OLFORD HALE is classed with the leading farmers of Paris township, Union county, Ohio, his post office address being Marysville. A brief sketch of his life is as follows:
     Olford Hale was born at Fort Finley, Wood county, Ohio, April 16, 1838, and comes of Irish extraction. Grandfather Hale was a veteran of the Revolutionary war. He owned a farm three miles from the city of New York, where his son, Reuben, the father of our subject, was born and reared. Reuben Hale came to Ohio when a young man, and was employed on the old Maumee canal. While at work there he formed the acquaintance of Asher Wickham, who invited him to his home, and there he met Mr. Wickham’s daughter, Miss Emmaline, who subsequently became his wife. She was born near Fort Finley, in Wood county, and, like him, was of Irish descent. Some time after their marriage they removed to Allen township, Union county, and settled on a farm on Derby creek, where they spent the residue of their lives, the mother dying at the age of forty years, and the father at fifty-eight. They reared a large family of children to occupy honorable and useful positions in life, their names being as follows: Amanda, William, Minerva, Elizabeth E., Olford, Lucy, Jasper, Lafayette, Jonas, Algeretta, Israel, and Helen. Four of the sons, William, Lafayette, Jonas, and Jasper, were soldiers in the Union army, and Jasper died in Libby prison.
     The subject of this article, Olford Hale, was reared on a farm in Allen township, this county, and obtained his education in the district school, and later in the practical school of experience. When he was sixteen he hired out to work for John Reed, a farmer of Union township, with whom he remained for several years. After his marriage he settled in that township, and resided there until he came to his present farm in Paris township. Here he and his wife have 118 acres of choice land, on which is a good brick house and other desirable improvements, and everything is kept up in good shape.
     Mr. Hale was married in October, 1872, to Miss Sarah Ann Moodie, daughter of William and Lucinda (Jones) Moodie, the former deceased, and the latter still living on the old home farm in Union township. William Moodie was born in Virginia, the son of a Scotchman who came to this country about 1817; he was a man of more than ordinary business ability, and during his life in Union county, Ohio, which covered a period of over sixty years, he was engaged in fanning, and accumulated a large amount of property. He died August 7, 1894, leaving an estate estimated to be worth $60,000. His only children are a son and daughter, Henry and Sarah. Mr. and Mrs. Hale have had seven children, three of whom are living, —Lucinda, Anna May, and Emmaline. Lucinda is the wife of Casper Daum, of this township. The four deceased were Etta and Ed (twins), and Fred W. and Walter.
     In his political views Mr. Hale is a radical Republican. The only public position he ever held was on the School Board.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 338-339
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

GEORGE B. HAMILTON, one of the most successful and prosperous farmers of Union county, resides just north of the town of Richmond, on the place purchased and settled upon by his father in 1838. It now embraces 300 acres, a part of which is within the corporate limits of Richmond. Mr. Hamilton was born February 12, 1833, in Muskingum county, Ohio, a son of Rev. William Hamilton and his second wife, Lydia (Springer) Hamilton.
     When five years of age our subject came with his parents to Claiborne township, Union county, settling on the place where he now resides. His education was acquired in the country schools, as far as what is known as “book-learning” is concerned, but the training which fitted him for the practical duties of every-day life was acquired in doing the work that fell to the lot of a farmer boy. He laid the foundation of his future success in doing this work well, and in taking advantage of every opportunity to improve his mind and enable him to take his place among the intelligent and progressive men of the day.
