History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 68

Author: Broadstone, Michael A., 1852- comp
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1440

USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 68

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Thomas Harper, one of the sons of this pioneer, was born at Harper's Ferry and was named in honor of his uncle Thomas, the owner of the ferry and also then the owner of much of the land thereabout. He was a well grown lad when he came to this county with his parents and he at once began to take his part in the labors of making a farm there in the wilder- ness. On May 17. 1818, he married Mary Sirlotte and established his home on a part of the paternal acres and in time so increased his holdings that he became the owner of nine hundred and ninety-five acres of land. He died on January 8, 1875, he then being eighty-two years of age. His wife had preceded him to the grave about two years, her death having occurred on April 6, 1873. They were the parents of five children. William Harri- son, Minerva Ann, George W., Thomas Henry and Mary L., all of whom lived to maturity.

Thomas H. Harper grew up on the home farm in Ross township and in due time became a farmer on his own account and the owner of nearly seven hundred acres of land. On January 16, 1865. he married Cinderella Herriman and continued to make his home in this county until 1889, when he moved with his family to Missouri, where he remained for nine years, at the end of which time he returned to Greene county and here spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in the fall of 1911. His wife died February 4, 1900. She was a member of the Christian church. To Thomas H. and Cinderella (Herriman) Harper were born six children, namely : Idella, who married Lon Cross and is living at South Vienna, in the neighboring county of Clark : Otis, deceased : Thomas Henry, a resident of Cleveland, this state: William, who died at the age of four years: Mary, who died at the same tender age, and Frank H .. the subject of this biographical sketch.

Frank H. Harper was eight years of age when his parents moved with their family to Missouri and his boyhood was spent in that state, he having been about sixteen when the family returned to Greene county and resumed their residence on the home place in Ross township. After a year of further schooling in the local schools he entered Nelson's Business College at Spring-

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field and upon completing the course in that institution returned to the home farm and was there engaged assisting his father in the management of the place until his marriage in the fall of 1906, when he began farming on his own account and has since been thus engaged. now the owner of two hun- dred and thirty-two acres. In addition to his general farming he gives con- siderable attention to the raising of live stock. By political inclination Mr. Harper is a Democrat, as were his father and grandfather. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics at Jeffersonville.

On September 5, 1906, Frank H. Harper was united in marriage to Nora E. Linkinhoker, who was born March 29, 1887, in the neighboring county of Clark, daughter of George E. and Mary E. (Gutshall) Linkin- hoker, and to this union two children have been born, Thelma, who died at the age of two months and nineteen days, and George Henry, who was born on April 21, 1915. Mrs. Harper is a member of the Lutheran church.

MIT. ST. JOHN NORMAL SCHOOL

Mt. St. John (Catholic) Normal School in Beavercreek township, this county, rural mail route No. 16 out of Dayton, was organized at Dayton under the direction of the Society of Mary ( Brothers of Mary) in 1850, but in 1915 was moved to the advantageous site it now occupies on a natural eleva- tion a few miles east of that city, just over the line in Greene county, where a commodious establishment was erected.

The founder of the Society of Mary was William Joseph Chaminade, who was born on April 16, 1761, at Perigueux, a city in southern France. At the outbreak of the French Revolution, after years of teaching in a Cath- olic college, he repaired to Bordeaux, where, at the peril of his life, he exer- cised his priestly office during the bloodiest days of the Reign of Terror. Subsequently, being exiled to Spain. he spent three years in retreat near the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Fillar at Saragossa, where he responded to the call to go forth as an Apostle of Mary. Returning to Bordeaux in 1800 he made the chapel of the Madeline the headquarters of his sodalities and there organized the movement that became the mainspring of extensive reforms, these sodalities becoming the nursery that later on gave rise to Father Chaminade's two religious congregations, the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, founded in 1816 at Agen, and the Society of Mary (Brothers of Mary), founded at Bordeaux in 1817. In 1839 Gregory XVI praised the orders established by Father Chaminade; in 1865 Pius IX gave the movement the formal approval of the Holy See, and in 1891 Leo XIII

