USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109
JOHN A. HICKMAN AND FAMILY.
A
325
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
he and his wife made their home on the old Turner place, where his wife was born and reared, and there resided for more than seven years, at the end of which time they moved down into Clinton county, but after a two- years' residence there returned, in 1879, to the old Hickman place of seventy acres on which Mrs. Hickman still lives and which she owns, and there Mr. Hickman spent the rest of his life, his death occurring there, as noted above, in 1908, he then being sixty-four years of age. By political affilia- tion Mr. Hickman was a Democrat, but had not been a seeker after public office.
On November 15, 1870, John Allen Hickman was united in marriage to Elizabeth Turner, who also was born in this county, daughter of Elijah and Fanny (Bales) Turner, both of whom also were born in this county, members of pioneer families, and who spent all their lives here. Elijah Turner was a son of Joseph and Diana (Small) Turner, who had come up here from Tennessee and had settled on a farm in New Jasper township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of twelve children, all of whom grew to maturity, and as most of these reared families of their own the Turner connection hereabout is now a numerous one. Elijah and Fanny (Bales) Turner were the parents of seven children, namely : Hannah, who died unmarried; Elizabeth, widow of Mr. Hickman; John, a retired farmer, now living at Lumberton, over the line in Clinton county; Hiram, deceased, whose last days were spent in Arkansas; Will- iam, a farmer of Xenia township, this county, who died in 1916; Daniel, a farmer of New Jasper township, and Jane, who lives in the neighborhood of Alpha, in this county, widow of William McBee.
To John A. and Elizabeth (Turner) Hickman were born five children, namely: Amy, who married Charles Davis, of Columbus, this state, and died in August, 1917; Harley, engineer at the powder-mills, making his home at Xenia, who married Anna Whittington and has three children, Vesta, Helen and Vernon; Fanny, who married Charles Robinson, formerly a blacksmith at New Burlington, but who now is farming the Hickman place, and has four children, Lewis, Lucy, Elizabeth and Mildred; Ruby, who married Harry Whittington, a farmer of Xenia township, and has four children, Louise, Raymond, Frances and Alden ; and John Ray, a brakeman in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, living at Xenia, who married Cora Davis, who died in 1916 leaving three children, Dorothy, Will- iam and Kenneth. Since her husband's death Mrs. Hickman has continued to make her home on the old home place which is being looked after by her son-in-law, Mr. Robinson. She is a member of the White Chapel Methodist Episcopal church.
326
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
WILLIAM W. FITZPATRICK.
William W. Fitzpatrick, a farmer of New Jasper township, living on rural mail route No. 9 out of Xenia, is a Virginian by birth, but has been a resident of this county since the days of his young manhood. He was born in Rockbridge county, August 7, 1848, son of Farrel and Sarah (Black) Fitzpatrick, the former of whom was born in the north of Ireland and the latter in that portion of Virginia now comprised within the state of West Virginia. Farrel Fitzpatrick lived in his native Ireland until he was a young man, when he came to the United States and after his marriage set- tled in Rockbridge county, Virginia, where he died in 1854. His widow survived him but two years, the subject of this sketch then being under eight years of age. Farrel Fitzpatrick and his wife were the parents of ten chil- dren, the subject of this sketch having had three brothers and six sisters, namely : The Rev. James Fitzpatrick. now decceased, who was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church; Mrs. Jane Clark, now deceased, who spent all her life in Virginia; John, also deceased, who was a grocer in Vir- ginia; George, who died in Hardin county. Ohio, in 1916; Mrs. Lizzie Daly, who spent her last days in Maryland; Mrs. Mattie Harding, who is still living in Rockbridge county, Virginia; Nancy, who died in the days of her girlhood, and Ellen, who died in Virginia.
