USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 100
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James Kelly, maternal great-great-grandfather of Doctor Ritenour, was born in Scotland in 1752 and there lived until young manhood, when he and his brother John came to the American colonies and located in Virginia, where he was living when the struggle of the colonies for independence broke out.
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James Kelly joined the Continental army and served valiantly in that behalf. During the historic winter of 1777-78 he was with Washington's army at Valley Forge and while there his face and ears were so badly frozen that the fleshy portions sloughed off. During one of his engagements with the Brit- ish a musket ball took off the end of his nose. Upon the completion of his military service he located in Monongalia county, in what is now West Virginia, and there in 1784 married Catherine Stewart, a native of Scotland, born in 1764. In 1793 they and their five children moved from there to Kentucky and settled in the vicinity of Flemingsburg, Fleming county, where they remained for fifteen years, during which time seven more children . were born to them. In 1808 James Kelly moved with his family up into Ohio, leaving behind three of his older children, Rachel, Joseph and Samuel, and settled at Springfield. Three years later, in 1811, he bought a farm four miles south of Springfield, in what then was Greene county, now a part of Clark county, and there established his home. Four of James Kelly's sons, Joseph, Thomas, John and Nathan, took part in the War of 1812. Stew- art Kelly, the seventh son, was born on June 13, 1801, in Fleming county, Kentucky, and was seven years of age when he came up here into Ohio with his parents in 1808. He early learned the trade of cooper and followed the same all his life. On March 13, 1825, Stewart Kelly married Elizabeth Driscoll and to that union were born two children, Lovisa, maternal grand- mother of Doctor Ritenour, and Eliza Jane, who married Henry Boyles and died in 1893. Lovisa Kelly married Francis Asbury Brock, a farmer of the Gladstone neighborhood, in Ross township, this county, and to that union were born six children, namely : Sarah, who married W. D. Thomas; Anna M., mother of Doctor Ritenour; Mollie, who married G. L. Green ; John, who married Rebecca Clemans; Ella, who married Smiley Thomas. and Flora, who married J. C. Ritenour.
Reared on the home farm in Ross township, Winfield Scott Ritenour received his early training in the schools of that township. He early began teaching school and for seven years was thus engaged, teaching five terms in one school and two terms in another, both in his home township. During the latter part of this period of service he took summer school work at Wittenberg College at Springfield and in the Normal School at Lebanon, in the meantime devoting such leisure as he could command to the study of medicine, and in 1907 entered Starling Medical College at Columbus, being graduated from that institution in 1911. For a year after receiving his diploma Doctor Ritenour served as an interne in the Protestant Hospital at Columbus, his attention during that time being given particularly to surgical cases, and at the end of that period of service he returned to Greene county and opened an office at Bellbrook, where he was engaged in practice until 1915, in which year he moved to Xenia and there became associated
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with Dr. Benjamin R. McClellan in the latter's hospital work, and has ever since been connected with the McClellan Hospital, at the same time carrying on a general practice. Doctor Ritenour is a member of the Greene County Medical Society, of which he was vice-president in 1915 and president in 1916; a member of the Second District Medical Association, of the Ohio State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. During his course in college the Doctor was for two years secretary of the Alpha Mu Pi Omega (medical) fraternity. He is a Democrat, has twice been the nominee of his party for coroner of Greene county and for four years ( 1903-07) during the time of his residence in Ross township served as clerk of that township. Since 1913 he has been a member of the Greene county pension board. under appointment of President Wilson, and is the present secretary of that board. Upon the creation of the medical boards in con- nection with the selective draft for the new National Army in the early summer of 1917 Doctor Ritenour was appointed a member of the board for Greene county and is now serving in that capacity.
On November 27, 1912, Dr. Winfield S. Ritenour was united in mar- riage to Grace Turner, who was born at Bellbrook, this county, daughter of John S. and Martha (Cunningham) Turner, both of whom are still living at Bellbrook, where the former is engaged in the mercantile business, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Scott Turner Ritenour, born on January 12, 1914.
FRANK TOWNSLEY.
