History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 81

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 81

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Robert Dean, the eldest of Daniel Dean's five sons and the grand- father of Charles S. Dean, was born in 1793 and was about nineteen years of age when he came with his parents to Greene county from Kentucky in 1812. Not long afterward he enlisted his services in behalf of America's second struggle for independence and served as a soldier of the War of 1812, under Capt. Robert McClellan, on a tour of duty to Ft. Wayne. He inherited a portion of his father's land in New Jasper township and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on May 8, 1856. Robert

HERBERT S. DEAN.

MRS. DEBORAH L. DEAN. HANNAH HACKNEY SPENCER MARION RUSSELL DEAN. FOUR GENERATIONS OF DEANS.

MR. AND MRS. CHARLES S. DEAN.

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Dean was twice married. By his first wife, who was a Campbell, he was the father of thirteen children, those besides William Campbell Dean, father of the subject of this sketch, having been Daniel A., Samuel D., James Henry, Joseph A., Mrs. Jennie Hopping, Mrs. Janet Cooley, Mrs. Elizabeth Hardie, John, Addison, Robert Harvey, Andrew H. and Mary, two of whom, Robert H. and Andrew H., are still living. After the death of the mother of these children Robert Dean married Margaret Orr and to that union were born five children, Albert, Eli, Calvin, Cyrus and Martha.

. William Campbell Dean was born on the old Dean farm in New Jas- per township on July 4, 1822, and there grew to manhood, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools. As a young man he went South and was for eighteen months employed as a guard in the Tennessee state penitentiary at Nashville. Upon his return home he married and became engaged, in association with his brother Daniel, in the grocery business at Xenia, the store of the Dean brothers being conducted on the corner now occupied by the Steele building, at the northwest corner of Main and Detroit streets. Four years later he sold his interest in that store to his brother and moved to Clinton county, where he was engaged in farming for three years, at the end of which time he returned to this county and bought the interests of the other heirs in the old home place and there spent the re- mainder of his life. Reared in the old Associate Reform church, William C. Dean became a member of the United Presbyterian church following the "union" of 1858. Originally a Whig, he became a Republican upon the formation of the latter party and served for some time as township trustee. He died in September, 1888, and his widow survived him for more than eight years, her death occurring in February, 1897. Susan Janney was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1820, daughter of Stephen and Letitia (Taylor) Janney, Quakers, both of whom also were born in Virginia and who came to Ohio in 1832 and settled on a farm in the Springboro neigh- borhood in the neighboring county of Warren. To William C. and Susan (Janney) Dean were born five children, namely: Letitia, unmarried, who is still living on the old home place; Anna, now living at Indianapolis and who has been twice married, her first husband having been William Hazel- rig and her second, William Baldock; William A., now living retired at Columbus, Indiana, and a biographical sketch of whom is presented else- where in this volume; Charles S., the subject of this biographical sketch, and Susan, who married Edgar Ballard and is still living on the old Dean home place.

Charles S. Dean was born on the old Dean home place in New Jasper township on December 9, 1859, and there grew to manhood. He completed his schooling at Antioch College at Yellow Springs and after his marriage

(46)

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in 1883 began farming the place on which his great-grandfather, Daniel Dean, had settled in 1812 and which had come into the possession of his father. He later bought the place of one hundred and fifty-six acres, and still owns the same. He made improvements on the farm and continued to make that place his home until 1910, when he turned the operation of the farm over to his son, Herbert S. Dean, who with his family now lives there, and moved to his wife's old home place, the old Spencer homestead place on the Jasper pike on the outskirts of Xenia, where he has since resided. By political persuasion Mr. Dean is a Republican.