     November 19, 1857, being then in his twenty-fifth year. Mr. Hamilton married Miss Marion Hamilton, daughter of Rev. William and Marion Hamilton. She was born near Glasgow, Scotland, May 9, 1835, her parents coming to America when she was three years of age and settling near the town of Gratiot, Muskingum county. There are a number of coincidences connected with the history of Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton. Though of the same name, their families were not united. Both, however, were of Scotch ancestry. Their fathers were each named William, and were both ministers of the Methodist protestant Church, and each had a grandfather named William Hamilton. Two of Mr. Hamilton’s brothers were named John and William, as were also two of Mrs. Hamilton’s. Rev. William Hamilton, father of Mrs. Hamilton, after coming to Ohio, settled on a farm near Gratiot, on which he resided until his death, in the fall of 1865, at the age of sixty-five years. His widow is still living with her son, John B. Hamilton, in Columbus, aged eighty-five years. She was the mother of eight children. Two died in infancy. William D., the eldest son, is now a resident of Tennessee, where he is largely interested in the development of State mines. He is a veteran of the late war, having served first as Captain in the Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and later as Colonel of the Ninth Ohio Cavalry, which he recruited. Near the close of the war he was brevetted Brigadier-General for meritorious conduct. He is married and has a family. John B., with whom his aged mother makes her home, is married and resides in Columbus. He is a large coal-mine operator in the Hocking Valley. Robert, the third son, entered the army as a private in the Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, served under General Milroy, and was wounded at the battle of Cheat Mountain, West Virginia, September 12, 1861, from the effects of which he died in Zanesville in 1861. He was unmarried. Anna, the eldest daughter, married James Richey, a prosperous farmer near Tonica, Illinois. Isabel married Joseph Cratty. She died at her home in Prospect, Ohio, in February, 1882, leaving two children. Ella died in Shawnee, Ohio, at the age of twenty-two years. Marion, the wife of our subject, died October 18, 1882, after a happy married life of twenty-five years. She left three children. —Clara A., Marion G. and George H. Clara A. graduated at the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, in 1886. She married S. A. Haskins, a prominent lawyer of Wapakoneta, Ohio, and they have one child. Marion G. and George H. have both been given the benefit of collegiate educations, and the latter is now attending school at Adrian, Michigan.
     After his marriage, the subject of this sketch settled on a farm adjoining the home place, a part of which he acquired by purchase and a part was given him by his father. It was the ambition of his early manhood to become a large landowner. With this prospect in view he purchased the home place in 1877. A failure of his health afterward, however, compelled him to forego the realization of his early ambition, and he found it necessary to limit his efforts to a smaller estate. He therefore sold all of the home place but 300 acres. The sale of the land giving him considerable ready money, he began loaning money to his friends and neighbors, from which he has derived a certain income each year. Besides his home place, which is one of the finest farms in Central Ohio, Mr. Hamilton owns 200 acres of land in Claiborne and Taylor townships.
     He has been a Republican ever since the organization of the party, having cast his first Presidential vote for General John C. Fremont. Preferring the life of a farmer to that of a politician, he has never been an office seeker, the only public office held by him being that of Justice of the Peace, which he filled from 1874 to 1877. In 1847, when fourteen years of age, Mr. Hamilton united with the Methodist Protestant Church, of which he is still an active and consistent member. His wife was also a member of the same church during her lifetime. In 1886 Mr. Hamilton erected the handsome residence which is now his home. It is of modern architecture, pleasantly located and tastefully furnished. Being a lover of books, he has gathered a large and well selected library. His household at present consists of his children, Marion G. and George H., and his niece, Mrs. E. Hamilton Miller, the daughter of Samuel Hamilton.
     Mr. Hamilton, having grown from childhood on the place where he now lives, can justly claim, after a residence of fifty-six years, to be one of the pioneers of Claiborne township. A useful, industrious and upright life has won for him the respect and esteem of his friends and neighbors. The intelligent direction and cultivation of his farm, and an adherence to careful and prudent business methods, have been rewarded by prosperity, and he is enabled to look back on an honorable and successful career, with the feeling that, all things considered, his life has been a useful and a well-ordered one, and that he merits the rest and repose that belong to the declining years of those who have by the discharge of each day’s duties “learned to labor and to wait.”
