USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 67
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G. Weiss, who was born at Goes, in this county, December 9, 1888, daugh- ter of Paul and Josephine (Schury) Weiss, the latter of whom is still liv- ing, now a resident of Springfield, and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, in a biographical sketch relating to Paul W. Weiss, a merchant at Yellow Springs and a brother of Mrs. Drake. To Carl V. and Bertha G. (Weiss) Drake three children have been born, namely: Mar- tha Elizabeth, born on December 22, 1912; Irma Josephine, born on Decem- ber 7, 1913, who died on January 29, 1914, and William Eugene, born on July 6, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Drake are members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Drake is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
WILLIAM H. COY.
The Coys were among the real pioneers in this part of Ohio, for it was in the year 1800, three years before Ohio was admitted to statehood and Greene county became a civic entity, that Jacob Coy effected a settlement here. On the Jacob Coy farm in Beavercreek township was erected the first school house built in that township and in that little log school house were held the first formal religious services held in that township, it being there that the congregation now strongly represented in the Mt. Zion neighbor- hood effected the organization of the Reformed (then known as the German Reformed) church in Greene county.
Jacob Coy was of German birth and was about eighteen years of age when he started with his parents and the six other children of the family for the United States. The parents died during the progress of the passage over and were buried in mid-ocean, their effects being confiscated by the ship's crew. the seven children thus being thrown penniless upon the shores of the New World. The children, in accordance with the hard custom of the day, were "sold" to pay transportation and Jacob Coy was thus thrown into the hands of a Pennsylvania planter, for whom he worked for six years to free himself and his younger brothers and sisters from debt. He after- ward located in Maryland, where he married, borrowing the money with which to cover necessary expenses, and established his home there, in time coming to be the owner of three hundred and fifty acres of land, on which he made his home until the year 1800, when he disposed of his interests there and with his wife Susanna and their children, emigrated to the then prom- ising Territory of Ohio, coming down the river as far as Cincinnati, the village that had sprung up around old Ft. Washington. Though impor- tuned to remain there he had decided on a settlement further up state and two months later with his family drove up here into the beautiful valley of
WILLIAM H. COY AND FAMILY.
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
the Little Miami, having meantime invested in a tract of three thousand acres of land in this section, in what later came to be organized as Beaver- creek township, Greene county, and established his permanent home here, the Coys thus becoming accounted as among the earliest settlers in this county. Here the pioneer Jacob Coy spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1836, he then being ninety-three years of age. His widow sur- vived him about four years, she being eighty-three years of age at the time of her death. . They were the parents of twelve children and the Coy con- nection in this county in succeeding generations became a numerous one.
William H. Coy, former trustee of Beavercreek township and proprie- tor of a farm on the Shakertown pike, rural mail route No. 7 out of Xenia. was born on that farm, a great-grandson of Jacob and Susanna Coy, the pioneers mentioned above, April 9, 1854, son of Jacob H. and Rebecca Ella (Buck) Coy, the former of whom was born on that same farm, a son of Henry Coy, who was one of the twelve children born to the pioneers. Jacob and Susanna Coy. Henry Coy, who was one of the charter members of the Reformed church in Beavercreek township, became the owner of about five hundred acres of land. He and his wife were the parents of six children, four sons and two daughters, namely: Leonard, who spent his last days in Elkhart county, Indiana; William, who moved to Iowa and thence to Cali- fornia, in which latter state his last days were spent; Jacob H., father of the subject of this sketch: Daniel, who was married at the age of eighteen, later going to Iowa and settling in Davis county, where he and his wife spent their last days, both dying in 1916, he then being ninety-two years of age; Susan, who married Doctor Kyler and later moved to Elkhart county, Indiana, and Mrs. Catherine Bingaman.
Jacob H. Coy was born in 1820 on the place now owned and occupied by his son William H. and there spent all his life. After the death of his father he bought his mother's dower right in the home place of one hundred and fifty-four acres and continued to make his home in the house which his grandfather had erected there in 1820, in that house spending his last days, his death occurring there on October 1, 1894. Jacob H. Coy was a Repub- lican and by religious persuasion was a member of the Reformed church, in which for years he was an office-bearer. His widow survived him for nearly twelve years, her death occurring on July 27, 1906. She was born, Rebecca Ella Buck, in the vicinity of Sheppardstown, Virginia, in 1833. Jacob H. and Rebecca E. (Buck) Coy were the parents of nine children. of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth: the others being the following : Martha, wife of George Loy, of Miamisburg, this state; John F., a farmer, living in the Mt. Zion neighborhood in this county; Charles N., who farms with his brother; Dr. Joseph M. Coy, who was grad-
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uated from the dental department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and who engaged in the practice of his profession at Dayton, where he died: Emma, unmarried, who is now a resident of Chicago; Louie M., also unmarried, who lives near her brother William; Perry, who died soon after his marriage, and Anna, who married Rosco Rockafield and is now living at Fairfield, this county.
