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

Robert IL. Owens is a typical, up-to-date, hustling American citizen, who is doing well his part in life, bringing to all his relations in life that admirable quality known commonly as "horse sense," so aptly referred to in the introduction of this biographical narrative, and he very properly enjoys the highest confidence and esteem of his business associates and friends, not only in Wilmington and Clinton county, but throughout the state, his acquaintance extending far beyond the mere confines of his home county.

Robert R. Doan

Robert R. Doan, who is one of the most brilliant young men in Clinton county, and who perhaps, is one of the best-informed men, young or old, is not only a descendant of one of the earliest pioneers of this county, but a member of a family which has distinguished itself in the political life of this state. That Robert R. Doan is possessed of wide vision, initiative and executive ability is proved by his success in an enterprise in which the people of Clinton county have good reason to take great pride. A short time ago he organized a company to publish the first daily newspaper ever launched in Clinton county.

Robert R. Doan was born on March 10, 1889, in Wilmington, Ohio, and is a son of Albert W. and Jennie (Rutherford) Doan, the former of whom is also a native of Wilmington, the deputy probate judge of this county, who resides at Wilmington. Albert W. Doan was born on August 25, 1860. His wife, who was a native of Wilmington, Ohio, was born on January 27, 1864. Mr. Doan's mother is also living.

The paternal grandparents of Robert R. Doan were Robert BE. and Maria (McMillan) Doan, the former of whom, although eighty-four years old, is engaged in the practice of law at Washington, D. C., where he has lived since 1890. Robert E. Doan was born in Union township, Clinton county, Ohio, on June 23, 1834, and his wife, who was born on August 8, 1836, is also still living. Robert E. Doan is a son of William Doan, who, in 1804, came with his parents, Joseph and Jemima Doan, from Chatham county, North Carolina. They settled near what is now the city of Wilmington, where they purchased nearly one thousand acres of land, and it may be said here that Mr. Doan is the owner of twenty-six thousand acres of land in the state of Sonora, Mexico. William Doun was a Whig in politics, and a leading member of the Friends church. He was a farmer most of his life, and he and his wife were the parents of three children, Robert E., Joseph, who died unmarried, and Maria, deceased, who wus the wife of Thomas Waltham, also deceased.

The Doan family in Clinton county dates from the coming of Joseph Doun, who arrived here on November 4, 1804, in company with John Stout, from Chatham county, North Carolina, by the Flower Gap. John Vestal, who was his wife's brother, died before they arrived at Todd's Fork. On January 22, 1805, Joseph Doan purchased two hundred and thirty-eight acres of land in Posey's survey at one dollar and a half an acre, paying altogether three hundred and fifty-seven dollars, three hundred dollars to Posey and fiftyseven dollars to Nathan Linton. On November 27, 1806, he paid on his land one hundred dollars, and on December 4, 1807, he paid another hundred dollars. Joseph Donn was born on October 28, 1759, and died on May 28, 1888. His wife was born on May. 8, 1762. They were the parents of twelve children, Thomas, John, Ruth, the wife of Joseph Haines; William, Elizabeth, Joseph, Jesse, Jonathan, Jacob, Rachel, the wife of Isaue Hines, Elisha and Mary.

The Hon, Robert E. Doan was a very ambitious young man, who desired to study law, and was accustomed to take law books to the field and studied while he plowed. With his own earnings he attended the Cincinnati law school and became an attorney at Wilmington, Ohio. His mother, who, before her marriage, was Betsy Eachus, a native of Winchester, Virginia, died in 1864. Five years later lis father, William Doan. passed away.

Robert E. Doan served as prosecuting attorney and was finally elected to Congress during President Harrison's administration. After serving one term in this office he became a partner of Major Anderson, of Washington, D. C., and when Major Anderson was appointed judge of the United States District Court, Mr. Doan continued the practice of his profession alone, and is still engaged in the practice. He is now president of the National Biographical Society of Washington and is also a charter member and historian of the Ohio Historical Society at Washington.

It is Robert Doan's original conception which launched and founded, in Washington, D. C., in 1910, the International Law Association of the United States. Mexico and the Dominion of Canada, which received the endorsement of the highest judicial tribunal in the world, the supreme court of the United States. Mr. Doan served one year as secretary of the Steele-Evans Manufacturing Company and as secretary-treasurer of the Clinton Publishing Company. His literary efforts have been published in the Frank A. Munsey's publications and a syndicate of eastern newspapers. He is acquainted and corresponds with Colonel Roosevelt, which pleasant relations were also maintained with the late Elbert Hubbard and wife.

To return to his early history, it may be said that both of Robert E. Doan's parents were members of the Friends church; that he attended an academy at Harveysburg, Warren county, Ohio, and afterward taught school in Warren, Greene and Clinton counties, in this way earning money to pay for his law course. He finished the course in the Cincinnati iaw school and received his diploma with the degree of Bachelor of Laws on April 19, 1857. Tor some time he was in partnership with his cousin, A. W. Doan, in the practice of law, the firm having been dissolved fifteen yeurs later, when A. W. Doan was elected judge of the court of common pleas. In 1880 he made seventy-seven speeches in favor of James A. Garfield's election to the Presidency in the state of Ohio, in which year he was a Presidential elector from the Clinton county district, and named by acclamation. He was a candidate for Congress in that year, but was defeated for the nomination, receiving, however, only thirteen votes less than the nominee. In 1857 he was married to Maria McMillan, a native of Clinton county, and to this union were born six children, Clinton, who was a farmer, is deceased. He was a Specialist in raising thoroughbred horses; Albert W. is the father of Robert R., the immediate subject of this review; Charles died at the age of fifteen; Burritt died at the age of fourteen; Willie died at the age of six; Frank M. died in Arizona. He was collector of customs in that state, having been appointed to this position by President McKinley. The commission of Frank M. Doan was the last which President McKinley ever signed before his death.

In addition to his law practice, Robert E. Doan has large interests in copper mines, and is also heavily interested in a publishing company at Washington, D. C. For many years he maintained his large residence in the city of Wilmington, where his grandson, Robert R., now lives.

Albert W. Doan attended the public schools of Wilmington, and later was a student during 1878-79-80 at the normal school at Lebanon, Ohio. Upon returning to Wilmington from school he was elected mayor of Wilmington, in which office he served four terms of two years each. For several years he was engaged in traveling, but in 1993 was appointed deputy probate judge of Clinton county, an office which he is now holding. He is a Republican in politics, and fraternally, a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was married on February 6, 1887, and Robert R. is the only child.

Robert R. Doan received his early education in the public schools of Wilmington, Ohio, and later became a student of Wilmington College for four years. Still later he was a student at Ohio Wesleyan University for a year, where he pursued a literary course. After this he was a student at Georgetown University, near Washington, D. C., where he was a law student. In 1913 Mr. Doan returned to Wilmington and engaged in the printing and publishing business. On November 1, 1914, he started the Clinton Review, a monthly magazine, and in April, 1915, organized the company to publish the

On January 5, 1915, Mr. Doan was married to Mabel Compton, a native of Champaign, Illinois, and a daughter of L. L. Compton and wife, the former of whom is an architect of Wilmington, Ohio.

Mr. and Mrs. Doan are members of the Friends church at Wilmington. He is a Republican in politics and a very ambitious young man, one entirely worthy of the splendid career of many of the Doan family in this county. He and his wife are popular socially in this. city, and, of course, are well known.

Frank L. Miller

The life history of-him whose name heads this sketch is closely identified with the history of Wilmington and Clinton county, Ohio. His life has been one of untiring activity and has been crowned with a degree of success attained by only those who devote themselves indefatigably to the work before them. He is of a high type of business man and none more than he deserves a fitting recognition among the men whose genius and abilities have achieved results that are commendable.

The subject of this sketch is descended from a sterling line of ancestors, the family on the paternal side having orginated in Wales, where the subject's great-great-grandfather, Peter Miller, was born in 1740. In young manhood he came to America, settling near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he married Catherine Rhodes, who was of Dutch descent and a Lutheran in her religious faith. To them were born five children, John, Jacob, Abraham, Isaac and Elizabeth. Of these, Isaac, Sr., was the subject's greatgrandfather, and was born on February 5, 1777. Peter, the father of these children moved with his family to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and cleared land ready for farming. From here he enlisted in behalf of the colonies against the British during the war for independence, but was wounded and sent to a hospital, where he died during the war, his burial place being unknown. He left his widow in severe financial straits, and she was compelled to bind out the children in order to secure for them a living. Tsnaae Miller, 5r., one of these children, was adopted at the age-of nine months by John MckKibben, who in about 1786 removed to Bourbon county, Kentucky. When Isaac Miller, Sr., was about twenty years of age he was sent to the Northwest Territory with a company of surveyors who John McKibben had employed to survey a twelve-hundred-acre tract of land which he had purchased. That tract, then in the "Throckmorton survey," lies near Farmer's Station on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad in Clinton county, Ohio. Isaac Miller's duty was to supply this party of surveyors with fresh meat. In 1801 Mr. McKibben gave Isaac Miller, Sr., two hundred acres of this tract in recognition of his faithful services. Thus Isaac Miller, Sr., became the first of the family to permanently locate in Clinton county. On January 1, 1804, he married Mary Stewart, a native of Warren county, Ohio, and together they established their home in Clinton county. There they spent the remainder of their days; their deaths occurred in the same month, the father dying on January 5, 1857, and the mother on January 27, 1857. To them were born twelve children, namely: William, Elizabeth, Mary, Isaac. Jr., Jane, Catherine, Hannah, Fletcher, Rebecea, James, Milton and Margaret. Isaac Miller. Sr., who was the subject's great-grandfather, became a soldier in the War of 1812, serving under Gen. Allen Tremble at Ft. Wayne.

