USA > Ohio > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Ohio : her people, industries and institutions > Part 59
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EDWARD W. DOUGLAS.
Although still a young man, Edward W. Douglas has shown marked ability along several different lines. Receiving a good education, he started in at the age of nineteen to teach school and while teaching saved his money. investing it in land. He farmed for a time and then added a garage and an automobile department.
Edward W. Douglas, the son of Asa and Mary ( Beal) Douglas, was born November 20, 1883, in Madison township, this county. His father was a native of Madison county, Ohio, and is the son of J. W. and Mary Elizabeth Douglas, early pioneers of that county. J. W. Douglas and wife reared a family of ten children, Asa, Mrs. Kate Fitzgerald, Mrs. Jane Deal, Mrs. Kemp Hunter, Mrs. Margaret Camp, Perry, John, William, Richard and Mrs. Harley Downs. Asa Douglas came to Fayette county when a young man and later located in Benton county, Indiana, near Fowler, where he lived for a time and then returned to Fayette county and settled in Madison township, on a farm of one hundred and seventeen acres one mile from Madison Mills.
Edward W. Douglas was educated in the Benton county. Indiana, and Fayette county, Ohio, schools, finishing his education at Madison Mills. At the age of nineteen he began teaching school in Jefferson township and taught for a few years. He then decided to engage in farming on his father's farm.
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He has also secured the agency for the Perry automobiles and has sold a number of these machines throughout the county. He has a garage fitted with machinery, where a large amount of automobile repairing is done. He divides his attention between his farming interests and his automobile busi- ness, with the result that he is building up a reputation as one of the business men of his section of the county.
Mr. Douglas was married in 1903 to Stella Ritenour, the daughter of Joseph and Jane ( Vanorsdall) Ritenour, and to this union have been born four children, Freda M .. Sherrill J., Russell E. and Max.
Politically, Mr. Douglas is a Democrat, but his business interests have prevented his taking a very active part in political matters, although he is interested in everything which pertains to good government. Mr. Douglas is a man of genial personality, honest convictions on matters of public wel- fare, and a man vitally interested in the life of his community.
CHARLES E. SHERIDAN.
One of the largest and at the same time one of the youngest farmers of Fayette county is Charles E. Sheridan, who is now farming seven hundred acres of fine land in Concord township. He is a man of excellent education and has made a pronounced success of his chosen life work because he has applied the latest and most scientific methods in his work. It is safe to say that he has made more striking advances along agricultural lines than any other man in the county. Commencing six years ago, he has been overseer of the C. C. Lewis tract of seven hundred acres.
Charles E. Sheridan, the son of William H. and Maggie ( Craig) Sheri- dan, was born August 12, 1889, on the farm where he is now living. He is the second child of William Sheridan. He received his elementary educa- tion in the district schools of Union township and then attended the graded schools at Bunker Hill, Ohio. He then entered Bliss Business College, Co- lumbus, Ohio, where he attended two years. He married at the age of nine- teen and at once began farming for himself in Concord township. He settled where he now lives in 1898 and has since been overseer of this farm since his father retired in 1908. It is needless to say that he has been suc- cessful since he took charge of this farm, for its size demands ability of the highest kind. He is one of the largest stock raisers of the county and ships several car loads of stock annually.
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Mr. Sheridan was married September 19. 1908, to Augusta Grandle, the daughter of Reuben and Hattie ( Ruff) Grandle. Mrs. Sheridan's par- ents were born in Staunton, Virginia, and located in Highland county sev- eral years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Grandle reared a family of eight children, Preston, Loberta, Buckey, Daisy, Lydia, Arthur, Harley, and Augusta, the wife of Mr. Sheridan.
The Democratic party claims the support of Mr. Sheridan, but his heavy agricultural interests have demanded all his time and attention, so that he has not had the time to engage actively in political affairs. However. his party nominated him for the position of assessor of his home township and he was subsequently elected to this office. He is now filling it to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. Fraternally, he is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry.
Mr. Sheridan is one of the most successful breeders of good horses in the county. He is the owner of "Homer G," bred on his ranch and which has a mark of 2 :1614, and he takes great pride in his horses and promises to produce some valuable strains.
