History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 82

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 82

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

746

GREENE COUNTY, OHIO

issue. By his marriage to Isabel Collins, Andrew D. Williamson was the father of six children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being the Rev. William C. Williamson, a veteran of the Civil War and a minister of the United Presbyterian church, now located at Clarinda, Iowa; Henrietta, who married the Rev. James W. McNary, a minister of the United Presbyterian church, and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased; the Rev. L. W. Williamson, a minister of the United Pres- byterian church, now located at Topeka, Kansas; Rollo D., a retired farmer of this county, now living at Xenia, and Clarkson, who died at the age of two years.

Dr. Walker Williamson grew to manhood on the home farm, receiving his schooling in the neighborhood schools and was living at home when the Civil War broke out. On August 12, 1862, at Xenia, he enlisted for service in behalf of the cause of the Union, going out with Company H, Ninety- fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with that command until April 9, 1863: re-enlisting in May, 1864, and going to the front as first lieutenant of Company G, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until mustered out at Camp Dennison on September 1, 1864, his service having been mainly rendered with the Army of the Potomac, during which service he was mostly stationed at Greenland Gap, West Virginia, on guard duty, but participated in a number of brisk skirmishes with the enemy. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Williamson returned home and after his marriage in the fall of 1865 located on the farm on which he is now living, four miles east of Xenia, and where he has ever since made his home, a place of seventy- six acres known as "Park Point Farm." Mr. Williamson erected a brick house there in 1882 and the park-like effect he has secured by the landscape gardening he has done adds to the attractiveness of his place. There he continued engaged in general farming and stock raising until his retirement from the active labors of the farm in 1906.

On October 3, 1865, D. Walker Williamson was united in marriage to Ada McClung, of Xenia township, a daughter of John S. McClung and wife, who had come to this county from Virginia, and to that union were born two children, daughters both, Echo Belle and Grace. Mr. Williamson died on October 29, 1906. Echo Williamson married George Gordon, an attorney, now located at Atlanta, Georgia, and has five children, Grace, Louis. Helen, Janet and George G. Grace Williamson is the wife of the Rev. David R. Gordon, a missionary of India, and has had four children, but two of whom are now living, Walker and David. Mr. Williamson is a Republican and has served as a member of his local school board. He is a member of the Second United Presbyterian church at Xenia.

747

GREENE COUNTY, OHIO

OSCAR L. SMITH.

Oscar L. Smith, cashier of the Exchange Bank of Cedarville, this county, was born near Selma, in the neighboring county of Clark, and has lived in this part of the state all his life. He was born on August 23, 1877, son of Seth W. and Hannah L. (Lewis) Smith, both of whom also were born in Ohio, the former in the vicinity of Selma and the latter at New Vienna, in Clinton county, and who are now living at Whittier, California.

Seth W. Smith was born on a farm in Green township, Clark county, near the village of Selma, January 24, 1843, son of Seth and Deborah ( Wild- man) Smith, earnest Quakers and pioneers of the Selma neighborhood, both of whom are buried in the Selma cemetery. Seth Smith was born in eastern Tennessee and his father's name also was Seth, born in Pennsylvania, a son of Joseph and Rachel (Bales) Smith, Quakers, the former of whom also was born in Pennsylvania, where his father and two brothers had settled upon coming to this country from England to join William Penn's colony of Friends. After his marriage Joseph Smith located in the vicinity of Bladensburg, Maryland, and there for some time was a farmer and miller, later disposing of his interests there with a view to returning to Pennsyl- vania.

While driving across to what he had designated as his new place of residence at the point where Brownsville, Pennsylvania, is now located, he was attacked by highwaymen, an experience which caused him to change his 'course. He settled on a farm in the vicinity of Winchester, Virginia, and there spent the rest of his life. Among the sons of this couple was Seth Smith, who married and moved to eastern Tennessee, where he lived for fourteen years, or until the year 1800, when he moved into Ohio Territory and settled in Ross county. Here he remained until 1811, in which year he moved into Clark county and settled on the farm in Green township mentioned above as the birthplace of Seth W. Smith. Upon settling in Clark county the pioneer Seth Smith purchased the Fitzhugh survey, a tract sup- posed to contain one thousand acres, but which on later survey turned out to contain eleven hundred and twenty acres. On that place he built a log house and in that primitive abode made his home until 1817, when he erected a substantial two-story brick house which stood until torn down by Seth W. Smith in 1899, and there he and his wife spent their last days. They were the parents of six children, the youngest, Seth, being the grandfather of the subject of this biographical sketch.