Isane Miller, Jr., the grandfather of Frank L. Miller, was born on July 30, 1812, and remained on the home farm until twenty-four yeirs of age. On September 17, 1835, he married Margaret Hildebrant, who was born on February 26. 1820, in Hunterton county, New Jersey. In 1821 he bought a hundred and eighty-six acres of land near ew Antioch, Ohio, but in 1838 sold this land and went overland to Stephenson county, Illinois, where he bought a farm of two hundred and forty acres. On this he remained about twelve years, In 1850 the family visited Ohio and while there Mr. Miller traded his Illinois farm for one in Washington township, Clinton county. For his second wife Isaac Miller married Mrs. Martha E. Meeker. Isaac Miller became the father of the following children: Columbus; Ralph; Isane N.; William; Mary E., who married Jolu M. Vandewart: Lydia, the wife of Joseph Hunter; Camelia, the wife of Joel Johnson ; Charles; Eva L., the wife of Frederick Johnson: and Alice, the wife of William Doke.

William Miller, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born at the town of Oswego, Stephenson county, Illinois, on November 17, 1842. He was about seven yenrs of age when the family returned to Clinton county, Ohio, and here he was reared to manhood. He attended the district schools and received a fair education. In June, 1862, William Miller enlisted in Company C, Seventy-ninth Regiment. Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but after seven months service he was honorably discharged because of i]] health. On his return to civil life, Mr. Miller married on December 25. 1863. Rachel Louise Moore. who was born in Washington township, Clinton county, on December 29, 1845. Thereafter Mr, Miller farmed his father's place until his father gave him fifty acres of land on which he lived for four years. Then he moved to Sabina, Ohio. and engnged in the manufacture of tile, under the name of the Sabina Tile Works, which occupied his attention for seven years, at the end of which period he sold out, and started a buteher shop to which he devoted himself for fourteen years, He then moved to Springfield, Ohio, but a year later moved to Bowersville, Greene county, where he lived for four yenrs, following the meat business. He then bought a hundred acres of Jand in Washington township. Clinton county. where he lived until 1900, when he moved to Wilmington, where he now resides. William Miller became a specialist In the raising of strawberries in which he became widely known throughout central Ohio. THe had a large patch of strawberry plants on his farm, the cultivation of which required thirty hands during the fruit season, Mr. Miller is known familiarly as "Strawberry" Miller because of his reputation as a successful grower of this luscious fruit. He has also raised considerable other small fruit on his place and has been very successful as a horticulturist. He took a deep interest in public affairs, being a Republican in his politieal views, and in 1896 was elected' county commissioner of Clinton county, and served with credit to himself and to the advantage of his constituents. who were so well pleased with the discharge of his official duties that they re-elected him to serve a second term, He and his wife were members of the Christian church,

To William and Rachel Louise (Moore) Miller were born six children, namely: Clava, now deceased, was the wife of 1. FE, Kretzer, of Lebanon, Ohio; Ed C. is a traveling salesman of Sabina; Isaac, who lives in Wilmington, Ohio, is a salesman in the store of Frank Gallup; Harry is a farmer at Westboro, Ohio; Frank L. is the subject of this sketch; Nellie, a twin sister of Frank L., is the wife of J. E. Briggs, of Morrisville, Ohio. The mother of these children, Rachel Louise Miller, is a daughter of Samuel and Christinna (Rhonemus) Moore, both of whom were born in Washington township, Clinton county, the former in 1820, and the latter in 1819. Both are now deceased, the father dying in 1900, and the mother in July, 1884. "Samuel Moore was the son of McCagy and Rebecca (McGee) Moore, who were of Irish descent and who came from Pennsylvania to Clinton county, being numbered among the early settlers of this locality. Samuel Moore was a farmer throughout his active life, owning one hundred acres of land in Washingon township. The family all belonged to the Christian church. Samuel and Christina Moore were the parents of ten children,

Frank IL. Miller was born at Sabina, Clinton county, Ohio, on October 26, 1875. He secured his elementary education in the country schools near Martinsville and in the public schools of Wilmington after the family moved to this city. At the age of twenty years he applied himself to learn the trade of jeweler under Ed Devoss at Wilmington, with whom he remained ten years, becoming a proficient workman and fully qualified for any department of that trade. In 1905 Mr. Miller went to New Vienna and started a store on his own account, but in 1908 he came to Wilmington and bought a store which he has since conducted. He is very successful in his conduct of the business and has met the public approval to such an extent that he is in the enjoyment of his full share of the local trade. He carries a splendid up-to-date stock of goods and his courteous treatment and evident desire to please his customers has gained for him a well deserved popularity. :

Mr. Miller is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons,- belonging to the blue lodge and chapter at Wilmington, and is a member and a trustee of the Baptist church of this city. His family also belong to this same church. He is a member of the Commercial Club of Wilmington, and in many ways has evinced his personal interest in the local public welfare.

On September 1, 1904, Frank L. Miller was married to Sarah Walker, who was born on a farm near Wilmington, the daughter of Abel and Mary Walker. Her mother is living, but her father, who was one of the founders of the Clinton County National Bank, is now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been: born one child, Mary Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Miller move in the best social circles of Wilmington, and are deservedly popular with the people of this section.

Lawrence Egan

Lawrence Egan, a well-known business man of Wilmington, Ohio, during the past eleven years, has been engaged in the coal, building supply and sewer-pipe business in this city, with an office and yard on Sugar Tree street. Today he holds a distinctive position of prestige among the successful business men of Clinton county and has had much to do with advancing the material interests of the city of Wilmington and in helping to make it one of the most important commercial centers of this section of the state. Such a man cannot fail to interest, for he is not only a representative citizen in his sphere of endeavor, but here he has established a reputation for honor and integrity.

Lawrence Egan, who was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, January 11, 1851, is the son of Lawrence and Margaret (Maher) Egan, the former of whom was born in County Tipperary in 1821 and who died in 1895, and the latter of whom, likewise, was born in County Tipperary in 1880, and who died in 1892. Mr. Egan's paternal grandparents were Lawrence and Catherine (Butler) Egan, the latter of whom was Lord Butler's sister, but who, nevertheless, married a man without rank or title. The Butlers owned a big estate and Lord Butler's sister, the grandmother of Mr. Egan, had a life estate, and as long as there was a son named Lawrence in the family, he was entitled to the fruits of the estate. The Egans had a large amount of property in an early day in Ireland, but during an insurrection the Catholics had all of their property confiscated. The Egans, who were good Catholics and who wanted to avoid confiscation, deeded their land to old Captain Butler, a lord, and the great-grandfather of Lawrence Egan. The Butlers refused to return the land, but instead gave them positions as overseers on the estate so they would not cause so much trouble. Mr. Ngan's grandparents lived and died in Ireland and were good Catholics. His maternal grandparents also lived and died in that country.

Lawrence Hgan, Sr., was a gardener and served an apprenticeship of seven years in learning his trade. In 1851 he came to New York state and later emigrated to Kentucky, where he worked on the railroad. Within a few months he emigrated to Clarksville, Warren county, Ohio, and worked for John Hadley, a railroad contractor. In 1852 his family joined him and when the family emigrated to Ohio they were accompanied by Lawrence, Jr., the subject of this sketch. The family was sixteen weeks in the trip across the ocean from Liverpool to New Orleans, and six weeks in the trip up the river. In 1857 the Egan family came to Wilmington, Ohio, where the father worked on the Cincinnati, Wilmington & Zanesville railroad as a section boss for many years. Eventually, however, he purchased a farm in Clinton county and there died. He and his wife and family were good Catholics. They had seven children, of whom Lawrence was the eldest; Richard is a policeman in Wilmington; Thomas is a druggist in Wilmington; Patrick is a resident of Anderson, Indiana; John is a druggist in Wilmington; Mary is the wife of Thomas Maher, of Kokomo, Indiana, and Margaret, who is single, lives in Wilmington.

Lawrence Egan attended the public schools and after finishing his education worked in a grocery for some time. He had been compelled to go to work at the age of nine years. After reaching maturity he rented land for several years, and was finally married in Clinton county, Ohio. After his marriage, he engaged in the grocery business in Wilmington for a short time, and then sold out and started a retail coal business. Here he hus been engaged in business for the past eleven years, with his office and yard on Sugar Tree street.

