USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 98
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Daniel E. Spahr grew up on the home farm and received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood. On August 26, 1852, he married Nancy Fudge and later established his home on the farm of one hundred and
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seven acres he had bought a half mile east of his father's place and there spent the rest of his life. He was a Republican and he and his wife were mem- bers of the New Jasper Methodist Episcopal church, he being for years a teacher in the Sunday school. To Daniel E. and Nancy (Fudge) Spahr were born six children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the others being the following: George H., a school teacher and landowner, who died at Warren, Indiana, in July, 1917; William A., a retired farmer. of this county, now living at New Jasper; Albert H., also a retired farmer, now living at Dayton; Charles E., a farmer, living at Bowersville, and Sarah C., wife of George Camden, of New Jasper.
Daniel O. Spahr was reared on the home farm and received a good edu- cation in the schools of that neighborhood. When twenty years of age he was given charge of his father's farm and after his marriage, when twenty- two years of age, continued to make his home there, operating the farm until his father's death, after which he rented the place from his mother and con- tinued to live there until 1906, when he bought a tract of one hundred and fifty-two acres of his grandfather Spahr's old place west of there and on that place made his home until 1915, when he turned the management of the farm over to his son, Raymond G. Spahr, and moved to the village of New Jasper, where he had since made his home. Mr. Spahr is an ardent Repub- lican. For some time he served as constable of the township and then was elected township trustee, a position he held by successive re-elections for thirteen years and to the duties of which important office he gave his most intelligent and painstaking attention. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper and he is one of the stewards of the church.
On January 20, 1886, Daniel O. Spahr was united in marriage to Clara A. Gordon, who was born at Grape Grove, in Ross township, this county, daughter of Enos and Mary Jane (Downey) Gordon, and to this union six children have been born, namely: Roy C., born on June 12, 1887, who com- pleted his schooling at Antioch College and for a time taught school, now living at Xenia, who married Bessie Mitchner and has two children, Helen and Marvin ; Bessie Belle, July 27, 1888, who also finished her schooling at Antioch and for a time taught school and who married Homer Rogers, a bookkeeper in the Peoples Bank at Jamestown, and has one child, a son, Leslie; Lela Edna, September 3, 1889, who also attended Antioch and taught school and who married Robie Bartlett, of Xenia township, and has four children, Melville, Williard, Lenora and Vesper: Raymond G., September 23, 1890, who, as noted above, is now operating his father's farm and who married Clara Conklin and has one child, a son, Russell: Russell Osco, April 20, 1898, who died on November 9, 1899; and Reva Clare, April 1, 1903. now a student in the Xenia high school.
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Enos Gordon, father of Mrs. Spahr, was born in the neighboring county of Clark on October 15, 1842, and died at his home in Jamestown, this county, where his widow now lives, December 2, 1916. Mrs. Gordon was born in Ross township, this county, October 3, 1842, and has lived in this county all lier life. Enos Gordon was a son of George and Margaret Ann (Miller) Gordon, both of whom were born in the Donnelsville neighborhood in Bethel township. Clark county, and who not long after their marriage became resi- dents of Ross township, this county. After his marriage Enos Gordon for some time continued farming in Ross township and then bought a farm in Silvercreek township, making his home there until his retirement and removal to Jamestown, where his last days were spent and where his widow is still living. To Enos and Mary (Downey) Gordon were born five children, those besides Mrs. Spahr, the eldest, being Emma, wife of George A. Miller, of Marion county, Illinois; Viola, who is living in New Jasper township, widow of Addison Strong; Luella, wife of Elmer Hargrave, of Sabina, in the neighboring county of Clinton, and Archie, a dairyman and stock buyer at Jamestown.
H. GLEN SHEPARD, D. V. S.
H. Glen Shepard, well-known veterinary surgeon at Osborn, was born on a farm in Wayne township, Montgomery county, January 14, 1876, son and only child of John William and Naomi Shepard, both of whom were born in that same county and are still living there on a farın.