The first persons who established themselves and families permanently in Cedarville township were two brothers, John and Thomas Townsley, who emigrated from Kentucky and came here in 1801. They located on the banks of Massies creek, having previously bought there about a thousand acres of land, and there established their homes, building the first habitations erected by white men in what later came to be organized as Cedarville town- ship, and in the summer of that year harvested the first crop that had been raised by white men in that region. John Townsley was the father of eight children and Thomas Townsley was the father of five children, and from this pioneer stock has sprung one of the most numerous families in this section of Ohio.
Frank Townsley, of Cedarville township, one of the best-known repre- sentatives of the old pioneer family in the present generation, was born in that township, on a portion of the old original Townsley homestead tract, May 4, 1867, a son of James and Clarissa ( Harper ) Townsley. The Harpers also were prominently represented here since the early days of the settle-
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ment of Greene county. James Townsley in time became a substantial farmer on his own account, for more than fifty years the owner of the farm now owned by his son Frank, and also did a considerable business in the buying and selling of live stock. James Townsley died at his home in Cedarville township in 1910, being in the eighty-second year of his age. He had become a Republican upon the organization of that party and ever remained loyal to its principles. Of the old Seceder stock, he became affiliated with the United Presbyterian church after the "union" of 1858 and ever took an active interest in the affairs of his church.
James Townsley was twice married. His first wife, Clarissa Harper, died in 1868 and he afterward married Hester Barber, also a member of one of Greene county's pioneer families. To James and Clarissa ( Harper ) Townsley were born seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the last-born, the others being the following: John, who died in September, 1917, and a memorial sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume ; Elizabeth, who died in 1914, wife of John Owens; Delilah, wife of J. O. Spahr, of Jamestown, this county ; Emma, wife of J. M. Harper, of Dayton ; Jennie E., wife of O. A. Spahr, of Xenia, and Robert S., a retired farmer, now living at Cedarville.
Frank Townsley was but a year old when his mother died. He grew up on the home farm, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools, and has always lived on the place on which he was born, having established his home there after his marriage. . Mr. Townsley has ever given particular attention to live stock and as a live-stock dealer is well known throughout this part of the state. Mr. Townsley now owns the old home place, a valuable tract of four hundred and forty-two acres, and has made many substantial improvements thereon. Politically, he is a Republican, as was his father.
On October 4, 1888, at Cedarville, Frank Townsley was united in marriage to Effie Fields, daughter of John A. and Savilla ( Haverstick) Fields, the latter of whom is still living, now making her home with Mr. and Mrs. Townsley. John A. Fields, who died at his home in Cedarville on November 6, 1917, was born in the vicinity of Xenia, as was his wife, and for some time after his marriage continued to make his home in the Xenia neighborhood. He then moved to Cedarville, where he became engaged in the hotel and livery and where he spent the rest of his life. To him and his wife were born two children, Mrs. Townsley having had a brother, Fred Fields, who died in 1891.
To Frank and Effie (Fields) Townsley four children have been born, namely: Carrie, who married R. S. Bull, a well-known young farmer of Cedarville township, and has one child, a son, Ralph E .; Ralph, who on
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December 29, 1917, was united in marriage to Matilda Crouse and who con- tinues to make his home on the home place, and Pearl and Hester, both of whom also are at home. The Townsleys are members of the United Pres- byterian church at Cedarville.
PAUL D. ESPEY, M. D.
Faul Denton Espey, one of the best-known among the younger physi- cians of Greene county, the proprietor of a well-appointed private hospital in North Detroit street, Xenia, is a native of the Hoosier state. He has been a resident of Ohio ever since he entered upon the practice of his profession, and of Nenia since 1915. He was born in Rising Sun, Indiana, son of Frank and Charity (Cunningham) Espey, both natives of that same state, who are still living at Rising Sun, where the former is engaged in the mercantile busi- ness, for years one of the leading merchants of that city.
