USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 52
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JOSIAH LAYMAN.
Josiah Layman, proprietor of a New Jasper township farm on rural mail route No. I out of Jamestown, was born in that same neighborhood and has lived thereabout all his life. He was born on June 25, 1849, son of Christian B. and Susanna ( Spahr) Layman, the latter of whom was born in that same section of Greene county, in 1825, a daughter of Mathias and Susanna (Hagler) Spahr, further and fitting mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, Mathias Spahr having been one of the sons of Philip Spahr, who had come over here from Virginia with his family and had become one of the influential pioneers of the New Jasper settlement.
Christian B. Layman was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, in 1816, and was nineteen years of age when he came with his parents, Jacob and Sarah H. (Baker) Layman, also Virginians, to Greene county in 1835. the family locating at Jamestown. Jacob Laymani had been a tanner in Virginia, the owner of a tanyard, but upon coming to Greene county devoted his ener- gies to farming, buying a tract of two hundred acres just at the south edge of the village of Jamestown, where he made his home until 1845, in which year he moved to what is now the Samuel Sutton farm on the Hook road in Xenia township, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were members of the New Jasper Methodist Episcopal church and were the parents of the following children: John, the eldest, who remained in Virginia and there established his home; Christian B., father of the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Betsy Greenwood, Mrs. Mary Cherry and David, Henry, George and Robert, who went to Illinois and the latter of whom is still living there, a resident of Christian county in that state.
As noted above, Christian B. Layman wa's nineteen years of age when lie came to Greene county. After his marriage in 1842 to Susanna Spahr he rented a farm and began farming on his own account, but in 1849 bought a farm on the New Jasper pike, where he established his home and where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, her death occurring in 1907 and his on May 10, 1910. Christian B. Layman was a large man of the weight of two hundred pounds. He was a Democrat and he and his wife were members of the New Jasper Methodist Episcopal church. They were the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being Jacob Milton Layman, unmarried, who makes his home with his brother Josiah; Virginia Eliza, who married Hiram Golder, a New Jasper township farmer, and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased, and Mathias, who died at the age of four years.
Josiah Layman was reared on the home farm on the New Jasper pike,
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received his schooling in the Zaza district school, and remained at home until his marriage in the summer of 1874, after which he began farming on his own account. Later he bought a farm of fifty-five acres, the place on which he is now living, and there has since made his home. In 1914 Mr. Layman bought an adjoining tract of land and now has one hundred and eleven acres, where he and his son, Ralph Layman, and his son-in-law, E. H. Huston, are carrying on their farming operations. Mr. Layman is connected with the New Jasper Methodist Episcopal church and by political affiliation is a Democrat.
Mr. Layman has been twice married. On June 25, 1874, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Hight, daughter of Andrew and Sarah Hight, of Jefferson township. She died in the following year and on April 12, 1882, Mr. Layman married Emma Pence, who was born in Highland county, this state, in 1862, daughter of Martin and Sarah Pence, who had come to Greene county and had located in New Jasper township. Mrs. Emma Layman died 011 April 2. 1909. Mr. Layman has two children, Jessie Elizabeth, who mar- ried E. H. Huston, living on part of the Layman farm, and has one child, a son, Leo, and Ralph, who, as noted above, is still living on the home farm, assisting in the operations of the same.
JOHN WESLEY CAMDEN.
John Wesley Camden, a farmer and horseman of Beavercreek town- ship and the proprietor of the old Johns place, one mile south of Shoups Station, rural mail route No. 8 out of Dayton, is a native of the Old Domin- ion and was there reared, but has been a resident of Ohio and of Greene county since 1882, having come here in the days of his young manhood. He was born on a farin in the immediate vicinity of Lexington, county seat of Rockbridge county, Virginia, February 15, 1856, son of George W. and Mary (Coffman) Camden, both also natives of Virginia, the latter of whom spent hier last days in Greene county.