Mr. Dean has been twice married. In 1883 he was united in marriage to Ida Smith, daughter of the Rev. William Smith, a minister of the Meth- odist Episcopal church. She died on September 5, 1886. without issue, and on September 18, 1889, Mr. Dean married Deborah L. Spencer, who was born in the neighboring county of Clinton, daughter of John B. and Hannah (Hackney) Spencer, the latter of whom was born in Wayne township in that same county, the Hackneys having settled there upon com- ing to this state from Virginia. Mrs. Hannah Spencer's mother was a Morgan, of the Winchester ( Virginia) Morgans of Revolutionary fame. John B. Spencer was born in Greene county, a son of the Rev. George E. and Mary Ann (Faulkner) Spencer, and was here prepared for college, entering Delaware College when he was seventeen years of age. Before he had reached his eighteenth year the call for hundred-day volunteers for service during the closing period of the Civil War was made and he left college and went to the front as a member of Company H, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with that com- mand participated in one battle and in several skirmishes with the enemy. He later became engaged in the mercantile business at Lumberton and in 1879 moved from that place to Xenia and there became proprietor of the old Commercial Hotel, which then occupied the site of the present office of the Daily Gasette on Detroit street. Three years later he bought the farm at the edge of town, on the Jasper pike, now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Dean, and there spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on March 7, 1907. His widow died on March 30, 1918. John B. Spencer was a Re- publican and he and his wife were members of Trinity Methodist Episcopal church at Xenia. He was for some years a member of the board of trustees of Xenia township and for years was commissioner of the insolvency court. Fraternally, he was a Mason. He and his wife were the parents of three children, Mrs. Dean having two brothers, George E. Spencer, of Xenia township, and Harry E. Spencer, of Xenia. Mrs. Dean has for years taken an interested part in the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and of the Woman's Relief Corps and has served as secretary and

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as superintendent of various departments of the work of those two organ- izations. Mr. and Mrs. Dean are members of Trinity Methodist Episcopal church at Xenia. They have one child, a son, Herbert S. Dean, born on June 27, 1890, who is now operating his father's old home farm in New Jasper township and who married Edith Miller and has two children, Rus- sell and Lorena, who, as noted above, are representatives of the sixth gen- eration of Deans who have lived on that farm.

THOMAS S. HARPER.

Among those citizens of a past generation who did much to add to the general stability of the Jamestown neighborhood few were better known thereabout than was Thomas S. Harper, who died at his home in that village in the spring of 1896 and whose daughter, Miss Ezza May Harper, has for more than thirty-six years been a teacher in the Jamestown schools.

Thomas S. Harper was a Virginian, born in Rockbridge county, in the Old Dominion, June 2, 1819, and was eighteen years of age when he came to Ohio and settled in Greene county, where he spent the remainder of his life. His mother, Mrs. Agnes Harper, died in Virginia in 1846 and Hugh Harper, his father, in 1864, in Greene county. Hugh Harper and wife were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was the seventh in order of birth, the others having been James, born in 1809; Robert, 1810; Ellen, 1811; Elizabeth, 1813; Parker, 1814: Andrew, 1817; Mary, 1821; Julia, 1823, and Sophia,' 1826.

Having completed his schooling in the schools of his native state before coming to Greene county in 1837, Thomas S. Harper devoted himself after his arrival here to farming and after his marriage in 1844 began farming on his own account on a farm in Silvercreek township. He presently moved from there to a farm west of Xenia, where he remained until 1879, in which year he moved with his family to Jamestown, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring there on March 4, 1896. His wife had preceded him to the grave a little less than five years, her death having occurred on December 10, 1891. Thomas S. Harper was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was his wife, and for years was class leader in the local church at Jamestown. By political persuasion he was a Republican.

On January II, 1844, Thomas S. Harper was united in marriage to Mary Ginn, a member of one of Greene county's old families, who was the seventh in order of birth of the eight children born to her parents, the others having been Margaret, Sallie, William, John H., James, Martha and Thomas. To Mr. and Mrs. Harper were born seven children, namely: Rachel Agnes, deceased ; Bingadella, deceased; Martha Ellen, wife of James Barnett, living

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west of Xenia; Ezza May, referred to above as having been for years a teacher in the public schools of Jamestown; Samuel W., deceased; John William, of Yellow Springs, and Sarah, of Jamestown. Miss Ezza May Harper began her teaching career at Jamestown in the fall of 1882, as an instructor in the intermediate department of the public schools. Two years later she took up the work in the primary department and has ever since been thus engaged. During the long period in which Miss Harper has been teaching the primary pupils of the Jamestown schools hundreds of youngsters have come under her gentle ministrations and her helpful influence on the plastic minds of the youth of that village has endeared her to the whole community.

HENRY DARST.

