USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 16
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In 1879 Henry Grottendick was united in marriage to Judith Brinder, who had been reared in the household of her uncle, George Grauer, at Xenia. To this union four children have been born, William, George, Fannie and Elsie May, all of whom received their schooling in the Xenia schools and the latter of whom is still at home with her parents. William Grottendick is now a traveling representative of the Time Lock and Safe Company of Cin- cinnati. He married May Fisher and has one child, a daughter, Freda. George Grottendick, who continues as manager of the bakery his father sold in 1913, married Rosa Carroll and has two children, George and Francis. Fannie Grottendick married John Osterly, who is now conducting a restaurant in Colusa county, California, and has two children, William and Judith. Mr. Grottendick is a member of the local lodge of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and of the local encampment, Patriarchs Militant, and is also affiliated with the local lodge of the Improved Order of Red Men. Mrs. Grottendick and her children are members of the Cath- olic church.
BERNHARD SCHLESINGER.
Bernhard Schlesinger, for the past thirty-six years or more clerk of the Xenia school board. is of European birth, but has been a resident of this country since he was fourteen years of age and of Xenia since the year 1865. He was born in the town of Koenigswalde, in the province of Brandenburg, November 11, 1846, son of Nathan and Marianne (Fleischer ) Schlesinger, who were the parents of five children, the subject of this sketch having had three brothers and one sister. Nathan Schlesinger, who was a horse buyer for the government, died in his native land and his widow mar-
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ried Herman Neuman and in 1872 came to the United States with the latter, settling in Madison, Indiarja, where both spent their last days. To that union was born one child, a On, Paul Neuman, who later became a clerk in the store of his half-brother, Bernhard Schlesinger, at Xenia.
Bernhard Schlesinger received his early schooling in his native town and remained there until he was fourteen years of age, when he came to the United States and joined his elder brother, Harry Schlesinger. who had become engaged in the manufacture of trunks and handbags at Newark, New Jersey. It was in May, 1860, that Bernhard Schlesinger came to this country and during the progress of the Civil War he was engaged at Newark in the manufacture of knapsacks for the government. In 1865 he came to Ohio and became engaged as a clerk in a clothing store at Springfield, but did not remain there long, coming down to Xenia in May of that year to take charge of a store the Frankels had started in that city, and he was thus en- gaged until in 1872, when he and William Brady bought the stock of a store that then was located on the present site of the Gasette office on Detroit street, and continued in business there, under the firm name of Schlesinger & Brady, until 1885, when they sold out. Mr. Schlesinger then opened a store on the present site of the Howard building on East Main street and continued there in the clothing business until he closed out the business in 1895, since which time he has been engaged in the insurance business at Xenia. Though a Democrat in a Republican town Mr. Schlesinger has been serving, with the exception of four years, as a member of the school board of Xenia for the last thirty-six years or more, or ever since his first election to that office in 1881, and during all this long period of service has been retained as clerk of the board. It was not long after he took up his residence in Xenia that Mr. Schlesinger came under the influence of the companionship of Col. Coates Kinney, who inspired in him a love of learn- ing and a desire to advance the cause of education. Colonel Kinney was able to set the young "foreigner's" feet on the right path in the way of per- fecting himself in the use of the English language, which had been pre- senting numerous difficulties, and in turn young Schlesinger was able to help the Colonel out in the matter of the latter's none too brilliant linguistic performance in the Teutonic tongue. This love of learning Mr. Schlesinger was able to impart to his children, to all of whom he gave the opportunity to acquire a liberal education. At the time of the dedication of the Orange Hill school house in Xenia township Mr. Schlesinger delivered an address on "The History of Education in Greene County," which is said to have been a thorough and comprehensive delivery on that subject. Mr. Schles- inger is a Royal Arch Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias and a Red Man. He is a charter member of the local lodge of the Knights of
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Pythias and has been a delegate to the grand lodge of that order for the state of Ohio. He also has been a delegate to the state grand lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has been a delegate to the great council of the United States of the Improved Order of Red Men for the past eleven years and has served as the great sachem of that order for the state of Ohio.