George W. Coffman was born in 1820, a son of Duncan Camden and wife, natives of Pennsylvania, who had made their home in the Lexington neighborhood in Virginia, and there he grew to manhood, becoming a skilled carpenter and builder. During the time of the Civil War he was detailed to oversee the carpenter work in the Jordan iron mills, foreman of all the carpenters there employed, and at the close of the war was put in charge of the place by the government to keep things going, and was thus engaged at the time of his sudden death in 1865, he having worked up to the day of
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his death, when he was stricken with heart disease. His widow, who was born in 1831, daughter of John Coffman, was thus left with six small chil- dren, the subject of this sketch at the time being but nine years of age, and for some time her lot was a pretty hard one, but she kept the family together and all worked together to keep up the home, the mother and her two daugh- ters doing dressmaking and plaiting straw and making straw hats, while the four boys worked at such jobs as their hands could find to do, their winters being chiefly occupied in boiling down pint knots and cones and mak- ing pine tar for axle grease, for which they found a ready market. These six children of George W. and Mary (Coffman) Camden were as follow : Ben, who died in 1882 and whose eldest son, Wyatt Camden, now living at Dayton, was reared by his uncle, the subject of this sketch; Nannie, still living in Virginia, widow of E. W. Vest; John W., the subject of this bio- graphical review ; George, farmer of New Jasper township, this county ; Lizzie, wife of J. C. Bare, now living at Anderson, Alabama, and William, who died at the age of nineteen years.
John W. Camden had very little opportunity for schooling during the days of his boyhood, conditions during and immediately following the ivar having thoroughly disorganized the local schools in the neighborhood of his home, and the only real schooling he received was a term of "subscription" school some time after the war and he had to walk six miles daily to and from that school. As noted above, he, together with his brothers, spent his boyhood and young manhood in such labors as his hands could find to do, and he remained at home until he was twenty-six years of age, when he came to Ohio and became employed on the Squire Clemens stock farm in New Jasper township, this county, presently being made foreman of the farm of two hundred and thirty-one acres, and for fifteen years was thus engaged. In the meantime, in the fall of 1885, Mr. Camden married and in 1896 bought a farm of forty-seven acres in the vicinity of Alpha. on which place he made his home for four years, at the end of which time he bought the old Johns place of sixty-eight acres, which place had been held in the Johns name since the granting of the original patent of which it was a part, and has since made his home there. Mr. Camden's first wife died in the spring of 1890 and his mother then came to keep house for him and she spent the rest of her life with him, her death occurring in 1893, she then being sixty-two years of age. During his residence in Beavercreek township Mr. Camden has taken his part in the general affairs of the community, was for five years truant officer in the township and also served for some time as super- visor of roads in his district. In addition to his general farming he has ever given special attention to the breeding of fine horses and keeps a regis- tered Percheron stallion.
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Mr. Camden has been twice married. On September 9, 1885, he was united in marriage to Lizzie Moore, who was born in New Jasper township, daughter of William and Harriet (Wilkison) Moore, and who died without issue in May, 1890. On September 28, 1892, Mr. Camden married Louie E. Toland, who also was born in New Jasper township, daughter of J. C. and Mary Elizabeth (Clemens) Toland, the former of whom is still living, a resident of New Jasper township, and to this union four sons have been born, Floyd W., Fred Leroy, William, who died on January 3, 1918, at the age of nineteen years, and Forest. Mr. and Mrs. Camden are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically, Mr. Camden is a Democrat.
THOMAS ALEXANDER ARTHURS.
The late Thomas Alexander Arthurs, who died at his farm home in Cedarville township in 1906, was a native son of Ohio and had lived in this state all his life, a resident of Greene county since the days of his young manhood. He was born in the city of Springfield, in the neighboring county of Clark, August 2, 1850, son of Thomas Alexander and Jane (Taggart) Arthurs, whose last days were spent there.
The elder Thomas Alexander Arthurs was born in County Armagh, Ireland, as was his wife. They were married in their native land and then, in 1847, came to the United States and proceeded on out to Ohio, locating in Springfield, where they established their home and where they spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of three children, all of whom are now deceased, the subject of this memorial sketch having had a brother, Robert, and a sister, Annie, who died in April, 1917, wife of J. G. Nelson.
The younger Thomas Alexander Arthurs was reared in Springfield and received his schooling in the local schools. As a young man he came down into Greene county and here was married. He later became engaged in farming in Cedarville township, farming for nine years on one farm and for eleven years on another and then in 1904 bought the farm on which his widow is now living, known as the Dan McMillan farm of one hundred and forty-three acres, and there continued his operations until his death, which occurred on June 18, 1906. Mr. Arthurs was a Democrat and for some time served as director in his home school district. He was affiliated with the Congregational church at Springfield.
