USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 17
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On March 22, 1842, at Xenia, Austin McDowell was united in mar-
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riage to his cousin, Susan A. Finney, and the two started housekeeping in a small house he had built on East Main street. In 1849 he traded his town property for a farm three miles southeast of Xenia and moved to the farm, where he remained until 1857, when he returned to town and there engaged in the lumber business, in partnership with James McHenry, under the firm name of McHenry & McDowell. It was in that same year that he bought the lot on North King street mentioned above as the site of the present residence of Doctor Patterson, and in the fall of 1858 he built a house there, he and his family entering upon the occupancy of the same in March, 1859, that old house now forming a part of the residence now standing there, the same long ago having been added to and remodeled. In the fall of 1861 when Company D of the Seventy-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer In- fantry, was recruited at Xenia, Austin McDowell was elected captain of the same and on December 28, 1861, was commissioned to lead the company in action. On February 24, 1862, Captain McDowell reported with his command at Camp Chase and remained there until ordered to the front on April 20 following. On September 1, 1862, this command was attached to Buell's brigade and Captain McDowell was assigned to recruiting service. While serving in this capacity at Franklin, Kentucky, he was taken prisoner by the enemy and was held at Hartsville, Tennessee, until presently paroled, after which he reported to Governor Wood at Columbus and was granted permission to remain a few days at home, later returning to Columbus, where he remained until he was exchanged, after which he reported to his regiment then doing service in Tennessee. In the meantime an injury which Captain McDowell had received while building a stockade at Franklin in August, 1862, continued to give him growing uneasiness and on February 10, 1863, he was compelled to resign on account of this disability and return home. On December, 25, 1863, he was commissioned captain of Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was ordered with that command to guard duty at Johnson's Island, where he was in service until the close of the war.
Upon the completion of his military service Captain McDowell returned to Xenia and resumed his participation in the affairs of the lumber firm with which he was connected. In the spring of 1866 the firm established a branch at Wilmington and Captain McDowell took charge of the same, mov- ing with his family to that city, and there remained until the summer of 1869, when he returned to Xenia and bought his partner's interest in the lumber business. In 1872 the Captain bought the ground now occupied by the McDowell & Torrence Lumber Company at the corner of South Detroit and Third streets and moved his plant there. On March 1, 1873, he sold an interest in the business to Findley D. Torrence and the concern was
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thereafter operated under the firm name of McDowell & Torrence, which name the company still bears, though the two principals are now deceased, Doctor Patterson holding the interest in the concern which he inherited from his grandfather, Captain McDowell. Early in life Captain McDowell had become affiliated with the Associate Reformed church, in the faith of which communion he had been reared, and by 1847 had become a trustee of the local congregation at Xenia. After the. "union" of 1858 he continued his interest in church work as a member of the First United Presbyterian church. He died on May 31, 1892, and when his will was read it was found that he had made provision for the perpetuation of the interest he had taken in the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home at Xenia by reserving a fund for the creation of an artificial lake in the grounds of the Home and beautiful McDowell Lake is a constant memorial of his interest in the chil- dren for whose enjoyment it was created.
Austin McDowell Patterson was but a babe in arms when his parents returned from Damascus, the place of his birth, to Xenia, and he was but six years of age when his father died. He grew up at Xenia and was pre- pared for college by attendance at Miss McCracken's Preparatory College in that city, after which he entered Princeton University, from which insti- tution he was graduated in 1897 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then entered Johns Hopkins University, specializing there in chemistry from 1897 to 1900, and in the latter year received from that institution his Doctor of Philosophy degree. While in Princeton he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Upon leaving Johns Hopkins in 1900 he accepted the chair of chemistry in Centre College at Danville, Kentucky, and a year later tran's- ferred his services to Rose Polytechnic Institute at Terre Haute, Indiana, remaining there as instructor in chemistry for two years, or until 1903, when his services were secured by the G. & C. Merriam Company, publishers of "Webster's New International Dictionary," and for four years there- after, or until 1907, he was engaged as editor of the department of chem- ical and allied terms in that work, a service which brought liim recognition as one of the few unquestioned authorities on chemistry and kindred sub- jects in the United States. Upon the completion of this monumental task Doctor Patterson returned home and spent the summer of 1908 at Xenia, where he took part in the preparations then being made for the centennial "home-coming" celebration of that year, rendering service in that connec- tion as chairman of the committee which had in hand the publication of the souvenir edition of a history of Greene county, personally taking many of the photographs that were used in illustrating the book and also acting as editor-in-chief.