In 1873 Bernhard Schlesinger was united in marriage to Kate Feurle, who also is of European birth, born in the town of Bregenz, in the Austrian Tyrol, and who was but a girl when she came to this country with her pa- rents, George and Rosina Feurle, who settled in Xenia, where they pres- ently opened a boarding house and where they spent the remainder of their lives. To Bernhard and Kate (Feurle) Schlesinger have been born five children, namely: Olga, who married E. C. Spitler, a London, Ohio, dry- goods merchant, and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased; Marione, who is a teacher in the high school at Dayton; Hugo, who was graduated from Ohio State University and is now practicing law at Columbus, this state, where he is serving as assistant prosecuting attorney of Franklin county ; George F., who was graduated from the civil engineering depart- ment of Ohio State University, married Frances Kendall, of Xenia, and is now living at Columbus, a member of the faculty of his alma mater, and Arthur Meier, who also was graduated from Ohio State University, later received his master degree from Columbia University at New York City and is now a member of the faculty of Ohio State University, holding there the chair of American history.
JOHN B. LUCAS.
In the memorial annals of Greene county there are few names held in better remembrance than that of the late John B. Lucas, who died at his home on beautiful "Lucas Hill" on the Dayton pike just west of Xenia in 1916 and whose widow is still living there, occupying the substantial old brick house in which Mr. Lucas was born and in which he died and which was erected on that charming site overlooking the delightful valley of the Little Miami by his mother's family nearly one hundred years ago. As the inheritor of large landed interests Mr. Lucas had for years occupied a posi- tion of prominence and influence in the community in which all his life was spent and there were few movements having to do with the extension of the best interests of this county that had not profited by some act of promo- tion on his part. For at least thirty years he was an active member of the Greene County Agricultural Society and was for about twenty-five years the president of that body, relinquishing his service in that connection only
13 Lucas
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about five years before his death. For fifteen years he was a member of the old county infirmary board and in other ways gave of his time and energies to the public service. Generous to a fault and ever liberal with the consid- erable means at his disposal, there were not many calls either of a private or semi-public character that did not find him ready with instant assistance. As an instance of the public-spiritedness of his responses along this line, it may be recalled that it was he who financed the famous old "John B. Lucas Band," a musical organization that reflected much credit on Xenia back in the '70s. An interesting sidelight on the thoughtful kindliness that actuated Mr. Lucas's movements may be gleaned from the following paragraph taken from a biographical sketch relating to him published by the Xenia Gazette following his death: "For years there was no snow storm which did not bring out Mr. Lucas and his horse and snow plow, and early in the morning workers starting out to their daily toil found the paths cleared for them by this kindly man, whose generous forethought brought him from his country home to help make Xenians comfortable. Many a blessing has been showered upon him by those who, because of his forethought, did not have to wade through snow that often amounted to deep drifts." A small thing, perhaps the reader will say ; but indicative of a spirit all too grudgingly man- ifested in this age. On the large farm inherited by Mr. Lucas from his parents is situated the famous Kil Kare Park, formerly "Lucas Grove," along the river at Trebeins, now operated by the traction company that has a line through the farm.
