USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 49
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was a candidate for the nomination for clerk of courts. In announcing his candidacy, subject to the Republican primary, he frankly declared that he was a candidate "for no other .reason than because I want the position and believe that my qualifications will recommend me as worthy of a public trust. I have always taught my pupils that any good citizen should not hesitate to offer his ability on the highest market." He is a member of the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons and of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Yellow Springs. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.
On August 23, 1905, Mr. Wead was united in marriage to Edith J. Hirst, who was born at Yellow Springs, daughter of Capt. T. C. Hirst and wife, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, and to this union two children have been born, sons both, Robert H., born in 1907, and William L., 1910. In addition to his school work Professor Wead is a member of the firm of Weiss & Wead, which in the summer of 1915 bought out the old Birch general store.
NOBEL T. PAVEY, D. D. S.
Dr. Nobel T. Pavey, member of the firm of Pavey & Kester, dentists, with offices in the Xenia National Bank building at Xenia, was born in Leeshurg, in Highland county, Ohio, January 9, 1890, son of Gilbert A. and Ida (Smith) Pavey, the latter of whom was born in that same county, in 1861, and both of whom are still living at Leesburg.
Gilbert A. Pavey was born in Fayette county, Ohio, in 1860, and grew up a practical farmer, later owning and operating a farm on the line between Fayette and Highland counties, where he lived until his retirement from the farm and removal to the neighboring village of Leesburg, where he became engaged in the undertaking business, at the same time continuing to manage his farm. He is now living practically retired, though retaining an interest m the business in which he was long actively engaged. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he has been for years a steward in the same. They have three children, Doctor Pavey having a brother, Ernest W. Pavey, now general manager of the Oscar Leer Motor Company at Columbus, Ohio, and a sister, Geneva, wife of his partner, Dr. Alford B. Kester, of Xenia.
Reared at Leesburg, Doctor Pavey completed his public schooling in the high school of that village and then took a course in the Ohio State Univer- sity, after which he entered Starling Dental College at Columbus and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1911. Upon receiving his diploma Doctor Pavey came to Greene county and opened an office for the
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practice of his profession at Jamestown, where he remained for two years, at the end of which time he moved to Xenia. In the fall of 1915, by com- petitive examination, Doctor Pavey entered the government service as a dental surgeon and continued that service until the spring of 1916, when he and his brother-in-law, Dr. Alford B. Kester, who also had been in the government service as a dental surgeon, formed a partnership and resumed regular practice.
On October 10, 1911, Doctor Pavey was united in marriage to Avice Fishback, who was born on a farm in the neighboring county of Fayette, daughter of John and Ida Fishback, the latter of whom is still living, and to this union have been born two children, Paul, born on November 12, 1912, and Elizabeth Jane, October 25, 1916. Doctor and Mrs. Pavey are mem- bers of the First Methodist Episcopal church at Xenia and the Doctor is a member of the official board of the same. The Doctor is a Scottish Rite Mason, affiliated with Xenia Lodge No. 49 and with the Valley at Dayton. During his college days the Doctor was a member of the Psi Omega fra- ternity.
WILLIAM H. CRESWELL.
The beginnings of the Creswell family in Greene county date from the coming of Mrs. Catherine Creswell, a widow, with her eight children, two sons, James and Samuel, and six daughters, up here from Scott county, Kentucky, in the days of the beginning of the past century, the family thus being numbered among the first to settle here. Mrs. Catherine Creswell was a Pennsylvanian, as was her husband, James Creswell. They had settled in Kentucky and were there members of the widespread congregation of Se- ceders to which the Rev. Robert Armstrong ministered before he came up here and settled on Massies creek, many of the members of his congregation having previously come up here to escape slavery conditions in Kentucky and more coming after he had established his church on Massies creek and on Sugar creek. James Creswell was slain by Indians in Kentucky and his widow later came here with her children and settled on what is now the Jackson farm west of Cedarville. Her son James married Ann Junkin, daughter of Lancelot Junkin and wife, the latter of whom was a Galloway, Pennsylvanians, who had come here with the Galloways in 1797, and after his marriage in 1811 settled on the farm at what is now the crossing of the Federal pike and the Cedarville and Jamestown road, two and one-half miles southeast of Cedarville. There his pioneer mother spent her last days and there he and his wife also spent the remainder of their lives. James Cres- well died in 1866. He and his wife were the parents of five children, of
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WILLIAM H. CRESWELL AND FAMILY.