In 1909 Doctor Patterson became associate editor of the publication
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Chemical Abstracts, a technical journal of the American Chemical Society then published at the University of Illinois, and a year later became editor of the same, at the same time transferring the office of publication to Ohio State University at Columbus, and continued as editor of that publication until 1914. In the meantime, in 1911, he had bought the Xenia Republican, a once-a-week newspaper that was being then published at Xenia, and in March, 1912, changed it from a weekly to a daily publication and continued as editor, owner and publisher of the same until 1914, when by reason of ill- health it became necessary for him to discontinue his labors and seek a change of climate. During the period of his labors as editor and publisher of the Daily Republican, Doctor Patterson also had been keeping up his technical labors as editor of Chemical Abstracts and these two-fold duties. together with his various activities in behalf of certain local political and social-service movements, proved too much for him and he found that he had overtaxed his physical powers. Selling his newspaper to the Gazette, the Doctor left Xenia and went to El Paso, Texas, where he remained two years, at the end of which time, physically restored, he returned to his estab- lished home at Xenia and has since been living there, chiefly engaged in his continued labors in behalf of the American Chemical Society and in writing on technical subjects, having in February, 1917, published a German-English dictionary of chemical terms which has already gone through its third print- ing. As secretary of the McDowell-Torrence Lumber Company he is also interested in the general business and industrial affairs of the city. The Doctor is an independent Republican and has rendered service as a member of the local school board and as a member of the city health board. He helped to organize and was the first president of the Greene County Im- provement Association and was a member of the charter committee chosen to get under way the movement which resulted in the adoption of a commis- sion form of government by the city of Xenia in the fall of 1917, serving afterward as vice-president of the commission of fifteen which framed the new charter. The Doctor is a fellow of the American Society for the Ad- vancement of Science and is an active member of the honorary scientific fraternity Sigma Xi. At the beginning of the present World War, Doctor Patterson offered his services to the government, and on April 1, 1918, was called to Washington, D. C., to assist in the United States Bureau of Mines as a volunteer non-salaried investigator. He and his wife are members of the First United Presbyterian church at Xenia.
On May 31, 1911, Dr. Austin McDowell Patterson was united in mar- riage to Anna Elizabeth Bailey, who was born at Cadiz, Ohio, daughter of the Rev. Samuel M. and Luella C. (Stewart) Bailey, the latter of whom is still living, a resident of Xenia. Mrs. Bailey was born on a farm in the
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vicinity of Clifton, this county, August 12, 1851, daughter and only child of John and Elizabeth (Elder) Stewart, both of whom were born in the neighboring county of Clark, the former on April 6, 1827, and the latter of whom died in 1853, her little daughter Luella then being but two years of age. The latter was reared by her father's sister, Mrs. Harvey Jobe, and received her schooling in the Xenia schools, being graduated from the high school in that city in 1870, and was living there when in 1878 she was united in marriage to the Rev. Samuel M. Bailey, who was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1848, son of Matthew and Ann (Smiley) Bailey, both of whom were born in that same county, the latter on June 9, 1812. Matthew Bailey was a farmer and he and his wife, who were married on March 27. 1834, spent their last days in their home county, the former dying in 1878 and the latter, December II, 1889. Originally members of the Associate Reformed church, they became affiliated with the United Presbyterian church after the "union" and their children were reared in that faith. There were eight of these children, namely : the Rev. John A. ' Bailey, a minister of the United Presbyterian church, who married Isabella Porter, of Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, held pastoral charges at Sidney, Ohio, and at Sharon, Pennsylvania, and who died at Mt. Jackson, in the latter state; William S. Bailey, former county commissioner of Washington county, Pennsylvania, now deceased; Mrs. Sarah Andrews, a widow, now living at McDonald, in Washington county, Pennsylvania : Alexander Bailey, a retired farmer, now living at Xenia; James P. Bailey, of Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania; Margaret, of McDonald, Pennsylvania; the Rev. Samuel M. Bailey, Mrs. Patterson's late father, and M. Carlisle Bailey, a retired farmer, now living in East Market street, Xenia.