William H. Coy was reared on the farm on which he was born and on which he is still living, and received his schooling in the neighborhood school, old district No. 4, Beavercreek township, one of his schoolmates there being M. A. Broadstone, whose name appears on the title page of this work and for whom he still entertains the same high regard that marked the boyhood friendship. For some time after his marriage in the spring of 1882 he continued to farm on the home place and he and his brother Charles then bought a farm in the vicinity of Mt. Zion, in that same township, and William H. Coy later bought one hundred and twenty-one acres of the old home place, established his home there and has since made that place his home, having added to the place until now he is the owner of one hundred and seventy-eight acres. In addition to his general farming Mr. Coy has for years given considerable attention to the raising of Poland China hogs and also has a herd of dairy cattle. In 1915 Mr. Coy erected a new house of cream-colored brick, equipped with an individual electric-lighting plant and all modern conveniences. Mr. Coy is a Republican and for six years served as trustee of Beavercreek township. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics at Bell- brook. His wife is a member of Mt. Zion Reformed church.
On March 30, 1882, William H. Coy was united in marriage to Sarah Elizabeth Merrick, who also was born in Beavercreek township, and to this union three children have been born, Lawrence, a farmer of Sugarcreek township, who married Ida N. Keiter and has one child, a son, Robert, and Guy and Glenn, who are at home assisting on their father's farm. Mrs. Coy is a daughter of David and Ann (Kable) Merrick, both of whom also were born in this county, the former in Beavercreek township and the latter in the village of Osborn, April 21, 1837, a daughter of Samuel and Cath- erine (Garver) Kable, Virginians, who came to this county from the vicin- ity of Harper's Ferry in 1831 and here spent the remainder of their lives. Samuel Kable died on November 25, 1864, he then being sixty-three years of age, and his widow survived him for nearly nine years, her death occur- ring on May 31, 1873. They were the parents of seven children, those be- sides Mrs. Merrick having been Mary E., Joseph, Sarah E., Martha J., John W. and Isaac N.
David Merrick was born on October 3, 1830, a son of Josephi D. and
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
Susan ( Boston) Merrick, the former of whom was born in Kent county, Delaware, October 9, 1779, and the latter, in Frederick county. Maryland, December 25. 1793. Joseph D. Merrick was the son of the Rev. John Mer- rick, a Methodist minister, and was trained as a weaver in the days of his youth and was working at that trade in Maryland in 1812 when he married Susan Boston. In 1814 he and his wife came to Ohio and presently became located in Beavercreek township, this county, where they spent the remainder of their lives, Joseph D. Merrick dying there on March 3, 1857. His widow died on January 10, 1873. They were the parents of five children, three sons, John, Israel and David, and two daughters, Elizabeth, who married David Stutesman, and Mary Ann, who died at the age of fourteen vears. David Merrick grew up in Beavercreek township and at the age of twenty years began teaching school, a profession he followed during the winters for a period of twelve years. In 1858 he purchased a tract of sixty acres of land east of Shakertown and after his marriage in the following spring to Ann R. Kable established his home there, remaining there until the spring of 1865, when he moved to a farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres which he had purchased, a mile and a half west of the village of Alpha. David Merrick and wife were the parents of nine children, seven of whom grew to maturity, those besides Mrs. Coy being William K., Joseph S., Emma H., Ellen C., Martha J. and Benjamin D. The Merricks were mem- bers of the Reformed church.
ARTHUR A. SHOUP.