John Bassett Lucas was born on July 22, 1841, son of Thornton and Mary (Blessing) Lucas, both of whom were born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, the former in 1802 and the latter on June 5, 1797, daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth (Beardsherer) Blessing, who were the parents of four children, those besides Mary having been John, born on December 25, 1793; Elizabeth, February 18, 1806, who remained a spinster, and Jacob. The Blessings had a good property in Virginia, but a growing hatred for the institution of slavery which had fastened itself on the Old Dominion prompted them to seek a new home in a free state and it was decided to move to Ohio. Consequently in 1816 the elder son, John Blessing, then twenty- three years of age and who had served as a soldier of the War of 1812, was provided by his father with a liberal supply of money for investment pur- poses and was sent West to pick out a place of settlement, his objective point being the valley of the Little Miami in this county, excellent reports of which section had been going back to Virginia. In order to minimize the danger of robbery, in those days a no inconsiderable one, John Blessing traveled as a person of no consequence, carrying with him a quite wonderful musical clock, a sort of a music-box, exhibitions of which along the way invariably
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secured for him welcome hospitality and he came through without molesta- tion. Upon his arrival here he bought six hundred acres of land along the east bank of the river two and a half miles west of Xenia and began to pre- pare there a place for the later coming of the rest of the family. In the meantime his father, Lewis Blessing, was closing out his interests in Vir- ginia and in 1824 came to this county with the other members of the family and settled on the tract that had been selected by his son John, and in that same year began the erection of the brick house which still stands there over- looking the river and which is now occupied by Mrs. Lucas. The year fol- lowing the arrival of the family here Lewis Blessing and his younger son Jacob died of what then was called "immigrant fever." As an instance of the comparative cost of funerals in those days and now, it may be interest- ing to note that their funerals were conducted at a cost of eight dollars each. A granite monument in Woodland cemetery marks the last resting place of this pioneer. John Blessing, the "pathfinder" of the family, continued to develop the place on which the family had settled and there spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on December 2, 1864, he then being in the seventy-second year of his age, and he also lies in Woodland. He had retained his uniform as a soldier of the War of 1812 and Mrs. Lucas still possesses the old "Lafayette" chapeau which was the distinguishing feature of that uniform, now a relic of inestimable value.
Thornton Lucas, then just past his majority, came to Ohio with the Blessings in 1824 to assist them in the labors of establishing a new home and he remained on the place, an invaluable aid to John Blessing in getting the tract under cultivation. Some years later Thornton Lucas's brother, Basil Lucas, also came out here from Virginia and established his home in this county. In 1838 Thornton Lucas married Mary Blessing and they continued to make their home on the home place, spending there the rest of their lives, his death occurring on December 4, 1874, and hers, October 31, 1877. Thornton Lucas was reared a Democrat, but upon the outbreak of the Civil War threw in his forces with those of the administration. He and his wife were Baptists. They were the parents of three children, those besides the subject of this memorial sketch having been one who died in infancy and Lewis Morton, who died in 1861 at the age of seventeen years. All these are resting in Woodland cemetery.
John B. Lucas grew up on the farm on which he was born and was early trained in the ways of practical farming. He completed his schooling in a private school and on August 18, 1864, was united in marriage to Alice Quinn, one of Greene county's most accomplished school teachers. After his marriage lie established his home on the home place, the general manage- ment of which by this time had largely fallen upon his shoulders, and when,
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upon the death of his parents ten or twelve years later; he inherited the farm he continued to make his residence there and so remained until his death. Mr. Lucas was a stanch Republican. In addition to his farming interests he also had interests in other lines and was for some time engaged in the lumber business at Xenia in association with his brother-in-law, Elias Quinn, under the firm name of Quinn & Lucas. His lifelong activities in the general affairs of the community have been referred to above, but it is not too much to say that he gave a stimulating touch to all the forms of endeavor with which he thus became connected. After his marriage he became affiliated with the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia, of which his widow has been a member since the days of her girlhood, and was ever after a consistent supporter of the same. To John B. and Alice (Quinn) Lucas one child was born, a son, Thornton, named in honor of his grand- father, who died in 1889 in his twenty-fifth year. In 1913 Mr. Lucas suf- fered a stroke of paralysis and was thereafter an invalid, for nine months or more before his death being unable to walk without assistance. He died on the night of December 20, 1916, and is buried in Woodland cemetery.