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approved the rules and constitutions of the Society of Mary. A distinctive feature of this latter society is that in its composition both priests and Brothers observe the same rule and pursue the same works of zeal, all the professed members, both lay and ecclesiastical, making the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and, in making the final or perpetual vows, add the vows of stability; its members devoting themselves to work of education. In some countries the Brothers also manage agricultural schools and orphan asylums. The superior general of the society has maintained his residence in Belgium since the expulsion of the religious orders from France. He has four assistants, two of whom are priests and the other two lay members. The society is divided into groups called provinces, at pres- ent the Society of Mary in Europe being divided into five provinces, three in France, one in Spain and one in Austria. There is also a vice-province in Japan, with colleges in four of the chief cities. of that country, there being more than one thousand students enrolled at the School of the Morning Star in Tokio and seven hundred in the school at Osaka. In the United States there are more than five hundred religious students of the Society of Mary engaged in educating more than twelve thousand boys and young men. The founder of the American province was Father Leo Meyer, one of the disciples of Father Chaminade, who, with four other Brothers, estab- lished a humble home outside of Dayton in March, 1850, having there pur- chased some property to which they gave the name of Nazareth, which it still bears. Notwithstanding two disastrous fires and financial difficulties, the work prospered and Nazareth grew into what is now St. Mary College. From Nazareth the missionaries or Brothers of Mary have gone forth into more than twenty dioceses, into Canada and as far as the Hawaiian Islands, where the Brothers conduct three schools, one of them being St. Louis Col- lege at Honolulu, where there are more than nine hundred boys in attend- ance. In 1908 the American province was divided into two provinces, the province of Cincinnati, the central house of which is at Mt. St. John, this county, and the province of St. Louis, with headquarters at Clayton, Missouri.

Mt. St. John Normal School has excellent buildings and adequate para- phernalia and is carrying on an admirable work in the way of preparing young men for teaching in the Catholic schools of the country and also in giving instruction preliminary to the seminary course of those seeking to enter holy orders. Young men between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one are received at the school and all branches are taught, embracing courses up from the first year of high school to the full college course. The president of the house is the Rev. Lawrence Yeske, who presides over the faculty, which now numbers eighteen. The vice-president and director of the school

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is Brother George Deck, who has been connected with the institution since 1909. The present enrollment at Mt. St. John Normal School is one hun- dred and twenty-five and progress is reported in all departments of the school's work.

ELMER E. SPENCER.

Elmer E. Spencer, proprietor of a Cedarville township farm of one hundred acres situated on rural mail route No. 3 out of Cedarville, a part of the old Spencer original tract developed there by his great-grandfather in the early days of the settlement of this county, was born on that place and has lived there all his life. He was born on July 27, 1863, son of Thomas W: and Amanda (White) Spencer, both of whom also were born in this county, members of pioneer families, and whose last days were spent here.

Thomas W. Spencer was born in Cedarville township in 1830, a son of James W. and Sarah (White ) Spencer, the former of whom was a native of Kentucky and the latter of Virginia. James W. Spencer had come up here from Kentucky with his father in the early days of the settlement of Greene county, the family settling on a thousand acres of land three miles cast of Cedarville, and there he established his home and spent the rest of his life. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, Michael, Joseph, Daniel, Thomas W. and Frank, who made their homes on portions of the paternal tract in Cedarville township: James, who moved to Iowa; David, who moved over into Montgomery county; Martin D., who moved to Illinois, and Delilah, who spent her last days on the home place.

Reared on the home farm in Cedarville township, Thomas W. Spencer helped to develop the place and after his marriage established his home on a portion of the old home place and there he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring at the age of seventy-four years in 1905. His wife had pre- ceded him to the grave many years, she having died at the age of forty years. She was the third in order of birth of the four children born t Joseph and Susan White, who had settled in the neighborhood of Clifton upon coming to this county from Virginia, the others of the White chil- dren having been Belle, who married Joshua Cain: Nancy, who married Simeon Jones, and Joseph, who died in the days of his youth. Thomas W. Spencer was a Republican and he and his wife were members of the Pres- byterian church. Of the children born to them the subject of this sketch is now the only survivor.

