USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 99
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James A. Ross grew up in his home county in Virginia, married there and remained there until 1847, when he came with his family to Ohio and located on a farm of two hundred and seventy-nine acres in what in 1858 came to be organized as Jefferson township, this county. That farm was partly cleared when he took possession of it and he set about getting the place under way for cultivation, but was struck by a falling tree in 1851, receiving such injuries to his head and breast that he died eighteen months
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later, at twenty-six years of age, leaving his widow with three children, of whom Robert A. was the eldest, the others being Mary, who married Clark Housington and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, and Jennie Virginia, who mar- ried William Raum and also moved to Nebraska, now living in the vicinity of Ft. Robinson, that state. The widow Ross married Edwin Drury, who died at Jamestown, this county, after which she went to California, where she died at the age of seventy-three years. She was a member of the Pres- byterian church. By her second marriage she was the motlier of a son, Edwin D. Drury, who is now living in Oklahoma.
Robert A. Ross was but six or seven years of age when his father died. He received some schooling in the Jamestown schools and when thirteen years of age began working for his grandfather, Robert Ross, remaining on the latter's farm until his marriage when twenty-five years of age, after which he established his home on a farm two miles north of Bowersville, where he remained until his retirement from the farm in 1907 and removal to Bowersville, where he has since resided. Mr. Ross owns a well-kept farm of fifty-seven acres, which is now being operated by his sons, Ralph and Earl, who have rented the place from their father and are successfully operating the same. During his active operations on the farm Mr. Ross gave consider- able attention to the raising of cattle and hogs and did well. He is a Demo- crat and has rendered public service as a member of the Bowersville town council.
On December 28, 1869, Robert A. Ross was united in marriage to Mar- garet Angeline Miller, who also was born in Monroe county, Virginia, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Neal) Miller, and to this union nine children have been born, those besides the two sons, Ralph and Earl, mentioned above. being Bernard Lee, a farmer in the neighboring county of Clinton, who mar- ried Minnie Turner and has three children, Emma, Lila and Ada; Fred, a Bowersville merchant, who married Mary Dubbs and has four children, Mar- garet, Robert, Eugene and Loyal; Hubert, a merchant at Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, who married Lillie Geiger and has two children. Robert G. and Catherine ; Wilbur, dealer in live stock, coal and building material at Bowers- ville, who married Elvie Hussey and has one child, a son, Donald; Carl, employed by Campbell & Company, wholesale grocers at Washington Court House, this state, who married Bertha Furgason and has two children, Evelyn and Gail; Minnie, who married Chester Brown, a farmer of the Port Will- iam neighborhood, and has three children, Hazel, Mary and Jeannette, and Myrtle, who married Howard Bowmaster, now a teacher in the schools of Springfield, this state, and has three children, Dorothy, Elvia and Lowell. Ralph married Burnie Chaney and their two children are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Ross are members of the Methodist Protestant church.
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OSCAR E. BRADFUTE.
For seventy years the Bradfute stock farm in Cedarville township, this county, has been the home of registered cattle, three generations having there carried on their live-stock operations, the present proprietor of the farm, Oscar E. Bradfute, a grandson of the original proprietor, being the owner of one of the oldest Angus herds in the United States. For a series of thirteen years the Ohio State Fair Association offered a silver loving-cup for the grand championship herd of cattle, open to world competition and to any breed of cattle. With his Angus herd Mr. Bradfute won nine of these cups. For three successive years Mr. Bradfute won with his Angus bull, "Lucy's Prince," the grand championship of the world for the Angus breed at the International Live Stock Exposition. "Lucy's Prince" is the only living grand champion bull that has produced grand championship winners, several of his get having been thus honored.
