Clinton County, Ohio - Biographical sketches (2 of 2 so headed), 1915 (part 17 of 26)

. Of the more remote ancestry of Mr. Henry it may be said that his grandparents on his paternal side were John and Catherine (Stump) Henry, the former of whom was born in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia in 1798 and died in 1870, and the latter of whom was born in Irederick county, Virginia, in 1805, and died in 1887. John Henry came from Virginia to Ohio when a young man. His father haying been killed when he was a baby he was reared by his aunt. He settled in Warren county and finally owned a good farm near Harveysburg, but in 1854 sold out and purchased land in Union township, where he lived until his death. He and his wife were devout members of the Christian church. They had ten children, of whom seven are deceased, as follow: Daniel, lives in Wilmington; William, was the father of Junius A.; Jonas and John are deceased; Matilda, married William Fisher, of near Port William; Retta, deceased, married Quincy Harris; Lydia, died unmarried; Frances, married James Fisher, of Wilmington; Reese, died unmarried; and Joshua, who was twice married, is deceased. Mrs. William Henry had a birthright in the Friends church. Fifteen years after their marriage, Mr. Henry joined the church. He was a Democrat early in life and later ; years voted the Prohibition ticket. 3

On his maternal side, Junius A. Henry is descended from Charles and Catherine (Horney) Pidgeon, his maternal grandparents, the former of whom was born on March 1, 1806, and died on July 26, 1898, and the latter of whom was born on September 23, 1810, and died on December 27, 1886. They were natives of Stokes county, North Carolina. Isaac Pidgeon, the paternal great-great-grandfather of Junius A. Henry, was a strict Quaker, who emigrated from Ireland to Chowan county, North Carolina, about 1740, and who, although he lived in America during the Revolutionary War, was not called upon to serve, since he was a member of the Quaker church. His son, Charles Pidgeon, Sr., a blacksmith, mechanic, carpenter and home physician, married Elizabeth Crews on November 11, 1789. She was a native of Virginia, and died in the early forties, after giving birth to a family of twelve children. 'The father died in 1854. Charles Pidgeon, Jr., who grew up in Stokes county, North Carolina, later located in Guilford county, and at the breaking out of the Civil War, being a northern sympathizer, emigrated to Ohio, He had married Catherine Horney on October 8, 1829. They had twelve children: Emily, married John Briggs, and died at the age of thirty-nine; Mary, married Wallace Mack, and they live in Virginia; John, married Caroline Thompson, and is a Quaker minister at Orchard Grove, Ohio; Hannah, married William Charles, and they are both deceased; Julia A., is the widow of William Henry and the mother of Junius A.; Samuel, is a school teacher and farmer at Jamestown, Ohio; David, is a resident of California; Jeffrey, died in infancy; Charles Addison, a school teacher, died unmarried, at the age of twenty-six; Henry, is a farmer in Union township; Cornelia, married Bruce Sprague, of Union township, and Louisa, married Aden Starbuck.

Junius A. Henry is one of three children born to his parents. His elder brother, Charles Addison, was born on January 22, 1870, and is a farmer of Union township. He married Margaret Vandervort. Junius Avery was the second born. William A., born on November 9, 1876, died on September 20, 1909.

Junius A. Henry attended the district schools of Clinton county, in Union township, and assisted his father on the home farm until his marriage, after which he located on a part of his father's home farm. Upon his father's death he inherited .one hundred and twenty acres of land and in 1911 added sixty acres from the Wade farm adjoining the home farm. In 1909 he bought a residence on West Locust street, Wilmington, which he still owns. For severa] years he has kept thoroughbred trotting horses of the Wilkes and Electioneer strains. He raises alJl the cattle and hogs necessary to consume the grain raised on the farm and, in fact, buys grain for his stock. In 1900 Mr. Henry built a comfortable country home, where he and his wife and family now live.

On August 10, 1892, Junius A. Henry was married to Augusta Wstell Fisher, a native of Green township, Clinton county, and the daughter of James and Eliza Fisher, the former of whom was born on April 30, 1829, in Clinton county, and the latter of whom was born on March 16, 1853, in Tennessee.

Of the paternal ancestry of Mrs. Henry, it may be said that her grandparents, David and Hannah Fisher, were natives of Virginia. David and Hannah Fisher had thirteen children: Samuel, John, Andrew J.. William, George W.,° James, Thomas, Eliza Ann, Maria and Elizabeth were ten of these children. The father lived in Clinton county until 1858, when he removed to Illinois and died of cholera in 1863, at the age of

George W. Fisher, an uncle of Mrs. Henry's, after working at various places as a brickmaker, began farming in 1857 and before his death came to own two hundred and thirty-five acres of land. His wife, before her marriage, was Martha Fife, who was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, August 20, 1828, and who came with her parents, David and Nancy Fife, to Philadelphia, in 1840, and a few years later to Clinton county, Ohio, where her mother died. Her father removed to the state of Illinois and died there. George W. Fisher and Martha Fife were married on February 15, 1850. They had eight children, as follow: Jennie, born on June 21, 1852; David F., July 18, 1854; John, September 11, 1856; George L., November 8, 1858; Thomas, December 29, 1860; Matthew, January 17, 1865, and died on December 29, 1881; Maggie L., April 28, 1869; and James, July 25, 1878. Mr. Fisher was a member of Company K, One Hundred and Forty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil War.

Mr. and Mrs. Junius Avery Henry are the parents of three children: Eva Catherine, born on January 11, 1898, married Harl West, and they live on the farm owned by Mrs. William Henry, Mrs. West's grandmother; Ray, March 1, 1894; and Fay, April 20, 1896, are at home. '

Mr. Henry is a Democrat. He has a birthright membership in the Quaker church at Wilmington. Mrs. Henry'is a member of the Methodist Hpiscopal church. They are well-known and highly-respected citizens and farmers. of Union township, popular in the community where they reside and where they have a host of friends.

Coming to Clinton county as a German immigrant when twenty-seven years of age, working for the first few years of his life here under conditions that would have proved disheartening to one of less plucky disposition, surmounting obstacles that to others might have seemed well nigh insuperable, Henry Stieritz came to be a man of large substance, well circumstanced and prosperous and at the time of his death left to his sons, Jacob, Godfrey and David, not merely a legacy of world's goods that provided handsomely for their material state, but the far more enduring and valuable legacy of a good name, the name of a man who had done well his part in life, who had cherished his family and had walked uprightly before his fellowmen. These three sons well have taken care of the legacy thus left them, not only having increased the considerable land holdings bequeathed them by their father, but have cherished the greater legacy of his good name, and in their own Hves have so conducted themselves before men as to leave unsullied the fine trust their father reposed in them.

Henry Stieritz was born in the kingdom of Wurttemberg, in southwestern Germany, the son of John Stieritz and wife, peasant farmers, and remained in his native land until he was twenty-seven years of age, at which time he decided to try his fortune in the great land of fuller opportunities across the water. With this end in view he came to America, almost immediately locating in this county, where he engaged to work for a Clark township farmer for two years at the wage rate of eight dollars the month. Desiring to save his earnings in order that he early might accumulate a fund by which te start himself as a farmer in his own right, Henry Stieritz allowed all but a mere pittance of his earnings during this period to remain in the hands of his employer, thinking to draw the whole amount at the end of his service. Just about the time of the termination of his two years of faithful service, his employer failed and he lost almost the whole of his accumulated wages. Not a whit discouraged, however, he started over again and presently found himself able to purchase thirty acres of land. This small tract was situated Just over the county line in Highland county, and there Henry Stieritz laid the foundation of his fortune. Industry and perseverance found their just reward, and in due time, with the diligent and faithful aid of his growing sons, Mr. Stieritz became the owner of a.fine, well-cultivated. farm of three hundred and eightyone acres on the dividing line between Clinton and Highland counties, one hundred and twenty-five acres of which was situated in the latter county.

- Upon seeing his way clear to assume the Tesponsibilities of married life, Henry Stieritz was united in marriage to Sophia Trautwein, also a native of Wurttemberg, who came to Clinton county with her parents, Barnhart and Mary (Gates) Trautwein, when she was thirteen years of age, and grew to womanhood on the farm which her father cleared from the forest wilderness 'in the southern part of Clark township. The Trautweins came to this county about the year 1841, locating on a farm of thirty-five acres in the deep woods, where they built a log cabin and proceeded to make a new home. Barnhart Trautwein gradually added to his original tract until he became a quite substantial farmer and was able to give his two sons considerable material aid when they later moved to Illinois to establish homes of their own. He and his wife also were the parents of one other daughter, besides Mrs. Stieritz, who married and remained in Clark township.

To Henry and Sophia (Trautwein) Stieritz were born three sons, Jacob, Godfrey and David, who grew up side by side and have remained close neighbors all their lives, ,cultivating and enlarging the home farm and creating valuable and comfortable homes of their own. Henry Stieritz and his wife were faithful adherents of the Lutheran church and their sons were reared in that faith and have not departed therefrom, being valuable supporters of the faith of their fathers in this community. Henry Stieritz died in the year 1883 and his wife died in 1907. Both were highly regarded in the community in which they had risen from humble conditions to positions of influence in their neighberhood and they were sincerely mourned by many friends. '

Jacob Stieritz, eldest' son of Henry and Sophia (Trautwein) Stieritz, was born in Clark township, Clinton county, Ohio, on January 12, 1859, and has continued to live in that neighborhood. Upon the division of his father's estate, he inherited one hundred and twenty-five acres, to which he added a small farm which he previously had acquired adjoining and there he lived until 1908, in which year he bought the well-appointed farm which he now occupies. On this place he has a fine brick residence and the farm buildings are in full keeping with the same, the farm being well equipped for the profitable pursuit of modern agricultural methods. In February, 1894, Jacob Stieritz was united in marriage to Alexenia F. Abernathy, daughter of John Abernathy, of Highland county, this state. and to this union two children have been born, both sons, Harry Lee and Howard Edwin, both of whom are at home, valuable aids to their father in his agricultural pursuits.

