History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 29

Author: Broadstone, Michael A., 1852- comp
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1440

USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 29

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and her last days were spent with her children in this county. To Robert and Elizabeth (Crawford) Grieve were born three sons, the subject of this sketch, the first-born, having two brothers, Rankin R. Grieve, of Xenia, former sheriff of Greene county and a biographical sketch of whom is pre- sented elsewhere in this volume, and John Grieve, also a resident of Xenia. The mother of these sons died in March, 1888, and in 1892 Robert Grieve married Joanna Kyle, who died in 1895. Robert Grieve was a Republican and by religious persuasion was a member of the United Presbyterian church, affiliated with the Second church at Xenia.

Archibald C. Grieve grew up on the farm on which he was born and on which his father had been born and by the latter was trained in the ways of practical farming and stock raising, with particular reference to the latter phase of farming, for the elder Grieve ever gave close attention to the raising of fine live stock. As the eldest son, young Archibald early de- veloped responsibilities about the farm and the management of the same which stood him in good stead when he later assumed control of the place. His early schooling was received in the nearby Hazlip district school and he supplemented the course there by a course in the Xenia high school and in the old Xenia Seminary, in the latter institution being under the instruc- tions of Professor Smith. In 1881 he rented the home farm from his father and took charge of the same, establishing his home there after his mar- riage in the fall of 1887, his parents moving to their other farm in Xenia township about that time. After his father's death Mr. Grieve bought from his brothers their interests in the home place and has since been the owner of the same. Mr. Grieve has a farm of ninety-eight acres and is ably assisted in the management of the same and in his extensive live-stock operations by his four sons, all of whom continue to remain at home and who take a lively interest in the affairs of the stock farm. The house in which the Grieves live was erected by Mr. Grieve's father in 1856. Mr. Grieve is a Democrat, but has not been an office seeker.

On September 28, 1887, Archibald C. Grieve was united in marriage to Anna Jane Dean, who also was born in New Jasper township, this county, daughter of J. C. and Emily Louisa (Hagler) Dean, and to this union four sons have been born. Raymond Dean and Carlin Crawford, twins, mention of whose activities as breeders of live stock is made above, and Edmond and Robert. Mrs. Grieve also is a member of one of the pioneer families of Greene county, the Deans having been prominently represented here for more than a hundred years, as is set out in a comprehensive history of the Dean family in this county presented elsewhere in this volume.

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MICHAEL L. FINNELL.

Michael L. Finnell, president and general manager of the Tranchant & Finnell Company, merchant millers and proprietors of the Osborn Mills at Osborn, this county, one of the oldest continuously operated mills in this part of the state, is also president of the First National Bank of Osborn.

No history of Greene county would be complete without some reference to the old Osborn Mills, now and for some years past operated under the present management, the Tranchant & Finnell Company, of which Mr. Finnell, as noted above, is president: F. A. Tranchant, vice-president and treasurer ; J. B. Finnell, secretary, and F. Diefenbach, superintendent. This old water-power mill was established at Osborn in 1857 by Samuel Stafford, who some years later sold out to Joseph Harshman, who presently disposed of his interest in the mill to J. J. Tranchant, who continued in charge for some years, or until 1887, when Tranchant & Finnell assumed control and reorganized the whole business, adding to the capacity of the mill and in other ways extending its scope. In 1913 another reorganization occurred, the business then being incorporated under its present corporate title, and since that time has been operated at full capacity. In November, 1915, one of the mills, with a capacity of two hundred barrels, was destroyed by fire and since that time the other two mills, each with. a capacity of two hundred and fifty barrels, have been operated at full capacity night and day.

Michael L. Finnell, head of the milling concern, was born at Dayton, but was reared at Greenville, county seat of Darke county, in the schools of which city he received his early schooling. He supplemented the same by a course in a commercial college at St. Louis and then became engaged as a traveling salesman for the Peruna Drug Manufacturing Company, of Pitts- burgh, later of Columbus, and after three years spent on the road in behalf of that company was made secretary and manager of the company, which position he occupied until 1887, when he entered upon his present connection with the Osborn Mills, a member of the firm of Tranchant & Finnell, which. later was incorporated under its present firm style, and has ever since con- tinued in management of the mills. Mr. Finnell also is president of the First National Bank of Osborn.