In 1888 Mr. Egan was married to Jennie Spinks, a native of Kentucky and the daughter of William Spinks, now deceased, who was a farmer in Washington township, near Wilmington. A

J. Turner Darnell

The subject of this interesting biographical sketch is one of the best-known horse fanciers and trainers in Ohio, a man who loves horses and has a singular and widelyrecognized facility for bringing out the best there is in a horse in the matter of speed. J. Turner Darnell, of Wilmington, this county, has been engaged as a trainer for years, and has the credit of having developed some of the best ''steppers" that ever performed in the Ohio circuit. As an owner, also, he is widely known, and during his career has been the possessor of some mighty fast horseflesh, including the famous "Kate Phelps," pacer, two-seyventeen and one-quarter; 'Minnie Burns,' pacer, two-twelve and one-quarter ; "Belmont Lady," trotter, two-thirteen and one-quarter, besides others of more than merely local fame; and at present is the owner of "Ebony Todd." a phenomenal three-year-old that done 2 furlong in seventeen seconds: "Crystal Wall," four-year-old trotter, with a record of a furlong in eighteen seconds; "Minnie Pointer." a four-year-old pacer, and "Lady Commodore,"a promising two-year-old, both of which have plenty of speed. He also is a trainer of race horses for other owners and has a wide reputation for his ability to "deliver the goods" in this connection.

J. Turner Darnell was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, near the city of Salem, on April 17, 1864, the son of Jacob and Rhoda (Brooks) Darnell, both of whom were born on the same plantation in Guilford county, the former in 1812 and the latter in 1817. In March of 1872, some years after emancipation. Jacob Darnell and his wife and children left North Carolina and came to Ohio, locating at Wilmington, this county, where Jacob and wife spent the rest of their lives. his death occurring in 1883 and her death occurring in 1885. For fifteen years Jacob Darnell served as janitor of the school building in Wilmington. a trust to which he ever was faithful. and he and his wife possessed the respeet and confidence of the community. They were the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the youngest. the others being Albert, Alice and Susan, the latter two of whom died in young womanhood.

J. Turner Darnell attended the public schools of Wilmington and received an excellent grammar-school education. For several years he worked as a clerk in Hames' grocery store, after which he opened a restaurant, which he suecessfully conducted until 1914, at which time he began giving his whole attention to the development of his training stables, he having for nearly fifteen years before that time been actively engaged in developing the speed strains in promising colts of his own or such others as were brought to him by other owners, and he has had an unusual degree of success in this enterprise, Darnell's horses having a wide reputation over the racing circuits.

In October, 1882, J. Turner Darnell was united in marriage to Eliza Jane Thompson, who was born in Rochester, Warren county, this state, and to this union three children have been born, William T., Ethel May and Vernon. Dr. William T. Darnell ista practicing physician at Xenia, this state, where he has built up an excellent practice. He receiyed his medical education at Chicago and for a time occupied the post of interne at Booker T. Washington's hospital, later going to the republic of Mexico, where he practiced his profession for a year, but finding things too warm for comfort in that unhappy and revolution-ridden republic, returned to his native state and located at Xenia, where he is doing well. Ethel May married George Steward; upon whose death she married, sécondly, Arthur Fisher, of Cincinnati, and is living in that city. Vernon is still at home, an invaluable assistant to his father.

J. T. Darnell is a Republican and for years has been an active worker in the ranks of that party and on several occasions was sent as a delegate to district conventions of the party, and he served one term as constable, having been elected on the Republican ticket. He is a good business man and is financially independent. Horsemen throughout this part of the state repose much confidence in his ability to judge the qualities of a prospective racer and his training stables are kept busy developing promising strains. He is a prominent member of the colored Masonic, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias lodges at Wilmington and takes a warm interest in the affairs of those useful fraternal organizations, being regarded as a leader of the people of his race hereabout.

J. Lester Spahr

It may truthfully be said that he who creates beauty is a public benefactor no less than he who creates the more material forms of wealth. The artist, no matter in whab field he may labor, turns the attention for the moment from the common, sordid scenes of life, and directs it to that which is perhaps more worth while, though less valued and less honored. He whose name forms the theme of this biography spent his boyhood amid scenes of natural beauty, for he was a farmer's son, and there he received those early impressions which determined in after years the direction which his energies should take J. Lester Spahr, one of the leading photographers of this county, was born in Greene county, Ohio, on August 4, 1877, his parents, Robert S. and Martha A. (Saville) Spahr, both being natives of the same county.

The parents were people of moderate means, and it took hard work and careful planning to provide shelter, food and clothing for the ten children that came to this home. But although theirs were busy lives, neither father nor mother neglected those higher duties having for their object the training of the minds of their children which should result in strong, useful character. The fact that all of the subject's brothers and sisters are liying is tribute to the care and wisdom of their mother who also is still living. The children of Robert 8S. and Martha A. Spahr were as follow: Albert G. of Xenia, Ohio; R. O., a farmer of Greene county; J. Lester, our subject; Howard S., of Xenia; Fanny, wife of Lee Ledbetter, of Xenia; Sherwin G.; F. B., Emma Spahr, Homer Cc. and Earl R., all of Xenia.

With so many to provide for, it was necessary that the elder children remain on the farm to help their father and mother, the latter's life being as strenuous and as useful as that of her worthy husband. Thus it was that Lester did not leave the home place until he was twenty-one, receiving his education in the public schools. Leaving the farm then he reached his majority, he became a clerk and was employed by a number of merchants in Xenia, giving satisfactory service in this occupation. Being ambitious to haye a business of his own, when he was twenty-six years old, he took up photography in the town in which he and some of his family were then living, and in 1906, he came to Wilmington to live, buying the studio where his present business is located.

Mr. Spahr, while busy with matters relating to his own profession has ideitified himself with commercial organizations, and in thus doing, has not only contributed to his own success but also to the commercial interests of his home town. He is a prominent member of the Commercial Club, and is secretary and treasurer of the Ohio Society of Photographers, as well as a member of the National Association of Photographers. Mr. Spahr is known as one of the active, energetic, public-spirited business men of this community. Besides the above business affiliations, Mr. Spahr is interested in fraternal orders, and is a Mason. He and his wife are communicants of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which they are among the most active and useful members.

Mr. Spahr is numbered among those men in the community who can always be depended upon to be kind in his judgments, considerate of the rights and welfare of others, and genial and trustworthy to a high degree.

Few families of pioneer descent are better known in Clinton county than the Austins and the Smiths, families which, from the very beginning of the social order in this favored community, have played a prominent part in the affairs of the county. By the marriage of Benjamin N. Austin and Mary Smith, a happy union of these two families was effected and Dr. George M. Austin, of Wilmington, one of the best-known and most prominent physicians in the county, thus traces his ancestry to these two lines of dominant pioneer stock. The Austins came to this county in 1808, the Siniths locating here eight years later, and both families exerted a powerful influence for good in the formative period of the now well-established commonwealth, ever being found on the side of the right in all movements designed to promote the general welfzare.

George M. Austin was born on a farm near the Mt. Pleasant church, in Vernon township, Clinton county, Ohio, August 23, 1856. son of Benjamin N. und Mary (Smith) Austin, the former of whom was born in Surrey county, North Carolina, in 1810, and died im 1879, and the latter of whom was born in Vernon township. this county, in 1821, and died in 1901.

Benjamin N. Austin was a son of William and Elizabeth (Austin) Austin, first cousins, the former of whom was a native of Prince George's county. Maryland, and the latter of whom was a native of Albemarle county, Virginia. The Austin family in America dates to about the close of the seventeenth century. at which time the first of that name to locate in this country settled in Maryland. This colonial Austin was a member of the English gentry and maintained a proper display of his coat-of-arms after coming to this side. The Austins are of Norman descent, the family being directly traced back to a noted thirteenth-century crusader.

William Austin was bereft of his father by death when a young child and upon reaching a proper age was apprenticed to the carpenter trade, at which he hecame quite proficient. He assisted in the construction of the first locks in the Potomac river at the time Washington City was built. At Charlottesville, Virginia, he married his cousin, Elizabeth Austin. and located in Surrey county, North Carolina. where, for eight years, he was engaged in farming. At the end of that time. in 1911, attracted by the glowing reports sent back by his brother, Thomas Austin. who had located in this county three years before and wishing to avoid slave territory be decided to come to Clinton county. With his family and belongings transported in two wagons, drawn by oxen, he made the toilsome journey to this county in six weeks, hailing the stopping places in Vernon town- ship with joy. For three years he lived on a farm near the confluence of Todd's creek and Cowan's creek, near which place his brother, Thomas, had located in 1808, and three years later bought three hundred and twenty acres of land in the eastern part of the same township; later enlarging his holdings by buying four hundred acres nearby, and there he spent the remainder of his life. On this farm the Austin family established a private burial ground, which, years later, was extended to include the bounds of the present Mt. Pleasant cemetery. J

Though the Austins originally were members of the Church of England, William Austin became a devout Wesleyan Methodist and performed a very active part in the organization of the Methodist church in this county. Soon after arriving in this county he founded the Mt. Pleasant Methodist church and all his life was one of the most liberal supporters of the same. He also founded the first Methodist church in the then comparatively insignificant hamlet of Wilmington, this church having thus had a continuous existence of more than one hundred years, it having been organized in the year 1813. William Austin was a man of unusual vigor, both bodily and mentally, and easily ranked among the foremost pioneers of that section. He was a capable and forceful speaker and was wont to fill the pulpits of his two churches during the absence of the "circuit" preacher, whose visits to this county then were made but once in six weeks, and thus became known far and wide as a local preacher of much power, his influence extending far beyond the confines of Clinton county, no man in this section of the state being held in higher regard than he. His son, Benjamin N. Austin, surrounded by such wholesome infiuences, grew up to useful and influential manhood. He was not yet one year old when his parents made the toilsome journey from North Carolina to this county, therefore practically all his life was spent here. His youth and young manhood were spent in assisting his father to reclaim his large estate from the forest wilderness and later he cleared a small farm of his own, to which he later added further purchases, receiving also a tract by inheritance, until he became the owner of three hundred acres of excellent land in Vernon township. He also owned a half section of land in Indiana and was counted as one of the most substantial residents of this county. He, following in the footsteps of his devout parents. was an earnest member of the Methodist church, eyer active in promoting the interests of that communion, and three of his brothers became Methodist ministers.