Arthur A. Shoup, proprietor of a farm of one hundred and nine acres in Beavercreek township, rural mail route No. 8 out of Dayton, was born on that farm on August 5, 1872, son of Daniel M. and Maria (Wampler ) Shoup, the former of whom was born in that same township, a son of Mozes W. Shoup, a minister of the Dunkirk church and one of the largest landowners among the pioneers of that section, a son of George Shoup, who had come to the then Territory of Ohio from Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1796, and had entered two sections of land in what later came to be organized as Beaver- creek township, this county. The Shoups are of Swiss origin. Daniel M. Shoup was born on September 10, 1822, and in August, 1844, married Maria Wampler, who was born in Starke county, Ohio, February 24. 1827, but who at the time of her marriage was living in Montgomery county, whence her parents, Philip and Catherine (Royer) Wampler, had moved when she was little more than an infant. The Wamplers came to this state from Carroll county, Maryland. Ten years after his marriage Daniel M. Shoup
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bought the farm on which his son Arthur is now living and there spent the rest of his life. He also, following the precepts of his father, was a minister of the Dunker church. He had five sisters, Mrs. Charlotte Coy, Mrs. Cathe- rine Gearhart, Mrs. Sarah Wampler, Mrs. Harriet Brubaker and Mrs. Rebecca Ann Darst. His wife died in 1900 and he survived until 1911.
Reared on the home farm, Arthur A. Shoup completed his schooling in the Beavercreek township high school. After his marriage in 1894 he established his home on the home place, taking charge of the same for his father, and after the latter's death in 1911 bought the interests of the other heirs in one hundred and nine acres of the place, including the old home, and still lives there. He gives considerable attention to the breeding of high- grade live stock and also maintains a herd of Guernsey cattle for dairy purposes. On his farm is one of the best apple orchards in the county. Mr. Shoup is a Republican and for four years served as a member of the town- ship board of education. He is a member and one of directors of the Greene County Improvement Association.
On November 14, 1894, Arthur A. Shoup was united in marriage to Anna Ozias, who was born in Preble county, this state, daughter of R. J. W. and Jane (Markey) Ozias, and to this union six children have been born. Grace, wife of Lawrence Howard, of Bath township, this county; Daniel. who took two years at Ohio State University and in the spring of 1918 enlisted in the aviation corps of the National Army, and Elizabeth, Charles. Ruth and Rebecca.
FRANKLIN M. HAVERSTICK.
The late Franklin M. Haverstick, a veteran of the Civil War, who died at his farm home in Beavercreek township on April 8, 1908, and whose widow is now living at Zimmermans, was born on a farm south of Xenia, in Xenia township, January 14. 1843, son of John and Elizabeth ( Holly) Haverstick, who had come to this county from Maryland about the year 1830. John Haverstick and wife were members of the Reformed church and were the parents of eight children, those besides Franklin, the fourth in order of birth. being Thomas, who served as a soldier of the Union dur- ing the Civil War; John, who made his home in Sugarcreek township: William, who is overseer of Woodland cemetery at Dayton; Christ, who is still living in Xenia township; Matthew, deceased; Maria, also deceased, who was the wife of Daniel Neckman, of Dayton, and Mignon, who died unmarried. John Haverstick, who was a stone contractor. died in 1853. at the age of forty years, and his widow survived him until 1882. Her
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FRANKLIN M. HAVERSTICK.
GEORGE HAVERSTICK
HUBER HAVERSTICK
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father was a soldier of the War of 1812 and her grandfather was present by invitation at the funeral of George Washington.
Left fatherless at the age of ten years, Franklin M. Haverstick was early thrown on his own resources and did such work as his hand found to do in the community until his enlistment on August 14, 1862, at Alpha, for service in the Union army. He was sent to the front as a member of Company E, Ninety-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served until mustered out in June, 1865, the war then being over. During his service Mr. Haverstick was severely wounded at the battle of Chattanooga, and though thus off duty for a time did not go to the hos- pital. He participated in the many battles and engagements in which his command was involved and was with Sherman on the march to the sea. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Haverstick returned to Greene county and began working on the Thomas Hawker farm. On April 9, 1867, he married Catherine Coy, a daughter of Nicholas and Charlotte (Shoup) Coy and a granddaughter of Moses Shoup, the Brethren minister, and for a year thereafter he and his wife made their home in Kosciuski county, Indiana. They then returned to Greene county and bought a small farm in the vicinity of Hawkers church in Beavercreek township, where they lived for five years, at the end of which time they bought ninety-five acres of the Nicholas Coy farm, Mrs. Haverstick's old home place, and there established their permanent home, Mr. Haverstick spending the rest of his life there. Mr. Haverstick was a Republican and was a member of the Breth- ren church at Zimmermans, as is his widow, he for years having served as a deacon of the church.
