History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Part 115

Author: Chester E. Bryan
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1207

USA > Ohio > Madison County > History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions > Part 115

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CLOUDE L. SMITH.

One of the most extensive farmers of Madison county, Ohio, is Cloude L. Smith, the member of the firm of Smith & Houston, breeders of Percheron and Belgian horses, and the operators of "Houstonia Farm," No. 6, comprising one thousand and eighty- four acres. This tract includes the old Robert Dunn homestead, in Somerford township, and is a part of the great "Houstonia Farm" of fifty-two hundred acres The opera- tions carried by Messrs. Smith and Houston are little short of gigantic. They have eleven head of registered Belgian horses, nine head of registered Percheron mares, and. five stallions on the farm, all of which are purebreds Altogether they keep one hun- dred and twelve head of horses, all of which are very high grade. For some time they have been engaged in raising cattle and hogs, and turned off on an average three hundred head of hogs every year. Stock breeding was begun as an important depart- ment in the operation of this great farm about five years ago.

Cloude L. Smith, one of the enterprising managers of this immense farm, was born on August 12, 1886, in Ross county, Ohio, and came to Madison county some years ago to take charge of this farm. He is a young man who is well experienced in the stock business and he came here especially to take charge of this department of the farm work. Twenty men are employed on "Houstonia Farm" No. 6, and crops are rotated on the three-year plan .. There is grown on this tract about three hundred acres each of corn, wheat and clover annually.

Mr. Smith has exhibited live stock at all the fairs in this section of the state, and in all classes, including the county and state fairs. In 1914 he won a total of more than one hundred ribbons at the various fairs where his stock was shown.

On December 24, 1911, Cloude L. Smith was married, in Madison county, to Ola O'Donnell, the daughter of Patrick O'Donnell, of Deer Creek township, where Mrs. Smith was born and reared. They have no children.

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CLOUDE L. SMITH

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Cloude L. Smith is identified with the Republican party, and takes an active and interested part in all public measures having for their object the welfare and better- ment of his community. He is a member of the Houstonia Athletic Club and the Social Club at South Charleston.

DAVID O. KEEFER.

Madison county has few farmers who better understand all of the aspects of present- day agriculture than David O. Keefer, the manager of the Thomas Babs estate, con- sisting of two hundred and eighty-nine acres, located in Somerford township. Here Mr. Keefer has lived for the past twelve years, engaged in general farming and stock raising. He raises large quantities of grain and feeds most of his grain to hogs. He pays cash rent for the Thomas Babs farm.

David O. Keefer was born on October 28, 1856, in Carroll county, Maryland, and at the age of six years was brought to Madison county, Ohio, by his parents, William and Rebecca Keefer, the former of whom died at Newport at the age of fifty-three, and the latter is still living in London.

Mr. Keefer has spent practically all of his life in Madison county. He began, early in life, working out on the neighboring farms, but for the past eighteen years has managed the operations of various farms in Madison county. He has lived on the present farm for the past twelve years.

At the age of twenty-four, David O. Keefer was married to Mary Mills, of Pickaway county. Mr. and Mrs. Keefer have been the parents of four children, namely. Roy, who lives in London; Pearl, who lives at home on the farm and works with his father; Walter and Mabel, at home with their parents.

Mr. Keefer has never taken an active part in political or religious affairs, but has devoted his time almost exclusively to farming, a vocation which he truly loves and one in which he has made very satisfactory progress.

CHARLES HENRY WALLACE.

Charles Henry Wallace, a successful stockman and farmer of Summerford, was born in Somerford township, ou a part of the old Wilson farm, January 22 1860. He is the son of Mark and Harriet ( Littler) Wallace, natives of Pennsylvania and Virginia, respectively.

Mark Littler was brought hy his parents, Joshua and Matilda Littler, to Madison county when a child. He was a farmer in this county and died at an advanced age. Mark Littler served three years and six months in the Civil War as a member of the One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment. Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged for disability. having been wounded at the battle of Chickamauga by the bursting of a shell. He was wounded in the hip and remained an invalid for twenty years. He died on his home farm, a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic. His wife had died several years before. They had a family of four children: Joshua, who is unmarried, lives in London : Charles H. is the subject of this sketch; George W. was a farmer and died at Plumwood, at the age of forty-four; Pauline is the wife of Matt Landers, who lives near Plumwood, Ohio.

