USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 39
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acres. He died in 1860 and his widow survived him for nearly twenty-five years, her death occurring in 1884, she then being eighty years of age. They were the parents of fifteen children, all of whom lived to maturity and twelve of whom married and reared families. Mr. and Mrs. St. John have one child, a son, Fred Howard, born on November 14, 1901. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper. Mr. St. John is a Republican.
GEORGE N. PERRILL.
George N. Perrill, a member of the board of county commissioners for Greene county, president of the Bowersville Bank of Bowersville, this county, the owner of a grain elevator at that place as well as an extensive land acreage in this county and other interests of a substantial character, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Greene county since the days of his young manhood when he married and settled down on a farm in Jefferson township. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of what is now Milledgeville, in the neighboring county of Fayette, August 11, 1856, son of John and Margaret J. (Sparks) Perrill, the former of whom was born in the neighborhood of Cynthiana, in Pike county, this state, and the latter in Kentucky, she having come into this state with her parents from the Blue Grass state when a girl, the family settling in Fayette county. John Perrill moved from Pike county to Fay- ette county after he attained his majority and in the latter county spent the rest of his life, successfully engaged there in farming until his death which occurred in the year 1898. He was a Republican and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the eldest and nine of whom lived to maturity.
Reared on the home farm in Fayette county, George N. Perrill com- pleted his schooling in the high school at Washington Court House, the county seat of his home county, and remained at home until his marriage in the spring of 1878, when he came over into Greene county and bought a farm of one hundred acres in Jefferson township, on which he made his home for twelve years, at the end of which time he bought a farm of one hundred acres south of the village of Bowersville, where he lived for two years, or until he became engaged in the grain business in Bowersville. Mr. Perrill leased the first grain elevator erected in that place and engaged in business there as the senior member of the firm of Perrill & Lewis, a con- nection which continued for seven years, at the end of which time his son became associated with him and the business was continued under
GEORGE N. PERRILL.
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the firm name of Perrill & Son until the organization of the Miami Grain Company, of which Mr. Perrill was elected president, as is set out in the history of Bowersville, presented elsewhere in this work. When the Bow- ersville Bank was organized Mr. Perrill was one of the prime movers in the enterprise and was elected first president of the concern, a position he ever since has occupied. Besides owning a farm south of Bowersville he also has other real estate and is a stockholder in the Commercial Bank of Washington Court House. Mr. Perrill has ever taken a good citizen's interest in local civic affairs and for three years served as trustee of his home township. In 1916 he was elected member of the board of county commissioners from his district and on September 1, 1917, entered upon the duties of that office, since which time he has made his home on the farm of his son-in-law one mile northeast of Xenia, on the Columbus pike, moving there from his home in Bowersville, in order that he might give more time to the duties of his office. Mr. Perrill for years has served as a member of the board of directors of the County Agricultural Society.
On March 14, 1878, George N. Perrill was united in marriage to Elizabeth Vanniman, daughter of Stephen and Rebecca Jane (Early) Vanni- man, of Bowersville, both members of old and substantial families in that part of the county, and to this union two children were born, Edith, who completed her schooling at Cedarville College, and Arthur, who completed his schooling at Ohio Northern University at Ada and is now engaged in the wholesale grain business at Xenia, secretary of the Xenia Grain Com- pany. He married Tullis Reynolds and has four children, George, Evelyn, John and Martha. Edith Perrill married Luther Chitty, of Bowersville, who is now farming on the Columbus pike just out of the city of Xenia, and four sons, Donald, Hugh, George and Robert. Mrs. Perrill died on July 24, 1910. She was a member of the Methodist Protestant church at Bowersville, as is Mr. Perrill, and the latter has been for years a member of the board of trustees of the church as well as a member of the Methodist Protestant camp-meeting board.
MARSHALL BROWN.
