USA > Ohio > Clark County > Portrait and biographical album of Greene and Clark counties, Ohio, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county; together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States > Part 61
USA > Ohio > Greene County > Portrait and biographical album of Greene and Clark counties, Ohio, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county; together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States > Part 61
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Mr. Vollmer is a native of the Buckcye State and was born December 11, 1840, in Muskingum County. His immediate progenitors were John and Susannah (Eberle) Vollmer, the former of whom was a native of Wittenberg, Germany. He was born June 22, 1800, and followed shoe-mak- ing in his native provinee where he lived until a man of twenty-eight years. Then, in 1828, emi- grating to America, settled in Reading, Pa., where he followed his trade until 1835. That year he re- moved to Springfield, Ohio, but a short time after-
ward changed his residence to Zanesville and afterward lived in the country for a time.
In 1851 the father of our subject seeured thirty acres of land located three miles east of Springfield on the National Pike and turned his attention to farming. Subsequently he purchased thirty acres more and there made his home until his death, Sep- tember 6, 1876. The five children born to him and his estimable wife are recorded as follows : John dur- ing the Civil War served as a union soldier in the One hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Infantry; George died when a man grown ; Jacob, our subject, was the third son; Mary is the wife of Sigmond Kem- ler and lives in this county ; Milly married Frederick Fissle, and they live in this county. John Voll- mer after becoming a naturalized citizen identi- fied himself with the Democratie party. He was reared in the doetrines of the Lutheran Church to which he faithfully adhered until his death.
The mother of our subject was born in Reading Pa., and was the daughter of George Eberle, a tailor by trade, who, upon coming to Ohio set- tled in Springfield, where he spent the remainder of his life. His family consisted of four sons and thirec daughters. Mrs. Susannah Vollmer is now dead.
The subject of this sketch spent his early life amid the quiet pursuits of the farm, remaining un- der the home roof until the outbreak of the Civil War. During the second year of the conflict lic enlisted August 11, 1862, in Company A, Ninety- fourth Ohio Infantry and was at once made a Corporal. He first met the enemy in battle at Tidd's Ferry, Ky., and later participated in the fights at Perryville, Stonc River and Chickamauga and in the meantime was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. At Chickamauga he was captured by the enemy and held a prisioner for nineteen months, being confined at Belle Isle, Libby Prison and at Danville, Va. While at the latter place he inade his escape, but two wecks later was recaptured and again experienced the horrors of Libby Prison. From there he was taken to Andersonville, then to Savannah and Camp Lawton. Finally he was re- turned to Andersonville but later sent toJackson- ville Fla., where he was released April 29,1865, at the close of the war. Then taking a steamer to
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Annapolis, Md., ne was thence sent to Columbus, where he was mustered out in June following.
Although experiencing many hairbreadth escapes and suffering greatly from the indignities and privations of his prison life, Mr. Volmer soon re- cuperated and resumed farming in Springfield Township. In the fall of 1866 he became inter- ested in wagon-making and entered into partner- ship with John Ulrich at Harmony, where they operated together until the year of 1888. Since that time Mr. Vollmer has prosecuted his trade at. Harmony. Like his father before him he was a stanch Democrat for many years, but his warm in- terest in the temperance question has now indueed him to identify himself with the Prohibitionists. He takes an active interest in politics and served as the Trustee of his township three terms from 1880 to 1883.
One of the most important events in the life of our subject was his union with Mrs. Olive (Lay- bourn) Stephens which was celebrated at the home of the bride's parents in Harmony Township, December 15, 1870. Mrs. Vollmer was born April 15, 1844, in this township to Joseph and Ann (Kirkly) Laybourn, the father a native of Clark County and the mother of Yorkshire, England. Mr. Laybourn is one of the most substantial far- mers of Harmony Township and the son of Amos Laybourn, who was a native of England and who married a Miss Oxtoby. Amos Laybourn emi- grated to America in early manhood and was one of the earliest pioneers of Harmony Township where he spent his last days. The father of Mrs. Vollmer was a member in good standing of the Baptist Church and in politics a Prohibitionist. He is now deceased. The parental household con- sisted of three sons and four daughters, five of whom are living.
