USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 72
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Enos Ellsworth Lackey was born on September 30, 1844, a son of Enos Lackey and wife, pioneers of Warren county, the former of whom was born in 1802 and who were the parents of fourteen children. Reared in Warren county, Enos E. Lackey later made his home for a while in Clinton county and in 1873 moved to the village of New Burlington, on the Greene-Clinton county line and was there engaged in the general lumber business the rest of his life, operating a saw-mill and dealing in lumber, timber and logs and also engaged as a building contractor, his death occur- ring there on January 9, 1903. Mr. Lackey was a Republican and for years rendered service as a member of the local school board. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is his widow, and at the time of his death was a member of the official board of the same. To him and his wife were born three sons, of whom Doctor Lackey is the youngest, the others · being Walter Lackey, of New Burlington, a farmer, and Raymond L. Lackey, who was engaged in the grocery business at New Burlington and who died on September 1, 1907.
Upon completing the course in the New Burlington high school Burt L. Lackey began teaching school and for three years thereafter was the teacher of the school in the Buck Run district in Clinton county. He matric- ulated at the Ohio College of Dentistry and was graduated from that insti- tution with the class of 1896. Thus equipped for the practice of his profession, Doctor Lackey returned to his home at New Burlington and opened an office there, continuing in practice at that place for eighteen months, at the end of which time, in January, 1898, he located at Xenia, where he ever since has been engaged in practice, with present offices in the Steele building. Preparatory to his marriage in 1902, Doctor Lackey built a house at 20 Home avenue, Xenia, where he is still living.
Doctor Lackey has been twice married. On September 10, 1902, lie was united in marriage to Ada Frances Clark, who was born and. reared in Gallia county, this state, and who for nine years prior to her marriage had been engaged as a special teacher at the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home at Xenia. To that union were born three children, Clark, born on December 10, 1903: Dorothy, May 9, 1907, and Helen, January I,
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19II. The mother of these children died on March 27, 1914, and on June 30, 1915, Doctor Lackey married Jessella Beebe, who was born at Kingman, Kansas, and who was reared at Elwood Indiana, in which latter city her father, John W. Beebe, is still living.
MORRIS D. RICE.
Morris D. Rice, a practicing attorney at Osborn since 1909, was born on a farm in the vicinity of Circleville, in Pickaway county, Ohio, July 9, 1885, a son of Elliott and' Harriet E. ( Morris) Rice, both of whom were born in that same county, the former in 1855 and the latter, in 1853, who are still 'living there. Elliott Rice is a farmer and he and his wife have two sons, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Lemuel R. Rice.
Reared on the home farm, Morris D. Rice entered the Circleville Busi- ness College after leaving the high school in that city and was graduated from the same in 1901. He then became the stenographer in the office of a law firm in Circleville and while thus engaged occupied what leisure he could command in the study of law. In 1906 he entered the law department of Ohio Northern University and by taking both the winter and summer courses was enabled to graduate from that institution two years later, after which he passed the state bar examination and was admitted to the bar in that same year, 1908. Thus qualified for the practice of the profession, Mr. Rice located at Osborn and on January 27, 1909, opened there an office and has ever since been engaged in practice. In 1915 he was admitted to prac- tice in the United States courts. Though engaged in general practice, Mr. Rice makes a specialty of cases in the probate courts. He is a Republican and for five years served as city attorney for Osborn.
On June 17, 1909, Morris D. Rice was united in marriage to Mina D. Davidson, who was born in Clermont county, this state, daughter of Henry W. and Rebecca (Hulick) Davidson, who are still living in that county. Henry W. Davidson is a farmer and he and his wife have four children, of whom Mrs. Rice was the last-born, the others being Georgia, wife of John Lytle, a contractor and landowner of Williamsburg, this state; Dr. O. C. Davidson, a physician at Bethel, this state, and Dr. F. L. Davidson, who is engaged in practice at Delaware, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Rice reside on Williams street in Osborn. They have traveled quite extensively, taking a trip to some point of interest in the United States every year, being intent on "seeing America first." Mr. Rice is a Scottish Rite Mason, affiliated with the local lodge at New Carlisle and with the consistory (32°), Valley of Dayton. He was selected by the committee in charge of the purchase of
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real estate in the village of Osborn for the Miami Conservancy District in 1915 and in addition represented the same district in taking title to all land in Osborn and several thousand acres in the valley of Mad river. Mr. Rice also was one of the attorneys who looked after the purchase of the two thou- sand four hundred and seventy-five acres in the vicinity of Fairfield which was converted by the government into the Wilbur Wright Aviation Field for the training of aviators for the army in 1917.