Charles Henry Wallace lived at home with his parents until he was eighteen years of age. Afterward he spent two years in Champaign county. There he reuted land and farmed for two years. Upon returning to Madison county he operated the Joe Ward farm, but after working for wages for one year he spent two years in Van Wert county. Selling out there he purchased a home in Summerford and for the next five years (49)

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operated one of the farms owned by Mrs. Lucy Beach. While Mr. Wallace has con- tinued to farm he has bought and sold several tracts of land. After spending another year in Van Wert county he bought the old Kennedy farm, which is now known as the Clay Rogers farm. Mr. Wallace's father had formerly owned this farm. It is set in catalpas and is a fine tract of growing timber. Mr. Wallace has bought and sold many thousand mules and draft horses. He keeps a Missouri jack and as far as he can encourages the raising of mules in this county.

Not only does Mr. Wallace raise mules on his own farm, but also buys and sells them in large numbers. He is interested in several small tracts of farm real estate, and owns a tract of five acres where he lives. During late years he has been engaged ir: buying young mules, breaking them to the harness and then selling them in broken teams. His brother has been associated with him in this business. Frequently they get as high as five hundred dollars for a team of good mules and as much as six hun- dred dollars for a team of draft horses. Mr. Wallace keeps from twenty to thirty head of horses all the time. Corn raised on his farm is fed to the hogs.

Charles H. Wallace was married, when still a young man, to Addie Kelley, who died nineteen years ago, leaving three children: Will lives at London; Mark is a molder at Springfield; Belva is the wife of Frank Pyles, of Springfield. Some years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Wallace was married, in 1901, to Ada (Burt) Brunty, widow of Thomas Brunty. Mr. and Mrs. Brunty had two children, Nora and Floyd. The former is in London and the latter lives with Mr. Wallace. To this second marriage there have been born two children, Isabel and Alice, both of whom are attending school. Charles Henry Wallace is a Democrat.

DANIEL LUCY.

The proprietor of "Diamond Rock Stock Farm" in Somerford township, a magnifi- cent tract of one hundred and seven acres, devoted to general farming and stock raising, Daniel Lucy was born near Danville, Madison county, June 24, 1863, the son of John and Laura (Campbell) Lucy. John Lucy was a native of County Cork, Ireland, but was married in the state of Ohio.

For some years John Lucy worked on the Gwynne farm, in Deer Creek township. After his marriage, however, he settled on the farm where Daniel Lucy now lives. When Daniel was a child the family moved to Clark county and settled on a farm two miles west of the village of Summerford. There John Lucy spent his life on a farm of one hundred and eighty-six acres, most of which he cleared out of the famous Bailey woods. At the time of his death, in May, 1898, at the age of eighty years, he had almost all of the farm under cultivation. He also laid a great deal of tile and had good buildings on the farm. Mrs. Laura (Campbell) Lucy died some years before her hus- band. They were the parents of six children, as follow: Michael, who is in the rail- road service at Missouri Valley, Iowa; Daniel is the subject of this sketch; Dennis is a thresherman of Clark county and owns two farms, eighty acres in Somerford township. and a farm in Pleasant township, Clark county; Lizzie is unmarried and lives in Lon- don; Ella is the wife of John Kennedy, who owns the old home farm and resides in Springfield; Ohio; and Cornelius, who was a farmer, died at the age of thirty years

Daniel Lucy remained at home until his father's death, when he moved to his present farm. It is the old Samuel Prugh farm and is located on the Markley road. It had a good house when Mr. Lucy received the farm and also a good barn, which was burned. The present barn was built in 1904. It is a bank barn, thirty-six by fifty-eight feet. Besides the home farm of one hundred and seven acres which Mr. Lucy owns, he also owns eighty-seven acres about a mile distant. He breeds Duroc- Jersey hogs and feeds them for the market. Practically all of the stock raised and fed

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on the farm is purebred. The Lucy farm is well equipped for stock raising, since the water is piped to the house and barn from the very finest springs, being forced by a hydraulic ram installed in 1904. A large tank is situated in the barn and from this tank water is drawn for the stock.