On November 6, 1876, in this county, Thomas A. Arthurs was united in marriage to Jane Mathison, who was born in Perthshire, Scotland, and who
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was but a child when she came to this country with her parents, John and Catherine ( Blair) Mathison, in 1852, the family locating at Tiffin, Ohio. Three years after taking up his residence at Tiffin John Mathison died. His widow later married James Anderson and in 1858 came to Greene county, where she spent the remainder of her life, she being eighty-six years of age at the time of her death. By her first marriage she was the mother of four children, of whom Mrs. Arthurs was the last-born, the others having been Mary (deceased), John (deceased) and Jessie, who married Charles Stewart. By her second marriage she was the mother of one child, a daughter, Rebecca, wife of Joseph Adams, of Yellow Springs.
To Thomas A. and Jane ( Mathison) Arthurs were born five children, namely : Warren, who married Genevieve Harvey and is now living at South Charleston, in the neighboring county of Clark, where he is engaged as manager of the Houston store: Stewart Thomas, who is at home running the farm; Eva Jane, also at home: Mary Belle, who died in the days of her girl- hood, and Dr. John Robert Arthurs, who was graduated from the Selma high school and from the dental department of Ohio State University and for the past four years or more has been practicing his profession as a dental surgeon at'Dayton. Doctor Arthurs married Goldie Line and has one child, a son. John Robert. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Arthurs has con- tinued to make her home on the home farm. She is a member of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville.
ROBERT HARVEY MCCLELLAN.
The late Robert Harvey McClellan, who died at his farm home in Beavercreek township in the spring of 1917 and whose widow and son are still living there, the latter 'carrying on the operations of the home place, was a native son of Greene county, and all his life was spent here, a resi- dent of the community in which he had lived ever since establishing his home there after his marriage in 1880. He was born on a farm in Sugarcreek township on September 30, 1852, son of Isaiah and Ann ( Hamilton) McClel- lan, who had come up here from Kentucky and had established their home in that township, where their last days were spent.
Isaiah Mcclellan was a member of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia and his children were reared in the faith of that com- munion. Isaiah McClellan was twice married and by his first wife, Sarah Woodburn, was the father of two children, Sarah, who died in 1918, and Margaret, who died in 1880. By his union with Ann Hamilton he was the father of four children, of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was the
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last born, the others being William H., Nannie and Ella, who are still living on the old home place in Sugarcreek township.
Reared on the home farm in Sugarcreek township, Robert H. McClellan completed his schooling in the high school and in the old seminary at Xenia' and remained at home until his marriage in 1880, when he bought the farm of eighty-five acres on which his widow is now living in Beavercreek town- ship and there established his home. During the later years of his life he had turned the management of the farm over to his son, Robert P. McClellan, and the latter and his mother have been maintaining the home since Mr. McClellan's death on March 7, 1917, he then being in the sixty-fifth year of his age. Mr. McClellan was a Republican, and a member of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia.
On February 19, 1880, Robert H. McClellan was united in marriage to Laura B. McClellan, who also was born in this county, a daughter of Will- iam E. and Susan (Torrence) McClellan, of Spring Valley township. Will- iam E. McClellan was born in Pennsylvania, a son of John and Nancy McClellan and later came to Ohio and located at Wooster, whence he came to Greene county and became a farmer in Spring Valley township. Upon ' his retirement from the farm he moved to Xenia, where his last days were spent. his death occurring there in February, 1900, he then being seventy -. two years of age. He was a Republican and a member of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia. William E. McClellan was twice married. By his union with Susan Torrence he was the father of seven children, of whom Mrs. Laura B. McClellan was the third in order of birth, the others being the following: Edward T., who married Lida Hyslop and is the pro- prietor of a farm on the Cincinnati pike in this county; Mary Etta, now deceased, who was the wife of William La Fever: Amanda, also deceased, who was the wife of Nathan Ramsey, of near Cedarville; Elida, wife of J. C. Williamson, of Xenia, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Nettie, who married Thomas Bruce and is now living at Catherine, Alabama; and James C., a traveling man out of Troy, Ohio. Following the death of the mother of these children William C. McClellan married Margaret Dodd, who died in Xenia, and to that union one child was born, a son, Lee, who died at the age of sixteen years.