JACOB LEWIS LANTZ.
Jacob Lewis Lantz, former trustee of Beavercreek township, a soldier of the Civil War and a retired farmer of Beavercreek township, living at his farm home on rural mail route No. 4 out of Osborn, was born in that township, September 19, 1836, son of John and Catherine ( Rhoades) Lantz, natives of Maryland, who were married in that state in 1826 and who came to Greene county in 1835, locating in Beavercreek township. John Lantz presently bought a farm of two hundred and sixteen acres north of Alpha and later added fifty-nine acres, the old Nesbit farm, which is now owned by his son Jacob L. On that place he spent the rest of his life. He and his wife were the parents of six children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one now living, the others having been Barbara Ann, who married Sylvester Lafong; John Daniel, who married Rebecca Harner; Catherine Jane, who married Jonathan Gerlaugh; Mary Elizabeth, who married Eben- ezer Hering, and Eliza Ellen, who married John A. Harner.
Reared on the home farm, Jacob L. Lantz completed his schooling in the Xenia high school and then began teaching school in the district schools of his home township, continuing farming during the summers. He married in the fall of 1863. In 1864 he enlisted for service in the Union army and served as a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, until the close of the Civil War, being mustered out with the rank of sergeant. For eighteen years Mr. Lantz rendered service in his home township as a school teacher and then he bought a farm in the northern part of Beavercreek township and thereafter, until his retirement in the latter '8os, gave his undivided attention to his farm. Since his retire- ment he has sold part of his land, but still owns one hundred and seventy- two acres of the old home place in the Alpha neighborhood and fifty acres of the place on which he is now living in the north part of the township. Mr. Lantz is a Republican and during the '8os served for four years as trustee of his home township, while for twenty-one years he rendered service as a member of the school board. He is a member of the Lutheran church at Harshman and is also connected with the Odd Fellows lodge and with
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JACOB L. LANTZ
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the encampment at that place, a representative for four years in the grand encampment. Mr. Lantz has been an extensive traveler and has visited most of the chief points of interest in this country and in Canada.
On September 24, 1863, Jacob L. Lantz was united in marriage to Mary M. Mercer, who was born in this county, daughter of Robert Mercer and wife, the latter of whom was a Tingley, and to that union were born four sons, Forest Clay, who died in infancy ; Dayton, who died in infancy ; Harry, born on June 22, 1864, who married Elizabeth Black and is engaged in farming in Beavercreek township, and John Lewis, June II, 1866, who is a building contractor at Alpha. Mrs. Mary M. Lantz died in 1910 and is buried in the Fairfield cemetery. She was a graduate of the old Xenia Female Seminary.
WILLIAM EDGAR HOUSER.
William Edgar Houser, a Zenia township farmer, was born at Point of Rocks, in Loudoun county, Virginia. January 20, 1855, son of Samuel and Caroline (McCray) Houser, both of whom were born in that same county. Samuel Houser, who was the owner of a small farm, had a store at Point of Rocks and was also the postmaster and toll-gate keeper at that place. He was a Lutheran and his wife was a Baptist. Both died in 1869. They were the parents of three children, the subject of this sketch, the first-born; Samuel, who died at the age of six years, and Ella, who is living at Xenia, widow of J. J. Snyder.
Having been but fourteen years of age when his parents died, William E. Houser early commenced working for himself and was thus engaged in his home county until he was twenty years of age, when, in 1875, he came to Ohio and began working on a farm in this county. In 1887 he married and in the following year bought a farm in Cedarville township, where he made his home and where he continued engaged in farming until 1904. when he sold that place and bought his present farm of seventy-six and a half acres in the southern part of Xenia township, where he since has made his home and where he is engaged in general farming and stock raising, mak- ing a specialty of Jersey cattle and Chester White hogs.