The Bradfute stock farm on Clark's run was founded in 1826 by Will- iam Bradfute, the first man in Greene county to make a specialty of Short- horn cattle, he having started his herd with a couple of heifers of that breed bought in 1847. For forty years, William Bradfute and his son, David Bradfute, the latter of whom succeeded to the business after his father's death in 1872, maintained that Shorthorn herd. In 1887 David Bradfute's son, Oscar E. Bradfute, established on that farm his noted Angus herd, starting with two heifers and a pure-bred herd leader. Mr. Bradfute was one of the organizers of the International Live Stock Exposition held in Chicago in 1900 and has several times served as judge in the cattle depart- ment of that exposition. He also has served as judge of cattle at state fairs in Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York and several other states, and has served as judge at the American Royal Live Stock Show at Kansas City. He was one of the original members of the executive com- mittee of the International Live Stock Exposition and is still a member of the board of directors of the same: is former president of the American Aberdeen-Angus Association and longer than any other member a member of the board of directors of the same; former president of the Ohio Live Stock Association, and a former member of the executive committee of the National Live Stock Association. Mr. Bradfute also for years was a lecturer on the subject of cattle breeding, his lecture-field work having taken him before state breeders associations and state farmers industrial institutes all over the coun- try, as well as before farmers "short courses" in the agricultural colleges of Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska and Pennsylvania. Mr. Bradfute has for years given close attention to educational affairs, being appointed a member of the board of trustees of Ohio State University by Governor Herrick in 1905, and has now been appointed for his third term
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of seven years by Governor Cox; he has been a member of the board of trustees of Cedarville College since 1912: for five years a member of the board of trustees of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station and for some time president of the board; and for the past six years, or ever since that board was created as a separate board under the new law, has been a member of the board of trustees of the Greene County Children's Home. He also is president of the Cedarville Telephone Company. By political per- suasion Mr. Bradfute is a Democrat and in religious belief is a United Pres- byterian, a descendant of Scotch Seceders, and since 1888 has been a mem- ber of the session of the United Presbyterian church at Clifton. Twice presbytery has honored Mr. Bradfute by electing him commissioner to the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian church in the United States, his service in that connection having been rendered in 1895 and 1914.
Oscar E. Bradfute was born in the house in which he still lives, on the old Bradfute farm on Clarks run in Cedarville township, January 21, 1862, son of David and Martha (called Mattie) (Collins) Bradfute, both of whom also were born in this county, the latter a daughter of William and Mary (Galloway) Collins, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. David Bradfute was born at Clifton in 1835. son of William and Elizabeth (Anderson) Bradfute, the latter of whom had come to Ohio with her parents, John Anderson and wife, from Scotland in 1816, she then being twelve years of age, the family settling on a farm in Clark county about three miles north of Clifton. William Bradfute was born in Kentucky in 1798 and was there early orphaned, he and his brother, John, being there- after cared for in the household of their uncle. John Knox, who came with his family from Kentucky up into this valley about the year 1814 and located in the Clifton settlement. There William Bradfute grew to manhood and in 1824 married Elizabeth Anderson. Two years later he bought the farm on Clarks run in Cedarville township now owned by his granddaughter, Lydia (Bradfute) Turnbull, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, William Bradfute dying on January 19, 1872. He and his wife were among the members of the old Seceder or Associate church on Mas- sies creek and after the "union" of 1858 became affiliated with the United Presbyterian church. They were the parents of four children, namely : Nancy, now deceased, who was the wife of James Bryson, also deceased ; Jane, widow of the late John Stevenson, now living at Yellow Springs; David, father of the subject of this sketch, and John A., who died during the middle '6os, before he had reached thirty years of age, and whose widow later moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where she is still living.
David Bradfute grew to manhood on the home farm on Clarks run. After his marriage in the spring of 1861 he established his home on a tract of forty-eight acres, and there began operations on his own account. After
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his father's death in 1872 he bought an additional tract of one hundred and twenty-eight acres of the home place. Previously, after the death of his brother John, he had bought the latter's farm of one hundred acres adjoin- ing and also bought the old Mitchell farm adjoining and certain other pieces of land until he came to be the owner of four hundred and seventy-five acres in Cedarville and Xenia townships. From the time his father had started his Shorthorn herd in 1847 David Bradfute had taken a great interest in the breeding of pure-bred Shorthorns and continued thus engaged until he grad- ually turned the business over to his son Oscar, who took up the Angus strain instead of the Shorthorn and has ever since been developing his herd on the place. Following his son's marriage in 1890 David Bradfute retired from the farm, turning the place over to his son, and moved to Cedarville, where his last days were spent, his death occurring there on August 18, 1913. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church at Clifton and had for years served as a member of the board of trustees of the same. After mov- ing to Cedarville he transferred his membership to the United Presbyterian church there.
