USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 43
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On September 14, 1892, James E. Lewis was united in marriage to Rosa B. Ballard, who was born and reared on the farm on which she and Mr. Lewis are now living, three miles north of Jamestown. Mrs. Lewis is the only surviving child of four children born to the late Jackson and Magdaline (Taylor) Ballard, who were for years residents of Ross township. Jackson Ballard, who became one of Ross township's substantial landowners, was born in Adams county, this state, October 25, 1822, and was but six months of age when his parents, Lyman Ballard and wife, came to Greene county and settled in Ross township, where he spent the rest of his life. In May. 1851, he married Magdaline Taylor, who was born on a farm in the James- town neighborhood, daughter of Isaac and Frances (Gilmore) Taylor, the former of whom also was one of Greene county's substantial landowners. Isaac Taylor was born on a sailing vessel on the Atlantic ocean while his parents were en route to this country from their native Ireland. They set- tled in Rockbridge county, Virginia, where Isaac Taylor grew to manliood and where he married Frances Gilmore, who was born in that county and whose father and grandmother had undergone a perilous experience years before at the hands of Indians, that experience having had what newspaper writer of the present day would call a "local end," inasmuch as it involved an enforced sojourn at the old Indian village at Chillicothe on the site of the present picturesque hamlet of Oldtown, in this county, Grand- mother Gilmore and her then young son having been captured by the In- dians during a savage raid into Rockbridge county and brought out here with other captives and held at the Indian village along the banks of the river where Oldtown is now situated until they were some years later rescued by a military party and restored to their family in Virginia. In 1827 Isaac Taylor and his wife came to Ohio and settled in Preble county, but two years later came to Greene county and permanently located in the Jamestown neighborhood. They were the parents of nine children, five of whom, Mag- daline, William G., John F., Daniel and Isaac, grew to maturity and reared families. Jackson Ballard and his wife were the parents of four children, of
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whom Mrs. Lewis, as noted above, is now the only survivor, the others hav- ing been Frances, Isaac and Minnie.
GRANVILLE C. FORD.
Granville C. Ford, a young colored farmer of Greene county and the proprietor of a farm of more than eighty-three acres, a part of the old Ferguson place, in New Jasper township, rural mail route No. 8 out of Xenia, has been a resident of this county for about eight years. He was born at Topeka, Kansas, January 7, 1881, son of George L. and Susan R. (Lett) Ford, both of whom were free-born natives of Virginia, and the latter of whom is still living, now a resident of Washington Court House in the neighboring county of Fayette.
George L. Ford was born in 1857, a son of Granville Ford, who came from Virginia to Ohio with his family and settled on a farm in Ross county, where he spent the rest of his life. George L. Ford grew up on the farm in Ross county, having been but a child when his parents came to Ohio, and in 1878 went to Kansas and rented a farm in the immediate vicinity of the city of Topeka. Two years later he returned East and married and then went back to Kansas and resumed his farming, but in 1882 he suffered a total loss of his crops by reason of the hot winds then prevalent throughout that part of the country and gave up, pocketing a loss of not less than five thou- sand dollars, and returned to Ohio, locating in Fayette county, where he is still living, for some time past having operated a moving-van in the county seat. Washington Court House. His wife died in 1903. He is a member of the African Methodist Episcopal church. To him and his wife were born eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first- born, the others being George, a teamister, now living at Canton, Ohio; Goldie, Glenna, Pearl, Beaunola and Alaroma, who are living at Xenia, and Coit C., who is now a senior at Wilberforce University.
Granville C. Ford was but a babe in arms when his parents returned to Ohio from Kansas and he grew up in Fayette county, receiving his school- ing in the public schools at Washington Court House. Until he was twenty- one years of age he helped his father and then began working on his own account as a farm hand. His employer was superintendent of pikes and his time was thus so greatly diverted from his farm that the management of the place practically fell upon young Ford, who developed into a prac- tical farmer. He remained on that farm for four years and then married and moved to Ross county, where he rented a farm and remained for three years, or until 1910, when he came over into Greene county and rented thie Ferguson place in New Jasper township, where he ever since has made his
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home. In 1913 he bought eighty-three and three-fourths acres of that place, and has since erected a barn. He is a Republican.
