History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 45

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 45

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Early thrown upon his own resources for a livelihood, William Burnett began working as a boy in the mines and along the docks and after a while became permanently. employed in the iron mines. In the spring of 1880 he married and a year later, in March, 1881, he came to this country, accompanied by his wife's brother, George Ross, then a lad of seventeen, his point of destina- tion being New Mexico, but not finding conditions there to his liking he came to Ohio and located at Xenia, where, in June of that same year, he was joined by his wife and infant daughter, for whom he had sent upon making his decision to settle there. In the following year Mrs. Burnett's parents and the other nine children of their family came to this country and also settled at Xenia. For fourteen years after his arrival in Xenia Mr. Burnett was engaged there in the employ of the Hagar Strawboard Company, buying straw and looking after the teams. In 1895 when the Hagar Company moved its plant to Cedarville Mr. Burnett moved to that village and was there further engaged in work in the strawboard plant until in December, 1899, when he moved to the farm of sixty-one acres which he had bought a few years before and on which he since has made his home. The house he erected on that place upon taking possession of the same was destroyed by fire in 1901, but he at once rebuilt. Upon becoming a citizen of this country Mr. Burnett allied himself with the Republican party. He and his wife were reared in accordance with the tenets of the established church in England and are members of the Episcopal church at Xenia.

On March 4, 1880, the year before he came to the United States, Mr. Burnett was united in marriage to Elizabeth Ross, also a native of Eng- land, born at Winterton, in Lincolnshire, daughter of Richard and Maria (Hill) Ross, both of whom also were born in Lincolnshire and the former of whom was a shepherd there. In 1882, the year following the location of Mr. and Mrs. Burnett in Xenia, the latter's parents and the other mem- bers of their family came to this country and also located at Xenia. Rich- ard Ross became connected with the operations of the paper mill there and spent the rest of his life in that city, his death occurring on July 18. 1897. His widow's death occurred in May, 1908. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom Mrs. Burnett was the first-born, the others being as follow: Charlotte, deceased; George, who came to this country with Mr. Burnett when seventeen years of age, became connected with the work of the Hagar Strawboard Company, eventually working up to the position of inside foreman of the plant, and met his death in the factory at Cedarville on January 22, 1897, by being drawn into the rolls when his arm was acci- dentally caught in the machinery; Mildred, widow of the late Scott Stew- ard; Rebecca, wife of A. B. Gaunt, of Hartford City, Indiana; Mrs. Flor-

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ence Graham, of Richmond, Indiana; Mrs. Anna Tiffany, a widow, living at Indianapolis; Harry and Pauline; William, who is superintendent of the plant of the Beveridge Paper Company at Indianapolis, and Fred, a machin- ist, who lives at St. Louis. Mr. and Mrs. Burnett have three children, Ruth, who married Wilbur Rayner and lives at Dayton; Olive, wife of D. P. Walters, also of Dayton, and Charles, a farmer, of New Jasper township, who married Bertha Thornhill and has one daughter, Elizabeth.

JAMES H. CRESWELL.

In the brief though illuminating "recollections" of Andrew Galloway represented in newspaper form in Xenia many years ago there is set out a list of the families that formed the old Seceder colony that had come up here from Kentucky in order to escape slavery conditions and who were here when the Rev. Robert Armstrong, their former pastor, rejoined them here in 1803 and again became their pastor, creating on Massies creek a congregation of faithful worshippers who exerted a dominant influence in the creation of proper social conditions hereabout in the days of the very beginning of the settlement. And in that list is the name of the Widow Creswell, who is noted as having been a member of Mr. Armstrong's con- gregation in Kentucky and as having come to Ohio in 1801.

The Widow Creswell thus referred to was Mrs. Catherine (Creswell) Criswell, widow of James Criswell. She and her husband were Pennsyl- vanians who had gone to Kentucky with their family of small children in order to establish a home there. James Criswell was killed by the Indians in Kentucky and later his widow came up into this section of the then new state of Ohio with her eight children, two sons, James and Samuel, and six daughters, to establish here a new home free from the conditions which then faced the settlers in the slave state of Kentucky. She was a Creswell, perhaps a distant relative of her husband, a Criswell, the similarity of the names suggesting a probably common source, and as she preferred the name Creswell to that of Criswell she adopted the same after the death of her husband and the family has ever since followed that form of spell- ing of the family name. Upon coming to Greene county Mrs. Creswell settled with her family on a tract of land near what is now the race track on the Andrew Jackson place in the Cedarville neighborhood, a fine spring of water on the place being the deciding factor in the family's selection of a place of location. She spent the rest of her life in this county, her death occurring at the home of her son, James Creswell, in 1832, and she was buried in the Massiescreek cemetery.