In 1887 William E. Houser was united in marriage to Rosie Swank, who also was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, daughter of Aaron and Alfinda Swank, of that county, and who died in 1898, since which time Mr. Houser's niece, Miss Lillie Belle Baker, also of Loudoun county, Virginia, who has for years made her home with him, has been the housekeeper in his home. Mr. Houser is "independent" in his political views and is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church at Xenia.
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JACOB A. SCOTT.
Jacob A. Scott, proprietor of a farm of a fraction more than eighty- three acres in Sugarcreek township, on which he has made his home for about twenty-six years, was born in the village of Lytle, in.the neighboring county of Warren, April 7, 1854, son of Vincent and Mary Jane (Duvell) Scott, the former of whom was of Shaker stock and believed to have been born in the state of New York.
Vincent Scott was a blacksmith and operated a shop at various times at Lebanon, Lytle and other points in Warren county. He also for some time operated a houseboat on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, carrying on a blacksmith shop and a grocery store on the boat, and was thus engaged in the South when the Civil War broke out. He was given sixty days in which to close out his affairs and get back on the other side of the Mason and Dixon line and thus was compelled to dispose of his stuff at a loss, in fact the war "cleaned" him of all he had. He returned to Ohio, but after the war went to Texas, remaining there about a year, at the end of which time he returned to Ohio and here spent the rest of his life, his death occurring at Xenia when past seventy years of age. Vincent Scott was thrice married. By his first wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, he had three chil- dren, those besides Jacob being William Winfield, who died in 1918, and Anna, who died in infancy. After the death of the mother of these chil- dren Vincent Scott married Elizabeth Denlinger, who bore him eight chi !- dren. His third wife was a Chenoweth.
Jacob A. Scott was but a child when his mother died and he was reared away from home, for five years making his home with and working for Jarvis Stokes, who owned a farm of six hundred and forty acres in the Lytle neighborhood. He then for three years worked for Turner Hays, and then went down to Mason, also in Warren county, where and in the neigh- borhood of which place he worked for Asa Coleman and others for five years ; going there without a dollar and having nine hundred dollars at the end of the five years. With this comfortable "nest egg" he returned to Lytle and after two years of further employment there was married. That was in 1881. His wife died fourteen months later and in 1885 he married again and then came up into Greene county and located on a farm in Sugar- creek township. Four years later he moved to a farm in the Spring Valley neighborhood and a year later, in 1892, bought the farm on which he is now living, in Sugarcreek township, rural mail route No. I out of Spring Valley, and has since resided there. Since taking possession of that place Mr. Scott has made numerous improvements on the place, erecting his pres- ent dwelling house and all the farm buildings. He is a Democrat, for fifteen
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years served as road supervisor in his district, for twenty years as school director and has for several years taken the school enumeration in his dis- trict. He and his family are members of the (predestinarian) Baptist Apostolic church.
As noted above, Jacob A. Scott has been twice married. In 1881 he was united in marriage to Clara Goodill, who also was born and reared at Lytle, and who died fourteen months later without issue. In 1885 Mr. Scott married Amanda Jane Wright, who was born in Iowa, a daughter of Aaron and Sarah (Buckles) Wright, and to this union five children have been born, namely : Nina P., wife of Robert Stiles, of Sugarcreek township; John W., who married Florence Gregg and is also living in Sugarcreek township; Nora, at home: Jacob S., who married on March 7, 1918, Lillie Hayle and lives with his parents, and Israel.
RALPH BRUCE FERGUSON
Ralph Bruce Ferguson, proprietor of a farm in Miami township, on rural mail route No. 5 out of Xenia, was born on a farm in Xenia township on September 18, 1881, son of William H. and Ella Belle (Galloway ) Fer- guson, both of whom also were born in this county, the former in Miami township, April 22, 1854, and the latter, in the city of Xenia, November 9, 1857, who are now living retired in the village of Yellow Springs.