The Espeys, who are of an old Colonial family, have been honorably represented at Rising Sun from the very beginning of that interesting old town down on the Ohio river. The first of the Espey name to come to this country was a North of Ireland man, of Presbyterian stock, the great-great- grandfather of Doctor Espey, who came to the colonies some little time before the opening of the War for Independence and who took an active part in that war. He married an orphan girl, the sole survivor of a village which had been cruelly massacred by Indians, and who had been adopted and reared by a family of the name of Hemphill. A son of this union was one of the first settlers in the Rising Sun settlement and was one of the founders of the Presbyterian church there, and a deacon in the same. The eldest son of each succeeding generation of the family has been an elder in that old church, the position now being occupied by Doctor Espey's father. Frank Espey is also an ardent Republican and has for years taken an active interest in political affairs in his home community. He and his wife have three children, of whom Doctor Espey is the eldest, the others being Dr. Hugh Stewart Espey, a dentist at Gary, Indiana, and Phoebe, wife of Henry Johnson, of Los Angeles, California.
Doctor Espey has received admirable scholastic training for the exacting profession to which he early devoted his life. Upon completing the course in the high school at Rising Sun, he entered Indiana State University at Bloom- ington, and after three years of study there entered the Medical School of the University of Cincinnati, from which he was graduated in 1905. Upon re- ceiving his diploma, Doctor Espey was appointed an interne for Christ Hos- pital at Cincinnati and after eighteen months of very valuable practical ex- perience in that institution located at Fort William, in Clinton county, this
PAUL D. ESPEY, M. D.
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state. Here he opened an office and continued actively engaged in the prac- tice of his profession until 1915, in which year he took a special course in- surgery at the Post-Graduate Hospital in New York City. Having deter- mined upon a change in the field of his practice, upon completing his course Doctor Espey moved to Xenia, where he since has been engaged in practice. Upon his arrival in Xenia the Doctor located in the old Doctor Wilson resi- dence in North Detroit street, a very favorable location, and there opened a private hospital, which he has since very successfully maintained. Though the doctor specializes in surgery, he also has built up on extensive general practice and has made hosts of friends during the comparatively short time he has been a resident of Xenia. Doctor Espey is a member of the Greene County Medical Society, a member of the Ohio State Medical Society, a member of the American Medical Association and a member of the Clinical Congress of Surgeons and in the affairs and deliberations of these learned bodies takes a warm interest. Politically, he is a Republican, and, fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America.
On June 26, 1909, Dr. Paul D. Espey was united in marriage to Eliza- beth McConnell, who was born at Danville, Kentucky, daughter of Angerau and Caroline (Calvert) McConnell, the latter of whom is still living at that place. To this union two children have been born, sons both, Hugh Stewart, born in 1912, and John McConnell, in 1916. Doctor and Mrs. Espey are members of the Presbyterian church and take a proper interest in the various beneficences of the same, the Doctor being a member of the diaconate. They also take an interested part in the general good works and social and cultural activities of the city in which they live.
DAVID E. PAULLIN.
David E. Paullin, owner of a well-kept farm of nearly one hundred acres three and one-half miles east of Jamestown, was born at Grape Grove, Ross township, on January 16, 1864, son of Thomas Jefferson and Ella (Van Gundy) Paullin, the former of whom was born in that same township, a son of David and Susan (Smith) Paullin, reference to whom is made elsewhere in this volume. David Paullin was the seventh in order of birth of the nine children born to the pioneers, Uriah and Rebecca Paullin, natives of New Jersey, who became residents of Greene county in 1807.
Thomas Jefferson Paullin was the second son of David and Susan (Smith) Paullin, who were the parents of eleven children. He was reared on the home farm in Ross township and in his young manhood spent a (57)
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year in Pennsylvania, where he met and married Ella Van Gundy. After his marriage he located on a farm a half a mile south of Grape Grove, in his home township, and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occur- ring when he was sixty-two years of age. His widow is now living at Jamestown in the eighty-first year of her age. Thomas J. Paullin was not only a good farmer, but he was for years known as one of the leading stock- men in his part of the county. He was a Republican and for some time served as trustee of his home township. By religious persuasion he became affiliated with the Seventh Day Adventists church. He and his wife were the parents of two sons, the subject of this sketch having a brother, E. G. Paullin, owner of the old home place in Ross township, who married Jennie Davis and lived on the home place until his retirement from the farm in 1915 and removal to Jamestown, where he is now living.
