USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 48
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At Clifton Joseph R. Johnson married Lydia Elizabeth Estle, who was (27)
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born on January 30, 1822, and he continued to make his home at that place until 1861, in which year he bought the Finlay-Whiteman farm of three hun- dred acres, and on that place made his home until he sold the farm in 1878 and moved to Springfield, where he spent his last days, his death occurring there on November 6, 1892. His wife had died on February 29, 1880. Joseph R. Johnson had served as a school trustee, and he and his wife were men- bers of the Presbyterian church. They were the parents of eight children, those besides the subject of this sketch, the second in order of birth, being the following: Clemency, born on October 9, 1842, who married Michael Madden and died in 1915; Abigail Little, born in February, 1847, who died on April 26, 1865; Asahel, April 23, 1849, whose last days were spent at Vancouver, British Columbia ; Lydia Elizabeth, May 29, 1851, who died on April 25, 1853; Mrs. Hannah Miriam Jacobe, June 30, 1857, who is living at Yellow Springs; Ann Maria, June 30, 1859, who was the wife of Harvey Scranton, now deceased; and Margaret Jane Hand, August 25, 1862. wife of William Forbes.
John E. Johnson received his schooling at Clifton and was sixteen years of age when his father moved from that village to the farm in 1861. He remained on the farm until in February, 1863, when he enlisted in the Union army and went to the front as a member of Company M, Eighth Ohio Cavalry, and at once became active on detached service. He was cap- tured by the enemy and was sent to Libby Prison, where he was held for several months. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Johnson returned to the home farm and after his marriage in the fall of 1867 estab- lished his home there and continued there to reside, in time becoming the owner of the farm, until 1911, in which year he retired from the active labors of the farm and he and his wife moved to Yellow Springs, where they are now living. Not long ago Mr. Johnson sold his farm. He has served as school trustee and as a member of the board of education.
On November 26, 1867, John E. Johnson was united in marriage to Sarah Jane Weller, who was born in Champaign county, Ohio, March 26, 1849, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Wyant) Weller, natives, respectively, of Virginia and Ohio, and to this union five children have been born, namely : Samuel W., who has been twice married, by his marriage to Alice Budd having had three children, Edna, who married Austin Smith and has one son, Samuel: Jennie, who married Alonzo Line, and Alice; and by his mar- riage to Arminta Sproul has one child, a son, Samuel Ross: Gertrude Eliza- beth, who married John Budd, of Springfield, Ohio, and has one child, Maria, who married Charles Lucas, and has one son, Jack; John Orlando, who is now living at Spencer, Idaho, and who has three children, Dorothy, John and Arthur Estle; Joseph R., who is married and is living at Spring-
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field, and Azema, who died in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Johnson is a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias.
HERMAN N. COE.
Herman N. Coe, a retired farmer of Greene county, now living at Yel- low Springs, where he has made his home for years, is a native son of Ohio and has been a resident of Greene county for more than forty-five years. He was born on a farm in Union county on April 24, 1854, son of Moses and Martha (Boal) Coe, the latter of whom also was a native of Union county.
Moses Coe was a native of Pennsylvania, born in Washington county in 1827, and was eight years of age when he came with his parents to Ohio, the family settling in Union county, where he received his schooling, grew to manhood, married, established his home on a farm and there spent the rest of his life. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and of the Masonic order. It was about 1849 that he married Martha Boal and to that union were born eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being Heber, who died in infancy; Orra, widow of Lewis Bland; Harvey D., who married Edith Kieth, of Iowa, and died in Colorado; Elmer D., who married Lizzie Scott, of Marysville, Ohio. and is now living in Chicago; Jennie, who married William Beckman and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased; Margaret, who married A. E. Gillett and is now living at Los Angeles, California, and Lulu, who died in the days of her girlhood.
Herman N. Coe spent his boyhood in Union county, receiving his schooling there, and when seventeen years of age came to Greene county and became engaged working on a farm on Clarks run. That was in the sum- mer of 1871 and he continued thus engaged until after his marriage in 1876, when he began farming on his own account and presently became the owner of a farm of one hundred and fifty-four acres on the road between Clifton and Cedarville, which he still owns. There he continued farming until his retirement in 1915 and removal to Yellow Springs, where he since has made his home. Mr. Coe is a member of the Presbyterian church at Clifton and for more than thirty years has been an elder in the same.