LUTHER M. IRWIN.
There are individuals in every community who, by virtue of pronounced ability and force of character, rise above the heads of the masses and com- mand the unbounded esteem of their fellow men. Characterized by persever- ance and a directing spirit, two virtues which never fail, such men always make their presence felt and the vigor of their strong personality serves as a stimulus and incentive to the young and rising generation. Having never been seized with the roaming desires that have led many of Fayette county's men to other fields of endeavor and other states, where they have sought their fortunes, Luther M. Irwin has devoted his life to industries at home and has succeeded remarkably well.
Luther M. Irwin, the son of Cornelius and Lavina ( Tway ) Irwin, was born in Paint township. in Fayette county, October 11, 1851. His father was born in Frederick county, Maryland, and came with his parents to this county when he was thirteen years of age. The family first located in Paint township and there Cornelius grew to manhood. Cornelius was the son of John and Leah R. (Ervin) Irwin, and, on reaching manhood was married to Lavina Tway. the daughter of Nathaniel and Sophia (Salmon) Tway. He
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located on a farm near Yatesville, in this county, after his marriage, where 'he reared a family of eleven children, an infant son ( deceased), William A., Leahı R. (deceased), Mrs. Elizabeth S. Smith (deceased ), Nathaniel ( de- ceased ), Luther M .. Mrs. Letha C. Durflinger, John ( deceased), Mrs. Salina M. Walker (deceased), Mrs. Sarah J. Blue and Mrs. Mary A. Gibson.
The education of Mr. Irwin was received in the common schools and at the age of nineteen he began to work out by the month. A year later he en- gaged in the stock business and while following this line of business lived near London, Ohio, for two years. He moved to a farm near Yatesville after his marriage in 1874. Here he engaged in farming and stock raising until 1895, when he sold out and moved to his present location, one mile east of Jeffersonville on the State road. This farm comprises one hundred and seventy-five acres of fine farming land and is in a high state of cultivation. which entitles Mr. Irwin to a place among the progressive farmers of the county.
Mr. Irwin was married March 29, 1874. to Mary Jane Jones, the daugh- ter of William and Olevia ( Hidy) Jones, and to this union there have been born five children, Mrs. Lela Mae Wissler, William H. (deceased), Mrs. Ethel Culbertson, Mrs. Mary Hill, and one who died in infancy.
Politically. Mr. Irwin is a Republican and has always been active in local political matters. He is now serving as school director and township assessor and is filling these positions to the satisfaction of all his fellow citizens irrespective of their political affiliations. Fraternally, he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons and has attained to the degree of Knight Templar. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
CHARLES ST. CLAIR BROWNE.
The Browne family has traced their ancestry back four generations and during the one hundred years of family history various members of this family have occupied positions in business and professional life which have cast credit upon themselves. The first member of the family concerning whom definite information has been preserved is Aaron Burr Brown, who was born in New York state and came to Illinois in pioneer days, settling in Lawrence county. He came to Illinois when a young man and operated a mill on the Ambaugh river in Lawrence county. Some time after locating in Illinois he married Elizabeth Wilcox, who was born at Fort Massac, Illinois,
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on the Ohio river. They were married at Massac, and from there nioved to Missouri and located about thirty-five miles south of St. Louis, where he found employment at the lead mines. Aaron Burr Browne later returned to Illinois and died at Metropolis, in that state, in 1858, at the age of sixty-five years. His wife died at the same place in 1856, at the age of fifty-six. Thir- teen children were born to this couple, seven daughters and six sons. After the death of his first wife in 1856, Aaron Burr Browne married the second time and had a son by his second marriage, but he died four months after his marriage. It is known that the father of Aaron Burr Browne was Joseph T. Browne, but the passing of time has left the family without any definite information concerning him. The father of Elizabeth Wilcox, the wife of Aaron Burr Browne, was Isaac D. Wilcox.