To Franklin M. and Mary Catherine (Coy) Haverstick were born eight children, namely : Delilah, widow of Louis Hower, who is making her home with her mother at Zimmermans; Martha, now deceased, who was the wife of Edward Snyder; Charlotte, wife of Frank Koogler, of Beavercreek town- ship: Joseph, who is assistant superintendent of a traction line at Chicago; Harry, who is farming the home place in Beavercreek township; Huber, who is now connected with the aviation corps of the National Army, stationed (spring of 1918) in Minnesota; George, who is also with the National Army, at Camp Sherman; and Elizabeth, who is living with her mother at Zimmermans. After the death of her husband Mrs. Haverstick continued to make her home on the farm until the spring of 1918, when she bought a house in Zimmermans and has since been living there. She was born on April 9, 1849, in Beavercreek township, her father's farm being situated just west of where the railway viaduct crosses the Dayton pike. Her father, Nicholas Coy, was born in that same township, on the Shakerton pike, January 31, 1811, and her mother, Charlotte Shoup, also was born in Beaver-
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creek township, the Shoup homestead being just north of Mt. Zion church. They were members of the Brethren church at Zimmermans. Nicholas Coy died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Haverstick, in April. 1897. His wife had long preceded him to the grave, her death having occurred on January 25, 1874. She was born in 1819. They were the parents of eight children, of whom Mrs. Haverstick was the fifth in order of birth, the others being Elizabeth, who married John Engle ; Benjamin, who made his home in Beaver- creek township; Jane, who married William Nisley: Aaron, who is now living in Beavercreek township; Martin, who was drowned while fishing; Ella, who died at the age of twelve years, and Oren, who died at the age of fifteen.
JOHN A. THUMA.
John A. Thuma, member of the Adams & Thuma Lumber Company at Jamestown, is a native of Virginia, born in Augusta county, in the Old Dominion, December 16, 1851, son of Robert and Catherine (Brennaman) Thuma, both of whom were born in that same state.
Robert Thuma was born about the year 1830 and in 1850 was mar- ried. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted his services in behalf of the Confederacy and went to the front as a member of Gen. "Stonewall" Jack- son's brigade, with which command he was serving when killed at the battle of Port Republic, June 9, 1862. He was the father of four children, those besides the subject of this sketch having been Thomas N., who is now living in the vicinity of Winchester, Indiana; Hiram, who died in infancy, and Mrs. Fannie E. Shobe, who died near Winchester, Indiana. About 1866 Mrs. Catherine Thuma, mother of these children and widow of Robert Thuma, married John Crum, of Virginia, and moved to Indiana, where she spent the rest of her life, her death occurring at Saratoga, that state, in 1902. To that second union was born one child, a daughter, Florence, who married C. M. Shierling.
Reared in Virginia, John A. Thuman received his schooling in the com- mon schools of his home neighborhood and was early trained to the car- penter trade and the saw-mill business. After his marriage in 1875 he made his home in Virginia and there continued engaged in the carpenter and mill- ing houses until the spring of 1882, when he came to Ohio and located at Jamestown, arriving there on May 6, of that year. Mr. Thuma presently bought a half interest in the business of the J. L. Ginn Lumber Company and has ever since been engaged in the lumber business there, the firm also operating a planing-mill. After J. L. Ginn was succeeded by E. E. Ginn Mr. Thuma continued his association with the latter until Ginn sold his
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interest in the concern to J. Q. Adams, who is still connected with the com- pany.
On April 15, 1875, in Virginia, John A. Thuma was united in marriage to Virginia H. Clark, who also was born in that state, a daughter of Will- iam D. and Rachel (Miller) Clark, who were the parents of eight children, namely: Mrs. Mary J. Stanbus, of Reesville, this state; Mrs. Sallie A. Landis, of Augusta county, Virginia: John, deceased: Virginia H., wife of Mr. Thuma : Alexander, deceased; Mrs. Ida C. Early, of Stanton, Virginia ; Mrs. Rebecca McConnoughey, of Reesville, and Willliam D., of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Thuma have three children, namely: Charles Ernest Thuma, born in Virginia on February 4, 1876, now associated with his father in business at Jamestown, who married Bertha Gregg and has two children, Willard and Lela; Clara Edna, born on October 29, 1879, who married George H. Eckerle, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume, and has two children, Catherine and Clark; and Mable Grace, March 18, 1885, who married O. F. Reeves, a clothing merchant at James- town, and has three children, Frances, Virginia and. Robert. Mr. and Mrs. Thuma are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Jamestown.
