350 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO who was born on November 30, 1856, married Sarah Peacemaker and is now living at Port William, in the neighboring county of Clinton, where he is engaged in the live-stock and milling business. Henry A. Beam, born on August 12, 1858, married Mrs. Blanche (Swindler) Hurley and is a farmer and stockman in Spring Valley township, this county. Emma J. Beam, born on August 10, 1860, is the wife of Charles Hurley, a farmer of Spring Valley township. Euretta S. Beam, born on February 22, 1864, is the wife of Thomas Boyd, also a Spring Valley township farmer. Daniel F. Beam, born on December 16, 1865, married Elizabeth Johnson and is farming in Spring Valley township. Anna NT: Beam,born on March 21, 1868, married Frank Woods and is living on a farm in the vicinity of Port William. Albert E. Beam, born on March 2, 1873, married Martha Scott and is engaged in farming and stock raising in Spring Valley township. Flora Beam, born on June 8, 1876, married Clarence McKay, a farmer of the New Burlington neighborhood. As noted above, Mrs. Beam continues to make her home on the old home- place Where her husband died nearly twenty-five years ago and where she has lived for sixty years, during which time she has been a witness to the amazing transformation that has taken place with the gradual development of that section. She is a member of Goat- church. ULYSSES S. GRANT ST. JOHN. Ulysses S. Grant St. John, better known among his friends as Grant St. John, the proprietor of the old Daniel Sutton place on the New Jasper pike in New Jasper township, rural mail route No. i out of Jamestown, was born on a farm in Caesarscreek township on July 3, 1869, son of John W. and Phoebe Ann (Heiny) St. John, the latter of whom, born in Virginia, died in 1895. John W. St. John, who is still living and a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume, also was born in Caesarscreek township, December 29, 1831, one of the ten children born to Daniel W. and Eliza (Bone) St. John, who were among the earliest settlers in that township. Daniel W. St. John was a son of John and Rhoda (Wood) St. John, as is set out in the review above referred to, wherein also is contained a detailed history of the St. John family in this county and to which the attention of the reader is respectfully invited in connection with this review of the life of Grant St. John. Grant St. John grew up on the home farm in Caesarscreek township, received his schooling in the nearby district school and remained at home until his marriage when- twenty-four years of age. He then rented a farm in the neighborhood of Cedarville and began operations on his own account, afterward moving from there up into Clark. county, where he was engaged GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 351 in farming :for several years, at the end of which time, in 1912, he returned to Greene county and bought a farm in Caesarscreek township. A year later he sold that farm and bought the farm of eighty-two acres on which he is now living. This is the farm that formerly belonged to Mr. St. John's wife's grandfather, Daniel Sutton. On February 26, 1893, Mr. St. John was united in marriage at Jamestown, to Sidney Lois Sutton, who was born in New Jasper township, daughter of Daniel H. and Mary C. (Blessing) Sutton, both of whom also were born in this state, members of pioneer families, and both of whom died in October, 1910, the former on the 2nd of that month and the latter on the 11th. Both the Suttons and the Blessings were among the early residents of Greene county, 'these families having been represented here for a hundred years and more. Daniel H. Sutton was born on the farm on which Mr. and Mrs. St. John are now living, in January, 1841, son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Spahr) Sutton, and there grew to manhood. He married Mary C. Blessing, who was born at Spring Valley, in October, 841, a daughter of Marcus and Maria (Crumley) Blessing, the former of whom was the proprietor of a hotel and a mill at Spring Valley and also a landowner in that vicinity, and after his marriage bought one hundred acres of his father's place, established his home there and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of three children, Mrs. St. John, the last born, having a sister, Maria, wife of S. B. Levalley, of New Jasper township, and a brother, Marcus Sutton, unmarried, who is operating his father's old home place adjoining the farm owned by Mr. St. John. William G. Sutton, who was the father of Daniel Sutton, father of Daniel H. Sutton, Mrs. St. John's great-grandfather, was born in New Jersey and there grew to manhood and married, later moving to Kentucky, whence, in 1803, he and his wife Lois and their children came up into the valley of the Little Miami and settled in Greene county. He took up land in the Military Tract south of the then embryonic city of Xenia. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters, and the descendants of these children in the present generation form a numerous connection hereabout. Daniel Sutton, grandfather of Mrs. St. John, was born in 1802 and was thus but an infant when his parents came to this county. He grew up on the home place south of Xenia and married Elizabeth Spahr, who was born in Virginia in 804 and who was but a child when her parents, Philip and Mary (Schick) Spahr, came to Greene county and settled south of Xenia. Philip Spahr and wife reared a family of ten children and that family also- has a wide connection throughout the county. After his marriage Daniel Sutton established his home on the old home place on Caesas creek and became the proprietor of two hundred and twenty 352 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO acres. He died in 1860 and his widow survived him for nearly twenty-five years, her death occurring in 1884, she then being eighty years of age. They were the parents of fifteen children, all of whom lived to maturity and twelve of whom married and reared families. Mr. and Mrs. St. John have one child, a son, Fred Howard, born on November 14, 1901. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper. Mr. St. John is a Republican. GEORGE N. PERRILL. George N. Perrill, a member of the board of county commissioners for Greene county, president of the Bowersville Bank of Bowersville, this county, the owner of a grain elevator at that place as well as an extensive land acreage in this county and other interests of a substantial character, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life, a resident of Greene county since the days of his young manhood when he married and settled down on a farm in Jefferson township. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of what is now Milledgeville, in the neighboring county of Fayette, August 11, 1856, son of John and Margaret J. (Sparks) Perrill, the former of whom was born in the neighborhood of Cynthiana, in Pike county, this state, and the latter in Kentucky, she having come into this state with her parents from the Blue Grass state when a girl, the family settling in Fayette county. John Perrill moved from Pike county to Fayette county after he attained his majority and in the latter county spent the rest of his life, successfully engaged there in farming until his death. which occurred in the year 1898. He was a Republican and he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the eldest and nine of wham lived to maturity. Reared on the home farm in Fayette county, George N. Perrill completed his schooling in the high school at Washington Court House, the county seat of his home county, and remained at home until his marriage in the spring of 1878, when he came over into Greene county and bought a farm of one hundred acres in Jefferson township, on which he made his home for twelve years, at the end of which time he bought a farm of one hundred acres south of the village of Bowersville, where he lived for two years, or until he became engaged in the grain business in Bowersville. Mr. Perrill leased the first grain elevator erected in that place and engaged in business there as the senior member of the firm of Perrill & Lewis, a connection which continued for seven years, at the end of which time his son became associated with him and the business was continued under GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 353 the firm name of Perrill & Son until the organization of the Miami Grain Company, of which Mr. Perrill was elected president, as is set out in the history of Bowersville, presented elsewhere in this work. When the Bowersville Bank was organized Mr. Perrill was one of the prime