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To Robert H. and Laura B. (McClellan) McClellan were born three children, namely : Edna, who married Ralph Ferguson, a farmer of the Yellow Springs neighborhood, and has six children, Edith, Ruth, Lee, Carl, James Harvey, and Donald; Anna Grace, wife of David Kyle, living east of Xenia ; and Robert P .. who still makes his home with his mother and is farming
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the home place. These children all completed their schooling in the Xenia high school and they and their mother are members of the United Presby- terian church.
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CYRUS CLAY ARNOLD AND EDGAR JAMES ARNOLD.
Among the enterprising horsemen in this part of Ohio few are better known than the Arnold brothers, Cyrus Clay Arnold and Edgar James Arnold, proprietors of the old William Moore farm in Cedarville township, this county, rural mail route No. 2 out of Xenia, and for years engaged there in the breeding of pure-bred Percheron horses, as well as being engaged in the raising of cattle and hogs. The Arnold brothers are bachelors and are natives of old Virginia, born in that part of the Old Dominion now com- prised in Marshall county, West Virginia, sons of Vanlaer and Mary (Blevins) Arnold, the former of whom was born in that same state and the latter in County Armaugh, Ireland. Mary Blevins was but a child when she came with her father, James Blevins, and her three sisters to this country. . Her mother had died in Ireland and when her father arrived in this country with his motherless daughters he settled in Marshall county, Virginia, where he spent the rest of his life. The other daughters were Mrs. Jane Majors, Mrs. Elizabeth Collins and Margaret, wife of William Moore.
Vanlaer Arnold was born in the vicinity of Wheeling, in Ohio county, Virginia, son of John Arnold, a millwright, and became a boatbuilder and riverman, making many commercial trips down the river, often going as far south as New Orleans. He later bought a farm of five hundred acre's in Marshall county, Virginia, and there established his home. He was a Pres- byterian. Politically, he had been reared a Whig, but upon the organization of the Republican party became affiliated with that party and was strongly interested in the movement which led in 1863 to the severance of the civic ties which bound western Virginia to the Old Dominion and the creation of the new state of West Virginia. He gave public service as county assessor and while thus serving secured the revaluation of the lands of his home county. Vanlaer Arnold was twice married and by his marriage to Mary Blevins was the father of six children, of whom the brothers whose names appear as the caption of this biographical sketch were the two last born, the others being the following: Wylie, a veteran of the Union army during the Civil War, who died on his farm in Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1885; Augus- tus, who became a merchant in his home county and who died there on De- cember 30, 1916; Elizabeth Gertrude, who married Miles B. Pierce and lives on a farm in Marshall county, West Virginia, and Franklin, unmarried, who is now living with his brothers in Greene county. Franklin Arnold spent his early life farming in his home county and then moved to Somerset county,
CYRUS C. ARNOLD.
EDGAR J. ARNOLD.
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Maryland, where he bought a farm, which he still owns, and which he con- tinued to operate until his retirement and reunion with his brothers in this county. The mother of these children died in 1862 and Vanlaer Arnold later married Sallie Ann Barnes, who survived him, her death occurring in 1905. Vanlaer Arnold died on his old home place in Marshall county, West Virginia, in 1892, he then being past eighty years of age.
Cyrus Clay Arnold and Edgar James Arnold were reared on the home farm in Marshall county, West Virginia. They were but small children when the new state was created. There being no public schools in their home neigh- borhood at that time, they were instructed by private teachers employed by their father for five terms, and after the establishment of the free schools they became attendants in the latter. From boyhood they were well trained as practical farmers and have always remained together in their farming operations. When their father died in 1892 they inherited two hundred acres of the home place and there they continued their farming operations until 1898, when they came to Ohio and took possession of a farm of three hun- dred and thirty-seven acres they previously had bought in Harrison county. There they remained until 1908, in which year they disposed of their interests in that county and came to Greene county. In 1910 they bought the Will- iam Moore farm of two hundred and forty-seven acres in Cedarville town- ship and are still making their home there. For years the Arnold brothers have been engaged in the breeding of pure-bred Percheron stock and their horses have been exhibited at county fairs and horse shows. They also carry on general farming and are likewise engaged in the raising of cattle and hogs. The Arnold brothers are members of the First Presbyterian church at Xenia. Politically, they are Republicans.
REV. JAMES GILLESPY CARSON, D. D., LL. D.