David E. Paullin was reared on the home farm in Ross township, receiv- ing his schooling in the Grape Grove school, and remained at home until his marriage in 1892, after which he began farming on his own account. In 1895 he bought the farm on which he is now living in Silvercreek town- ship, ninety-seven acres of the old Dawson tract, and has since made his home there. Politically, he is a Republican and he and his family are mem- bers of the Friends church at Jamestown and take an interested part in the various beneficences of the same.
In 1892 David E. Paullin was united in marriage to Della M. Robin- son, of Silvercreek township, and to this union one child has been born. a daughter, Lelia Blanche, who was graduated from the Jamestown high school and is now a student at Wilmington College. Mrs. Paullin is a daugh- ter of the late James F. Robinson, former trustee of Silvercreek township, who died at his home in that township in the spring of 1900 and a memorial sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Paullin's mother is still living, now a resident of Jamestown. She was born in Silvercreek township. Ann Eliza Moorman, daughter of Reuben and Susan (Sharp) Moorman, the former of whom was a son of the pioneer Micajah Moorman. a Virginian and a Quaker, who came to this county in the first decade of the past century and became one of the influential factors in the develop- ment of the Silver creck neighborhood. James F. and Ann E. ( Moorman) Robinson were the parents of eight children, of whom Mrs. Paullin was the third in order of birth, the others being the following: Alma, who died in the days of her girlhood; Frank, who married Elizabeth Highland and is now living at Chicago: Charles A., who is farming the old home place in Silvercreek township: Reuben W., who married Bessie McCrught and is living at Jamestown: Bertha, who died in 1894 at the age of nineteen years; Sarah Blanche, who died at the age of four years, and Mary, wife of Ross Mendenhall, of Akron, this state.
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LUTHER DEAN CHITTY.
Luther Dean Chitty, who is operating the fine farm of his father-in- law, George Perrill, on the Columbus pike in Xenia township, was born on a farm in Jefferson township on October 1, 1875, son of Cargill and Rebecca Ann (Osborn) Chitty, the latter of whom also was born in this county and is still living here, now making her home in the pleasant village of Bowersville.
Cargill Chitty was born in the state of Virginia and was orphaned when a child. As a young man he left his native state and came over into Ohio, taking employment on farms in this county. He later became engaged in the drug business in the village of Bloomington, in the neighboring . county of Clinton, and later returned to Greene county and bought a farm of one hundred and five acres in Jefferson township where he established his home and where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there in 1880, he then being forty-nine years of age. During the progress of the Civil War Cargill Chitty volunteered his services in behalf of the Union cause, but on account of having suffered a broken leg while hauling logs not long before, his services were declined. He was a Democrat and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, all of whom are living save one. Lee Chitty, who went to Portland, Oregon, and there spent his last days, the others besides the subject of this sketch being as follow: Kirk, who is engaged in the real-estate business at Muncie, Indiana; John, a farmer, of Jefferson township, this county; Frank, now living at Los Angeles, California; Claude, of Dayton, this state: Mary, wife of Alvin Zoarman, a farmer of Jefferson township, this county; Rose, wife of Doc- tor Marchant. of Millersville. this state, and Violet, a graduate nurse, now connected with the Mcclellan Hospital at Xenia.
Luther D. Chitty was reared on the home farm in Jefferson township and received his early schooling in the neighborhood schools, remaining there until his mother moved with her family to Valparaiso, Indiana, in order to secure there the advantages of education for her children offered by Val- paraiso University, making her home there for five years. During that period Luther D. Chitty completed his schooling in the university and upon the return of the family to this county he assumed the management of his mother's farm and was thus engaged until his marriage in 1900, after which he began farming the farm owned by his father-in-law, George Per- rill, now a member of the board of county commissioners, in that same township, remaining there until 1911, when he moved to Mr. Perrill's home farm of two hundred and seventy-eight acres in Xenia township and has
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since been farming the same, Mr. Perrill making his home with him and his wife. Mr. Chitty is a Republican.
