USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 69
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CHARLES M. JOHNSON.
The late Charles M. Johnson, who died at his stock farm in the vicinity of Jamestown in the spring of 1914 and whose widow is still living there, occupying the place that has been in the possession of the Johnson family for four generations, was born in this county and all his life was spent here. He was born at Bell Center on March 23, 1861, son and only child of Alfred and Mary (McClain) Johnson, both of whom also were born in this county.
Alfred Johnson was born on January 13, 1838, a son of James C. and Jane ( Greenwood) Johnson, who came to his county from Virginia and settled at Bell Center. James C. Johnson was elected to various offices of trust and responsibility. He and his wife were members of the United Presbyterian church. Upon their retirement from the farm they moved
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to Jamestown, where their last days were spent, James C. Johnson dying there in 1876, at the age of seventy-five years, and his widow surviving him until 1900, she being ninety years of age at the time of her death. They were the parents of three children, Alfred having had a brother, Harvey, who moved to Iowa, and a sister, Delia, who married Charles Mahan and went to Van Wert, this state.
Reared on the home place, Alfred Johnson received his schooling in the local schools and early took up the duties of the farm, which in time canie under his control and he was for years engaged there in farming and stock raising. He also for several terms served as a member of the board of county commissioners. On April 15, 1860, he married Mary McClain, who was born on February 3, 1842, and who died in 1884. He survived his wife many years, his death occurring on August 20, 1914. He and his wife were members of the Friends church.
Charles M. Johnson received his schooling in the Jamestown schools and after his marriage he established his home on the home farm, and after his father's retirement took over the management of the place, which he con- tinued to operate until his death on March 23, 1914. Mr. Johnson was a Republican and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at James- town, as is his widow.
On May 28, 1885, Charles M. Johnson was united in marriage to Lalu D. Vernon, who was born in Wood county, this state, daughter of Hannum and Semilda (Crain) Vernon, the former of whom was born in that same county, February 15, 1839, and the latter, in Illinois, December 26, 1841. Hannum Vernon was a plasterer and in 1865 located at Dayton, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, her death occurring there on January 5, 1892, and his, June 1, 1910. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and had two children, Mrs. Johnson having a brother, Charles Elmer Vernon, born ou May 16, 1876, who still resides at Dayton, where he is engaged as a city salesman for the Dayton Iron and Steel Com- pany. Charles E. Vernon married Ethel Slorp, who died on April 3, 1918. To Charles E. and Lulu D. (Vernon) Johnson were born two sons, James A., born on January 23, 1897. and Morgan D., July 30. 1904, the latter of whom is attending school at Jamestown. James A. Johnson received his schooling in the Jamestown schools and later attended a school for electrical engineering at Milwaukee. He married Louise Adsit, of this county, born on April 23, 1897, and is now the head of the Jamestown Floral Company at Jamestown, operated by his father-in-law, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume. Besides owning the home farm of eighty-five acres in the Jamestown vicinity, Mrs. Johnson owns a farm of three hundred and fifteen acres in Ress towrshin.
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EDWARD O. GERLAUGH.
The late Edward O. Gerlaugh, who for years was looked upon as one of the leading agriculturists of Beavercreek township and whose widow is still living on the home farm in that township, the operations of the same being carried on by her youngest son, Earl C. Gerlangh, was a native "Buck- eye," born on a farm in the neighboring county of Montgomery on Febru- ary 27, 1846, a son of Jacob and Anna (Miller) Gerlaugh, the latter of whom was born in Virginia, but who had come to Ohio in the days of her girlhood and was making her home with an uncle in Montgomery county at the time of her marriage.
