USA > Ohio > Fairfield County > Pioneer period and pioneer people of Fairfield County, Ohio > Part 14
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Mary Bretz married Noah Einsel, of Seneca County, Ohio, March 11, 1852.
Barbara Bretz married Daniel Seitz, of Seneca County, Ohio, February 4, 1862. She is now a widow and resides in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Christena Bretz married W. A. Watson, Septem- ber 1, 1860. They reside at Van Buren, Ohio.
George W. Bretz, son of David Bretz, starved to death in Libby Prison, June 26, 1864.
Abraham B. Kagy, son of Christion, was born September 17, 1802. He married Sarah Hall, daughter of Daniel Hall, August 11, 1826. A. B. Kagy became a distinguished citizen of Findlay, Ohio, and later of Ewington, Effingham county, Illinois.
Daniel Hall, son of A. B. Kagy. May 16, 1827, was the date of his birth. He enlisted in the Thirty- fifth Illinois in 1861, and died in the service of his country.
Benjamin F., son of A. B. Kagy, was born Febru- ary 27, 1831. He married Martha J. Stams, February 6, 1853. He filled important positions of honor and trust in Effingham County, Illinois.
Barbara Kagy, daughter of Christian Kagy, was born in 1804. She married John Bretz in 1820. They were the parents of eleven children. Their son Chris- tian was a soldier in the Mexican War. He served as a clerk in the State Department at Columbus, Ohio. Their son, Simon Peter, was a Union soldier.
Elizabeth Kagy, daughter of Christian, was born December 28, 1807. She married John Hall, son of Daniel, who came to Walnut township in 1804. They were married March 18, 1828.
Rebecca Kagy, daughter of Christian, was born November 16, 1811. She was married to James A. Ash- brook, November 10, 1836. They were the parents of nine children, viz : Lewis K., John Monroe, Abigail Ann, Mary Catharine, Maria Amelia, Aaron Tunis, Francina Deborah, James Scott and Samuel Clinton.
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John was born January 17, 1797. December 3, 1820, he married Catharine Hite. They first moved to Seneca County, Ohio, in 1827, and from there to Marion County, Illinois, where both died at an ad- vanced age. John Kagy was a man of ability and high character. He reared a family of ten children. His son, Dr. John Kagy, was a distinguished citizen of Seneca County, Ohio.
John Benjamin, son of John, was born January 9, 1830. In 1860 he moved to Salem, Illinois. He studied law with Judge Silas L. Bryan, father of Wil- liam J. Bryan, and became his partner. He married Marietta Black, a native of New York state. They were parents of eleven children.
Levi M. Kagy, son of David Kagy and grandson of John, is a lawyer of ability at Salem, Illinois. Levi D. Kagy, son of John, was born October 24, 1838. He was at one time elected auditor of Seneca County. He married Frances Ann Lamberton, and they now reside in Fostoria, Ohio.
Jacob Kagy, son of Rudolph, never married.
Christian Kagy, son of Rudolph, married Ann Hite, daughter of John Hite, and moved to Marion County, Illinois. They were the parents of twelve children.
Elizabeth, their eldest child, was born November 19, 1826. She married Samuel E. Stevenson, May 18, 1848, and they moved to Marion County, Illinois, where Stevenson became a wealthy and prominent farmer.
John Hite Kagy, son of Christian and Anna Hite Kagy, married Hannah J. Furry, October 9, 1859. Lewis Hite Kagy was a farmer of Marion County, Illinois.
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Of Fairfield County, Ohio.
Hannah, daughter of Christian and Anna Kagy, was born May 24, 1838. She married Noah R. Steven- son, son of Mordecai. The writer remembers Noah as one of his pupils at the Snake Run schoolhouse in 1849.
Abraham Kagy, son of Rudolph, brother of Chris- tian and Jacob, was born December 23, 1803; he mar- ried Barbara Pugh, December 27, 1823. They were the parents of fifteen children. They moved at an early day to Seneca County, Ohio.