MR. AND MRS. JAMES H. CRESWELL.

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James Creswell was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1789, and was still in his "teens" when he came here from Kentucky with his mother. In 1811 he married Ann Junkin, who was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Launcelot Junkin and wife, the latter of whom was a Galloway, who were married in Pennsylvania and who in 1779 had moved from that state to Kentucky, locating at a settlement called Frost Station, on the Kentucky river, in the Georgetown vicinity, where they remained until 1797, when they came up here into the valley of the Little Miami with the Galloway family and settled in the neighborhood of the old Indian village or "Chillicothe," now known as Oldtown, thus becoming numbered among the very first permanent white settlers of the region that later became organized as Greene county. Upon taking up his residence here Launcelot Junkin settled on a tract of land two or three miles east of the present site of Cedarville, but later moved to a place across the road from what is now the R. D. Williamson place on the Jamestown pike in Cedarville township. In 1812, the year after his marriage, James Creswell bought a tract of sixty acres of land two and one-half miles southeast of Cedarville, the place now owned and occupied by his grandson, George H. Creswell, and kept adding to the same until he was the owner of one hun- dred and seventy acres. As a young man he had taught school in that neighborhood and he served as clerk of the first school board organized in Cedarville township. He and his wife were Seceders, later members of the Covenanter or Reformed Presbyterian church and later of the United Presbyterian. James Creswell died in August, 1866. He and his wife were the parents of five children, namely: Martha, born on October 23, 1812, who was twice married, her first husband having been James Ervin and her second, the Rev. Andrew Heron; James Rankin, December 7, 1814. who was drowned in -1841 ; Launcelot, May 19, 1817, who moved to Ida- ville, Indiana, where he spent his last days; Samuel, father of the subject of this sketch, and George. 1822, who established his home in Cedarville township and there died in 1852.

Samuel Creswell was born on the old Creswell place on January 12, 1820, and there grew to manhood. When he was twelve years of age he planted a sycamore tree in the front dooryard of the home place and that tree, now grown to noble proportions, is still standing, carefully preserved by the family. In the days of his young manhood Samuel Creswell taught school for several terms. He remained at home and after his marriage in 1846 built a new house around the old one which had been built by his father, one room of the old house being retained as a part of the structure, and that house is still doing service as a dwelling place, now occupied by the family of George H. Creswell. After the death of his father Samuel Creswell

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bought the interests of the other heirs in the home place. Upon the organi- zation of the Republican party he became affiliated with that party, but later in life became a Prohibitionist. He and his wife were members of the (new school) Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville. Samuel Cres- well lived to the great age of ninety-two years, his death occurring on July 16, 1912. His wife had preceded him to the grave a little less than two years, her death having occurred on August 10, 1910, she then having been eiglity-three years of age. She was born in the vicinity of Hillsboro, this state, March 22, 1827, Eliza Jane Huffman, daughter of Aaron and Martha (White) Huffman, the latter of whom died before her daughter was three years of age. Eliza Jane Huffman was reared in the household of William Reed and in the household of William Thorne and it was in the Reed home that she was married, June 10, 1846, to Samuel Creswell. To that union were born ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth, the others being as follow : Martha, a former school teacher. in this county, who married Joseph Turnbull and is now living in Ross town- ship; Sarah Jane, wife of Alexander Kyle, living on the Wilmington pike at the edge of Cedarville; Mary, unmarried, who is still living on the old home place; Julia, wife of W. R. Sterrett, of Cedarville, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Andrew H., of Cedarville township, a biographical sketch of whom also is presented else- where; William H., also of Cedarville township, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this work; George H., who is living on the old home place and further mention of whom is made elsewhere; Nettie, now living at Xenia, widow of James Ervin, who was a miller, and Ida, who is living on the Federal pike, widow of J. H. Stormont.