One of the six sons born to Aaron Burr Browne was George Westcott Browne, who was the grandfather of Charles St. Clair Brown, with whom this history subsequently deals. George Westcott Browne was born Febru- ary 28, 1831, in Lawrence county, Illinois, four miles from Vincennes, Indi- ana. He was reared at Metropolis, Illinois, from the age of six years, and attended the old-fashioned subscription schools for a short time and lived upon the farm until he was eighteen years of age. He then engaged in boat- ing on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and worked on the flat boats and steamers which made trips up and down the rivers to and from New Orleans. He would take a flatboat of produce to New Orleans and return home on a steamboat. He followed this line of business until his marriage in 1855, and even continued it a short time after his marriage. He then moved from Metropolis, Illinois, to Vincennes, Indiana, and while living at the latter place enlisted in 1863, for service in the Civil War, becoming a member of the First Indiana Heavy Artillery, Company M. He served until January, 1866, and was sent to Fort Pickens, Florida, to guard prisoners there. Some time late in the year 1866 he was mustered out of the service and returned to Cairo, Illinois, and engaged in the hotel business in that place, and for the next forty years he followed this line of endeavor at different places. He came to Wash- ington C. H. April 1. 1885, and took charge of the Cherry hotel as proprietor, running it for five years, and later he was engaged in the same business in other cities in Ohio. He returned to Washington C. H. in August, 1901, and has lived here most of the time since. George Wescott Browne was married March 15, 1855. at Vincennes, Indiana, to Emily C. Sellers, the daughter of William and Rebecca ( McLean) Sellers, and to this union five children were born, William, George, Fannie A., Charles and one who died in infancy.
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George Edwin Browne, the father of Charles St. Clair Browne, was born in Metropolis, Illinois, and lived in that city. For several years he operated his father's dairy and supplied boats on the Ohio river with milk and butter. He afterward engaged in the hotel business, which he followed in Indian- apolis, Cincinnati, Dayton, Washington C. H. and Springfield. In recent years he located in Cincinnati, where he is now the proprietor of the Browne hotel, which is located at the southeast corner of Sixth and Ehn streets. This is a modern hotel of eighty rooms and enjoys a good patronage. The wife of George Edwin Browne is Blanche Curtis, the daughter of Thomas J. and Augusta Ann (Cheek ) Curtis, natives of Ohio. Thomas J. Curtis was born in Cincinnati and lived there for many years, where he operated a dyeing and cleaning establishment, and here his death occurred in middle life, as did his wife. Thomas J. Curtis and wife were the parents of five children, Lulu, Blanche, Stella, Celeste and Willis. The father of Mr. Curtis established the first dyeing and cleaning house in Cincinnati. George Edwin Browne and wife are the parents of three children, Charles St. Clair, Ralph Curtis, and Georgia Edwina, who died when she was four years of age.
Charles St. Clair Browne, the present proprietor of the Arlington hotel, in Washington C. H., Ohio, was born in Silverton, Hamilton county, Ohio, January 6, 1887. He lived in Cincinnati until he was six years of age and then went to Jamestown, Ohio, where his parents lived for three years. From the latter place the family moved to Dayton, Ohio, and four years later located in Washington C. H. His father was a hotel man and moved from city to city, and this accounts for the many places in which Charles St. Clair Browne lived. From Washington C. H. the family moved to Cincinnati, and two years later Charles St. Clair Browne located in New York city for a year. From Cincinnati his father moved to Springfield, Ohio, where he remained for two years and a half in charge of the St. James hotel. The family then returned to Washington C. H., where they remained until the father took charge of the Browne hotel, in Cincinnati.
Charles St. Clair Browne has had the benefit of the best educational ad- vantages which the country provides. He received his education in many cities and finally graduated from the Steele high school, Dayton, and after- wards from the Jacobs Business College, of Dayton. He then entered Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, and after one year took a special course in business manual training in Columbia University, of New York city. He has lived in hotels all his life and has a remarkably large acquaintance with the traveling public, a fact which makes him an excellent hotel man.
As his father and various other members of the family engaged in the
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hotel business it was but natural that Charles St. Clair Browne should take up the same line of business, and on September 12, 1913, he became pro- prietor of the Arlington Hotel in Washington C. H., a strictly modern hotel, and enjoys a large and continuously increasing patronage. The fact that Mr. Browne has lived all of his life in hotels has given him an intimate knowledge of every detail of the business.
