USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 70
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Of the daughters, Mary married John Steele, Margaret married the Rev. George Long and Martha married one of the Shanks.
Nelson Ankeney, seventh in order of birth of the ten children born to David and Elizabeth (Miller) Ankeney and the father of the subject of this biographical sketch, was born in the vicinity of Clear Spring, in Wash- ington county, Maryland, September 15, 1825, and was thus but four years of age when his parents came to Ohio and settled in this county and was but little more than five when his father died. He grew up on the farm now occupied by Albert Ankeney and for some years during the days of his young manhood occupied his winters in teaching school. When twenty-five years of age he married and bought a farm a half mile north of Trebeins, but later sold the same and returned to the old home farm, where he remained for one year, at the end of which time he moved to another farm in that neighborhood and there remained until in 1876, when he bought the farm in Beavercreek township on which he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on October 7, 1902. L'pon taking possession of that place he erected a large new barn, and in 1879 he erected the dwelling house in which his widow is still living. Nelson Ankeney was a Republican and he and his family were members of the Beaver Reformed church.
On May 22, 1851, Nelson Ankeney was united in marriage to Elizabeth Sidney Coffelt, who was born on a farm two miles north of Bellbrook in this county, December 8, 1832, daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Crumley ) Coffelt who had come to this county from Virginia. Jacob Coffelt died in 1835 and his widow married Aaron Paxton and thereafter made her home in Beavercreek township, where she died in 1883 at the age of eighty-seven years. By her union with Jacob Coffelt she was the mother of seven children, of whom Mrs. Ankeney, the sixth in order of birth, is the only one now living, the others having been Aaron C., a veteran of the Civil War, who lost an arm while fighting for the Union and whose last days were spent in the South ; Joseph, who made his home in Michigan ; William H., who established his home in Spring Valley, this county ; Clarissa, who married John Le Valley : Rebecca Ann, who married George Climber, and Harriet Jane, who died Inmarried. To Nelson and Elizabeth Sidney (Coffelt) Ankeney were born four children, namely : Emma L., who married Abram W. Warner, a farmer of Starke county, this state, who later became engaged in the building and loan business and who died on December 20, 1901, since which time his widow has been making her home with her mother in this county; Charles E., who married Emma E. Kershner and is living on the farm adjoining that of his brother Lewis in Beavercreek township; Lewis W., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, and Clara J., unmarried, who since the
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death of her brother Lewis's wife has been keeping house for him and his family.
Lewis W. Ankeney was born on the old Ankeney homestead place in Beavercrook township on January 13. 1856, and has been a resident of this county all his life. He completed his schooling in the old Xenia College, which then was under the direction of Professor Smith, and after leaving school resumed his place on the farm, assisting his father there until after his marriage in the spring of 1882, after which he bought the old John Steele farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Beavercreek township and for seven years made his home there, later renting one of the Cline farms and operating the same in connection with his own farm, and for twenty-five years made his home on one or another of the Cline farms, gradually adding to his land holdings until now he is the owner of two hundred and seventy acres. In 1914 Mr. Ankeney bought sixty-four acres of the T. H. Bell farm adjoining his mother's place in Beavercreek township and has since made his home there. Of late years Mr. Ankeney has been living practically retired from the active labors of the farm, turning the management of the same over to his son. J. Blaine Ankeney, who is carrying on the operations of the farm. Mr. Ankeney is a Republican and has served as a member of the township school board. He and his family are members of the Beaver Reformed church and for the past thirty years and more he has been one of the deacons of the congregation. For years during his more active farm- ing operations Mr. Ankeney made a specialty of raising thoroughbred Short- horn cattle.