Upon completing his preparatory studies at Westminster, Pennsylvania, Samuel M. Bailey began the study of theology and philosophy at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and later entered the Theological Seminary at Xenia, where he completed his studies and on April 12, 1877, was ordained to the min- istry of the United Presbyterian church. The next year he was married at Xenia and thus from the very beginning of his ministerial labors had a competent helpmate in the various fields to which these labors called him, among. these various charges having been those at Shilo, Indiana ; Cadiz, Ohio; Clifton, Ohio; Buffalo, New York, and other points. After twenty- five years of active ministerial labor Mr. Bailey found his health broken and upon his retirement in 1902 he returned to Xenia, established his home there and there spent his last days; continuing, however, so long as his strength remained, to supply vacancies in pulpits not too remote from his home, his death occurring there on June 2, 1908. To the Rev. Samuel M. Bailey and wife were born two children, Mrs. Patterson having a brother, Hervey
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Smiley Bailey, who also was born at Cadiz, this state, and who was gradu- ated from the high school while the family home was established at Buffalo, New York. He then entered Westminster College at New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, and afterward took a course in mechanical engineering at Cor- nell College and was employed as a mechanical engineer by different firms. In January, 1918, he was united in marriage to Harriet Culbert, of Eliza- beth, Pennsylvania. They are living on their farm one mile cast of Cedar- ville in this county. Mrs. Patterson, the second child and only daughter of her parents, completed her high-school work at Buffalo, New York, and later entered the Western College for Women at Oxford, Ohio, from which she was graduated in 1906.
JOHN R. PATTERSON.
John R, Patterson, superintendent of the city schools at Xenia, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state nearly all his life, actively en- gaged in school work since he was eighteen years of age. He was born at Bridgeport, in Belmont county, January 15, 1886, son of John and Laura Belle (Cost) Patterson, both of whom were born in that same county and the latter of whom is still living. He was but a babe in arms when his parents went from Ohio to Kansas and he was about six years of age when they returned to their old home in Belmont county, this state, where he grew to manhood. He received his early schooling in the schools of Bridgeport and at the age of eighteen years began teaching school. for two years being thus engaged in the rural schools in his home county. He then was made a township supervising teacher and after two years of service in that capacity was made principal of the South School at Martins Ferry, Ohio. After two years there he was made superintendent of schools at New Washington, in Crawford county. In the meantime, by attending summer courses, Mr. Patterson had attained junior rank in Wooster University and his teaching abilities having attracted the attention of the university authorities he was made instructor in science in the academic department of the university. By this form of service he was enabled to finance his further progress through the, university and he was graduated from that institution, cum laude, in 1914, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy ; meanwhile having taught for fifteen hours a week during his senior year. Upon receiving his diploma Mr. Patterson was elected superintendent of schools at Amherst, entering upon the duties of that position in the fall of 1914 and continuing thus en- gaged until in July, 1916, when he was elected to the position of superin- tendent of the schools at Xenia,"which position he now occupies. Since leaving the university he has taken two summer courses in school adminis-
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tration at Columbia University, New York. Mr. Patterson is an able speaker and during his college days was able to supplement the slender fund at his disposal by delivering high-school commencement addresses. He is a mem- ber of the Ohio State Teachers Association and of the National Education Association. Politically, he is a Democrat and, fraternally, is affiliated with the Masons and with the Knights of Pythias.