W. W. Fitzpatrick was but eight years of age when he was left an orphan and until he was eighteen years of age he made his home in the household of his eldest sister, Mrs. Jane Clark, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools. He then worked on nearby farms until 1872, in which year, in company with another young man of that neighborhood, he started for In- diana with a view to joining in that state several other young men of the home neighborhood who had gone over into the Hoosier state not long before. Enroute, he stopped at Jamestown, in Greene county, and was there offered a place on a farm in the vicinity of that village. He accepted the offer and remained there, Ohio thus gaining a good citizen who other- wise might have become a resident of Indiana. For two years thereafter Mr. Fitzpatrick worked as a farm hand and he then rented a farm and began operations on his own account. After his marriage in 1876 he bought a small tract of land in Ross township and later added to the same until he had a farm of fifty-two acres. On that place he made his home until 1901, in which year he sold that farm and bought the old Cooper place of eighty- three and one-half acres in New Jasper township on which he is now living. He is a Democrat, but reserves the right to vote independently on local issues.
On February 17, 1876, in Ross township, this county, Mr. Fitzpatrick was united in marriage to Jane Snodgrass, who was born in that township,
327
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
daughter of Joseph and Eliza (Ballard) Snodgrass, the latter of whom was born in Pennsylvania and who was but a child when she came with her parents to Ohio, the family settling in Adams county. Joseph Snodgrass was born in the vicinity of the Natural Bridge, in Rockbridge county, Vir- ginia, and was but eight years of age when he came with his parents, Robert Snodgrass and wife, to Ohio, the family first settling in Clark county and then, a few years later, coming down into Greene county, where they estab- lished their home, others of the Snodgrass family having been represented in this county since the year 1803. James Snodgrass, another of the sons of Robert Snodgrass, was a soldier of the War of 1812. When Robert Snod- grass died Joseph Snodgrass and his brother John bought the home farm of one hundred acres and divided the same. Joseph Snodgrass later bought forty acres adjoining his strip, a mile and a quarter north of Jamestown, in Ross township, where he and his wife spent their last days. In the days preceding the Civil War he was an outspoken Abolitionist, a Freesoiler and a Fremont man. His wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. They were the parents of six children, of whom Mrs. Fitzpatrick was the last born, the others being as follow: Milo R., an attorney-at-law, living at Xenia ; William, a farmer, now deceased, whose last days were spent at Dayton; Angeline, also deceased, who was the wife of Albert Whitting- ton, of Jamestown; Euphias, who died at the age of twenty years, and Joseph, who died in the days of his childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick have three children, namely: Prof. Raymond Fitzpatrick, who was gradu- ated from Cedarville College, later completed his studies in chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania and is now a teacher in the chemistry depart- ment of that institution, making his home in Philadelphia; Foster Fitz- patrick, who is engaged in the insurance business in Xenia, and Muriel, who was graduated from Ohio State University in 1916 and is now at home with her parents.
CLAYTON HAINES.
Clayton Haines, a farmer living on rural mail route No. 6 out of Xenia, was born in Caesarscreek township and has lived there all his life, a period of more than eighty-six years. He was born on the old Faulkner place, now owned and occupied by his brother, a biographical sketch of whom is pre- sented elsewhere in this volume, January 10, 1832, son of Zimri and Eliza- beth (Compton) Haines, the former of whom was born in New Jersey and the latter in South Carolina. They came to Ohio with their respective pa- rents in pioneer times and were married in the vicinity of New Burlington, later settling on the farm in Caesarscreek township above referred to, where
328
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
they established their home and where they spent the remainder of their lives. Zimri Haines lived to be eighty years of age and his widow survived him until she was eighty-six. They were members of the Friends church and their children were reared in that faith. Of the twelve children born to them but three are now living, the subject of this sketch, his brother Asaph, mentioned above, and their sister, Phœbe, wife of Joseph Davis, now living in Kansas. The others of the children of Zimri Haines and wife were Samuel, Elwood, Eli, Eber, Zimri, Mrs. Sarah Fawcett, Mrs. Rebecca Ann Bales, Mrs. Mary Marie Brown and Mrs. Elizabeth Carter.
Reared on the home farm in Caesarscreek township, Clayton Haines received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and remained at home until he was twenty-four years of age, when his father gave him a hundred- acre farm in that township and after his marriage he established his home there, continuing to make that his place of residence until he bought the Davis home, on which he now lives. He gave his son fifty-four acres of that place some time ago and still retains fifty-seven acres. Mr. Haines is a Republican.