On March 18, 1882, Lewis W. Ankeney was united in marriage to Jessie K. Cline, who also was born in Beavercreek township, a member of one of the old families there, and who died on January 5, 1901. She was a daughter of William C. and Nancy (Harner) Cline, both of whom also were born in this county and the latter of whom is still living, now making her home at Alpha. William C. Cline was born in Beavercreek township on Decem- ber 20, 1829. a son of Adam and Barbara (Herring) Cline, who had come here from Pennsylvania and were associated with the Reformed congregation in Beavercreek township. Adam Cline died in 1854 and his widow died in 1865. William C. Cline grew up on a farm and followed that vocation all his life. On August 3, 1858, he married Nancy Ann Harner, who also was born in Beavercreek township. October 12, 1834, a daughter of John and Magdaline (Haines) Harner, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume, and to that union were born six children, namely: Lina, who married Horace Ankeney: Jesse, who married Lewis Ankeney: Margaret, who married Thomas Lehman : William, who married Flora Routzong, and Maud and John. William C. Cline died at the age of seventy-five years and, as noted above,
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his widow still survives him. To Lewis W. and Jessie K. (Cline) Ankeney were born six children, namely: Fred, who became an electrical engineer and who died in Chicago; William Nelson, who married Lillian Skinner and is now living at Washington, D. C., where he is connected with the work of the department of agriculture of the United States Government, having been called to that service from Ohio State University, in which institution he had been serving as instructor in botany following his graduation from Heidelberg College at Tiffin: Catherine, who married James P. McCalmont, a farmer of Beavercreek township, living a half mile south of. Shoup's Station, and has two children, Robert and Catherine L .: J. Blaine, who took a course in the agricultural college at Winona Lake and is now managing his father's farms; Lois, now attending college at Delaware, this state, and Jessie, who died in infancy. The Ankeneys reside on rural mail route No. 10 out of Xenia.
JOSEPH F. SHOEMAKER.
Joseph F. Shoemaker, merchant at Goes Station and for years post- master of that village, formerly and for some years assistant superintendent of the plant of the Miami Powder Company at that place and from the days of his boyhood identified with the affairs of that community, was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of Goes and has lived in and about that village all his life. He was born on June 17, 1858, son of Frederick and Elizabeth (Hutchinson) Shoemaker, both of whom also were born in that township, the former in 1835 and the latter in 1833, and who spent all their lives in this county.
Frederick Shoemaker was a son of Isaac and Lucinda ( Hite) Shoemaker, who came here from Virginia about 1810 and settled on a farm on the Column- bus pike in Xenia township. two miles east of Xenia. where Isaac Shoemaker spent his last days, his death occurring in 1853. His widow survived him for many years, living to the great age of ninety-seven years. Her brothers, the Hite brothers, were soldiers in the War of 1812. Isaac Shoemaker and his wife were the parents of five sons and two daughters, and all of these sons served as sokliers of the Union during the Civil War. Frederick Shoemaker's service in that behalf having been begun as a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Upon the completion of that term of enlistment he re-enlisted and returned to the front as a mem- ber of the Engineers Corps. He was trained as a carpenter and followed that vocation most of his life. Upon his retirement he moved to Goes Sta- tion and there died in 1886. His widow survived him for many years, he-
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death occurring in 1914, she then being eighty-one years of age. She also was born in Xenia township, Elizabeth Hutchinson, daughter of Joseph B. and Ann (Tenbrook) Hutchinson, Pennsylvanians, who had settled in the vicinity of Goes, in Xenia township, upon coming to this county, Joseph B. Hutchinson becoming there the owner of about four hundred acres of land. Joseph B. Hutchinson served as a member of the state militia in the old days. He and his wife were Presbyterians and their children were reared in that faith. There were thirteen of these children, one of whom, Matthew Hutchin- son, is still living, a resident of Xenia, now past seventy-five years of age. Frederick Shoemaker and wife were the parents of three sons, of who.n the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being Charles Shoemaker. general manager of the Steele Tank Car Company of Allegheny, Pennsyl- vania, who has his office and maintains his home at Chicago, and George Shoemaker, born in 1861, who became connected with the operations of the Standard Oil Company and died in 1911.
Joseph F. Shoemaker received his early schooling in the schools of Goes Station and supplemented the same by a course in the old Xenia College on Church street in the city of Xenia. For some little time he was engaged at farm labor and then took employment at the plant of the old Miami Powder Company (now the Aetna Explosive Company) at Goes and in 1883 was made assistant superintendent of the powder-mill, a position he occupied for three years, or until 1886, when he built a store building at Goes, opened there a general store and has ever since been thus engaged in business at that place. Mr. Shoemaker was appointed postmaster at Goes many years ago and continues to hold that position. He is a Republican and for twenty years. also served as a member of the township school board. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Masons and of the Odd Fellows at Yellow Springs.