Jacob Gerlaugh was born on a pioneer farm in Beavercreek township, this county, in 1810, a son of Adam and Catherine (Haines) Gerlaugh, both of whom were born in Washington county, Maryland, in the year 1786, there having been but a few days difference in their birthdays. Adam Ger- laugh was a son of Adam Gerlaugh and was twenty-one years of age when he came with his parents and the other members of the family to Ohio in 1807, the family settling in Beavercreek township, this county, as is set out elsewhere in this volume in a further reference to this pioneer family. In the winter following his arrival here the younger Adam Gerlaugh married Cath- erine Haines, who had been his sweetheart back in Maryland and who had come to this county with her brother, coming through on horseback, about the time the Gerlaughs had come. After their marriage Adam Gerlaugh and his wife located on a tract of land that had been purchased by the latter's father during a trip he some time previously had made to this county, and there in Beavercreek township they established their home and proceeded to develop a property that is held in the Gerlaugh name to this day. Adam Gerlaugh was affiliated with the Beaver Reformed church and his wife held to the Lutheran connection. She died on April 19, 1852, and several years later Adam Gerlaugh went to Wisconsin on a visit to one of his sons and on his return stopped in Warren county, Illinois, to visit another son and there was taken ill and died. That was in 1856, he then being seventy years of age. Adam Gerlaugh and his wife were the parents of ten children, eight sons and two daughters, those besides Jacob having been David. Otho, Adam, Robert, Arthur, Jonathan, Henry, Frances, who married Benjamin Clark, and Mary Jane, who married Manuel Hawker.
Reared amid pioneer conditions on the farm on which he was born, Jacob Gerlangh remained there until his marriage in 1840 to Anna Miller, after which he made his home in Montgomery county until about 1852, when he returned to Greene county 'and established his home on the farm in Beaver- creek township on which the widow of his son Edward is now living. There
EDWARD O. GERLAUGH.
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he and his wife spent the rest of their lives, the latter dying in 1893 and the former, in February, 1897. They were the parents of thirteen children, those besides the subject of this memorial sketch, the fourth in order of birth, .having been William, Oliver, Lydia Ann, Taylor, Mary Jane and Martha Ellen (twins), Haines, Harriet, Alice, Jacob, Henry and Sarah Belle. The eldest son, William Gerlaugh, went to the front as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, a member of Company E, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was taken prisoner by the Rebels at Moorfield, West Virginia, and was starved to death in the Confederate prison hole at Salisbury, North Carolina, his death occurring there on February 15, 1865.
Edward O. Gerlaugh was reared on the home farm and received his schooling in the neighborhood district school. He was still in his teens when his brother William went away to war and the second son, Oliver, having died in childhood, he was thus left as his father's mainstay on the farm, the general management of which he assumed in due time and the ownership of which he later acquired, owning there two hundred and eigh- teen acres. The old farm house was destroyed by fire in 1887 and Mr. Gerlaugh then erected a new residence, where his widow still resides. In addition to his general farming Mr. Gerlaugh had long given particular at- tention to the raising of pure-bred Hereford cattle, was one of the first to introduce this strain in Greene county, did much to help the development of the live-stock industry hereabout and was for years an active member of the Hereford Breeders Association. Mr. Gerlaugh died on February 5, 1916, and since then the operations of the farm have been carried on by his young- est son, Earl C. Gerlaugh, who is making a specialty of the raising of Guernsey cattle for dairy purposes.
On January 11, 1870, Edward O. Gerlaugh was united in marriage to Martha Ellen Harshman, who was born in Beavercreek township, this county, a daughter of John C. and Anna M. (Miller) Harshman, the latter of whom was a daughter of Samuel Miller. John C. Harshman was born on a pioneer farm in Beavercreek township in 1807, a son of Philip and Frances Harshman, who had come over here from Maryland and had established their home in Beavercreek among the early settlers of that part of the county, spending there the remainder of their lives. Philip Harshman and his wife were the parents of six children. John C. Harshman grew up on that pioneer farm and in 1841 married Anna M. Miller, establishing his home in a log cabin on a tract of two hundred acres of woodland which he had bought in the neighborhood of his home, and there he continued engaged in farming the rest of his life, gradually adding to his possessions until he became the owner of four hundred acres. He died on June 27, 1880, and
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his widow survived him for twelve years, her death occurring in 1892. She also was born in Beavercreek township, in 1819, her parents. Samuel Miller and wife, having settled there upon coming to this county from Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania, about two years previous to that date. Samuel Miller died at the age of sixty-three years and his widow lived to be eighty- four years of age. They were the parents of eight children, those besides Mrs. Harshman having been Samuel. Martha, Alosa, John, Daniel, Reuben and Eliza. To John C. Harshman and wife were born nine children, those besides Mrs. Gerlaugh being Sarah E .. Ephraim F., Anna M., Reuben M., Freeman, Lincoln, Samuel H. and Mary C. Of these sons, Samuel H. Harshman went to the front as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, a member of Company C, Seventy-fourth Regiment. Ohio Volunteer In- fantry, participated in some important battles of the war and was so broken in health by the stress of his army service that he died at the age of twenty- three years.