Since the death of her husband Mrs. Lucas has continued to make her home at "Lucas Hill," the operations of the farm now being carried on by one of her nephews. Though long past four score years of age, she retains the liveliest interest in current affairs and maintains her church and other associations with much of the zest of other days. During the days of her young womanhood she was for nine or ten years engaged as a teacher in the schools of this county and she has never lost her interest in movements looking to the promotion of the cultural life of the community, in the devel- opment of which she has been a helpful participant for more than eighty years, for she was born in this county, a member of one of the real pioneer families, and has lived here all her life. She was born on a farm in the im- mediate vicinity of Goes Station on February 16, 1831, daughter of Amos and Jane (Goe) Quinn, both members of pioneer families, whose last days were spent here, the former dying in 1837, after which his widow married George Andrew, of Xenia township, and became the mother of Samuel G. ' and John C. Andrew.
The Hon. Amos Quinn, who was serving as representative from this district in the Ohio General Assembly at the time of his death in 1837, was the third in order of birth of the nine children born to Matthew and Mary Quinn, who came to this county with their family from Kentucky in 1803, members of the considerable colony of Scotch Seceders which settled here about that time, and further mention of which family is made elsewhere in this work. Amos Quinn was born in Pennsylvania, his father having moved from that state to Kentucky, and was but a lad when he came with
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the family to Greene county, the family locating on what is now known as the Routzong farm in Xenia township, where he grew to manhood. His father was a man of superior education and he thus received a degree of schooling much in advance of that common to the time and place and as a young man was for some time engaged in teaching school in this county, older chronicles referring to him in this connection as "a gentleman of genial temperament, not to be crossed by any amount of rebelliousness on the part of his pupils." He early took an active part in public affairs, served for years as justice of the peace in and for his township and was everywhere known throughout the county as "Squire" Quinn. From 1830 to the time of his death he served as sheriff of Greene county and, as noted above, was elected representative to the state Legislature from this district in 1835 and was thus a member of the General Assembly at the time of his death. He was a member of the old Associate church, now the Second United Pres- byterian church at Xenia, and was buried in the old Associate graveyard in that city. Amos Quinn left a widow and three children, Mrs. Lucas having had a brother, Elias, who died at his home in Xenia on April 15, 1900, and a sister, Sarah, who remained unmarried and who spent her life with her sister, Mrs. Lucas, living to a ripe old age. As noted above, Amos Quinn's widow married again and lived for years afterward. Elias Quinn, who was born on January 8, 1827, served as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, going to the front as a member of Company E, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was an active mem- ber of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Xenia. For many years he was identified with industrial and commercial circles in Xenia as one of the leading lumber dealers of that city, and continued thus suc- cessfully engaged until his retirement eight or ten years prior to his death. On April 26, 1859, Elias Quinn was united in marriage to Margaret Andrews, who survived him for more than three years, her death occurring on Novem- ber 19, 1903. To that union were born four children, namely: Leila, who for years was engaged as a teacher in the Xenia city schools and is now teaching in the Ohio State Soldiers and Sailors Orphans' Home there; Elizabeth, wife of John Cooper, living just west of Xenia; Willa Mary, who died in 1915, and Ralph E., who is engaged in the railway service at Xenia.
Jane Goe Quinn, mother of Mrs. Lucas, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, daughter of Samuel and Alice (Van Horn) Goe, and was but nine years of age when her parents came with their family to Ohio, floating down the river in flatboats to Walnut Hills, where they stopped and where they remained for two years, at the end of which time, in 1811, they came up here into the valley of the Little Miami and settled on a tract of land where the village of Goes, north of Xenia, later became established. Samuel
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Goe was a soldier of the Revolution and he and his wife were members of the old Seceder congregation on Massies creek, both being buried in the Massies- creek cemetery. It was there on that pioneer farm, now the site of Goes Station, that Jane Goe grew to womanhood and it was there in 1826 that she married Amos Quinn. Samuel Goe and wife were the parents of six children, Mrs. Quinn having had four brothers, Isaac, John, Thomas and James, and a sister, Sarah.
AUSTIN McDOWELL PATTERSON, PH. D.