Mr. Haines has been twice married. His first wife, who was Lydia Bales, of Caesarscreek township, died leaving two daughters, Maria Alice, who married Owen Hutchins, now living north of Dayton and has three children, Ruth, Dorothy and Clayton, and Emma, who married E. Brickles, of New Jasper township, and has six children, Cora, Alice, Ada, Elizabeth, Oscar and Bessie. In 1887 Mr. Haines married, secondly, Venia Johnson, who was born in the vicinity of Bloomington, this state, and to this union two children have been born, Roy M., living on the home place, who mar- ried Emma Hurst and has three children, Leona May, Howard Leon and Violet Lucile, and Jessie Vay, wife of William Dewitt, of Lumberton, in the neighboring county of Clinton. Mr. Haines and his family are members of New Hope Friends church.
ISAAC SMITH.
The late Isaac Smith, who died at his home in Jamestown in the fall of 1914 and whose widow yet lives there, was a native of the Old Dominion, but had been a resident of Greene county since the days of his young man- hood. He was born in Hampshire county, Virginia, June 20, 1839, a son of John and Maria (Kiter) Smith, both of whom were born in Virginia, the former on June 6, 1806, and the latter, May 22, 1806, who came to Greene county after the Civil War and here spent their last days. John Smith and wife were the parents of seven children, George, Isaac, Hester,
ISAAC SMITH
329
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
Mary, Elizabeth, Frederick and Catherine, of whom but three, Hester, Mary and Frederick, are now living.
Isaac Smith was about twenty-one years of age when he left his native Virginia and came over into Ohio, arriving in Greene county with seven dollars in his pocket. That was about the year 1860. Upon his arrival here he began work as a farm hand and was thus engaged until he was joined here by his parents some three or four years later, when the family rented a farm and established a home. Isaac Smith presently bought that farm, but after his marriage in 1881 sold the same and bought the farm of one hundred and fifty-four acres in the immediate vicinity of Bowers- ville upon which he and his wife established their home and which his widow now owns, and there he continued farming until his retirement in 1890 and removal to Jamestown, where he spent the rest of. his life, his death occurring there on October 5. 1914, and where his widow is still living. Mrs. Smith is a member of the Baptist church and Mr. Smith gave to that church his financial support during his residence in Jamestown.
It was on December 18, 1881, that Isaac Smith was united in marriage to Catherine M. Hite, who was born in Caesarscreek township, this county, a daughter of Andrew D. and Mary ( Meyers) Hite, the former of whom was born on December 16, 1816, and the latter, August 14, 1814. Andrew D. Hite and wife were the parents of ten children, two of whom died in infancy, the others, besides Mrs. Smith, being James (deceased), William, George (deceased), John (deceased), Allen, Cyrus and Elizabeth (deceased). To Mr. and Mrs. Smith one child was born, a son, Homer Smith, born on January 4, 1885, who is making his home with his mother at Jamestown and who is engaged in looking after his farming interests nearby.
HON. EDMUND HARRIS MUNGER.
The late Edmund Harris Munger, former judge of the court of common pleas and for years dean of the Greene county bar, was a native son of Ohio and lived in this state all his life. He was born on a farm south of Dayton. in Montgomery county, a son of Reuben and Laura (Harris) Munger, tlie latter of whom was born in that same county, a daughter of John and Eliza- beth (Bingham) Harris, who had come to this state from New England and who were among the pioneer settlers of Montgomery county.
Reuben Munger was a son of Gen. Edmund Munger, a New Eng- lander and a member of an old Colonial family, the first of the Mungers to settle in this country having been one of the Kent Mungers who came over and settled in New England in 1639, where he established his family, his descendants in the present generation forming a numerous connection widely
330
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
scattered throughout the United States. General Munger, whose title was earned by right of his command of Ohio troops during the War of 1812 and to which command he was succeeded by General Hull, who led his troops to disaster at Detroit, spent one summer after coming to Ohio in the wilds near Belpre, in Washington county, where he cleared some land and planted a crop. Afterward he purchased a section of land in what was known as the Symmes purchase in what later came to be organized as Mont- gomery county, and established his home there, south of Dayton, in 1798, one of the earliest settlers in the Miami valley, and in time came to be com- mander of militia in his district. It is narrated of General Munger that though a farmer by vocation he was "a man of marked ability along many lines. He had considerable mechanical talents, could shoe his own horses and repair his farm machinery, and at the same time his mental talents and broad knowledge made him a leader of public thought and opinion." Among the acts by which he contributed largely to the common good of the pioneers and to the advancement of learning in the community was the establishment of a circulating library which exerted a wide influence in the formative days of the new settlement. General Munger died at his home on the old Symmes purchase at the age of eighty-six years and his widow survived him for some years, she living to the extraordinary age of one hundred years and four months. They were the parents of twelve children, ten of whom lived to maturity and reared families of their own.