David Bradfute was twice married, first on March 19, 1861, to Martha E. Collins, who was born in Cedarville township in 1837, and who died on September 6, 1879, leaving two children, Oscar E. and Lydia, the latter of whom was graduated from Washington Female Seminary, married Frank B. Turnbull, and is now living at Cedarville. In 1883 David Bradfute mar- ried Hannah M. Nisbet, who was born at Cedarville, daughter of Samuel . Nisbet, for many years a merchant in that village. She died in 1898 without issue.
Oscar E. Bradfute received his early schooling in the Clarks run district school and later took a two years' course of instruction at the Clifton high school. He then went to Bloomington, Indiana, where his aunt, Mrs. John Bradfute, was living and finished the course in the high school of that city, meanwhile making his home with his aunt. Thus equipped by preparatory study he entered Indiana University at Bloomington and was graduated from that institution in 1884, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity in the university. Upon leaving the university Mr. Bradfute returned home and resumed his place on the farm, giving his attention particularly to the live-stock side of the operations there, he having during the spring of 1887, after his graduation, bought a couple of Angus heifers and a bull of that breed with the expectation of developing a herd on the home farm. These expectations were realized and in 1889 he made his first exhibit at the Greene county fair. The next year he began to exhibit his herd at state fairs and has ever since been an exhibitor.
On April 10, 1890, Oscar E. Bradfute was united in marriage to Jennie M. Collins, who was born on a farm on the Jamestown pike east of Xenia
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in Xenia township, daughter of John and Mary Collins, the former of whom was a son of Archibald Collins, one of the pioneers of Greene county, and to this union three children have been born, namely: David Collins, born in 1895; Helen, now (1918) a sophomore in Cedarville College, and John Edwin, a senior in the Cedarville high school. David Collins Bradfute entered Cedarville College upon completing the course in the high school at Cedarville and was graduated from that institution in 1915, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts and of Bachelor of the Science of Education. Upon leaving college he was engaged as a teacher in Trumbull county, being employed there in high-school work and was thus engaged when called for service in the national army in 1917.
SAMUEL P. FAULKNER.
The Faulkner family has been prominently represented in Greene county for more than one hundred years, the first of the name to come to this county being Thomas Faulkner, a Virginian, born in Berkeley county on November 8, 1787, who in 1806 came over into this part of Ohio on a pros- pecting trip, arriving here with about one hundred dollars in currency in his possession. He determined permanently to locate here, and two years later, in 1808, he rented for a period of five years a farm on Painters run, in Caesarscreek township, and proceeded to develop the place. In 1810 he married Mary McGuire, a daughter of Jonathan and Catherine McGuire, and in 1816 he purchased a farm in that same township, the place long in the possession of the Haines family and now owned and occupied by Asaph Haines, and there he spent his last days. The brick house Thomas Faulkner erected on that place in 1821 is still standing in an excellent state of preservation. Thomas Faulkner, a son of Robert Faulkner, also was born in western Virginia, and reared a Quaker, but having married a Methodist, he was cast outside the pale of the church in which he had his birthright. He then affiliated with the Campbellites and later went over to the Methodist Episcopal church, but in 1828 he and his wife became connected with the Methodist Protestant church at Paintersville and remained connected there- with the remainder of their lives, he for many years serving as class leader. Thomas Faulkner was a Whig and served as trustee of his home township. Ie died on April 16, 1871, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, and his widow survived him for more than two years, being past eighty-three years of age at the time of her death on July 5, 1873. They were the parents of eight children, of whom six grew to maturity, Jonathan, Mrs. Elizabeth Conklin, Mrs. Lucinda Painter, Allen, David and Mrs. Mary Way.