James H. Creswell. eldest son and fourth child of Samuel and Eliza Jane (Huffman) Creswell, was born on the old home place which his grand- father had opened up and there grew to manhood. After his marriage in 1885 he located on the old Dr. George Watt place adjoining the Creswell farm on the south, having previously been operating the same as a renter, and began housekeeping in a log cabin that then stood on the place. He later bought the Watt farm of one hundred and forty acres and in 1897 built on the place the house in which he and his family are now living. By the purchase of an adjoining tract Mr. Creswell now is the owner of one hundred and seventy-five acres and in addition to his general farming has given considerable attention to the raising of live stock. He has served as a meni- ber of the board of trustees of Cedarville College, for two terms president of the board, and his children were given the advantages of schooling in that college. There are three of these children, namely: Samuel Franklin, who was graduated from Cedarville College in 1910 and is living at home,

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assisting his father in the management of the farm; Anna Alberta, who also was graduated from Cedarville College in 1910 and until 1917 was engaged as instructor in French and English in that college, and Paul H., who also completed his schooling in Cedarville College and was teaching in the high school at St. Albans, West Virginia, when in June, 1917, he left the school room and enlisted for service in the aviation corps of the United States army, in which he is now ( 1918) serving, with the prospect of early action "over there." The Creswells are members of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville and Mr. Creswell has been a member of the session of that congregation since 1889.

On December 30, 1885, James H. Creswell was united in marriage to Louisa Blair, who was born in Randolph county, Illinois, daughter of James Franklin and Elizabeth (Marvin) Blair, the latter of whom is still living, a resident of Cedarville since 1912. James Franklin Blair was born at Fayetteville, Tennessee, March 30,' 1830, and was two years of age when his parents, James and Jean (Wiley) Blair, South Carolinians, of Scotch- Irish stock and "old side" Covenanters, moved from Tennessee in 1832 in order to escape the conditions of living that confronted them and their family in the slave state and located in the vicinity of Sparta, in Randolph county, Illinois, where James Blair developed a farm of about three hundred acres. James Blair and his wife were the parents of seven children, of whom James Franklin was the fifth in order of birth and all of whom are now deceased, the others having been the following: Samuel, who became a resident of Perry county, Illinois: Tirzah, who married C. H. Stormont, of Princeton, Indiana; William R., who established his home in Perry county, Illinois, and lived to be ninety years of age; Jolin K., who established his home in the vicinity of Sparta, Illinois; Martha, who married Dr. Janies F. Morton, of Cedarville, this county, and Louisa, who died when eighteen years of age.

James Franklin Blair completed his schooling in the academy at Sparta, Illinois, and after his marriage continued to make his home on the home farm in the vicinity of that town, inheriting the same after the death of his father. In 1897 he retired from the farm and moved to Sparta, where he died in 1904. For years he was a ruling elder in the Reformed Presbyterian church. His widow, who, as above noted, is still living, a resident of Cedarville, was born, Elizabeth Marvin, in New York City, April 24, 1833, daughter of Will- iam Orlando and Jane (Ritchie) Marvin, the former of whom was born in Connecticut and the latter in Ireland, she having been fifteen years of age when she came to this country with her parents, the family locating in New York City, where William O. Marvin and Jane Ritchie were married. The former was a shoemaker and tiring of city life in 1840 moved with his