Mrs. Vollmer spent her girlhood in a compar- atively uneventful manner under the home roof and was carefully trained by her excellent mother in all housewifely arts. She remained with her par- ents until her first marriage, to Henry Stephens, by whom she became the mother of one child, a daughter, Hattie, who is now the wife of Frank Mark. To Mr. and Mrs. Vollmer have been born four children -- George, Charles, John and Daisy.
Our subject and his excellent wife are members in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church and hold no unimportant social position in their community.
h ON. CHARLES R. WHITE, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, of the Third Sub-division of the Second Judicial District of Ohio, residing at Springfield, is a son of the late William White, Chief Justice of the Su- preme Court of Ohio, who is represented elsewhere in this volume. He partakes largely of the talent and ability of his honored father and bids fair to occupy, as did the latter, a prominent position in the legal profession of the State. He is in the prime of life, having been born May 25, 1849, his birthplace being the city in which he still resides. He pursued his early studies in the city schools and later attended a private school taught by Prof. McGugan. Subsequently he was under the tuition of Prof. C. B. Ruggles, a noted instructor.
When a youth of seventeen years Judge White entered Wittenberg College, at Springfield, from which he graduated in the class of 1871. He com- pleted his literary and classical education in the Michigan University at Ann Arbor, taking a one year's post-graduate course. Returning then to Springfield, he entered the law office of the Hon. J. Warren Keifer, with whom he studied two years and was then admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court.
Judge White entered upon the regular practice of his profession in partnership with Gen. Keifer, continuing therein until May, 1885, when he en- tered upon the discharge of his duties of his pres- ent office, to which he was first elected at the October election in 1884; and re-elected without opposition in November, 1889, and entered upon his second term in May, 1890. The Third Sub- division of the Second Judicial District in which he was so elected, is comprised of the counties of Clark, Greene, Warren and Clinton. Under the constitution of Ohio he is authorized to hold court within and his jurisdiction extends over ten coun-
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ties, viz: Clark, Greenc, Warren, Preble, Mont- gomery, Miami, Darke, Champaign, Clinton and Butler, these forming the Second Judicial District.
Judge White was for some time a Director of the Springfield Savings Bank, and is at present a Director of the Second National Bank, of Spring- field, Ohio. Without being a politician, he is a stanch supporter of the Republican party, having cast his first Presidential vote for Gen. Grant, and he keeps himself thoroughily posted upon current events. Socially, he belongs to Clark Lodge No. 101, F. & A. M., and Springfield Chapter No. 48, R. A. M., likewise Palestine Commandery, No. 33, K. T. He belongs to the Phi Kapi Psi fraternity and is President of the local Alumni Association. In social and business eircles he stands second to nonc in the county.
The marriage of Charles R. White and Miss Louise Nixon was celebrated at the bride's home in Dayton, Ohio, June 12, 1884. This lady was born in Clark County and is the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Murphy) Nixon, who were natives of Pennsylvania, and are now living. The Judge occupies a pleasant home in the eastern part of the city. He posesses talents of a high order and the strict integrity, with the sound judgment and ad- herence to duty in all the relations of life, which to such an eminent degree distinguished his honored father.
DDISON STORRS LEWIS. Among the residents of Miami Township, Greene County, none are more worthy of repre- sentation by the biographical writer than Storrs Lewis and his wife, a view of whose beauti- ful homestead appears on another page. The farm which they own and occupy is one of the fin- est in the locality, comprising one hundred and eighty-eight aeres of highly cultivated land. A visitor would find upon it every necessary and eon- venient structure and would at onee observe that the fences are well kept, the buildings in good re- pair, and that fruit and shade trees beautify the premises, the whole giving an impression of pros- perity, comfort, and good taste, highly attractive.
The dwelling, which was erected in 1876 at a cost of $3,000, is a brick structure of an attractive architectural design, and fitted up in a style becom- ing the circumstances of those who dwell within.
The ancestors of both Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are such as their descendants can refer to with pride, the various families with which they are connected furnishing men and women of ripe intelligenec, moral force, and ability. The father of Mr. Lewis was Bennet Lewis, a native of Connecticut, who for some time made his home in the Empire State. There, in 1823, he was united in marriage witli Miss Eliza Boughton, who was born in North Carolina, August 15, 1803. Seven years later the couple removed to Ohio, settling where Clifton now stands, that village being laid out by Mr. Lewis. He had been a merchant and continued the business after coming here, also operating a cotton and woolen mill which he built. He was successful in both enterprises and became the owner of about five hundred acres of real estate, seeuring a competenee which enabled him to thor- oughly equip his children for the battle of life by bestowing upon them cxeellent educations and giv- ing them a financial start. The mill which he had built was operated until 1868, when it was washed away by a flood. He was also a contractor on the Ohio and Miami Canals. He served as County Commissioner and was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church, holding the office of Elder. His wife also belonged to that denominatiou.