On January 26, 1882, Joseph F. Shoemaker was united in marriage to Mary Etta Confer, who was born in Miami township, this county, daughter of George and Ann (Johnson) Confer, the latter of whom also was born in this county, a daughter of James and Catherine ( Ehrler ) Johnson, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter in France, she having been but a child when she came across the water with her parents, the family con- ing on out to Ohio and locating in Clark county, not far above the Greene county line. George Confer, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, was born in the vicinity of Hagerstown, in the state of Mary- land, February 8, 1827, and was but seven years of age when he came to Ohio with his parents, George and Elizabeth (Bowman) Confer. also natives of Maryland, in 1834, the family locating on a farm in Miami townshin.
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this county. Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker have one child, a daughter, Cora May, who married George Hall, now engaged as a traveling salesman, making his home at Goes, and has three children, Dorothy M., Mary Elizabeth and George G. The Shoemakers are members of the First Reformed church at Xenia and Mr. Shoemaker is a member of the deaconate of the same.
WILLIAM A. TOBIAS.
The late William A. Tobias, who died at his farm home in Beavercreek township in the spring of 1917 and whose widow is still living there, was a member of one of Greene county's pioneer families and all his life was spent here. He was born on a farm in Sugarcreek township on January 19, 1853, son of William and Jane (Miller) Tobias, the former of whom was born in the Zimmerman settlement in this county, in 1821, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Hanney) Tobias, who had come here from Schuyl- kill county. Pennsylvania. Jane Miller was born in Bath township. this county, in 1824, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Wheeler) Miller, the former of whom was a soldier of the War of 1812, and who had come here after their marriage in Maryland. William and Jane ( Miller) Tobias were the parents of eight children, of whom William A. was the third in order of birth, and further mention of whom is made in a somewhat more compre- hensive narrative relating to the Tobias family in this county presented else- where in this volume. William Tobias died on January 15, 1910, and his widow survived him less than a year, her death occurring on December 15 of that same year. They were formerly members of the Lutheran church, but later became members of the Beaver Reformed church.
Reared on the home farm. William A. Tobias received his schooling in the local schools and remained at home until his marriage in the fall of 1881, after which he rented a farm and began farming on his own account. In 1893 he bought the farm on which his widow is now living, on rural mail route No. 10 out of Xenia, and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on April 13. 1917. Mr. Tobias was a Republican and was a member of the Reformed church.
Oir November 24, 1881, William A. Tobias was united in marriage to Jennie Alice Gerlaugh, who was born in Beavercreek township, this county, daughter of David and Rebecca ( Weaver) Gerlaugh, the former of whom was born in that same township, son of Adam and Catherine ( Haines) Ger- laugh, both of whom were born in Washington county, Maryland. Adam Gerlaugh was a son of Adam Gerlaugh and was twenty-one years of age when he came with his father and the other members of the family to Ohio in 1807 and settled on a tract of land in Beavercreek township, this county,
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WILLIAM A. TOBIAS AND FAMILY.
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which the senior Adam Gerlaugh had bought some time previously when he made a prospecting trip out this way with a neighbor, Mr. Haines, who also had bought a tract of land here, the two then returning to Maryland. Mr. Haines never returned to Ohio, but the land he had bought here was later occupied by members of his family who came out here at the time the Gerlaughs came, among these being the daughter, Catherine Haines, and her brother, and in the winter following their arrival here the younger Adam Gerlaugh and Catherine Haines were married and settled on the Haines tract. There they reared their family and there Mrs. Gerlaugh died in the spring of 1852. Adam Gerlaugh survived his wife for four years, his death occurring at the home of a son down in Warren county in 1856. They were pioneer members of the Reformed church in Beavercreek township and their children were reared in that faith. There were ten of these children, eight sons, David, Jacob, Otho, Adam, Robert, Arthur, Jonathan and Henry, and two daughters, Frances, who married Benjamin Clark, of Montgomery county, and Mary Jane, who married one of the Hawkers and became a resident of Dayton.