On August 14, 1909, John R. Patterson was united in marriage to Bertha B. Bunker, who was born at Kent, this state, daughter of Richard R. and Josephine (Shannon) Bunker, and to this union has been born one child, a son, James Earl, born on August 15, 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Patterson are members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Patterson is a member of the Xenia Business Men's Association.
ROBERT S. JACOBY.
The late Robert S. Jacoby, veteran of the Civil War and for years a well-known farmer and miller, who died at his home in Xenia township in 1910, was a native son of Greene county, born on the farm on which he spent his last days, and where his widow is now making her home, November 22, 1842, son of Matthew Corry and Phoebe A. (Jackson) Jacoby, the latter of whom was a daughter of Gen. Robert Jackson, a cousin of Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States, and further men- tion of whom is made elsewhere in this work, he having been one of the early and influential settlers of this county, for some time commander of local militia and for a time representative from this district in the state Legisla- ture.
Matthew Corry Jacoby was a native of New York state. Upon coming to Greene county he located on the place on which the widow of his son Robert is now living, in Xenia township, cleared and improved the same, built a mill and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there in 1846. His widow married John Dawson and after the latter's death married a Reed. Her last days were spent in Chicago, where she was making her home with a daughter at the time of her death. By her mar- riage with Matthew Corry Jacoby she was the mother of three sons, Robert S., Corry and Reuben J., all of whom are now deceased. By her second marriage she was the mother of three daughters, Minerva Alice, who mar- ried Wilson Hopkins; Elizabeth Ann, who married Fred Best, of New York, and Catherine, who married W. J. Fleming, of Chicago.
Reared on the home farm in Xenia township, Robert S. Jacoby received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and as a boy was a valued help to his father in the operations of the mill and the home farm. Though but
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ALEXANDER TURNBULL.
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eighteen years of age when the Civil War broke out he enlisted his services in behalf of the Union cause and went to the front as a member of Company D, Seventy-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served for four years or until the close of the war, being mustered out at Camp Denison in 1865 with the rank of sergeant. He had been offered a captaincy, but had declined. During that term of service Mr. Jacoby participated in many of the great battles of the Civil War, was with Sherman on the march to the sea and did not miss a single day of service, taking part in all the encounters in which his regiment was engaged. Upon the com- pletion of his military service Mr. Jacoby returned to the home farm, but presently entered a business college at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and after a course of instruction in that institution was for a time engaged in various business pursuits, for a time being engaged in the grocery business at Xenia, after which he returned to the home farm and lived with his uncle, John Jacoby, taking care of the latter in his old age. He then bought the old Jacoby homestead of two hundred and ten acres, including the old Jacoby mill, and there continued engaged in farming and milling until his death, which occurred on January II, 1910, although in the later years of his life he had practically retired from active labors, though continuing his general direction of affairs. In addition to his general farming and milling he also had given considerable attention to the raising of live stock and had done very well. Mr. Jacoby was a Republican, a charter member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Yellow Springs and an active member of the Yellow Springs United Presbyterian church, ever taking an earnest interest in political affairs and in the work of his post and church, remaining to the end, as it was written of him, "as true to his duties of citizenship as when he followed the starry banner of the nation upon Southern battle fields."