movers in the enterprise and was elected first president of the concern, a position he ever since has occupied. Besides owning a farm south of Bowersville he also has other real estate and is a stockholder in the Commercial Bank of Washington Court House. Mr. Perrill has ever taken a good citizen's interest in local civic affairs and for three years served as trustee of his home township. In 1916 he was elected member of the board of county commissioners from his district and on September 1, 1917, entered upon the duties of that office, since which time lie has made his home on the farm of his son-in-law one mile northeast of Xenia, on the Columbus pike, moving there from his home in Bowersville, in order that he might give more time to the duties of his office. Mr. Perrill for years has served as a member of the board of directors of the County Agricultural Society. On March 14, 1878, George N. Perrill was united in marriage to Elizabeth Vanniman, daughter of Stephen and Rebecca Jane (Early) Vanniman, of Bowersville, both members of old and substantial families in that part of the county, and to this union two children were born, Edith, who completed her schooling at Cedarville College, and Arthur, who completed his schooling at Ohio Northern University at Ada and is now engaged in the wholesale grain business at Xenia, secretary of the Xenia Grain Company. He married Tullis Reynolds and has four children, George, Evelyn, John and Martha. Edith Perrill married Luther Chitty, of Bowersville, who is now farming on the Columbus pike just out of the city of Xenia, and four sons, Donald, Hugh, George and Robert. Mrs. Perrill died on July 24, 1910. She was a member of the Methodist Protestant church at Bowersville, as is Mr. Perrill, and the latter has been for years a member of the board of trustees of the church as well as a member of the Methodist Protestant camp-meeting board. MARSHALL BROWN. Marshall Brown, formerly engaged in the saw-mill business at the village of New Jasper, and who is still living there, owner of the old William Huston farm on the edge of the village, is a native son of Greene county, born on a farm in the northwest corner of Jefferson township on September 27, 1852, son of James T. and Rachel (Powers) Brown, whose last days were spent at Paintersville. Marshall Brown was about twelve years of age when his father moved from Jefferson township to New Jasper town- (22) 354 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO ship and he completed his schooling in the schools of the latter township, remaining on the home farm there, the place now occupied and owned by his brother Cyrus, until after his marriage in 1874 when he bought a farm of fifty acres in the neighborhood of his father's place and there resided for ten years, at the end of which time he sold that farm and for eighteen months thereafter lived on a rented farm. He then bought a tract of eleven acres in the village of New Jasper and there set up a saw-mill, which he continued to operate for sixteen years, mainly engaged in custom sawing. As a young man Mr. Brown had learned the trade of stonemason and he also continued engaged during the summers as a contracting mason, doing quite an extensive business in that line as well as in his mill. Upon selling the mill he rented a farm in Xenia township and six years later moved from that place to a farm on the Hussey pike in Caesarscreek township, where he lived for two years, at the end of which time he bought eighty acres on the Nash road in Xenia township. On this latter place he lived for two years, or until March I, 1913, when he sold that place and bought the William Huston farm of fifty acres at the edge of the village of New Jasper, where he since has made his home. Mr. Brown is a Republican, and for some time served as assessor in New Jasper township. On February 24, 1874, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Katurah Gates, who was born on the old William Spahr farm in New Jasper township, daughter and only child of Bailey and Temperance (Spahr) Gates. the latter of whom was born in that same place on December 31, 1836, and who died there on September 25, 1858, her daughter Katurah then being but two years of age. Mrs. Brown having thus been bereft of her mother at the early age of two years was reared in the household of her maternal grandfather, William Spahr, one of the pioneers of that part of Greene county. Mrs. Brown's father,, Bailey Gates, was .born at Chillicothe, Ohio, December 25, 1832, seventh son of Bailey and Delilah Gates, and early became a school teacher, civil engineer and surveyor, continuing to serve as a teacher nearly all his life. He was teaching in this county when he married Temperance Spahr and was living here when the Civil War broke out. He served as a soldier of the Union, a member of Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-second Regiment, and in 1866 went to Kansas, where he remained for seven years, teaching school at Elizabeth, in Anderson county, and proving up a homestead claim in that vicinity. In 1873 he returned to Ohio and here died on October 25 of that same year. To Marshall and Katurah (Gates) Brown three children have been born, namely : Nora Alzina, born on November 22, 1874, who died at the age of seven months Delphus, who died unmarried at the age of thirty-three years, and Leola, wife of Howard Glass, who owns a farm adjoining that of Mr. Brown in GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 355 the immediate vicinity of the village of New Jasper. Mr. and Mrs. Glass have one child, a son, Hubert Delphus. The Browns are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New jasper and Mr. Brown is a member of the Masonic lodge at Jamestown and of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Xenia. CHARLES S. BINGAMON. Charles S. Bingamon, a farmer living on rural mail route No. 5 out of Xenia and the proprietor of the old Charleston Mills farm on Massies creek on the line between Xenia and Cedarville townships, which he has owned since the spring of 1902, has been a resident of this county all his life. He was born on a farm in Spring Valley township on September 21, 1856, son of John and Emaline (Beck) Bingamon, both of whom also were born in this county, members of pioneer families, and who spent all their lives here. John Bingamon owned a farm in Spring Valley township, the place on which his parents had settled upon coming here from Maryland in pioneer days, but late in life sold that place and bought a farm of one hundred and thirty acres in Sugarcreek township on which he spent his last clays, his death occurring there in 1903, he then being eighty-two years of age. His wife had preceded him to the grave but one year, her death having occurred in 1902, she then being seventy-two years of age. She was a member of the United Presbyterian church and her children were reared in that faith. There were five of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being Melinda, wife of Aaron Mills, of Xenia township ; Greer, now a resident of Dayton; Sarah, deceased. and Bertie, wife of William Harbison, of Xenia township. Reared on the home farm in Spring Valley township, Charles S. Bingamon received his schooling in the district schools, and in later years was the mainstay of his aged parents until their death. He remained with them, moving from the old farm in Spring Valley township to the later place in Sugarcreek township, and also rented and farmed other places, for eleven years being a tenant of the George Kendall place. In March, 1902, Mr. Bingamon bought the old Charlton Mills farm, on which the mill erected by Peter Moudy on Massies creek in 1837 is still standing, and after his marriage in 1908 established his home there. Since taking possession of that place Mr. Bingamon has made numerous improvements on the same, working the barn over into a bank-barn. He has a good brick house on the farm. In the summer of 1917 he had one of the finest fields of corn in Greene county, the stalks standing seventeen feet and six inches in height and bearing fine, large, sound ears. Mr. Bingamon is a Republican. 