern house and now has a comfortable home.
On September 20, 1882, Ell Haines was married to Louisa E. Faulkner, who was born in Greene county, Oblo, one mile from her husband's birthplace, the daughter of Allen and Elizabeth A. Faulkner, both of whom are still living, he being ninety years of age and she eighty-eight. Mr. and Mrs. Haines have had four children, one of whom is deceased. Homer, who was born in 1888, and died on February 13, 1901. The living children are: Lizzie Mary, born on June 23, 1884, who married J. R. Middleton and lives on a farm in Caesars Creek township. Greene county ; Bernice, July 2, 1893, who is a school teacher; and Sylvester, August 28, 1904.
Mr. and Mrs. Haines and family are members of the Friends church and he was an elder in the church. He is Identified with the Republican party.
WILLIAM HUNT.
Among the successful farmers of Clark township, Clinton county, Ohio, is William Hunt, who was born on the farm where he now lives on March 8, 1870. the son of William S. and Phoebe ( Haworth) Hunt, natives of Virginia and Clinton county, Ohio, respect- ively, the former of whom was born in 1816, the son of Thomas and Susan (Greene) Hunt, natives of North Carolina, who moved to Virginia and in 1818 to a farm north of Martinsville, where they remained until their death. The paternal great-grandfather was Robert Hunt.
Mr. Hunt's maternal grandparents were Ezeklel and Elizabeth ( West) Haworth, natives of Tennessee and Virginia respectively. Ezekiel Haworth was the son of Mahlon and Phoche ( Frazier) Haworth, both natives of Tennessee who, before 1800, located on Todds fork near Wilmington, entering land from the government, where they died. Mablon Haworth was the son of George and Elizabeth (Dillon) Haworth, who lived in Tennessee a part of their life but later immigrated to Clinton county. Ezekiel Haworth, the maternal grandfather, lived with his parents until his marriage, and then removed to Clark township. He and his wife both died in this township. On both sides of Mr. Hunt's family, he is descended from Quaker stock. Some of his ancestors came over to America with William Penn.
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Mr. Hunt was educated in the common schools and in the New Vienna high school. He taught school for ten years in Clark township, Including six years at Martinsville. Since leaving the school room he has been engaged in farming with the exception of six months spent in the railway service. Mr. Hunt has a fine farm of one hundred and
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fifty acres in Clark township, where he carries on general farming and stock raising. He has made quite a success in breeding a big-boned type of Poland China hogs, all registered, pure-bred stock.
On July 29, 1896, William Hunt was married to Alvaretta Long, who was reared in Clinton county but who was a resident of Greenfield, Indiana, at the time of her mar- riage, a daughter of Henry and Rachel (Moore) Long, of Green township and Wash- ington township respectively, the former of whom served in the War of the Rebellion for four years. .
Mr. Hunt is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America, and Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He is a member of the board of trustees of Wilmington College, president of the Martinsville Creamery Company, and one of its organizers. He is a well-known Republican in this county and served as township trustee, and for the past twelve years a member of the Clinton County Republican Central Committee. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt are members of the Friends church.
COL. OWEN WEST.
Among those men of sterling attributes of character, who have impressed their personality upon the community life of Clinton county and who have borne their full share in the agricultural, industrial, commercial and financial development of this great county, few men have had a larger part than Col. Owen West, of Lynchburg. He bas exerted a strong influence for good on the entire county and is a man of upright prin- ciples, one who has always desired the advancement of the community along moral, educational and material lines. He is the inventor and manufacturer of the West tile ditching machine and in years past has invented useful fences and gates. In addition to all of his other activities, he has been an extensive contractor and builder and was one of the organizers and is still president of the Lynchburg Exchange Bank.
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