The late Henry Darst, who died at his farm home in Beavercreek town- ship in 1914, was born at Dayton in the neighboring county of Montgomery on November 16, 1830, and was but eighteen months of age when his father, Jacob Darst, came over into Greene county with his family and settled in Beavercreek township, where he established his home and where he eventually became the owner of several hundred acres of land. Jacob Darst was twice married and by his first marriage was the father of eight children, Polly, Sallie, Susan, Betsy, John, Jacob and two who died in infancy. His second wife was Mrs. Ruhamah Licklighter and by that union he was the father of four children, Rollo, Abraham, Martha and Henry. The latter, as noted above, was but an infant when he was brought to this county and here he spent the remainder of his life, the proprietor of the farm now owned and occupied by his daughter Mary and the latter's husband, James E. Andrew. Henry Darst married Margaret Glotfelter, who was born on September 23, 1835, and who died on May 11, 1910. He survived his wife four years and was eighty-four years of age at the time of his death in 1914. He and his wife were the parents of five children, namely: Edward W., deceased; Will- iam H., who is now living at Omar Park, a suburb of Dayton : Martha, who died when three years of age: Mary, born in 1864, who married James E. Andrew and is still living on the home farm of one hundred and ninety- five acres in Beavercreek township, and Emma Ruhamah.

Mary Darst and James E. Andrew were married on November 12, 1891. Mr. Andrew was born in the neighboring county of Montgomery in 1863 and has been a farmer practically all his life. His father, J. W. Andrew, was born in Greene county and for a time farmed here, but later moved to Mont- gomery county. He was one of six children, five sons and one daughter, born to his parents, who were pioneers of Greene county. Mr. Andrew is

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a member of the United Presbyterian church and Mrs. Andrew is a member of the Church of Christ at Dayton. They have five children, namely: Her- bert L., who married Esta Batdorf and is now engaged as county agent of Vanwert county; Alma, wife of Lester Gerhard, of Montgomery county; Ralph H., who is assisting his father in the operation of the home farm, and Emma C. and Margaret, who are still in school.

ABRAHAM L. BIGLER.

Abraham L. Bigler, a Beavercreek township farmer and proprietor of a farm in the Alpha neighborhood, on which he has made his home since 1907, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, October 13, 1861, and has been a resident of Ohio since he was twenty years of age. His parents, Abra- ham and Elizabeth (Overholser) Bigler, were both also born in Pennsyl- vania and there spent all their lives. They were married in York county in 1860 and were the parents of three sons, the subject of this sketch, the first- born, having two brothers, William Henry Bigler, a farmer, now living in Texas, and John Andrew Bigler, who is unmarried and who is making his home with his brother Abrahan1.

Reared in his native county, Abraham L. Bigler there received his school- ing and early took up practical farming, beginning to make his own way when he was twelve years of age. In 1881 he came to Ohio and took employ- ment on the Albert Ankeney farm in Beavercreek township, this county, remaining there for six years, in the meantime, on December 23, 1886, being united in marriage to Elizabeth Wingerter, daughter of Theodore Wingerter, of this county. After leaving the Ankeney farm Mr. Bigler began farming on his own account on the Harbine farm and continued making his home in this county, renting various farms, until 1901, when he went over into Montgomery county, where he was for six years engaged in farm- ing. In 1905 he bought the farm of twenty acres on which he is now living in Beavercreek township and two years later moved onto the same and. lias ever since made his home there. Mr. Bigler is a Republican, is the present party committeeman from his precinct and has served for two terms as road supervisor in his district. He is a member of the local Grange and he and his family are members of the Reformed church. Mr. and Mrs. Bigler have six children, namely: Carl Edgar, a Beavercreek township farmer, who married Naomi Shellebarger and has one child, Glena; Mary Catherine, who married Grover Wolf and has two children, Clifford Alton and Carrie Eliza- beth; Martha Elizabeth, who married Arthur Wead and has a son, Franklin ; John Theodore, a farmer, unmarried; William Albert, also an unmarried farmer, and Mabel Clara.

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DAVID E. SPAHR, M. D.

Dr. David E. Spahr, of Xenia, editor in charge of the health department of Farm and Fireside, a journal published in the neighboring city of Spring- field, is one of Greene county's native sons, born on what is known as the Stewart farm on the Stringtown road in New Jasper township, April 16, 1862, son of the Rev. Gideon and Elizabeth (Kyle) Spahr, both members of pioneer families in Greene county and the latter of whom also was born here, a member of the Kyle family that came up here from Kentucky in the early days of the settlement of Greene county.