On March 23, 1907, in Fayette county, Granville C. Ford was united in marriage to Frosty Wheat, who was born in that county, daughter of Louis and Sallie Wheat, the latter of whom is still living, a resident of Fayette county, and to this union have been born five children, namely : Harold Percy, born on February 2, 1908; Glenwood, October 17, 1910; Mary, February 23, 1912; George L., June 5, 1913, and Clarence Henry, January 27, 1918 ..
JULIUS CICERO JACOBS.
Julius Cicero Jacobs, a Greene county farmer, now living at Yellow Springs, is a native of the state of Maryland, but has lived in Ohio and in Greene county since he was two years of age. He was born on a farm in Allegany county, Maryland, April 10, 1851, son of Ahimaaz and Emily (Trollinger) Jacobs, both of whom were born in that same state and who were married there, remaining there until 1853, in which year they came to Ohio and settled on a farm west of the village of Yellow Springs in this county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Ahimaaz Jacobs was of Welsh and English stock, was a farmer and he and his wife were the parents of six children, four of whom were born in Maryland and two in this county. Of these children the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being Gabriel, who died in infancy; Laura, who died in infancy; Mary Levina, also deceased; Jacob Thomas, who is now living on the old home place west of Yellow Springs, and William Austin, deceased.
As noted above, Mr. Jacobs was but two years of age when his parents came to this county in 1853 and he grew to manhood on the home farm west of Yellow Springs. He completed his schooling by attendance for several terms at Antioch College and then became engaged in the carpenter business, a vocation which he followed for about five years, or until his marriage in 1875, after which he located on a farm in Miami township, where he estab- lished his home and where he engaged in general farming and stock raising until his retirement from the farm in 1910 and removal to Yellow Springs, where he and his wife are now living. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
On December 9, 1875, Mr. Jacobs was united in marriage to Hannah Miriam Johnson, who was born in this county, daughter of Joseph and Lydia (Estle) Johnson, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, and to this union six children have been born, four sons and two
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daughters, namely: James Madison Harris Jacobs, born on January 28, 1877, now living in Dayton, who on March 26, 1915, married Ruth Van Tilburg and has two children, Robert H., born on March 3, 1916, and Rus- sell, May 3, 1917; William Elmer Jacobs, September 4, 1878, now living on a farm east of Clifton, who on April 10, 1907, married Mabel Booghier and has two children, Anna and Earl; Florence Maude, February 23, 1881, who married Carl Hammer, now living at Lansing, Michigan, and has one child, a daughter, Ruth; Mary Pearl, May 29, 1884, who married Howard Birch, now manager of the Woolworth store at Fostoria, Ohio, and has one son, Kenneth; Charles Walter Jacobs, September 24, 1887, now living on the home place, who married Gladys Nave and has two children, Wendell Walter and Beatrice Alnora, and Homer Harold Jacobs, August 7, 1892, who is now located at Dayton, where he is connected with the work of the Wright aeroplane factory.
ARTHUR E. COLLINS.
It is but fitting that in the annals of the county in which he was born and in which he spent his whole life there should appear a proper tribute to the memory of the late Arthur E. Collins, who died in the spring of 1914, and whose widow, Mrs. Mary L. Leeper Collins, president of the Greene County Woman's Christian Temperance Union, is still living in Xenia. Arthur E. Collins was a member of one of the first families in Greene county, his great-grandfather, William Collins, having been one of the early settlers in the Massiescreek settlement, a few years later locating in the Oldtown neighborhood, a few miles north of Xenia, where the family home was established. William Collins came to this county with his family from York county, Pennsylvania, and was one of that sturdy band of set- tlers, of Scottish descent, which formed the basis of that strong United Presbyterian element which has been one of the dominant factors in the community life of this county from the very beginning. He and his wife were the parents of ten children and the Collins connection throughout this part of the state in the present generation is thus a numerous one.