Benjamin N. Austin was twice married. By the union with his first wife eight children were born, namely: William Harrison, who died during the Civil War. while serving in the ranks of the One Hundred and First Regiment. Indiana Volunteer Infantry ; Mrs. Catherine Billers, decensed; Thomas, who died in infaney:; Mrs. Mary Bogus, deceased: Francis Bogus, died in infancy; Mrs. Sarah EF. Cogall, who lives in Alabama: James Fletcher, a farmer, who lives in Illinois, and Ruth, now deceased. who married Philip Sherwin, a merchant of Cleveland. Ohio.

Upon the death of the mother of the above children, Benjamin N. Austin married, secondly, Mary Smith, daughter of Ephraim and Sarah (Higgins) Smith, the latter of whom was a daughter of Matthew Higgins, a soldier in the patriot army from New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. Ephraim Smith was the son of Simon Smith, :% New Jersey blacksmith, whose grandfather was an English sailor who settled in Tong Island and later moved with his family to New Jersey. Ephraim Smith came to Ohio in the year 1816, locating in this county, where he settled on a farm in Vernon township, where he spent the rest of his life. This farm was situated on the main highway of travel in the pioneer days and Ephraim Smith operated a tavern at that point called Union Inn (near Villars chapel), which had high renown in those days for the excellent character of entertainment which it provided for both man and beast. The Smiths were members of the Baptist church and were substantial and influential citizens of their day; there being a large family of children, whose progeny today are honorably represented in various sections of this county, further information regarding whom is set out in the biographical sketch relating to S. G. Smith, presented elsewhere in this volume.

To Benjamin N. and Mary (Smith) Austin were born six children, as follow: Charles T., who died in childhood; George M., of Wilmington; Alpheus, a Methodist minister, stationed at Madisonville, Ohio, one of the leading ministers of the Cincinnati conference; Louis E., who died at the age of seventeen; Florence, who lives at Wilmington, and Emma, who died in childhood.

George M. Austin was reared on the home farm in Vernon township, attending the district school nearby, later attending Wilmington high school, from which he was graduated in 1880. He then entered the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati, from which excellent old institution he was graduated in 1883. Upon receiving his diploma he immediately located in Wilmington and has been very successfully engaged in the practice of his chosen profession in that city since that time. Doctor Austin is one of the foremost physicians of this part of the state, and his practice extends far beyond the borders of the county. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Ohio State Medical Society and the Clinton County Medical Society, in all of which organizations he takes an interested part. Since his boyhood, Doctor Austin has been interested in geology and archeology, particularly in local geological formations, and he has perhaps the finest collection of geological specimens relating to this section to be found in the state. His thoughtful research in this connection has caused him to be recognized as an authority on the subject and he is in wide demand on the part of geological societies and journals devoted to that subject for papers relating to his discoveries, while the United States governent geological survey recognizes him as an authority in this section, he frequently being called on to supply the government with accredited specimens from his choice collection.

On December 30, 1890, George M. Austin was united in marriage to Elma C. Watson, who was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, daughter of Rev. John M. and Eliza (Negus) Watson, the former of whom, for many years a missionary in the west, is now making his home with Doctor and Mrs. Austin, his wife having died some years ago. Elma C. Watson was a former teacher in Wilmington College and was thus engaged when Doctor Austin formed her acquaintance. She is a woman of most admirable qualifications for the difficult role of a physician's wife and has proved a devoted helpmeet to her earnest husband. Doctor and Mrs. Austin are the parents of four children, Faith, a teacher in the Philadelphia public schools, and Mary E., John B. and Elizabeth, who are still at home.

Isaac Newton Lair

That "there is no honor not founded on worth, and no respect not founded on accomplishment," can be applied fittingly to the subject of this biography, who is widely and favorably known in this county. He has been endowed with energy, foresight and absolute integrity, and in business, as in private life, has possessed the confidence of his associates as well as that of the public in general. Isaac Newton Lair, cashier of the Citizens' National Bank of Wilmington, Ohio, is a scion of one of Kentucky's old and honored families.

Charles Lair, the father of our subject, still lives with his son. The mother, Sarah (Winston) Lair, passed away when Isaac was only twelve years of age, misfortune thus depriving the boy of a source of strength and inspiration that life can nowhere else supply.

The birth-place of Isaac Lair was Lair, Kentucky, one of the historic landmarks of the state. and a town named in honor of Isaac Newton Lair, Sr., grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Isaac Newton Lair, Sr., was born on March 12, 1871. Both parents were natives of Kentucky. The paternal grandfather, because of his genial nature and conspicuous business ability, was known throughout the section where he was born. There was no enterprise looking toward the general good or the interests of that section of the state in which he was not directly or indirectly concerned. Before he had reached the usual age for prominence in the business or agricultural world, he was widely known as a farmer and distiller, and in politics as a leading Democrat. The grandson has many of the admirable traits of the dfstinguished ancestor, the predominating one being, perhaps, power of organization. In both, this ability has meant a furthering of the industrial and economic life of their respective communities.

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lair, Sr., other than the subject of this sketch, were: C. B., cashier of the Peoples' National Bank, Greenfield, Ohio; C. e.; druggist at Cynthiana, Kentucky; and J. F., farmer of the latter place.

In the midst of fresh air. wholesome surroundings and the hard work of farm life, the younger Isaac grew up, taking advantage. meantime, of the educational facilities afforded by the public schools and also attending the private school of W. H. Lockhart at Cynthiana. Work on a farm did not seem to offer the opportunity he desired, but there was ho open door elsewhere at first. Realizing that "there is never an open door to fame or prosperity. except we open it for ourselyes." he started out at the age of twenty-one to find employment more in harmony with his tastes, and first became a messenger in the Farmers' National Bank at Cynthiana. So energetic and capable was the young man that his employers were not slow to see in him qualifications that go to make the good business man, and it was not long until he was promoted. Here, too, he proved his proficiency, and subsequently went through a series of promotions until he reached the position of assistant cashier, which he resigned in 1904 when he moved to Clarksville, Ohio. There he organized the Farmers' National Bank, and was its cashier for twenty-two months, relinquishing this place when in 1906, a better opening seemed available in Wilmington. Ohio. and together with J. W. Sparks and others, he organized the Citizens National Bank. At the time of its organization, Mr. Lair was asked to become its cashier, and has served in that capacity ever since. So efficient has been both the policy ahd management of this business institution, that it is now the second largest bank in the county. 'There is no doubt that much of the bank's success has been due to the energy, honesty and executive ability of the young man who helped to found it. Square dealing has been the motto of the institution as well as of its individual promoters ever since its inception.

On October 12, 1899, Isaac Newton Lair was united in marriage to Alice Ammerman, who was born and reared at Cynthiana. Mrs.- Lair has taken much interest in her husband's work, and their home is one of the popular ones in the community. Their son, an only child, is named Isaac Newton Lair, Jr. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lair are loyal members of the Presbyterian church, in which the former is "ruling elder,' clerk of the session and superintendent of the Sunday school. Time has become such a_ precious commodity in modern life that it is rather rare to find a business man interested enough in his church to give it the amount of attention which Mr. Lair has given. He has spared neither time nor means to advance its welfare, and has been ably assisted in his duties by his good and faithful wife, to whom church membership means church activity.

Mr. Lair, like his father, has always been an independent Democrat. The standing that he has enjoyed in the party is indicated by the fact that in 1896, he was elected treasurer of Harrison county, re-elected four consecutive times, and was compelled to resign when he moved to Clarksville eight years later.

Mr. Lair believes in organization in social life, as well as in business affairs, and is prominent in the fraternities of Masons and Knights Templar.

In private life, as in positions of public service, Mr. Lair has performed the duties assigned conscientiously and well, and thus has formed not only a reputation, but a ehar- acter which has secured for him both the confidence and the esteem of the public whom he is always willing to serve. The best interests of any community are advanced by the lives of such men as have here been sincerely described.

George Merrill Rice

Ruskin, the great apostle of work. has said "those who will work faithfully. will put themselves in possession of a glorious and enlarging happiness." In the lives of those successful men whose early childhood and youth were surrounded by hardship and privation, there has been work of the most unrelenting. uncompromising kind. But true to adage and precept. that discipline has often been transiated into prosperity. and much of the sorrow forgotten when passed. The hardships common to the lot of the pioneer preacker, especially when his family was large. are so well known as to become proverbial. These conditions were present in the life of George Merrill Rice. now one of the most prominent furniture dealers in the county. who was one of ten children in the family of a pioneer Methodist minister.