Though born in the ancient city of Damascus, in far-away Syria, Dr. Austin McDowell Patterson has always regarded Xenia as his established home. The son of missionary parents, he was brought by them to their home in Xenia when but an infant and it is here that he continues to prefer to make his home. He was born on May 31, 1876, son and only child of Dr. J. F. and Charlotte Isabella (McDowell) Patterson, both of whom were born in Ohio, the former in Logan county and the latter in Xenia, and who were at that time serving as missionaries in the Syrian field in behalf of the United Presbyterian Board of Missions. Dr. J. F. Patterson was born on May 27, 1842, a son of John and Eliza Ann (Hutchinson) Patterson, who had come to Ohio after their marriage in Chester county, Pennsylvania. and had settled in Logan county, later moving to Warsaw, Indiana, where their last days were spent. Reared in Logan county, J. F. Patterson early turned his attention to the study of medicine and in 1865 was graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, shortly afterward opening an office for the practice of his profession in the village of Clifton, in this county, and was there thus engaged for five years, at the end of which time he entered Xenia Theological Seminary and after a preliminary course there entered Princeton Theological Seminary and from that insti- tution was graduated in 1872 and was ordained to the ministry of the United Presbyterian church, with a view to service in the missionary field. On October 22 of that same year, at Xenia, Doctor Patterson was united in marriage to Charlotte Isabella McDowell, of that city, and straightway after their marriage he and his bride departed for the foreign mission field, in due time entering upon their service in the city of Damascus and were there thus engaged when the subject of this biographical review was born in 1876. The arduous character of Doctor Patterson's labors in the foreign field presently began to undermine his health and in 1877 he returned with his family to Xenia, where his death occurred less than five years later, March 22, 1882. Doctor Patterson's widow survived him for many years, living to render a notable service to the community and to the missionary
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cause to which her heart ever continued devoted, her death occurring on October 14, 1909. She was the founder of the Woman's Missionary Maga- sine, now the official missionary organ of the United Presbyterian church in the United States, and for years was engaged in the editorial management of that journal. She also was one of the organizers of the Xenia Library Association, the forerunner of the present Greene County Library Association. Mrs. Patterson was born at Xenia on September 2, 1845, daughter of Capt. Austin and Susan A. (Finney) McDowell, who were mar- ried at Xenia on March 22, 1842, and whose last days were spent in that city, the house in which they lived occupying the site of the house in North King street in which their grandson, Dr. Austin McDowell Patterson, now resides.
Capt. Austin McDowell was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, April 27, 1815, a son of William and Charlotte (Finney) McDowell, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter, of the state of Maryland. - William McDowell's father, John McDowell, was the owner of a consider- able tract of land in the vicinity of the city of Pittsburgh and of an addi- tional tract now covered by the city of Mckeesport. Austin McDowell re- ceived his early schooling in a log school house in the vicinity of his father's farm and early was apprenticed to a carpenter. After working thus for two years in the country he went to Pittsburgh and there finished his trade in 1836, under the direction of Andrew Millen. For a year thereafter he worked as a journeyman carpenter there, and then in the fall of 1837, came out to Ohio on a visit to his uncle John Finney and wife, at Xenia, and was so favorably impressed with conditions here that he decided to remain. Upon locating here Austin McDowell began working at his trade and one of the first houses he built in Greene county is still standing. That house was built for George Gordon on the farm in the Massies creek neighbor- hood now owned by Mrs. Julia McGervey. Not long after taking up his residence here Austin McDowell formed a partnership with James Laug- head and became engaged as a building contractor, one of that firm's con- tracts having been the erection of the first Associate Reformed church in Xenia, now the First United Presbyterian church, the edifice which they erected serving until supplanted by the present edifice on East Market street. In 1844 Mr. McDowell was commissioned first lieutenant of the local com- pany of the old Ohio State Militia and was thus serving when the Mexican War broke out. During the progress of that war his command was or -. dered to the front and was at Cincinnati preparing for further action when the war came to an end, but the experience thus gained was of value when, later, during the progress of the Civil War, he earned his title of captain.
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