Arthur E. Collins was born on the old home farm north of Oldtown, in Xenia township, February 19, 1866, a son of William H. and Mary (Galloway) Collins, the former of whom was a son of Samuel and Rebecca (McClellan) Collins, Samuel Collins being the fifth in order of birth of the ten children born to William Collins and wife, mentioned above. Samuel Collins was born in York county, Pennsylvania, in 1804, and was but a child when his parents came to Ohio and settled in this county. Here he received his schooling and for a time was engaged in teaching school. In 1836 he
ROBERT L. COLLINS.
ARTHUR E. COLLINS.
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married Rebecca McClellan, daughter of John McClellan and wife, of Spring Valley township, and straightway after his marriage established his home on the farm north of Oldtown which he had bought and on which he had erected a stone house for the reception of his bride. Samuel Collins was a successful farmer and became the owner of more than five hundred acres of land. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, of whom William H. was the second in order of birth, the others having been Nancy E., who married John H. Jobe; John Q., a veteran of the Civil War; Lydia, who died unmarried; James Martin, who became a substantial farmer of this county ; Mary Jane, who married John D. M. Stewart, of Xenia; Isabella, who married S. K. Williamson, of Cedarville, and Anna Rebecca, who mar- ried R. W. Moore, of Xenia.
William H. Collins was born on the old home farm north of Xenia, above Oldtown, on November 6, 1838, and on that place grew to manhood. On February 22, 1865, he was united in marriage to Mary Galloway, who was born at Paris, Kentucky, May 17, 1836, and who was but a girl when her parents, Samuel Galloway and wife. the latter of whom was a Kirk- patrick, came to Ohio and settled in Hamilton county. After his marriage he established his home on the home farm just north of Oldtown and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were members of the United Presbyterian church and their children were reared in that faith. There were three of these children, sons all, of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was the first-born, the others being Frank and Harvey, both of whom are still living in the Oldtown neighborhood. Frank Collins, who was born on November 6, 1868, is living on a farm north of Xenia and has been twice married. His first wife died without issue and he later married Bartha Tate, to which union three children have been born, Louise, born in 1906; Paul, 1908, and John William, 1912. Harvey Collins, who was born on August 2, 1874, married Nellie Anderson, of Clifton, and lives on the old home farm. He and his wife have four children, Eugene, born in 1898; Frederick, 1904; John Harvey, 1908, and Mary Eleanor, 1915 .
Reared on the home farm north of town, Arthur E. Collins received excellent schooling and early turned his attention to practical farming, con- tinuing thus engaged the rest of his life, occupying that part of the home farm that he had inherited. His death occurred on March 29, 1914, and his body is now lying in beautiful Woodland cemetery at Xenia. He was a member of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia. Since the death of Mr. Collins his widow has been making her home at Xenia and has lately built an attractive new house on. Detroit street. She has for years been active in church and temperance work and as the president of the Greene County Woman's Christian Temperance Union has rendered invaluable
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service in behalf of the cause of temperance and good government in the city and county. Mrs. Collins has two children, a son and a daughter, Robert Leeper Collins, born on June 11, 1895, who is now serving in the great National Army of the United States, in the service of which he enlisted following the declaration of war against Germany in the spring of 1917, leaving his school work unfinished at Muskinghum College, and Erma, born on March 16, 1904, who is a student in the Xenia schools.
Mrs. Collins was born, Mary Leeper, in Hookstown, Pennsylvania, and was there married to Arthur E. Collins on August 31, 1892. She is a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (.Dallas) Leeper, the former of whom was born at that same place, November 6, 1827, and the latter, at Springfield, Ohio, July 17, 1829. Robert Leeper was a son of Hugh and Esther (Harper) Leeper, who also were born in Pennsylvania, both of Scotch-Irish descent. He inherited the old homestead farm on which he was born at Hookstown and there he reared his family and spent all his life, an energetic farmer and for many years an elder in the United Presbyterian church. His wife, Elizabeth Dallas, was born at Springfield, in the neighboring county of Clark, but grew to womanhood in Greene county, she having been but a girl when she became a resident of Sugarcreek township, where she was living when, on November 22, 1864, she was united in marriage to Robert Leeper, straightway afterward going with him to his home at Hookstown. To that union were born five children, of whom Mrs. Collins was the third in order of birth, the others being Hugh, William, John and Robert, all of whom are still living. Hugh Leeper, who is living on a farm in the vicinity of his old home in the Hookstown neighborhood, in Pennsylvania, married Elizabeth Campbell and has four children, three sons, Earl, William and Robert, and a daughter, Gene. The Rev. William Leeper, a minister of the United Presbyterian church, now stationed at Chicago, married Lulu McClellan and has two children, Mary and Robert. John Leeper, who is now living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, married Margaret Campbell and has one child, a daughter, Mildred. Robert Leeper, who is still living on the old Leeper farm in the vicinity of Hookstown, which has been in the possession of the family for generations, married Helen Kerr and has five children, Arthur Wallace, Hugh, Elizabeth, Frederick and Helen.