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whom Samuel Creswell, father of the subject of this sketch, was the fourth in order of birth, all of which is set out, together with much additional mat- ter of a historical and genealogical character relating to the Creswells in this county, in a biographical sketch relating to James H. Creswell, elder brother of the subject of this sketch, presented elsewhere in this volume.
Samuel Creswell was born on the old Creswell home farm, now owned and occupied by his son, George H. Creswell, a biographical sketch of whom also is presented elsewhere, and there he spent all his life, having established his home there after his marriage in 1846 to Eliza Jane Huffman, who also spent her last days there, her death occurring on August 10, 1910, she then being eighty-three years of age. Samuel Creswell survived his wife about two years, his death occurring on July 16, 1912, he then being ninety-two years of age. As is set out elsewhere, he and his wife were the parents of ten children, mention of whom is made in the sketch of the elder son referred to above.
William H. Creswell, seventh in order of birth of the ten children born to Samuel and Eliza Jane (Huffman) Creswell, was born on the old Cress- well farm in Cedarville township on February 26, 1859, and there grew to manhood. He completed his schooling in the Cedarville high school and re- mained at home until after his marriage in 1887, when he bought a tract of sixty-five acres adjoining his father's place on the southeast, built a house on the same and there established his home. Since entering upon possession of that place Mr. Creswell has enlarged his land holdings until now he is the owner of one hundred and ninety acres. In 1902 he remodeled and enlarged his dwelling house, which is equipped with an electric-lighting plant and everything "ship-shape." In addition to his general farming Mr. Creswell has for years given considerable attention to the breeding of Poland China hogs for stock purposes. By political affiliation he is a Republican, with well-defined leanings toward the principles of the Prohibition party.
On June 7, 1887, William H. Creswell was united in marriage to Flora Sterrett, who was born in Muskingum county, this state, daughter of John and Rebecca Sterrett, both now deceased, who many years ago moved from Ohio to Johnson county, Kansas, where their daughter Flora grew to woman- hood and where she married Mr. Creswell. To that union three children have been born, Howard, Andrew and Helen, all of whom are living. How- ard Creswell, who is now living on a part of his father's farm, is a graduate of Cedarville College. He married Mary Ellen Lownes, also a Cedarville graduate, and has two children, Mary Helen and Alice Rachel. The second son, the Rev. Andrew Creswell, was graduated from Cedarville College and from the United Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Pittsburgh and is now pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Coulterville, Illinois. He
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married Mary Eleanor Wilson, of Columbus, this state. Miss Helen Cres- well was graduated from the Cedarville high school and is now a student in Cedarville College. The Creswells are members of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville, with the congregation of which the family has been identified ever since the church was established there more than a hundred years ago, and Mr. Creswell is one of the ruling elders of the congregation.
TOWNE CARLISLE.
Towne Carlisle, a retired lumber dealer of Yellow Springs, where he has made his home since the days of his young manhood, was born on a farm, not far from Yellow Springs, in Miami township, March 26, 1855, a son of Jehu and Hettie (Batchelor) Carlisle, residents of that township, whose last days were spent at Yellow Springs.
Jehu Carlisle was a Virginian, born in Loudoun county, in 1816, and was twenty years of age when he came to Ohio in 1836 and located in Miami township, in this county, where he presently married and established himself on a farm. When he settled there Yellow Springs was known only as the scene of the medicinal springs which formerly attracted much atten- tion. He helped to erect the first building put up there, the old Methodist Episcopal church, which stood until in the late 'gos at the corner of Corry and Dayton streets. Jehu Carlisle was an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was a Democrat. Upon his retirement he continued to live on the farm and was eighty-three years of age at the time of his death. His widow died on April 26, 1909. She was born on what is now the site of the Old Folks Home at Yellow Springs, March 26, 1816, a daugh- ter of Robert Batchelor and wife, who came here from Pennsylvania and were among the first settlers in the neighborhood of the springs, where later the thriving little city sprang up. To Jehu Carlisle and wife were born nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the eighth in order of birth. As most of these children lived to rear families of their own, the Carlisle connection hereabout is a quite numerous one in this generation.