Daniel Lucy has never been married. He is a member of St. Patrick's Catholic church at London. He votes the Democratic ticket.

HENRY KELLY.

The London Gun Club, of which Henry Kelly is president, is an institution of which the people of Madison county, who are interested in sports, are very proud, since the club has attained distinction for having developed several men who are among the leading shots in the country. Its members take part in state, national and international trap-shooting contests. It is no small honor to have been the president of this organiza- tion since its establishment about eight years ago. Mr. Kelly has won honors in state. nation and international meetings, and is perhaps the oldest man in Ohio to shoot on the line. He holds his own well with the younger men and he also enjoys hunting large game and frequently visits the hunting preserves of Virginia, Maine, Montana and Minnesota. He has hunted moose and other big game in the Northern woods. He also enjoys fishing and spends his vacation in this sport.

Henry Kelly, a native of Auglaize county, Ohio, was born on April 24 1839, and was taken to Columbus, Ohio, at the age of three years, by his parents, Reuben and Elizabeth (Baughman) Kelly, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. Mr. Kelly's father was a farmer, but operated the mill at Columbus. Henry attended school at Columbus until thirteen years of age, when the family moved to Madison county, where his father purchased a farm two miles west of Summerford, on the National road and on the county line. He lived on that farm until an advanced age. A short time before his death he built a house in Summerford, where he died in 1904 at the age of eighty-three. His wife died about one year later. They had a family of nine children, three of whom died in infancy.

Of the children born to Reuben and Elizabeth (Baughman) Kelly, one child, Mary, died early in life; Laura, who is unmarried, and Elizabeth, the widow of William Buz- zard, live together in London; Frank is located in California, but was a carpenter in Delaware, Ohio, until about two years ago; John lives in the soldiers' home at San- dusky, Ohio having served in the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for a period of one year during the Civil War.

Henry Kelly has lived at Summerford since he was thirteen years old. He attended the district school and about the time he finished his education enlisted, in September, 1861, in the Fortieth Regiment. Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving three years and nine- teen days in Company C. Most of the time he was on detall in pioneer service, but he was engaged in several battles, including those of Lookout Mountain and Chickamauga In the Atlanta campaign he was captured while detailed to secure beef cattle for the army. He had started to camp with a drove of stock when he ran into the Rebel cavalry. He knew a squad of Union cavalry was following him and they had not gone over a half mile until they ran into the Union squad, and he had the pleasure of escort- ing his own captors back to camp. He was not wounded during the entire war and was with his command from the beginning of his enlistment until his discharge. Since leaving the army he Ims followed the carpenter's trade continuously.

In 1865 Henry Kelly was married to Elizabeth Henderson. a native of Summerford, the daughter of G. D. and Catherine (Kelly) Henderson. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly have lived together for fifty years They have been the parents of five children, as follow:

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Helena the wife of William Mckinley, of Plattsburg, Clark county, Ohio; Harley, who lives in London; Edna, the wife of Raleigh Cartzdafner, a machinist, at Springfield, Ohio; Eugene, who is associated with Howard Lewis on the farm; and Nora, the wife of Cade Powers, of South Charleston, Ohio.

Henry Kelly is a member of Lyon Post No. 21, Grand Army of the Republic, and has served in almost every official capacity in this post. He is one of the substantial citizens of Somerford township, and is widely admired for his sterling integrity and his upright moral worth.

JOHN FLORENCE.

John Florence, an active farmer of Monroe township, Madison county, Ohio, was born in Paint township, Madison county. His great-grandfather, William Florence, Sr., came from England in 1700 and settled in Faruquier county, Virginia. He was a sol- dier in Washington's army, a member of the Virginia militia and a delegate from the commonwealth of Virginia in 1778. He was the father of five children, three daughters and two sons.

William Florence, Jr., the youngest son of William, Sr., and the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came to Ohio in 1806 and located in Pickaway county, making a purchase of sixteen hundred acres of land. He became very prominent, having repre- sented his county in the Legislature a number of times and served as circuit judge for several terms. He was married in Virginia to Fanny Robinson and to them were born three daughters and three sons, all of whom were born in Virginia except the youngest son, William, he being born in Pickaway county, Ohio.