Mr. Browne was married June 5, 1912, to Emily Louise Meyer, the daughter of August and Caroline Meyer, both natives of Germany and now residents of Brooklyn, New York. Mrs. Browne was born in Brooklyn, New York, and attended the public schools of that city. After completing the course in the public schools she entered the New York School of Applied Design, an art school which has a national reputation. Shortly after finish- ing the course in this school, she was married. August Meyer, the father of Mrs. Browne, was born in Hanover, Germany, August 23, 1849. Her mother, Caroline (Kresbach) Meyer, was born in Saxon Hausen, near Frankfort, Germany, on November 6, 1853. Mrs. Meyer came to America when eight years of age and grew to womanhood in New York city, where she was mar- ried. Mr. Meyer came to America at the age of seventeen, and was a com- mission merchant in New York city until his death, on March 1, 1904. Twelve children were born to August Meyer and wife, seven of whom are living, Dora, Fred. Julius and Alexander ( twins ), Helen, Edward and Emily.
The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Browne was Louis Kresbach and his wife was Elizabeth ( Koehl) Kresbach, both being natives of Germany. Louis Kresbach and wife were the parents of six children, Caroline, Rosa, Eliza- beth, Antoinette. Emily and Annic.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles St. Clair Browne are the parents of one son, Charles St. Clair Browne, Jr. Mr. Browne is a member of Confidence Lodge No. 265. Knights of Pythias. and also of the Washington Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. While in college he was a mem- ber of the Phi Kappa Psi Greek-letter fraternity, being initiated while a student at Ohio Wesleyan University. Politically, he has never been very active and is not a partisan in any sense of the word. Although he was reared a Republican, yet he has reserved the right to vote for the best man, irre- spective of their political affiliations, and in so doing he feels that he is best serving the interests of his fellow citizens and his country.
Mr. Browne is a young man with a bright future before him. A man of culture and refinement, he makes an ideal hotel man and is well deserving of the high esteem in which he is held by the citizens of this city and the traveling public.
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HENRY MARK.
Improvement and progress may well be said to have formed the key- note of the character of the man whose name appears above, a well known and influential farmer and stock raiser of Union township, Fayette county. He has not only been interested in advancing his individual affairs, but his influence has been felt in the upbuilding of the community life. His family are among the early settlers of this community, his father having come to this county in ISII, and therefore a history of this section is more or less a history of the Mark family, for they have left their impress on the life and institutions of this locality throughout the years. Throughout his long career. Mr. Mark has been known as a man of industrious habits, striving to keep abreast of the times in every respect, and as a result every mile post of the years he has passed has found him further advanced. more prosperous, and with an increased number of friends.
Henry Mark, residing on his fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, located four miles south of Washington, was born on November 29. 1834. in Concord township, this county. He is a son of Joseph and Naomi (Bush) Mark, the former of whom was a native of Pennsylvania and first came to this county in 18II when he was a small boy, being brought here by his par- ents. He was born in Pennsylvania on October 1, 1800, his father being Peter Mark. Peter was a man of influence and high ambition who left the impress of his strong character upon the early life of this locality. When he first came here he bought a tract of land, for which he paid one dollar and a quarter per acre, and the same land is today worth two hundred dollars per acre. At the time he obtained possession, it was virgin soil and largely covered by heavy timber. This he set about removing and for several years endured many of the hardships and privations of the early pioneers. As the years passed by, acre by acre his farm was reclaimed from the grasp of the wilderness and became one of the very best in this section. Following in the footsteps of Peter Mark came his son Joseph, the father of the immediate subject of this sketch. Joseph also was a man who desired the betterment of conditions surrounding the lives of those about him and who also did all within his power to raise high the standard of civilization in a new territory. Joseph was the father of a family of eight children, the immediate subject being the fourth child in order of birth. The others were Cynthia, Anthony. Mary, Lewis. Rachael, Harriet (deceased ) and Huldah.