George Merrill Rice was born in Vinton county. Ohio. on January 5, 1884. a son of Rey. M. H. and Mary BH. (Rose) Rice. the former of whom was a native of Kentucky, and the latter of whom was a native of Lawrence county. Ohio. Reverend Rice is now living in Wellston. Ohio, retired after forty-five years of faithful service in his denomination, and is still blessed with the companionship of his loyal wife. The seven children living are: Mrs. Waldo Clark, of Jackson. Ohio; F. L.. J. P.. and Paul Rice, all residents of Wellston; Mrs. John Scott of Waverly, Ohio; Mrs. J. O. Knox ef Gallipolis: and George Merrill, the subject of this sketch.

The boyhood of Merrill Rice was like that of other boys reared in the home of a minister. They moved about rather more frequently than the average family of that time. In spite of the heavy drain upon the resources of the family purse. Reverend and Mrs. Rice were able to educate their children. The subject of this biography went to the public schools and then had two years in the Rio Grande College at Rio Grande in Gallia county, Ohio. This period of intellectual training was cut short by the necessity to earn his daily bread, and at the age of seventeen, George left school and went to elerking in a general store at New Martinsburg, Ohio. where he remained for two years. It was here that he learned those principles of business which afterwards made him the successful man that he is. When nineteen, he worked for the Midland (wholesale) Grocery Company at Washington C. H., Ohio, and was there until he was employed by the Welton Grocery Company in 1907, in the same town, and he soon became its secretary and one of the board of directors. Two years later, he came to Wilmington and engaged in the furniture business, establishing the firm of Campbell & Rice. The store was Joeated in tke Jecob Hurst room on South street. On January 1, 1911. Mr. Rice bought out the interests of Mr. Campbell and continued the business at the above address until July, 1914, when he removed to his present quarters in the Walker Memorial building. Here Mr. Rice has continued to build up his business until he now has the largest store room in the county. His display rooms are remarkable for their beauty in stock and equipment, and are one of the interesting places to visit in the down-town district. A large basement is utilized in the business handled by the store. This beautiful building is modern in every wey and is fire-proof.

On September 6, 1903, George Merrill Rice was united in marriage with Jennie Campbell, of Gallipolis, Ohio. Two children have been born to this union, Samuel B. and Mary Elizabeth.

Mr. Rice is one of the most energetic members of the Commercial Club. In politics. he is a Republican. He is a member of the Methodist church. In fraternal affiliation he is a Mason, being a member of the blue lodge and chapter.

idealism and unselfishness, would be expected to have these virtues inculcated in his character. Mr. Rice is a man of sterling worth. While a business man, he has not allowed his vision to become obscured by commercial pursuits, for he is gentle and kindly in bearing, true in his friendships, loyal in his citizenship, stanch in principle, and a worthy exponent of his splendid early training.

Hon. Charles Q. Hildebrant

In the largest and best sense, the Hon. Charles Q. Hildebrant, of Wilmington, Ohio, is distinctively one of the notable men of his day and generation in public life in the state of Ohio and as such his life work is entitled to conspicuous consideration in the annals of Clinton county, where he was born and where he has spent practically all of his life, with the exception of the time he has been absent at distant capitals in the service of his country. As a merchant in the city of Wilmington, he is a pre-eminent success; as a citizen of Clinton county, he was honored in three successive elections as clerk of the Clinton county court, and as a man of larger capacities and abilities, he was nominated and triumphantly elected to the United States Congress from the Sixth Ohio district and served two terms with credit and distinction. Several years later, in 1914, he was called upon by his party to lead it in the state campaign as the candidate for secretary of state, to which he also was elected. Charles Q. Hildebrant is typical of the man who has made a pre-eminent success in public. life; pleasant and agreeable personally, honest and upright in his daily life, he is possessed of capacity for large and permanent service.

The Hon. Charles Q. Hildebrant was born on October 17, 1864, at Wilmington, Ohio, and is the son of Jefferson and Margaret M. (Quinn) Hildebrant. The father, during his lifetime, was one of the most successful merchants of Wilmington and known throughout the length and breadth of Clinton county. He was born on February 10, 1831, near Snow Hill, in Greene township, the son of Christopher Hildebrant, a native of New Jersey, who came to Ohio about 1820, where he became a pioneer farmer in Greene township. The mother of Jefferson Hildebrant was Elizabeth Cripisteen, also a native of New Jersey, who passed away several years ago.

The late Jefferson Hildebrant, who died on August 9, 1910, was reared on a farm and when fifteen years of age, entered the Newberry Academy of the Society of Friends in Martinsville. Subsequently, he taught school and later became a teacher at Freeport, Tlinois, and while an instructor there, had for one of his pupils Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield. Upon his return to Clinton county, in partnership with his brother, he operated the first thresher and separator ever owned in Greene township, after which he entered Farmers' College. at College Hill, Ohio, where he remained for two years, graduating in June, 1853, in a class of twelve. After farming for five years, following his graduation from college, he was elected county surveyor and served for three years. He was married on October 9, 1861, to Margaret M. Quinn, the daughter of the Hon. D. P. Quinn, a pioneer settler of Clinton county, who died in 1867. After his marriage, Jefferson Hildebrant moved to a farm on Rattlesnake creek, in Fayette county, but in 1863 purchased the B. R. Whitcomb book store at Wilmington and was continually engaged in that business until his death. He was the first man to introduce Jersey cattle into Clinton county and exhibited, throughout his life, an intense interest in live stock and agriculture. He owned sixty acres of land within the corporate limits of Wilmington and was an active member of the state horticultural society, a Republican in politics and liberal in his religious views. His beloved wife died on November 15, 1880. Her mother, before her marriage, was Mary Woodmansee. Her father, in pioneer times, had operated a general store at Quinn's Mill, in Clinton township, and was the lending man of the community for many years. He owned sixteen hundred acres of rich

Charles Q. Hildebrant

It was the late Jefferson Hildebrant who built the splendid brick house on South street in 1872 and who developed the pretty grounds which surround this magnificent home. It is the present home of Hon. Charles Q. Hildebrant and comprises sixty acres of land. The father planted practically all of the trees now on the place. ''Hildebrant's book store" became a family expression in the domestic life of Wilmington and its location was a landmark. Although the store is now owned and operated by others, it still retains the old name.

Hon. Charles Q. Hildebrant was the only child born to his parents. He was a student in the Wilmington public schools during his boyhood and youth and later entered Wilmington College, where he was a student for some time. Subsequently, however, he became a student at Ohio State University at Columbus and upon his return from college, associated with his father in the management of the book store in Wilmington urtil 1890, when he was elected clerk of the Clinton county court, as a candidate of the Republican party. After serving three successive terms, Mr. Hildebrant was nominated and elected in 1900 to the United States Congress from the Sixth Ohio district, serving two terms, from March, 1901, until March, 1905.

After retiring from Congress, Mr. Hildebrant was engaged as a traveling salesman for three years, or until 1909, when he took charge of the book store in Wilmington. The father having died in 1910, in January, 1914, he sold the book store to Joel Walker. In August, of that year, he was nominated in a state-wide primary as a Republican candidate for secretary of state and in November was triumphantly elected to the office.

Few men living in this section of Ohio have been as active in political work as the Hon. Charles Q. Hildebrant, who has served his party as county chairman-.and has been a delegate to two Republican national conventions, as well as a representative of his party of the state committee for several terms.

On October 14, 1886, Mr. Hildebrant was married to Ada J. Hains, in Wilmington, Ohio. She is the daughter of Augustus H. and Nancy (Johnson) Hains, and was born in Ohio. Her parents are now living retired in Wilmington. Her father has been a prominent man in the official life of Clinton county and is a former county auditor. Mr. and Mrs. Hildebrant have had three children. Margaret, Virginia and Richard.

For many years Hon. Charles Q. Hildebrant has been prominent in the fraternal circles of this state. As a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Knights Templar, he is a past worshipful master, past high priest and past eminent commander. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In a business way, Mr. Hildebrant is treasurer of the Clinton County Telephone Company, of Wilmington.

Charles Q. Hildebrant has contributed in no small degree to the reputation and fame of Clinton county, yet he is no more popular in Clinton county than he is throughout the state of Ohio as a whole. Conscientious and capable in the performance of public duties, he is likewise earnest and cordial in the private relations of life.