CHARLES K. WOLF
Charles K. Wolf, the proprietor of a farm of one hundred and twenty- one acres in Beavercreek township, rural mail route No. 7 out of Xenia, was born on a farm in Xenia township, this county, February 3, 1865, son of Frank and Margaret (Sorg) Wolf. natives of Germany, whose last days were spent in this county. Frank Wolf, Sr., was born in 1823 and was married in his native land. In 1849 he and his wife and their first-born child, a dangh- ter. Catherine, came to this country and located at Cincinnati. Ten years later he came up here with his family and settled in Xenia township, becom- ing a farmer. He died in October, 1905, and his widow survived him until 1914. They were the parents of eight children, of whom Charles K. was the seventh in order of birth, the others being Mrs. Catherine Fisher. deceased ; Mrs. Margaret Spahr, of this county ; Mrs. Mary Buck, also of this county ; Frank. Jr., who is living at Xenia: Mrs. Elizabeth McElvaine, of Kansas Cty; Clara, who is living on the home farm near Xenia, and Mrs. Emma Gerlaugh, who died in 1917.
Reared on the home farm, Charles K. Wolf completed his schooling in the old Xenia College, which he attended for three years, a member of the last class in that institution. Upon leaving school he resumed his labors on the home farm and after his marriage early in 1903 continued the season
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there, or until in October of that year, when he bought the farm on which he is now living in Beavercreek township and there established his home. Mr. Wolf is a Democrat and has served as township assessor and as a meni- ber of the township school board, having given seven years to the latter office. About twenty-five years ago he served as district land assessor. He is a member of the Grange and is recognized as the man who pointed out the way to the elimination of the foot-and-mouth disease in live stock by compelling the railroads to keep stock cars clean. Mr. Wolf also is regarded as one of the original promoters of the present widely adopted system of inter-county highways, his original suggestions along that line having started the move- ment. He was formerly a member of the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
On February 3, 1903, Charles K. Wolf was united in marriage to Julia Stryker, who was born near Ft .. Ancient, Warren county, Ohio, daughter of Peter and Nancy Ann ( Patterson) Stryker, the latter of whom is still living and who were the parents of seven children, Charles, Frank, Jacob, Alice, Julia, Minnie and John (deceased). Mr. and Mrs. Wolf have three children, Ethel, born April 20, 1904: Alice, September 8. 1905, and Margaret, July 5, 1907.
FRANK H. HARPER.
Frank H. Harper proprietor of a farm of more than two hundred acres in Ross township, was born in that township and has lived there all his life with the exception of a period of about nine years during the days of his youth when his family was living in Missouri. He was born on February 27, 1881, son of Thomas Henry and Cinderella ( Herriman ) Harper, both now deceased, the latter of whom was born and reared in the vicinity of Lisbon, in Columbiana county, this state.
The late Thomas Henry Harper, who died at his home in Ross town- ship on November 12, 1910, was born in that same township on March 17. 1834, a son of Thomas and Mary ( Sirlotte) Harper, natives of Maryland, the latter of whom was a daughter of George and Elizabeth Sirlotte, also Marylanders, of French descent. Thomas Harper was one of the four sons in the family of seven children who accompanied their father and mother, John Harper and wife, over into Ohio from Maryland in 1804 and settled in Greene county, which had just been organized as a civic unit the year before. John Harper was a soldier of the Revolution and was a brother of Thomas Harper, who operated the ferry across the Potomac river at the point which thus came to be known as Harper's Ferry and is still so known.
FRANK H, HARPER AND FAMILY.
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a name familiar to every student of American history, and inseparably asso- ciated with the enthusiastic attempt made by John Brown, the Kansan, 111 1859, to start a movement for the liberation of the slaves. Upon coming to this county in 1804 John Harper bought a tract of more than one thousand acres of land in what later came to be organized as Ross township, there erected the first log cabin in that part of the county and with the aid of his sons soon had a clearing in the woods. John Harper, the pioneer, lied there in 1820 and his land was divided among his children, whose descendants in the present generation form one of the most numerous family connections in this part of Ohio.
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