Godfrey Stieritz, second son of his pioneer parents, was born on June 17, 1863. receiving, as did his brothers, such education as the district schools of Clark township provided in those days, and has always been a farmer. Upon the division of his father's estate he received the home section of the farm and has continued to live in the old home. He is quite successfully engaged in general farming and has made important additions to his original holdings, now being the owner of two hundred and eighteen acres, all of which is in an excellent state of cultivation.

David Stieritz, youngest of the three sons of Henry Stieritz, was born on the old home place in Clark township, on July 10, 1869. He received one hundred and twentyfive acres in the division of the home farm and continued to make his home there, having erected a comfortable residence upon the occasion of his marriage and has prospered, he, as well as his brothers. being regarded as among the substantial farmers of Clark township. On May 14. 1900. David Stieritz was united in marriage to Rosa Rost, who was born in Hamilton county, this state, the daughter of Henry Rost, but a resident of Highland county at the time of her marriage. David Stieritz, as well as his brothers, takes a warm interest in local affairs and is highly concerned in the advancement of the common good thereabout. He formerly was director of schools in his district, an office which he filled faithfully and well.

The Stieritz brothers are excellent citizens, straightforward, industrious and honorable before men and are held in the highest regard throughout that whole community.

Welden N. McKay, who belongs to one of the leading families of Clinton county, a family which has every reason to take just pride in its ancestry, is himself an educated and intelligent young farmer of Chester township, who has enjoyed advantages which fall to few men born and reared on the farm. As a matter of fact, he is a_practical farmer with the theoretical knowledge of agriculture, since he has made the modern theories of agriculture pay him handsome returns for his pains, and, in addition to this, for the past three years he has been interested in road and bridge building under contract. The founder of the McKay family in Ohio was Moses McKay, the great-grandfather of Welden N. McKay, who, accompanied by his wife and children, about 1814 immigrated from Virginia, by way of Pittsburgh and thence by flat-boat to Cincinnati and finally to Lebanon, this state. Still later they settled at Waynesville and a short time later purchased the large tract of land east of the Little Miami river, but a short distance west of Caesars creek, in what is now Massie township, Warren county. From Warren county the family gradually moved over into Clinton county.

Welden N. McKay was born on the farm where he now lives, in Chester township, this county, on November 21, 1874, the son of Robert F. and Mary F. (Nickerson) McKay, the former of whom was born on the same farm on February 9, 1888, and the latter born on July 21, 1843, the daughter of Clark and Martha (Ashbey) Nickerson. Robert F. McKay and Mary F. Nickerson were married on December 28, 1861. Robert F. McKay was the son of Francis and Mary (Collett) McKay, the former of whom was born in January, 1802, the son of Moses McKay, and died on March 26, 1871. He was a native of Frederick county, Virginia, and on October 7, 1830, was married to Mary Collett, daughter of Moses and Rebecca Collett. ;

Various records show that the founder of the McKay family in America was Andrew McKay, who was born in Scotland, the son of Robert McKay. Prior to 1766, Andrew McKay, who was a member of the Society of Friends, married Jane Ridgeway and they settled in Frederick county, Virginia. They were the parents of five children, Moses, Enos, Jacob, Margaret and Patience. Moses McKay, who was born on September 17, 1766, was united in marriage in 1793, according to the discipline of the Friends church, to Abigail Shinn, daughter of George and Rachel (Wright) Shinn, who was born on May 3, 1776, in Stafford county, Virginia, to which union were born thirteen children, namely: Rachel, who was born on January 19, 1794; Robert, December 17, 1795; Sarah, November 11, 1797; George, March 11, 1800; Francis, January 9, 1802; Margaret, January 16, 1804; Jonas, September 9, 1806; Virginia, August 22, 1808; Maria, May 23, 1811; Jonas T., May 10, 1818; Levi D., February 29, 1816; Jacob F., July 3, 1819; and Mary E., July 27, 1822, It was Moses, the father of this family, who settled in Warren county, Ohio. Francis McKay, the grandfather of Welden N., was the fifth child born to his parents. Moses McKay died on January 28, 1828, and his wife in July, of the same year. !

The Nickerson family, of which Weldon N. McKay's mother, Mary Frances (Nickerson) McKay, is a member, has an eyen longer record in America than that of the McKays. William Nickerson, the ancestor in America of this remarkable family, with his wife, Anna, four children and the family of his father-in-law, Nicholas Busby, sailed from Norwich, England, on the ship, "Anne," landing in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 20,

1637. William Nickerson served as representative from Yarmouth, Massachusetts, in 1655, and he and his sons figure largely in colonial records from Yarmouth.

William Nickerson, Jr., married Nancy Williams and settled in North Chatham. He served as a soldier in King Philip's War and died in 1719. His son, Thomas Nickerson, married Mary Bangs, a daughter of Capt. Jonathan and Mary (Mayo) Bangs and granddaughter of Edward and Lydia (Hicks) Bangs. Edward Bangs came to America from Chichester, England, and had wealth, honor and influence. His descendants intermarried with many of the leading Pilgrim and Puritan families and appear always to have maintained an honorable position and to have: been useful citizens in their day and generation. The Bangs coat-of-arms was emblazoned with a Moor's head.

Mary (Bangs) Nickerson was also a lineal descendant of Sir Ellis Hicks, who was knighted by the Black Prince at the battle of Poictiers, September 19, 1356. Ebenezer, son of Thomas and Mary (Bangs) Nickerson, and his wife, Constance, also were residents of Chatham, Massachusetts. Their son, Seth, and his wife, Mary, emigrated from Massachusetts to New York state and were the parents of Joshua Nickerson. Joshua and Abigail (Waring) Nickerson came from Poughkeepsie, New York, to Ohio, in 1804, and settled in Adams township, Clinton county. They had three sons and one daughter. Their son, Clark, married Martha Ashby, a daughter of Silas and Sarah (Collett) Ashby, to which union seven children were born, two daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth Ann, who died at an early age, and James, Joshua, David, Mary Frances, who married Robert F. Mcixay, and Susanna, the wife of Evan Hadley.

Francis McKay was reared on a farm and received the rudiments of an education. On October 7, 1830, he married Mary Collett, who was born on November 7, 1808, and to this union eleven children were born, seven of whom lived to maturity. In the spring of 1832 the family settled in the northern part of what is now Chester township, Clinton county. Francis McKay inherited several hundred acres of land, which was partially cleared. He was a man of industrious habits, sterling integrity and unblemished character. He died on March 26, 1871. It has been said of him that in his death "Clinton county lost one of her most worthy and respected citizens." Not only was his presence missed by the loved ones of his own family but by the poor and needy, to whom he ever extended a helping hand. His widow lived to a very advanced age.

The late Robert F. McKay received his education in the schools of Chester township and was a farmer all his life. In the beginning he had one hundred and fifty acres, to which he added .from time to time until he owned four hundred acres of land. He and his wife were good citizens and for many years maintained a hospitable home in this county. They were the parents of four children, namely: Martha M., who married Charles Skimming; Welden N., the subject of this sketch; Sarah M., who married Harley H. Smith, and Susannah M., who married Everett Terrell. Robert F. McKay was a trustee and class leader for many years in the Methodist church. He voted the Republiean ticket and was a man of large influence in his community.

Due to the careful management of his father, Welden N. McKay received a good start in life. He received his elementary education in the schools of Chester township, supplementing the same by a course in Wilmington College, after which, during 1897, . 1898 and 1899, he was a student at Ohio State University, where he took a thorough course in agriculture. Upon completing his studies, he took up farming in Clinton county and now owns ninety-five acres of land in Chester township. He and his mother live together on the home farm and are held in the highest esteem throughout that whole neighborhood.

Welden N. McKay has never married. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is now serving as trustee. Fraternally, he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. McKay votes the Republican ticket. Such families as those of the MeKays are the bone and sinew of the great Hawkeye state, the families to whom is due much of the credit for the present high state of progress in this great commonwealth.

settlement of this section of the state, its founder, David Fisher, having come here as a "bound boy" with the family of Thomas Thatcher, who emigrated from Virginia and located in this county when there was little hereabout to which the name of civilization might be applied. David Fisher was an orphan and was reared in the home of the Thatchers, who had settled in the Cuba neighborhood, where the "bound boy" grew to useful manhood. He married and he and his wife, Hannah, became the parents of thirteen children. David Fisher lived in this county until about the year 1858, when he moved to Illinois, where his death occurred in, 1863, he being then about sixty-seven years of age. David Fisher was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was one of the company of troops surrendered by General Hull, at' Detroit, and shared with many others their hatred of Hull for his uncalled-for surrender. George W. Fisher, son of David and Hannah Fisher, was reared amid the primitive conditions which surrounded his father's home in this county and upon reaching manhood was thrown upon his own resources, without means, other than his courage and determination, and was thus compelled to fight his own way through life. He entered upon the trade of brickmaking, which business he followed for fifteen years at Cincinnati, Shelbyville, Indiana; in this county and in other places, and in the spring of 1857 he engaged in farming, buying seventy-five acres of land in Green township, this county, where he spent the rest of his life. He was successful in his farming operations and gradually increased his holdings until he was in possession of two hundred and thirty-five acres of excellent land surrounding his home, all under fine cultivation, with good buildings and improvements. During the Civil War, George W. Fisher was a member of the Ohio National Guard and, in the spring of 1864, when the services of this body were deemed necessary at the front, he left his plow in the furrow and went to the front, serving uuder Captain Wilson, in Company K, One Hundred and Fortyninth Regiment, Ohio National Guard.