Seth Smith II was born in 1798 and was thus about thirteen years of age when the family settled in Clark county in 1811. There he grew to man- hood and as a young man became a farmer and stockman on his own account.

748

GREENE COUNTY, OHIO

He inherited from his pioneer father two hundred and sixty acres of land and to this made additions from time to time until he became the owner of no less than two thousand acres of land. He was a birthright Quaker, an active Abolitionist and an ardent worker in the cause of temperance, exerting much influence in those directions in his community. He died in 1876, being then seventy-eight years of age, and was buried in the Selma cemetery. His wife, Deborah (Wildman) Smith, died in 1857. To that union were born three sons and one daughter.

Reared on the home farm in the Selma neighborhood, Seth W. Smith, son of Seth and Deborah (Wildman) Smith, received his early schooling in the village schools and supplemented the same by a two-years course in Earlham College and a year at the Michigan State Agricultural College at Lansing. He inherited some of his father's lands and bought more until he became the owner of about five hundred acres in Clark county, and in addition to his general farming became a breeder of pure-bred livestock. In 1905 Seth W. Smith and his son Oscar bought out the Wildman interest in the Exchange Bank. He became president and his son, cashier, the latter being practical manager of the bank. In 1916 Seth W. Smith retired from active participation in the affairs of the bank and moved to Whittier, Cali- fornia, where he and his wife are now living.

Seth W. Smith, in 1877, at New Vienna, in Clinton county, married Hannah Lewis, who was born in that village, daughter of Isaac and Mary (Hoskins) Lewis, also Quakers. Isaac Lewis was a landowner and also operated a tannery at New Vienna. He later moved to Sabina, in that same county, and there became president of the Sabina Bank, a position he was holding at the time of his death, he then being past eighty-five years of age. Seth W. Smith and wife are both birthright members of the Friends church and their children were reared in the faith of that communion. There are three of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest, the others being Lewis H., who is owner of the old home farm in the vicinity of Selma, which has been in the possession of the family for more than one hundred years, and Mary Emma, wife of Dr. Herbert Tebbetts, a physician and surgeon, of Whittier, California.

Oscar L. Smith was reared near Selma and upon completing the course in the high school there took a course at Earlham College at Richmond, Indi- ana. In 1898 he became bookkeeper in the Exchange Bank at Cedarville, W. J. Wildman at that time being cashier, and was thus engaged until 1905, when he and his father bought the Wildman interest in the bank, he became cashier of the bank, which position he still occupies. In July, 1914, the Exchange Bank of Cedarville secured a new charter and has since been operated as a state bank. Mr. Smith is the secretary and treasurer of the Cedarville Lime Company, one of the leading industries in the village, and

749

GREENE COUNTY, OHIO

also looks after his farming interests, having a farm of more than two hun- dred acres, located in the Rife neighborhood along the Little Miami river. In 1912, Mr. Smith erected on West Main street a buff-colored brick house and he and his familly are now residing there.

On October 1, 1903, Oscar L. Smith was united in marriage to Jean Blanche Ervin, who was born at Cedarville, daughter of David S. and Belle (Murdock) Ervin. The former formerly operated the D. S. Ervin Lime Company's plant at Cedarville, but has now retired from active business. To this union have been born two children, Isabelle, born in 1908, and Eliza- beth, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the United Presbyterian church at Cedarville.

AARON D. SNIVELY.

Aaron D. Snively, a Xenia township farmer and formerly and for years a school teacher, is a native son of Ohio, born on a farm in Perry township, Starke county, July 21, 1848, son of John A. and Eliza ( Bordner ) Snively, whose last days were spent there.