Of the children mentioned above Reuben Munger was the fifth in order of birth. To the common-school advantages he received he added home study under the direction of his father. General Munger. From his father he apparently inherited mechanical ability and in time became a building contractor and a carriage manufacturer, as well as a constructor of thresh- ing-machines and other forms of agricultural implements. Though ever a resident of the old home farm place. Reuben Munger never engaged actively in agricultural pursuits, his building and manufacturing activities occupying his time. Reuben Munger married Laura Harris, who was born in Mont- gomery county, as noted above, and to that union were born three children, of whom Judge Munger was the first born, the others having been John, who died at the age of nineteen years, and Amanda, who died at the age of four years. The mother of these children died at the age of seventy-four years, and the father lived to be ninety-six years of age, his last days being spent at the home of his son, Judge Munger, at Xenia.
Judge Edmund H. Munger was admirably trained and schooled for the exacting profession in which he was destined to achieve so distinctive a measure of success. In addition to the early schooling he received in the schools of his home neighborhood in Montgomery county he also had the
331
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
advantage of a comprehensive course in classics under the tutelage of the Rev. Mr. Hall, a neighboring clergyman, who taught him to read Latin. He also acquired a comprehensive knowledge of higher mathematics and as a young man was for several years engaged in teaching school, meanwhile extending his schooling by attendance at the Xenia Academy and at Barney's Academy at Dayton, thus preparing for college. In due time he entered Miami University at Oxford, from which institution he presently trans- ferred his attendance to the college at Danville, Kentucky, from which latter institution he was graduated with the highest honor's of his class in 1848, his address, as valedictorian, being on the subject of "The Ideal." During Judge Munger's attendance at Miami he was one of the founders of the now widely established college fraternity Beta Theta Pi. Upon receiving his degree the young collegian returned home and established a school for young men and young women at Bellbrook, in this county, conducting the same for nine months, at the end of which time he entered seriously upon the pur- suit of his law studies, to which he had meanwhile been giving such atten- tion as he could, and for two years continued these studies under the pre- ceptorship of Joseph G. Gest at Xenia. Thus prepared for examination he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of the state, sitting at Colum- bus, in 1851, and straightway afterward formed a partnership with Mr. Gest, his former preceptor, and entered upon the practice of his profession at Xenia, continuing his partnership with Mr. Gest until the latter's retire- ment two or three years later, when he bought the office library and equip- ment and admitted to partnership R. F. Howard, a relation which continued but two years, after which he became engaged in practice alone and so ever afterward continued. Prior to ascending the common pleas bench Judge Munger served as prosecutor for Greene county, 1860-66. Reared a Whig, he became a Republican upon the organization of that party and during the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes as governor of Ohio he was ap- pointed judge of the common pleas court for this district to fill the unex- pired term of Judge Winans and served for three and one-half years, 1868-72. Upon the expiration of his judicial office Judge Munger re- sumed his practice and so continued until his retirement. He became a large landowner and had banking and other financial interests. The Judge spent his last year at his home on North King street, where he lived for many years, his household being presided over by his widowed daughter, Mrs. Mary Meredith.
Judge Munger was united in marriage on October 3, 1861, to Emily A. Mather, of Suffield, Connecticut, a daughter of Charles and Mary (Hatha- way) Mather and a direct descendant of Richard Mather, a distinguished theologian of early Colonial days in New England. To that union were
332
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
born six children, of whom Mrs. Meredith was the fifth in order of birth, the others being: Clara, wife of the Rev. Joseph Little, a clergyman of the United Presbyterian church at Indianapolis; John C. Munger, who married Flora .Barnes and is now city attorney of Pasadena, California; Laura, wife of H. W. Ninde, a lawyer, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Edmund, who completed his musical education at Vienna and is now living at Jacksonville, Illinois, and Charles, who is engaged in the automobile business at Dayton. Judge Munger died in Xenia on March 21, 1918.