Catherine Kagy, daughter of Rudolph, was born in 1805 ; she married Andrew Hite in 1826. They were the parents of thirteen children; this large family moved at an early day to Marion County, Illinois.
Barbara Kagy, daughter of Rudolph, was born November 10, 1807; she married Lewis Seitz, August 24, 1823, and moved to Seneca County, Ohio. They were the parents of fourteen children.
The Honorable John Seitz was one of their chil- dren; he was born in Seneca County, Ohio; he mar- ried Cecelia J. Hite, of Marion County, Ohio.
John Seitz was a reader and a man of ability ; he served in both branches of the Ohio Legislature and was in 1880 the Greenback candidate for Governor of Ohio. He obtained notoriety and was well known to all Ohio politicians. Two daughters of Lewis Seitz married into the Bretz family of Seneca County.
Lewis Seitz died July 12, 1890.
Hannah Kagy, daughter of Rudolph, was born in 1812, in Virginia. She married John Crooks, of Berne township, this county; they were the parents of nine children. Hannah died at the age of 42 years and John Crooks in 1895 at the age of 92 years.
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Mrs. Henry Bumgardner, of Berne, is one of the daughters.
Elizabeth, daughter of Rudolph Kagy, was born in 1813. She married John Beaver. One of their daughters married Edward Turner, of Richland township, and they were the parents of eleven children.
Mary Kagy, daughter of Rudolph, was born Janu- ary 8, 1814; she married Hesekiah Kanode, December 12, 1833.
Rudolph Kagy, son of Rudolph, was born Feb- ruary 18, 1818; he married Anna Seitz, December 16, 1838. They moved to Seneca County, Ohio.
Their son Abraham was a capable man, a Union soldier, and filled several positions of honor and trust.
Henry Kagy, son of Rudolph, was born March IO, 1821, and moved to Seneca county, Ohio, in 1837; he married Phoebe Miller.
Doctor Martin Kagy was the seventh son and youngest child of Rudolph Kagy ; he was born August 20, 1825; he married Christena Walters. He was a teacher and studied medicine; he practiced medicine a year or two, and was then elected clerk of the Common Pleas Court, Fairfield County. This ended his career as a physician and politics spoiled what might otherwise have been a useful and profitable career. He died August 24, 1898. With this we close the sketch of Rudolph and Hanna Siple Kagy.
Jacob Kagy, son of Rudolph second, of Virginia, and brother of Christian and Rudolph, was born No- vember 3, 1776, in Shenandoah County, Virginia; he married Rebecca Bibler, a sister of Christian's wife, April, 1810; he came with his family to Fairfield County, and settled in Walnut township in the year
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1818. They were the parents of five children, Barbara, John, Isaac, Jerretha and Lewis.
Barbara was born August 23, 1812; she married Daniel Rinehart, of Walnut, in January, 1837. They were the parents of six children. Daniel Rinehart moved about 1840 to Effingham County, Illinois, where he became a prominent merchant and a popular and useful citizen. Three of his sons are men of prominence and two of them lawyers.
John Kagy was born September 15, 1844; his first wife was Isabelle Stevenson ; his second wife was Mary Jane Camp. Late in life he moved to Marion County, Illinois, where he died November 22, 1878. He left seven children.
Issac Kagy, son of Jacob, died unmarried in 1852. in the state of Illinois.
Jerretha Kagy was born July 1, 1824, and married David Grove, September 2, 1851. They were the parents of eight children. She died November 5, 1895.
Lewis Kagy, son of Jacob, was born August 18, 1831 ; in 1851 he married Julia Spitler ; he died March, 1886.
Jacob Kagy was all of his life one of the best men of Walnut township; he was one of the pillars of the Primitive Baptist church. His memory is precious to all who knew him. There are but few of the names of Kagy, Bretz, Spitler and Ashbrook remaining in this county, but Seneca County, Hancock County, Ohio, Effingham County, Illinois, and Marion County, Illinois, gained what Fairfield lost, viz., hun- dreds of good citizens, men of character and ability.