Reared on the home farm, H. Glen Shepard received his schooling in the schools of his home neighborhood and was from boyhood a valned assistant to his father on the farm. He later became employed with the Davis Bicycle Company and while thus engaged became one of the most famous amateur bicycle racers in the Middle West, in 1897 winning the championship in the tri-state (Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky) road race between Dayton and Cincinnati. For three years (1896-98) Mr. Shepard continued active as a bicycle racer and during that period broke three records. In the meantime he had been turning his attention from the bicycle to the horse and entered the veterinary department of Ohio State University at Columbus, being graduated from that institution in 1904, with the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Surgery. The Doctor opened an office at Osborn and has ever since been engaged in the veterinary practice there, having had an extensive practice throughout the counties of Greene, Montgomery. Miami and Clark.
O11 October 30, 1904, Dr. H. Glen Shepard was united in marriage to Jennie Edna Hare, who was born in Columbus, this state, daughter of Edward and Martha Hare, the former of whom was born at Reading,
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Pennsylvania, and the latter, at Beecher City, Illinois, who, after their marriage, located at Columbus, where Edward Hare spent his last days and where his widow is still living. Doctor and Mrs. Shepard have one child, a daughter, Helen Verna. The Doctor is a Republican and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, past noble grand of the same; a member of the Woodmen of the World, through all the chairs of which he also has passed, and is also a member of the Junior Order of United Ameri- can Mechanics.
SILAS M. MURDOCK.
Silas M. Murdock, one of the best-known and most substantial farmers of Cedarville township and the proprietor of the old Judge Kyle homestead place, in that township, was born in Wayne township, in the county of Clin- ton, but has been a resident of Greene county and of the Cedarville neigh- borhood ever since he was a boy. He was born on July 4, 1848, son of Rob- ert and Elizabeth ( Richards) Murdock, both of whom were born in the same parish, in the vicinity of Ballymony, in County Antrim, Ireland, and whose last days were spent in the village of Cedarville, in this county.
Robert Murdock was a son of John Murdock and wife, who spent all their lives in their native Ireland and who were the parents of eight children, Martha, Robert, Jane, Willianı, John, Thomas, Nancy and another, all of whom came to the United States save William and Nancy. Robert Murdock was twenty years of age when he came to this country in 1825, landing in the city of Philadelphia, where he secured employment. There he met and married Elizabeth Richards, who was born in the same parish as was he, but whom he had never met in the old country. After their marriage, about the year 1835, Robert Murdock and his wife came to Ohio and located in Wayne township. Clinton county, where Robert Murdock bought a tract of two hun- dred and twenty-five acres, on which he continued to reside until he sold the place and came with his family. to Greene county, buying a farm of one hun- dred and seventeen acres in Cedarville township, where he made his home until his retirement from the farm and removal to Cedarville, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, his death occurring there in 1876, he then being seventy-five years of age. His widow survived him for nearly twenty years, her death occurring in 1895, she then being eighty- two years of age. Robert Murdock and his wife were members of the Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) church and their children were reared in accordance with the rigid tenets of that faith. There were six of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the last-born, the others being as follow: John, now deceased, who formerly was the owner of the farm on which Silas M. Murdock now lives; the Rev. David Murdock, a
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minister of the Reformed Presbyterian church, now living retired at Howard Lake, Minnesota ; Mary, unmarried, who is living at Cedarville; Martha, now deceased, who was the wife of James McMillan, a farmer living two or three miles east of Cedarville, and Hugh, a well-known Cedarville township farmer, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume.
Silas M. Murdock was born in a log house and his first schooling was received in a little log school house in Wayne township, Clinton county. He was nine years of age when his parents moved with their family into Greene county and the rest of his schooling was received in the Kyle school house in Cedarville township. As the youngest son, he remained on the farm dur- ing the days of his young manhood and after his marriage in 1871 he con- tinued to make his home there, his father retiring and moving to Cedarville about that time. His first wife died in 1879 and the next year he left the farm and went to Cedarville, where he remained until 1887, when he bought from his brother John the farm on which he ever since has made his home, the old Judge Kyle place of one hundred and thirty-eight acres on the Kyle road in Cedarville township, and which John Murdock had improved in excellent shape, having erected there in 1883 a fine brick house, which still stands. The old barn on the place was destroyed by fire in 1908 and in that same year Mr. Murdock erected a substantial new barn. Mr. Murdock is progressive and in addition to his general farming he has given consider- able attention to the raising of Merino sheep.