ORANGE S. HATCH.
In making up a roll of those citizens of Silvercreek township who exerted a wide influence upon the life of the past generation in that town- ship the name of the late Orange S. Hatch will be found to occupy a place very near the top, for he had done well his part in that community and had there acquired an excellent farm, on which he continued to make his home until his retirement in 1894 and removal to the village of Jamestown, where he died in the spring of 1896 and where his widow is still living.
Orange S. Hatch was a native son of Greene county, born on a pio- neer farm in Silvercreek township on August 18, 1826, son of Ebenezer and Cynthia (Greene) Hatch, both of whom were born in the state of Con- necticut, but who were reared in New York State, where they were married, later coming West and locating in southern Indiana, three years later com- ing over into Ohio and settling in Greene county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Ebenezer Hatch was a son of John Hatch and wife, the former of whom was a sea captain, who followed the sea during the earlier years of his manhood, later moving with his family to Oswego county, New York, where he established his home and where his eldest son, Ebenezer, grew to manhood and married Cynthia Greene, who also was born in Connecticut and who had moved with her parents to Oswego county, New York, when a girl. About the year 1820 Ebenezer Hatch came West and located at Elizabethtown, in Bartholomew county, Indiana, where he remained a couple of years or more, or until 1823, in which year he moved Ebenezer Hatch bought a forty-acre farm and proceeded to develop the the place on which Orange S. Hatch was born. Upon coming to this county over into Ohio and located on a farm in Silvercreek township, this county, same, later becoming owner of a farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres. There he died on January 2, 1874, being then in the ninetieth year of his age. He was twice married. His first wife, Cynthia Greene, who was born in 1783, died at the family home in Silvercreek township on June II. 1845,
MR. AND MRS. ORANGE S. HATCH.
333
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
after which he married Violet Barber, who was born in 1812 in Carroll county, Virginia, and who survived him. By his first marriage Ebenezer Hatch was the father of twelve children, all of whom grew to maturity save one, and of whom Orange S. Hatch was the youngest.
Reared on the home farm about two miles south of Jamestown, in Silvercreek township, Orange S. Hatch received his schooling in the neigh- borhood schools. After his marriage in the fall of 1856, he then being about thirty years of age, he established his home on the old home place and long before his father's death acquired the interests of the other heirs in the homestead and continued to improve and develop the place, at the same tinie adding to the same until he became the owner of a farm of more than two hundred acres. There he continued to make his home until 1894, when he retired from the farm and moved to Jamestown, where his death occurred on March 14, 1896, he then being in the seventieth year of his age. Orange S. Hatch was a Republican, but was not a seeker after public office. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist church, as is his widow, a liberal contributor to church work and no less generous in his private philanthropies.
On October 22, 1856, at Harlem Springs, in Jefferson county, this state, Orange S. Hatch was united in marriage to Clara Thomas, who was born at Amsterdam, that county, June 28, 1837, daughter of Daniel and Eliza- beth (McDowell) Thomas, natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and Mary- land, who were married in the former state and who later came to Ohio. After a sometime residence in Steubenville, where Daniel Thomas was for some time engaged in the manufacturing and mercantile business, he on account of his health, moved to Springfield, later moving to Amsterdam, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. Daniel Thomas died in 1846, at the age of forty-one years, and his widow survived him for forty-four years, she being nearly ninety-one years of age at the time of her death. As a young woman Clara Thomas learned the millinery art from her mother. Elizabeth Thomas, who on account of financial misfor- tunes, established a millinery business after her husband's death, was engaged in the millinery business at Harlem Springs at the time of her marriage to Mr. Hatch. To that union were born four children, of whom one, a son, John T., born on January 28, 1859, died on September 24, 1863, the others being Emma O., Minnie B. and Charles G., the latter of whom is a plumber and garage owner in Jamestown. Charles G. Hatch has been twice married, after the death of his first wife, Ora Bailey, marrying Bessie Brown, and has one child, a daughter, Phyllis Violet. Emma O. Hatch married Allen T. Sutton, a farmer of Silvercreek township, now deceased, a union to which were born three children, John H. (deceased), Ora (deceased) and Fred.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.