On October 22, 1886, Mr. Finnell was united in marriage to Attie C. Tranchant, daughter of J. J. and Amelia Tranchant, the former of whom was the proprietor of the Osborn Mills prior to the reorganization of 1887 mentioned above. Mr. Finnell is a Republican and for seventeen years served the public as a member of the village council. He is a thirty-third-degree Mason, or sovereign grand inspector-general of the Ancient Accepted Scot-

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tish Rite, having been called to the supreme council from the consistory at Dayton, and is also prominently identified with the work of the Knights Templar, being the deputy grand commander of the Ohio grand com- mandery.

. JOHN FLETCHER ZIMMERMAN.

John Fletcher Zimmerman, a soldier of the Civil War, now living retired at his pleasant home in Jefferson township, rural mail No. 2 out of Jamestown, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of this county and of the farm on which he is now living since shortly after Civil War days. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of New Martins- burg, in the neighboring county of Fayette, October 9, 1835, son of Obe- diah H. and Ann (Simmons) Zimmerman, the latter of whom was born in Pennsylvania on July 6, 1809.

Obediah H. Zimmerman also was a native of Ohio, born in Ross county on November 14, 1809, a member of one of the pioneer families of that sec- tion of the state, his parents having come to Ohio from Pennsylvania. He grew up there amid pioneer conditions and on April 31, 1832, married Ann Simmons, not long afterward establishing his home on a tract of un- cleared timber land his father had given him over in the New Martinsburg neighborhood in the neighboring county of Fayette. He built a home there, made a clearing on his place and in time developed an excellent piece of farm property. He later bought a nearby farm and after a sometime residence there sold that place and bought a farm four miles north of Washington Court House and on this latter place spent his last days, his death occurring there on September 25, 1893. He had two brothers, Doug- lass, who settled in northern Indiana, and George, who went West. He was a member of the Methodist church and a Republican. Obediah H. Zim- merman was twice married. By his first wife, Ann Simmons, he was the father of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being the following: Eliza Jane, born on April 3, 1833, who married Joseph Smith and died at Hartford City, Indiana; William, January 5, 1838, a veteran of the Civil War and a retired farmer, who married Rebecca J. Smith and is living in Fayette county; George, December 23, 1839, who became a Greene county farmer ; Samuel, February 8, 1842, who died of measles at the age of twenty years, while serving as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, his death occurring in the vi- cinity of Vicksburg: Mary Ruth, March 29, 1844, wife of John David, of Fayette county, and Lucinda, September 1, 1846, who married a Reslar, a soldier of the Civil War, and died in Fayette county. The mother of these

MR. AND MRS. JOHN F. ZIMMERMAN.

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children died on January 4, 1849, and Obediah H. Zimmerman married Jane House, who was born in the neighborhood of Washington Court House, and to that union were born six children, all of whom save Clara, deceased, are living in Fayette county, the others being John, Amanda, Caroline, James and Newton.

John F. Zimmerman was fourteen years of age when his mother died. At the age of eighteen years he went to live with the family of James Beatty and there remained until his marriage when twenty-one years of age, after which he located on his father's old home place and was there engaged in farming when the Civil War broke out. During the early part of that struggle he served as a member of the Home Guards, but in 1864 enlisted under the call for the hundred-day service and went to the front as a member of Company I, One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, being stationed with that command at Cynthiana, Kentucky. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Zimmerman resumed his farming operations in Fayette county, but presently came over into Greene county and bought a tract of one hundred acres of unimproved land in Jefferson township, the place on which he is now living, and has there ever since made his home. When he took possession of that place the only sign of improvement on the same was an old log stable. He at once made a temporary house and in 1875 erected the substantial birck house in which he is still living, burning the bricks for the same on the place and hauling the stones in from New Jasper township. In time Mr. Zim- merman added to his acreage there and made other improvements. He was the first person in his neighborhood to bring in Duroc-Jersey hogs and he also was for years noted for the fine quality of his Shorthorn cattle. Though for some years Mr. Zimmerman has been living practically retired from the active labors of the farm, he has not ceased to take an interested oversight in the operations of the same, these operations now being carried on by his son-in-law, Paul J. Hawes. Mr. Zimmerman is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He formerly was a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Milledgeville.