David Faulkner, son of Thomas and Mary (McGuire) Faulkner, was
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born in 1816 and grew up on the home place in Caesarscreek township, receiving his schooling in the little log school house of that neighborhood. He remained at home until after his marriage when he began farming on his own account, locating on a farm in the woods on the Hussey pike, near where his son Samuel now lives, and afterward occupied one or two other farms in that vicinity until presently he bought the farm now owned by his son Samuel and there established his home, he and his wife spending the rest of their lives there. David Faulkner was a Republican and served as township trustee and a school director. He died at the age of seventy-six years and his widow survived him for some years, being eighty-four years of age at the time of her death. They were members of the Methodist church at Paintersville. Late in life David Faulkner became affiliated with the Prohibition party and was an active worker in the cause of temperance. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, namely: Mary, who is living in Caesarscreek township, widow of Francis Linkhart; Harvey C., farming a part of the old home place, and who has been twice married, his first wife having been Sarah Elizabeth Haines and his second, Cora Smith; Caroline, also living in Caesarscreek township, widow of Joseph DeVoe, and a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Samuel P., the immediate subject of this sketch; Elijah B., now living at South Carrollton; Harriet Ann, who married Thomas Linkhart and is now deceased, and Elizabeth, now living at Xenia and who has been twice mar- ried, her first husband having been Zimri Haines and her second, John Ander- son.
Samuel P. Faulkner, son of David and Emily Jane Faulkner, was born in Caesarscreek township on January 12, 1847, and was educated in the neighborhood schools. He grew up a practical farmer, and has always fol- lowed that vocation, though in recent years he has been living practically retired from active labor, turning the management of the farmi over to his son Luther, who is married and continues to make his home there. Mr. Faulkner remained with his parents after his marriage, caring for them in their declining years, and has been a resident of the farm on which he is living for more than fifty years. He has a valuable farm of one hundred and ninety-six acres and in addition to his general farming he has always given considerable attention to the raising of live stock. He is a Republican and has held some township offices. He is a member of the Methodist Protestant church at Paintersville, and has ever taken a proper part in church work, as did his faithful wife and helpmate who died more than two years ago and who was held in high esteem in the community in which she sbent all her life.
In August, 1876, Samuel P. Faulkner was united in marriage to Martha
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Painter, who was born on the old Painter homestead in the Paintersville neighborhood in Caesarscreek township and who died at her home in that same township in September, 1915, being fifty-seven years of age. She was a daughter of David and Mary (Frazer) Painter, both of whom also were born in this county, members of pioneer families. The Painters have been represented in Greene county for more than one hundred years, the first of the name here being David and Patsey (Faulkner) Painter, who came from Virginia into Ohio with a party of other Quaker families in the spring of 1802 and located in what is now the vicinity of Waynesville, in the county of Warren. Coming up thence into Greene county, they set- tled on a farm about a half mile north of where the village of Paintersville later arose and there established their home. There David Painter developed a farm and became a man of influence in his community, and there he and his wife spent their last days. They had four children, Hannah, Jesse, Thomas and Jacob. Jesse Painter laid out the townsite of Paintersville on the old home farm. He also spent the rest of his life on the old home place, his death occurring there on September 12, 1867. He had married Elizabeth Smith and to that union were born nine children, Rachel, David, Samuel, Martha, Mordecai, Rebecca, Theresa, Joseph and Hannah. David Painter, named in honor of his pioneer grandfather, grew up on the home farm and became in time a farmer on his own account, after his marriage to Mary Frazer establishing his home on a farm in that neighborhood. He died there in 1863, at the age of forty-five years, and his widow sur- vived him for more than thirty years, she being seventy-seven years of age at the time of her death in 1897. They were the parents of eight children, Deborah S., who married Mordecai Walker; Berthena, who married William Davis; Lydia, who died unmarried; Jesse S., who became a substantial farmer, continuing his residence on the old home place; Mary Frances, who married David Parlott: Moses F., who moved to Indiana; Martha, who married Samuel P. Faulkner, and David, who established his home in Spring Valley township.
To Samuel P. and Martha ( Painter) Faulkner were born three children, namely : Luther D. Faulkner, now managing his father's home farm, making his home there, who married Grace Ary, also a member of one of Greene county's pioneer families, and has four children, Delma, Charles, Ronald and Raymond : Minnie, who married Thomas Jones, a machinist, who is oper- ating a garage at Paintersville, making his home at the Faulkner home, and has three children, Verna. Helen and Glenn, and Minnie, who married William Smith, a farmer living in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood, and has four children, Marvin, Harold, Florence and Darcy.
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SOLON CARROLL.