On February 15, 1850, George W. Fisher was united in marriage to Martha Fife, who was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, on August 20, 1828, the daughter of David and Nancy Fife, who came to America in 1840, locating in Philadelphia, a few years later coming to this county. Following the death of his wife here, a few years later, David Fife moved to Illinois, where he spent his last days. George W. Fisher and his wife were the parents of eight children, namely: Jennie, born on June 21, 1852; David F., the immediate subject of this sketch; John W., September 11, 1856; George L., November 8, 1858; Thomas, December 29, 1860; Matthew, January 17, 1865; Maggie L., April 23, 1869, and James, July 25, 1873.

David F. Fisher, son of George W. and Martha (Fife) Fisher, was born in Union township, Clinton county, Ohio, on July 18, 1854, and was reared on the farm, receiving his education in the schools at New Antioch, and has been a farmer all his life. He began as a tenant farmer, but his industry and energy soon gave him a start sufficient to enuble him to see his way ahead, and in 1907 he bought his present fine farm of one hundred and three acres in Washington township, where he since has lived, and where he has prospered, as becomes the diligence with which he has applied himself to his extensive farming operations.

On January 29, 1879, David F. Fisher was united in marriage to Nora Haynie, who was born at New Antioch, this county, daughter of George S. and Elizabeth Ellen (Rannells) Haynie, both natives of this county, the former of whom was born in Union township and the latter in the village of New Antioch.» George S. Haynie was the son of Thomas and Charlotte (Thatcher) Haynie, the former of whom was born in Clinton county, Virginia, and the latter near the village of Cuba, in this county.

came to this county from vinginin at an early day in the settlement of the county, 'engaging in mercantile business at West Woodville, later moving his store: to Burton- 'ville and still later to New Antioch, in which latter village he and his son, George S., were for many years regarded as among the leading merchants of the place. Thomas finally sold out his store and retired to a farm which he had bought and there spent the remainder of his life. Thomas Haynie's wife, Charlotte Thatcher, was a daughter of Thomas Thatcher, who was well known as a land agent in this part of Ohio in the early days, he having been a descendant of Col. Peter Thatcher, of Colonial fame, who came from England. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Fisher were Harvey and DHlizabeth (Flemming) Rannells, he of Scottish descent, and she a native of Pennsylvania, who came from Pennsylvania to this county about the year 1825, locating on a farm of one hundred and thirty-five acres at the edge of the village of New Antioch, . entering the land direct from a government grant. On this homestead they erected a log cabin and created a home, where the remainder of their lives were spent. Harvey 'Rannells and his wife were among the most influential people of that neighborhood and their memory will long endure in that region. They contributed a portion of their land to the uses of the church and school at New Antioch, the first school and church in that neighborhood having been erected on land that they gave.

To David F. and Nora (Haynie) Fisher eight children have been born, namely: Ethel May, Harry Ethelbert, Walter Matthew, Mary Elizabeth, Emmet Hanie, Benjamin Herman Lee, Ernest Evelyn and Dorothy May. Mrs. Fisher is a member of the Christian church and the several members of the family take an active part in the good works of their community, all being held in the very highest esteem-thereabout. Mr. Fisher is a Republican and has served as a member of the school board. He is a member of the Republican committee and is a member of the Martinsville Protective Association. He is a great temperance worker, few men in his neighborhood being more active in the anti-liquor fight than he.

W. P. Runk, one of the succéssful farmers of Clark township, this county, where he owns one hundred and twenty-five acres of land, was born on December 14, 1853, in that township, the son of George W. and Rachel (Ratcliff) Runk, natives of Berkeley county, Virginia, and Highland county, Ohio, respectively, the former of whom was born in 1819, son of John and Elizabeth (Miller) Runk, natives of Pennsylvania and Maryland, respectively, who were married in Pennsylvania and in 1835 located on the farm now owned by their grandson, W. P. Runk. John Runk first purchased one hundred acres, later sold twenty-five acres, and then added. sixty acres to the farm, and both he and his wife spent their last days on the farm. He was a soldier during the War of 1812 and drew a pension for his services in that war. During the Civil War, he was a member of the famous "squirrel hunters" organization, which resisted Morgan's raid. Mr. Runk's maternal grandfather, Jacob Ratcliff, was a native of North Carolina, who came with his parents to Ohio, locating in Highland county. The family was of Quaker descent, and the parents died in Highland county. Jacob Ratcliff was proprietor of a grist-mill at Sharpsville and, later in life, a farmer. His wife, who was a Smith, was a native of Highland county.

The late George W. Runk was educated in the subscription schools of the Old Dominion state, and learned the cabinet-maker's trade at Martinsville after coming to this country. He worked at his trade in Dayton, Ohio, but later took up farming in his home community, and still later removed to his home farm. George W. and Rachel (Ratcliff) Runk, who had five children, died on thé farm that their son, W. P., now owns. The family were members of the Lutheran church.

hundred and twenty-five acres of land in that township, where he has been farming ali his life. On March 1, 1885, he was married to Ida Ent, a native of Sligo, Ohio, and the daughter of George and Lydia (Lambright) Ent, both natives of Frederick City, Maryland. Mrs. Runk's paternal grandfather was George Ent, who was a well-known carriage painter and who came to Ohio in 1855. He died in this state while visiting his son, George. His wife, however, died in Maryland. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 and the founder of the college at Fredericks City, Maryland. Mrs. Runk's maternal grandfather, who married a Miss Scheli, spent all his life in the state of Maryland. Her father was a student at the college at Fredericks City and lacked but one year of graduating. He became a carriage painter, and; after coming to Ohio, located at Clarksville, where he followed his trade for some time. Later he moved to Sligo, thence to Upper Sandusky, thence to New Vienna and finally settled at Martinsville. He and his wife were the parents of nine children. Three of their sons, William, George and Milton, were soldiers in the Union 'army during the Civil War. For ten years Mrs. Runk was a teacher in the public schools, she haying completed her education in the high school at Martinsville.

To W. P. and Ida (Ent) Runk have been born four children, Viola, Leslie, Stella and Blanche. Mr. Runk is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Robert D. Wall

Tt contemplating the many estimable qualities of the late Robert D. Wall, integrity and industry appear as prominent characteristics. He possessed ap integrity which no personal or material consideration could swerve, and an industry which knew no rest while a personal duty remained unperformed. When given a task to accomplish he was accustomed to devote himself to its completion with indefatigable energy, and when the task was done, he threw off all cares to devote himself to the interests of his home and family. His temper was calm and equable, and his manners emphatically those of a gentleman, plain, simple and dignified. He despised sham and pretense of all kinds. His devotion to every duty was intense, while his perception of truth and worth was almost intuitive. Although his life'was a busy one, he never allowed the demands of business to interfere with his Christian obligations or with the faithful performance of his church duties. He commanded the respect of all classes by his exemplary life, and his memory will long be cherished by his friends and acquaintances, and especially by the members of his own immediate family.

Robert D. Wall was born on February 28, 1839, in Chester township, Clinton county, Ohio, and died on May 30, 1910. He was a son of Mahlon and Mary (Vanderburgh) Wall, the former of whom was born on May 81, 1810, in the Steward cabin, in Chester township, this county, and the latter on March 20, 1818, in the state of New York. Mahlon Wall was the son of John and Mary (Mills) Wall, the former of whom was a native of York county, Pennsylvania, born on September 9, 1778, and died on January 5, 1857, and the latter of whom was born on February 10, 1777. They were married in York county, Pennsylvania, in 1802 and came to Clinton county in 1809, locating on a farm on Dutch creek, where they spent the remainder of their lives. The farm which Grandfather Wall owned consisted of about one hundred and four acres, which was a wilderness when he purchased it, but in true pioneer fashion he and his wife set about to cultivate and develop their farm. John Wall and wife were the parents of five children, Eli, Anna, Thomas, Mahlon and David. John Wall was a son of Absalom and Margaret Wall, the former of whom was a native of Center county, Pennsylvania, who sold out to the Dutch, and removed to Bedford county, in that state, in an early day.

Mahlon Wall was an infant when his parents came to this county in 1811. He was reared on the farm in Chester township and lived there all* his life, receiving his education in the primitive schools of his home township. At the time of his death he owned 'about one hundred and twenty-seven acres of land. Mahlon and Mary (Vanderburg) Wall were the parents of eight children, Edwin, Robert D., Esther R., Absalom, Lydia E., Clarence, Rachel and Lucy Alice. Being a member of the Friends church, Mahlon Wall was bitterly opposed to slavery, and in the days before the Civil War assisted in the maintenance of the "underground railway," an institution by whieh slaves were helped to escape from the Southland to Canada. He was a member of the Whig party. He was also bitterly opposed to the whiskey traffic and was a very active worker in the temperance cause.

Robert D. Wall was educated in the common schools of Chester township, and there spent his boyhood and youth. He was twenty-two years old in 1861, when he enlisted for service in the Union army, in Company H, Thirty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Enlisting as a private he was promoted to the rank of corporal on September 24, 1862, and served altogether three years, participating in many of the hardestfought battles of that terrible Struggle. Among the engagements in which he took part were the battles of Iuka, Corinth and Atlanta, besides many others, and his company was detailed to take a train load of prisoners to Philadelphia during the war. During his entire service he was neither wounded nor taken prisoner. He was honorably discharged from the service on August 12, 1864, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and immediately afterwards returned to his home in Clinton county, where he purchased a small tract of land and engaged in farming. He owned seventy-one acres of land, on which he made many improvements, erecting all the buildings on the farm. In later years he delighted to attend old soldiers' meetings, taking an active part in the reunions of his old comrades. He made a specialty during his later years of planting and raising fruit trees.