Christian R. Kagy, son of Rudolph Kagy and grandson of Henry Kagy, of Shenandoah county, Vir-
15
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ginia, came to Fairfield County, in 1833, and settled in Rushcreek township. He was born December 13, 1795, and in 1824 he married Barbara Blosser. By this marriage he had one daughter, Barbara. His first wife died soon after their marriage and in 1827 he was again married to Barbara Hoffman. By this marriage six children were born to him, viz. : Rudolph, Frederick, Franklin, David, John and Christian C.
His daughter, Barbara, married Elijah Brandt, of Rushcreek township, March 19, 1845.
Their son, David, married Rachael Wilson and resides west of Bremen, Ohio.
Mary Brandt married Enos Young, February 9, 1869.
Christopher Brandt married Maria E. Westen- berger, October 5, 1875. They are the parents of twelve children.
Lewis M. married Arminda J. Page, February 25, 1875.
Rudolph Kagy, the eldest son of Christian R. Kagy, was born October 27, 1828, in Page County, Virginia, and married Annie Alexander, May 19, 1857, a sister of Mrs. Robert J. Black. Two children were born to this couple. Nettie T. Kagy, born February 21, 1861. She was educated at the Pleasantville Acad- emy and at the Female Seminary, Oxford. Ohio. She was married to John A. Gravett, of Lancaster, Ohio, December 5, 1888. They reside at Salida, Colorado.
James Josiah Kagy was born July 9, 1863. He was educated at the Pleasantville Academy and at Dayton, Ohio, May 17, 1893, he was married to Ida M. Fisher. They reside on a farm near Pleasantville.
Rudolph Kagy died July 28, 1889. He had lived the life of a farmer in Fairfield County for 59 years.
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Of Fairfield County, Ohio.
At the time of his death he was a member of the Fairfield County Agricultural Board. He was a good citizen and highly esteemed by all who knew him.
Frederick Kagy, son of Christian R., was born February 8, 1830. He lived with his brother, Rudolph, and died at his home, April 3, 1890.
Franklin Kagy, son of Christian K., was born July 24, 1831, and January 20, 1853, married Ellen Jane Alexander. They were the parents of eleven children. They were active and prominent members of Bethel Presbyterian church in Rushcreek township.
Their son, Harrison B., lives west of Bremen, Ohio. Their daughter Maggie Ann, married Thomas A. Pugh, one of the clear-headed educated farmers of Greenfield township.
John Williams, their son, was born November 28, 1859. He was educated at the Ohio Normal School, Ada, Ohio. After teaching acceptably for many years, he engaged in farming. In the year 1885, he mar- ried Jennie Stuart, of near Bremen.
Ella Dora, their daughter, married George McCandish, of Rushcreek.
Hattie Florence, another daughter, married Mr. Bert Stuart, of Rushcreek.
Melnotte Kagy, ninth child of Franklin Kagy, made her home with her uncle, Rudolph, until her marriage with Banner E. Friend, December 27, 1893.
John Kagy, son of Christian R., was born near Bremen, February 3, 1835, and lived all of his life a respected citizen on the old home farm. He married Tennie Stuart, November 21, 1861.
They reared and educated eleven children. They were not only pupils of the common schools, but several
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of them at the Pleasantville Academy and the Normal School, of Ada, Ohio. This is an educated cultured Christian family, an honor to Rushcreek and the name they bear.
Christian C. Kagy, son of Christian R., was born March 10, 1837 ; he was a veteran Union soldier. He married Maria J. Stuart, sister of his brother's wife. He was a soldier of the Sixty-second Ohio, and, broken in health, he died July, 1897.
Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kansas were enriched by the blood of the Kagy family. There were and are many able and distinguished men in the connection. The best known and ablest man with Kagy blood in his veins, was the late Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware, whose mother was a descendent of a Kagy. Of this large and extraordinary family, fully three-fourths were members of the Primitive Baptist church. There are however, Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Reforms, Dunkers and Mennonites among them.