William H. Ferguson was reared on a farm in Miami township and com- pleted his schooling in Antioch College and in the old college at Xenia. He early became engaged in farming on his own account and after his marriage made his home for a while on a farm in Xenia township, later buying the farm in that same township now operated by his son Ralph, and there resided until his retirement in 1914 and removal to Yellow Springs. He and his wife have three children, the subject of this sketch, the first-born, having a sister, Mary Eleanor, who married Roy McClelland, a farmer living in the vicinity of Xenia, and has three children, and a brother, William Harvey Ferguson, now living in Philadelphia, a chemist in the employ of the DuPont Powder Company, who married Grace Williamson, of this county, and has one child.
Reared on the home farm in Xenia township. Ralph B. Ferguson was early trained to farming and has always followed that vocation. Upon com- pleting his schooling he became engaged in farming on his own account and after his marriage in the summer of 1906 established his home on the Elmer Ferguson farm and since his father's retirement in 1914 has been in active management of the home farm, in addition to which he rents an adjoining
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farm which he also is cultivating, and in addition to his general farming he is engaged in the raising of live stock.
On June 5, 1906, Ralph B. Ferguson was united in marriage to Edna Belle McClelland, who also was born in this county, daughter of Harvey and Laura B. McClelland, the former of whom died in March, 1917, and the latter of whom is living south of Xenia, and to this union seven children have been born, all of whom are living save Howard M., the second in order of birth, who died when three years of age, the others being Edith Elizabeth, Ruth Eleanor, Clarence Leigh, Carl Bruce, James Harvey and Ralph Donald. Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson are members of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia. In his political views Mr. Ferguson is independent of rigid party lines.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN JAMES.
The late Benjamin Franklin James, who died on October 22, 1917, at his home in Bellbrook, where he had been living retired for more than fifteen years and where his widow is still living, was a native son of Greene county and had resided here all his life. He was born on a farm in Sugar- creek township, June 25, 1848, son of David W. and Rebecca (Austin) James, both of whom also were born in this county, the former on November 3, 1805, and the latter, February 5, 1811. David WV. James was a son of John and Mary James, who came to this county from Virginia in pioneer days and became residents of the Sugarcreek neighborhood. John James died on September 18, 1841, he then being sixty-seven years of age, and was buried in the Middle Run cemetery. David W. James grew up in that township and became owner of a good piece of farming property there. He died on July 9, 1875, and was buried in the Bellbrook cemetery. He and Rebecca Austin were married on February 9, 1832, and were the parents of nine children, those besides the subject of this memorial sketch having been the following: Nathan, Emily, William and Angeline, deceased; Mrs. Lydia Sloane, who is now living at Osborn, this county ; Julianna, deceased; John, who is now living at Seattle, Washington, and Jane, deceased.
Reared on the home farm two miles south of Bellbrook, Benjamin Franklin James completed the course in the Bellbrook high school and later took a course in Smith College at Xenia, meanwhile teaching school for several terms, spending his winters in the school room and his summers on the farm. In the fall of 1874 he married and established his home on the old home place in Sugarcreek township, presently buying the interests of the other heirs in the place, and continued to make his home there until
BENJAMIN F. JAMES.
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his retirement from the farm in 1900 and removal to Bellbrook, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring there, as noted above, in the fall of 1917. For years Mr. James was a member of the Greene county Republican central committee from his township. His interest in the cause of temperance was sincere and he did much to advance the cause hereabout. He served for some time as a member of the Bellbrook school board and ever took an interest in the cause of education. Until about ten years before his death Mr. James was a member of the Presbyterian church, for years an elder in the same, and then he transferred his membership to the Sugar- creek United Presbyterian church. He had helped in the erection of two churches. He was buried in the Bellbrook cemetery.