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 289-291
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

HORATIO COX HAMILTON was born near Irville, Muskingum county, Ohio, September 24, 1830, and was named after Judge Horatio Cox, who was then a merchant of Irville, but who now lives in Columbus, Ohio. He came with the rest of his father’s family to Union county, and landed in Richwood on the evening of the 3d day of April, 1838. The family lived that summer in town, while the father and older boys were employed in building a house and arranging for the future. Horatio, with his two brothers, — Newton, who was older, and George, who was younger, —were sent to school to Matildy Manson, who taught in the old log school-house on the lot now occupied by C. W. Huffman as a residence; they were also required to carry dinner to those who were at work clearing the farm, etc., so that each forenoon, after intermission, they went home and got a good-sized market-basket full, and made the trip from town to the point where the men were at work, which is the same as where the house of G. B. Hamilton now stands, and after delivering their load of provisions, they would return to the school for the afternoon. When one thinks that it was then an unbroken forest with only a path, and that the average age of the three was only seven and a half years, it savors of real romance. Horatio remained with his father and worked, as all farmer boys did in those days, for nine or ten months of the year, going to school from forty to sixty days each winter, until the winter of 1848-9, when he taught school in the Lenox district. The following winter he taught in Richwood, and had to assume the relationship of teacher to the same children and scholars with whom he formerly went to school, and with whom he had played and frolicked. Some idea of the labor performed may be had when it is remembered that the school averaged fifty-six for the term, and for the last two months perhaps seventy or more, and that every one brought whatever book or books they could find about the house or borrow of a neighbor, so that it was impossible to classify the school. In the fall of 1851, and after he was of age, Horatio concluded that he would add somewhat to his educational advantages, and for this purpose he went to Delaware and matriculated, and entered upon a college life; but it was of short duration, and amounted to two terms of six or eight days each, so that he is what he himself calls a two-term graduate.
     In the spring of 1853 he left his father and went to Cleveland, and employed himself to H. G. O. Carey, to travel and sell his medicines, the main article of which was Borrell’s Indian Liniment. The first six months were spent in canvassing eastern and southern Ohio. In the fall of the same year he was sent to west Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. For four years he continued to travel from place to place, loading at Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Galena, Rock Island, Peoria, La Fayette and Indianapolis. This gave him a very extensive knowledge of the West, and enabled him to direct others to such places as they could get good land at Congress price. The result is that very many families are now in the West and have homes to which they were directed by him. He also took advantage of his knowledge of the West, and invested the first thousand dollars he ever earned in land in Black Hawk county, Iowa, getting for $1,000, 859 acres of as good land as a bird ever flew over, and from which he realized a comfortable fortune. It may be well to go back and say that in the summer of 1853, while at his uncle’s, Irenias Springer’s, he chanced to meet a little school-girl who was destined to be a partner in his successes and failures. Her name was Edmonia Dawson, a daughter of Dr. Nelson Dawson (deceased), of Putnam, Ohio. Horatio C. Hamilton and Edmonia Dawson were married in Davenport, Iowa, June 3, 1856. In the spring of 1857 they settled on their land in Black Hawk county, Iowa, and during the summer built a house and broke 120 acres of land. In the fall of the same year the panic struck Iowa, and its wild-cat money went down and became worthless, and with it came ruin to almost everybody and everything in Iowa. Corn, wheat, oats and potatoes fell in price from $1.25 to a mere nominal price. This, with other things, caused them to leave Iowa and return to Ohio. In the fall of 1861 they came to live with his father, —’Monia to take care of the house and Horatio the farm. When the second call for volunteers was made in 1862, he was appointed by Governor Tod to recruit the quota of Union county under said call. His commission was dated July 21, 1862, and on the 6th day of August he had one full company, and quite a number who were assigned to other companies, principally to Captain Lawrence’s company of the One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On the 7th of August he was elected Captain of the company that was organized, and as such was assigned to the Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was sent to Kentucky, and assigned to the command of Brigadier General S. G. Burbridge, and the brigade was attached to Major General A. J. Smith’s division of the Thirteenth Army Corps. The regiment reached Kentucky on the 1st day of September, 1862. It will be remembered that at this time there was a sentiment among the new recruits that slaves and slave property were being wrongfully protected by the army, and that it was no part of a soldier’s duty to protect rebel property and catch and return slaves to their masters. It began to be noticed that negroes were turned out of our lines with an ever-increasing degree of reluctance; also that Captain Hamilton was the friend of the oppressed, and that he did not always obey an order to do so inhuman a thing as to turn a fellow-man over to his rebel master, even in obedience to a positive command of a senior officer. Finally a boy, some fourteen years of age, came into the camp of the Ninety-sixth Ohio, at Nicholasville, Kentucky, calling himself William Clay, and reporting