On February 26, 1857, John F. Zimmerman was united in marriage to Lucy Priddy, who was born on October 2, 1837, in the vicinity of New Martinsburg, over in Fayette county, and who died at her home in Jeffer- son township on March 7, 1909. She was a daughter of Elias and Rebecca (Haines) Priddy, Virginians, the former born on June 10, 1796, and the latter, April 6, 1806, who became substantial pioneers of Fayette county, this state, having a good farm near New Martinsburg, where they spent their last days. Elias Priddy and wife were the parents of fourteen chil- dren, of whom Mrs. Zimmerman was the sixth in order of birth, the others

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being the following: George, born on November 26, 1830, deceased; Eve- lina, February 19, 1832, deceased; Strawther, June 15, 1833; Martha, July 20, 1834, now living in Jefferson county, this state; Jane, December 21, 1836; James, February 27, 1839, deceased; Early, November 15, 1840, now living in Washington Court House; Mary, November 19, 1842, now living at Connersville, Indiana; Eliza, April 10, 1845, deceased; Amanda, August 22, 1847, now living at Washington Court House; twins, September 26, 1850, who died in infancy, and Elizabeth, December 7, 1851, now living at Washington Court House.

To John F. and Lucy (Priddy) Zimmerman were born eleven chil- dren, namely: Alvin Beatty, born on March 1, 1859, now engaged in the tile-manufacturing business at Ridgeville, Indiana, who married Mary Chitty and has ten children, Clarence, Perlman, Dean, Vernon, Elmer, Clara, Rose, Paul, Ralph and Amos; Osman P., September 6, 1860, who married Emma Lutrell and died at Hartford City, Indiana, July 13, 1902, leaving his widow, who now lives in Oklahoma, with five children, Charles, Lillian, Frank, John and June; Samuel Clayton, August 1, 1862, a farmer of Fayette county, who on March 5. 1885, married Margaret Turner and has two children, Claude and Grace; Frank Ross, August 2, 1864, now liv- ing near Jeffersonville, Ohio, who on December 25, 1893, married Celeste Creamer and has three children, Brenton, Fay and Ruth; Elias Trustine, November 15, 1866, a farmer living in the Port William neighborhood, who on February 15, 1899, married Elsie Beal and has four children, Walter, Maurice, Robert and Myron; George Elba, April 12, 1869, a farmer in the Jeffersonville neighborhood, who on December 27, 1893, married Maud Perkins and has five children, Harold, Donald, Ala, Amos and Theron; Robert Dean, February 10, 1871, a commercial salesman traveling out of Cleveland, who on December 28, 1907, married Elizabeth McIntosh and has five children, Dean, Florence, Andrew, John and Janet; John Wesley, Feb- ruary 6, 1873, a farmer of Jefferson township, this county, who on Novem- ber 4, 1903, married Carrie Paine, who was born in London, England, and who died on May 25, 1915, leaving five children, Wayne. Leslie, Hugh, Dorothy and George; Anna Belle, May 25, 1875, who on June 12, 1898, married Louis Ellis, of Dayton, this state, and has two children, Helen and Herbert: Flora May, July 27, 1878, who on June 22, 1912, married Paul J. Hawes, mentioned above as now being in charge of the operations of Mr. Zimmerman's farm, and Mary Edith, June 17, 1882, who on June 9, 1909, married Chaney H. Neil, proprietor of the Grand Hotel at Xenia, and has two children, Mary Alice and Howard Lewis. Mr. Hawes, who is now managing the Zimmerman farm, was formerly engaged in the coal business

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at Xenia. He also formerly was a resident of Victor, Colorado, where he for some time was employed in the postoffice. Mr. Zimmerman has eleven great-grandchildren.

WILLIAM EDEN BURROWES.

The late William Eden Burrowes, who died at his home in Bath town- ship on April 10, 1916, was a native son of Greene county and had spent all his life here. He had lived to bring his farm of three hundred and forty- six acres up to an excellent state of cultivation and had there one of the finest farm residences and farm plants in the northern part of the county. That farm is now included in the great Wright aviation field created in the vicinity of Fairfield by the government for the training of aviators follow- ing the declaration of war against Germany in the spring of 1917, and when the Burrowes farm was taken over for that purpose the farm residence and farm buildings were razed. Since selling the farm Mrs. Burrowes, widow of the subject of this memorial sketch, has been making her home at Osborn, but is again confronted by the probability of having her home taken through the operation of the flood-prevention project.