356 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO On March 25, 1908, Mr. Bingamon was united in marriage to Mrs. Eva (Snyder) Coy, a widow whose two sons by her previous marriage, Ross and Charles Coy, are now employed in the Delco factory at Dayton, and to this union three children have been born, Mark, born in 1909 ; Donald, 1913, and Mary E., 1915. JOHN HARBEIN. An older chronicle in referring to John Harbein, who died at his home in Alpha on June 8, 1873, and who at the time of his death was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in Greene county, notes that "throughout his life Mr. Harbein was a quiet, unostentatious Christian gentleman. He was a strict, prudent and successful business man, and to his energy, influence and enterprise the development of Greene county is largely due. He shrank from public notice and, though many were offered, never accepted a public office, but was always one of the foremost to aid in the advancement of public interests. Though a private citizen, he was widely known. His influence was cast in the direction of progress. Having the advantage of a good education, he was a friend of schools and looked upon them as being the hope of our republican institutions. He was a great tourist and a polished gentleman ; a man of liberal views and a lover of his country." John Harbein was born in Washington county, Maryland, January 17, 1804, first-born of the six children born to Daniel and Elizabeth (Reber) Harbein, and was the first of these children, two sons and four daughters, to answer the final summons. The Harbeins are of Huguenot stock, the ancestors of the Greene county family of this name having been driven froth France to lands where they might worship according to their faith. One branch of the family settled in Algiers, on the river Shelif, where a small town now bears their name. Two other families of the name came to the American colonies, one settling in North Carolina and the other in Berks county, Pennsylvania. The head of this latter branch of the family was Peter Harbein, great-great-grandfather of John Harbein. He had fled to Switzerland from France and was there some time before completing his arrangements to come to America. During the voyage over a son, Peter, was born. This Peter, junior, was reared in Berks county, Pennsylvania, and there married and made his home. One of his sons, Abram Harbein, was the father of Daniel Harbein, father of John Harbein. In 1827 John Harbein married Hettie Herr, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and in October, 1828, came to Ohio with his wife and established his home in Beavercreek township, this county, buying there the farm on which stood the log house of Owen Davis, in which the first court held GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 357 in Greene county was convened following the formal organization of the county in that same cabin in 1803. On that place, the site of the old Owen Davis mill, he erected in 1833 a new mill and there began the successful operations that for so many years marked him as one of the foremost factors in the general business life of the community, and there he and his wife reared their family of eight children and spent the remainder of their lives, John Harbein's death occurring, as noted above, in the summer of 1873. The house he erected there at Alpha is now occupied by his daughter, Mrs. Hattie M. Miller, widow of Hon. John M. Miller, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. HIRAM H. FAWCETT. Hiram H. Fawcett, former trustee of New Jasper township and the proprietor of a farm in that township, one and one-half miles south of the village of New Jasper, rural mail route No. 8 out of Xenia, now living retired from the active labors of the farm, his son, Hiram F. Fawcett, carrying on the operations of the farm, is a native son of Greene county and has lived here all his life. He was born in a log house on a farm in Caesars-creek township on December 15, 1850, son of Mahlon and Emily (Howell) Fawcett, Quakers, both of whom also were born in Ohio, the latter in Belmont county in 1826, a daughter of John and Eleanor Howell, Quakers and early settlers in Belmont county, where they spent their last days. Mahlon Fawcett was born in Caesarscreek township. in 1825, a son. of John and Phoebe Fawcett, Virginians, who came to this county in the early '20S and settled in Caesarscreek township, where they developed a farm of about one hundred and seventy-five acres. They were Quakers and attended New Hope meeting. They had a large family of children, nearly all of whom 'established their homes in this county. Mahlon Fawcett grew up on the home farm and after his marriage continued to make his home there, his death occurring on that place in 1852, he then being but twenty-seven years of age. To him and his wife, Emily Howell, three children had been born, the subject of this sketch, the youngest, having had a brother, Harvey, who died in childhood, and a sister who died in infancy. The widow Fawcett in 1857 married William Huston and spent her last days on the Huston farm in New Jasper township, the place now owned and occupied by A. D. Smith, her death occurring there in 1900, she then being seventy-seven years of age. By her second marriage she was the mother of two sons, A. J. Huston, who is living on a farm in New Jasper township, and John C. Huston, who is engaged in the hardware business at Xenia. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper. 358 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Hiram H. Fawcett was not two years of age when his father died. He grew up on the Huston farm, received his schooling in the Haslip school in that neighborhood and before he was twenty years of age was married. His wife was the owner of fifty acres of land in that vicinity and on that place he and his wife established their home, he also looking after the management of his mother-in-law's farm, the Nelson Smith place. About six years after his marriage Mr. Fawcett bought forty-seven acres of the Bruce farm nearby, one and one-half miles south of the village of New Jasper, and has ever since made his home on that place. In 1888 he erected there the farm house in which he is now living. Since taking possession of that place Mr. Fawcett has added to his acreage by purchase and now has a farm of one hundred and fifty acres, besides which he and his son own a farm of eighty-eight acres just south of the home place, on which farm his son makes his home, operating that place as well as the home place, his father having turned over to him the general management of the farms some time ago. Mr. Fawcett is a Republican and for several terms served as trustee of his home township. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper. On September 1, 1870, Hiram H. Fawcett was united in marriage to Kesiah Elizabeth Smith, who was born on a part of the farm on which she is still living, a daughter of Nelson and Lydia (Beeson) Smith, both of whom also were born in this county, the former in 1823 and the latter in 1827, Nelson Smith having been a son of Jacob and Elizabeth ( Kimble) Smith, who had come here from Hardin county, Virginia, in 1814 and had become pioneers of the Caesarscreek settlement. Lydia Beeson was one of the fourteen children born to Thomas and Kesiah (Turner) Beeson. the former of whom was born near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and was but a boy when he came to Greene county with his parents in pioneer days. Nelson Smith, who became the owner of a farm of three hundred and seventeen acres two miles south of New Jasper, died at the age of forty-two, March 27, 1866. His widow did not remarry and spent the rest of her life on the home farm, her death occurring there in September, 1912. She had four daughters, those besides Mrs. Fawcett, the third in order of birth, being Amanda, now deceased, who was the wife of John W. Fudge, of Xenia ; Susan, who married William D. Sutton, and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased, and Emma, wife of A. J. Huston, of New Jasper township. To Hiram H. and Kesiah E. (Smith) Fawcett have been born four children, namely : Lydia Luetta, wife of Oliver M. Spahr, of New Jasper township, of whom a biographical sketch is presented elsewhere in this volume; Carrie Emily, wife of James Jones, of Beavercreek township; GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 359 Hiram Fredwin, who married Mary Spahr of this township and is now operating the home place as well as a place of his own adjoining, making his home on the latter place, and Grace Elizabeth, wife of Arthur M. Peterson, of Cedarville township. HURL R. ADAMS. Hurl R. Adams, who has been in the bakery business at Yellow Springs since 1901, having moved there in that year from Waynesville, in the neighboring county of Warren, where he had been engaged in business for three years or more, was born in the city of Xenia on April 15, 1874, son of David M. and Etta (Rader) Adams, both of whom also were born in this county, the former on a farm three miles south of Xenia, in 1840, and the latter, in the city of Xenia, in 1844, who were married in 1872 