that his master was a rebel, and that he had thrown an ax at him (Billy), and that he wanted protection. He found a friend in Captain Hamilton and remained with him, as a servant, for some time, until the army was ordered to move to Louisville. On the way, and as it passed through Versailles, a person dressed in the uniform of a Union soldier came, representing himself as being on Major General A. J. Smith’s staff, and as such he ordered Captain Hamilton to deliver the boy Billy to him to be turned over to the jailer as an escaped slave. This he refused to do unless the order came in writing from General Smith in the ordinary way, being countersigned by General Burbridge and Colonel I. W. Vance of the Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. This the fellow refused to get, but notified him that he would be back in fifteen minutes with a detachment of soldiers, and that he would take the boy by force. Upon this the Captain turned to his company and told them that if it was going to be a question of force, they might load their guns and prepare for the affray. That order the company made haste to execute, and as they did so one company after another did the same, until, as far as one could see, the road seemed to glisten with the light of the sun as it was reflected by several thousand ramrods which were being used to send home the ball that was intended to perforate the hide of any man who would attempt to take Billy by force. The effect of this preparation was that the staff officer gave up his notion of taking the boy by force at that time, but notified the Captain that the affair would he deferred till evening, at which time the boy would be taken by force and the Captain put under arrest for disobedience of orders. This kept the matter brewing in the minds of the soldiers. As soon as the army was encamped for the night the soldiers held an impromptu meeting at which speeches were made and resolutions passed approving the course of Captain Hamilton, and resolving that they would stand by him to the death. A committee was appointed to inform him of their purpose, and he was soon waited on by a soldier, who made known their action to him and requested that if any move should be made to take the boy by force, immediate notice should be given to the officers and soldiers whose names were found on a card, which was handed to the Captain. This uprising of the soldiers, occasioned by the refusal of Captain Hamilton to give up the boy Billy, had the effect to stop all effort in the Army of Kentucky to arrest or return slaves to their masters.
     On reaching Louisville the army was ordered to go to Memphis and Vicksburg. The boy could not be taken, and the only thing that could be done was either to let him loose in Kentucky, to be seized upon and returned to slavery, or to send him home to Ohio. The latter the Captain chose to do, but had to force his way across the river for fear of arrest; but he finally reached New Albany, Indiana, and bought a railroad ticket to Marysville for the boy, paying for it all the money he had and going $1.25 in debt. When the boy reached Richwood it set everything in commotion. Some approved of the course of the Captain, others condemned. The party in opposition called a meeting, and resolved that the “nigger” should not be permitted to stay, and that they would return him to his master, etc. They also resolved that Captain Hamilton should not be permitted to return to Richwood. The matter got into all the papers of the State and of other States as well. Letters came to the Captain from every quarter, some approving and some disapproving his course. One man, who was given to understanding the force of what he said, wrote him that it was supposed that an effort would be made to take the boy by force and send him back to Kentucky, but he said that the Captain need not be alarmed, for that many thousands of men were armed and ready for any move that might be made to return the boy.
     Billy Clay and H. C. Hamilton both live in Richwood at this time, and this story would not have been told if it had not been for the fact of its having had so important a part in the war in overthrowing the slave power, and in developing liberal and Christian sentiment at home. During the winter of 1862-3, while with Sherman’s army, Captain Hamilton contracted a nervous disease, the external evidence of which appeared as a cutaneous disease called lepra, from the effects of which he became as spotted as a leopard. In August following, he resigned his office of Captain and came home, since which time he has been a resident of Union county. He was prospered in business, and bought and paid for the Hamilton homestead, and was supposed to be a man of wealth until the panic of 1873, when, by bad management and security debts, he became involved and sold his property at a low figure and paid his debts. His wife, Edmonia, was taken from him by death on January 29, 1877. On March 4, 1879, he was married to Miss Molly Kendall, and they now live together in the village of Richwood. In the meantime he partially regained his health as well as property, and bids fair for long life and future usefulness. In religious matters he is somewhat peculiar, and cares nothing for the religion that one feels, but goes his last dollar on the religion that one does. —From Howe’s History of Ohio.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 234-238
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WINGET HARRAMAN, who follows farming in Jackson township, Union county, served his country during the late war as a member of the Union army, and has ever been a loyal and valued citizen. The record of his life is as follows: He was born in Bowling Green, Marion county, Ohio, on the 3rd of February, 1843, and is a son of David Harraman. His father was a native of Virginia, and was a farmer by occupation. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and his death occurred in the year in which the civil war broke out. In his political views he was a Democrat, and in religious belief was a Baptist. His wife bore the maiden name of Margaret Clemens.