Towne Carlisle grew up on the home farm in the neighborhood of Yellow Springs and received his schooling in the village schools. Upon attaining his majority he left the farm and became employed as a carriage-maker in the shop of T. B. Jobe. Three or four years later he became associated with J. H. Little in the lumber business at Yellow Springs, a partnership that was maintained until 1890, when Mr. Carlisle became the sole pro- prietor of the business, which by that time had been developed to profitable proportions. For nearly twenty-five years thereafter Mr. Carlisle continued
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in the lumber business at Yellow Springs. In February, 1914, he sold his old-established plant to the John DeWein Company and retired from busi- ness. In 1912 Mr. Carlisle built a fine new house on Glenn street, the street on which he had made his home for thirty years. It is believed that Mr. Carlisle holds the state record for continuous service as a member of a local school board, and unless someone else comes forward with a better estab- lished claim his friends will continue to claim for him that honor. For thirty consecutive years Mr. Carlisle has been a member of the school board at Yellow Springs, never having had any opposition to successive re-election. In 1889 he was elected township clerk and by successive re-elections has also since continued to hold that office.
Mr. Carlisle has been twice married. In 1876 he was united in marriage to Catherine Howard, who was born on a farm in Xenia township, daugh- ter of John Howard and wife, and to that union was born one child, a son, Howard T. Carlisle, who was for years associated with his father in the lum- ber business and is still living in Yellow Springs. Mrs. Catherine Carlisle died in 1878 and on October 13, 1881, Mr. Carlisle married Martha Van Horn, who was born at Cedarville, July 13, 1855, daughter of Edward Van Horn and wife, the former of whom, a lumber contractor at Cedarville, died in 1900, and to this union four children have been born, namely: Edna, who died at the age of five years; Edward J., now living at Yellow Springs, who on August 18, 1913, married Helen Frank and has two children, Phyllis. born on January 24, 1916, and Edward, Jr., January 7, 1918; and Mildred and Hazel, twins, the former of whom died on June 19, 1916. Mr. Carlisle is a Republican, a Methodist, and is affiliated with the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
ALFORD BURTON KESTER, D. D. S.
Dr. Alford Burton Kester, of the firm of Pavey & Kester, dentists, with offices in the Xenia National Bank building at the corner of Main and De- troit streets, Xenia, was born at New Carlisle, in the neighboring county of Clark, and has lived in this state all his life. He was born on August 17, 1890, son of G. E. and Elenora (Sullivan) Kester, the latter of whom was born at Peru, Indiana, in 1864, and both of whom are still living at New Carlisle.
G. E. Kester was born in the neighborhood of New Carlisle in 1863. He is a musician, performing on both the cornet and the violin, and for years was the leader of the band and the orchestra at New Carlisle. He is a mem- ber of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Three children
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have been born to them, but of these Doctor Kester is the only survivor, the others having died in infancy.
Reared at New Carlisle, Doctor Kester completed his local schooling in the high school there and won a scholarship to Ohio Wesleyan Univer- sity by the excellence of his work during his senior year, but did not avail himself of the same. In the meantime he had been devoting his attention to the study of dental surgery and upon leaving high school he entered Star- ling Medical College at Columbus and was graduated from that institution in 1911, his roommate and classmate having been his present partner and brother-in-law, Dr. Nobel T. Pavey. Upon receiving his diploma Doctor Kester returned to his home at New Carlisle and was there engaged in the practice of his profession for something more than three years, at the end of which time he came down into Greene county and opened an office at Jamestown. A year later, by competitive examination, he was appointed a dental surgeon in the service of the United States army and continued thus engaged until May 1, 1916, when he became associated with his brother- in-law and old collegemate, Dr. Nobel T. Pavey, in practice at Xenia.