and whose last days were spent in Xenia. David M. Adams received his schooling at Xenia and was early trained to the trade of carpenter and bridge builder, which vocation he followed all the rest of his life. He had a shop in Xenia and during the winters employed his time in the making of sleighs and in the general upholstery business. He died in i885, leaving two sons, the subject of this sketch having a brother, Joseph Harry Adams, born on January 4, 1880, who married Ella Mason, of Xenia, and is still residing in that city. Hurl R. Adams received his schooling in the schools of Xenia and when fifteen years of age becoming employed during school vacations in one of the local elevators. When eighteen years of age he became interested in the bakery business and after learning the details of that business was for three years engaged as the manager of C. W. Trader's bake shop in Xenia. Thus qualified by practical experience, Mr. Adams then went to Waynesville, in the neighboring county of Warren and there became engaged in the bakery business on his own account, and was thus engaged there for three years, at the end of which time he sold his shop there and moved to Yellow Springs, where, in 1901, he opened a bakery and has since been quite successfully engaged in business. In 1906 he bought the property he now occupies on Xenia avenue and is well equipped for handling the trade he has built up. On September 29, 1896, while living at Waynesville, Mr. Adams was united in marriage, at Xenia, to Meddie Hartman, who was born at Star-buck, in the vicinity of Wilmington, in the neighboring county of Clinton, daughter of William and Hannah Hartman, and to this union three children have been born, namely : Harold R., born on November I, 1899, who is now engaged in the Edison Laboratory at Orange, New Jersey ; Thelma, 360 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO January 16, 1904, who is now a pupil in the Yellow Springs high school, and Mildred, February 28, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Adams are members of the Methodist church. Mr. Adams is a member of the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons. JOSEPH E. EAVEY. Joseph E. Eavey, proprietor of a farm of nearly five hundred acres in Xenia township, who is now living in Xenia, where he has made his home since 1897, is a native son of Greene county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a farm one mile southeast of Xenia, on the Wilmington pike, September 20, 1848, son of John S. and Margaret Christina (Kanode) Eavey, both of whom were natives of the state of Maryland, who came to Ohio in 1841 and whose last days were spent in Greene county, the former dying on his farm southeast of Xenia and the latter in town, she having moved from the farm after her husband's death. John S. Eavey was born in the vicinity of Boonesborough, in Maryland, January 14, 1814, the second son of Jacob and Margaret. Eavey, the former of whom owned an extensive marble quarry near that place. There John S. Eavey grew to manhood, receiving a liberal education for that period, and from boyhood was an assistant to his father in the operations of the quarry, continuing thus engaged, in the sales department of the quarry, until his marriage at the age of twenty-four years, after which he became engaged in the milling business. His wife, Margaret C. Kanode, was a daughter of John and Margaret Kanode, the former of whom was a farmer in the neighborhood of Hagerstown, Maryland. In the third year of their married life John S. Eavey and his wife and their two children, Henry H. and Arthur W., the latter of whom then was but a babe in arms, came to Ohio, driving through in a Conestoga wagon, and settled in Greene county. That was in 1841 and after his arrival here Mr. Eavey bought a tract of two hundred and forty acres lying along the 'Wilmington pike, one mile southeast of Xenia, paying for the same twelve dollars an acre, and there established his home. He later bought a farm adjoining the same on the north and in 1875 erected there a brick house, in which he spent his last days, his death occurring there in 1879. At the time of his death John S. Eavey was the owner of five hundred and forty acres of land. For a time he also was engaged in the mercantile business at Xenia. He was a Democrat and took an actjve part in local political affairs. He and his wife were members of the Reformed church. After the death of her husband Mrs. Eavey left the farm and moved to Xenia, buying a house in West Church street, where she spent her last days. She survived her husband many years, her death oc- GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 361 curring in 1898, she then being eighty years of age. John S. Eavey and his wife were the parents of six children, all of whom grew to maturity save one son, who died in infancy. Of these children the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the others being Arthur W., who became a farmer in the state of Mississippi ; Henry H., now deceased, for years one of Xenia's best-known business men; Susan, who married J. F. G. Bell and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased, her death having occurred in September, 1915, and John K., a Greene county farmer, who died in 1902. Henry H. Eavey, late president of the Citizens National Bank of Xenia and head of the Eavey Wholesale Grocery Company, was a veteran of the Civil War, having served during that struggle as a member of Company H, Ninety-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Ohio. He was twice married, his first wife, who was Sarah C. Winters and whom he married in 1863, having died in December, 1891. In February, 1896, he married Rebecca Alice Galloway. His home was at the corner of West Market street and King- streets in Xenia, where he died on April 18, 1918. Reared on the home farm on the outskirts of the city of. Xenia, Joseph E. Eavey received his schooling at Xenia, completing the same in Professor Smith's Seminary, which then was quite an institution of higher education, situated on East Church street; and after leaving school became engaged in the grocery business at Xenia in association with his brother Henry. This form of occupation did not suit him, however, and after nine months of experience with the grocery business he left the store and returned to the home farm. Three years later, in 1872, he began farming on his own account, renting a portion of his father's place, and in 1880, he meanwhile having married, bought a tract of two hundred and forty acres, paying for the same seventy-five dollars an acre—land now worth much more than double that price. On that place Mr. Eavey continued to make his home until 1897, when he moved to Xenia, where he since has made his home. In 1909 he erected there a house at 234 East Second street and continues to reside at that number. Though having for years made his home in the city Mr. Eavey has ever continued personally to superintend the work of his farms. He bought a tract of two hundred and thirty acres adjoining his original purchase and has long given considerable- attention to the raising of live stock, making a specialty of Red Polled and Holstein cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs. In 1897 Mr. Eavey bought a half interest in a coal' business at Xenia and continued his connection with the same, under the firm name of Maddox & Eavey, for three years, at the end of which time he sold out, and has since given -his whole attention to his agricultural interests. Politically, Mr. Eavey is "independent." 