Mr. Murdock has been twice married. On January 13, 1871, he was united in marriage to Jennie Little, daughter of Robert and Mary Little, and to that union was born a son, Robert Walter Little; on June 19, 1875, who died at his father's home, unmarried, July 30, 1917. Mrs. Jennie Murdock died on March 4, 1879, and on October 18, 1883. Mr. Murdock married Mary Helen Andrew, who was born at Preston, Indiana, August 19, 1846, daughter of Thomas Scott and Jane Elder ( McClellan ) Andrew, the former of whom was born in this county and the latter, at Wooster, in Wayne county, this state. Thomas Scott Andrew was born on a pioneer farm in Xenia township, this county, in 1816, son of James Andrew and wife, the latter of whom was a Scott, who came to Greene county from the Caro- linas and established their home on a farm on the Fairfield pike in Xenia township in the first decade of the past century. James Andrew and his wife were Seceders and active members of the old church of that faith in the com- munity in which they lived. Thomas S. Andrew grew to manhood on the old home place and married Jane Elder Mcclellan. who was born at Wooster in 1817, daughter of John McClellan and wife, the latter of whom was an Elder, natives of Scotland, who had come to Greene county from Wayne county and had settled on a farm five miles south of Xenia. After his mar- riage Thomas S. Andrew went to Indiana, where he remained for two or
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three years, at the end of which time he returned to this county and bought a farm of one hundred and fifty-two acres three miles west of Cedarville. in the township of that name, where he made his home until 1867, when he disposed of his interests there and moved over into Montgomery county, where he bought another farm and where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring there in 1888. His widow survived him for six years, her death occurring in 1894. They were members of the United Presbyterian church. There were five of their children, of whom Mrs. Murdock was the second in order of birth, the others being as follow: John, now deceased, a veteran of the Civil War, who was wounded at the battle of Murfreesboro and who upon his return from the army went to St. Louis, where he engaged in the drug business and where he spent the rest of his life, his death occur- ring there in 1904; James H. and Thomas Beveridge, who are engaged in the mercantile business at Cedarville, under the firm name of Andrew Brothers, and Elizabeth, wife of W. B. Stevenson, of Cedarville.
To Silas M. and Mary Helen ( Andrew) Murdock three children have been born, namely: Ralph Andrew Murdock, unmarried, who is operating a garage at Cedarville, continuing to make his home with his parents; Ina May, who was graduated from Cedarville College in 1907 and is at home, and Elizabeth Jane, wife of the Rev. Walter W. Horton, pastor of the United Presbyterian church at Alberton, Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Murdock are members of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville.
JOHN F. COY.
John F. Coy, farmer and cement contractor, living on rural mail route No. 12 out of Dayton, a resident of Beavercreek township, this county, was born in that township on October 10, 1852, son of Jacob H. and Rebecca H. Coy, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, together with a general history of the pioneer Coy family in this county. Reared on the home farm in Beavercreek township, John F. Coy received his schooling in the common schools and after his marriage in 1877 began farming on his own account in Montgomery county and continued thus engaged until his wife's death in 1895, after which he moved to Dayton, where he became engaged in operating a sand pit. Not long afterward he took up general contracting in cement work and continued in this latter line for about seven years, or until 1912, when he returned to farming and has since made his home with his brother, Charles Coy, in Beavercreek township, later also resuming his former vocation as a cement contractor. Mr. Coy is a Republican.
In March. 1877, John F. Coy was united in marriage to Martha Ellen Merrick, who also was born in this county, daughter of John and Mary E.
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(Prugh) Merrick, and who died in 1895. To that union were born three chil- dren, Arlie M., now living in Dayton, who married Stella Banky and has three children, Leona, Elmer and Orville; Lucy, wife of Van Hollingin, of Day- ton, and Margaret, wife of J. T. Seber, a railroad conductor living at Dayton.