On March 13, 1867, Robert D. Wall was married to Ann C. MeMillan, who was born on March 14, 1840, a daughter of Josiah and Susannah (Cox) McMillan. Mrs. Wall's father was born on May 10, 1798, in York county, Pennsylvania, a son of David and Hannah, McMillan, who emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio when Josiah was seven years old. Mrs. Wall's mother was born on July 12, 1801, the daughter of William and Emma Cox, and was married to Josiah McMillan on September 22, 1824, to which union seven children were born, David, Hannah, Mary, Clarkson, Thomas, Susannah and Ann C. Mrs. Wall's mother died in 1843 and her father married, secondly, in September, 1851, Mary Crew, the daughter of Obadiah Crew. She died on April 9, 1854, and Josiah McMillan was married the third time. in September, 1860, to Rebecca' Ann Whinnery, the daughter of Robert and Phoebe Whinnery, to which union two children were born, Joseph, born in 1861, and Jane, 1863. Josiah MeMillan was a man of industrious and energetic habits, a member of the Society of Friends. His death occurred in 1879.

To Robert D. and Ann C. (McMillan) Wall six children were born. namely: Bayard T., born on January 23, 1868, died on January 12, 1871; Henry, March 2; 1871, married Hannah Johnson, and has two children. Margaret and George: Thomas Leaton, November 5, 1872, lives with his mother on the home farm; Albert J., August 15, 1880, who died on April 26, 1912, and two daughters, who died in infancy.

Robert D. Wall was an earnest and devoted member of the Friends church, taking an active and interested part in the affairs of that denominxtion. He was a Republican in politics early in life. but later identified himself with the Republicen party. For fifteen years he was a school director. and during the latter yers of his life was a meniber of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Thomas L. Wall. the 'third child of Robert D. and Ann C. (McMillan) Wall, who lives at home with his mother, is an intelligent, highly-educated young farmer, who operates the farm of one hundred acres where he and his mother live, and where his mother was born, also the seventy-one acres of the farm his father brought to an excellent state of cultivation. He is engaged in general farming: and stock raising, making a specialty of breeding and raising Duroc-Jersey hogs, in which he is very suc-

¢tessful. He is well prepared for the proper direction of his affairs, having spent three years in Wilmington College, and later two.'years in a business college at Cincinnati, Ohio. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias. He-votes'the Democratic ticket, and is one of the school directors of Chester township. He is held in high esteem throughout that entire neighborhood and is regarded as a high-minded, industrious and worthy young man.

Prof. Hugh J. Wright

Prof. Hugh J. Wright, who is well-known as the principal of the Martinsville high school, a position which he has held for two years, was born on October. 10, 1875, in Highland county, Ohio, the son of Elwood and Rebecca (Johnson) Wright, both natives of that county, and both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Wright's father was a farmer and a machinist.

Hugh J. Wright was educated in Highland county, where he attended the public schools, and in Wilmington College. For some time he taught in the district schools in the vicinity of Wilmington, and afterwards in Fairfield township, Highland county, where he was principal of a graded school. Afterwards he became principal of the Leesburg public schools, but in 1908 removed to Martinsville, where he entered the lumber and builders' supply business and was thus engaged for three years. He then sold out and accepted the position of superintendent of the Martinsville high school, later becoming principal, under the new law. Professor Wright is well known in Clinton county as one of its leading educators. Not only is he a capable instructor, well-informed and skillful in teaching, but he is possesed of exceptional executive ability, and is particularly well adapted to supervisory educational work. During the years he has been engaged in teaching school, he has also dealt to some extent in real estate.

In 1900 Professor Wright was married to Miss Julia Denney, of Highland county, this state, who has borne him two children, Robert Elwood and Rebecca.

Being the grandson of Joseph Wright, one of the early ministers in the Friends church, of Clinton county, Professor Wright is himself a member of that church and during the past two years has been superintendent of the Friends Sunday school in Martinsville. He served one term as township clerk of Clark townShip and is prominent in the fraternal circles of Clinton county, being a member of the Masonic lodge, Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Junior Order of United American Mechanics and the Modern Woodmen of America. The Wrights are prominent socially in Martinsville and Clark township and are held in the highest esteem thereabout.

Dana C. Bond

Dana C. Bond, whose father was a well-known farmer and local minister in the Christian church and who himself has become a successful farmer in Clinton county, was born in Union township, this county, on December 30, 1861. His father, John E. Bond, was born in Maryland on May 18, 1824, and was married to Elizabeth Custis on October 18, 1846. She was born on August 3, 1825, in Union township, the daughter of Thomas and Catherine (Smith) Custis. John E. Bond was the son of George and Margaret (Matlock) Bond, natives of Maryland, born on May 1, 1802, and the latter, October 12, 1801. They were married in 1824 and came to Clinton county about 1835, locating on a farm in Washington township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of seven children, of whom John E., the eldest, was the father of Dana C. The other children were George W., Elisha T., Sarah J., Margaret C., Martha and William B. The family were members of the Christian church and the father was a Democrat in polities.

John E. Bond was educated in the common schools of Washington township and when a young man began farming in Union township, where he spent the rest of his life, owning at the time of his death seven hundred acres of land, being considered one of the most: extensive farmers of Clinton county. He was" a local 'minister ° in the Christian church and for many years served the congregation' at Bethel. He'was'a man of great natural'eloquence and was possessed of' unusual persuasive powers, his influence on the early religious life of this community having been' 'widely exerted. John E. and Elizabeth (Custis) Bond were the parents of eight children, of whomg Dana C., the subject of this sketch, was the sixth. The two eldest, Catherine and Charles E., died early in life, the fornier at the age of five and the latter at the age of - three. The other children were Margaret, Thomas, Stephen, John and Sarah J.

Dana C. Bond was educated in the common schools' of Union township and, like his father before him, engaged in farming early in life. After farming. in Union township for about four years, he moved to Washington township in 1886 and purchased the farm where he now lives, comprising one hundred acres. He is engaged in general farming and stock raising and has made a reasonable success in his vocation.

By two marriages, Mr. Bond has had five children. He was first married on September 28, 1881, to Elva Roush, the daughter of William Roush, to which union there were born two children, Harley, who married Pearl Biggs, and has one son, Delbert, and Orval G., who married Catherine Conway, and has two children, Robert and Linnie. Mrs. Elva Bond died on January 28, 1888, and on February 3, 1889, Mr. Bond married, secondly, Luthera Williams, the daughter of John D. Williams, to which second union there have been born three children, Ramona, Hazel and Charles.

Mr. and Mrs. Bond are members of the Christian church and he is an elder in the local congregation. Mr. Bond votes the Democratic ticket, as did his father before him

Leo Weltz

Leo Weltz belongs to that class of men who win life's battles by sheer force of personality and determination rather than by influence of friends or fortune. In whatever he has undertaken he has shown himself to be a man of ability and honor, true to whatever trust has been reposed in him and, as the county clerk of Ciinton county, he has played an important part in the public affairs of the community.

Mr. Weltz's ancestry is peculiar as regards its nationality, as will be noted in the following lines. Mr. Weltz's father, Leo Weltz, Sr., was born in Prussia, January 27, 1825, the son of Frederick Weltz, who was a professor of botany and eventually in the employ of the German government as geologist. Mr. Weltz's great-grandfather was a native of Hngland and in the eighteenth century was sent to Prussia as a minister to the German court. Leo Weltz, Sr.. received his elementary education under the instructions of his father, who himself was a man of high attainments, and attended the colleges of Osterwick and Magdeburg. While taking a special course in botany at the University of Heidelburg, in which he became very proficient, he assisted in laying out the botanical garden there. He made a specialty of landscape gardening and was graduated from the government botanical garden at Berlin. He entered the employ of the government, where he remained for several years and then accepted a position as head gardener to the czar of Russia, Alexander III. a splendid recommendation of his unusnal ability. After remaining at the Russian court for three years and nine months, he was recalled to Germany and served five years in the army, fighting during the Revolution of 1847, and because of gallantry and meritorious conduct on the field of battle he received four medals. He was lieutenant of infantry, and one of the medals was given him as recognition of his bravery in capturing a battery of guns. This "medal entitled him to a pension, which, however. was never claimed by him. After the conclusion of his military service, Mr. Weltz took charge of the park at Magdeburg and subsequently visited the different botanical gardens of southern Europe. During this period, Mr. Weltz was also a student under Alexander Humboldt, the noted explorer and naturalist, and for a period of two or three years served as his examinator. In 1851, Mr. Weltz resigned that situation and came to the United States, locating at Huntington, now in West Virginia, where he remained for about a year. In 1852 he went to Cincinnati and secured employment as a foreman in the nursery of William E. Meurs, of Mt. Washington. Three years later, seeing the possibilities of the nursery business, he engaged in this line on his own account at Mt. Washington and met with success. His unusual ability as a landscape gardener being quickly recognized after he came to this country, he was engaged to lay out the grounds at the homes of Gov. Salmon P. Chase, Governor Buchanan, George H. Pendleton and other gentlemen of large estates. In 1857 Mr. Weltz was called to Wilmington, this county, to lay out Sugar Grove cemetery, and the following year laid out cemeteries at London, Springfield and Martinsville. In 1859 he purchased the land and residence at Wilmington formerly owned by William Adams, who, during anti-slavery times, was so weH known throughout this country, and in the fellowing year moved his family there from Mt. Washington. To this tract he added thirty-eight acres, which he devoted to nursery purposes and also bought two hundred and thirty-eight acres on the old Cincinnati pike adjoining Wilmington. At the latter point he instituted a nursery, which business became the largest of its kind in the county and one of the best equipped in the state of Ohio. Mr. Weltz took a deep interest in everything pertaining to agriculture and horticulture and in 1875 was made a member of the state board of agriculture. Five years later he was elected president of the Clinton County Horticultural Association and for five years also served as the president of the farmers institute of Clinton county, serving also as president of the Sugar Grove cemetery commission. In 1882 Mr. Weltz was chosen to lay out the grounds and superintend the erection of the exposition building at the state fair grounds at Columbus. Natural aptitude and special training made him one of the best-equipped men in his line in the Middle West, and he was widely recognized as an authority in anything pertaining to horticulture or landscape gardening. He took a deep interest in public affairs after coming to this country and in 1856 allied himself with the new Republican party, stumping the state for John Cc. Fremont. In religion, he was a Lutheran. He was married on March 27, 1853, to Anna Elizabeth Schwalenberger, a native of Alsace-Lorraine, who, in 1841, accompanied her parents to America. To this union were born seven sons, namely: Fedor, deceased; Trebor, a nursery dealer; Otto H., a salesman for the Leo Weltz Sons nursery; Fred W., owner of the Leo Weltz Sons nursery at Wilmington: Fremont I.. a Salesman for the sume institution; Leo, Jr.. the subject of this sketch: and Charles W., who died in infancy. The honored father of these children died on December 31, 1890, and their mother died in 1891.