362 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO On October 8, 1877, Joseph E. Eavey was united in marriage to Sarah Etta Wright, who was also born in this county, daughter of John and Rebecca (Vaneton) Wright, who had settled here in the '40s, and to this union two children have been born, Herman and Ellen. the latter of whom married John M. Davidson, of Xenia, and has three children, Sarah, Margaret and Marie. Herman Eavey, manager of the Eavey Packing Company, continues to make his home in the house of his parents. He married Edith Givens and has two children, Wallace and Elizabeth. The Eaveys are members of the First United Presbyterian church. DAVID ELLIOT TURNER. David Elliot Turner, owner of the old William G. Sutton farm, in New Jasper township, was born on a farm in that township, one mile south of the village of that name, March 12, 1860, son of Cornelius and Elizabeth (Spahr) Turner, both of whom also were born in this county, members of pioneer families, and who spent all their lives here. Cornelius Turner was born in Silvercreek township in 1833, son of William and Elizabeth (Cruzen) Turner, who were married 'in this county on May 28, 1819, and established their home in Silvercreek township. William Turner, who was a soldier of the War of 1812, serving in the command of Joseph Lucas, was born in the vicinity of Cincinnati on October 23, 1792. His wife was born in Virginia on October 27, 802, and was but a child when her parents came to Ohio and settled in this county, where she was married in her seventeenth year. To that union were born nine children and the descendants of these children form a numerous connection in the present generation. William Turner lived to be eighty years of age. His wife died in her seventieth year. Cornelius Turner, one of the sons of this pioneer couple, was given excellent educational advantages and after a course in Wesleyan University at Delaware was licensed to preach as a "local" preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church. After his marriage he became engaged in the insurance business at Jamestown and there he died in 1871, he then being thirty-eight years of age. His widow survived him but two years, her death occurring in 1873. She was born, Elizabeth Spahr, in 1835, daughter of William and Sarah (Smith) Spahr, pioneers of Greene county. Cornelius and Elizabeth (Spahr) Turner were the parents of seven children, namely : William Albert, who established his home at Washington, Iowa, and there spent his last days; Sarah E., who married Douglas Rathbone and who, as Well as her husband, also died at Washington, Iowa; David E., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch; Rosa, who is living GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 363 on a farm two miles west of Jamestown, widow of Nathan Devoe; Ida, who married James Rathbone and died at Washington, Iowa; James, who also died at Washington, Iowa, and Phoebe, wife of Thomas Dewitt, of Springfield, Ohio. David E. Turner was but eleven years of age when his father died and was but thirteen when he was orphaned indeed by the death of his mother. He was reared in the household of his maternal. grandfather, William Spahr, in New Jasper township and in the schools of that neighborhood completed his schooling. After his marriage in the summer of 1884 he for some time made his home on the place of his father-in-law, James R. Sutton, in New Jasper township and then bought a farm of seventy-five acres in that same township, on which he made his home for four years, at the end of which time, in 1900, he sold that place and bought the Sutton farm of one hundred and eighty acres adjoining his former place on the west, moved on to the same and has since made that his place of residence, he and his wife living in the substantial old brick house which the latter's grandfather, Jacob Sutton, erected on that place in 1851. On June 12, 1884, Mr.. Turner was united in marriage to Mary Arminta Sutton, who was born on the place on which she and Mr. Turner are now living, daughter and only child of James Raper and Catherine Elizabeth (Greenwood) Sutton, the former of whom was born on that same farm and there spent all his life. James Raper Sutton was born on October 27, 1844, son of Jacob and Susan (Smith) Sutton, the former of whom was a son of William G. Sutton, who in 1812 established his home on the tract of land now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Turner and is referred to in older chronicles as the first permanent settler in that portion of Greene county comprised within the borders of New Jasper township and further reference to whom, as well as further details regarding the history of the Sutton family, is made elsewhere in this work. James R. Sutton grew up on that place and after his marriage established his home there. He married Catherine Elizabeth Greenwood, who was born on a farm two and one-half miles east of Xenia, May 25, 1846, a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Layman) Greenwood, the former of whom had come to this county with his parents from Virginia when but a lad. Robert Greenwood was married twice, his first wife a Watkins, and was the father of eight children, four by each wife. James R. Sutton died on March 26, 1900, and his widow died on July 1906. They were members of Mt. Tabor Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Sutton was for years a class leader in the same. To David E. and Mary Arminta (Sutton) Turner one child was born, a daughter, Susan Elizabeth, who married Ray Fudge, who lives on the farm adjoining that of the Turners, and has two children, Russell David 364 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO and Frances J. Mr. and Mrs. Turner are members of Mt. Tabor Methodist Episcopal church, Mr. Turner being the present class leader as well as a member of the board of trustees and a steward. He also is serving at present as district steward of the church and formerly and for years served as superintendent of the Sunday school. By political inclination he is a Republican. HON. JOHN M. MILLER. Not once but several times in this work the reader will have noticed references to the high character of the work done in the old Beaver grade school in Beavercreek township in the days of a past generation when that school, which was giving a course akin to that of the present high school, had a reputation of more than local note. In those days twenty dollars a month was regarded as fair pay for the school teacher, but John M. Miller, during the time he had charge of the Beaver grade school, was paid one hundred dollars a month, a testimony to his fitness for the position that cannot be misunderstood. In that day the Beaver grade school ranked higher than the seminary at Xenia and the academies at Dayton and young men from both of these towns gladly placed themselves under the tutelage of Mr. Miller, who taught surveying in 'addition to the ordinary branches of learning that constituted the course in the old grade school. At the time of his death Mr. Miller was representing this district in the Legislature. Hon. John M. Miller was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1830, and was ten years of age when he came to Ohio with his parents, Robert and Nancy (Minnick) Miller, the family locating in this county in 1840. Five years later the Miller family moved to Indiana, but seven years later, in 1852, John M. Miller returned to Greene county and in that same year entered Miami University, from which institution he was graduated in 1856. He then took up the study of law in Xenia and in 1859 was admitted to the bar. In 1862 he was elected to represent this legislative district in the General Assembly of the state of Ohio and was serving in that capacity when he died on January 9, 1863, a contemporary account stating that the arduous labors of his legislative service undoubtedly hastened his death. Mr. Miller left a widow and two children, a son, Charles Edward, who died at the age of twenty-one years, and a daughter, Luella, who is still living with her mother in the old Harbein home at Alpha. Mrs. Miller was born at Alpha, Hetty M. Harbein, daughter of John and Hetty (Herr) Harbein, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, John Harbein having been regarded in his day as perhaps the wealthiest man in GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 365 Greene county. The Harbein place at Alpha, now occupied by Mrs. Miller and her daughter, is perhaps richer in historic associations than any single spot connected with the development of Greene county, for on that spot stood the little log cabin of Owen Davis in which was held the meeting at which formal organization of Greene county was effected in 1803 and in which. the first court held in Greene county performed its functions. An older chronicle refers to John M. Miller as having been essentially a self-made man, and continues the narrative thus : "His father being- poor, he was obliged to devote his minor years to helping on the home farm—inclement weather only being called his own. On such days he toiled with the axe, maul and mattock—cutting cordwood, splitting rails and clearing ground—to earn means to purchase books and pay for tuition when he could go to school. His evenings were all spent in study (his page being lighted from scraps of burning bark), and by diligent application he soon got to master the elementary branches and was able to teach a common school. By alternate teaching and rough manual labor he husbanded enough to commence a college course. It was yet, however, to be much interrupted and himself to be reduced to many straits before it was completed—losing at one time a year and a half, and in all, two years of a four-years course. The question is, in the reader's mind, 'Did he graduate ?' Yes ! 