To Edward O. and Martha Ellen (Harshman) Gerlaugh were born seven children, two of whom, William and Anna, died in childhood, the others being the following: Edward, who became a resident of Dayton and died on November 26, 1905: Oscar, who formerly was a member of the Ohio National Guard, with which he rendered service on the Mexican border in 1916, and who now (1918) is attached to the National Army, a member of Company G. One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, United States Infantry, for service in the war against Germany; Luella, who with her younger brother remains at home with her mother; Jacob, who married Elizabeth Herring, daughter of E. E. Herring, and is now living at Alpha, and Earl C., born on May 17, 1886, who, as noted above, is now operating the home farm on rural mail route No. 10 out of Xenia.
JOHN F. HOPKINS.
John F. Hopkins, a veteran of the Civil War and a one-time farmer of Greene county, now living retired at Bellbrook, where he has made his home since leaving the farm in 1884 and where he for some time after leaving the farm was engaged in business, was born in Bellbrook and has lived there and in that vicinity all his life. He was born on January 11, 1842, son of Samuel H. and Mary A. (Shorts) Hopkins, whose last days were spent in this county.
Samuel H. Hopkins was born in the neighboring county of Warren and was there married to Mary A. Shorts, who was born in Pennsylvania, but who was but a girl when her parents came to Ohio with their family and
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settled in Warren county. Samuel H. Hopkins was a manufacturer of shoes and in 1840 came up into Greene county and established a factory at Bellbrook, where he was for some time thus engaged in business. He also became a landowner in the neighborhood of that village. He died in February, 1896, being then past ninety years of age. His widow survived him for some years, she being past ninety-five years of age at the time of her death. They were the parents of fourteen children, of whom eleven grew to maturity and seven of whom are still living. Of these latter the subject of this sketch is the only one now living in Greene county, the others being the following: Mrs. Mary Catherine Willoughby, now about eighty years of age, living at Dayton; Samuel T., of Bellefontaine; F. M., of Waco, Texas; Mrs. Joseph Sebring, of Dayton; Mrs. Louisa J. Smith, of Dayton, and Miss Clara V. Hopkins, also of Dayton, the youngest of the family and now nearly sixty years of age.
John F. Hopkins was reared at Bellbrook, the place of his birth, and received his schooling in the schools of that village. When twenty years of age he enlisted as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War and went to the front as a member of Company F, Thirty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served for three years. Among the important engagements Mr. Hopkins took part in during this period of service were the battles of Lynchburg, Cedar Creek, Winchester and others. Upon the completion of his military service he returned to Bell- brook and presently became engaged in farming in that neighborhood, after his marriage in 1874 establishing his home on a portion of his father's land, becoming the owner of a farm of one hundred and six acres, and there con- tinued farming until his wife's death in 1884, when he left the farm and returned to Bellbrook, where he since has made his home. For six or eight years after returning to Bellbrook Mr. Hopkins was engaged in business at that place in association with his brother, but for years past has lived retired, for the past ten years having been physically afflicted in such a manner as to confine him to a wheel-chair, making his home with his elder son, Ralph Hopkins, a building contractor of that village.
On February 19, 1874, that John F. Hopkins was united in marriage to Addie C. Haney, who was born in Warren county, this state, and who died in 1884. To that union were born four children, namely: Ralph, mentioned above, a building contractor at Bellbrook, who married Bessie Martindale, who was born in the Paintersville neighborhood in + county and has six children, Mary, Stella, Edna, Thirel, Wayne and Scott; Henry, a farmer of this county; Marshall, who was accidentally killed, and Alex- ander, who died in infancy.
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GEORGE BRANDT.