Marshall Brown, formerly engaged in the saw-mill business at the vil- lage of New Jasper, and who is still living there, owner of the old William Huston farm on the edge of the village, is a native son of Greene county, born on a farm in the northwest corner of Jefferson township on September 27, 1852, son of James T. and Rachel (Powers) Brown, whose last days were spent at Paintersville. Marshall Brown was about twelve years of age when his father moved from Jefferson township to New Jasper town-
(22)
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ship and he completed his schooling in the schools of the latter township, remaining on the home farm there, the place now occupied and owned by his brother Cyrus. until after his marriage in 1874 when he bought a farm of fifty acres in the neighborhood of his father's place and there resided for ten years, at the end of which time he sold that farm and for eighteen months thereafter lived on a rented farm. He then bought a tract of eleven acres in the village of New Jasper and there set up a saw-mill, which he continued to operate for sixteen years, mainly engaged in custom sawing. As a young man Mr. Brown had learned the trade of stonemason and he also continued engaged during the summers as a contracting mason, doing quite an extensive business in that line as well as in his mill. Upon selling the mill he rented a farm in Xenia township and six years later moved from that place to a farm on the Hussey pike in Caesarscreek township, where he lived for two years, at the end of which time he bought eighty acres on the Nash road in Xenia township. On this latter place he lived for two years, or until March 1, 1913, when he sold that place and bought the Willian Huston farm of fifty acres at the edge of the village of New Jasper, where he since has made his home. Mr. Brown is a Republican, and for some time served as assessor in New Jasper township.
On February 24, 1874, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Katural Gates, who was born on the old William Spahr farm in New Jasper town- ship, daughter and only child of Bailey and Temperance (Spahr) Gates. the latter of whom was born in that same place on December 31, 1836, and who died there on September 25, 1858, her daughter Katurah then being but two years of age. Mrs. Brown having thus been bereft of her mother at the early age of two years was reared in the household of her maternal grandfather, William Spahr, one of the pioneers of that part of Greene county. Mrs. Brown's father, Bailey Gates, was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, December 25, 1832, seventh son of Bailey and Delilah Gates, and early be- came a school teacher, civil engineer and surveyor, continuing to serve as a teacher nearly all his life. He was teaching in this county when he mar- ried Temperance Spahr and was living here when the Civil War broke ont. He served as a soldier of the Union, a member of Company E, One Hun- dred and Thirty-second Regiment, and in 1866 went to Kansas, where he remained for seven years, teaching school at Elizabeth, in Anderson county, and proving up a homestead claim in that vicinity. In 1873 he returned to Ohio and here died on October 25 of that same year. To Marshall and Katurah (Gates) Brown three children have been born, namely: Nora Alzina, born on November 22, 1874, who died at the age of seven months; Delphus, who died unmarried at the age of thirty-three years, and Leola, wife of Howard Glass, who owns a farm adjoining that of Mr. Brown in
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the immediate vicinity of the village of New Jasper. Mr. and Mrs. Glass have one child, a son, Hubert Delphus. The Browns are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper and Mr. Brown is a member of the Masonic lodge at Jamestown and of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Xenia.
CHARLES S. BINGAMON.
Charles S. Bingamon, a farmer living on rural mail route No. 5 out of Xenia and the proprietor of the old Charleston Mills farm on Massies creek on the line between Xenia and Cedarville townships, which he has owned since the spring of 1902, has been a resident of this county all his life. He was born on a farm in Spring Valley township on September 21, 1856, son of John and Emaline (Beck) Bingamon, both of whom also were born in this county, members of pioneer families, and who spent all their lives here. John Bingamon owned a farm in Spring Valley township, the place on which his parents had settled upon coming here from Maryland in pioneer days, but late in life sold that place and bought a farm of one hun- dred and thirty acres in Sugarcreek township on which he spent his last days, his death occurring there in 1903, he then being eighty-two years of age. His wife had preceded him to the grave but one year, her death hav- ing occurred in 1902, she then being seventy-two years of age. She was a member of the United Presbyterian church and her children were reared in that faith. There were five of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being Melinda, wife of Aaron Mills, of Xenia township; Greer, now a resident of Dayton; Sarah, deceased. and Bertie, wife of William Harbison, of Xenia township.