The Rev. Gideon Spahr, affectionately remembered hereabout as "Uncle Gid" Spahr, was a native of the Old Dominion, born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, in 1812, a son of Edward and Elizabeth (Bishop) Spahr, and was five years of age when he came with his parents and the other members of their family from Virginia to Ohio, the family settling in the woods wilder- ness east of Xenia in 1817. Edward Spahr there bought a farm of about one hundred acres and established his home. He and his wife were meni- bers of the Methodist church and their children were reared in that faith. There were twelve of these children and the Spahr connection thus became a numerous one hereabout in succeeding generations. Gideon Spahr grew to manhood on that pioneer farm and married Elizabeth Kyle, who was born in this county, daughter of John Kyle and wife, both of whom died in middle age. John Kyle was the father of four children, those besides Mrs. Spahr having been Seth and John, who went to Missouri, and Mrs. Pollock. Gideon Spahr became a "local" preacher for the Methodists and during . his many years of service in that capacity probably preached more funeral sermons than any other minister that ever served in this part of the state. "Uncle Gid" was a plain, blunt man and a friend of the whole countryside. For years he resided in this county, living on various rented farms in New Jasper township and in the eastern part of the county, and then bought a home at Lumberton, in the neighboring county of Clinton, where he spent his last days, his death occurring there in 1896. His widow survived him for nine years, her death occurring in 1905. They were the parents of twelve children, of whom Doctor Spahr was the tenth in order of birth, the others being John, who died in infancy; Madison, who went to the front as a sol- dier of the Union during the Civil War, a member of the Nineteenth Regi- ment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and who died at Bowling Greene, Kentucky, while thus engaged in service; the late Rev. Albert N. Spahr, who was a presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal church and had filled many important charges throughout Ohio; Cornelia, who married Silas Smith and who lived for many years at VanWert, but whose last days were spent at

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Hicksville, this state; Robert, a veteran of the Civil War, having served as a member of the Fortieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and who is now living at Xenia; Sally, unmarried, who is also living at Xenia; the Rev. Samuel K. Sparh, a minister of the Methodist Protestant church, who now has a charge in the city of Pittsburgh; Julia, now deceased, who was the wife of I. T. Cummins, of Xenia; twins, who died in infancy ; and James Clinton, now living at Skidmore, Missouri, where he is engaged in the coal and grain business.

David E. Spahr was reared to the life of the farm and his early school- ing was received in the district schools of New Jasper township. When eighteen years of age he went to Van Wert, where he entered the high school and then for two years worked at the printing trade there. He married in that city in December, 1873, and for two years thereafter was engaged working in a factory there, afterward taking up farming, in which he was engaged for a year. In the meantime he had been giving attention to the study of medicine and after a course of reading under the preceptorship of Doctor Stewart, of Cedarville, matriculated at Dr. C. M. Seaman's Medical College at Ft. Wayne, and was graduated from that institution in 1879. Thus qualified for the practice of his profession, Doctor Spahr opened an office at Gilbert Mills, in Paulding county, this state, and remained there until 1881, in which year he returned to his old home neighborhood in this county · and opened an office at New Jasper, where he was engaged in practice for eiglit years, at the end of which time he moved to Clifton, where he con- tinued in practice for twenty-one years, or until his removal in 1910 to Xenia, where he has since been located. Doctor Spahr is a member of the Greene County Medical Society, of the Ohio State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. For some time he has been health officer for Xenia township. In 1893 he took a post-graduate course in New York City and in 1910, a similar course in Chicago. During the many years of his practice Doctor Spahr has been a contributor to medical journals and in 1915 there came to him wholly unsolicitedly a proffer from the editors of Farm and Fireside, at Springfield, this state, to take editorial charge of the health department of that journal and he since has devoted much of his time to the duties of that position, his department being conducted with a view to securing the widest possible variety of inquiry along medical and public-health lines. The Doctor also has contributed stories and sketches of a miscellaneous character to other magazines and newspapers. He for some years has been spending his winters in Florida. Politically, the Doctor is a Republican. He has from the days of his boyhood taken a warm interest in local geological and archaeological research and it is believed that there is no one now living in Greene county who is better informed along those

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lines than he. During his long residence at Clifton the Doctor unearthed many valuable specimens both of a geological and archeological character, particularly . of the latter, and thus collected a wide variety of relics of the Indian and Mound Builder occupancy of this region. Most of these speci- mens he has in recent years distributed to museums and libraries, the state museum at Columbus and the public library at Xenia being special bene- ficiaries of his thoughtfulness, though he still has at his office in Xenia some very valuable specimens. The Doctor is affiliated with the Masons, the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He and his family are members of Trinity Methodist Episcopal church at Xenia, the Doctor being a member of the board of stewards of the congregation with which he is connected and for years a teacher in the Sunday school.

