USA > Ohio > Union County > History of Union County, Ohio; its people, industries and institutions > Part 76
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Mr. Griffith was married in February, 1887, to Louie Baker, a daughter of Curtis and Symanthia ( Minshall) Baker, natives of Kentucky and Ohio. respectively. To this union two sons have been born : Leroy H., of Charles- ton, West Virginia, and Floyd C., of Columbus, Ohio.
Politically, Mr. Griffith has been a life-long Republican and has always taken an active interest in the welfare of his party. He has served as school director of his township and for five years held the important position of road superintendent in Fayette county. He and his wife are members of the
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Christian church at Milford Center. Fraternally, he is a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Midway Lodge No. 806, of Madison county, Ohio. Mr. Griffith is a quiet and unassuming man and highly respected by those who know him.
CASPER NICOL.
One of the many farmers of Union county, Ohio, of German descent is Casper Nicol, whose grandparents were both natives of Germany. Mr. Nicol is a young man in the prime of life and is now farming part of the old home estate, where he is demonstrating that he is one of the most pro- gressive farmers of his township and county.
Casper Nicol, the son of George and Lena ( Rausch Nicol, was born March 15, 1884, in Union county, his parents also being natives of this same county. His grandfather, Martin Nicol, came from Germany with his wife and settled in Union county early in its history. George Nicol and wife were married February 1, 1883. To them were born six children, all of whom are still living : Casper, the oldest of the family ; Edward, of Madison county ; Ernest, who lives on the homestead farm; Henry, who is living with Ernest; Martha, who is living with her mother, and Lawrence, who is attending business college at Lima, Ohio. George Nicol died July 5. 19II, and his widow was married June 11, 1914, to John Thiergardner and is now living in Madison county, Ohio.
Casper Nicol was educated in the public schools of Union county and remained on the home farm until his marriage. He then rented ninety-one and one-half acres of the paternal estate and has been farming it for several years. He raises a high grade class of stock and is meeting with much suc- cess in the live stock business.
Mr. Nicol was married January 20, 1907, to Louise Rausch, a daughter of Jolin and Margaret (Louschley) Rausch. To this union four children have been born: Freda, born October 12, 1907; Harry, born November 12, 1909: Pearl, born June 15, 1911, and Wilbur, born October 22, 1913. The father of Mrs. Nicol was born in Union county, while her mother was a native of Germany.
Mr. Nicol and his family are members of the St. Paul Lutheran church of Milford Center. Politically, he is a Democrat, but has never taken an active part in political affairs.
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BENJAMIN LEE ROBINSON.
One of the largest farmers and most successful stock raisers of Darby township, Union county, Ohio, is Benjamin Lee Robinson, who was born in the township where he is now living about fifty years ago. Practically all of his life has been spent in this county and all that he has today has been earned by his own unaided efforts. His fine farm of two hundred acres on the Unionville and Marysville road, eight miles south of Marysville, is a splendid tribute to his industry and perseverance. He has taken a prominent part in township and county affairs and has filled the office of county com- missioner with credit to himself, as well as the office of township trustee. In every phase of his community's life he has borne his share of the burden and for this reason is eminently entitled to a place among the representative men of his township and county.
Benjamin Lee Robinson, the son of Alexander and Edith ( Penrose) Robinson, was born January 17, 1860, in the town of Unionville Center, Union county, Ohio. His father was born in this same township and was the son of Thomas Robinson and wife, natives of Scotland. Thomas Robinson came to this country from his native land and located in Union county, where he and his wife reared a family of several children, Thomas, Alexander, Moderwell, Patterson, Dickson, and others who died in childhood. Alex- ander Robinson grew to manhood in this county, married and had two chil- dren, Charles and Benjamin Lee. Charles Robinson married Lily Shank and has four children, Joseph, Edith. Harold and Wayne. Alexander Robin- son was a farmer and stock buyer most of his life although he was in the grocery business early in life. He died when a young man.