Mr. Coe has been twice married. In 1876, at Urbana, Illinois, he was united in marriage to Christina Davis, and to that union were born two daughters, Lulu M., who married A. E. Swaby and has one child, a daugh- ter, Dorris, and Olive, who is unmarried. The mother of these daughters
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died in 1907 and on October 28, 1915, Mr. Coe married Mrs. Sarah (Bar- nett) Currie, of Yellow Springs.
ALBERT BURRELL.
Albert Burrell, a veteran of the Civil War and proprietor of a well-kept farm in Xenia township, situated on rural mail route No. 5 out of Xenia, is a member of one of the oldest families in this county, the Burrells having been represented here for more than a hundred years. He was born on a farm in Caesarscreek township on August 18, 1846, son of Marshall and Rebecca (Powers) Burrell, whose last days were spent in Xenia, to which city Marshall Burrell had moved upon his retirement from the farm.
Marshall Burrell was born on February 22, 1825, son of John D. and Eleanor (Marshall) Burrell, the latter of whom was a daughter of John Marshall, one of the pioneers of Greene county and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. John D. Burrell was a Virginian, born along one of the branches of the Monongahela in the "panhandle" of what is now West Virginia. In 1807 he came to Greene county and on October 29, of that same year, married Eleanor Marshall and settled on a tract of land in what later came to be known as the Needmore school district, in Caesarscreek township, where he was living when the call came for volunteers for service in the War of 1812. He left his wife and the two small children who by this time had enlarged his household, and went to the front. rendering ser- vice as a soldier until the close of the war. He and his wife spent the re- mainder of their lives on that pioneer farm, his death occurring there on May 16, 1864, he then being eighty-one years of age. He and his wife were members of the Baptist church and their children were reared in that faith. There were six of these children, five daughters and the one son, Marshall Burrell, father of the subject of this sketch. Marshall Burrell grew up on the farm on which he was born in Caesarscreek township and eventually be- came a landowner in that same township, establishing his home there after his marriage. He also was a successful trader, doing quite a bit of business in real-estate transactions, as well as in the buying and selling of live stock. Upon his retirement from the farm he divided his land among his children and moved to Xenia, where his death occurred on February 11, 1907, he then lacking only eleven days of being eighty-two years of age. Marshall Burrell was twice married, his first wife and the mother of his children having been Rebecca Powers, who was born in the neighboring county of Warren in Sep- tember, 1824, daughter of Edward and Mary Powers, natives of Ireland and pioneers in the upper part of Warren county, who were the parents of ten children, five sons and five daughters. To that union were born three children, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Mary Ellen, wife of Frank Smith, of Xenia township, this county, and a brother, Eli Burrell. of Xenia.
ALBERT BURRELL
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The mother of these children died in June, 1894, and Marshall Burrell later married Hannah Maxey. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Albert Burrell was reared on the farm on which he was born in Caesars- creek township and received his schooling in the neighborhood schools. He was but a boy when the Civil War broke out, but from the very beginning of that struggle his patriotic ardor was aroused and on May 3, 1864, he then being but seventeen years of age, he enlisted without his father's knowledge in a company of home guards that then was being recruited. It so happened that his father had enlisted for similar service in that same command on that same day and when he found that his son had enlisted interposed his legal objection and compelled the lad's resignation. The elder Burrell went with his company to the camp at Columbus and was there presently visited by young Albert, his son, who insisted that the father return home and let him serve in his stead, the father's presence being greatly needed at home. The father finally, though with much reluctance, consented to this plan and upon the matter being laid before the colonel of the regiment the latter agreed to the arrangement provided the son should enter the service under his father's name in order to avoid the necessity of altering the regimental roster, and it was thus that Albert Burrell rendered service to his country during the Civil War under the name of Marshall Burrell, an apparent discrepancy that created quite a bit of confusion in the pension department when many years later his application for a pension was filed with the government, though it did not prevent the eventual grant of the pension. The command with which Albert Burrell thus served was Company H of the One Hundred and Fifty- fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with that command he par- ticipated in the battle of New Creek, West Virginia, August 4, 1864. Upon the completion of his military service Albert Burrell returned home and resumed his place on the farm, continuing there until his marriage in the fall of 1867, when he bought a small farm and started farming on his own account. When his father retired and divided his land among his children Mr. Burrell came into possession of a part of his father's farm in Xenia township and has since been living there. To that tract he later added an adjoining tract and now has eighty-one acres. In 1902 Mr. Burrell suffered the loss of his home by fire, but he later erected a better and larger house. He is a Democrat and has served as a school director in his home district. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