ELMER A. HAMMA.
Elmer Hamma, formerly and for fifteen years president of the Miami township school board, was born on the farm on which he now living there and has spent the greater part of his life there, a continuous resident on that place since his marriage in 1888. He was born on October 30, 1862, son
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of Andrew and Matilda (Carter) Hamma, who had been residents on the farm here referred to since 1854 and whose last days were spent there.
Andrew Hamma was born in York county, Pennsylvania, and was fourteen years of age when he came with his parents to Ohio, the family driving through and settling in Greene county. Here he grew to man- hood and became a farmer. He married Matilda Carter, who was born in the neighboring county of Madison and who was living there at the time of her marriage, and a few years later, in 1854, bought the farm in Miami township above referred to, and there established his home. Andrew Hamma and wife were the parents of thirteen children, three of whom died in infancy, the others being the following: David, deceased; John Madison, also deceased; Angie Belle, wife of Horace Shaw, of the neighboring county of Clark; Elizabeth, wife of John Shaw, also of Clark county ; Matilda, wife of Charles Petrey, of Clark county; Myrtle, wife of Charles Garlow, of that same county ; Mabel, wife of Earl Oglesby, of Yellow Springs; Dessie, wife of the Rev. Carl Aue, of Emporia, Kansas; Elmer A., the immediate sub- ject of this biographical sketch; Dr. Charles Hamma, formerly and for years a practicing physician at Springfield, who enlisted his services upon the declaration of war against Germany in 1917 and is now connected with the medical corps of the national army, attached to the expeditionary forces in France, and Ervine, who is married and is living in California. Andrew Hamma and wife were Lutherans and their children were reared in that faith.
Reared on the home farm in Miami township, Elmer A. Hamma re- ceived his early schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and when fourteen years of age went up into Clark county, where he remained twelve years, or until his marriage in the fall of 1888, after which he returned to the old home place and established his home there. For fifteen years he ren- dered service as president of the Miami township school board, holding that office continuously during that period or until his resignation about five years ago.
On October 20, 1888, at Clifton, Mr. Hamma was united in marriage to Hattie Gowdy, of that place, daughter of James and Louise (Confer) ,Gowdy, both members of pioneer families in Greene county, and to this union five children have been born, namely: Howard, who is now working on the Whitehall farm in this county and who married Mabel Dewine and has one daughter, Louise; Nellie, who married Edward Lampert, of Xenia, and has one daughter, Martha; Mabel, who is at home with her parents; Marjorie, who married Ted Haines, an engineer on the Big Four railroad, now living at Sharonville, in the vicinity of Cincinnati, and has two children, Pollyanna and Frances; and Dorothy, wife of Roy Ferrell, a farmer living in the neighboring county of Clark. The Hammas are Lutherans.
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GEORGE HENRY VOLKENAND.
George Henry Volkenand, proprietor of "Sycamore Stock Farm" in the Alpha neighborhood in Beavercreek township, was born in that town- ship on December 19, 1860, son of Herman and Martha (Brod) Volkenand, whose last days were spent at Dayton, this state, and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume.