Benjamin Lee Robinson first went to the Unionville Center schools and later, after the death of his father, lie went with his mother to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and attended school in that place. Before reaching his majority, he was put out to work for his board and clothes and when old enough he began working out for himself by the month. Before his mar- riage he bought a small tract of nine acres and with this humble start on his agricultural career, he has made rapid strides toward pecuniary independence. His present farm of two hundred acres indicated in a measure the success which has attended his efforts. He has made all the improvements on his farm and now has one of the most beautiful country homes in the county.
Mr. Robinson was married in 1882 to Sarah Andrews, the daughter of Monroe and Anna (Sager) Andrews. To this union have been born three
BENJAMIN L. ROBINSON
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children : Guy, of Union township, who married Clara McCloud and has one daughter, Rachel; Anna, who is still at home; and Ethel, who is teaching school at Unionville Center.
The father of Mrs. Robinson was born in Rutledge, Vermont, in 1814, and came to this county with his father when a young lad. His parents died when he was still a boy and he was bound out, as was the custom of his day, to a man who agreed to take him and give him schooling and furnish him with clothes. However, he ran away from the man to whom he was bound out and went to Urbana. Ohio, where he learned the trade of a blacksmith. Later he went on a farm and eventually became the manager of an elevator at Unionville Center. Twelve children were born to Monroe Andrews and wife, four who died in infancy, Elizabeth, Mrs. Alvira Smith, Mrs. Sarah Robinson, Ira, Anthony, Edgar, Tinnie and Rilla.
The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and inter- ested in its welfare. Politically, Mr. Robinson is a stanch Republican and has always been active in political affairs in his township and county. He served with credit for six years as commissioner of Union county and at the present time is filling the important positions of trustee and member of the school board of the township. In every capacity where he has served his fellow citizens he has given them faithful and efficient service and is richly deserving of the high esteem in which he is held throughout the county.
GEORGE EMANUEL BOERGER.
A prosperous farmer of Union township, Union county, Ohio, is George Emanuel Boerger, who was born in this county about forty years ago and has spent his whole life here. He is of German ancestry, his grandparents having come from Germany to this country in the early forties and located in Ohio. Mr. Boerger is a man of excellent education and ranks among the most progressive farmers of his township.
George E. Boerger, the son of John K. and Maggie ( Magerlein) Boer- ger, was born April 17, 1874, in Union county, Ohio. His parents were married in this county October 18, 1866, and he is one of seven children born to them, the others being John F., William J., John Leonard, Mary, Lena and one who died in infancy. An interesting history of his father is presented elsewhere in this volume and the reader is referred to it for further information concerning the family.
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George E. Boerger was educated in the district schools of Union county. LIe then returned to his home county and worked on his father's farm until 1900, then married and began farming on his present farm of ninety-two acres about three and one-half miles southeast of Milford Center. He is interested in the raising of high-grade live stock and has met with unusual success in his stock raising.
Mr. Boerger was married in April, 1900, to Dora Ell, a daughter of John and Margaret ( Bunsold) Ell. natives of Union county. To this union have been born two children, Florence, born January 26, 1901, and Ralph, born May 28, 1903.
Politically, Mr. Boerger is an Independent and, while taking an intelli- gent interest in the current issues of the day. has never taken an active part in the councils of his party. He is a member of the German Lutheran church, to which all the members of his family belong. In fact, he has three brothers who are ministers of this denomination. Mr. Boerger is a member of the male choir of his church and takes an active part in all of the activi- ties of his church and Sunday school.
JAMES EWING.
This pioneer was in advance of all others in the settlement of Union county. He and his brother, Joshua Ewing, came to what is now Darby township in 1798, on the later site of what was known as North Liberty village. Joshua built the pioneer cabin in the county at that point and James remained with him a short time, then moved over into Jerome township, as now called. He was a single man at the date of his settlement in this county. He had been in the Indian service. The two brothers traveled on a one-horse cart, cutting their way through the tangled brushwood and slept in a tent. They camped in southeastern Jerome township, at a spot where later the brother James located, cleared out a patch and planted a small piece of corn, chopping it into the sod with an ax. The Indians had just washed the war paint from their dusky faces and all was wild and lonesome for the two white men. Without waiting for the corn to mature they packed their camp outfit and started eastward and intended to remain away from their prospective homesteads several years. They were from New Jersey and were sons of Mascol Ewing. They were also cousins of Gen. Thomas Ewing, formerly of Lancaster. Ohio. They possessed great force of charac-
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ter, much intelligence and a good education. When James came in to re- main permanently, he brought his aged mother with him, also his two sisters, Betsy and Mrs. Eunice Donaldson, a widow. For thirty years James Ewing was a foremost citizen of Union county. His old home in Jerome township was in survey No. 12,125, where he died. He was the county's first sheriff.