'How did he rank ?' Number one ! ‘What ! in two years of study ?' Exactly so—and this not consecutive, but made up, in truth, of mere fragments of time. Moreover, he added both German and French to the usual college course. And here we may safely rest the claims of Mr. M. to genius and perseverance; for we doubt if any other institution in the United States has recorded such an achievement. We once read of one who performed such a feat, but who won, at the same time the honors of the martyr and the victor. "Mr. M. was very tall and rather slender, but he was as straight as an arrow. His head was very well shaped. His hair was dark and worn rather long his beard was full, but thin; and his features were regular, but slightly prominent. His manners were very inviting, his disposition genial, and his friendship sincere and cordial. As a representative he was faithful to his trust—always at his post and always attentive to what was passing before him. He was a very good speaker and reasoned well, and with careful culture would have soon become a leading man in the state." EZRA BROWN. Ezra Brown, trustee of New Jasper township and the owner of a farm on rural mail route No. 8 out of Xenia, in that township, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life, now living practically retired, he 366 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO and his wife being very comfortably situated at their home just north of the village of New Jasper. Mr. Brown was born on a farm in Silvercreek township on February 6, 855, son of James and Rachel (Powers) Brown, both of whom also were born in this state, the former in Belmont county and the latter in Clinton county, whose last days were spent in Greene county, where James Brown had resided since the days of his young manhood. James Brown was born in 1816 and grew up in Belmont county, where he was born, his parents, Richard and Mary Elizabeth Brown, having been pioneers of that county. Richard Brown and his wife were Methodists and their last days were spent in Belmont county. Their son James was early trained as a brickmason and as a young man came to Greene county to establish himself as a building contractor and for some time worked at that vocation in and about Paintersville, his first contract there having been the erection of the old Beal house near that village. He later bought a farm in Silvercreek township and having married meanwhile, established his home there, remaining on that farm until 1865, when he sold that place and bought a farm of one hundred and ten acres in New Jasper township, the place where his eldest son, Cyrus Brown, is now living, making his residence on that place until his retirement from the farm and removal to Paintersville. There he opened a grocery store and spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there in August, 1886, he then being past seventy years of age. James Brown was a Republican and for some time served as assessor of New Jasper township. In addition to his other activities he was for years recognized as one of the leading stockmen in that part of the county, he and Squire Clemens having long been engaged together in the breeding of fine horses and mules. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Brown died in May, 1893. She was born, Rachel Powers, in the neighboring county of Clinton in 1812, daughter of Edward and Mary Powers, who, had a farm in that county and who spent their last days there. Edward Powers was born in Ireland and when nineteen years of age left that country in order to evade army service and came to America as a stowaway, hiding beneath household goods, on a vessel that Was six weeks in making the passage. He brought with him a gun which is still in the possession of the family. After looking about in the East, Edward Powers came to Ohio, locating in Clinton county, where he became the owner of a farm and where he spent the rest of his life and where his daughter Rachel was living when she married James Brown. To that union were born seven children, namely : Cyrus, who is still living on the old home place in New Jasper township ; Mary Elizabeth, widow of Lewis Lane; Lami, who died in youth; John, who became a farmer in GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 367 Xenia township and there died in 1912 ; Marshall, a farmer of New Jasper township; Ezra, the subject of this biographical sketch, and Rachel Ann, wife of Charles Harrison, of Lima, Ohio. Ezra Brown was about ten years of age when his parents moved from Silvercreek township, where he was born, to New Jasper township and his schooling was completed in the schools of the latter township. As a young man he Was for three years engaged working on the farm of his brother Marshall, making his home with the latter. He then for several years was employed variously in the neighborhood, mainly engaged in farm work, and, in the meantime having married, then rented a farm on which he made his home for five years, at the end of which time, in 897, he bought the farm on which he is now living, just north of the village of New Jasper, the fields of which, since 1914, he has rented out. Mr. Brown has a farm of ninety-nine acres. He is a Republican and is serving his third term as trustee of his home township. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper. On January 23, 1887, Ezra Brown was united in marriage to Mary Letitia Spahr; who was born in New Jasper township, this county, daughter of Sanford and Eliza Spahr, and a member of one of the oldest families in the county. Sanford Spahr was a son of Mathias and Susanne (Hagler) Spahr, both natives of Virginia. His father, John V. Spahr, lived and died in Virginia. Mathias Spahr was a brother of Philip Spahr, who was one of the first settlers in what is now New Jasper township. Mathias Spahr settled in Xenia township on a farm owned by Clark Bickett. Sanford Spahr moved from this county over into Indiana many years ago and settled on a farm in Randolph county, his daughter (now Mrs. Brown) then having been but four years of age. MICHAEL BROWN. Michael Brown, proprietor of a farm on the Fairfield pike about two miles northwest of Yellow Springs, in Miami township, is a native son of the Emerald Isle, but has been a resident of this country since the days of his boyhood. He was born in County Cork, Ireland, December 15, 1838, and was seventeen years of age when he came to this country. For two years after his arrival on this side he worked at St. Louis, Missouri, and then came to Ohio and began working on a farm in the vicinity of Cedarville in this county. He later worked on the railroad and in the stone quarries. Some time later Mr. Brown bought a farm in the vicinity of Clifton, but three years later disposed of his interests there and returned to Cedarville, where he remained for eighteen months, at the end of which time 368 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO he decided to resume farming and in 1874 bought the farm of fifty-one acres on which he is now living. He also owns a twenty-acre tract south of Yellow Springs. In September, 1860, Michael Brown was united in marriage to Margaret Day, who died on February 10, 1909. To that union were born eight children, two of whom died in infancy, those who grew to maturity being the following : Margaret, who is living at home; John, a farmer, living in the vicinity of Yellow Springs ; Martha, wife of John Meehan, who has one daughter, Martha ; Thomas, who is at home in general charge of the farm; Mary Ann, who died in 1907, and Ellen, wife of David Bailey, living near Allentown, Ohio. Mr. Brown is a Democrat. He and his family are members of the Catholic church at Yellow Springs. WILLIAM A. PAXSON. The Paxsons have been represented in this county ever since the year 1804, that having been the date of the coming here of the family from Pennsylvania and their settlement in Beavercreek township. Aaron Paxson was a son of James Paxson, whose wife, Cynthia, was for years one of the most influential Quaker ministers in the city of Philadelphia, and he thus was reared amid excellent surroundings and in a manner conducing to sobriety of demeanor and steadfastness of purpose. James Paxson married Cynthia Beal and continued to make his home in Pennsylvania, having become established in Fayette county, that state, until his death about the year 1804. Then his family came to Ohio with his uncle Isaac and his mother and settled in Beavercreek township, this county. Aaron Paxson was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1797, and was thus but seven