     Mr. Harraman, of this sketch, was reared on the old homestead farm in Marion county, and received such educational privileges as the common schools of the neighbor hood afforded. He aided in the cultivation and improvement of the old farm until 1861, in which year he started Westward, locating in Iowa. In 1862, however, he responded to the country’s call for troops, enlisting for three years’ service. He was assigned to Company C, of the Fortieth Iowa Infantry, went at once to the front, and with his regiment took part in some of the leading engagements of the war, including the battles of Pulaski and Yazoo City, the siege and capture of Vicksburg, the battles of Helena and Little Rock, Arkansas, and the Red river expedition. When the war was over and the country no longer needed his services, he was honorably discharged in Davenport, Iowa. His brother, Jesse Harraman, was also a soldier. He enlisted in the spring of 1863, in the Fourth Regiment, Company C, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in the battle of the Wilderness. He was born in Marion county, Ohio, and was but sixteen years of age when he enlisted.
     During the year succeeding his discharge Mr. Harraman continued in the Hawkeye State, but in 1866 returned to his native county, where he remained until 1868. He then came to Union county, where for twenty-six years he has now made his home. Here he owns a good farm comprising 151 acres of arable land, under a high state of cultivation and well improved. He devotes the greater part of his attention to the raising of small grains and has won prosperity by his good management and careful attention to all business details.
     An important event in the life of Mr. Harraman occurred in 1867, when at the age of twenty-four years he was united in marriage with Miss Martha J. Baldwin, daughter of Henry and Edith (Parmenter) Baldwin, born and reared in Union county, Ohio. The father was born in Madison county, Ohio, and became one of the prominent pioneer settlers of Union county.
     Seven children graced the union of our subject and his wife, of whom five are yet living, namely: William H., John, Alma Florence, Leroy and Carrie. Those now deceased are Jesse and Naomi. Mr. Harraman exercises his right of franchise in support of the Democracy, but has never sought or desired office, prefering [sic] to give his time and attention to his business cares. He belongs to the Odd Fellows’ society and to the Grand Army of the Republic, and is the same loyal citizen as in days of yore when he donned the blue and went to the defense of the Union, following the old flag until it was placed in triumph in the capital of the Confederacy.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 362-363
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

ELIAS HATHAWAY. —It is now privileged the biographist to offer a resume of the life of one who stands forth as an honored native resident and a representative citizen of Union county, and as one whose ancestral history has been conspicuously identified with that of the Buckeye State since the early pioneer days when were essayed the initial steps looking to its reclamation from the sylvan wilds; one whose patriotic service to his country has been unstinted, and whose position in the respect and esteem of his fellowmen is assured beyond peradventure.
     He whose name initiates this review was born on the farm where he now abides, in Union township, January 26, 1844, the son of Ebenezer P. Hathaway, who in turn was a son of Dr. Nicholas Hathaway, a man of high professional attainments and one of much prominence in public and private life during his long residence in this county. He was one of the first Associate Judges of the Union County Court of Common Pleas, which held its initial session at Milford, on the 14th of April, 1820, this being a special term prior to the first regular term, which convened on the 15th day of the succeeding month. Dr. Hathaway was a native of Massachusetts, and was a representative of one of the leading Colonial families in New England, —that cradle of our national history.
     Ebenezer P. Hathaway, father of our subject, was born in the old Bay State, but was a mere boy when his parents removed to Ohio and took up their residence in the forest wilds of Union township, this county, where he grew to maturity, received his education and eventually took unto himself a wife, in the person of Mary A. Hopkins, who was born in Pennsylvania, but who was reared and educated in this county, whither her parents, Benjamin and Elizabeth Hopkins, came in an early day, the former being a native of Rhode Island and the latter of England. Ebenezer P. Hathaway settled on the paternal farmstead after his marriage and devoted himself to its cultivation and improvement until 1850, when he became imbued with the “gold fever,” whose ravages in that memorable year sent so many enthusiastic men across the weary stretches of plain and mountain to the new El Dorado, —the gold fields of California. The long and perilous journey across the plains was not completed by Mr. Hathaway until six months had elapsed, and his quest was fruitless, for he died in that distant land in the year succeeding his departure from home, and his mortal remains lie buried there, where the sunset gates open wide, far out in the crimson West. Such was the fate of many a brave and adventurous spirit who sought fortune during that period of excitement. Though his death was an irreparable loss, still he left to his widow and children a competence, represented by his real-estate interests in this county.