He was of the Presbyterian faith, and a ruling elder in the Lower Lib- erty church. Politically, he was uncompromisingly a Whig. In 1810 lie bought a stock of goods at Chillicothe, brought the same to his farm home in Jerome township and opened up the first store in Union county. Through his influence a postoffice was established and he was appointed the pioneer postmaster in the county. He conducted the store ten years. In 1833 he built a large frame store adjoining his dwelling and stocked up with a large stock of general merchandise. In 1835 he went out of trade. His younger son, a favorite with him, met with an accident causing his death, which caused the father to go out of business.
Mr. Ewing was elected the first trustee of the Franklin County Bank. He was a man of some considerable means and exacting and honest with all men. He resided in his log cabin until his death August 26, 1850. His family included several sons and daughters, Thomas M. and David C. being among his worthy sons. Such, in brief, is the career of Union county's first settler.
ERNEST M. C. NICOL.
An enterprising young farmer of Union township, Union county, Ohio, is Ernest M. C. Nicol, who has spent all of his life in this same township. He is of German ancestry and is now managing the large farm which his father had at the time of his death. Mr. Nicol is an energetic and wide- awake young man who keeps thoroughly up-to-date in everything pertaining to farming, and has already forged to the front in a way which indicates that he will one day take his place among the leading agriculturists of the county.
Ernest M. C. Nicol, the son of George and Lena (Rausch) Nicol, was born in Union township, Union county, Ohio. December 4, 1891. His parents were also natives of this county, his grandparents being natives of Germany and early settlers in Union county. George Nicol and wife were married February 1, 1883, and to them were born six children. all of whom
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are still living : Casper, whose history is presented elsewhere in this volume ; Edward. who lives in Madison county, Ohio; Ernest M. C., whose history is here related; Henry, who is living with Ernest; Martha, who is residing with her mother : Lawrence, who is attending business college at Lima, Ohio. George Nicol died July 5. 1911, and his widow was married June 11, 1914, to Jolin Thiergartner, and now lives in Madison county, this state.
Ernest M. C. Nicol was reared and educated in Union township, and has always made his home here. Since the death of his father in 1911, he has been managing the home farm of two hundred and thirty-five acres. He was married February 14, 1914, to Catherine Weinlein, a daughter of Jacob and Mary ( Brodcorb) Weinlein, of Darby township.
Politically, Mr. Nicol is a Democrat, but as yet has not taken an active part in political matters. As a matter of fact he will not be old enough to cast his first vote for president until 1916. Mr. Nicol and his wife are mem- bers of the St. Paul Lutheran church and are deeply interested in its wel- fare.
JOHN GRUENBAUM.
A worthy representative of one of the early German settlers of Ohio is John Gruenbaum, now a prosperous farmer of Darby township, where he owns a splendid farm of three hundred and fifty-seven acres. His father was a native of Germany and came to America when a young man and died in Franklin county, Ohio, a few years after his marriage. Mr. Gruenbaum started in as a farmer with a small farm of one hundred and twenty-one acres and by good management and painstaking industry has accumulated one of the largest farms of the county. While attending primarily to his own interests, he has also taken an active part in the civic life of his town- ship, and the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens is shown by the fact that he has been elected no less than four times to the position of trustee of his township.
John Gruenbaum, whose country home is on the Flat road about five miles south of Marysville, was born November 11, 1854, in Franklin county, Ohio. He is a son of John and Catherine ( Reicelt) Gruenbaum, his father coming to America when he was twenty-one years of age. The parents of John Gruenbaum, Sr., died before he came to America, and on coming to this country he followed his trade as a weaver, which he had learned in his
MR. AND MRS. JOHN GRUENBAUM.