Leo Weltz, Jr., was born on July 19, 1866, at Wilmington, and received his education in the public schools there, being graduated from the high schoo] in 1886. Immediately after the completion of his studies, he went to Columbus, Ohio, and was employed in a wholesale dry-goods store for three years. At the end of that period, he engaged in the nursery business with his father until the latter's death, in 1890, after which he engaged in this business alone until 1900, when he was appointed bailiff of the common pleas court of Clinton county. He held this position with credit to himself for nine years, and during the following three years was deputy county clerk under Clerk Lawhead. In 1912 Mr. Weltz was elected county clerk and is still the incumbent in that position. He is discharging his official duties in a manner highly creditable-to himself and to the entire satisfaction of his fellow citizens. Prompt in the discharge of his official duties. affable and courteous to all who have business in his office and a man of unquestionable integrity, he is justly deserving of representation in the annals of his county.

of which he has taken an active part for years and served as precinct committeeman for several years. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.

Leo Weltz was married in November, 1892, to Sarah L. Miars, who was born in Clinton county, the daughter of David and Eliza Hiars, both of whom are deceased. David Miars was a farmer and blacksmith by vocation and stood high in the esteem of his fellow citizens. To Mr. and Mrs. Weltz have been born two children, Fred, born in 1893, who is now a clerk in the offices of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Company at Lima, and Ruth, in 1896, who is a graduate of the Wilmington high school. Mr. and Mrs. Weltz move in the best social circles of the community and, because of their genial dispositions and genuine worth, they have endeared themselves to all who know them. Mr. Weltz takes a deep and abiding interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the community and county and gives his support to all worthy movements for the advancement of Iris fellow citizens.

George A. Bobbitt

Among the highly-respected citizens of Washington township and the retired farmers' now living in the pleasant village of Cuba is George A. Bobbitt, who owns a magnificent farm of one hundred and seventy-two acres in Washington township.

George A. Bobbitt was born in Highland county, Ohio, near Lynchburg, on November 2, 1851, the son of James W. and Margaret (Mann) Bobbitt, the former of whom was a native of Virginia, born near Lynchburg, and the latter a native of Kentucky. Educated in the common schools of Virginia, the late James W. Bobbitt went, when a lad of sixteen years, from Virginia to Cincinnati, helping to drive a large number of horses. He paid his fare back to Virginia by firing on a boat. Subsequently, he brought his mother to Clinton county on horseback. Having learned the carpenter's trade when a young man, he worked at this trade practically all of his life. After his marriage he purchased a farm of about one hundred acres in Highland county, near Lynchburg, where he reared his family, engaging in farming in connection with his trade. He also built a saw-mill in Lynchburg and engaged in custom sawing. Later he became connected with the railroad at Lynchburg as the agent, at which time he began buying and shipping live stock and dealing in coal and lumber and became a very well-known and successful man. - To James W. and Margaret (Mann) Bobbitt three children were born, namely: Mary C., who married Daniel Sharp, who is now deceased; Henry, who married Mary Brown, and George A., the subject of this sketch. The Bobbitt family were members of the Christian church, and Mr. Bobbitt was a Democrat in politics.

George A. Bobbitt was educated in the common schools, receiving a good education in the schools of Lynchburg. Until 1892 he was engaged with his father in various business enterprises to which he had devoted himself. In 1892, however, he moved*to a farm near Cuba, in Washington township, Clinton county, and now owns the farm, "Sunny Slope," containing one hundred and seventy-two acres. He was engaged in general farming and stock raising until the fall of 1911, when he retired and moved to Cuba, where he now lives.

Mr. Bobbitt has been twice married, his first wife having been Nancy Ei. Kibby, the daughter of Ephraim and Ruth Kibby, to which union were born seven children, two of whom, William F., the first born, and Charles K., the third, are deceased, both dying early in life. The living children are: Cleo P., who is at home; Clarence, who married Veda J. Mitchell; Winchester; Mary D., who is the wife of Joseph Kelley and has one child, Mary F., and Ruth, who married Frank Burnett and has two children, Margaret and Morine. After the death of Mrs. Nancy E. Bobbitt, Mr. Bobbitt married, secondly,

Katie E. Spilker, the daughter of Charles Spilker, to which second union there have been born three children, Paul James, Catherine and George H.

Mr.- Bobbitt has always occupied a position of prominence in local politics and was elected on the Democratic ticket to the office of trustee, a position in which he served two terms. He also served on the school board for six or seven years. Fraternally, Mr. Bobbitt is a' member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

George S. Hodgson

Born and reared in Green township, this county, the late George S. Hodgson, who was the son of Isaiah Morris and Mary Jane (Armstrong) Hodgson, first saw the light of day on March 31, 1864. ;

Mr. Hodgson's father, also a native of Green township, was born on March 24, 1834, in Kentucky. Mr. Hodgson's paternal grandparents, Eleazar and Mary Ann (Wilhelm) Hodgson, were natives of North Carolina and Pennsylvania, respectively. Eleazar Hodgson was the son of Richard Hodgson, who married Hannah Irwin. They lived in North Carolina for a time but later immigrated to Virginia, from which state they moved to Clinton county, being well-known pioneers in this county. From Clinton county they moved to Indiana, where Richard Hodgson died. After his death, his widow returned to Clinton county, where she spent the rest of her life, passing away at an advanced age. Eleazar Hodgson was but a lad when he came to Clinton county with his parents. He was reared to manhood here and was married in this county on September 25, 1825, to Mary Ann Wilhelm, to which union there were born nine children, Catherine, Sarah Ann, Eliza Jane, Isaiah Morris, Hannah, Rebecca, George, Margaret Emily and Eleazar. The parents of these children spent their last days in Clinton county.

Mary Jane Armstrong, the mother of George S. Hodgson, was a daughter of Britton B. and Maria (Harris) Armstrong, the former of whom was born in Scotland in 1815, and the latter, a native of Kentucky, daughter of Capt. George Harris, who died in the state of Kentucky. Britton B. Armstrong was the son of Walter and Mary Ann Armstrong. Walter Armstrong died in Kentucky, and after his death his widow moved to Cincinnati, where she died at the age of one hundred and fifteen years. Britton B. Armstrong and wife came to Clinton county about 1840 and spent the remainder of their lives in this county, the latter dying in 1857 and the former in 1903, at the age of eighty-eight years. Their remains were buried in the cemetery at Snow Hill, in Green township. They were the parents of ten children, of whom John, William, Elizabeth Ann, Walter, Ruth, Naney and Britton are deceased, the living children being Mary Jane, Missouri and James.

Isaiah Morris and Mary Jane (Armstrong) Hodgson were the parents of four children, of whom Francis M. died at the age of seven years. Those who grew to maturity were John, Maria and George S., the latter the subject of this sketch. John Hodgson married Amanda Edwards, to which union were born five children, namely: Bva, whd married Carl Conner and has two children, Ada Belle and Bert; Willie, who married Pearl Simpson and has three children, Kenneth, Hazel and Lola; Ollie, who died when a young woman; Charles (deceased), who married a Miss Burk and had three children; and Catherine, who married Victor Burk. Maria Hodgson (deceased ) married Lafayette Dailey and had five children, as follow: Morris; Addie, who married Willbur Rhonemus and has three children: Mrs. Catherine Fletcher; Carrie and Basil.

George S. Hodgson was reared on a farm in Green township, this county, and for twenty-five years operated a tile factory. After abandoning the tile business, he took up farming and became the owner of one hundred acres of land, which is now owned by his widow.

Mr. And Mrs. George S. Hodgson

born on April 18, 1869, in Ireland, the daughter of Robert and Anna (Wallace) Rolston, who came to Clinton county in 1870. Mrs. Hodgson's father is a Republican in politics. Both he and his wife were members of the Christian church at Antioch, but were formerly members of the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Hodgson's father was born in 1831 and died on August 16, 1915. His widow, who was born on November 22, 1839, is still living in Green township. They reared a family of seven children, John, James, Ellen, Mary, Lina, Blizabeth and Emma.