Robinson Florence, the father of John Florence, married Elizabeth Williams, the daughter of John and Mary (Phifer) Williams, of Virginia. Mary Phifer, the maternal grandmother of the subject of this sketch, was the daughter of John and Catherine (Rader) Phifer, also natives of Virginia. Before his marriage, Robinson Florence came with his father to Ohio and settled in Pickaway county. He later settled on land in Paint township, Madison county, after his marriage. To this union were born eleven children. The father and mother and four of the children have passed away. Elias Richard Florence, the eldest son. was elected to the office of sheriff for two terms and the office of treasurer for a like period of time. He being an ardent Democrat, these elections speak highly of him, as his party is greatly in the minority in Madison county. After his services in public affairs, he embarked in the lumber business and built and operated the Florence planing-mill and lumber yards for twenty years. He died in London, Ohio, at his beautiful home on Water street, in February, 1912.

Robinson Florence settled in Paint township, Madison county. on a farm six miles west of London, between the London and Xenia road and the Little Miami rail- road, the station of Florence being named for him. At the present time there is an up-to-date elevator at this station, from which a large amount of grain is shipped to market, and also a large warehouse. Williams Chapel is built on a lot given by Grand- mother Williams and named in her honor.

John Florence, after leaving the district school, was a student in the "Old Academy" in London, Ohio, for two years. but completed his education at Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity, Delaware, Ohio. After returning home he engaged in farming and has followed this occupation since that time.

In 1875 John Florence was married to Blanche Morgridge, the daughter of Joshua Bailey and Harriet (Tuttle) Morgridge. The history of the Morgridge family will be found in the sketch of William Morgridge, presented elsewhere in this volume. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Florence moved to Monroe township, Madison county.

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and there purchased a farm. To this union were born one daughter and one son, Mary and Walter. Mary, who is a graduate of St. Mary's Convent at Columbus, Ohio, mar- ried Mark Taylor, a farmer of Lafayette, Ohio. Walter attended Otterbein College for one year and is a graduate of Ohio State University and the Bliss Business College. He married Cleo Thompson and is largely engaged in cattle ranching in Oklahoma. Besides rearing these two children of their own, Mr. and Mrs. Florence have also reared three other children, Cleo Thompson, who came to make her home with them when twelve years of age and remained until her marriage, and two grandchildren. Robert Thompson Florence makes his home with them at the present time.

Mrs. Blanche (Morgridge) Florence was a student of Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, was one year in Rodger's Private School in Springfield, Ohio, and completed her education in Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. She has always been a progressive woman, and in everything that was beneficial to the community she has been among the first to assist. In a large measure it was due to her that Resaca got its first tri-weekly mail and finally daily mail. Resaca now has a rural free delivery.

Mr. Florence owns the old Florence farm, on which he was born, and a beautiful home in Plain City. He attributes much of his success to the foresight and good judg- ment of his good wife. When they moved to Monroe township there were but few graveled roads in that section of the state, and the land on which they settled was in a state of mature, there being only a few open ditches on it about one spade deep. Since that time Mr. Florence has put in tile ditches, his being the first in the neighbor- hood, and has been taxed to help build fifteen or twenty graveled roads and several large county ditches. He has been at a great expense to make his land productive and has often considered his assessments on these improvements very discouraging.

Although not a member of any church, Mr. Florence attends the Methodist church and his wife is a member of the Episcopal church. They helped to build the Christian church at Resaca. Ohio. Mr. Florence is a member of the Grange but does not belong to any secret order. He is a charter member, a stockholder and a director in the Farmers National Bank at Plain City. Mr. Florence's family prefer to live in Plain City, but he divides his time between the city and his farm in Monroe township, where he has a fine herd of purebred Shorthorn cattle.

CALEB GRIFFIN WILSON.

Caleb Griffin Wilson, the proprietor of "Forest Home," three miles west of the village of Summerford, in Somerford township. Madison county, Ohio. is the son of Washington and Linnie (West) Wilson, the former of whom was the son of Valentine and Susan (Umble) Wilson. The life history of Washington Wilson and his forbears is contained in the sketch of the Wilson family: presented elsewhere in this volume.