years of age when he became a resident of Greene county. He grew to manhood here and in June, 1820, married Susanna Wall, of Pennsylvania, and established a home of his own in Beavercreek township, reared his family there and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on December II, 1884, he then being eighty-seven years of age, and he was buried in the Beaver Creek cemetery. He was thrice married and was the father of eleven children by his first wife. John Paxson, one of the sons of Aaron Paxson, followed the sober and straightforward course of his Quaker ancestors and in due time made for himself a home in the Beavercreek neighborhood. He married Louisa Le Valley and to that union were born five children, of whom the subject of this biographical sketch was the first-born and all of whom lived to maturity. Louisa Le Valley was a daughter of John Le Valley, who had GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 369 come to America from France with General Lafayette and was an aid-de-camp on the latter's staff. Her mother was of the family with which John Smith of Jamestown colony fame was connected. William A. Paxson, eldest of the five children born to John and Louisa (Le Valley) Paxson, was born on the old Paxson farm in Beavercreek township, this county, July 6, 1850, and was there reared to manhood. His early schooling was received in the neighborhood schools. When fourteen years of age he found that he had exhausted the possibilities of the neighborhood school and he then began attendance on the schools at Jamestown, four miles away, walking daily to and from the school, and he recalls that during that course and despite often adverse weather conditions and other handicaps he did not miss a day of school during that period of attendance. Thus equipped by preliminary study Mr. Paxson then entered Ohio Wesleyan University and there pursued his studies for two years, at the end of which time he was licensed to teach school and for one term taught in what then was known as the Larkin school, resuming his place on the farm in the following spring. In the meantime Mr. Paxson had been devoting such leisure as he could command to the study of law under the preceptorship of J. A. Sexton at Xenia and in due time matriculated at the Cincinnati Law College, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1874 and was in that same spring admitted to the bar. During his attendance at law school Mr. Paxson was associated with the law firm of Donham & Foraker at Cincinnati and upon being admitted to the bar was inclined to enter upon the practice of his profession in the city, but the state of his health having become somewhat reduced he was advised by his physician to get out of the city. Following this advice he located at Washington Court House, county seat of the neighboring county of Fayette, there became associated in practice with Col. S. F. Kerr and continued thus engaged in that city until his return in 1876 to Greene county and location at Jamestown, where he ever since has made his home and where he has continued his law practice. In addition to carrying on his law practice Mr. Paxson has for years been personally interested in agricultural pursuits and owns land in this county and five hundred and sixty-six acres in the neighboring county of Fayette. In the development of his properties he has followed a system carefully thought out years ago that has been beneficial to the whole community, for the example set by him in his agricultural operations has been followed with advantage and profit by many others. That he early gave his thoughtful attention to the subject of the betterment of farming conditions was shown years ago when he secured the first prize in a contest for the best article upon the subject of "Tile Drainage of Farm Lands" (23) 370 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO and the second prize in a similar contest upon the subject of "System in Farming," conducted by two of the leading agricultural papers in the United States, both of which were hotly contested; while in his great poem, "The Rented Farm," which originally appeared in the Stockman (Pittsburgh) and which, by request, has been reprinted in that journal no fewer than a half dozen times (a very great compliment to the writer), as well as copied by other farm journals and various newspapers all over the country, gave to the world a most valuable word-picture of a condition that has faced the farmer from time immemorial, and it is undoubted that the lesson there conveyed has been heeded with advantage and comfort by many. In passing, it is but proper to state that Mr. Paxson's "The Rented Farm" is presented in the "Sidelights" chapter of the historical section of this work and is thus definitely preserved as a valuable contribution to the literary development of Greene county. Mr. Paxson also is a writer on various other subjects besides that of agriculture and has been a wide contributor to the press on political, social, legal and religious topics. He has from the days of his youth been a constant reader, and has accumulated an excellent library at his home in Jamestown. In 1901 he published a story of rural life in Ohio under the title of "A Buckeye Baron," which received considerable favorable attention on the part of the reviewers. The book is generously illustrated with pictures of scenes about Clifton and as much of the narrative of the story has to do with what must be recognized as conditions common to that section of Greene county the "local atmosphere" of the story is thus strengthened. There is a suggestion of an autobiographic quality about "A Buckeye Baron" that lends an additional interest to the tale in the minds of the friends of the author. Both by tradition and by preference a Republican, Mr. Paxson, in his political views reserves the same right to independence of expression as he reserves in the expression of his religious views and his views on other basic phases of social life. Though nominally a Methodist, Mr. Paxson has never been regarded as strictly orthodox in his observance of the tenets of that communion. "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them"—each one for himself, is his doctrine. Mr. Paxson has been a wide traveler and has given his thoughtful attention to the problems of government revealed to him in his travels. His simple creed is summed up in the following expressive little poem written by him many years ago : I want not gains begot by pelf, But what I honest earn myself; I crave not piles and hoards of wealth, But I do wish for strength and health, My family good and true and pure, Endowed with virtues that endure. GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 371 No honest debts unliquidater No reputation overrated; Uncursed amidst the harpy tribe, Untainted by the guilty bribe; A faith in God, who doeth right, Unmoved by wrong, though backed by might; No orphan's cry to wound my ear, My conscience and my honor clear. Thus may I calmly meet my end, Thus to the grave in peace descend; And when I'm gone, I'd have it said "We're sory that our neighbor's dead." It will comfort me in dying, to feel that it is true, That the world is someway better for my having traveled through. On January 24, 875, while living at Washington Court House, William A. Paxson was united in marriage to Rebecca C. Rankin, daughter of William C. and Jemima (Doan) Rankin, of Fayette county, and to this union were born five children, two of whom died in infancy, the others being Rankin, born on December 25, 1875, who died at the age of five years; Frostie, wife of F. H. Moyer, chief engineer of the Cambria Steel Works at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and William Stanley, born on January 17, 1890. William Stanley Paxson was graduated from the Jamestown high school when fifteen years of age, the youngest member of a graduating class in the history of that school, and was awarded a scholarship in Ohio Wesleyan University on account of the excellence of his grades. In his sophomore year in this latter institution he was made president of his class. He left there in his junior year and took up the study of law under the preceptorship of his father, later entering the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated with honors after a three-years course, receiving a prize of one hundred dollars for having attained the highest grades in the class during the entire three years. In January, 1913, he began the practice of law at Cincinnati and is still located in that city, a member of the firm of Long & Paxson. In May, 1916, William S. Paxson was united in marriage to Amanda