David Gerlaugh grew up on the home farm in Beavercreek township and after his marriage to Rebecca Weaver began farming for himself, he and his wife making their home in a log cabin on the farm on which their daughter, Mrs. Tobias, is now living. That was a farm of one hundred and sixty-two acres, on which at that time there was but a small clearing, but Mr. Gerlaugh presently got the place under cultivation and in good time built a substantial brick house, the house in which Mrs. Tobias is living. burning the bricks for the same on his place, and there he and his wife spent their last days, his death occurring on November 4, 1885, and hers, April 27, 1889. They were members of the local congregation of the Reformed church. Of the four children born to them Mrs. Tobias was the last-born. the others being Mary, who married William Needles and is now deceased : Harriet, who married Samuel Rahn and is also deceased, and Alexander, a farmer, who spent his last days at Springfield, in the neighboring county of Clark.
To William A. and Jennie Alice (Gerlaugh) Tobias were born three chil- dren, D. Emerson, Edna, who died at the age of nine years, and Irene, who died in infancy. The Rev. D. Emerson Tobias, now a minister of the Re- formed church, stationed at Baltimore, this state, was educated at Heidel- berg College at Tiffin, Ohio, and at the Central Theological Seminary at Dayton and in 1909 was ordained to the ministry, later occupying charges at Hillsboro and at West Salem, from which latter place he was transferred to Baltimore, in Fairfield county, where. he is now stationed. He married Florence Engle and has one child, a son, William A.
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CHARLES WESLEY ST. JOHN.
The late Charles Wesley St. John, who died at his home in Xenia in March, 1911, was born on a farm two miles southwest of Paintersville, Greene county, on November 7, 1839, a son of Daniel and Eliza (Boone) St. John, the former of whom was born in New York state and the latter in Warren county, Ohio, whose last days were spent on a farm on the Wilming- ton pike, a mile and a half south of Xenia. Daniel St. John became one of the early residents of the Paintersville neighborhood and a landowner there, but later moved to another farm, on the Wilmington pike, noted above, a mile and a half south of Xenia, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their children were reared in that faith. There were eleven of these children, all of whom grew up and reared families and three of whom are still liva ... John W. St. John, a retired farmer, living in the neighborhood of Painters- ville; Isaac Wilson St. John, who is living at Dunkirk, Indiana, and Eliza Jane, widow of F. A. Peterson, who is now making her home at Coffeyville, Kansas.
Reared on the home farm near Paintersville, Charles Wesley St. John received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood and lived at home until his marriage at the age of twenty-two years, when he began farming on his own account on a hundred-acre farm in Caesarscreek township, near Paintersville, where he remained until 1908, when he retired from the farm and moved to Xenia, where his last days were spent, his death occurring there in the seventy-second year of his age. Mr. St. John was a Republican. but had never aspired to 'hold public office. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is his widow.
It was on November 7. 1861, that Charles W. St. John was united in marriage to Martha Peterson, of Caesarscreek township, who survives him and who is still living at Xenia. Mrs. St. John is a member of one of the old families of Greene county, a daughter of Jesse and Eleanor Ann ( Weaver) Peterson, both of whom were born in Caesarscreek township, men- bers of pioneer families there. Jesse Peterson was a farmer and also had taught school for some years during the days of his young manhood. He was a Republican and he and his wife were members of the Reformed church. He died on his farm and his widow spent her last days in the home of her daughter. Mrs. St. John. Jesse Peterson and wife were the parents of seven children, of whom Mrs. St. John was the first-born, the others being A. F., deceased : J. L., now living at Springfield, in the neighboring county of Clark : Jacob, who died at the age of twenty years; Mary Elizabeth, deceased, who
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was the wife of Felix Eyman, of Xenia; Estella, wife of Albert Trusler, a carpenter, of Xenia, and Isaac, a farmer, living in Clinton county, this state.
To Charles W. and Martha (Peterson) St. John were born five chil- dren, namely: Belle, widow of Daniel Anderson, who is now making her home with her mother at Xenia; Otis, who married Floy Sutton and is liv- ing on a farm two and one-half miles east of Xenia; Pliny, who married Bessie Huston and is a farmer in Spring Valley township; Elmer, who mar- ried Lespie Fox and is living at Dayton, where he is engaged as a machinist, and Jennie, who is at home with her mother.