To George S. and Mary (Rolston) Hodgson were born six children, namely: Cora; Vadah, who married Robert McDermott and has one child, Harold Chester, born on June 8, 1915; Clarence Dewey, Leo Frances, Pearl Elizabeth and Hilda Bernice.

Mr. and Mrs. Hodgson were members of the Christian church and Mrs. Hodgson is still identified with that church. The late George S. Hodgson was identified with the Republican party and, for four years, served as school director. He was a well-known and highly-respected citizen of Clinton county, and his death, on March 16, 1914, was widely mourned.

Carleton L. Baugh

The subject of this sketch is one of the prominent business men of this county, being not only interested in farming, but also in manufacturing. His people have long been residents of this county, and his family is therefore prominently identified with the county's history. Carleton L. Baugh was born in Vernon township, this county, on August 9, 1878, the son of John C. and Emma D. (Lawrence) Baugh, the former born at Clarksville in 1851, and the latter in Vernon township in 1855. John C. Baugh was the son of Dr. Hugh W. and Elizabeth (Wilkerson) Baugh, the former born in Carthage, Tennessee, in 1817, and 'the latter in Washington township, Warren county, Ohio, in 1821. It was about the year 1845 that Dr. Hugh W. Baugh came to this county and began the practice of his profession in Clarksville, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1892. His wife had passed away the preceding year. Emma D, Lawrence was the daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Marshall) Lawrence, both natives of Vernon township, this county, Jonathan Lawrence having been a son of Jonathan, and Blizabeth (Mulford) Lawrence, pioneers. of this county. John C. Baugh was a prominent farmer and stock raiser in this county and also an extensive dealer in live stock. Besides his agricultural enterprises, he was a stockholder and director of the Farmers National Bank. He was a Republican, a Free Mason and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died in 1908, being survived by his widow, who is stil] living in Clarksville, and three children, Mamie F., Carleton L. and Hugh W. ;

Carleton L. Baugh received his education in the Clarksville schools. AS a young man he engaged in the mercantile business at Clarksville and accumulated some property in the town, 'his possessions including the building now occupied by L. L. White. Besides being one of the owners of the Baugh, Batten & Baugh canning factory, he is the president and general manager of the same and also has farming interests in Vernon township.

In 1897 Carleton L. Baugh was united in marriage to Clarice Murrell, of Warren county, daughter of William Murrell, of Clarksville, and to this union five children have been born, J. Murrell, Elizabeth, Virginia, who died in 1908, John C. and Florence.

Mr. Baugh is a Republican and a member of the Masonic order at Clarksville, a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Fraternal Order of Hagles at Wilmington. He has always taken an active interest in public affairs and, like his father and grandfather before him, is a man whose influence is felt in the community in which he lives, for his interests are broad and his activities many. Honest and upright, forceful and kind, loyal and true, public spirited and patriotic, he is widely known and highly esteemed as a

James F. Bennett

James F. Bennett, a well-known farmer and quarryman of Union township, this county, as well as a successful dealer in feed, wool and live stock, has not been extensively favored by inheritance and wealth, or the assistance of influential friends. Neverthe Iess, by industry and the economical management of his business, he has obtained @ comfortable station in life, and has made his influence felt in the community life of Clinton county, where he was born about sixty years ago. Because of his honorable career and his steady progress as a farmer and business man, he is eminently entitled to rank as one of the representative men of this county.

James F. Bennett was born on July 22, 1855, in Union township, this county, at a ' point one hundred yards from the home in which he is now living, the son of Levi T. and Sarah (Wilson) Bennett, both of whom are now deceased. 'The paternal grandparents of Mr. Bennett, Thomas Bennett and wife, were separated by the death of the grandmother when their son, Levi T., was a mere lad. After his first wife's death, Thomas Bennett married the second time and by his second marriage was the father of a numerous family. In pioneer times he had come to Ohio from Maryland and located in the village of Deserted Camp. He was a cabinet-maker by trade, and le and all of his family were devout and Joyal members of the Friends church. Late in life he removed to Springboro, in Warren county, this state, where he died at the age of ninetyfive years. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Bennett were Alexander and Sarah Wilson, who came from Pennsylvania to Ohio in pioneer times and settled in Union township, this county. Alexander Wilson owned several farms and conducted a large general store, a short distance from Wilmington, where he handled all the produce which the farmers had to sell and bought live stock extensively. He also lived to the age of ninety-five years. His wife, who was an earnest member of the Christian church, passed away at the age of seventy-five.

The late Levi T. Bennett was an infant when he was brought to Clinton county by his parents. Later the family lived for a time in Clark county, Ohio, and after his mother's death, he made his home near Dover, this county, with the Moses Frazier _ family, who reared him to manhood. He lived with this family until his marriage, after _which event he purchased one hundred acres of land in Union township, where his son,

James F., now lives. Later he made the following additions to his farm: ninety acres from the George Haworth estate; twenty-five acres from the Wilson estate, and fiftyseven acres, which he bought from Jefferson Fritz, a total of two hundred and seventyseven acres, all of which James F. Bennett now owns. The late Levi T. Bennett was a Republican in politics, and took an active part in local public affairs, in which he exerted considerable influence. He took an especial pride in raising and feeding hogs for the market, and was very successful in that line. Both he and his wife were earnest and faithful members of the Christian church. They were the parents of three sons: Alexander, who lives on a farm in Fayette county, Ohio; Thomas, a farmer of Union township, this county, who died in 1913, and James F., the immediate subject of this review.

James F. Bennett attended the public schools of his home township, and after finishing his common-school education took a course at the normal school at Lebanon, Ohio. Afterwards he remained at home on his father's farm until his marriage, after which he purchased a farm west of Wilmington, where he lived for two years, at the expiration of which time he disposed of this farm and returned to his father's farm to manage the estate and take care of his parents, who were becoming feeble. Upon the death of his parents he inherited his share of the home farm and later purchased the interests of the other heirs. Mr. Bennett still manages his farm and makes his home there, but about 1885 he started in to buy and sell live stock, and has been extensively engaged in that business since that time. About 1890 he opened an office in Wilmington, and added wool-buying to his business. Later he entered into a partnership with a Mr. Thompson, and: this arrangement still continues, the firm maintaining an office on' West Main street, in Wilmington, where they handle seeds and wool and buy and sell live stock. Mr. Bennett is also developing a large stone quarry along the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, east of Wilmington, where he has installed a pulverizer for manufacturing lime to be used as fertilizer. This is a large industry in this section of the state, and promises soon to develop into an even greater business than it is now. Mr. Bennett | also produces large quantities of cracked stone, which is used in road building. ©

On June 6, 1877, James F. Bennett was married to Ida B. Pendry, who was born in Liberty: township, this county, a daughter of John and Myra (Jenkins) Pendry, both of whom are deceased. They were natives of this county, and were prominent zesidents of Union township.

To James F. and Ida B. (Pendry) Bennett five children have been born, namely: Effie, the wife of Lester F. Thatcher, a farmer of Union township; Jessie L., the wife of Oliver Vandervort, a farmer of Green township; Roy P., who married Elma Fife, and lives on a farm owned by Mr. Bennett; Harry R., who married Cleona Bowers, and lives at home with his father, and Earl T., who married Ruth Rhonemus, and lives on a farm in Union township.

Mr. and Mrs. Bennett and family are all earnest and devoted members of the Walnut Street Christian church at Wilmington. Politically, Mr. Bennett is identified with the Republican party, and has been more or less active in the councils of his party in this county. James F. Bennett is a man of more than ordinary business ability, and is not only possessed of a high order of business ability, but is an influential and honorable citizen, one of those men who have done so much to develop the resources of this splendid region, and is well known and popular throughout Clinton county.

James W. Baughman

James W. Baughman was born in this county on September 18, 1859, his parents being Henry and Catherine Baughman, who came to this country and settled in Clinton county in the fifties, beginning their life in the New World on the forty-eight-acre homestead on which the subject is still living. Henry Baughman was a Republican, and he and his wife were members of the Catholic church. They were the parents of eight children, as follow: Kate (deceased), who was the wife of William Cook; Maggie, Mrs. George Ingersoll, Caroline (deceased), Minnie (deceased), Samuel, James W. and Lizzie, wife of J. W. Stanfield, of Clarksville, this county. Henry Baughman died in March, 1891, he being then seventy-five years of age. His widow's death followed two years later, she being then seventy-five years of age.

James W. Baughman attended the local schools near his boyhood home, working meantime on the farm of his father. He now owns this farm, together with forty-three additional acres, all of which has been improved by him, the land being located one and one-half miles from Clarksville. He and his wife have been hard-working people, and are now being rewarded for their years of toil and self-denial. Mrs. Baughman was, prior to her marriage, which occurred on December 2, 1884, Elvia Stanfield, a daughter of James and Mahala (Turner) Stanfield, who are mentioned elsewhere in this publication. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Baughman has been blessed by five children, namely: Clara, who married Horace Kearns and has one child, a son, Burdette; Edith (deceased), and Kate, James Mearl and Clarence Emmet, who are still at home.

While recognizing the fact that Mr. Baughman's life has been spent in comparative seclusion, away from the strife and turmoil of the great world, yet it has not been without interest and value. He has done each day's task with faithful and painstaking care and has not complained; in devotion to his immediate and necessary work, he has not forgotten the needs and claims of others. He expresses his convictions along politieal Hines by allegiance to the Republican party, and as a member of the school board is true to the best interests of the public. As a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, he co-operates with Mrs. Baughman in working for its welfare, and as a resident of Clinton county, he is included among its well-kno\yn and popular men.