Elmer E. Spencer was reared on the farm on which he still lives, receiv- ing his schooling in the neighborhood schools, and in time succeeded to the ownership of the farm, on which he has made numerous improvements since

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coming into possession of the same. In 1892, some years after his marriage, his father built a new house on the place and he and his family are living there. In addition to his general farming he has given considerable atten- tion to the raising of livestock. Mr. Spencer is a Republican, but has not been a seeker after public office. He and his family are affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church at Cedarville.

On July 28, 1885, Elmer E. Spencer was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary F. (Albright) Harris, widow of John Harris, who died at his home in Cedarville township on October 3, 1883, leaving his widow and one child, a son, Charles Marion Harris, the latter of whom is now living at Dayton. Charles M. Harris has been twice married, his first wife having been Emma Belle Cline and his second, Myrtle Brown. By his first marriage he was the father of two daughters, Maude M. and Ilo Blanche. Mrs. Spencer is a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Gardner) Albright, the former of whom died in Kentucky. His widow married Daniel Switzer, also of Kentucky, and located at Cedarville, where she died in 1893. She was the mother of five children by her first marriage, those besides Mrs. Spencer being George. Samuel, Martha and Amanda.

DAVID V. MCCLELLAN

David V. McClellan, proprietor of a farm in Beavercree': township, on rural mail route No. 7 out of Xenia, is a native son of Greene county, born on a farm in Sugarcreek township on July 6, 1853, son of William S. and Mary C. (Bagford) McClellan, both of whom spent their last days in that township.

William S. McClellan also was a native son of Greene county, born at Xenia, March 10, 1825, a son of John McClellan and wife, the latter of whom was a Simpson. John McClellan was the first of this branch of the McClellan family to come to Greene county. He was a Virginian and a blacksmith by trade. Upon locating at Xenia he opened a smithy and wagon-making shop and there continued engaged in that business until his . retirement, his last days being spent in the household of his son William S. in Sugarcreek township. John McClellan and wife were the parents of five children, those besides William S. having been Robert, who died at Piqua, Martin, Samuel and Mary, the latter of whom married George Filson. William S. McClellan, who was the eldest son, was early trained to the trade of blacksmith and worked at the same more or less all his life, even after buying his farm and settling in Sugarcreek township, maintaining a shop on the farm. He was a Republican and he and his family were members of

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the United Presbyterian church. William S. McClellan married Mary C. Bagford, who was born in Maryland on March 17, 1824, and both he and his wife spent their last days on their farm in Sugarcreek township, her death occurring there in 1884, she then being sixty years of age, and his in 1893, he being sixty-eight years of age at the time of his death. They were the parents of nine children, namely : James W., a retired farmer now living at Beavertown, who married Ella Benham: Alice R., who married Bert Benham and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased; David V., the subject of this sketch; John O., who married Alice Cline and became a farmer in this county and who, as well as his wife, is now deceased; Mary C., wife of Eugene Barney, of Dayton; Harry B., who married Anna Spencer and is also living at Dayton: Edward, who became a carpenter and who died unmarried; Elizabeth, now deceased, who was the wife of Philip Boots, and Sarah, wife of Grant Koontz, of Dayton.

David V. McClellan was reared on the home farm, received his school- ing in the local schools, and remained at home until after his marriage in 1880, when he located on the farm on which he is now living. in Beavercreek township, and has ever since made that his place of residence. Mr. Mcclellan has seventy-five and one-half acres and in addition to his general farming he gives considerable attention to the raising of Poland China hogs.

In December, 1880, David V. McClellan was united in marriage to Anna Babb, who was born at Xenia, daughter of James M. and Susanna (McCreary) Babb, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter in Ireland. James M. Babb was born in 1811 and was nineteen years of age when he came to this county in 1830 and began to work at his trade, that of a carpenter, at Xenia, where he spent the rest of his life. his death occurring there in March, 1876. James M. Babb was twice married and by his first wife, Hannah Smith, was the father of four sons, James, Thomas, George and Charles, all of whom are now deceased. Following-the death of the mother of these children, he married Susanna McCreary and to that union were born three children, Mrs. McClellan having a brother, Lon H. · Babb, a carpenter, living at Xenia, and a sister, Lizzie, wife of John McLain, also of Xenia. Mrs. Susanna Babb survived her husband for nearly thirty years, her death occurring in 1905, she then being seventy-eight years of age.