Thurman Miller

As the press is the greatest modern agency for molding public opinion, its Bene: sentatives are a real power in the life of any community. He who can control the sentiment and editorial policy of a newspaper has a weapon for good or evil, which is incalculable. When, therefore, a member of this profession, who has risen to prominence through sheer force of character and innate ability, uses his great serene for constructive purposes and right principles, he may be considered one of society's most valued and valuable members. Estimated upon this premise, the man whose name appears above is one of Wilmington's foremost citizens. As editor of the Journal-

Harold Thurman Miller was born on a farm in Highland county, Ohio, December 28, 1881. His father, James Fenton, and his mother, Luella (Martin) Miller were born

With the exception of one year in which he traveled, -Mr. Miller has had but one occupation other than newspaper business, and that is school-teaching. Thurman Miller's early life, while in strong contrast with his present work and environment, was an excellent preparation for the latter, for while it furnished the means for strenuous work, it also afforded leisure for the indulgence in reading and study necessary to every literary career. Farm work while pleasant for him, did not hold out the prospect for advancement to his liking, and he did not wait to become of age before other fields of labor were sought by him. Thurman Miller was an only child, and as a boy he took advantage of the training: afforded by the country schools, remaining on the farm until he was twenty. Then while continuing his individual studies, he taught school for the following six years, a third of this time as a teacher in the country schools of Highland county, another third in the graded schools of Clinton county, and the remaining two years in the high school, being principal of the Blanchester high school and teacher of English and history in Wilmington high school. Mr. Miller has the distinction of being the only graduate of the Wilmington College having two bachelor's degrees, having graduated in 1907 with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and two years later, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

After traveling for one year, Mr. Miller took up literary work, and in the spring of 1911 joined the staff of the Clinton Republican. Two years later, the Republican and the Journal consolidated, and on January 1, 1913, the young writer took up his duties as managing editor of the paper thus formed. He is a brilliant writer, and his energy and literary ability have done much to build up the fortunes of the paper with which he is identified.

On August 7, 1907, Thurman Miller married Grace Robuck, the bride being a college classmate, and a native of Clinton county. Their two. children are named Eugene James and Harold Thurman, Jr. Mr. Miller is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Martinsville. Ohio, but is affiliated with his wife in her membership of the Friends chureh in Wilmington.

Besides being its editor, Mr. Miller is secretary-treasurer of the Journal-Republican, and in this way he has much to do with the policy and management of the paper. Although a young man, Mr. Miller already is well known in the newspaper world, and his articles are frequently quoted because of their originality in thought and their good literary style.

Both as a newspaper man, and as a man interested in life from its broad view point, this young editor takes keen pleasure in what is going on in the world, is a wide and well-informed reader, and above all, he is public spirited in the broadest sense of the word. Mr. Miller has been a member of the Knights of Pythias at Martinsville since his twenty-first year. He is a Republican.

The interesting fact in this sketch is that what might have been considered by others as insurmountable obstacles were turned into stepping stones. and by the action of a strong, determined will, were used to further the very career which they seemed at first to defeat. Our subject belonged to that admirable class of young men who, though in isolated localities, and witbout the inspiration of numbers, decide early in life upon an eduention. He had to teach school and attend college alternately in order to defray the expenses of his own education, but this experience seems only to have strengthened

William Franklin Hair

After thirteen years of faithful and devoted service as a teacher in the public schools of Clinton county, William Franklin Hair, better known among his intimate friends as "Frank" Hair, entered upon the life of a farmer and has found much pleasure and satisfaction in tilling his well-kept place in Washington township. Studious in his habits, attentive to the latest developments in agricultural science, Mr. Hair has conducted his farming operations with a high measure of intelligence and, though his place is not as extensive as some of the farms in his neighborhood, he has prospered and has no fear of the wolf howling at his door. He has a delightful home in Washington township, in which he takes much pleasure and where he and his good wife greet their friends with the most cordial hospitality.

William Franklin Hair was born on a farm near the village of Westboro, in Jefferson township, Clinton county, Ohio, on January 28, 1857, son of George W. and Permelia (Garrett) Hair, the former a native of Brown county, this state, and the latter a native of Jefferson township, this county.

George W. Hair was the son of Titus and Nancy (Sapp) Hair. the former of whom was born in Washington county, Virginia. and the latter in Clermont county, this state, daughter of George Sapp, a pioneer of that county. Titus Hair came to Ohio from Virginia with his parents in the year 1808, the family locating in Clermont county, where Titus Hair grew up as a cabinetmaker, later becoming a farmer. About the year 1855 he moved to this county, buying a farm of about one hundred acres near the village of Westboro. He also continued to work at his trade of cabinetmaking and became one of the best-known citizens in that neighborhood. Later he moved to Clark township, buying a farm near the village of Lynchburg, where he spent the remainder of his life. His son, George W. Hair, married Parmelia Garrett, of this county, a daughter of Henry and Nancy (Johns) Garrett, the former of whom was born in Virginia, the son of William Garrett, who came, with his wife and children on horseback from Virginia to this county and located on a farm in the southwest portion of the county, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1864. Henry Garrett grew up on his father's farm and married Nancy Johns, member of one of the pioneer families of the neighborhood, and it was the daughter of this union who was the mother of Frank Hair. Henry Garrett died in 1849, before reaching middle age. George W. Hair became one of Clinton county's well-known farmers, his operations mostly being carried on in Clark township. He was exempted from service during the Civil War on account of ill health and his death occurred in 1876. He and his wife were members of the New Light church and their three children were reared in the faith of that communion. These three children were Frank, the immediate subject of this sketch. Hay W., and Nancy E.

William Franklin Hair received his education in the public schools of this county and when twenty-three years of age began teaching school. continuing this close personal service in behalf of the public for a period of thirteen years. 1880-93. becoming one of the best-known teachers in Clinton county. He then decided to become a farmer and following out this design bought the farm of eighty-three acres in Washington township on which he is now living, and where he confidently expects to spend the remainder of his days. He is successfully engaged in general farming and is regarded as one of the substantial men of his community.

In 1890 Frank Hair was united in marriage to Mary H#. Vandervort. who was born in Green township, this county, daughter of T. H. Vandervort, a well-known resident of that township. Mr. and Mrs. Hair are members of the Church of the Disciples at New Antioch and take an active interest in all the good works of their neighborhood, being regarded as among the leaders in the community life thereabout. This amiable couple are in a position to look on the bright side of life and they bring to their relations with their neighbors a wholesome kindliness of spirit that makes them prime favorites with

Mr. Hair did well his duty to the public during his long service as a teacher, many former youngsters in this county, now grown to useful manhood and womanhood, acknowledging with gratitude the great debt they owe to the early instructions of this conscientious teacher; and in his later years he is doing equally well his duty toward the body politic by continually advocating all measures designed to» promote the welfare of all the people, his sage counsels receiving the most respectful consideration on the part of his neighbors, who repose the utmost cdnfidence in his judgment in matters relating to the common welfare.

Prof. Edwin P. West

Edwin P. West was born in Martinsville, Clark township, Clinton county, Ohio, February 2, 1851.. He is the second son of James H. and Helena (Jackson) West.

James H. West was a man of strong intelligence and fair education, first a teacher and then a farmer, distinguished for firmness of conviction and integrity of character. His father, Peyton West, was a man of affairs in the early history of the county, was county surveyor from 1840 to 1846, county treasurer for a period, and had a large share in the larger land transactions of that period in his part of the county. Peyton West had learned the surveyor's art from his father, Owen West, a cousin of Benjamin, the artist. who had emigrated from eastern Pennsylvania into Pittsylvania county, Virginia, and thence to Ohio about 1805 and settled on the East fork of the Miami river a few miles southeast of Martinsville. James H., when a boy of eighteen, was one of the chain earriers for bis father when he surveyed Jefferson township in the winter of 1839. James H, West died on June 28, 1903. :

Helena Jackson. mother of Professor West, was a daughter of Josiah and Ruth (Hiatt) Jackson, and was born near Martinsville on October 4, 1825, and died on October 19, 1864. Josiah Jackson was a son of Jacob Jackson, the first minister of Clark township. whose brother, John Jackson. was the first settler in Wayne township, this county, in 1802. Another brother, Samuel Jackson, built the first, cabin in Jefferson township jn 1812. Samuel was a famous hunter in his day and was characterized as a second Daniel Boone. He was a typical frontiersman and finally found his way to Cass county, Texas, where he died about a quarter of a century ago, at the age of one hundred years. These brothers are said by Judge Harlan, in his excellent sketches of Clinton county history, to be probably first cousins and intimate friends of President Andrew Jackson, whose father in 1765 came from the same locality in north Ireland. as did their ancestor, Isane Jackson, a few years earlier. These brothers were sons of Samuel Jackson, a son of the aforesaid Isaac Jackson, who was a descendant of Ralph Jackson, who was burned at the stake as a martyr at Stratford, England, in 1556. Isaac's father and uncle, Anthony and Richard Jackson, had gone with Cromwell from England into Ireland, had become followers of George Fox, and founded the first Friends church in Ireland, with which Andrew's progenitors were evidently not affiliated.

Professor West considers himself fortunate in having an ancestry. a childhood home and community in which education was accorded a supreme value. Martinsville was noted for its educational spirit and the excellence of its schools before other communities of the county had achieved this distinetion. Milton Hollingsworth, of Richmond, Indiana; Amos Hockett. Professor Adams and his wife, from Oberlin College; Charles and Sattie Oren, fresh from Antioch College and the inspiring influence of Horace Mann. Thomas J. Moon and others established and fostered an educational regime there that made it an intellectual Meecea for able and ambitious young men and women of this and adjoining counties.

Dwin P. West

the course there, attended the National Normal University at Lebanon, when its students numbered a thousand and more. After teaching four terms in the rural schools of the county he entered Wilmington College during the presidency of Benjamin Trueblood, and was graduated in the class of 1878, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. However, he ascribes his education more to a lifelong habit of reading the books of the world's intellectual masters in the lines of literature, history, science and philosophy.