In 1900, Luther D. Chitty was united in marriage to Edith Perrill, who also was born in Jefferson township, this county, daughter of George M. and Elizabeth (Vanniman) Perrill, both of whom also were born in this state, the former in the neighborhood of what is now Milledgeville, in the neighboring county of Fayette, son of John and Margaret J. (Sparks ) Perrill, and the latter, at Bowersville, in Greene county, daughter of Stephen and Rebecca Jane (Early) Vanniman. Mr. and Mrs. Chitty have four children, namely : Donald, born on September 25, 1901, who is now a student in the Xenia high school; Hugh, May 19, 1905: George, April 4, 1906, and Robert, June 3, 1907.
ADDISON D. SMITH.
Addison D. Smith, one of the best-known young farmers of New Jasper township, was born in that township on a farm a mile and a half east of the village of New Jasper on April 29, 1871, son of James Marion and Eliza (Huston) Smith, the latter of whom is still living there. James Marion Smith, a veteran of the Civil War, who died in 1911, was for years regarded as one of the most substantial farmers of the New Jasper neigh- borhood and elsewhere in this volume there will be found in detail a history of his family.
Reared on the home farm, Addison D. Smith received his schooling in the Schooley district school. After his marriage in 1895 he continued to make his home there, he and his brother Alva operating the farm in part- nership, the place then consisting of three hundred acres. There Addison D. Smith continued to make his home until 1904, in which year he bought the farm of one hundred acres in New Jasper township that formerly belonged to his maternal grandfather, William S. Huston, moved to that place and has ever since resided there. In addition to his general farming. Mr. Smith has given considerable attention to the raising of live stock. He is also the owner of sixty-eight acres of his father's old place east of New Jasper and of the Griffith Sutton farm of sixty-seven acres just west of the village.
On October 23, 1895, Addison D. Smith was united in marriage to Sadie Fields, who also was born in New Jasper township, daughter of Samuel and Catherine ( Peerman) Fields, who at the time of her birth were living on a farm in the northeast corner of the township and the former of whom is now living retired in the village of Jamestown. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper, Mr. Smith being a member of the present board of stewards of the church.
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JAMES ALBERT MERCER.
James Albert Mercer, mayor of Jamestown and owner of a fine farın in Ross township, was born on the farm which he now owns, in Ross town- ship, June 21, 1861, son of William and Nancy (Skeen) Mercer, the former of whom was born on that same farm on September 22, 1835, a son of John Mercer and wife, who came to this county from Virginia and established their home in Ross township, developing there the farm now owned by Mayor Mercer.
William Mercer grew up on the farm on which he was born and in time became the owner of the same. He married Nancy Skeen, who was born in Highland county, this state, October 23, 1839, and after his mar- riage established his home on the old place, which he continued successfully to operate until his retirement from the farm and removal to Jamestown in 1883. For fifteen years after his removal to Jamestown William Mercer served there as justice of the peace and became a man of influence in the village. His last days were spent there, his death occurring in 1913. He and his wife were the parents of three children, Mayor Mercer having two sisters, Hattie Belle, born on May 3, 1865, who married William Watson, now president of the Farmers Bank of Manchester, this state, and Emma Della, July 30, 186;, wife of E. S. Fishback, a commercial traveler, now liv- ing at East Grange, New Jersey.
James A. Mercer grew to manhood on the farm on which he was born in Ross township and upon completing his schooling became actively engaged in farming there. After his marriage in the spring of 1884 he established his home on the home place and continued to operate the same, eventually becoming the owner of the farm, until his retirement in February, 1917, and removal to Jamestown, where he now resides and of which village he is the chief executive. Not long after he had taken up his residence in Jamestown Mr. Mercer was appointed justice of the peace and in the fall of 1917 was 'elected mayor of the town, the nomination coming to him without solicita- tion on his part. During the time of his residence in Ross township Mr. Mercer was for years director of schools in the home district and for six years served as township trustee. Mr. Mercer continues to own the ancestral farm in Ross township, and the same is now being operated by his son-in-aw. George Ensign.
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