On October 17, 1867, Albert Burrell was united in marriage to Phoebe Eleanor Smith, who was born in the neighboring county of Clinton and who died on August 9, 1911. To that union were born ten children, namely : Francis M., a farmer, of Sugarcreek township; Flora B., wife of Robert
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Charters, of Cleveland, Ohio; Laura Elsie, wife of Charles Clemans, oi Cedarville township; Rebecca Maud, unmarried, who is living at home wit her father; Carrie Melissa, also at home; Omar Marshall, who is now living at Springfield, this state; Edna Phoebe, at home; Alberta, wife of Amos Frame, of Ross township; Lucien Elmer, who died at the age of six years. and Oscar Lee, who died when two years of age.
WILMOT EARL LITTLETON.
Wilmot Earl Littleton, a member of the furniture and undertaking firm of Littleton & Sons, of Yellow Springs, was born on a farm in the neighboring county of Clark on September 16, 1877, son of Granville Fisher and Clarinda Ann (Sparrow) Littleton, both of whom also were born in this state, the latter in Clark county, and who are now living at Yellow Springs.
Granville Fisher Littleton, one of the oldest undertakers and furniture dealers in this part of the state and head of the firm of Littleton & Sons at Yellow Springs, was born in 1850 and his youth was spent on a farm. He finished his schooling in a "select" school in the neighboring town of Clifton and as he had been reared to the ways of the farm presently took up farming on his own account and after his marriage in the early 'zos to Clarinda Ann Sparrow, who was born in Clark county, her parents having located there upon coming to this country from England, established his home on a farm in Clark county, later moving to Greene county. In the latter '70s he engaged in the furniture business at Yellow Springs, also undertaking. and in 1881 he took a course in the Clark Embalming School, the first of its kind established in this country, and set himself up in the undertaking busi- ness at Yellow Springs, where, with certain intermissions, he has since been engaged in business. In 1890 Mr. Littleton spent a year on a farm in Illi- nois, where he also was engaged in the undertaking business, later returning to Yellow Springs; and in 1894 he went to Alabama, but in 1896 returned to his established home at Yellow Springs and has been there continuously since, for some years past having associated with him in business his sons, the business being carried on under the firm name of Littleton & Sons, the firm doing business at the same corner on which Mr. Littleton established himself in business forty years ago. Mr. Littleton and his family are members of the Presbyterian church and he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Masons and the Odd Fellows, now serving as treasurer of the former.
To Granville F. and Clarinda A. (Sparrow) Littleton five children have been born, namely: Daisy Maude, who married Lewis Reinwald and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased, her death in 1914 leaving three
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orphaned children, Josephine, who is now engaged in professional nursing at Chicago; Lewis, who lives in Yellow Springs, and Mildred, wife of Ralph Figgins; Wilmot E., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch ; Morris Fisher, a member of the firm of Littleton & Sons, who married Ella Figgins, of Yellow Springs, and has one child, a daughter, Janet; Harry Ladrew, now engaged in the undertaking business at Sabina, in the neigh- boring county of Clinton, who married Susan Dakin and has one child, a son, Roger ; Edwin, a member of the firm of Littleton & Sons, who married Ethel Diltz, who then was employed in the office of the Robbins & Myers Motor Company at Springfield, and has two daughters, Dorothy and Mar- jorie.
Wilmot Earl Littleton was reared at Yellow Springs and from the days of his boyhood has been interested in the details of the business established there by his father. Upon completing the course in the local high school he entered a school for instructions in the art of embalming, his brother Harry and himself being members of the first class to take the examination under the state license law, and afterward became associated with his father and his brothers in the general furniture and undertaking business at Yellow Springs. Mr. Littleton has served two years as master of the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons and is also a member of the board of trus- tees of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He also is a member of the local school board. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian church.