The Carey family of Clinton county are believed to have been related to Queen Elizabeth, of Engtand, the daughter of King Henry VIII, who reigned from 1649 to 1660. The farthest traces of the Carey family in America date from the coming of John and Mary Carey with three or more sons and perhaps some daughters, about 1681, at the time of the establishment of Penn's colony. They settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Of these sons, John Carey, whose wife's name was Elizabeth, had a son, Samuel, who was born on April 2, 1752. Samuel Carey niarried Rathel Doane, who was born on February 11, 1754. They moved to Loudoun county, Virginia, and from there to Grayson county, Virginia. About 1818 they moved from Grayson county to Highland county, Ohio. Later, Samuel Carey returned to Virginia and on his way back to Highland county was taken suddenly ill and died at: Salt Creek, east of Chillicothe, Ohio. This grave is now marked by a stone wall, put there by Gershom Perdue, and is located on the farm of Martha Colwell.

Zimri H. Carey, a retired farmer of New Vienna, this county, who was born in Penn township, Highland county, Ohio, on May 3, 1847, is a grandson of Samuel and Rachel (Doane) Carey. He is a son of Elias and Margaret (Hussey) Carey, the former of whom was born in Grayson county, Virginia, on December 3, 1783, and the latter in Randolph county, North Carolina, August 19, 1801. She came to Ohio in 1805 with her parents, Stephen and Mary (Underwood) Hussey, who located in Highland county, where they spent the rest of their lives, the father dying in 1853 and the mother in 1841.

Elias Carey was the youngest of nine children born to Samuel and Rachel (Doane) Carey, the others being as follow: Cynthia, born on January 11, 1777, who married Joseph Bradfield; Sarah, July 7, 1778, married Blias Knight: Jonathan, February 28, 1781, married Ruth Bond; John,. June 22, 1783, married Margaret Green; Samuel, December 2, 1785, married Anna McPherson; Rachel. October 12, 1787, married John Green; Elizabeth, September 19, 1789, died. unmarried, and Thomas, January 13, 1791, who married Rhoda Ballard. Blias Carey died in Penn township, Highland county, in 1872, and his widow on July 2, 1883. He was a farmer by occupation, a Republican in politics and a member of the Friends church.

To Elias and Margaret (Hussey) Carey were born thirteen children, as follow: Asenath, born on January 8, 1820, who married Samuel Michael on January 11, 1838; Sarah, February 28, 1821. married Dr. M. M. Buffington on December 8, 1841; Mary, November 26, 1822, married Evan R. Jones on October 7, 1847; Martha, July 24, 1824, died unmarried on March 6, 1842; Stephen, February 28, 1826, married Anner Margaret Lane on October 6, 1847; Eunice, December 8, 1827, married Albert W. Holmes on October 7, 1847; William, Jauary 5, 1839, married Almira Conard on November 23, 1854; Joshua, July 2,~1831, died on March 4, 1842; Eliza, March 31, 1838, died on May 11, 1859; Preston, September 3, 1834, married Margaret M. Ross on December 30. 1860 ; Hlizabeth, February 24, 1837, married F. Perry Naylor on December 28, 1882; Joseph, January 1, 1841, married Rebecca Kerr on September 29, 1869; and Zimri, the subject of this sketch. Of these children only Elizabeth, Joseph and Zimri are now living. Joseph lives in Cass county, Indiana.

principally in the schools of Penn township. For fifteen years, Mr. Carey taught schoel and afterward took up farming. He now owns one hundred and ninety-five acres in Penn township and his son, Harry Lee, owns sixty acres adjoining the home farm. In August, 1911, Mr. Carey moved to New Vienna, this county, where he now lives retired. He owns a good residence on South street and Highland avenue and the business building occupied by the Harry 'Custis furniture store, Mr. Carey has acquired all of his property and accumulated all of his wealth by" his own individual exertions.

On January 31, 1884, Zimri H. Carey was married to Ida B. Fenner, to which union four children were born, Charles H., Leslie E., Harry Lee and Lillian. 'Charles H. Carey, who was born on January 31, 1885, was educated in the publie schools and was graduated from the New Vienna high school and from the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, with the degrees of Bachelor of Science and. Master of Science. He is now district superintendent of the Germantown schools of German township, Montgomery county, Ohio, and for four years was superintendent of the schools at. West Alexandria, Preble county. "On July 31, 1907, Charles H. Carey was married to Florence C. Bratten, to which union three children have been born, Marjorie, Dorothy and Rolland. Leslie E. Carey was born on January 30, 1887, and was educated in the public schools, being graduated from the New Vienna high school. He later was graduated from the Ohio Northern University at Ada, Ohio, with the degree of Bachelor of Science and for several years taught school. He was also superintendent for three years of the Lyle schools of Warren county, Ohio. Later he went to Chicago as assistant paymaster of the Pullman Palace Car Company, but, after being in Chicago for one year, came back to Ohio, accepting a position as teacher of science ih the Greenfield high school in Highland county, later being called to the superintendency of the schools at Somerville, this state. On July 29, 1915, he married Mabel E. Strait, of Dayton, Ohio. Harry Lee Carey was born on October 27, 1888, and attended the New Vienna high school. He is a farmer and lives on the old homestead in Penn township, Highland county. In September, 1911, he married Estella McCoy, to which union have been born two children, Floyd Leslie and Thelma. Lillian Carey was born on March 10, 1899, and is a student in the New Vienna high school. The mother of these children died on February 21, 1910. A

Mr. Carey is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and his wife was also a member of that church. He is a Republican in politics and was, for a long time, a member of the school board in Penn township.

John W. Bernard

John W. Bernard, a well-known retired farmer of Green township, this county, was born on October 6, 1838, the son of George Washington and Harriet (McConnell) Bernard. The complete history of the Bernard family is given in the biographical sketch of James E. Bernard, presented elsewhere in this volume.

John W. Bernard, like his brothers and sisters, was reared on the farm and was educated in the neighborhood schools, spending his boyhood on the farm now occupied by Elijah Q. Bernard. At one time Mr. Bernard owned three hundred and sixty acres of land, but he has given all of it to his children, except one hundred and thirty-eight acres, which he still owns.

In January. 1868, John W. Bernard was married to Louisa Kier. who was born in Highland county in 1844, the daughter of Mathias and Jane (Bell) Kier, now deceased. To this union eight children were born, as follow: William, a farmer in Green township, this county; Mary, the wife of Dr. Lorenzo Ayers, of Green township; Rosa, who married John Cox, of near Centerville, Ohio; Albert, who is unmarried and lives at home with his parents; Clara, who died at the age of sixteen, and Amy H., John F. and

Mr. and Mrs. John W. Bernard are members of the Friends church. Mr. Bernard votes the Democratic ticket. Theirs have been lives full of good works, and in "the sunset time" of their lives they enjoy many and continuous evidences of the respect and esteem of the entire community in which they have lived so long and so usefully.

The twentieth-century farmer suffers few of the handicaps which surrounded the pioneer farmer in Ohio. He is no longer compelled to rise early in the morning and continue his labors far into the evening. Today he can do as much work in half a day as his father could do fifty years ago in a whole day. The free mail delivery leaves the daily paper on his doorstep each morning; the telephone puts him into communication with his neighbors and in many places the interurban car and the automobile enable him to participate in all of the features of city life. The present generation of farmers have few forests to clear and few swamps to drain, while hundreds of inventions have lightened their labors. Moreover, many farmers have developed profitable departments of stock raising and their revenue is no longer confined to the sale of corn and wheat and oats. Fine herds of thoroughbred cattle and hogs have made it possible for the farm to equal the gross revenue of many of the large factories in the city. Henry H. Pidgeon, an enterprising farmer of Union township, has taken advantage of all the modern opportunities of farming and has made all of them count in his battle for success.

Henry H. Pidgeon was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, on July 26, 1851, the son of Charles and Catherine (Horney) Pilgeon, both natives of Stokes county, that state, the former born on March 1, 1806, and died on July 26, 1898, and the latter born on September 23, 1810, and died on December 27, 1886.