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native land, and also worked on farms in Franklin county. He married in that county and died at the early age of thirty-three years, and is buried in Franklin county, in Hamilton township. John Gruenbaum, Sr., and wife were the parents of two children, Mary A. and John, Jr. Mary A. became the wife of Fred Schalip, and has four children, John, George, Maggie and Lena.
ยท A few years after the death of her husband, the widow of John Gruen- baum, Sr., married Peter Fisher, and to her second union three children were born, Jacob, Mrs. Catherina Livingston and Mrs. Susannah Kalp. Mr. Fisher died and is buried in Franklin county. Some time after his death his widow was married to George Marion, a widower with two children, and to this third marriage were born two children, Leonard and Barbara.
John Gruenbaum was reared in Franklin county, Ohio, and received his common school education in the schools of that county. When fifteen years of age and he came to Union county and found employment as a farm hand and continued to work for the farmers in this county until his marriage at the age of twenty-four. He then bought one hundred and twenty-one acres of land, and by hard work and good judgment in all of his transactions, he has prospered exceedingly, as is shown by his well improved farm of three hun- dred and fifty-seven acres. He is an extensive stock raiser and handles only the best grades of stock, having found that it pays the farmer to keep only the highest grades of stock on his farm.
Mr. Gruenbaum was married in 1878 to Magdalena Kreidler, the daugh- ter of John and Ablonia (Greenbaum) Kreidler, and to this union six chil- dren have been born, all of whom are married and have families of their own, except William G., who is still single: Jacob, Charles J., Lewis W., John J., Mary M. and William G. Jacob married Anna Frewalt and has three chil- dren, Edward J. L., Edna G. M. and Bertha S. M. Charles married Anna Rupright and has three children, Lucretia K. M., Lillian M. and Carlton G. Lewis W. married Lillie Blumenshine and has one daughter, Irena T. M. John F. married Mary A. Ailes, and has two children, Lucile M. and Oliver H. Mary became the wife of L. Scheiderer and has one son, Ervin J. F.
Politically, Mr. Greenbaum has always been identified with the Demo- cratic party, and his party has nominated and elected him to the office of trustee of his township no less than four times. During all of the years which he has been holding this office he has rendered faithful and conscien- tious service, not only to the citizens of his own party, but to all others. irrespective of party affiliations.
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COL. JAMES CURRY.
He of whom this memoir is written was among the county's first pioneer settlers. He served in the Revolutionary struggle, and received one thou- sand acres of land in part pay for his services for seven years as an officer of the Virginia Continental Line. Some of the land is still in the Curry family. By virtue of their genius and accomplishments, now and then we find a few men towering high above all others when we come to select repre- sentative characters worthy of being handed down to posterity in the annals of a state or county. Such a one was Colonel James Curry.
Mr. Curry was born in Belfast. Ireland, January 29, 1752, the first child of James Curry, a prosperous Irish farmer of county Antrim. His mother's maiden name was Warwick, of English origin, and her ancestors and kin were prominent in England in Cromwell's day. One of her rela- tives, Captain Warwick, was shot to death after the Restoration. The im- mediate family of Currys were of the Irish Presbyterian stock. James, of this memoir, was educated for the ministry while still in Ireland, but all things were changed and his career drifted into other channels. His father and the family sailed for America on the ship "Good Return," about 1762. On account of overloading, the ship, a fast-sailing craft for that period, failed to reach America in less than fifteen weeks, three times the usual time of the boat's sailing. Sickness prevailed and many died on board, including the elder Curry's four children. Finally reaching Philadelphia. the father stepped ashore with but three of his seven children. The family immediately proceeded to Virginia. and there, with the ten-year-old son, James, the father settled down as a planter. After assisting on the plantation four years young Curry commenced teaching school in winters, continuing until he reached manhood. He was then called by Lord Dunmore, governor or Virginia, to serve as a volunteer to suppress the Indian massacres among the settlers of the Ohio river frontier. He thus took his first step as a soldier when twenty-one years of age, enlisting as a private at Staunton. Virginia. Hle accompanied Gen. Andrew Lewis to Point Pleasant. where was fought a great battle which really terminated the Cresap's war, which led to the treaty at Chillicothe, the village of the famous Mingo chief, Logan, with the Indians. Young Curry took part in the battle at Point Pleasant and used to relate much concerning the fight. He stood first behind one tree, then another, while firing at the Indians, and toward nightfall was too much ex- posed and was wounded through the right elbow. He fell in the weeds and
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remained out of sight of the foe until the end of the struggle. This dis- abled him and he returned and went to work on the plantation as soon as the wound healed, but he was never again able to lift a cup to his lips with his right hand. But his war days had not yet ended. The Revolutionary WVar came on and he enlisted and fought bravely for national independence. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Eighth Virginia Regiment of the Continental Establishment about 1777, serving until 1779, when he was com- missioned captain of the Fourth Virginia Regiment. Most of the period, until the war ended, he did staff duty under Col. Nathaniel Gist. Records are deficient, but it is known that he was at the battle of Brandywine, and was with Washington during the campaign of 1777, and was at Germantown.