Reared on the home farm in Spring Valley township, Charles S. Binga- mon received his schooling in the district schools, and in later years was the mainstay of his aged parents until their death. He remained with them, moving from the old farm in Spring Valley township to the later place in Sugarcreek township, and also rented and farmed other places, for eleven years being a tenant of the George Kendall place. In March, 1902, Mr. Bingamon bought the old Charlton Mills farm, on which the mill erected by Peter Moudy on Massies creek in 1837 is still standing, and after his mar- riage in 1908 established his home there. Since taking possession of that place Mr. Bingamon has made numerous improvements on the same, work- ing the barn over into a bank-barn. He has a good brick house on the farm. In the summer of 1917 he had one of the finest fields of corn in Greene county, the stalks standing seventeen feet and six inches in height and bearing fine, large, sound ears. Mr. Bingamon is a Republican.
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On March 25, 1908, Mr. Bingamon was united in marriage to Mrs. Eva (Snyder) Coy, a widow whose two sons by her previous marriage, Ross and Charles Coy, are now employed in the Delco factory at Dayton, and to this union three children have been born, Mark, born in 1909; Donald, 1913. and Mary E., 1915.
JOHN HARBEIN.
An older chronicle in referring to John Harbein, who died at his home in Alpha on June 8, 1873, and who at the time of his death was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in Greene county, notes that "throughout his life Mr. Harbein was a quiet, unostentatious Christian gentleman. He was a strict, prudent and successful business man, and to his energy, influence and enterprise the development of Greene county is largely due. He shrank from public notice and, though many were offered, never accepted a public office, but was always one of the foremost to aid in the advancement of public interests. Though a private citizen, he was widely known. His in- fluence was cast in the direction of progress. Having the advantage of a good education, he was a friend of schools and looked upon them as being the hope of our republican institutions. He was a great tourist and a pol- ished gentleman; a man of liberal views and a lover of his country."
John Harbein was born in Washington county, Maryland, January 17, 1804, first-born of the six children born to Daniel and Elizabeth (Reber) Harbein, and was the first of these children, two sons and four daughters, to answer the final summons. The Harbeins are of Huguenot stock, the ancestors of the Greene county family of this name having been driven from France to lands where they might worship according to their faith. One branch of the family settled in Algiers, on the river Shelif, where a small town now bears their name. Two other families of the name came to the American colonies, one settling in North Carolina and the other in Berks county, Pennsylvania. The head of this latter branch of the family was Peter Harbein, great-great-grandfather of John Harbein. He had fled to Switzerland from France and was there some time before completing his arrangements to come to America. During the voyage over a son, Peter, was born. This Peter, junior, was reared in Berks county, Pennsylvania, and there married and made his home. One of his sons, Abram Harbein, was the father of Daniel Harbein, father of John Harbein.
In 1827 John Harbein married Hettie Herr, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and in October, 1828, came to Ohio with his wife and estab- lished his home in Beavercreek township, this county, buying there the farm on which stood the log house of Owen Davis, in which the first court held
Log być & Withans & Bra NY
John Hartein
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in Greene county was convened following the formal organization of the county in that same cabin in 1803. On that place, the site of the old Owen Davis mill, he erected in 1833 a new mill and there began the successful operations that for so many years marked him as one of the foremost fac- tors in the general business life of the community, and there he and his wife reared their family of eight children and spent the remainder of their lives, John Harbein's death occurring, as noted above, in the summer of 1873. The house he erected there at Alpha is now occupied by his daughter, Mrs. Hattie M. Miller, widow of Hon. John M. Miller, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume.
HIRAM H. FAWCETT.
Hiram H. Fawcett, former trustee of New Jasper township and the proprietor of a farm in that township, one and one-half miles south of the village of New Jasper, rural mail route No. 8 out of Xenia, now living re- tired from the active labors of the farm, his son, Hiram F. Fawcett, carry- ing on the operations of the farm, is a native son of Greene county and has lived here all his life. He was born in a log house on a farm in Caesars- creek township on December 15, 1850, son of Mahlon and Emily (Howell) Fawcett, Quakers, both of whom also were born in Ohio, the latter in Bel- mont county in 1826, a daughter of John and Eleanor Howell, Quakers and early settlers in Belmont county, where they spent their last days.