Solon Carroll, a veteran of the Civil War and for many years actively engaged as a millwright and carpenter, and living retired in Spring Valley township, this county, has lived in this state all his life. He was born in Belmont county on May 25, 1838, son of Joseph and Elizabeth Carroll, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania and who became early settlers in Belmont county, this state. Joseph Carroll was a nailmaker by trade and also a landowner and farmer. He and his wife were Quakers. Upon leav- ing Belmont county they went to Indiana and after three years there returned to Ohio and for a time were residents of Clinton county, later moving to Highland county, where their last days were spent. They were the parents of ten children, three of whom are still living, Solon Carroll having a brother, Joseph Carroll, and a sister, Rebecca, wife of Dr. Robert P. Mur- ray, of Zanesville, in Wells county, Indiana.
In 1843 Joseph Carroll moved with his family to Indiana and settled at Hartford City, then a mere hamlet, Solon Carroll being then but five years of age. They returned to Ohio three years later and he grew up on a farm five miles west of Wilmington, in Clinton county, in the schools of which neighborhood he received his schooling, and was living there when the Civil War broke out. On July 31, 1861, he enlisted for service in behalf of the cause of the Union and went to the front as a member of Company H, Thirty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served until his return home on August 28, 1864. Mr. Carroll partici- pated in many of the important engagements and battles of the war. Mr. Carroll had many narrow escapes, but got back without having suffered any serious wounds. As a young man he had learned the trade of mill- wright and carpenter and upon his return to Clinton county at the conclu- sion of his military service he resumed this vocation and did work all over this section of the state, including work for I. M. Barrett, of the Spring Valley mills, four years for the Great Western Powder Company and for some years was employed as foreman of bridge construction for the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company. In 1907 Mr. Carroll retired from active labor and has since been living retired at his home in the vicinity of the delight- ful village of Spring Valley.
Mr. Carroll has been twice married. In 1865, in Clinton county, he was united in marriage to Deborah Peebles, who was born in St. George county, Virginia, and who when a girl had come with her parents to Ohio, the family settling in Clinton county. To that union were born three chil- dren. Warren, a traveling salesman, now living at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Clarence, who died at the age of thirty-two years, and William, who is the
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foreman of a tool-making establishment at Dayton. The mother of these sons died in Dayton and on July 11, 1898, Mr. Carroll married Ella McClem- ent, who was born in Philadelphia, daughter of Thomas and Catherine McClement, the former of whom was born in Scotland, who later became residents of Dayton, where their last days were spent. Mr. and Mrs. Car- roll are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mr. Carroll is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Spring Valley.
WINFIELD SCOTT RITENOUR, M. D.
Dr. Winfield Scott Ritenour, a progressive young physician at Xenia, where he also is actively connected with the staff of the McClellan Hospital, was born at Grape Grove, in Ross township, July 17, 1890, son of Melvin D. and Anna M. (Brock) Ritenour, both of whom were members of old families here.
Melvin D. Ritenour was born in Ross township, in 1851, a son of Daniel P. Ritenour and wife, the former of whom came to Greene county with three brothers in 1848 and settled in Ross township, where he became a substantial farmer. He and his wife were members of the Christian church. Their son, Melvin D. Ritenour, became a farmer and dealer in live stock, establishing his home on a farm in Ross township after his marriage. He was a Democrat and he and his wife were members of the Christian church. There were five children born to them, of whom Doctor Ritenour was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow: T. P., principal of the high school at Whitehouse, Lucas county, this state: Charles N., a farmer, living in the vicinity of Jeffersonville, Fayette county; Myrtle, born in 1886, who died in 1907, and Coleman Younger Ritenour, a farmer, living at Jamestown, this county. Melvin D. Ritenour died in January, 1916, and his widow is still living, now making her home, as noted above, at James- town. She was born, Anna M. Brock, in Ross township, this county, daugh- ter of Francis Asbury and Lovisa (Kelly) Brock, the former of whom also was born in this county and the latter in the neighboring county of Clark. daughter of Stewart and Elizabeth (Driscoll) Kelly, and a first cousin of Oliver S. Kelly, one of the most noted of the early manufacturers of the city of Springfield: Stewart Kelly, a son of James and Catherine (Stewart) Kelly, natives of Scotland and the former of whom was a soldier of the patriot army during the War of the Revolution.
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