Probably no other person in the history of the county has served its educational interests for so long a period or aided more in the development and efficiency of its schools than has Professor West. He began teaching in September, 1871, in the Nauvoo district, south of Clarksville, and has taught continuously since that time, with the omission of three years spent in Wilmington College. He taught his second rural school at Beech Grove, two miles east of Martinsville, his third at Hale's Branch, near Westborn, and the fourth at Sharp's, south of Sabina. In one of those schools the enrollment reached eighty-three, and in none did it fall below forty-eight. He was superintendent of the Martinsville schools for seven years, including the entire township for one year, and was the first to establish a modern high school there. He was superintendent at New Vienna for fourteen years, at Dayton, Kentucky, for four years and has had charge of the Wilmington schools for the past eleven years and has just been re-employed for three years more.

The Wilmington schools now require twenty-eight teachers and enroll nine hundred pupils. The high school has grown under his administration from about one hundred pupils to more than two hundred and is accredited by the North Central College Association of the United States and recently by Pennsylvania University. Professor West has graduated more than five hundred young men and women and, so far as he knows, practically all have turned out to be useful and successful citizens.

For a dozen years Professor West conducted summer schools for teacheys, was many times president of the County Teachers' Association, taught and lectured in the annual institutes of Clinton and other counties, made numerous educational and some political addresses and was for some years a member of the American Economic Association. He obtained a professional life certificate from the state board of examiners in 1886. He has served for twenty-four years and six months as a mémber of the Clinton county board of school examiners and was secretary for one year of the Ohio association of county and city examiners. He was a member of the first school book board of Ohio, by appointment of Governor Campbell, who was its chairman, and although not a candidate, received the vote of his congressional district for state school commissioner, at one of the state conventions. He is now a member of the Clinton County Teachers' Association, the Central Ohio Teachers' Association, the state and national associations.

Professor West is a clear and forcible writer and an efficient public speaker and enjoys the confidence of his constituents and fellow workers in his city, county and state. Professor West is a Republican. He is a Mason, an Elk and a Knight of Pythias. In church affiliation, he is a member of the society of Friends.

On April 17, 1884, Edwin P. West was married to Josephine Walker, daughter of W. W. and Mary Hackney Walker, of Martinsville, member of old and respected families of the county. Mrs. West taught for three years before her marriage and two years after. They have two daughters. Vivien and Mary, both born in New Vienna, Vivien on August 25, 1887, and Mary on March 20, 1890.

Vivien. after graduating from the Dayton, Kentucky, high school, attended Cincinnati University for a year and is a graduate of the Oxford College for Women, in the class of 1907. In 1911 she was married to Floyd C. Williams, a son of Captain Williams. of Portsmouth, Ohio. and a graduate of Miami University. They have one son, William West Williams, who was born on April 23, 1913. They reside in Hyde Park, a beautiful suburb of Cincinnati, in which city Mr. Williams is engaged in the practice of law.

Mary, the youngest daughter, is a graduate of the Wilmington high school, Wilmington College and of Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, the largest and one of the best girls' schools in the world, graduating from last named institution in the class of 1910, soon after her twentieth birthday.

J. W. B. Crouse

Among the members of that considerable army which the impoverished Duke of Hesse sold to the government of George III of England, for use against the American colonists during the long struggle of the latter for independence, was one John Crouse, who, following the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, declined, along with hundreds of others of the Hessians, to return to his native land, preferring to put in his lot with those valiant patriots against whom his reluctant arms had been turned. John Crouse settled in Virginia and soon became a person of substance. There he married and reared a family, his descendants today being numbered among the most patriotic and loyal citizens of this great republic. One of John Crouse's sons, John, married Rhoda Matson, of Virginia, member of an old colonial family, and, about the year 1818, emigrated with his family to Ohio, locating in the neighborhood of Cuba, in this county, where he soon became one of the most substantial and influential citizens of that vicinity. Joln Crouse. Jr., was an energetic and forceful man, full of enterprise and push, and presently was known as one of the large landowners of Clinton county, he being the possessor of approximately six hundred acres of excellent land, which he brought to a fine state of cultivation, He lived to a ripe old age and in 1851 erected the fine old home which still stands on the Crouse farm. He and his wife reared a large family, only one of whom is now living, the venerable Mrs. Nancy Thatcher, of Wilmington, this county.

Henry Crouse. one of the sons of John and Rhoda (Matson) Crouse, received a limited education in the schools of his home neighborhood. being trained in the ways of successful agriculture by his energetic father, on whose place he remained until 1867, in which year he bought a small farm of ninety acres in the eastern part of Washington township, where he spent the rest of his life. This farm is now owned and occupied by one of Henry Crouse's sons, Isaac T. Crouse. Henry Crouse married Elizabeth Pennington, who was born in Washington township, this county, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Burk) Pennington, natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Clinton county in an early day in the settlement of the county, locating in the Cuba neighborhood. Isaae Pennington was a thrifty man, possessed of keen business sense, and in his day was regarded as one of the wealthy men of the county, his extensive intersts in this county not being confined wholly to his fine farm of two hundred acres in Washington township. To the union of Henry Crouse and Elizabeth Pennington seven children were born, five sons and two daughters. Henry Crouse and his wife were members of the Christian church and did well their part in the development of the best interests of their community, rearing their children in the Christian faith, from which they have not departed. Henry Crouse was an excellent citizen, upright and honorable in his dealings with his fellowmen, and was held in high regard throughout that community, a regard to which his neighbors gave ample expression when they elected him to the important position of township trustee, an office which he held for some years, during which time he was able to exert a fine influence in the way of advancing the public welfare.

J. W. Crouse, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Pennington) Crouse, was born on the old Crouse farm in Washington township and received his education in the district schools of that vicinity. Reared to the life of the farm, he has continued farming all his life and his industry and enterprise have been properly rewarded, he now being very well circumstanced as regards the goods of this world, his fine farm of two hundred and three acres, twenty-seven acres of which is in his wife's name, being regarded as one of the most productive farms in the neighborhood. Mr. Crouse has given much atten- tion to stock raising and has been particularly successful as a feeder of hogs. In 1901 he erected a fine new barn, at the same time remodeling the old barn, and is well equipped for carrying on his farming operations according to the most approved system of modern agriculture. j

On December 21, 1876, J. W. B. Crouse was united in marriage to Clarinda Baker, who was born on the farm where she and her husband now live, daughter of William Baker and wife, Kentuckians, who settled on this farm in 1835. To J. W. B. and Clarinda (Baker) Crouse, two children have been born, namely: Bruce.B., who lives on the home place, married Jennie Rhodes and has one child, a son, Burdette R.; and Mabel V., who married Guynn Shelton and died, leaving one child, a daughter, Mabel V.

Mr. and Mrs. Crouse are members of the Christian church and are warmly concerned in the various beneficences of the congregation to which they are attached, being prominent in all good works thereabout, and are highly esteemed by all. Mr. Crouse is an Odd Fellow and is much interested in the affairs of that popular order.

Matthew Irvin

Born in Ireland, a descendant of one of those zealous Scots colonists whom Cromwell hurled across the Irish sea with the avowed purpose of Protestantizing Ireland, the subject of this brief biographical review has lived in Clinton county since he was eleven years of age and has done well his part in the affairs of his community. Prospering with the years, he now is in a position to take his ease in "the sunset time" of his life, he now being well past the three-score-and-ten stage of his existence, and is living quietly and contentedly in his pleasant home in Union township, enjoying the confidence and regard of his neighbors and the entire community.

Matthew Irvin was born in County Down, Ireland, on August 15, 1842, son of Henry and Mary (Wiley) Irvin, both natives of the same county, members of old Scotch families therein, the former of whom was born in 1788 and died at his home in this county on October 18, 1869, and the latter of whom was born in 1798 and died on November 18, 1869.

Henry Irvin was the son of William Irvin, a stanch Presbyterian of County Down, member of a family that had been represented in that county since the time of the Cromwellian colonization of that section of Ireland, who was a shoemaker by trade. He was a large, strong man and he and his wife reared a considerable family. Henry Irvin grew up in County Down, working on a farm. He married Mary Wiley, a neighbor girl, daughter of Matthew Wiley, a member of another of the many Presbyterian families in that section, to which union were born four children, all of whom are now dead, all having died at their respective homes in this county, save the subject of this sketch, the youngest of the family, namely: William, who died in 1915 at his home in Sabina, this county; Mary, now deceased, who married George Gumley, a well-known farmer of this county; James, who died at the age of eighteen, and Matthew, the immediate subject of this sketch.

In 1849 William Irvin, eldest of the children above named, emigrated to America, coming at once to Ohio and locating in Chester township, this county. The letters he wrote home inspired his parents to follow him and in 1853 they and their other children came to this county, remaining here the rest of their lives. Henry Irvin became a tenant farmer and he and his family associated themselves with the United Presbyterian church. In their later years Henry Irvin and his wife made their home with their son, Matthew, and there their last days were spent.