George Brandt, proprietor of a farm in Beavercreek township, situated on rural mail route No. 7 out of Xenia, is of European birth, a native of Germany, but has been a resident of this country since he was two years of age and in consequence is American to the core, every fiber of his mental and moral being giving loyal and devoted allegiance to the great country that has been so good to him. His parents were of the class somewhat contemptuously looked on in Europe as "peasants" and he was born to that condition of life, a condition from which in his native country he hardly could have hoped to escape, so rigid there are the distinctions of "class." But his father possessed something more than the ordinary ambition of a peasant and when the babies began to enter his home he determined that they should have an opportunity to rise out of the condition to which his family had been tied for generations. He had heard of the wonderful opportunities awaiting industry and perseverance in the great New World beyond the sea and his parents gave him money to bring him over here to see for himself whether the reports he had heard could be true. He found here all that he could have hoped for and a year later sent for his wife and the two children, a little girl and a baby boy, who in good time rejoined him in this country and in 1852 the little German family found domicile in Greene county and it was not long until prosperity began to smile on their efforts. That German peasant who had the courage to break away from the traditions of generations of his downtrodden "class" in due time became the owner of a good farm in this county and he and his wife spent their last days in the midst of comforts and in a freedom of community ful for the impulse that had promised them to seek a new home and better interest that never could have been theirs in their old home land, ever grate- conditions for their children over on this side. The "baby boy" above referred to grew up naturally amid these new conditions, as much an American in spirit as any, ever profiting by the lessons of frugality that his parents had imparted to him, and with the passing of years has prospered, being now the holder of profitable land interests in Beavercreek township besides numer- ous investments elsewhere.
Mr. Brandt was born in the German province of Hesse, a grand duchy, February 16, 1850, son of John and Mary (Prysell) Brandt, natives of that same province, as had been their respective families for generations. They were adherents of the Reformed faith and John Brandt was the driver of the local minister's carriage. In 1851 he came to the United States in the hope of finding conditions here favorable to the transplanting of his family to this country and made his way to St. Louis, where he knew of some
Has Charlotte Brandt
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old-country friends. A year later he sent for his wife and the two children, the little girl Mary and the baby boy, George, and welcomed his family at St. Louis. Six months later, however, having meanwhile heard of the conditions existing among the people of the (German) Reformed congre- gation in this county, he cante with his family to Greene county and found employment on a farm in Beavercreek township. He and his wife had the right idea and from the beginning of their residence in this county began to look forward to owning a home and a farm of their own. Their efforts in this direction were presently rewarded and John Brandt bought a farm of forty-six acres in that township and there established his home. that tract being a part of the considerable farm now owned there by his son George. John Brandt and his wife put in their lot with the members of Mt. Zion Reformed church and reared their children in the faith of that communion. John Brandt died on the farm which he had developed, his death occurring there in 1896, he then being seventy-nine years of age. His wife had pre- ceded him to the grave about four years, her death having occurred in the fall of 1892, she then being eighty years of age. Of the two children born to them the subject of this sketch alone survives, his sister Mary having died on February II, 1874, at the age of twenty-six years.
As noted above, George Brandt was but two years of age when he was brought to this country and he grew up on the farm in Beavercreek town- ship, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools. In time, as his father grew older, he assumed complete management of the farm, in 1886 building a new house on the place. As his affairs prospered he gradually added to the original acreage of the farm until now he is the owner of two hundred and fifteen acres. In addition to his general farming Mr. Brandt has long given considerable attention to the raising of pure-bred Shorthorn cattle and also has considerable outside investments. By political persuasion he is a Republican, with "independent" leanings on issues of merely local importance.
In March, 1892, George Brandt was united in marriage to Charlotte Ingle, who was born in Beavercreek township, on the Dayton-Xenia pike, daughter of John and Elizabeth Ingle, both now deceased and the former of whom was a carpenter, and to that union two children were born, George and Mary, both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Brandt died on December 27, 1914, and Mr. Brandt is thus without a living relative, unless there be some of whom he has no acquaintance in Europe. Since the death of his wife he has continued to maintain his home on the farm, his big house being cared for by a housekeeper, Mrs. Martha Hoffman, and is content there to spend his last days.
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ARMSTRONG R. HOWLAND.