RAYMOND W. SMITH, M. D.
The late Dr. Raymond W. Smith, of Spring Valley, who died on August 18, 1916, was a native son of Ohio and had lived in this state all his life, a resident of Greene county since the days of his young manhood. He was born on a farm southeast of Hillsboro, in Highland county, November 30, 1862, son of Henry B. and Elizabeth C. (Griffith) Smith, both of whom also were born in Highland county, who are now living retired at Spring Valley, in this county, where they have resided since 1905.
Henry B. Smith was born on July 9, 1832, son of Henry and Lydia (Bane) Smith, the former of whom was a native of Virginia and the latter of Maryland, who came to Ohio in 1815, by way of Kentucky, and settled on a farm in the neighborhood of Hillsboro, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and were the parents of ten children. Aquilla, Parmelia, Elizabeth, John, Richard, Clinton, Catherine, Russell, Henry B. and Wesley. Henry B. Smith grew up on the home farm and remained there until his marriage in the spring of 1855. after which he located on a farm in the vicinity of the village of Marshall in his home county and there became engaged in farming, the owner of a fine place of one hundred and three acres, on which he and his wife resided until their retirement from the farm and removal to Spring Valley in 1905. He is a Democrat and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
It was on May 11, 1855, that Henry B. Smith was united in marriage to Elizabeth C. Griffith, who was born on a farm in the vicinity of Marshall. in Highland county, this state, daughter of William H. and Margaret D. (Howe) Griffith, the former of whom was a native of Kentucky and the latter of Virginia, who were married in Highland county, where their re- spective parents had settled in pioneer days. Of the eleven children born to William H. Griffith and wife five grew to maturity, those besides Mrs. Smith being R. H., Arminta, Lottie and John F. To Henry B. and Eliza- beth C. (Griffith) Smith were born ten children, nine of wohm grew to maturity, namely: Prof. Russell Smith, who married Emma Cluxton and is now living in Cleveland, a teacher in the high school in that city: Prof. William Smith, principal of the high school at Dallas, Texas, who married Lulu McMurry, of New Jasper; Lettie, who married A. A. Monett and is
R.l. Samth
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now living at Reno, Nevada; Emsley O., deceased; Dr. Raymond W. Smith, the immediate subject of this memorial sketch; Prof. John Smith, who married Olive Tingle, also a teacher, and is now teaching in the schools of Brookville, this state; E. D. Smith, who married Martha Frazer and is engaged in the practice of law at Xenia; Harley Smith, also of Xenia, formerly a teacher, who has been twice married, his first wife having been Emma Shidaker and his second, Mrs. Snyder; and Carrie, wife of Allan McLean, a Xenia undertaker.
Raymond W. Smith received an excellent education in the days of his youth and early began teaching school, for some years being thus en- gaged at New Jasper, in this county. After his marriage in 1888 he con- tinued teaching, meanwhile giving his attention to the study of medicine, and presently entered the Louisville Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1893. Upon receiving his diploma. Doctor Smith located at Spring Valley, where he continued successfully engaged in the practice of his profession until his death in the summer of 1916, a period of twenty- three years of continuous practice in the same place. During that long period of unselfish labor Dr. Smith endeared himself to the whole commu- nity and his passing was sincerely mourned. The Doctor was ever a helpful force in his community and as one of the county newspapers, in an appre- ciation published after his death, said: "The many things of this commu- nity that he helped to formulate and mold will miss the forcefulness of his touch." The Doctor was a successful business man as well as a practi- tioner and besides the property he had in Spring Valley was the owner of some valuable farm lands. He was a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Junior Order of American Mechanics, and was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is his widow. The Doctor's relations with his church were of a peculiarly close character and, as the newspaper appreciation above quoted said follow- ing his death: "The church of this community is at this time by his removal facing a peculiar and awful vacancy, for one of its most interested and benef- icent friends has gone to take his place in the Infinite Bliss of the Great Beyond."