ANDREW JACKSON TOBIAS.
The late Andrew Jackson Tobias, who died at his farm home in Beaver- creek township on April 10, 1910, and whose widow is still living there, the farm being managed by her son, Samuel E. Tobias, was born in that town- ship in 1833, a son of Jacob Tobias and wife, who had come to this county from Pennsylvania and who were the parents of eight children, Andrew hav- ing had four brothers, Peter, Jonathan, Samuel and John Tobias, and three sisters, Margaret, Catherine and Susanna. Later the family moved to Auglaize county, this state. and thence to Illinois, where Andrew J. Tobias completed his schooling. As a young man he returned to Greene county, took up carpentering here and here spent the remainder of his life, in 1882 taking up farming and becoming the proprietor of a farm of two hundred and five acres in Beavercreek township, which his widow now owns. She was born in Beavercreek township, Sarah E. Harshman, daughter of John C. and Maria (Miller) Harshman, further mention of whom is made else- where, and in 1863 was united in marriage to Andrew J. Tobias. To that union two children were born, Samuel E. and Emily Leonora, the latter of whom married L. E. Coy, a grocer at Dayton, and has two children, Ethel, born in 1889, and Herbert, born in 1897.
Samuel E. Tobias was born on March 12, 1864, and was educated in the schools of Beavercreek township. He early became interested in black- smithing and continued engaged in that vocation for twenty years, at the end of which time he began to give his particular attention to gunsmithing and has since made a specialty along that line, having become recognized as one of the expert gunsmiths in the United States. Since the death of his father he also has given his general oversight to the operations of the home farm. Mr. Tobias is a Democrat and for fifteen years served as a member of the local board of education. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and he and his family are members of the Mt. Zion Reformed church.
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In January, 1883, Samuel E. Tobias was united in marriage to Jennie Belle Bates, who also was born in Beavercreek township, and to this union seven children have been born, namely: Blanche Lenora, who married Hiram Zimmer, now living in Logan county, and has two children, Leon and Elza Juanita ; Elmer Fay, a farmer, living on his grandmother Tobias' farm in Beavercreek township and operating the same, who married Anna Zimmer and has four children, Elsie, Elwood, Gladys and Alberta: Thomas C., who is at home; Esta, who died in infancy, and Elsie May, Winifred and Edythe.
RUSH R. HUSTON.
Rush R. Huston, proprietor of a Sugarcreek township farm on rural mail route No. 12 out of Dayton, was born in that township and has lived there all his life. He is the third in order of birth of the five children born to John and Eunice (Lambertson) Huston, the former of whom was also born in Sugarcreek township and is still living there. John Huston is a son of William Huston, who was one of the pioneer farmers of that neigh- borhood, having established his home there after his marriage. He came over here from Montgomery county, where he was born. William Huston was twice married. By his second marriage he had one son, William F. Huston, who is living on the old Huston home place and further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. By his first marriage William Huston was the father of five children, of whom John Huston, the third in order of birth, is now the only survivor, the others having been James. Michael, Sarah and Philena:
John Huston married Eunice Lambertson and to that union were born five children, namely: Nettie, who married A. C. Burgert and has seven children; Nora, who married William Bense and has two children; Rush R., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch; Beryl, now deceased, who was the wife of William B. Hawker and had one child, and Marcena, who married F. J. Hawker, of Beavercreek township, and has two children.
Rush R. Huston was reared on the home farm in Sugarcreek township, received his schooling in the neighborhood schools, and has been a farmer all his life. After his marriage he established his home on the farm on which he is now living and has since resided there. His wife, who before her marriage was Elizabeth Lenz, also was born in this county, daughter of William and Charlotte (Garlaugh) Lenz, the former of whom is deceased and the latter of whom is still living in Beavercreek township. Mr. and Mrs. Huston have four children, Viola May, Paul Leroy, Charlotte and Doris. Another child, John, died in infancy.
RUSH R. HUSTON AND FAMILY.
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