John A. Snively was a son of Joseph and Catherine (Sherman ) Snively, the latter of whom was born in Germany and was but an infant when her parents, John Sherman and wife, came to this country and settled in Starke county, this state. Joseph Snively was born on a farm in southern Penn- sylvania, in the vicinity of Hagerstown, a son of Christian Snively, a native of Switzerland, who had settled in southern Pennsylvania about 1755, the first of his family to come to this country. Two of Christian Snively's sons, Henry and Joseph, came to Ohio, the former settling in Butler county and the latter in Starke county. It was in 1805 that Joseph Snively entered his land in Starke county and that pioneer tract is still in the possession of his descendants. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, of whom John A., father of the subject of this sketch, was the sixth in order of birth, the others having been the following: Anna, who married Joseph Yant ; Jacob, who married Mary Ann Shrefler; Martha, who married Andrew Yoder; Elizabeth, who married John Troxler; Katie, who died unmarried; Peter, Levi and Joseph, who became residents of Starke county, and Henry, who died in youth.

Reared on the home farm in Perry township, Stark county, John A. Snively in time became a farmer on his own account, spending all his life on the old homestead farm, where he died in 1891, he then being sixty-eight years of age. His wife had predeceased him about five years, her death having occurred in 1886, she then being sixty-three years of age. John A. Snively was a Democrat and had served as a school officer. He and his wife were members of the United Brethren church and their children were reared

750

GREENE COUNTY, OHIO

in that faith. There were ten of these children, namely: Henry, who became a farmer in Stark county and there spent his last days, his death occurring when he was sixty-nine years of age; Isaiah, also a resident of Stark county, who died there in 1917; Aaron D., the subject of this biographical sketch ; Sarah Ann, who married Reuben Decker and is living on the old Snively home place in Starke county; Mary Ellen, who married Abraham Whitmire and is also living in Stark county ; Aman, a farmer of Trumbull county ; Eliza- beth, wife of Melvin Essey, of Canton, this state; Catherine, wife of William Wenger of Stark county, who died in 1917; Dr. John H. Snively, who com- pleted his studies at the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati and has for years beeri engaged in the practice of his profession at West Lebanon, this state, and Dr. George Snively, also a graduate of Ohio Medical College, and who is also practicing his profession at West Lebanon.

Reared on the farm on which he was born and on which his father also was born, Aaron D. Snively received his early schooling in the same little old log school house which his father had attended in his youth and at the age of twenty-one years began teaching school. In 1870, when Ohio Northern University was opened at Ada, he entered that institution and was graduated from the same in 1874, a charter member of the school and a member of the first class in the scientific course in that uni- versity. Upon leaving the university Mr. Snively resumed teaching and followed that profession for years thereafter, his service in the school room covering a period of twenty years. He taught his first school at a school house three and a half miles east of Canton, in Hardin county, where he was thus engaged for two years. He then taught for two years in his home county and then went over into Indiana and for three years thereafter served as superintendent of schools at West Lebanon in that state. He then served for a year as superintendent of schools at Williamsport, Indiana, and for two years as superintendent of schools at Fowler, same state, and in 1881 returned to Ohio and located in Greene county, buying his present place, the old Orchard farm, in the northern part of Xenia township, where he since has made his home. After coming here Mr. Snively continued his service as a teacher, two years in the schools at Goes, eighteen months at the Collins school and at the time of his retirement from the school room in 1891 had been serving as superintendent of the high school at Yellow Springs. Upon taking possession of his farm in 1881 Mr. Snively erected there a nine-room house and made other improvements, to which he lias added from time to time. His original purchase was a tract of seventy-six acres, but he has added to this and now owns one hundred and eighty acres. The old farm house that still stands on the place, a brick house with black walnut finish and white ash floors, was erected by Jacob Erow in 1840 and is in an excellent state of preservation. An old smoke-house with siding and frame

751

GREENE COUNTY, OHIO

work of walnut, erected about the same time, is still standing, having weathered the storms of more than seventy-five years. In addition to his general farm- ing Mr. Snively gives considerable attention to the raising of live stock, has a herd of Jersey cattle and a good bunch of pure-bred Poland China hogs. Politically, he is a Republican and has served his community as a member of the local school board. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

On May 3, 1876, at Xenia, Aaron D. Snively was united in marriage to Mary E. Johns, of that city, daughter of Daniel S. and Maria (Drake) Johns, natives of New York state, and to this union have been born five children, namely: Lester, who died at the age of sixteen months; Littell, who is now living at Ray, Arizona ; Frank, who is farming in Highland county, this state, and Mabel and Homer, who are at home with their parents. Lit -- tell Snively, the eldest son, was graduated from the department of engineer- ing in Colorado University and became a civil engineer, for three years thus engaged in government service in the Philippines, after which he became connected with irrigation engineering works and is still thus engaged. He married Charlotte Clark, of Ft. Collins, Colorado, and since 1909 has been making his home at Ray, Arizona.