In December, 1873, at Van Wert, Ohio, Dr. David E. Spahr was united in marriage to Emma Highwood, daughter of William and Caroline High- wood, both now deceased, the former of whom was for some years a merchant at New Jasper, this county, but whose last days were spent at Anderson, Indiana, and to this union were born five children, namely: Lillian, who married Edward Bush, a machinist, now living at Springfield, this state; James H., a farmer and miner, now living at Star, Oregon: Gertrude C., deceased; Jessie, who died at the age of seven years, and Elmer G., who is now the teacher of manual training in the high school at Paulding, this state. Prof. Elmer G. Spahr attended Cedarville College and Dayton Busi- ness College after his graduation from the Clifton high school and later received two degrees from the Ohio State University. He received a life license as a high-school teacher and was for some time superintendent of schools at Ansonia, this state, before entering upon the duties of his present position at Paulding. He married Mabel Hadley, of Springboro, and has one child, a son, Hadley Gideon.

GUY M. WILLIAMS.

Guy M. Williams, grocer at Osborn, was born in the neighboring county of Clark on September 11, 1883, a son of Frank and Maria (Musser ) Will- iams. both of whom are still living, residents of Clark county. Frank Will- ianis also was born in Clark county and there grew to manhood. He has been a farmer all his life and for some time lived in the neighboring county of Montgomery, but is now living in Clark county. To him and his wife nine children were born, six of whom are still living, but the subject of this sketch is the only one of these who is a resident of Greene county.

Reared on the farm, Guy M. Williams received most of his schooling in Montgomery county and after leaving school became a clerk in the Stephen

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store at Osborn, where he remained for five years, at the end of which time he went to Springfield and was there engaged working in a wholesale grocery store until 1912, in which year he returned to Osborn and bought the Buhr- man store, the same store under a different management in which he had formerly been a clerk, and has ever since been engaged in business in that village.

In December, 1914, Guy M. Williams was united in marriage to Marie Hunter, daughter of Emily Hunter. Politically, Mr. Williams is a Repub- lican and, fraternally, is affiliated with the local lodge of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.

D. WALKER WILLIAMSON.

D. Walker Williamson, a veteran of the Civil War, now living retired on his farm east of Xenia, in Xenia township, where he has resided ever since the close of the war, was born in that township on August 26, 1839, a son of Andrew Duncan and Isabel (Collins) Williamson, both of whom were born in York county, Pennsylvania, but who were married in Greene county, where their last days were spent.

Andrew Duncan Williamson was born on January 30, 1815, a son of David and Catherine (Duncan) Williamson, who in 1836 came to Greene county and settled on a farm of three hundred acres on the Jamestown pike six miles east of Xenia, as set out elsewhere in this volume in a comprehensive history of the Williamson family in this county.

Upon coming to Greene county with his parents in 1836 Andrew D. Williamson became engaged in farming and on April 8, 1838, was married in this county to Isabel Collins, who also was born in York county, Penn- sylvania, in March, 1815, a daughter of William and Lydia (Luttly ) Collins, both of whom also were born in Pennsylvania, and who had come to Ohio with their family and settled on a farm in this county. After his marriage Andrew D. Williamson located on a farm five miles north of Xenia and later moved to a farm south of that city, where he spent the rest of his life, for thirty years a member of the school board in Spring Valley township and for forty years president of the board of trustees of that township. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church. Andrew D. Williamson was twice married, his first wife having died in September, 1870, after which he married Elizabeth S. Barr, who was born in Washington county, Penn- sylvania, August 8, 1828, a daughter of William Barr and wife, the latter of whom was a Dickey, who had come to this country from Ireland in 1810 and had located in Washington county, Pennsylvania, becoming members of the United Presbyterian church there. This latter union was without

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History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 81

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