On September 23, 1874, Benjamin Franklin James was united in mar- riage to Irene Marshall, who also was born and reared in Sugarcreek town- ship, who had completed her schooling at Smith College at Xenia and who prior to her marriage had been for some time engaged in teaching school. Since the death of her husband Mrs. James has continued to make her home at Bellbrook. She also is a member of one of the real old families of Greene county, her parents, Jesse R. and Ruth (Robinson) Marshall, having both been born here, their respective families having been among the early settlers of the county. Jesse R. Marshall was a son of John Marshall, who was born in the vicinity of what is now the city of Lexington; Kentucky, in 1784, and who in 1803 came up here into the valley of the Little Miami and took up a tract of six hundred acres of land in what later came to be organized as Sugarcreek township, where he established his home and where he spent the rest of his life, all of which is set out elsewhere and at con- siderable length in this volume. Jesse R. Marshall and Ruth Robinson were married on May 22, 1851, and to them were born seven children, those besides Mrs. James being Willis, who is living in the New Burlington neigh- borhood and further reference to whom is made elsewhere in this volume, as well as reference to his sons, Judge J. C. Marshall, of the probate court, and L. T. Marshall, former clerk of courts and now a practicing lawyer at Xenia ; Fannie, unmarried, who is living at Bellbrook; Daniel W., now a resident of Dayton; Joseph H., a resident of Bellbrook; Frank B., who lives three miles south of Bellbrook, and Edwin S., deceased. The Marshall connection in Greene county is a considerable one, the pioneer John Marshall having been the father of six children, two sons and four daughters, those besides Jesse, father of Mrs. James, having been Nancy, who married James N. McConnell; Sarah, who married John Brock; Hetty, who married Captain Kiler; Betsy, who married William Morgan, and James, who became a farmer in Sugar- creek township.
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ANDREW FRANKLIN GILL.
Andrew Franklin Gill, farmer and dairyman and occupant of the old Galloway place on the Fairground pike at the edge of Xenia, the place on which he spent his youth and of which he has been in active charge for some years past, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Xenia since he was six years of age, at which tender age he became an occupant of the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home at Xenia, later being given a home on the Galloway place, which he now has in charge, having returned there in 1912, after some years of absence, to take charge of the place for Miss Rebecca Galloway. He was born at Lattas- burg, in Wayne county, this state, March 30, 1872, son of Joseph and Mary (Swaisgood) Gill, the former of whom died in 1873 and the latter. in 1877,
Joseph Gill was born in Pennsylvania and was trained to the trade of a carpenter. As a young man he came to Ohio and was living in Ashland county when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted for service in the Union army in 1862 and went to the front as a member of Company I. One Hun- dred and Seventy-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served until the close of the war. During this service Mr. Gill suffered an attack of smallpox and was so weakened thereby as to be perma- nently debilitated. His brother. John Gill, who was serving in the same company, urged him to secure a furlough and go home, but he was "gritty" and stuck to it to the end. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Gill returned to Ashland county and there presently married Mary Swais- good, who was born in that county and to whom he had been engaged to marry before going to war. After that he engaged in farming, but the disa- bility he had suffered during his army service presently resulted in a state of invalidism and he died in the fall of 1873. leaving his widow with three small children, the subject of this sketch, the youngest, being then but eight- een months of age. The other children were William, who is now farming in Ashland county, and Harriet Alice, wife of Edward Schweiboldt, living on Cincinnati avenue, Xenia. The mother of these children did not long survive her soldier husband, her death occurring in 1877, and shortly after- ward the three orphaned children were placed in the care of the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home at Xenia.
Andrew F. Gill was six years of age when he came under the protecting care of the Home authorities and he remained thus cared for until he was thirteen years of age, or until 1885, when he was taken into the home of Richard and Rebecca Galloway on the old Galloway place on the Fairground pike just out of Xenia, where he remained until after he had reached his
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majority, meanwhile receiving further schooling in the Xenia public schools. He later became employed at the freight house of the Pennsylvania railroad at Xenia and after his marriage bought a home of his own, continuing to reside there until 1912, when he returned to the Galloway farm to take charge of the same for Miss Rebecca Galloway, and has since resided there with his family, farming the place and carrying on a dairy business. Mr. Gill is the owner of eleven lots and a house in Galloway Park addition to the city of Xenia. He is a Republican and he and his wife are members of the First United Presbyterian church at Xenia.
On May 26, 1904, Andrew F. Gill was united in marriage to Nellie Price, who also was born in this state and who also was left an orphan at an early age, being afterward reared in the home of Mrs. Haines in the vicinity of Trebeins, where she was living at the time of her marriage to Mr. Gill. To this union have been born six children, namely: Ellsworth Galloway, born on May 23, 1905: Marion Haines, July 21, 1906; Edna Rebecca, who died at the age of eight months: Andrew Richard, born on August 10, 1929; Harold, who lived but three days, and Margaret Faye, February 22, 1918.
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