A land patent dated March 16, 1816, shows that he was given lands for his six years and six months service as a captain, this being but a portion of the service rendered his country in that great struggle.
On November 20, 1784, he married a daughter of Capt. Robert Burns, of the Pennsylvania Line. He moved to Rockingham C. H., later known as Harrisonburg, and engaged in merchandising, holding several public offices. He was brigade inspector, a salaried position of importance. His grandson, Col. W. L. Curry, has in his possession a paper signed by Gen. Isaac Zane, directing Major Curry to attend "superintending the exercises" of the regi- ments. It is dated September 26, 1794.
In the autumn of 1797 Col. James Curry removed to Ohio Territory, in which Virginia had reserved an immense tract of land for the use of Revolutionary and Indian campaign soldiers. Seated in a great five-horse wagon Col. Curry and his family wended their way westward. At Morgan- town they boarded a flatboat and went by water to the confines of their desti- nation. This trip consumed six months and was fraught with danger and many hardships. They finally landed in Ross county, Ohio, April 1, 1798. Here Col. Curry erected a cabin without door, floor or window, in which he lived two years. He then moved to the present site of Greenfield, where he remained eleven years and tilled land. There was no doctor there, and all the years of his residence he acted as both doctor and surgeon.
In 18HI Col. James Curry removed to Jerome township, Union county. Here in the wilderness, for the third time, Col. Curry commenced life over, as it were, on lands he held as above mentioned. In 1812-13 he was a mem- ber of the Legislature, while the capital was at Chillicothe. He served in that body until 1816 when he was chosen delegate or elector to the meeting at Chillicothe, which resulted in the election of James Monroe as President of the
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United States. On his motion in the Ohio Legislature in 1817-18 he was re- turned as representative from Madison county, and in 1819, December 24th, he seconded the motion for the creation of Union county. He also served as associate judge from 1822 to 1828 inclusive. The courts were then held at Milford. He then retired to his farm to spend the remainder of life in quiet. He died of apoplexy July 5, 1834, at ten o'clock in the morning.
Of his politics, let it be stated, that he was an avowed Jacksonian Demo- crat, who hated the name "Federalist." His two sons, Stephenson and Ot- way, became anti-Jackson Democrats-especially was Otway. In religion, Col. James Curry was more a Baptist than anything else, although he never united with any church; yet a statement he wrote out concerning his faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, dated October, 1782, shows that he was indeed a Christian of great strength and strong faith. He was buried beside his good wife in Jerome township, and there they rested until a few years ago, when their remains were taken up and buried in Oakdale cemetery at Marysville.
EDWIN H. GUNNETT.
The men most influential in promoting the advancement of society and in giving stability to the community in which they live are divided into two classes, men of study and men of action. In the person of Edwin H. Gun- nett, the proprietor of the Unionville Center elevator, is found a man who combines the characteristics of both classes. For several years he was a public school teacher in various counties in Ohio and followed his profession with success. For the past two years he has been a business man and a man of action, but whether in the school room or in the busy whirl of worldly affairs. he has been equally prominent. As a teacher he made his influence felt in the school life of the communities where he labored and the pro- fession lost an able instructor when he decided to quit the school room and engage in business.
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