Matthew Irvin was eleven years of age when he accompanied his parents to their new home in this county. The journey across the water was made in the sailing vessel, "Gilbert," the voyage requiring five weeks and three days. During his early youth, Matthew Irvin aided his father in his work on the farm, later working for other farmers

"by the day." He was industrious and frugal and in 1867 found himself in a position to buy a farm of his own. This farm of one hundred and one acres in Union township was covered with virgin forest, with the exception of twenty acres. He cleared off the timber, drained the soil and brought the place to an excellent state of cultivation. He married in 1872 and continued to live on this farm until 1884, in which year he bought a farm of seventy acres near Bartonville, moving onto the same, and has since lived there, though still owning the original farm. From the véry start of his agricultural operations, Matthew Irvin recognized the possibility of 'profit in raising hogs and early became a large feeder of hogs, his money being made in this manner, all the grain he raised being fed to his hogs. For some time past Mr. Irvin has been practically retired from the active work of the farm, having turned the management of his two farms over to his sons, though he still takes a personal interest in the farm operations, and is taking things easy in his later years.

On December 24, 1872, Matthew Irvin was united in marriage to Sarah Ann Fife, who was born in Union township, this county, daughter of William N. and Jane (Fife) Fife, both natives of County Tyrone, Ireland, who were early settlers in this county, and to this union six children were born, as follow: Henry, born on January 2, 1874, lives on one of his father's farms; Minnie, October 11, 1876, married John Stephens, upon whose death she married, secondly, J. C. Clevenger and lives in Washington township, this county; Dr. James Irvin, December 4, 1880, a prominent practicing physician, of Durant, Iowa; William M., August 21, 1883, who died at the age of one year and five days; Frank,- July 20, 1886, a well-known farmer of Union township, and Fred, September 3, 1889, who lives on the home farm, married L. Dora McMillan and has one child, a daughter, Cleo, aged three years. The mother of these children died on November 13, 1914.

Mr. Irvin is a member of the Central Christian church at Wilmington and ever has been interested in good works and largely influential therein. He is a Democrat and while giving a good citizen's attention to political matters, never has been regarded as an active worker in potitics, though his influence ever has been exerted on the side of good government and right morals. He has many friends in the neighborhood in which he has lived so long and in and about Wilmington and is held in the highest regard by all who know him.

Hon. Frank M. Clevenger

The force of heredity is not always so easily traced in the lives of public men as in the career of the Hon. Frank M. Clevenger, one of Wilmington's best known attorneys and a man of interesting and forceful personality. The fact that his grandfather was justice of the peace for many years, and his father postmaster, at least shows a pre disposition in the family for public. service, as well as the possession of those personal qualities which are necessary to merit the public confidence. For three generations, this noted family have won the respect of their fellow-countrymen, evidenced by honors which, perhaps, reached their culmination in the election of Frank Clevenger to the state Senate to represent two districts. Mr. Clevenger is now associated with Simeon G. Smith in one of the best-known law firms in this section of the state. He is the son of William and Martha (Compton) Clevenger, and was born on a farm in Washington township, Clinton county, Ohio, on March 8, 1865.

Enos Clevenger, grandfather of our subject, was the type of pioneer who leaves hiv impress upon his times. Born and reared in Frederick county, Virginia, he remained there until after his marriage to Christina Crouse at Winchesttr, Virginia, in 1824. Soon after this event, they packed their scant household goods on horses, and started northward, penetrating the forests of the new country. The young wife, being of German extraction, bad the racial qualifications of the helpmeet of a pioneer, for she had love of home, courage, contentment and faith, all of which were needed in the trying years that followed. Traversing miles of attractive country, the horses of these early settlers were not stopped except temporarily, until they reached Clinton county, Ohio, which became the future home of the family. Here Enos Clevenger became one of the influential men of the community, and was justice of the peace during nearly all of his residence in the county. He died near Wilmington in 1867, his widow passing away three years later. Both the subject of this sketch and his father were born on the farm on which the old pioneer settled.

William Clevenger, although seventy-nine winters have passed over his head, is now, and has been for the past twenty+three years connected with the Irwin Auger Bit Company of Wilmington. From 1885 until 1890, he was postmaster of the town, and served with satisfaction to both his own and the opposing political party. During these years, the devotion of his faithful wife, who was a native of Indiana, was no small element in either his happiness or his success. Their five children are all boys. The eldest, George, is now living near North Yakima, Washington; Frank was the secondborn; William W. resides in Santa Anna, California; the two youngest died at the ages of four and seven, respectively.

The career of Frank M. Clevenger is of more than ordinary interest, because it records activity in the great world of affairs; it registers the thoughts and deeds of a man who has helped to mold public opinion, as well as the laws effected thereby. Although born on a farm, he did not remain there after his eighteenth year, when, with an ambition which presaged well for his future, he took up his residence in Wilmington in order to attend schoo]. Graduating with honors from the high school in 1886, he began the study of law the following year, was admitted to the bar in 1890, and has been in active practice since that time. For six years, he had his own law office, then establishing the firm of Slone, Martin & Clevenger, he practiced with them until 1899. In November, of that year, he went into partnership with Simeon G. Smith, and together, these noted lawyers have made their firm one of the strongest and best known in tbis part of the state.

Mr. Clevenger. while attending to professional duties, has always been an active politician, and as such, has made his influence in the community felt. From 1909 -to 1911 he represented the fifth and sixth districts in the Ohio state Senate, these districts comprising the counties of Clinton, Fayette, Greene, Ross and Highland. While serving his constituents in this capacity, he was the author of a number of important bills, and was Chairman of the special committeé appointed to investigate the subject of taxation in Ohio. which investigation resulted in the present law. Although Mr. Clevenger filled the office of state senator with credit both to himself and to the Republican party, under the present system of "rotation of office," now existing, he was not a candidate for re-election.

Notwithstanding his busy professional life, and. his public services, Mr. Clevenger has been true to the religious training of his God-fearing parents, and both he and Mrs. Clevenger have been active in the work aud worship of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which the former is a trustee. Realizing, too, the benefits to be derived from organization on the social side of life, Mr. Clevenger has allied himself with a number of 'fraternal organizations, these including the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Prthias and the Elks lodge. In all of these, affiliation has meant to the noted lawyer ae merely membership, but helpful co-operation.

Mare Robinson. a native of Frederick county. Virginia, became tke wife of Mr. Clevenger in August, 1890. the ceremony having been performed at her home in Win chester. Virginia. In their home two children have been born, Agnes Virginia and Russell Robinson. Mrs. Clevenger has been a devoted wife and mother. and the circle of friends and acquaintances gained through her husband's prominence in public life, has only added to the number of those who respect and admire her.

Mr. Clevenger is considered one of the ablest lawyers in the state of Ohio. His keen insight, his ability to strike the correct theory of a case, his power of logical thought, and of facile expression, all go to make up what is known as "the legal mind." And the crowning tribute to such a man as he, is that his gifts have not been limited to the furthering of personal desires and interests, but have been considered by him in the nature of a trust to be used for the common good. With what success this ideal has been attained may be judged by his usefulness and prominence in the community in which the name of Clevenger has been honored in the past, as well as in the present generation.

Mr. Clevenger was appointed by Governor Frank B. Willis, on June 21, 1915, a member of the Ohio state board on uniform state laws, for the term ending June 5, 1918. The object is the outgrowth of a movement made by the bar association about ten years ago. The object is for each state to provide a board which will formulate plans to bring about uniformity of laws throughout the United States. They shall collect data as to the prevailing law in the United States and other countries, upon special subjects where uniformity is important, and especially on the following subjects: Conveyances - form and exeecution; commercial law, including bills of lading; corporations; insurance, fire and life; negotiable instruments; partnerships; trade-marks; unfair competition; warehouse receipts; labor, uniform hours of; marriage and divorce; wills, execution and probate.

Charles Botts

After three years' experience with the German military service, as a soldier in Baden's standing army, Henry Botts "jumped" his furlough one day and came to America, making his way to Cincinnati. That was in the year 1844. Two years later, when the call for volunteers to serve in the war against Mexico was made, Henry Botts enlisted in the First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was with that regimen! until the close of the Mexican War. Henry Botts had three brothers and one sister, «il of whom also came to America, and became so widely separated that they never were reunited, except in one instance, which hinged on an astonishing chance. Thirteen years after their separation, long after Henry Botts had settled in Highland county, this state, he made a trip over into the adjoining county of Brown in quest of seed wheat and there encountered his brother, Frederick. the two brothers having, unknown to each other, settled within a few miles of each other's homes.

Henry Rotts returned to Cincinnati at the close of the Mexican War, later moving to Highland county, this state, locating in the Webbertown neighborhood, where he spent the remainder of his life. After arriving in Highland county he married Elizabeth Gerard, of that county, who was born in Alsace-Lorraine, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth Gerard. who emigrated to America about the year 1838, coming to Ohio, where they located in Highland county, buying a farm on which they erected a log cabin and there they spent the rest of their lives. To this union seven children were born. four sons and three daughters, five of whom are still living.

Charles Botts, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Gerard) Botts, was born on the home farm in Highland county. not far from the village of Lynchburg, near the Clinton county line, on January 6, 18638. and was reared there. receiving his early education in the district schools of that neighborhood. When about twenty-two years of age he came to this county to work on the Ward farm in Washington township and ever since has resided there. for on November 7. 1886, the year after his arrival at the Ward home, he married Anne Maria Ward. the youngest daughter of the house, who became proprietor of the farm upon the death of her father. To this union six children have been born, Fay. John, Margaret, Israel, Alice and Elon.