     The children of Ebenezer P. and Mary A. Hathaway were eight in number, and of them we leave the following record: Anna is the wife of Dr. D. W. Henderson, of Marysville, concerning whom an individual mention is made elsewhere in this volume; Maria is the wife of Crawford Reed, of Des Moines, Iowa; Helen is the deceased wife of Nathan Howard, a prominent farmer of this county; Martha is the wife of Charles McMullen, of Woodstock, Ohio; Elias is the subject of this review; Benjamin met his death in a railway accident, in 1865; Mary is the wife of David Kimball, of Champaign county, and Ebenezer P. is a resident of Darby township, this county. The mother is still living, at the venerable age of eighty years, and is a resident of Champaign county. The father was a successful farmer, in politics was an ardent Whig, and was a man honored and admired by all who knew him. In religion he was a zealous supporter of the Christian Church, of which his widow has long been a devoted member.
     Elias Hathaway was reared to man’s estate on the paternal homestead, and was but six years of age when his father died. He was granted the best educational advantages which the place and period afforded, attending the district schools, and then pursuing a course of study in the old academy at Marysville.
     In August, 1862, rendering loyal response to President Lincoln’s call for 300,000 more recruits, he enlisted for service as a member of Company B, Thirty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Colonel Ford commanding. He participated with his regiment in the engagement at Harper’s Ferry, where he was taken prisoner, but was soon exchanged, being then sent to Camp Douglas, Chicago, where he remained for a period of one year, after which he joined General Sherman’s command at Memphis, Tennessee. He thereafter participated in the battle of Milliken’s Bend, the siege of Vicksburg, and the famous Atlanta campaign. In action at Atlanta Mr. Hathaway was struck by a fragment of shell, which inflicted a most painful wound in the breaking of his jaw. Our subject still preserves this piece of shell as a memento of his none too pleasant experience on that occasion. He was confined it the hospital for several months before he had sufficiently recovered from his injuries to enable him to rejoin his regiment, which he finally did, at Pocotaligo, North Carolina. He was honorably discharged at Washington, D. C., where he participated in the grand review, after which he returned to his home, where he has ever since remained in the acquiring of other honors, “for peace hath its victories no less renowned than war.”
     Mr. Hathaway is the fortunate possessor of what is conceded to be one of the best farms in Union county, the same comprising 300 acres under effective cultivation and thoroughly improved. The beautiful family residence, erected in 1893-94, is of modern and attractive architectural design, eligibly located in a park of magnificent old forest oaks, and giving evidence of the refined tastes of its occupants. Other permanent improvements are of excellent order, and discriminating care has been given to every portion of the farmstead.
     September 25, 1867, Mr. Hathaway was united in marriage to Miss Huldah Bland, who was born in Madison county, Ohio, the daughter of Solomon and Abigail (Ferris) Bland, both of whom died at Milford Center, Union county, where they were honored residents for many years. Mrs. Hathaway is a woman of innate refinement and of excellent education, having been a successful and popular teacher for five years previous to her marriage. It is needless to say that the home is one in which the culture and the amenities of social intercourse are ever in evidence. The children of our subject and wife are four in number, namely: Edgar, Helen, wife of Louis Erb, of Milford Center; John, and Lucile. The best of educational advantages have not been denied the children, for Mr. Hathaway has ever been an earnest and progressive promoter of educational interests, as well as other undertakings which have conserved the higher welfare of the community. The two elder children completed their educational discipline at Antioch College, this State, and Mrs. Erb was a successful teacher at Milford Center prior to her marriage.