When a youth Mr. Mark took advantage of such schooling as the time
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and locality afforded and assisted the father in the work of the home place until he reached the age of twenty-three. At that time he was desirous of starting in life for himself and rented land which he tilled during the sum- mer seasons. He had also fitted himself for a teacher and for many winters was employed in several of the schools of the neighborhood. He made his first purchase of land in 1870 and later purchased the farm where he has since made his home. He has always been considered one of the most pro- gressive and up-to-date farmers of the section and has also made consider- able money on live stock, having something more than a local reputation in this line.
On April 15, 1858, Mr. Mark was united in marriage with Amanda Rowe, their union being blessed with eleven children, Alice, Joseph, Eliza, Ada, Charles E .. Naomi, Fredrick, Mary and Ruth; two died in infancy. Mr. Mark's religions affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal church and, politically, he has endorsed the principles of the Republican party for a great number of years. Mr. Mark is a man who has passed the allotted three score years and ten and in the community where he has lived for so many years he is held in the warmest regard by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.
WILLIAM WAGNER ALLEN.
The Allen family have been a noted one for many generations. It is not definitely known who was the founder of the family, but some members of the family who have investigated the genealogy of the AAllens believe that it was Alan, Earl of Brittany, who came to England with William, the Con- queror, in 1066. The name itself has undergone many variations in spelling although it is now limited to three or four forms, Allen, Allan, Alan and. Alleyne. The French spell it Allain, the Scotch use the form Alan or Allan, while the commonest form in England and America is Allen. It is not pos- sible to follow the various families of Allens in America in this brief sketch, but it is interesting to note that Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary fame, was one of the most illustrious to bear the name.
The first Allen to locate in Fayette county was Adam Allen, who was born in 1754. He was one of the earliest settlers in this county and died here in 1851 at the advanced age of ninety-seven. his wife, Nancy, passing away in 1854. How many children were born to Adam and Nancy Allen is not known, but one son. Adam, became the father of William Wagner Allen, with
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whom this narrative deals. Adam Allen, Jr., married Rosannah Hidy, a daughter of one of the earliest pioneers of Fayette county. It seems that Adam Allen, Jr., was born in this county in the year 1812, but it may have been earlier.
William Wagner Allen, the late pioneer of this county, was the son of Adam and Rosannah (Hidy) Allen. He was born in Jefferson township. Fayette county, Ohio, August 19, 1842, and died at his home in Milledgeville, Ohio, March 24, 1895. He received the limited education which the country schools of his day afforded and remained at home until the opening of the Civil War. He then was so anxious to serve his country that he ran away from home to enlist. He enlisted September 6, 1861, in Company K. Forty- fourth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered in as a corporal. Previous to this enlistment he has served three months as a member of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His time in the Forty- fourth Regiment was up in January, 1864, and as soon as he was mustered out of this regiment he re-enlisted in the Eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, serving in the cavalry service for a year and three months after the close of the war. While in the cavalry he was captured near Huttonsville, Virginia, and placed in Libby prison at Richmond, Virginia. He remained there about two months and while being transferred to Andersonville prison made his escape. He wandered about in the mountains of eastern Tennessee for forty-one days before coming in touch with the Union forces at Knox- ville. His record as a soldier was a brilliant one and he was signally honored by having the Grand Army post at Milledgeville named in his honor.
At the close of his service in the army he returned to his home in Fayette county. Shortly afterwards he went into the livery business at Cedarville. Ohio, and lived there for several years. He traveled for a few years, after which he settled on his farm in Jasper township. Later he moved with his family to the county seat and engaged in the contracting business, building many of the best roads in the county. His last years were spent in Milledge- ville, near which was located his fine farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres.
Mr. Allen was married January 3, 1878, to Rachel Anna Rankin, the daughter of Smith and Parthenia (Wood) Rankin. His widow is still living. To Mr. and Mrs. Allen were born four children. Forest May, Fred Herman. Mary Elizabeth and Harry Rankin. Forest May received a good education in the common and high schools and then entered a school of dramatic art at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which she later graduated. She is now living with her mother in Milledgeville. Fred H. married Jennie Hunt, deceased, and
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has one daughter, Jane. Mary E. became the wife of Fred Jones and has three children, Marian, Ellen and Susan. Harry R. married Eva Carr and has one daughter, Martha.
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