Maul, of Kentucky, and to this union one child has been born, a son, William Stanley, born on June 22, 1917. EDWARD HACKETT. In a biographical sketch relating to Charles H. Hackett, postmaster at Yellow Springs, there is set out at considerable length something of the history of the Hackett family in Greene county and of the coming of James Hackett and family to this county and their settlement in Miami township when the subject of this sketch was but a boy. James Hackett and his wife, 372 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO Ellen Cavanaugh, were born in Ireland, but were married at Springfield, Ohio, where. for some time James Hackett was engaged in railroading. He then came down into Greene county with his family and after a while settled on the old R. B. Harvison farm, where he spent several years. He then moved to the Turner farm, later to the Harper farm, then to the Joseph Humphrey farm, then bought the old King farm south of Clifton and lived there twenty years His health failed and he went to make his home with his daughter, Mrs. John Downey, where he died in 1916. His wife died in 1914. Of the ten children born to James Hackett and wife and whose names are set out in the narrative above referred to, Edward Hackett, the well-known blacksmith at Yellow Springs, was the fourth in order of birth. He was born at Defiance, Ohio, February 20, 1870, and was but a child when his parents located in Greene county. He received his schooling in the Turner school and at Clifton and remained on the farm until he was twenty-two years of age, when he took up blacksmithing in the shop of M. M. Murray at Yellow Springs. Not long afterward he resumed farming, but four years later returned to blacksmithing and for two years was engaged in that business at Yellow Springs in association with S. W. Cox. Two years later Mr. Hackett bought S. W. Cox out in the place and has since been engaged in business there alone, continuing to occupy the same old stand on Walnut street where he began business many years ago. Mr. Hackett is a Democrat and a Catholic. On November 21, 1917, Mr. Hackett was married to Katherine Quinn, of Clark county, Ohio. She was born On March 3, 1872. JOHN GRAHAM BUICK. John Graham Buick, a farmer of the Yellow Springs neighborhood, is one of those fortunate individuals who have never been disturbed by a change of residence, he still residing in the house in which he was born on November 1, 1855, the house in which his parents spent their last days. These parents were William and Janet (Syme) Buick, natives of Scotland, the former born in 1810 and the latter, January 20, 1811, who were married in August, 1848, and who came to this country in 1853. William Buick was a stonemason and the first work he performed in his line upon coming here was in helping to build Antioch College at Yellow Spring. He bought a tract of land in the neighborhood of the village, the place now owned by his son, John G., and there established his home, carrying on farming operations in addition to his labors as a stonemason, and he was thus engaged the rest of his life, his death occurring there on GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 373 February 3, 1861. His widow survived him for many years, her death occurring in that same house on October 15, 1892. They were the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the last born, the others being: Margaret S., who was born in 1849 in the village of Dunfermline, in Fifeshire, Scotland, the same village in which Andrew Carnegie was born; James, who was born in the city of Glasgow, September 2, 1850, and who died in 1883, and William, born at Yellow Springs, who died in childhood. Reared on the home place in the neighborhood of Yellow Springs, John G. Buick completed his local schooling at Antioch College and then took a course in the Normal School at Lebanon, after which he resumed his place on the home farm and has ever since been operating the same, continuing there to make his residence in the house in which he was born. Mr. Buick is a Republican, as was his father, the latter having voted for Abraham Lincoln for President of the United States, but the only public office he has held has been as a member of the school board. He is a member of the United Presbyterian church at Clifton. On October 12, 1915, John Graham Buick was united In marriage to Mrs. Etta Blanche (Callison) Campbell, of Yellow Springs, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Janet Blanche, born on May 8, 1917. By her previous marriage Mrs. Buick is the mother of one child, a son, Horace A. Campbell, who was born on August 24, 1911. Mrs. Buick was born in the neighboring county of Clark, daughter of Willard E. and Jennie (Dudley) Callison, who are living in the vicinity of Hustead, in that county, where Mr. Callison is engaged in market gardening. Mrs. Buick has one brother, Arges Carl Callison, who married Mabel Weaver and lives at Springfield, and two sisters, Ethel May, who married Albert Beeler, a Clark county farmer, and has three children, Harold, Ruth and Louise; and Leva Margaret Callison, who is living at Springfield. FRANCIS MARION THOMAS. For more than a hundred years, or ever since the days of the early settlement of the Painters Run region in this county, the Thomases, the Beesons and the Bayliffs have been represented in that neighborhood. It was in 1802 that Joshua and Margaret (Fry) Bayliff left their home in the vicinity of Winchester, Virginia, and came down the Ohio river, having fitted out a flatboat at Wheeling, and stopped at the then mere river hamlet of Cincinnati, where they remained for about a year, at the end of which time they came on up here into the valley of the Little Miami and settled 374 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO on a tract of land along Painters Run, in the vicinity of Paintersville, in Caesarscreek township, this county. These pioneers had eight children, Joshua, Margaret, Sarah, Elizabeth, Susanna, Anna, Polly Ann and Daniel. About the time that the Bayliffs settled there Jacob and Ellen Thomas, with their four sons, Benjamin, Henry, Arthur and Francis, and their daughter, Hannah, arrived in the settlement and located on a tract nearby the Bayliff home, the two families quickly becoming fast friends and neighbors. Benjamin Thomas married Elizabeth Bayliff and Henry Thomas married Susanna Bayliff and thus there early created something. more than a mere neighborly bond between the two families. The tract on which the family of Jacob Thomas settled upon their arrival in this county is now owned by Mrs. Joshua Devoe. After his marriage to Elizabeth Bayliff, Benjamin Thomas established his home on that part of his father's original tract now owned by Raper Bales, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of seven children, namely : Polly, who married Simon Harness ; Hannah, who married Lewis Bales ; Ellen; who married Steele Dean ; Joshua, who married Martha Lucas ; Margaret, who married William Cottrell; Catherine, who married John Underwood, and J acob, who married Eliza Beeson, the latter of whom., born in 1837, was one of the fourteen children born to Thomas and Keziah Beeson, well-known pioneers along the Paintersville road about three miles south of the village of New Jasper, in that part of the county that in the summer of 1853 was set off as the township of New Jasper. Jacob Thomas was born in that part of the county that in 1858 was set off as Jefferson township, January 30, 1831, and grew up on the home farm. He married Eliza Beeson and established his home close by the old home farm and a few years later settled on a farm of one hundred and forty-five acres in New Jasper township, where he died on January 13, 1871, he then lacking but seventeen days of being forty years of age. He Was a Republican and he and his wife were members of the Mt. Carmel Methodist Protestant church, not far from their home. Mr. Thomas's widow did not remarry and survived her husband until September, 1893. Jacob and Eliza (Beeson) Thomas were the parents of eight children, namely Keziah, now living at Xenia, widow of William Albert Smith ; Joshua, who died on November 18, 1863, at the age of four years ; Benjamin, who died on November 30, 1863, at the age of three years; Lydia, born on June 7, 1862, who on September 18, 1879, married Jacob R. Jones and is now living at Mt. Tabor, this county ; Alice, born on August 7, 1864, who Married J. C. Bales and who, as well as her husband, is now deceased, her death having occurred on January 4, 1892; Loretta, born on April 10, 1866, who married Frank M. Spahr and who, as well as her husband, also