To David V. and Anna ( Babb) McClellan three children have been born, namely : D. Oliver, born on December 31, 1881, now living at Dayton, where he is employed as a toolmaker, and who married Hazel Shartel and has three children, Sarah Margaret, George V. and Sue-Anna; Sue Ethel, March 23, 1883, who married Ernest Bull, a Nenia township farmer, and has two children, Delmer D. and Harold E .; and Leon C., May 8, 1885, row

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employed with the gas company at Xenia, and who married Clara St. John and has one child, a daughter. Frances Clara. Mr. MeClellan is a Repub- lican and he and his wife are affiliated with the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia.

ORAN P. MITMAN.

Oran P. Mitman, a member of the Greene county board of education and first president of that board, a landowner of this county and a former banker at Osborn, where he is now living and where he is engaged in the insurance business, was born on a farm in Bath township on February 25, 1871, son of . Lewis C. and Laura I. (Bryan) Mitman, both of , whom also were born in this county and the latter of whom is still living, a resident of Osborn for many years.

Lewis C. Mitman was born in Bath township, a son of Peter and Anna Mitman, who had come to this country from Pennsylvania and had settled in the northern part of the county, where they spent their last days. Reared on the farm, Lewis C. Mitman received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and after his marriage established his home on a farm in his home township and there engaged in farming until about 1897, when he retire l from the farm and moved to Osborn, where he died on December 2, 1907. and where his widow is still living. Lewis C. Mitman for a number of years served as trustee of Bath township and was also for some time president of the local school board. He and his wife were the parents of two children, the subject of this sketch having had a sister, Nettie, who died in 1904.

Reared on the home farm in Bath township, Oran P. Mitman received his early schooling in the local schools and supplemented the same by attend- ance at Wittenberg College at Springfield, from which institution he was graduated in 1893 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. For two years after leaving college Mr. Mitman taught school and then he became a bookkeeper in the Osborn Bank and was thus engaged for three years, at the end of which time he married and returned to the home farm and was there engaged in farming for ten years. He then returned to Osborn and resumed connec- tion with the Osborn Bank, for five years serving that institution as assistant cashier, after which he began to devote his chief attention to the fire and life insurance business, in which he already had become more or less interested, and has since been engaged in that business. Mr. Mitman is the owner of two farms in this county, aggregating two hundred and ninety acres. He is now a member of the county board of education, of which he was the first president, and is also a member of the local school board at Osborn. By

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political persuasion he is a Democrat, with "independent" leanings on local issues.

On December 22, 1897, Oran P. Mitman was united in marriage to , Edith K. Mouk, daughter of Andrew and Susan Mouk, and to this union two children have been born, Clarence L., who is now a student in the Stanton Military Academy. Virgina, and Mildred Mae. who is in school at Osborn. The Mitmans are members of the Lutheran church at Osborn, of which Mr. Mitman is an elder. He is also treasurer of the congregation and superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. Mitman is a Scottish Rite (32") Mason, affiliated with the consistory at Dayton, and a member of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias at Osborn, which latter now seems doomed to a cessation of its wonted activities by reason of the project look- ing to flood prevention, which, if carried out as contemplated, will necessitate the abandonment of Osborn.

HARRY JOHNSON.

The late Harry Johnson, who died at his farm home in Cedarville township in 1908 and whose sons, John and George Johnson, are still oper- ating that farm, 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 boyhood. He was born at South Charleston, in the neighboring county of Clark, August 24, 1840, a son of John Johnson and wife, the former of whom was a native of Highland county, this state, and both of whom died when their son, the subject of this memorial sketch, was a child. Thus early bereaved of his parents, Harry Johnson was taken into the home of George Weymouth, of Cedarville township, this county, and there grew to manhood, completing his schooling in the schools in this county. He married Trankalina Rock, who was born at Springfield, this state, August 26, 1842, and after his marriage was for some time engaged in the grocery business at Cedarville. Presently desiring to return to the life of the farm Mr. Johnson sold his store and bought the McHatton farm of one hundred acres, on which he made his home for six years, at the end of which time he sold that place and bought the old Creswell farm, the place where his sons now live, as noted above, and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on December 28. 1908. His widow survived him for nearly eight years, her death occurring on September 8, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Johnson was a Republican.