On April 2, 1915, Dr. Alford B. Kester was united in marriage to Geneva Pavey, who was born at Leesburg, Ohio, April 8, 1894, daughter of Gilbert A. and Ida (Smith) Pavey, who are still living at Leesburg, and only sister of Dr. Nobel T. Pavey, Doctor Kester's partner. Doctor and Mrs. Kester are members of the First Methodist Episcopal church at Xenia. The Doctor is a Mason and during his college days was a member of the Psi Omega fraternity.
WALTER N. SIPE.
Walter N. Sipe, the owner of a farm of something more than one hun- dred and forty-six acres in Bath township, located on rural mail route No. 3 out of Osborn, was born in that township and has lived there practically all his life, the exception being a period of three years spent in Indiana, during which time he was located in the village of Dayton, in Tippecanoe county, and in the city of Muncie. He was born on November 6, 1852, son of Noah and Mary Ann (Wiant) Sipe, both of whom also were born in Ohio, the former in this county and the latter in Champaign county, and whose last days were spent here.
Noah Sipe was born on the farm on which his son Walter is now living, December 29, 1820, son of Christian and Catherine ( Carpenter) Sipe, who had come to Greene county from Virginia and had become pioneers of Bath township, the tract on which Christian Sipe filed upon coming here having ever since been in the family, a period of one hundred years, Walter Sipe's farm being a part of that original tract. Christian Sipe and his wife, the
MR. AND MRS. WALTER N. SIPE.
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pioneers, had four children, Noalı, Emanuel, Amy and Sarah. The first-born of these children, Noah Sipe, grew up on that pioneer farm, receiving his schooling in the primitive local schools of that place and period, and in turn became a farmer on his own account, and spent all his life on the old home place, after his marriage having established his home there. His wife died there on October 30, 1881. She was born, Mary Ann Wiant, in Champaign county, this state, in 1824, the Wiants having been among the pioneer settlers of that county. Noah Sipe survived his wife more than thirty-five years, his death occurring on December 15, 1915, he then being just a fortnight under ninety-five years of age.
Walter N. Sipe grew up on the old home farm in Bath townsip, receiv- ing his schooling in the local schools, and with the exception of the period of three years, noted above, during which he lived in Indiana, he has always made his home there, having established himself there after his marriage in the fall of 1880, relieving his father of the active management of the farm, which he now owns and on which he has made many improvements. In addi- tion to his general farming he has given considerable attention to the raising of live stock. Mr. Sipe is a Democrat and for fourteen years was a member of the school board. He and his family are members of the Catholic church.
On October 5, 1880, at Yellow Springs, Walter N. Sipe was united in marriage to Johanna Hern, who was born and reared in this county, daughter of John A. and Julia (Day) Hern, natives of Ireland, both born in County Cork, the former born on January 6, 1820, and the latter, June 19, 1825. John A. Hern was a shoemaker at Yellow Springs. He died on November 12, 1893, and his widow died on November 19, 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Sipe have six children, namely: William R., born on January 8, 1882, now farm- ing in Bath township, who married Katie Nieffer, of that township, and has five children; Mary Ann, July 5, 1883, who married Vere Le Bann, a butcher at Osborn, and has two children; John Walter, October 26, 1885, who re- mains with his father, assisting in the management of the home farm; Frank, August 9, 1889, now living at Dayton, who married Lillian Hammond and has two children; Charles, May 11, 1891, also now living in Dayton, who married Nellie Siedenstick and has three children, and Catherine, July 23, 1894, who is at home with her parents.
REV. GEORGE DOUGLAS BLACK, D. D.
The Rev. George Douglas Black, D. D., present acting president of Antioch College, was born in Knox county, Ohio, February 12, 1858, and was educated in the public schools of Mt. Vernon. Having decided to make the Christian ministry his calling. he studied literature and theology from
(28)
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1876 to 1880 with Rev. J. W. Marvin, of Knox county. Doctor Black says of this incident in his life: "I have never ceased to be grateful for the years of inspiration and intimacy spent with Mr. Marvin. After the bless- ing of a devout father and mother, no good has come to me in this world equal to the friendship and instruction of this man. I can say of him, as Garfield said of Mark Hopkins, my conception of a university is a log with a student at one end of it and Marvin at the other. To feed on such a life is an unspeakable good to any young man." Afterward he attended the Meadville Theological School at Meadville, Pennsylvania.