On March 29, 1900, Mr. Littleton was united in marriage to Josephine Hutchinson, of Yellow Springs, a daughter of Elder and Hester (Baker) Hutchinson, the former of whom died about 1881 and the latter of whom is still living at Yellow Springs, and who were the parents of four daugh- ters, Mrs. Littleton having had three sisters, Nettie, wife of L. D. Welch. of Yellow Springs: Stella, now deceased, who was the wife of Howard Adams, and Fannie, who is at home. Mr. and Mrs. Littleton have four children, Joseph Wilmot, born on December 3, 1901, now a student in the high school; Eleanor, November 28, 1903, also in the high school; Granville Eugene, June 10, 1905, and Elizabeth, March 19, 1917.
J. N. WOLFORD.
J. N. Wolford. editor and proprietor of the Yellow Springs News, was born at Xenia on March 19, 1879, son of John Henry and America (Mills) Wolford, the latter of whom also was born in this county and is still living here, for many years a resident of Cedarville.
John Henry Wolford was born at Clear Springs. Maryland. in 1849,
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and was seventeen years of age when he came to Ohio in 1866 and became employed in the blacksmith shop and carriage factory of his uncle, John Lutz, at Xenia, becoming there thoroughly trained in the details of the car- riage-making business. He later became engaged in this business on his own account and presently opened an establishment at Cedarville, where he remained engaged in the carriage-making line the rest of his life, his death occurring there in 1916. His widow is still living at Cedarville. John Henry Wolford and wife were the parents of five children, namely: Ber- nice, who is living with her mother at Cedarville; Mrs. Ida Turnbull, also of Cedarville; Mrs. Edna Dodds, of Cincinnati; J. N., the immediate sub- ject of this biographical sketch, and Ralph, who is continuing to carry on his father's old-established business at Cedarville.
J. N. Wolford was but a child when his parents moved from Xenia to Cedarville and he was reared in the latter place. He was graduated from the Cedarville high school in 1898, meantime having become a carriage- painter, working in his father's shop, and after leaving high school entered Cedarville College, later taking a course in Ohio Northern University. Upon leaving college he bought the Yellow Springs Newes, a once-a-week news- paper that had been established at Yellow Springs in 1880, and has since then been engaged in the newspaper business. Mr. Wolford is a Republican and a Mason.
On August 11, 1910, Mr. Wolford was united in marriage to Lucy Birch, of Yellow Springs, and to this union two children have been born, Leah, born in 1912, and Jane, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Wolford are members of the Presbyterian church.
ABRAHAM L. SHUEY.
Abraham L. Shuey, former mayor of the town of Fairfield and justice of the peace in and for Bath township, was born in the vicinity of the town of Gratis, in Gratis township, Preble county, this state. On April 5, 1864, he became a resident of Greene county and remained here until in December, 1874, when he moved to a farm he had bought on the national road a miile and a half west of Donnelsville, in Clark county. Two years later he moved to Fairfield and in 1888 removed from that village to a farm just south of the village, where he remained until 1893, when he returned to the village, where he and his wife have since resided. Mr. Shuey has served as mayor of Fairfield and as justice of the peace, as well as in other official capacities, and is also a notary public.