Armstrong R. Howland, carpenter and builder at Bellbrook, where he has made his home for the past quarter of a century, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Greene county practically all the time since he was ten or twelve years of age, the exception being a period of two or three years during the early 'Sos, when he was engaged in farming over in Drake county. He was born in Brown county, Deceni- ber 20. 1852, son of Ralston and Rebecca J. (Gilliland) Howland, both of whom were born in that same county. the former in 1815 and the latter in 1817, whose last days were spent at Bellbrook, in this county.
Ralston Howland was a farmer and a "local" preacher, an exhorter in the Methodist church, who came to Greene county in 1861, after a pre- vious residence in the counties of Brown, Adams, Highland and Clinton, and settled on a farm in the Port William neighborhood, where he remained until 1886, when he retired from the farm and moved to Bellbrook, where he died in 1895. His wife had preceded him to the grave about four years, her death having occurred in 1891. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the others being the following: Mary Ann, deceased; Elizabeth J., unmar- ried, who is still living at Bellbrook; Margaret F., deceased; Daniel G., who is living at Bellbrook; Angeline, deceased: Sarah, deceased; Martha, wife of J. W. Smith, living north of Bellbrook, and Emma, deceased.
Armstrong R. Howland was but nine months of age when his parents moved from Brown county to Adams county and was still but a child when they moved from that county to Highland county. In this latter county the family remained for eight years and then moved to Clinton county and after a residence of nine months in that county came up over the line into Greene county, where he completed his schooling and became engaged in farming in association with his father. He was married on Christmas Day, 1879, and in 1882 moved over into Darke county, where he was engaged in farming for two years and six months, at the end of which time, in 1885, he returned to Greene county and became engaged in farming in the Bellbrook neighborhood, continuing thus engaged until 1894, when he retired from the farm and began to give his attention to carpentering, and has ever since been engaged at Bellbrook as a building contractor. Mr. How- land is a Republican, for a number of years served as a member of the county central committee of that party, was a delegate to the state conven- tion that nominated Asa Bushnell for governor and has frequently served as a delegate to senatorial and congressional conventions. For two terms Mr. Howland served as mayor of Bellbrook, was for twelve years township
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trustee and justice of the peace and since 1906 has been assessor of his home township, having been re-elected to that office in the fall of 1917 for another term of two years. He also has for years held- a commission as a notary public. He is one of the charter members of the local lodge of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, has been an office bearer in that lodge ever since it was constituted and has "been through the chairs." He and his wife are members of the Methodist Protestant church.
On December 25, 1879. Armstrong R. Howland was united in mar- riage to Laura Devoe, who was born in this county, daughter of Abram and Nancy (Rogers) Devoe, both members of old families here, and to this union three children have been born. namely: Herman O., born on March 13, 1882, now living at Dayton, where he is employed as an inspec- tor for the National Cash Register Company, and who married Doris Sellers and has two children, Russell A. and Emerson; Bertha J., February 10, 1884, who married Dr. P. L. Gunckel and is also living at Dayton, and Ohmer E., April 4, 1886, who also is living at Dayton, where he is employed as secretary and treasurer of the Dayton Power and Light Company.
LEWIS W. ANKENEY.
In a work of this character, dealing with the pioneer families of Greene county, there naturally appear repeated references to individual families, for some of the old pioneer stock is represented in the present generation by a numerous connection : but of all these old families there are few that have received more frequent mention than the family of the Ankeneys, for the founder of this family in Greene county left ten children to carry on the family name and traditions, and it is thus that the name Ankeney has been associated with the development of this county since pioneer times. Else- where in this volume there is set out at considerable length the story of the coming of the Ankeneys to Greene county and of the family's settlement on a farm in the Alpha neighborhood, the farm now and for many years owned and occupied by Albert Ankeney, a grandson of David and Elizabeth (Miller) Ankeney, the pioneers, who had come here from Washington county, Maryland, in 1830, with their nine children; and of how David Ankeney died suddenly in the fall of that same year, another child being born to his widow not long after his death, and of how that pioneer farm was developed by the family and has ever since continued in the Ankeney name. David Ankeney's ten children were Samuel, Mary, Henry, Margaret, Sarah, John, Nelson, Martha, Jacob and David, the last-named being the posthumous son.
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