Since her husband's death Mrs. Smith has continued to make her home in Spring Valley, where she has long been very pleasantly situated. Doctor Smith was much attached to his home and in that connection it is not re- garded as unseemly to quote further from the newspaper article above men- tioned, which said of him that "his going away from us is to leave a home and a family he most dearly loved; for the environments give evidence that no sacrifice was too great for him to make." Mrs. Smith was married on August 23, 1888. She was born in this county, Mattie D. Mann, daughter
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of George and Rachel (Kearns) Mann, the former of whom also was born in this county, son of pioneer parents in Spring Valley township, and the latter in the vicinity of Newark, this state. George Mann was a successful farmer in the vicinity of New Burlington. He and his wife were the pa- rents of four children, as will be noted in a history of the Mann family in this county set out elsewhere in this volume. To Doctor and Mrs. Smith were born two sons, Carl Emsley and George Henry, the latter of whom received his schooling in the Spring Valley schools, the Xenia high school and at Cedarville College and is now living at home. Carl Emsley Smith, who was educated at Antioch College and at the Ohio State University, is now (1918) serving with the National Army, attached to the supply corps of the Three Hundred and Twenty-second United States Field Artillery, in the war against Germany.
CHARLES N. SMITH.
Charles N. Smith, a veteran of the Civil War and one of the best-known citizens of Greene county, a retired farmer and active trader, now living at Jamestown, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm in New Jasper township on November 9, 1841, son of Daniel and Lucinda (Spahr) Smith, the latter of whom also was born in this county, a member of one of the first families to settle in Xenia township.
Daniel Smith was born in Virginia in 1803 and was but three months of age when his parents came to Ohio with their family and settled in Greene county, where he grew to manhood and became a successful farmer, the proprietor of a farm of five hundred or six hundred acres. Daniel Smith died on the home farm in New Jasper township about 1873. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this sketchi was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow: Silas, deceased; James M., deceased; David S., deceased; Mrs. Mary E. Brown, of New Jasper township; Daniel B., of Xenia; Jacob N., of Xenia: Mrs. Alice St. Jolin, deceased, and Mathias, the present superintendent of the county farm.
Reared on the home farm in New Jasper township. Charles N. Smith received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and was early trained in the ways of practical farming. He was but nineteen years of age when the Civil War broke out and on October 9, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Seventy-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served until his honorable discharge in January, 1864. He immediately re-enlisted and continued serving until the close of the war, receiving his final discharge on July 25. 1865, after a service of nearly four years. Mr.
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Smith participated in Sherman's memorable march to the sea, was captured by the enemy and was confined in Libby Prison, having been one of the last prisoners released from that historic place of detention. Upon the com- pletion of his military service Mr. Smith returned home and not long after- ward was married and settled down on his grandfather's old place in New Jasper township, where he continued successfully engaged in farming and trading until his retirement from the farm and removal about 1890 to the village of Jamestown, where he ever since has made his home. For the past thirty-five years Mr. Smith has served as assessor of the township. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and, fraternally, is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the oldest member of the latter order in Greene county. Mr. Smith is an ardent dis- ciple of Izaak Walton, it being his custom to go away to Michigan every summer on a fishing trip.
As noted above, it was not long after his return from the army that Mr. Smith was married. His wife died at Jamestown on April 15, 1908. She also was born in this county, Hulda W. Browser, daughter of Thomas Y. and Sarah (Hurley) Browser. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born three children, Lester A., Minnie B. and Sarah L., the latter of whom is living at home with her father. Lester A. Smith, who is also living at Jamestown, married Lillian Weed and has one child, a daughter, Martha. Minnie B. Smith married Thomas Riggs, of Dayton, and has one child, a son, Jack Nelson.
ROBERT A. ROSS.
Robert A. Ross, a well-known farmer and landowner of Greene county, now. living retired at Bowersville, his farm two miles north of that village being operated by his sons, Ralph and Earl Ross, was born in Monroe county, Virginia (now in West Virginia), July 3, 1845, son of James A. and Martha (Nickell) Ross, both of whom were born in that same county, the former a son of Robert Ross, who came to Ohio and became a resident of Greene county.
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