The writer of this sketch knew many of them and had access to an exhaustive history of the Kagy family by Franklin Kagy, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
Anna Hite, daughter of Squire John Hite, who resided just west of the old school Baptist church in Pleasant township, married Christian Kagy.
Catherine Hite, a sister of Squire John Hite, mar- ried John Kagy, a son of Rudolph Kagy.
Squire John Hite, was a first cousin of Reverend John Hite, the father of Samuel and Jacob Hite, of Lancaster, Ohio. John Henry Kagy, of one branch of this family, died with "old John Brown."
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Of Fairfield County, Ohio.
THE RUFFNER FAMILY
One of the famous old pioneers of Fairfield County was Emanuel Ruffner. He was born and brought up in Shenandoah County, Va., and there he married Elizabeth Grove.
He belonged to a very large and highly respected Virginia family - a family more or less distinguished in that state. One of the Ruffners was a man of fine education and culture, and an author of some repute and was well known at Richmond.
One of the family was in early times a proprietor of the great salt works at Charleston, the same where Senator Ewing earned the money to put himself through college. The descendants of this man still live in Charleston, and two of them are large wholesale grocers of that city. The principal hotel is called the Ruffner.
Emanuel Ruffner came with his family to Ohio in 1805 and settled on the land now owned by his grand- son and daughter, William Friend and wife, one and one-half miles from West Rushville, Fairfield County. He came there when the Murpheys, Ijams, Wilsens, Rowles, Teals and Stevensons were his only neighbors - all distinguished as early pioneers of that vicinity. He was a teamster in the Revolutionary War and his son John drove a team for him in the war of 1812.
Emanuel Ruffner was a man of force and integ- ritv. a good citizen and a very useful member of society. He reared a large and interesting family : his daughters were exceptionally fine women and married good men and reared large families.
His son John married Mary Rhodes and settled on a farm on the south fork of Licking. in Licking
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County, Ohio, where he lived and died. His sons were farmers. David has been dead some years ; John still resides upon a farm near Hebron, O. He had but one daughter and she resides in the same vicinity. John Ruffner's farm contained five hundred acres.
Jacob Ruffner, son of Emanuel, married Magda- lene Bibler. He lived upon a farm near the Stevenson camp ground. His son Jonas married Susan Rhodes and they lived upon a portion of the home farm. His sons were Jacob, Joseph, Levi and Noah. Jacob was the famous soldier of the 17th Ohio, known to all the old boys as "Kate" Ruffner, a name not soon to be forgotten - not while a 17th veteran lives. Joseph resides upon the old home farm.
A daughter of Jonas married A. M. Stewart ; Sarah married Jacob Mast; Emeline married John Frey ; Rebecca married John Harman.
Isaac Ruffner, son of Jacob, Sr., married Miss Stuart of Rushcreek township. His son David mar- ried a Miss Harman and they moved to Mercer County, O. Stewart Ruffner, the teacher, married a daughter of Hiram McNaghton and lives in Richland township, a respected and useful man. Thomas Ruff- ner. son of Isaac, is a hopeless invalid. Edward mar- ried Minnie Shaw, daughter of J. W. Shaw, and lives on the old home farm. Mary, daughter of Isaac. married Caleb Copeland's son.
Jacob Ruffner, son of Jacob, Sr., married a daugh- ter of Caleb Copeland. Their son Caleb married a daughter of Reuben Phillips. Maria married in Del- aware County, Ohio, George Ruffner married in Perry County, Ohio. William married a Miss Zink and they live in Sugar Grove, Ohio; Clara married Jacob Biggs,
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Of Fairfield County, Ohio.
and they live in Morrow county, Ohio; Eliza married William Geiger and they live in Licking County, Ohio.
Cynthia Ruffner married John Hanover and they live in Morrow County, Ohio. Margaret married Thomas Beery and they live in Pleasant township, Ohio. Ola married Ira Spitler and they live on the Freed farm in Pleasant.