On December 28, 1871, Robert S. Jacoby was united in marriage to Mary Catherine Humphreys, who also was born in Xenia township and who survived him, continuing to make her home on the farm, her sister, Mrs. Sarah J. Turnbull, widow of Alexander Turnbull, making her home with her. Mrs. Jacoby and Mrs. Turnbull, who are the last surviving members of their family, are daughters of Joseph and Martha (Ferguson) Humphreys, the former of whom was born in New York state and the latter in the Steele Creek settlement in North Carolina, she having been but a girl when her widowed mother came to this county with her family and settled in Xenia township. Joseph Humphreys was but a boy when he came here from New York with his two uncles. Francis and Edward Humphreys, and his unmar- ried aunt, Nancy Humphreys, the family settling in the northern part of Xenia township, where they developed fine bits of farm property. There Joseph
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Humphreys grew to manhood and married Martha Ferguson, the two estab- lishing their home on a farm in Xenia township, where they spent their last days, the former dying at the age of eighty-one years and the latter at the age of sixty-three years. To Joseph and Martha (Ferguson) Humph- reys were born six children, of whom Mrs. Turnbull was the first-born and Mrs. Jacoby the fifth in order of birth, the others having been Francis Edward Humphreys, who enlisted for service in behalf of the Union during the Civil War, went to the front as a member of Company D, Seventy-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and while serving with that command died of measles at Nashville, Tennessee; the Rev. William Ferguson Humph- reys, a minister of the United Presbyterian church, who died at his father's home in Xenia township at the age of thirty years; Elizabeth Ann, who died unmarried, and Martha Josephine, who also died unmarried. Sarah J. Humph- reys, first-born of the above children of Joseph Humphreys, was united in marriage in 1861 to Albert G. Barber, who died in 1893. To that union was born one child, a daughter, Fannie, who married H. C. Dean and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased. To H. C. Dean and wife two children were born, the Rev. James Humphreys 'Dean, who married Myra Logan and is now pastor of the United Presbyterian church at South Argyle, New York, and Mary Catherine, who married William Wilson, of Spring- field, this state, and has two daughters, Frances and Martha Jane. In April, 1895, Mrs. Barber married Alexander Turnbull, a veteran of the Civil War, a member of Company D, Twelfth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, who was wounded at the battle of Murfreesboro and who after his military service was over had located on a farm in the vicinity of Cedarville. Alexander Turnbull died on April 6, 1915, since which time Mrs. Turnbull has been making her home with her sister, Mrs. Jacoby. The two sisters continue to take an active interest in the general affairs of the community and in current events. They have been witnesses to many amazing changes in local condi- tions and in the manner of living since the days of their childhood and can tell many interesting stories of a generation now gone by. Mrs. Jacoby is a member of the Presbyterian church at Yellow Springs and Mrs. Turn- bull is a member of the First United Presbyterian church at Xenia, both ladies taking a warm interest in church affairs and in the general good works of the county in which they have lived all their lives, and in which they have many warm friends.
EDWIN C. RADER.
Edwin C. Rader, building contractor at Xenia, was born at 171 Colum- bus avenue, Xenia, January 12, 1855, son of Adam and Susan V. (McKnight) Rader, the former of whom was a native of the old Keystone
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state and the latter of the Old Dominion, who became residents of Greene county in the days of their childhood, their respective parents having been pioneers here, and here spent their last days.
Adam Rader was born in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1818, and was but three years of age when his parents came to Ohio in 1821, driving through, and settled on a farm on the lower Bellbrook pike in Beavercreek township, this county, where they established their home and where they spent the rest of their lives. They had five sons, John, David, William, Adam and Levi, the latter of whom is still living, a resident of Xenia. The junior Adam Rader grew up on the paternal farm in Beaver- creek township and early became interested in the manufacture of brick, he and one of his brothers presently establishing brick yards in the east end of Xenia, and he continued engaged in the brick business the rest of his life, living at Xenia with the exception of two years spent at Jamestown, where he was engaged in farming. On December 13, 1849, at 171 Columbus ave- nue, Xenia, Adam Rader was united in marriage to Susan V. McKnight, daughter of Josiah McKnight and wife, who had come here from Virginia about 1830 and had settled in Xenia, where Josiah Mcknight became con- nected with the city's business affairs. In that house Adam Rader and his wife made their home after their marriage and there both died, the latter dying on May 15, 1894. Adam Rader died on January 30, 1907, he then being eighty-nine years of age. He and his wife were members of the Ger- man Reformed church and were the parents of six children, namely : Emma, who died at the age of ten years; Edwin C., the subject of this biographical sketch; Henry Willard and Mariella, twins, the former of whom is now living at Dayton and the latter of whom married William Dean, a biograph- ical sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; and is now living at Columbus, Indiana; Martha, who is still living at Xenia, widow of Dr. H. R. McClelland, and Ada Virginia, wife of Dr. C. F. Oglesbee, of Xenia.
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