THOMAS W. TREHARNE, M. D.

Dr. Thomas W. Treharne, physician and surgeon at Zimmerman, is a native of Canada, born in the province of Ontario, December 18, 1863, a son of John C. and Lydia (Owen) Treharne, natives of Wales, who were mar- ried in Ontario and there spent their last days. They were the parents of ten children, of whom Doctor Treharne was the third in order of birth, the others being the following: Laura, deceased; Mary, deceased; Hannah, who is living in Canada; Margaret, a professional nurse, now living in New York ; William, who is a Canadian farmer ; Eli, deceased; one who died in infancy : David, who is a farmer in Ontario, and Franklin, a salesman, living in New York.

Thomas W. Treharne received a high-school and seminary education · in his native Ontario and when twenty-six years of age entered the College of Medicine and Surgery at Detroit. He was graduated from that institut- tion in 1892 and for a while thereafter was engaged in post-graduate practice in Detroit. In 1893, Doctor Treharne came to Greene county and opened an office for the practice of his profession at Zimmerman, where with the exception of two years ( 1903-05) spent at Dayton and two years (1909-10) spent in Canada, he has ever since been engaged in practice. The Doctor is a member of the Greene County Medical Society and of the Ohio State

752

GREENE COUNTY, OHIO

Medical Society. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Canadian Order of Foresters, with the Knights of Pythias and with the Order of the Silver Star. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church.

On September 28, 1886, Thomas W. Treharne was united in marriage to Lillie Cameron, who also was born in Canada, and to this union have been born six children, three of whom are deceased, the living being Horace, who is in the service of the National Army, now (spring of 1918) stationed at Camp Sherman: Thomas, a student in the Beavercreek high school, and Louise, also in school.

CAPT. JOHN N. HANES.

Capt. John N. Hanes, a veteran of the Civil War and a retired farmer of Beavercreek township, now living at Alpha, where he and his brother Perry and their sisters, Mrs. Mary Nogle and Miss Martha Hanes, are domiciled together, was born in Beavercreek township, about a mile south- west of Alpha, February 10, 1834, a son of Jacob and Susan (Coy) Hanes, both of whom were born in that same township, the latter a daughter of Adam Coy. Jacob Hanes was born in 1810, a son of Jacob Hanes, who had come here from Maryland in 1805 and had settled on the farm above referred to, a tract of a fraction under one hundred and twenty-nine acres which is still in the possession of the family, and on which the younger Jacob Hanes spent all his life, his death occurring there in 1882. His widow survived him until 1889. Both are buried in Mt. Zion cemetery. They were the parents of seven children, of whom John N. was the first-born, the others being Catherine, deceased: Albert, who is now living in the Soldiers' home at Dayton; Henry, a retired railroad man, living in the neighborhood of Alpha : and Mrs. Mary Nogle, Miss Martha Jane Hanes and Perry, a bach- elor, who are living with their brother John at Alpha.

Reared on the home farm, John N. Hanes received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and later taught school for one term. He was living on the farm when the Civil War broke out and on November 4, 1861, he enlisted for service in the Union army, going to the front as a member of Company E, Seventy-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served until he received his final discharge at Louisville, Kentucky, July 10, 1865, and two days later, July 12, 1865, received from Governor Brough, of Ohio, his commission as captain. Among the engage- ments in which Captain Hanes's regiment participated may be mentioned Stone's River. Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, Tunnel Hill, Dalton, Buzzard Roost, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Lost Mountain, Chattahoochie River, Peachtree Creek, the siege

CAPT. JOHN N. HANES.

753

GREENE COUNTY, OHIO

of Atlanta, Jonesboro, the march to Savannah, the campaign in the Caro- linas, including Averasborough and Bentonville, and the march to Richmond and thence on to Washington, where Captain Hanes participated in the Grand Review.