Isaac Pidgeon, the paternal great-grandfather of Henry H. Pidgeon, was a strict Quaker, who about 1740 emigrated from Ireland because of religious persecution, to Chowan county, North Carolina. He was a millwright by trade and owned three different mills during his life, the last on Rich fork. Although he lived in America during the Revolutionary War he was not called upon to serve, since lw was a member of the Quaker church, which opposes military service. His son, Charles Pidgeon, Sr., grandfather of Henry H., was a blacksmith, mechanic, carpenter and home physician. In fact, he was an all-around good neighbor and owned a splendid farm. He also was a strict Quaker. His wife, Elizabeth Crews, to whom he was married on November 11, 1789, was a native of Virginia and died in the early forties. He died in 18. They were the parents of twelve children. The father of Henry H., Charles Pidgeon, Jr., grew up in Stokes county, North Carolina, and early in life located in Guilford county, same state, where, at the breaking out of the Civil War, he owned five hundred acres of land on Deep river. He was an industrious man and, with the able assistance of his good wife, a successful financier. There were many tenant houses on his farm, but he kept no slaves and was opposed to slavery. Charles Pidgeon, Jr., and Catherine Horney were married on October 8, 1829. They made a great deal of money, before railroads were built, hauling merchandise from the region where they lived to distant markets, such as Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Camden, South Carolina. They had a six-horse wagon and hauled dry-goods and groceries on return trips.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Charles Pidgeon, Jr., was a Northern sympathizer. He was strongly opposed to slavery and was anxious to get his sons away, so they could avoid seryice in the Confederate army. In the spring of 1861 he had a sale and sold all of his stock and farm implements, with the intention of moving to Ohio. The Southerners objected to his leaying and sent a troop of soldiers to attend the sale, but they were treated to a splendid chicken dinner and did not interfere. The trip to Ohio, however, was delayed until the fall of 1861, when, after the success of the Confederates at the first battle of Bull Run, it was thought the war would soon end victoriously for the South and the departure of the Pidgeons would make little difference. They came in three wagons, bringing with them a carriage and a buggy and some live stock, with them coming two other families. A son, John Pidgeon, and his family and his sister, Emily, and her family, made the trip north by the railroad, the remainder of the family coming by wagon. On the way the other families fell behind because the Pidgeon horses were faster. Charles Pidgeon, Jr., had sold his whole five hundred acres in North Carolina for less than would be required today to buy a small farm in Ohio. On the way north the family encountered a horse trader, who engaged in buying horses in Ohio for the Southern army. He told Mr. Pidgeon it would be impossible to get out through the Cumberland Gap, since it was guarded and the armies would let no one pass. However, it was pointed out that it might be made by the way of the Big Sandy river. Eventually, the family escaped to Ohio by this perilous route and settled in Clinton county. The first year they rented a farm, which later Charles Pidgeon purchased, and upon which Henry H. Pidgeon now lives. The next year they rented land in the Dover neighborhood and then rented a farm for the next five years near New Vienna, at the end of which time Charles Pidgeon purchased the farm in Union township, which he had first rented on coming to: Ohio, and on this two-hnudred-acre farm he spent the rest of his life, his sons working hard in the meantime to pay for it. He and his wife were regular attendants at the meetings of the Friends church, and rather strict in their views. Charles Pidgeon was a pronounced Abolitionist and not afraid to speak his mind, even when living in the South, where it was considered almost treason to oppose slavery. Although a Republican at that time of life he later became a Prohibitionist.

Charles and Catherine (Horney) Pidgeon were the parents of twelve children, namely: Hmily (deceased), who married John Briggs; Mary, who married Walter Cammack, of Virginia; John, a Quaker minister at Orchard Grove, Ohio, who married Caroline Thompson; Hannah, who married William Charles, both now deceased; Julia A., widow of William Henry; Samuel, a school teacher and farmer of Jamestown, Ohio; David, who lives in California; Jeffrey, who died in infancy; Charles Addison, a school teacher, who died at the age of twenty-six; Henry H., the subject of this sketch ; Cornelia, who married Bruce Sprague, of Union township, and Louisa, who married Aden Starbuck.

Mr. Pidgeon's maternal grandparents were Jeffrey and Hannah Horney, who lived and died in North Carolina, where they were farmers and strict Quakers of the old style.

Henry H. Pidgeon attended the public schools of North Carolina and was ten years old when the family removed to Ohio. After coming to this state he attended the old Dutch district school and the Dover district school. He worked at home on his father's farm until twenty-five years old and then purchased fifty acres of his father's farm. After his mother's death he moved to the homestead, renting it from his father for a few years. When his father died, in 1898, he purchased one hundred acres of the homestead, including the home buildings, upon which he borrowed six thousand dollars, payable in ten years., Previously, he had sold his first fifty acres of land and had used the proceeds to apply to the second farm. In 1905 Mr. Pidgeon purchased fifty-two acres out of the Alexander Jenkins farm, adjoining the home farm, and now has one hundred and fiftytwo acres in all. He makes a specialty of thoroughbred Shorthorn cattle and sells young cattle for breeding purposes. He is also an extensive hog breeder and very frequently feeds a carload of cattle.

On August 28, 1876, Henry H. Pidgeon was married to Hannah Carter, who was born at Grassy Run, in this county, on September 2, 1858, the daughter of George Carter, a devout Quaker. To this union there were born three children, namely: Ethel, born on April 8, 1880, married, November 14, 1900, Elza Hughes, a Green township farmer; Lillian, June 18, 1888, who, on August 3, 1905, married Morris Painter, of Wilmington, and Homer, March 7, 1885, married Mayme Huffman on February 27, 1907, and is the manager of a six-hundred-acre farm in Union township. The mother of these children died in September, 1888, and on January 1, 1890, Mr. Pidgeon married, secondly, Ella F. McKay, who was born on June 8, 1861, in Liberty township this county, the daughter of Tilghman and Sarah McKay, of that township, the former of whom is deceased, but whose widow is still living. Tilghman McKay was a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Lumberton. To this second union there have been two children born, Oscar, born on July 15, 1891, a member of*the Wilmington Auto Company, and Willard, November 8, 1895, who lives at home.

Mr. and Mrs. Pidgeon are members of the Friends church at Dover. Both are elders in the churck and active in its various beneficences. Mr. Pidgeon is independent in politics. He has served as school director in Union township and he and his family are held in high regard throughout that community.

Orville B. Moore

Orville B.-Moore, the proprietor of a splendid farm of one hundred and fifty-five acres in Green township, this county, is a native of Union township, this county, where he was born on November 29, 1860, the son of Huston and Martha (Wilson) Moore, the former of whom was born in 1831, in Virginia, and the latter in this county, the daughter of John and Nellie Wilson, pioneers of Clinton county. Mrs. Nellie Wilson died a few years ago, at the age of ninety-eight years.

Huston Moore came to Clinton county when he was a young man and was married in this county, first to a Miss Bentley, by whom he had one child, John. By his second marriage, to Martha Wilson, there were born three children, Orville B., the subject of this sketch, Thomas and Nellie. Mrs. Martha (Wilson) Moore died in 1912. Huston Moore is identified with the Democratic party and is a member of the Christian church. He is now living retired in Wilmington, this county, in his eighty-fourth year.

Orville B. Moore was born and reared on the farm and was educated in the paiilic schools of this county. In 1883 he was married to Lida Sprague, who was born in Clinton county, the daughter of William Henry and Caroline Sprague, who came to this county from Staten Island, New York, and both of whom are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Orville B. Moore have five children, all of whom are living, William, Edith, Raymond, Mary and Nellie.

Reuben B. Peelle

Among the strong and influential citizens of Clinton county, the record of whose lives have become an essential part of the history of this county, Reuben B. Peelle occupies a prominent place. For years he has exerted a beneficial influence in the locality where he resides, his chief characteristics being keenness of perception, tireless energy, honesty of purpose and motive and every-day common sense. These qualities have enabled him not only to advance his own interests, but also largely to contribute to the moral and material advancement of the community as a whole.

Reuben B. Peelle was born on August 1, 1845, in Wilson 'tOwiiship, this county, the son of William and Clarissa (Starbuck) Peelle, the former of whom was born in August, 1808, in Highland county, Ohio, and died in 1884, and the latter in 1814 in Union township, this county, and died in October, 1864. William Peelle was the son of John and Lydia (Bundy) Peelle, both natives of North Carolina, who were married in Belmont county, Ohio, at the Concord monthly meeting of the Friends church. In 1805 John Peelle went from North Carolina to Richmond, Indiana, on a trip and then located in Grayson county, Virginia. In 1807 he went to Belmont county, Ohio, where Lydia Bundy's parents lived, and there he was married. Subsequently, he and his wife moved to Highland county, Ohio, where they engaged in farming until 1810, when they moved to Greene county, Ohio, where they lived until 1818, in which year they came to Clinton county and purchased fifty acres of land in Wilson township. Later they added to this land until they owned a large tract, and there they reared a family of seven children. An elder in the Friends church, for years John Peelle was head of the meetings of Grassy Run and was a very influential citizen in the community. In politics, he was a strong anti-slavery Whig. His principal diversion was fishing and he spent many hours in this pleasant pastime. John Peelle was the son of Reuben and Rhoda Peelle, the former born in 1750 and the latter in 1760, in North Carolina. They reared a large family of children, several of whom came to Ohio, and about 1830 they followed their children to this state and spent the rest of their lives in this county, their remains being buried in the Grassy Run Friends meeting burying ground in Wilson township. Originally of English origin, the present generation of the Peelle family has the family history which dates back to Robert Peelle, who lived in North Carolina in 1707, the grandfather of Reuben Peelle, the Jatter's father having been Josiah Peelle. From the earliest history of the family in America, the Peelles have been members of the Quaker church. ;

The maternal grandparents of Reuben B. Peelle were Gayer and Susanna (Dillon) Starbuck, the former of whom was born on Nantucket Island, and the latter in Guilford county, North Carolina, where they were married about 1807 and who came to Clinton county and settled in Union township in 1810, at which time Clinton county was being organized. Gayer Starbuck was a Whig in politics and was an active member of the Friends church, being devoted to the orthodox branch of the church. He was a successful farmer and he and his children cleared up large tracts of land. He owned the first steam saw-mill in the county and also operated a grist-mill. He and his wife were the parents of ten children. - :

From the time he was seven years old, William Peelle lived in this county. He was a well-educated and well-informed man, having supplemented his education in the subscription schools of the period by home study. Always a strong Abolitionist, he was first a Whig and later'a Republican. An elder in the Quaker church, he succeeded his father as head of the Grassy Run meetings and became very active in church work. Incidentally, he held several township offices, all of which he filled with credit. He owned several farms, one of which, a farm of one hundred and seventy acres, situated in Wilson township, is now owned by Reuben B. Peelle, the subject of this sketch.

To: William and Clarissa (Starbuck) Pelle thirteen children were born, eleven of whom are deceased, the two living children being Reuben B., the subject of this sketch, and Louisa, who is the wife of Elwood Moon, a manufacturer of pumps at Sabina, Ohio. The deceased children are: Susanna, who married Elihu Carter; John, who was a farmer in Wilson township; Isaiah, Jesse, Wilson, Asa, Elihu, Lydia, Moses, Aaron and Josiah.