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family to Illinois, locating on a farm in Randolph county, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, he living to be eighty-eight years of age and she, ninety-two. They were "old side" Covenanters and were the parents of six children, namely: Joseph, who established his home in Kansas; Elizabeth, who married James Franklin Blair; Theodore, who estab- lished his home in Kansas, but is now living retired at Los Angeles, Cali- fornia; James Renwick, who went to the front as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, was wounded and taken prisoner by the enemy and died in a military prison at Jackson, Mississippi; William, who is now living at Pasadena, California, and Frances Jane, wife of John Holmes, of Topeka, Kansas. To James Franklin and Elizabeth ( Marvin) Blair, who were married on December 4, 1857, were born ten children, namely: Samuel Alvin, who is now living in the vicinity of Greeley, Colorado; one who died in infancy; Louisa, wife of Mr. Creswell; Carrie, who died while serving as an instructor in Cedarville College; Adelle, wife of John N. Lyle. of Marianna, Arkansas; Amanda Jane, wife of George H. Creswell, brother of the subject of this sketch; Elizabeth, who is a teacher in the public schools of Cedarville : William O., a machinist, living at Pomona, California ; Mary E., wife of Prof. Nathan C. Plimpton, assistant auditor of the Uni- versity of Chicago, and James Franklin, Jr., an electrician, living at Silver City, New Mexico. All these children received schooling in the Sparta high school and all save one received further instruction in the university at Carbondale, Illinois. In the spring of 1912 Mrs. Elizabeth Blair moved to Cedarville and is still living there, making her home with her daughter, Miss Elizabeth Blair, who has been a teacher in the schools of Cedarville since the fall of that year. Mrs. Creswell before her marriage also was a teacher, having followed that profession for five years.

DAN BAKER.

Until he recently sold his old home place and moved to the village of Yellow Springs with a view to retiring from the active labors of the farm and "taking things easy" the rest of his life, Dan Baker, a veteran of the Civil War and one of the oldest residents of Miami township, had lived from the day of his birth on the place on which he was born, three and one- half miles southeast of Yellow Springs, the place on which his father had settled in 1828, and had been quite content there to remain. He was born in a log house there on April 20, 1839, son of Nayl and Huldah (Mills) Baker, who had taken up their residence there ten years or more before.

Nayl Baker was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and was six-

Dan Baker

Susan &. Baker

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teen years of age when he came with his parents, Thomas Baker and wife, Quakers, from that state of Ohio, the family settling in Greene county in 1812. Here he took his part as a young man in the development of a pio- neer farm and presently began farming on his own account. On January 6, 1825, Nayl Baker was united in marriage to Huldah Mills, who was born in Montgomery county in 1802, a daughter of Jacob Mills and wife, who were among the first settlers in this section of the Miami valley. Jacob Mills became a resident of the northern part of this county and when Miami township was organized in 1808 he was elected the first justice of the peace in and for that township. Miami township then included the northern por- tions of what are now Cedarville and Ross townships, in this county, and about one-third of Mad River township, all of Greene township and one- half of Madison township, in Clark county. The first election was held in the house of David S. Brodick at Yellow Springs. In 1828, three years after his marriage, Nayl Baker settled on the farm which his son Dan has just recently sold and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. He died in 1865 and was buried in the Clifton cemetery. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, one of whom died in childhood, and of whom but two now survive, Dan Baker having a brother, William Baker, living in California. The others were Sarah, Thomas, Jacob, Rachel, Mary and Letitia.

Dan Baker grew up on the farm on which he was born and helped to develop the same. During the progress of the Civil War he joined the Home Guard and later went to the front in the hundred-days service. He always made his home on the home place and after his marriage in 1872 estab- lished his home there and continued there to reside until in November, 1917, when he sold the place preparatory to retirement from further active labors and removed to Yellow Springs. Mr. Baker is a Republican and for twenty- two years served as school director in his home district and also for some time as a director of the village schools at Clifton. He is a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and is a member of the Presby- terian church. Though now in his eightieth year Mr. Baker retains much of his aforetime physical vigor and is hale and hearty beyond his years.

On February 22, 1872, Dan Baker was united in marriage to Susan E. Waymire, daughter of Daniel and Mary Anna (Stebbins) Waymire, of Dayton, both of whom were also born in this state and who were the parents of six children, Mrs. Baker having had two brothers, John and Daniel, and three sisters, Mary, Elizabeth and Anna. Mrs. Baker died on November 8, 1907. To her and her husband were born seven children, namely: Joseph, deceased: Huldah, deceased; Mrs. Mary Donovan, of this county ; Jolın, deceased; Mrs. Bessie Dallas, who lives near Xenia and has one child,

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a son, Donald: and Evan, who is married and resides in Springfield. To Evan Baker and wife four children have been born, one of whom, Harold, is deceased, the others being Mildred, Thelma and Gladys.

JACOB THOMAS JACOBS.