Going back another generation in the maternal line, we find Jarcd Boughton, a native of Con- necticut, born February 19, 1766, who adopted thre oceupation of farming. He married Olive Stone, who was born in Stcekbridge, Mass., January 2, 1770, their wedding ceremony taking place in Co- lumbia County, N. Y., in 1787. They reared a family of twelve children, the mother of our sub- ject being next to the youngest. The mother of Jared Boughton belonged to the French family of Pennoyers, who own a scholarship in Harvard Col- lege.
The subject of this sketch is one of nine chil- dren born to his parents and the youngest of the four now living. Harriet has been a missionary in China for the seven years past; Ezra B. is a
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inerchant in San Jose, Cal .; Charles B. is in the real-estate business at Santa Ana, Cal. The mother breathed her last January 24, 1873, and the father October 10, 1876. The latter belonged to a long- lived family, his father having reached the ad- vanced age of ninety-six years, and his brother, Isaac, having lived to be eighty-five years of age. The latter attended the lock on the Erie Canal when the first boat passed through to the ocean carrying a barrel of Lake Erie water. He was also there when Gen. Lafayette visited America and passed through the canal.
The natal day of Storrs Lewis was March 13, 1846, his birthplace being the old home of the family in this township. After acquiring a funda- mental education, he entered Miami University, at Oxford, from which he was graduated in 1869, afterward taking a special course of eivil engineer- ing at Lafayette College, in Easton, Pa. Completing the course in 1870, he went to Boston, where for a year he was engaged on the State map survey as an assistant engineer. During the next three years he was in the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio and Pennsylvania Central Railroads.
The next step in the life of Mr. Lewis was onc of great importance, it being his marriage, Novem- ber 19, 1874, to Miss Margaretta G. McLean. The young lady had been schooled in the Ladies Semi- nary, at Beaver, Pa., where she had taken a full course of instruction, and she had also received excellent instruction in music, for which she had a decided talent, and in which she is a fine performer. Not only is she finely educated and accomplished, but she possesses easy, graceful manners, is a ca- pable housewife and a consistent Christian. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lewis settled where they now live, the estate having been given to them by the father of Mr. Lewis. The land has been de- voted to gencral farming and stock-raising, and is still operated by the owner, who for so many years has successfully prosecuted his labors there. The stock kept is of excellent grades and every means is taken to insure good crops.
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are the parents of one child, Nellie B., who was born October 17, 1880, and who is receiving cvery advantage which is suited to her years. Mr. Lewis was Trustee of
Miami Township from 1883 to 1886, and has fre- quently been a delegate to county and congres- sional conventions, always voting the Republican ticket. He is a member of Clifton School Board, and has been Treasurer three years. He belongs to the Presbyterian Church, in which he has been a Trustee, and Treasurer two years, while Mrs. Lewis is identified with the United Presbyterian Church. They are numbered among the best citi- zens, holding a place in the highest society and being looked upon with respect for their personal attainments, activity and uprightness.
Mrs. Lewis is the youngest of five children born to the Rev. D. H. A. and Elizabeth (Patterson) McLean. The others of the family circle are: E. P., a physician in Virginia; he served in the Union army during the late war in the Sixty-second Penn- sylvania Regiment for two years; Mary, Mrs. Libby, whose home is in Pittsburg, Pa .; D. B. and Ella, who live in Rochester, Pa. The latter city is now the home of the parents, who are spend- ing their declining years in quiet repose. The Rev. Mr. McLean was licensed to preach June 23, 1840. He was for many years prominent in the ministerial work of the United Presbyterian Church, but is now retired. His father, Daniel McLcan, was also a minister, being identified with the As- sociate Presbyterian Church. The family is of Scotch origin, and traced to a prominent clan across the water. The parents of Mrs. Lewis were born April 5, 1816, and in December, 1821, respectively, their marriage taking place May 12, 1842. Another of the ancestors of Mrs. Lewis was James Glover, her great-grandfather, who was one of the men ap- pointed to keep the watch fires burning while Wash- ington crossed the Delaware, and who also passed through the hard winter at Valley Forge. He lived to the extreme old age of ninety-six ycars, while his wife died at the age of ninety-four. Grand- father Patterson was a merchant of Mercer County, Pa., during all the years of his business life and was a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Mrs. Elizabeth (Patterson) McLean was born Deeember 9, 1821. Her father, Andrew Patter- son, was married in Mercer, Pa., in 1818, to Eliza, daughter of Judge Alexander Brown, who
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died in 1869, aged seventy-seven years. His wife died in 1840.