Barbara, daughter of Jacob Ruffner, Sr., married David Tussing and they moved to Findlay, Ohio; Magdalene married John Holliday of Rushcreek ; Anna married William Cruit of Perry County, Ohio; Rebecca married Samuel Swartz; Mary married John Henthorn; Emily married Jesse Rowles and recently died in Bremen, Ohio.
Emanuel Ruffner, son of Emanuel, married Bar- bara Harshbarger. He was a fine blacksmith and lived many years near New Salem. His weight was far in excess of 300 pounds. Late in life he moved with his family to Cumberland County, Ill., near the town of Greenup.
Colonel Joseph Ruffner, son of Emanuel, Jr., mar- ried Rhoda Davis of Licking County, Ohio. He lived a long life on the old Ruffner farm in Richland. He was one of a half dozen old Virginia gentlemen who often met in Lancaster and spent a social afternoon. No one who ever knew him can forget his courtly manners and gentlemanly bearing. He was every inch a gentleman and a good and useful man. He reared two daughters. They married brothers. John and William Friend, who were the sons of another grand old man of Richland, Jonas Friend. They in- herited the old Ruffner homestead and have lived upon it and are prosperous farmers. An old elm tree is one of the landmarks of this old place ; its spreading
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branches cover a space of ground 104 feet in diameter. The honored dead lie in a handsome spot near the elm tree.
Barbara Ruffner, daughter of Emanuel, Sr., mar- ried David Pence in Virginia and came to Ohio in 1807, carrying their infant daughter, the future Mrs. T. P. Ashbrook, resting upon a pillow, they being on horseback. They spent the winter in a cabin on the Ruffner place, and in the spring moved to their new home, in the woods, where the Peters family now live, on Indian creek. David Pence was a fine farmer, and he reared a large family. He was a stanch mem- ber of the Baptist church. On one occasion Rev. George DeBolt, a long-winded preacher, spoke two and one-half hours. Pence got tired of it and rose to leave the church.
DeBolt called out : "Brother Pence, can't you lis- ten as long as I can talk ?"
Pence replied : "Enough is enough of anything. I am going to feed my horses."
Aaron Pence, the oldest son, married a Miss Hand. near Hebron, O .; Joseph married a sister of Aaron's wife. Annie married Tunis P. Ashbrook. Elenor married for her first husband Benjamin Miller: the second was George Shoemaker. She is the mother of Mrs. J. C. Hite of Lancaster and lives with her. now 93 years of age. Mary married Jacob Staker and they moved to Hancock, where they are now wealthy people. Rebecca married David Fall and they moved many years since to Jones County, Iowa. Elizabeth married Abraham Spitler and they have always lived in Pleasant. Seville married S. P. Wea- ver and moved to Putnam County, where Weaver has
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Of Fairfield County, Ohio.
been a very prominent citizen. Sophia married George Miller and moved to Iowa.
David Pence, Jr., married Henrietta Pugh of Wal- nut township. David was a teacher when a young man, but since his marriage he has been a farmer. As a citizen no man stands higher in this county and he has but few equals as a good farmer. He once took the Fair prize for the best ten acres of corn, run- ning above 100 bushels to the acre. Mrs. J. S. Sites of this city is his only daughter. Mr. Pence is a reader and a very intelligent man. In early life he was a Democrat, but the effort to enslave Kansas made him a Republican. A physical infirmity prevented his being a soldier, but he has unbounded admiration for the veterans.
Mary, daughter of Emanuel Ruffner, married Wil- liam Hill, a prominent citizen of Walnut township. She died in a year or two after marriage in the year 1829. Her only child, John R. Hill, now living in Pleasantville, owns the farm she inherited from her father, on Indian Creek. John married an Ashbrook.
Ann Ruffner married Thomas Kraner and they lived on the farm given them by Emanuel Ruffner. Their son Joseph married Elizabeth Geiger : Emanuel married Elenor Ashbrook: Susan Kranor married Benjamin Warner. but did not live many years, when Warner married a Miss Miller. Eli Rowles, a prom- inent citizen of Pleasantville, married a daughter of Emanuel Kraner.