The Rev. James Gillespy Carson, D. D., LL. D., pastor emeritus of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia and professor emeritus of the Xenia Theological Seminary, now living retired at Xenia, was born in the vicinity of Maryville, in Blount county, Tennessee, February 11, 1833. He is a son of the Rev. David and Jane Walker (Gillespy) Carson, the latter of whom was born in that same county, a daughter of James and Eleanor (Cowan) Gillespy, prominent residents of that community, James Gillespy having served his district as a member of the Tennessee General Assembly and as a member of the constitutional convention of that state.
The Rev. David Carson was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and was graduated from Jefferson College, later continuing, for three years, his theological studies under the preceptorship of Dr. Joseph Banks, of the
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Associate church at Philadelphia. His first pastorate was in a church in the vicinity of Maryville, Tennessee, where he remained for nine years, or until his election in 1833 to the professorship in the Associate Presby- terian Seminary at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, which seminary, estab- lished in 1794, was later moved to Xenia, where it is still being conducted, the oldest theological seminary in the United States. In July. 1834. the Rev. David Carson moved to Canonsburg to enter upon the discharge of his duties in the seminary and there died in the following September, his son, James G., being then under two years of age. The Rev. David Carson was the son of David and Jane (Oliver) Carson, the latter of whom was the granddaughter of the Rev. James Fisher, author of "Fisher's Cate- chism," and a great-granddaughter of Ebenezer Erskine (1680-1754). noted Scottish divine. and one of the organizers of the "Secession church," which held its name as the "Seceder" or Associate Presbyterian church until its merger in 1858 with the Associate Reformed church, thereafter being known as the United Presbyterian church.
James G. Carson was reared at Canonsburg and was graduated from Jefferson College in 1849. In the summer of 1852 he entered the Theolog- ical Seminary at Canonsburg and was graduated from the same in March, 1855. On June 19, 1855, he was licensed to preach and in November. 1856, was ordained and installed as pastor of the congregation at South Buffalo, now Claysville, in Washington county, Pennsylvania. where he remained until in May, 1867, when he accepted the pastorate of the church at Can- onsburg, Pennsylvania, continuing his ministerial service there until his removal to Xenia in 1869. In 1873. he was elected professor of homiletics and pastoral theology of the Theological Seminary, which chair he occupied for fifteen years. He also has served as a member of the board of man- agers of the seminary, was for four years secretary of the same and upon his retirement was honored by the title of professor emeritus. In 1875 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Monmouth College. During the progress of the Civil War Doctor Carson rendered service as a member of the Christian Commission and in later years ( 1904-06) he rendered further public service as a state senator, represent- ing this district in the Ohio state Senate.
JOHN D. LANTZ.
The late John D. Lantz, for years a resident of Beavercreek township, who died at his farm home in that township early in 1913 and whose daugh- ters, the Misses Ada and Julia Lantz, are still living there, was a native of the state of Maryland, but had been a resident of Ohio since he was six
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years of age. He was born at Clear Springs, in Washington county, Mary- land, December 9, 1829, a son of John and Catherine (Rhodes) Lantz, both also natives of Maryland, who came to Ohio in 1836 and here spent their last days.
John Lantz was born in Washington county, Maryland, August 27, 1806, and there grew to manhood on a farm. In 1826 he married Catherine Rhodes, who was born in 1807, daughter of John and Barbara Rhodes, who , were the parents of eight children, and after his marriage continued to make his home in Maryland, engaged in the milling and distilling business at Clear Springs, until 1836, when he came with his family to Ohio and in the fall of that year settled on the Harbine farm in Beavercreek township. A few years later Mr. Lantz moved to Springfield with his family and was there engaged in the milling business until 1850, in which year he returned to this county and bought the farm in Beavercreek township on which his granddaughters, mentioned above, are now living, established his home there and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on July 14, 1871. John Lantz left a farm of two hundred and twenty-six acres. He had served the public as township trustee and in other local capacities. His widow survived him for eleven years, her death occurring on the home place in 1882. She was a member of the Lutheran church. To John and Catherine (Rhodes). Lantz were born six children, Barbara A .; John D .; Catherine J .; Mary E., who married Ebenezer Herring; Jacob L., and Eliza E. Barbara A. married George S. Lafong and Eliza E. married John A. Harner. Joseph L. Lantz, who was born in 1840, served as a soldier during the Civil War, being mustered out as a sergeant, was for more than twenty years one of Greene county's best-known school teachers, became a land- owner in Beavercreek township and served that township as trustee for some years, besides holding other local offices at one time and another. He mar- ried Mary Mercer.
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