Grandfather Daniel McLean was licensed to preach in the Associate Presbyterian Church, in 1799, and was pastor of the Chenango Congrega- tion, in Crawford County, Pa., from January 1, 1802, until January 1, 1855, a period of fifty- three years. He died in June of the latter year when in the eighty-fifth year of his age. His wife, Mary, was the daughter of James and Mar- garetta Glover. She died in 1860, in her seventy- uinth year.
AMUEL HAINES. In the career of Mr. Haines is illustrated that of the self-made man, who began life at the foot of the lad- der, settling on sixty aeres of land in the woods of Cæsar's Creek Township, Greene County. By a course of great industry and prudence he gained headway year by year, and was fortunate in his investments, so that he is now one of the foremost farmers of this eounty. He is a life-long resident in the community where he now resides, and besides his homestead proper, consisting of one hundred and one acres, has two other farms of one hundred and eight, and fifty aeres respectively. He has given to his children about five hundred acres in all, in addition to a goodly sum of money. He has resided upon his present farm about fourteen years.
The subject of this notice first opened his eyes to the light October 24, 1818, at the modest home of his parents, a little farm which lay west of Bur- lington, this county. His father, Zimri Haines, was born in New Jersey, July 11, 1789, and married Elizabethi Compton, a native of South Carolina, and who was born July 25, 1800. Zimri Haines came to Ohio in 1810, when a young man. Prior to this he had learned the trade of a cabinet-maker, in Philadelphia, Pa. The parents were married in 1817, and soon afterward settled upon the place which constitutes the present home of our subject. The father purchased about six hundred aeres of land, on a part of which he built a good homestead,
where he spent the remainder of his life, passing away August 27, 1868. The mother survived her husband for a period of eighteen years, her death taking place in June, 1886, when she was nearly eighty-six years old. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom Samuel, our subjeet, was th> eldest born; Sarah died in Wabash, Ind .; El- wood is a resident of Iowa; Eber and Eli in Clin- ton County, Ohio; and Phebe, Mrs. Joseph L. Davis, is a resident of Clayton, Kan .; Rebecea A. died in Cæsar's Creek Township, Greene County, Ohio; Elizabeth lives in Clinton County; and Asaph is a resident of this county; Mary M., Mrs. Brown, lives in Henry County, Ind.
The parents of our subjeet belonged to the So- ciety of Friends. The elder IIaines was a promi- nent man in his community, liberal and publie spirited, and respected by all who knew him. The paternal grandparents were Isaac and Keziah (Woolman) Haines, who emigrated from New York State to Ohio about 1820. They first settled near Lumberton, Clinton County, and later re- moved to Westboro. that county, where they spent their last days. Their family consisted of three sons and four daughters, viz .: Zimri, Granville, Mordecai, Elizabeth, Mrs. Beatty; Rachel, Mrs. Davis; Susan, Mrs. Mendenhall; and Abigail, Mrs. Johnson. The Haines family originated in France, and were represented in America probably during the Colonial days. The mother of our subjeet was a daughter of Samuel and Phebe (Edwards) Comp- ton, who emigrated from South Carolina to Ohio during the pioneer days. The first recollections of Samuel Haines are of the little log cabin in the woods where he spent his boyhood, assisting his father in the development of the new farm, and obtaining his education in the primitive sehools. He prosecuted his studies in another log cabin with slab seats, puneheon floor, and greased paper for window panes. He attended sehool mostly during the winter season, and the balance of the year as . sisted his father in clearing the farm.