Herman Volkenand was born in Germany, January 26, 1826, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Haas) Volkenand, the former of French birth, and was educated in his native land, coming to this country in the days of his young manhood, the only member of his family to come over here at that time. However, some years later his sister Elizabeth, now Mrs. Zein, of Dayton, came to this country. Upon his arrival in this country Herman Volkenand came to Ohio and for some months was engaged at work in an oil mill near the Indian Ripple bridge, later accepting employ- ment as a farm hand on the Jacob Coy farm. He then went to Missouri and thence up into Iowa and Minnesota, but a year later returned to this county and in 1848, in the Mt. Zion Reformed church in Beaver township was married to Martha Brod, who also was born in Germany, January 3. 1828, and who had not long before come to this country. For two years after his marriage Mr. Volkenand was employed as foreman in the Shoup & Harbine distillery in Beavercreek township and then he bought a farm of seventy-five acres on the east bank of the Little Miami, the place now occupied by his son Herman. On October 18, 1871, he started on a trip back to his boyhood home in Germany and there spent three months visiting his mother. In April, 1877, he bought property in the village of AAlpha and moved to that village, where he remained until July 17. 1877, when he moved onto a farm of sixty-eight acres he previously had bought in that neighbor- hood, the place now occupied by his son George H., and there he lived until his retirement in 1888 and removal to the old Samuel Edgar home at Day- ton, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, her death occurring on January 29, 1899, and his, March 17, 1904. During their residence in this county they were members of Mt. Zion Reformed church and upon their removal to Dayton became connected with the Reformed church in that city. During his residence in Greene county Herman Volke- nand served as postmaster at Alpha, under the administration of President Cleveland, during the years 1881-85, also served as railway ticket agent and as express agent at Alpha, for fifteen years was school director in his home district, for eight years was a member of the board of education and also served for some time as trustee of Beavercreek township. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was
GEORGE II, VOLKENAND AND FAMILY.
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the fourth in order of birth, the others being Leonard, a building contractor at Dayton; Anna, wife of Warren Glotfelter, a farmer of Sugarcreek town- ship; Elizabeth, who died at the age of seventeen years; Herman, mentioned above as the owner of the old home farm along the river; John, who made his home at Dayton and who died in that city in July, 1917; and Martha, wife of John Higgins, of Sugarcreek township.
George H. Volkenand grew up on the farm and received his schooling in the McClung district school in the neighborhood of his home. He remained on the farm until 1887, when he went to Alpha and there became engaged in the general merchandise business and was postmaster under Cleveland's second administration, continuing there engaged in business for nine years and three months, at the end of which time he went to Lawrenceburg, Indi- ana, where for two years he was engaged in the mercantile business. He then returned to Greene county and in the spring of 1900 married and became engaged in the carpenter business, working at Dayton, Trebeins and other place for five years, or until in March, 1905, when he moved to the farm on which he is now living and to which he has given the name of "Sycamore Stock Farm." Since taking possession of that place Mr. Volkenand has made numerous improvements on the same and has added to his holdings until now he is the owner of a farm of one hundred and three acres. . In addition to this general farming he makes a specialty of the raising of Shorthorn and Jersey cattle, Duroc and Poland China hogs and keeps a good many horses. Mr. Volkenand votes the Democratic national ticket. as did his father, but in local affairs does not draw party lines. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Alpha.
On March 28, 1900, George H. Volkenand was united in marriage to Margaret Neff, who was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, and who was but a child when she came to this county with her parents, Joseph and Anna Neff, the family settling in New Jasper township. Joseph Neff was a stone- mason. He and his wife were born in Virginia and their last days were spent in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Volkenand have one child, a son, Mur- rill Leonard, born on January 8, 1905. About six years ago they took into their home a little girl, Delsa Alderman, who they are rearing as one of their family, though they have not adopted her.
OLIVER MALLOW SPAHR.
Oliver Mallow Spahr, clerk of New Jasper township and a farmer of that township, living on rural mail route No. 8 out of Xenia, was born in that township, a member of one of the old families of Greene county, and
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has lived there all his life. He was born on the old William Spahr place in the neighborhood of the village of New Jasper, December 12, 1873, son and only child of David C. and Sarah Elizabeth (Mallow) Spahr, the latter of whom died on February 26, 1888, her son then being fifteen years of age. She was born in Caesarscreek township, this county, June 3, 1852, daughter of John and Hannah Mallow, who had a farm in that township.
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