Jacob Thomas Jacobs, the proprietor of a farm on section 26 of Miami township, about a mile and a half west of Yellow Springs, was born on that farm and has lived there the greater part of his life. He was born on July 30, 1856, son of Ahimaaz and Emily (Trollinger) Jacobs, both of whom were born in Allegany county, Maryland, the former on October 13, 1821, and the latter, April 4, 1826, and whose last days were spent on the farm here referred to and on which they had settled not long after their marriage in the '40s.

Ahimaaz Jacobs was a son of Gabriel and Margaret (Jackson) Jacobs, both of whom also were born in Maryland, the former on July 7. 1781, and who were the parents of eleven children. Gabriel Jacobs worked as a carpenter during the earlier years of his manhood, but later turned his attention to farming and his last days were spent on the farm he owned in Allegany county, in his native state, his death occurring there on October 11, 1848. His widow later came to this county, her son Ahimaaz mean- while having settled here, and here her last days were spent, her death occurring on October 20, 1855.

Reared on the home farm in Maryland, Ahimaaz Jacobs received his schooling in the primitive schools of that time and place, and remained at home until he was nineteen years of age, when he accompanied his elder brother, Samuel, to Ogle county, Illinois, and was there engaged in farm- ing for a couple of years, at the end of which time he returned to his home in Maryland and was there. on March 10, 1846, married to Emily Trollinger, daughter of Jacob and Sallie (Jacobs) Trollinger, natives of that state and the latter of whom died there. Some time after the death of his wife Jacob Trollinger came to Ohio and settled in this county, where he spent the rest of his life. He and his wife were the parents of seven children. After his marriage Ahimaaz Jacobs settled down on a farm in his home county, in Maryland, but some years later came with his family to Ohio and settled on the farm in section 26 of Miami township, this county, where his son, the subject of this sketch, is now living. There he developed a tract of one hundred and seventy-two acres of land, and on that farm he and his wife spent the rest of their lives, her death occurring on August 19, 1888, and his, January 27, 1905. They were members of the Christian church,

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of which Mr. Jacobs was for years one of the trustees, and their children were reared in that faith. Upon the organization of the Prohibition party Mr. Jacobs threw his support in that direction and was one of the active workers in the cause of temperance in his neighborhood. For years he was a member of the local school board and in one campaign was elected supervisor of his home township, but declined to serve. Of the six chil- dren born to him and his wife four grew to maturity, namely: J. Cicero, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Will- iam Austin, who died on January 20, 1901, at Springfield, Ohio, and Mary L., who on May 26, 1891, married John P. Confer and who died on Sep- tember 25, 1904.

Jacob T. Jacobs was reared on the farm on which he was born in Miami township. He completed his schooling by attendance at Antiocli College during the years 1873-74 and then continued his labors on the farm for a few years, at the end of which time he went to Nebraska and was there engaged in the employ of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad Com- pany, working both in the passenger and freight departments of that road until 1884, when he returned to the home farm in this county and there has since been engaged in farming, having established his home there after his marriage in the fall of 1891. Mr. Jacobs is now serving as a member of the school board, to which office he was elected in the fall of 1917. He is affiliated with the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Yellow Springs.

On October 14, 1891, Mr. Jacobs was united in marriage to Mary Frances Berg, who was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Clifton, in this county, February 14, 1871, a daughter of Joseph and Hannah Cath- erine (Ward) Berg, the latter of whom also was born in this county, a member of one of the pioneer families in the northern part of the county. Joseph Berg was born in Pennsylvania, but had been a resident of this county for many years. He died on May 10, 1900, and his widow is now living in California, where two of her children also reside. Joseph Berg and his wife were the parents of nine children, all of whom are living and of whom Mrs. Jacobs is the fourth in order of birth, the others being as follow: Jacob Elmer, who is living in Nevada; Jessie, a resident of Cali- fornia ; Mrs. Allie Glenn Dawson, of Yellow Springs; William Henry, of Nevada; John Ward, also a resident of Nevada; Mrs. Rebecca Elizabeth Bodell, who lives in North Carolina: Carl Chester, of Nevada, and Mrs. Georgetta Thomas, of Los Angeles, California. To Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs three children have been born, sons all, namely: Albert Leroy, born on August 10, 1892, who married Clara R. Martin, has one son, Clitus J.,

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History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 45

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