Mahlon Fawcett was born in Caesarscreek township in 1825, a son of John and Phobe Fawcett, Virginians, who came to this county in the early '20s and settled in Caesarscreek township, where they developed a farm of about one hundred and seventy-five acres. They were Quakers and at- tended New Hope meeting. They had a large family of children, nearly all of whom established their homes in this county. Mahlon Fawcett grew up on the home farm and after his marriage continued to make his home there, his death occurring on that place in 1852, he then being but twenty- seven years of age. To him and his wife, Emily Howell, three children had been born, the subject of this sketch, the youngest, having had a brother, Harvey, who died in childhood, and a sister who died in infancy. The widow Fawcett in 1857 married William Huston and spent her last days on the Huston farm in New Jasper township, the place now owned and occupied by A. D. Smith, her death occurring there in 1900, she then being seventy-seven years of age. By her second marriage she was the mother of two sons, A. J. Huston, who is living on a farm in New Jasper town- ship, and John C. Huston, who is engaged in the hardware business at Xenia. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper.
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Hiram H. Fawcett was not two years of age when his father died. He grew up on the Huston farm, received his schooling in the Haslip school in that neighborhood and before he was twenty years of age was married. His wife was the owner of fifty acres of land in that vicinity and on that place he and his wife established their home, he also looking after the manage- ment of his mother-in-law's farm, the Nelson Smith place. About six years after his marriage Mr. Fawcett bought forty-seven acres of the Bruce farm nearby, one and one-half miles south of the village of New Jasper, and has ever since made his home on that place. In 1888 he erected there the farm house in which he is now living. Since taking possession of that place Mr. Fawcett has added to his acreage by purchase and now has a farm of one hundred and fifty acres, besides which he and his son own a farm of eighty- eight acres just south of the home place, on which farm his son makes his home, operating that place as well as the home place, his father having turned over to him the general management of the farms some time ago. Mr. Fawcett is a Republican and for several terms served as trustee of his home township. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper.
On September 1, 1870, Hiram H. Fawcett was united in marriage to Kesiah Elizabeth Smith, who was born on a part of the farm on which she is still living; a daughter of Nelson and Lydia (Beeson) Smith, both of whom also were born in this county, the former in 1823 and the latter in 1827, Nelson Smith having been a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Kimble) Smith, who had come here from Hardin county, Virginia, in 1814. and had become pioneers of the Caesarscreek settlement. Lydia Beeson was one of the fourteen children born to Thomas and Kesiah (Turner) Beeson, the former of whom was born near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and was but a boy when he came to Greene county with his parents in pioneer days. Nel- son Smith, who became the owner of a farm of three hundred and seventeen acres two miles south of New Jasper, died at the age of forty-two. March 27, 1866. His widow did not remarry and spent the rest of her life on the home farm, her death occurring there in September, 1912. She had four daughters, those besides Mrs. Fawcett, the third in order of birth, being Amanda, now deceased, who was the wife of John W. Fudge, of Xenia: Susan, who married William D. Sutton, and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased, and Emma, wife of A. J. Huston, of New Jasper town- ship.
To Hiram H. and Kesiah E. (Smith) Fawcett have been born four children, namely: Lydia Luetta, wife of Oliver M. Spahr, of New Jasper township, of whom a biographical sketch is presented elsewhere in this volume; Carrie Emily, wife of James Jones, of Beavercreek township;
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Hiram Fredwin, who married Mary Spahr of this township and is now operating the home place as well as a place of his own adjoining, making his home on the latter place, and Grace Elizabeth, wife of Arthur M. Peter- son, of Cedarville township.
HURL R. ADAMS.
Hurl R. Adams, who has been in the bakery business at Yellow Springs since 1901, having moved there in that year from Waynesville, in the neighboring county of Warren, where he had been engaged in business for three years or more, was born in the city of Xenia on April 15, 1874, son of David M. and Etta (Rader) Adams, both of whom also were born in this county, the former on a farm three miles south of Xenia, in 1840, and the latter, in the city of Xenia, in 1844, who were married in 1872 and whose last days were spent in Xenia.
David M. Adams received his schooling at Xenia and was early trained to the trade of carpenter and bridge builder, which vocation he followed all the rest of his life. He had a shop. in Xenia and during the winters em- ployed his time in the making of sleighs and in the general upholstery busi- ness. He died in 1885, leaving two sons, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Joseph Harry Adams, born on January 4, 1880, who married Ella Mason, of Xenia, and is still residing in that city.