Mrs. M. C. Wilson Shuey, wife of Abraham L. Shuey, is a daughter of William Harvey Wilson, who was the eldest of the thirteen children of
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Alleshury
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Isaac Wilson, who had come to this region wtih his parents from Kentucky in 1801, and she thus is a member of one of the very first families of Greene county. Isaac Wilson established his home in the neighborhood of the pres- ent village of Byron and became one of the large landowners of Greene county. One of his sons, Uriah Wilson, who died in 1900, was a soldier of the Civil War and was the father of thirteen children, some of whom are still living in the Fairfield community. Isaac Wilson died on April 10, 1860, and left a large estate to his family. William Harvey Wilson also became a large landowner and left a substantial estate at the time of his death in 1893. Three of his children are still living, Mrs. Shuey having two brothers, Cassius M. Wilson, a veteran auctioneer, now living retired at Fairfield, and James M. Wilson, a retired farmer, living just north of the village. Mrs. Shuey has for many years been incidentally engaged in journalistic work, has writ- ten for a number of the leading papers of the country and has contributed to this publication in the way of providing data relating to the histories of the Fairfield and Osborn neighborhoods. On. March.4, 1908, Mr. Shuey was taken down with an attack of la grippe from which an ailment of his left ankle developed. On April 2 following he was taken to the hospital and there his left leg was amputated. On April 5 of that same year Mrs. Shuey contracted blood-poisoning in her right thumb, the trouble quickly extending to her left arm and developing a condition which necessitated the amputation of that member, the operation being performed on May 9. Despite these physical disabilities and their advancing years, both Mr. and Mrs. Shuey are hale and hearty and full of the joy of living.
RALPH O. WEAD.
When Ralph O. Wead, superintendent of the public schools at Yellow Springs, was a candidate for clerk of courts, subject to the Republican pri- mary, in the campaign of 1916, he thought it but fitting, as a measure of introduction to such of the electorate as might not have a personal acquain- tance with him, to issue a personal statement regarding himself and in that statement he succeeded in reducing the art of biography, or autobiography, to the minimum by producing "My Credentials." a statement of facts which, gauged by its brevity, may properly enough he said to have achieved the maximum of modesty, in the following words and figures :
I was born, have always lived, was married and am rearing my family in Greene county. I lived my boyhood years in Spring Valley township and in Xenia city. Early in life I discovered that an education is a necessity and if I was to have one I must pay for it myself. During school years I worked as a Gazette carrier boy and during college vacations in the fuse factory, the shoe factory, as clerk, and as brakeman
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on a construction train. I was graduated from Xenia high school 1899. Completed course in Xenia Business College night school 1899. Taught school in Cedarville town- ship 1901-02. Graduated from Antioch College 1904. Principal of Sugar Creek town- ship high school 1904-05. Elected superintendent of Yellow Springs schools 1905, which position I have held for eleven years.
Amplifying the above for the definite purpose of this volume, it may be said that Ralph O. Wead was born on a farm in Spring Valley township on January 18, 1881, a son of James V. and Susan (Lewis) Wead, the former of whom also was born in this county and the latter in the neigh- boring county of Warren, though she had the good fortune to be reared in Greene county, having been cared for in her girlhood by Mrs. Henry Corey. James V. Wead was born on a farm on the Xenia-Jamestown pike and early became a practical farmer. He completed his schooling in the old Xenia College on East church street and after his marriage bought a small farm in Spring Valley township, where he made his home until 1889, when he moved with his family to Xenia, where he and his wife are now living. To them four children have been born, three of whom are living, Superintendent Wead having two sisters, Lydia May, who married Joseph Shank, now living at Dayton, Ohio, and has one child, a son, Warren, and Carrie Belle, a professional nurse, engaged in that capacity at Dayton and Xenia. The latter had a twin brother, Frederick, who died in childhood.
Ralph O. Wead was eight years of age when his parents moved to Xenia. He had had two years of schooling in the district school in the neighborhood of his childhood home in Spring Valley township and upon moving to Xenia entered the school there and was graduated from the high school in that city in 1899, meanwhile spending his vacation periods in various industrial activi- ties, as set out in the modest paragraph that introduces this review. During the last year of his high-school course he completed the bookkeeping course in the night school of Xenia Business College. In the fall of 1899 he entered Antioch College and for two years pursued his studies there. He then taught school for one term in Cedarville township and later re-entered Antioch College, from which institution he was graduated in 1904 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Following his graduation he was engaged as the principal of the high school at Bellbrook and served in that capacity for one year, at the end of which time he was engaged as superintendent of the pub- lic schools at Yellow Springs, which position he since has held. In 1905, the year of his marriage, when Mr. Wead took charge there were twenty- nine pupils in the high school, and in 1918 there were one hundred and six pupils in the high school and thirty-one in the graduating class. During his incumbency as superintendent of schools Professor Wead has pursued his studies and has secured all credits necessary for his Master degree in Ohio State University. He is a Republican and in the campaign of 1916
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