One of the most important events in the early life of Mr. Haines was hiis marriage with Miss Mary Bales, which oeeurred at the bride's home in this township, March 17, 1842. This lady was born September 14, 1824, at her father's homestead in
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Cæsar's Creek Township, in what is now Jas- per Township, and is the daughter of Elisha and Elizabethi (Shook) Bales, who were natives re- speetively of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Elisha Bales was born October 17, 1796, and about 1801 was brought by his parents to Ohio, they settling in Cæsar's Creek Township, where Grandfather Bales spent the remainder of his life. His family consisted of two sons and six daughters, viz .: Aaron E., Alexander, Julia A., Matilda, Phebe, Mary, Elizabeth E. and Sarah L. The maternal great-grandfthier of our subject, also named Elisha Bales, married Elizabeth Nichols, who came from Pennsylvania. They belonged to the Society of Friends, and spent their last years in Ohio.
Mr. and Mrs. Haines became the parents of twelve children, the eldest of whom, a daughter, Eunice, married Joseph Adams, and is now a widow making her liome in Greene County; Amos died when thirty years old; Sarah E. is the wife of Harvey Falkner; Zimri died at the age of thirty- two; Julia A. is at home; Phebe and Elisha died at the ages of twenty-eight and fourteen; Eli is living in this township; Hannah married Prof. E. HI. Colvin, and lives in this county; Alfred also lives in this county ; Mary E. died when twenty- two years old; and Aaron died when a child of two. Mr. and Mrs. Haines are likewise Quakers in religious belief. Mr. Haines is held in high repute among the people who have known him all his life, and is a most worthy representative of one of the substantial families of the county.
W ILLIAM H. HANFORD. Althoughi it is less than a decade since this gentleman took up his abode in Springfield, his name is now well known as Superintendent of the Citi- zens' Street Railway Company. It was not long after his arrival before his ability became known to other business inen, and the reputation which he had elsewhere had as a worthy citizen, a kindly and intelligent man and a gallant soldier, followed hin to his new home.
The Hanford family is of Scotch descent, while
the mother of our subject was descended from En- glish ancestors. William I. Hanford, the father of our subject, was a railroad and street contractor in Rochester and other Eastern cities. Ile was a son of IIolley Hanford, a native of Connecticut. IIe married Julia, a daughter of William Cobb, who, like himself, was born in the city of Rochester, and whose parents were from Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Hanford made their home in the city of their na- tivity, rearing four sons and four daughters, only four of the entire family now surviving.
The subject of this biographical notice is the seeond of the parental family, and was born in Ro- chester, Monroe County, N. Y., June 7, 1837. Ile passed his youth in his native city, attending the common schools, and at the age of fifteen years be- gan making his own living. In April, 1861, he enlisted in an independent company, and afterward became a member of the Sixty-seventh New York Infantry, which was commanded by Col. Adams, of Brooklyn. The regiment was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and he of whom we write took part in the battle of Gettysburg, and in various engagements in the Shenandoah Valley under Gen. Sheridan. At the battle of the Wilderness hic was shot through the left wrist, and was absent from his regiment thirty-five days in consequence. He took part in nearly all of the engagements in which his corps, the Sixth, participated. He was pro- moted from the ranks to the position of Corporal, and on through the non-commissioned and com- missioned offices until he becanie First Lieutenant, in which rank he served out his term of enlistment and was discharged in August, 1865.
When the war was over Mr. Hanford returned to his native city, which he again left in 1866, to take up liis residence in Covington, Ky. There he worked at the carpenter's trade, which he had learned prior to his enlistment. He remained in Coving- ton until January, 1869, when he removed to Jef- fersonville, Ind., working at his trade in that city. His next removal was to Princeton, whence he went to Cineinnati, Ohio, and then to Newport, Ky. In February, 1883, he came to Springfield, which has since been his home. Not long after his arrival he received the appointment of Superintendent of the different lines of the Citizens' Street Railway Com-
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pany, in which, while advancing the interests of the corporation, he is giving all citizens excellent accommodations and increased facilities for travel.
In 1866 Mr. Hanford led to the hymeneal altar Miss Mary A. Shuel, of Covington, Ky., daughter of Jacob and Helen (Pieree) Shuel, of that eity. There she was born and reared amid favorable sur- roundings, which developed in her estimable and pleasing traits of character and mental eulturc. She presides with grace over the family residence, No. 400 West Columbia Street, whose neat and tasteful surroundings are an index of the refinement which characterizes its owners. Mr. Hanford is a member of Clark Lodge No. 101, F. & A. M., and he also belongs to the fraternity of the Knights of Honor.
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