Hurl R. Adams received his schooling in the schools of Xenia and when fifteen years of age becoming employed during school vacations in one of the local elevators. When eighteen years of age he became interested in the bakery business and after learning the details of that business was for three years engaged as the manager of C. W. Trader's bake shop in Xenia. Thus qualified by practical experience, Mr. Adams then went to Waynes- ville, in the neighboring county of Warren and there became engaged in the bakery business on his own account, and was thus engaged there for three years, at the end of which time he sold his shop there and moved to Yellow Springs, where, in 1901, he opened a bakery and has since been quite successfully engaged in business. In 1906 he bought the property he now occupies on Xenia avenue and is well equipped for handling the trade he has built up.
On September 29. 1896, while living at Waynesville, Mr. Adams was united in marriage, at Xenia, to Meddie Hartman, who was born at Star- buck, in the vicinity of Wilmington, in the neighboring county of Clinton, daughter of William and Hannah Hartman, and to this union three chil- dren have been born, namely: Harold R., born on November 1, 1899, who is now engaged in the Edison Laboratory at Orange, New Jersey; Thelma,
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January 16, 1904, who is now a pupil in the Yellow Springs high school, and Mildred, February 28, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Adams are members of the Methodist church. Mr. Adams is a member of the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons.
JOSEPH E. EAVEY.
Joseph E. Eavey, proprietor of a farm of nearly five hundred acres in Xenia township, who is now living in Xenia, where he has made his home since 1897, is a native son of Greene county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm one mile southeast of Xenia, on the Wilmington pike, September 20, 1848, son of John S. and Margaret Christina (Kanode) Eavey, both of whom were natives of the state of Maryland, who came to Ohio in 1841 and whose last days were spent in Greene county, the former dying on his farm southeast of Xenia and the latter in town, she having moved from the farm after her husband's death.
John S. Eavey was born in the vicinity of Boonesborough, in Mary- land, January 14, 1814, the second son of Jacob and Margaret Eavey, the former of whom owned an extensive marble quarry near that place. There John S. Eavey grew to manhood, receiving a liberal education for that period, and from boyhood was an assistant to his father in the operations of the quarry, continuing thus engaged, in the sales department of the quarry, until his marriage at the age of twenty-four years, after which he became engaged in the milling business. His wife, Margaret C. Kanode, was a daughter of John and Margaret Kanode, the former of whom was a farmer in the neighborhood of Hagerstown, Maryland. In the third year of their married life John S. Eavey and his wife and their two children. Henry H. and Arthur W., the latter of whom then was but a babe in arms, came to Ohio, driving through in a Conestoga wagon, and settled in Greene county. That was in 1841 and after his arrival here Mr. Eavey bought a tract of two hundred and forty acres lying along the Wilmington pike, one mile south- east of Xenia, paying for the same twelve dollars an acre, and there estab- lished his home. He later bought a farm adjoining the same on the north and in 1875 erected there a brick house, in which he spent his last days, his death occurring there in 1879. At the time of his death John S. Eavey was the owner of five hundred and forty acres of land. For a time he also was engaged in the mercantile business at Xenia. He was a Democrat and took an active part in local political affairs. He and his wife were members of the Reformed church. After the death of her husband Mrs. Eavey left the farm and moved to Xenia, buying a house in West Church street, where she spent her last days. She survived her husband many years, her death oc-
Josephe G. Garry
Eng by E & Withaws & Bra NY
Mro Joseph F. Gary
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curring in 1898, she then being eighty years of age. John S. Eavey and his wife were the parents of six children, all of whom grew to maturity save one son, who died in infancy. Of these children the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the others being Arthur W., who became a farmer in the state of Mississippi; Henry H., now deceased, for years one of Xenia's best-known business men; Susan, who married J. F. G. Bell and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased, her death having occurred in September, 1915, and John K., a Greene county farmer, who died in 1902. Henry H. Eavey, late president of the Citizens National Bank of Xenia and head of the Eavey Wholesale Grocery Company, was a veteran of the Civil War, having served during that struggle as a member of Company H, Ninety-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Ohio. He was twice married, his first wife, who was Sarah C. Winters and whom he married in 1863, having died in December, 1891. In February, 1896, he married Rebecca Alice Galloway. His home was at the corner of West Market street and King streets in Xenia, where he died on April 18, 1918.
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