Magdalene Ruffner, daughter of Emanuel, married Christian Baker, a remarkable coupic in many respects. Christian Baker represented this county in the Ohio Legislature two terms. He was not distinguished for ability beyond good common sense, but a purer or
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more conscientiously honest man never served in any legislature.
Their daughter Mahala married David Smith, and they moved to Greenup, Ill. Louisa married William Risler and they moved to the same neighborhood. Mary Ann married H. B. Eyman, once a very prom- inent citizen of Richland township. His sons have become well known business and professional men. Christian Baker Eyman is a farmer of Walnut and made a good run for commissioner recently. Lou Eyman is a druggist of Lancaster, Ohio; Dr. Eyman is superintendent of the Cleveland, Ohio, Lunatic Asylum, and enjoys some distinction.
Susan Baker married Owen McNaghten of Walnut township; Rebecca married Lewis Collins, now a res- ident of the state of Illinois.
Samantha married Thomas Clayton. Samuel Baker, the eldest son, married Miss Rinehart.
Emanuel Ruffner Pence Baker married Louisa Stoneburner. He studied law in Lancaster and lived here a few years. But he did not make a success of the law and abandoned it for the drug business in Thornville, O. While living there he was elected a member of the Ohio Legislature and served two terms. Baker was a very clever man. He reared a family. One son is manager of the Peruna Drug Co. owned by the wealthy patent medicine man of Colum- bus, Dr. Hartman. Baker's long name gave him an- noyance at times. It was often the subject of jest. The bad boys called him many nicknames.
Susan Ruffner, daughter of Emanuel, married Daniel Keller. Keller became a very remarkable man, distinguished for his good common sense, rare judg- ment and fine business qualities. His integrity was
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Of Fairfield County, Ohio.
never questioned nor his honor smirched. He rep- resented this county in the Ohio Legislature in 1849 and voted with his party for Chase for Senator and for the repeal of the black laws. He served as a trustee of the Ohio State University and his vote determined the location on the Neil farm, north of Columbus. His chief reason for favoring that par- ticular farm was owing to a fine spring on the prem- ises. This spring was strong enough for farm pur- poses, but soon became inadequate for a college.
The late Hon. V. B. Horton, who was one of his associates, is authority for the above statement.
Daniel Keller owned several farms and all had good springs of good water. He was the bosom friend of Gov. Medill, by whom he was highly esteemed. He was a great partisan, a Democrat of the old school. By the time he became an old man there had been great changes in parties and party principles and his living sons and grandsons were active working Republicans.
Daniel Keller and wife were the parents of ten children.
Simon married Ellen Sites of Pleasant township. He died in the prime of life. His son married a daughter of John Beery and lives near Bremen, Ohio.
Joseph married Mary Lamb, daughter of Peter Lamb. He died in the prime of life. Mrs. Showalter of Lancaster is a daughter. Emanuel married a daughter of Reuben Emick, who lived at one time on the farm now owned by David Pence. Emanuel Keller has been for many years a farmer in Missouri. David Pence Keller married a McFarland. and moved to Illinois, where he prospered. He is now a banker and a man of means. He is a prominent cit-
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izen and a very intelligent man. He at one time represented his county in the legislature of Illinois.
Augustus Ruffner Keller married a McFarland. He was a man of many accomplishments and a gen- tleman highly esteemed for his ability and many good qualities.
Catharine, daughter of Daniel Keller, married J. R. Shaver; they moved many years ago to LaSalle County, Ill., where Shaver has been a prosperous farmer.
Sophia married John Caldwell and settled on a farm near the old home.
Laura married Jonas Hite; they lived on a farm near the Baptist church in Pleasant township. They were the parents of Levi Hite, the attorney.
Martha A. married William L. Rigby, a farmer, but late probate judge of Fairfield County. Susan married William Medill, a nephew of Governor Wil- liam Medill, of Lancaster, O. Mr. Medill is the owner of good farms and he understands their man- agement. He now resides in Lancaster, but his farms are not neglected.
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