To Harry and Trankalina (Rock) Johnson were born nine children,

MRS. TRANKALINA JOHNSON.

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namely : Laura, wife of William Northrop, of Coshocton, this state; Thomas, who married Ella Luce and is living at Springfield, this state; Leah, wife of William Huntington, of Lima, Ohio; William, who died in the days of his childhood; Charles, who married Della St. John and is now farming in the vicinity of . Edler, Colorado; John and George, who remained with their parents and are still operating the old home farm in Cedarville town- ship; Lulu, wife of Walter Iliff, a building contractor at Cedarville, and Mary, wife of Robert Townsley, of Cedarville township.

The Johnson brothers, John and George, in addition to their general farming, give considerable attention to the raising of live stock and have Red Polled cattle, Jersey hogs and Belgian horses. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and in their political affiliations are Repub- licans. John Johnson is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias.

JOHN SMITH

For many years John Smith, who died at his home in Ceasarscreek township, this county, January 31, 1883, eighty-four years of age at the time of his death, had been a resident of this county since he was eighteen years of age and in consequence was thoroughly familiar with the main facts of the development of this region during the long period covered by that tenure of residence. John Smith was a Virginian, born in Rappahannock county, in the Old Dominion, February 14, 1798, and was eighteen years of age when he came over into Ohio, riding through on horseback, and located in Greene county. For decades after taking up his residence here he made it a point every ten years to ride back to his old home in Virginia, going over the ground on horseback he had covered upon coming out here in 1816. In due time after his arrival here Mr. Smith got a tract of land in Caesarscreek township, married Margaret Burrell. a member of one of the pioneer families of this section, she having been born in Caesarscreek township on August 16, 1806, and established his home in that township, continuing to spend the rest of his life there. Originally a Whig, he became a Republican upon the organization of the latter party. He was one of the early assessors of Caesarscreek township and, as is related elsewhere in this volume in a further reference to this pioneer, had quite a time convincing some of his neighbors that it was their duty to return their property for taxation. He was a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church.

John Smith was twice married. His first wife, Margaret Burrell, of whom further mention is made elsewhere in this volume. together wth some- thing relating to the history of the Burrells in this county, died on January

(39)

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23, 1849, being then in the forty-third year of her age, and he later mar- ried Nancy Wright, this latter union being without issue. By his first marriage John Smith was the father of twelve children, namely: Burrell, William, Eleanor, Henry, Susan Ann, Eli, Elizabeth, Nancy, Alfred, Mary Jane, Margaret, born on February 21, 1844, who is now living on her farm in Jefferson township, this county, widow of James W. Clark, and Emily.

Margaret Smith was married on May 8, 1878, to James W. Clark, who was born in Rappahannock county, Virginia, and who had rendered service as a soldier of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Not long after the close of the war James W. Clark came to Ohio and located in this county. where in the spring of 1878 he married Margaret Smith. For eight years after his marriage he made his home on a farm in Jefferson township and then bought the farm of thirty acres on which his widow is now living in that same township, rural mail route No. 3 out of Jamestown, and there he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on July 26, 1904. To Mr. and Mrs. Clark was born one child, a son, John Edgar, who died in the days of his childhood. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Clark has con- tinued to make her home on the home farm, the place being looked after by Orville Fawley, who with his family has made his home there since March 20, 1905. Orville Fawley was married on December 22, 1909, to Myrtle Sturgeon and has three children, Helen M., George A. and Alethia I. Mrs. Fawley was born at Jamestown, this county, daughter and only child of Albert and Flora (Tidd) Sturgeon, the latter of whom, a daughter of Josiah B. Tidd. died in 1902 and the former of whom is now living in the village of Selma, in the neighboring county of Clark. Mr. Fawley was born at Faint- ersville, a son of George and Laura Fawley.

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History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 68

Author: Broadstone, Michael A., 1852- comp Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1440

Author: Broadstone, Michael A., 1852- comp
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1440