Though a participant in the numerous strenuous campaigns on which his regiment was engaged as a part of the Army of the Cumberland, under General Thomas, Captain Hanes came through without a scratch. Upon the completion of his military service he returned home and presently went to Dayton, where he opened an eating house, but six months later gave up that business and resumed his attention to farming, at the same time en- gaging in the livery-stable business. Later he became a carpenter and still later a painter, continuing engaged in the latter vocation for fifteen years. Meanwhile he had continued to retain his interest in the work of the home farm and upon giving up his business as a painter gave his whole attention to the management of the farm, continuing thus engaged until in the sum- mer of 1917. when he erected a house at Alpha and he and his two sisters and his brother Perry are now living there. Captain Hanes is a Republican and has rendered service as a member of the local school board. He is a member of Lewis Post No. 347, Grand Army of the Republic, at Xenia. His sisters and brothers are members of the Reformed church.

OAKEY C. TAYLOR.

Oakey C. Taylor, a soldier of the Union during the Civil War and for the past twelve years a local representative of the Wilson & Barker Mon- ument Company at Jamestown, where he has made his home since 1906, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life with the excep- tion of a couple of years spent in Missouri during his childhood and two or three years spent in Iowa not long after his return from the army. He was born in the neighboring county of Clinton on October 5, 1841, a son of Robert and Mildred (Johnson) Taylor, Virginians, the former of whom was born in the Old Dominion about the year 1788 and whose last days were spent in Illinois.

Robert Taylor was about seventeen years of age when he came with his parents from Virginia to Ohio in 1805, the family locating in that section of the state that in 1810 came to be organized as Clinton county, it having previously been included in the territorial limits of Warren and Highland counties. There he grew to manhood and married Mildred John- son, a member of another of the Virginia families that had settled in that community. He established his home in Clinton county and remained there until 1843, when he disposed of his interests there and moved to Missouri,

(47)

754

GREENE COUNTY, OHIO

where his wife shortly afterward died. He then returned to Clinton county with his children, but presently went to Illinois, where he married again and where he died a few years later, his death occurring in 1848. To Robert and Mildred (Johnson) Taylor were born seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth, the others being James, Catherine and Martha, deceased; Mrs. Rachel Warren, who is liv- ing at Springfield, this state; John, who is dead, and Mrs. Elizabeth Schell, who is living in Iowa.

Oakey C. Taylor was but seven years of age when his father died and he afterward was cared for in the home of his maternal aunt, Elizabeth, and grew up in Clinton county, receiving his schooling in the district schools. He presently became an engineer in a local mill and in 1861 was married. In February, 1865, he enlisted for the term of one year as a soldier of the Union for service during the Civil War and went to the front as a member of the Army of the Potomac, with which command he served until the following May, when he was given his honorable dis- charge by reason of disability on account of illness. Upon his return fron the army Mr. Taylor became engaged in farming in Clinton county and presently moved from there over into Fayette county, where he remained for a year, at the end of which time he moved with his family to Iowa and for two years and six months was engaged in farming in that state. He then returned to Ohio and became engaged in farming in Greene county, but three years later returned to Clinton county and there made his residence for eight years, at the end of which time he came back into Greene county and located on a farm just south of the village of Jamestown, where he remained for twelve years, moving thence to a farm in the vicinity of the village of New Jasper, where he made his home for another period of twelve years, at the end of which time he retired from the farm and moved to Jamestown, where he has since made his home. Upon taking up his residence in Jamestown Mr. Taylor became connected with the operations of the Wilson & Barker Monument Company and has since been acting as a salesman for that con- cern. Mr. Taylor is a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is a Republican and by religious persuasion is a Baptist, a member of the church of that denomination in Silvercreek township.

On November 7, 1861, Oakey C. Taylor was united in marriage to Lucinda McConnell, who was born in this county and who died at Jamestown on October 14, 1908, and is buried in the cemetery at that place. To that union were born three children, namely: Mary Elma, who is keeping house for her father at Jamestown; Rosa, who married T. A. Spahr, of James- town, and has two children, Oakey, who rrarried Minnie Roberts and is living near Jamestown, and Goldie, who married Frank Smith and is also living in the vicinity of Jamestown; and Charles Francis, now living at Xenia,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II, Part 82

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