When quite a young man Doctor Black came to Yellow Springs as pastor of the Christian church, which was then the college church. At this place he had two pastorates, and he resigned in 1892 to accept the editorship of the Herald of Gospel Liberty, the organ of the Christian denomination, pub- lished at Dayton, Ohio. While at Yellow Springs he was made the head of the English department of Antioch College. It was while he was engaged in his editorial work at Dayton that Dr. Washington Gladden visited Minne- apolis in 1893 and was asked by the committee of the Park Avenue Congre- gational church to recommend some one for their vacant pulpit, this church at that time being the largest of the thirty-seven Congregational churches in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Doctor Gladden enthusiastically recommended Mr. Black, who went to Minneapolis, preached one Sunday and was called to the pastorate and entered upon his work within a few weeks thereafter. The field was a large one and the demands upon the pastor's time and strength were incessant. He traveled all over the Northwest, giving lectures and addresses, and in addition to his work as a speaker was associated with a group of men, among whom were Doctor Gladden, Doctor Zeublin, Presi- dent George A. Gates, B. Fay Mills and Prof. John Bascom, in the editor- ship of The Kingdom, a weekly publication devoted to the awakening of a new social consciousness in the church. For this paper Doctor Black wrote an editorial every week. After five years of this strenuous life he offered his resignation to his church, but it was unanimously rejected. He realized that the pace he was going was telling seriously on his strength, but, unwill- ing to leave a people whom he deeply loved and among whom he had a delightful uplifting work, he continued for another year, at the end of which time suddenly the physical break came. Suffering from a nervous break- down and knowing that he could not take up continuous pulpit work again, Doctor Black moved with his family from Minneapolis to a farm near Yellow Springs, where he remained, slowly recovering his health, till in 1909 he was asked to take a chair in Antioch College devoted to teaching the New Testament and comparative religions. A few years before he had been elected a trustee of the college, and was chosen as secretary of that body.
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Soon after taking up his work in the college, owing to the long absence of the president, Dr. S. D. Fess, who was serving a term in Congress, Doc- tor Black was made the vice-president, a position in which he served until the resignation of Doctor Fess in 1917. Following Doctor Fess's resigna- tion Doctor Black was made the acting president of the college, as he declined, on account of his health, to accept anything more than a temporary responsibility for the management of the college.
Doctor Black has contributed to the New England Magazine, The Out- look, the Christian Endeavor World, the Christian Register and the Biblical Il'orld of the University of Chicago. His deep interest in farming and ani- mal industry has led him to write extensively on those subjects and he has contributed to the Breeder's Gasette and the Country Gentleman, while for fifteen years he has been a regular writer for the Ohio Farmer. In 1912 Merom College (Indiana) conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
On January 1, 1870, Doctor Black was married to Flora Belle Hanger, daughter of Rev. Andrew C. Hanger, minister of the Christian church. Doctor and Mrs. Black have three children, Georgia Evelyn, Wendell Mar- vin and Russell Collins, the former of whom married Pierre W. Drake, of Yellow Springs, and has one child, a daughter, Virginia E. Wendell Marvin Black was graduated from Antioch College and afterwarl took his Master's degree there. He married Lydia Elder and has one child, a daughter, Elea- nor D. Russell Collins Black also was graduated from Antioch College and has since given his life to music. He married Hazel Ashley, and has a daughter, Helen A.
HARRY L. HACKETT.
Harry L. Hackett, general manager of the National Feed Mills Com- pany at Yellow Springs, where he has been continuously engaged in busi- ness for nearly twenty years, is a native son of Greene county and has lived here all his life, a resident of Yellow Springs since 1898. He was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Clifton on September 13, 1879, a son of James and Ellen (Cavenaugh) Hackett, natives of Ireland, who were mar- ried in Springfield, Ohio, and who later located on a farm in Miami township, this county, where the former died in October, 1916, and where the latter is still living. James Hackett and wife were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the last born, and further mention of whom, together with additional details of the history of the Hackett family in this county, is made in a biographical sketch relating to Charles H. Hackett, postmaster at Yellow Springs, the fourth son and sixth child of James Hackett, presented elsewhere in this volume.
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