William Eden Burrowes was born in Fairfield on October 8, 1854, son of Joseph and Lydia (Winters) Burrowes, the former of whom was a merchant in Fairfield at that time, as well as a landowner in that vicinity. Reared in the village, William E. Burrowes received his schooling there and early turned his attention to farming, becoming in time the owner of the farm above referred to and on which he spent his last days. He was a Republican, and for years served the public as trustee of his home township. He was a member of the Reformed church, as is his widow.

On May 18, 1896, William Eden Burrowes was united in marriage to Clara B. Williamson, who also was born in this county, daughter of James and Mary (Brown) Williamson, the former of whom also was born in this county and the latter, at Troy, in the neighboring county of Miami. James Williamson was born at Osborn, a son of James and Jane Williamson, na- tives of Pennsylvania and early residents in the northern part of Greene county, and he became a farmer in Bath township, he and his wife rearing there a family of seven children, of whom Mrs. Burrowes was the third in order of birth, the others being as follows: Charles, now deceased; Dr. Will- iam P. Williamson, a physician at Troy, Ohio; Ocy, who died in youth ; Ida, deceased; Edgar, deceased, and Effie, a resident of Piqua, where she is en- gaged as a teacher in the city schools. To Mr. and Mrs. Burrowes were born seven children: Earle W., a farmer and stockman at Osborn; one who died in infancy ; Nellie B., now Mrs. Paul Whaley, of Columbus ; Mary W., now Mrs. Frost Dille, of New Carlisle; Joseph A., at home with his mother ;

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Grace, at home with her mother; and James E., at Dayton. There are four grandchildren.

WILLIAM HUNTINGTON FORBES.

William Huntington Forbes, farmer and stockman, proprietor of a fine farm in Miami township, on rural route No. 3 out of Yellow Springs, and who also is engaged in the sale of agricultural implements and a spe- cial line of dairy supplies, was born on a farm near the confluence of the forks of the Little Miami in Greene township, in the neighboring county of Clark, November 27, 1862, son of Arthur and Anna E. (Huntington) Forbes, both of whom were born in that same county, members of pioneer families and whose last days were spent in the village of Yellow Springs, in this county.

Arthur Forbes was born in 1834, a son of Alexander Forbes and wife, pioneers of Clark county, and grew to manhood on the home farm there, becoming a farmer on his own account in due time and continuing to re- side there until his retirement from the farm and removal to Yellow Springs, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this biographical sketch was the first-born, the others being Margaret, who married Mitchell W. Collins, now living at Cedarville, and has one child, a daughter, Anna; Florence E., wife of T. M. Hanna, a real-estate dealer and farmer living in Iowa, and Fannie, who died when four years of age.

Reared on the home farm in Clark county, William H. Forbes re- ceived his early schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and remained there until he was fifteen years of age, when he came with his parents into Greene county, the family locating on the farm on the pike between Clifton and Yellow Springs that his father had purchased, and was living there at the time of his marriage in 1883. After his marriage Mr. Forbes con- tinued farming there until 1892, in which year he bought the farm on which he is now living, northeast of Clifton, and has ever since made that farm his place of residence. On that place Mr. Forbes put up the first silo erected in that part of the country and in other ways his farm plant is modern and up-to-date. For years Mr. Forbes has made a specialty of raising pure-bred Polled Jersey dairy stock and has exhibited his stock all over the country. One year he had the honor of taking sweepstakes at the Ohio state fair and at the New York state fair and at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo his exhibit, "Nubbin Ridge Queen," a Jersey cow, took the first prize as the richest producer of ten different breeds there tested for quality and richness of cream. This test covered a period six months and was thor-

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM H. FORBES, SON, CURTIS, AND DAUGHTER. MRS. MARGARET HENRY

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oughly convincing, "Nubbin Ridge Queen's" milk testing higher than that of any other cow exhibited at the great exposition. In addition to his general farming and stock raising interests Mr. Forbes also is interested in the sale of special dairy supplies and of agricultural implements, including threshing- machines. Politically, he is a Democrat and, fraternally, is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Clifton and of the uniformed rank of that order at Springfield, and of the local branch of the United Com- mercial Travelers at Springfield.