Caleb Griffin Wilson was one of eight children born to his parents, and one of the last two surviving. He was born on the old homestead farm. November 16, 1859, and 18 next to the youngest of his father's family.

Mr. Wilson lived at home until his marriage, after which he came direct to his present home. which he had just erected. Originally he had one hundred and twenty- five acres of land. He had just cleared a big pasture and from the time he removed to the farm has made many improvements. In recent years he has added twenty-five acres to his farm. He is an extensive breeder of live stock, besides which he buys a great many cattle and hogs to feed them for the market. He has a feeding barn forty by sixty feet, which was erected in 1910, and a very large silo. and feeds ensilage to his cattle. Since removing to the farm he has installed a great deal of drainage, and the land which was originally of little value on account of being wet and swampy, is now

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being made to produce enormous crops of corn and clover. He feeds about seventy-five to one hundred hogs every year. Mr. Wilson's farm is located on the county line and includes twenty-five acres in Clark county.

At the age of twenty-one years Caleb G. Wilson was married to Lettie West, of Clark county. Although the latter lives in Clark county his home is in the township adjoining Somerford. Mrs. Wilson is six months her husband's junior. They are the parents of three children, all of whom are living: Ross W., who is a farmer; Esther, the wife of Clem Fossett, lives in London; Rodney Robert, the youngest child, lives at home with his parents.

Mr. Wilson is a Republican, but has never held office, nor has ever aspired to office. He is a man who is very much in love with life in the open. In the community where he lives he is highly respected and esteemed as the scion of a noble and worthy family of the county. He and his family are earnest and faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which they take an active and interested part, Mr. Wilson being a steward of the church at Summerford.

JOHN THOMAS LINDSEY.

In Somerford township, Madison county, Ohio not a great distance from the county seat, London, may be found the ancestral home of the Arbuckles, of whom John Thomas Lindsey, who married the youngest child of Jacob Arbuckle, is the present proprietor, and which farm at the death of Mr. Lindsey will pass into the possession of his daugh- ter, Mildred, now a child of eleven years. The old Arbuckle farm now contains one hundred and sixty-nine acres and has a most interesting history.

John T. Lindsey was born in Marion county, Ohio, August 8, 1865 the son of Joseph R. and Lydia (Cope) Lindsey, natives of Ross and Marion counties, Ohio, respectively. Mr. Lindsey's grandparents came from near Halifax, Virginia, and were pioneer settlers in the Buckeye state.

Reared on the farm and educated in the public schools of Ohio, John T. Lindsey was married on May 22, 1902, in Springfield, Ohio, to Flora A. Arbuckle, the youngest child of Jacob Arbuckle. She died on May 4, 1911, at the age of forty-four, her whole life having been passed in Madison county. She was educated in the old Arbuckle school, in Somerford township, and later attended the London high school, but did not graduate. Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey are the parents of only one child, Mildred, born on November 23, 1903.

The Arbuckle family in America came originally to this country from Scotland, but Col. John R. Arbuckle, the founder of the family in Ohio, was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, and was first married to Nancy Sturgeon, by whom he had two daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah. With his wife and two daughters he came to Ohio in 1805. He had come previously, in 1803, and obtained a tract of eight hundred acres of land, which his brother, Charles, a soldier in the American Revolution, had received for services in that great war. In the meantime, Col. John R. Arbuckle who had received this tract of land from his brother, Charles, made his home at what is now the first house east of the Arbuckle school, now the residence of John T. Lindsey. Here he built a double log cabin and put in a crop, but being frightened out by the Indians, he returned to Virginia and remained there two years. In 1805 he returned with his wife and daughters and later brought a nephew, John Barrett, and his sister, Nancy, to this county. Col. John R. Arbuckle's wife died in 1812, and in 1814 he was married to Elizabeth Bishop, who had come from Greenbrier county, Virginia, with her parents and located in Logan county, Ohio. John R. Arbuckle had become a colonel in the Ohio militia and had gone to Logan county to build a fort. There he met and married

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History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Part 115

Author: Chester E. Bryan Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1207

Author: Chester E. Bryan
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1207