On September 18, 1883, William H. Forbes was united in marriage to Margaret J. Johnson, daughter of Joseph R. and Lydia E. (Estle) Johnson, the former of whom formerly operated the mill at Clifton, and to this union three children have been born, namely: Nora, who married C. F. Henry, of Kansas City, Missouri, now a first lieutenant in the Veterinary Corps of the United States army, and has one child, a daughter, Ruth Frances; Arthur, who died in 1894, and George Curtis Forbes, who remains at home on the farm assisting his father in the management of the same. Mr. and Mrs. Forbes are members of the Presbyterian church and take a proper in- terest in church work, as well as in the general good works of the com- munity.

FRANK C. MASSEY.

Frank C. Massey, a hardware merchant at Osborn, former president of the Ohio Hardware Dealers Association, for the past seven years a mem- ber of the board of directors of that association and for the past fourteen years a member of the village council of his home town, was born at Osborn and is still living in the house in which he was born, a member of one of the oldest families of that village. He was born on October 10, 1872, son of S. W. and Ellen (Smith) Massey, the former of whom, for many years one of the leading business men in Osborn, died in 1891 and the latter in April, 1915.

S. W. Massey was born at Watertown, New York, in 1834 and was but a lad when he came to Ohio with his parents. He became one of the first conductors on the old Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad and later became engaged in the general mercantile business at Osborn, a member of the firm of G. L. & S. W. Massey, one of the first mercantile concerns in that vil- lage, and continued actively engaged in business there until his retirement about five years before his death. S. W. Massey was a Republican. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church and their children were reared in that faith. S. W. Massey was married twice and was the father of eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth

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in order of birth. S. W. Massey's father, Solon Massey, was the first mayor of Osborn.

Reared at Oshorn. Frank C. Massey supplemented the schooling he received in the schools of that village by a course in a commercial school at Dayton and then became engaged as paymaster for the Dayton Car Com- pany, and was thus engaged for seven years, at the end of which time he entered the employ of Russell & Erwin at Dayton, and was for seven years connected with that concern as a traveling salesman. In 1902 Mr. Massey bought the A. D. Hogendobler hardware store at Osborn and has since been engaged in the hardware business in that village. In 1912 he erected his present store building, a structure thirty-two by one hundred feet in dimen- sion, and there carries a stock appraising upwards of ten thousand dollars. In connection with the store he also has a tin shop, a great convenience to the community. Mr. Massey is a member of the Ohio State Hardware Deal- ers Association, has served as a member of the board of directors of the same for the past seven years and in 1915 was president of the association. He is a Republican and for the past fourteen years he has been serving continu- ously as a member of the village council. It is therefore with the gravest possible concern that he has been noting the formulation of the present flood- prevention plans which seem now destined to nullify all that has been done for Osborn in the past by necessitating the abandonment of the village which lies in the area forming one of the great basins designed to hold back the water in case of a recurrence of such a flood as swept down the valley of the Miami in 1913.

On June 30, 1895, Mr. Massey was united in marriage to Roberta Davis, daughter of Dr. Ben and Emma (Robinson) Davis, the former of whom, for many years engaged in the practice of medicine at New Carlisle, in the neighboring county of Clark, is still practicing there, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Ben Davis Massey, born on November 13, 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Massey are members of the Presbyterian church at Osborn. Mr. Massey is a 32° Mason, affiliated with New Carlisle Lodge No. 100, Free and Accepted Masons, and the consistory, Valley of Dayton, Scottish Rite; a member of Gem City Lodge No. 3, United Commercial Travelers, at Dayton, and of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Osborn.

FRANK A. TRANCHANT.

Frank A. Tranchant, vice-president and treasurer of the Tranchant & Finnell Company, merchant millers and proprietors of the Osborn Mills at Osborn, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life, a

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resident of Osborn since 1880. He was born in the city of Cincinnati on January II, 1862, son of Jules J. and Amelia A. (Bates) Tranchant, the former of whom was born in the city of Paris, France, and was but a boy when he came to this county with his parents, the family locating at Cin- cinnati, where his father became engaged in the mercantile business. Jules J. Tranchant early became interested in the milling business and in 1880 bought the old Stafford mill at Osborn and continued as proprietor of the same until his death in 1886, after which his son, the subject of this sketch, and the latter's brother-in-law, M. L. Finnell, a biographical sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume, reorganized the business and have since been in charge. A sketch of old Osborn Mills is given in the biography of M. L. Finnell.

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History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 29

Author: Broadstone, Michael A., 1852- comp Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1440

Author: Broadstone, Michael A., 1852- comp
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1440