     Politically our subject renders active support to the Republican party, and has served as Trustee of the township and in other offices of public trust, being honored as a man and respected for his ability and sterling worth of character. Fraternally he is a member of Silas Kimball Post, G. A. R., of Milford Center.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 73-75
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

CAPTAIN D. H. HENDERSON, an honored veteran of the late war, is one of the best known citizens of Union county. For many years he has been prominently connected with the history of this community, for he is numbered among its honored early settlers. The Captain is a native of Kentucky, and comes of a good family. When a youth of eleven summers he came to Ohio, locating in Union county, with the history of which he has since been identified. No event of special importance occurred during his boyhood and youth. He was reared in the usual manner of farmer lads, and received a limited education, conning his lessons in a log school-house, which was heated by an immense fire-place and furnished with primitive furniture. Through experience and observation, however, he has acquired a good practical business education, and, by reading, he keeps himself well informed on all the questions of the day.
     Captain Henderson started out for himself empty handed, with nothing to rely upon save his own enterprise and perseverance, but these stood him instead of capital, and, by persistent energy, he has steadily worked his way upward. Overcoming the difficulties and obstacles in his path, he has at length accumulated a good property, and is now the owner of one of the best homes in this part of Union county. The dwelling is a large frame residence, built in modern style of architecture, and is neatly and tastefully furnished and supplied with all the comforts that go to make life worth the living. He owns two good farms, besides valuable property in the town of Raymond’s, where he now resides.
     In 1886 the Captain was united in marriage with Mrs. Lucy C. Burnham, a lady of education and refinement, who has the esteem of all who know her. Mr. Henderson is a member of the Masonic fraternity and has served as Master of the blue lodge. He also belongs to the Chapter of Marysville. He holds membership with the Christian Church, and in his political views is a radical Republican, who stanchly advocates the men and measures of his party. He labors earnestly for its interests and does all in his power for its promotion, yet he has never sought office for himself. The cause of education also finds in him a warm friend, and he is actively interested in everything pertaining to the welfare of the community. He was a loyal defender of the Union in the time of war, and is a valued citizen in the days of peace. His pleasant, genial manner has made him very popular, and in the history of his adopted county he well deserves representation.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 439-440
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WILLIAM C. HENDERSON. —It is with marked satisfaction that the biographist reverts to the life history of one who has attained the maxium [sic] of success in any vocation in life in which he has directed his thought and effort, and such a life, whether it be one of calm but consecutive endeavor, or one of meteoric accomplishment, must ever serve as both lesson and incentive.
     He whose life history now comes briefly under review is one who has honored and been honored by the noble art of husbandry, and is one from whose strewing has come the full and grateful harvest in its time. Mr. Henderson’s genealogical record is one of very interesting order, and is traced consecutively in the individual sketch of his brother, Dr. D. W. Henderson, of Marysville, as appearing elsewhere in this volume. The great-grandfather was a native of Scotland, and was a representative of a prominent old family, closely allied to the aristocratic and patrician stock of bonny old Scotland. The grandfather of our subject was one of three brothers who came to America, and he took up his abode in Pennsylvania, county of Huntingdon. The maternal grandfather of William C. Henderson was James Jack, who came from the north of Ireland to the United States when a lad of fourteen, locating first in New Jersey and subsequently removing to Indiana county, Pennsylvania. He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution.
     The father of our subject was John Henderson, who was born in 1780, near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He married Miss Anna Jack and then took up his residence on a tract on 222 acres owned by his wife in Indiana county, where they remained until 1837, when they came to Ohio, and located on 160 acres, one mile south of Watkins, this county. There the father remained until his death, September 15, 1847. His widow passed away in 1869, at the age of eighty-four years. They were Scotch Presbyterians, and the father was an old-line Democrat. The following is a brief record of their children: Margaret H., deceased, was the wife of Thomas McKee, of Brookville, Pennsylvania; James died at the age of twenty-one; John, who was an Indiana farmer, is deceased; Sarah A. married David Gill, and is now deceased; Joseph is a prominent resident of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania; Jane, widow of William Liggett, is a resident of Denver, Colorado; Levinah is the wife of S. B. Woodburn, of Marysville, this county; Dr. David W. is a prominent physician of the county, and is located at Marysville; William C., subject of this review, resides on the old homestead in Mill Creek township; and Mary E. is the wife of Charles McCampbell, of Indiana.
     William C. Henderson was the youngest son and the second youngest child. He passed his youth and early manhood on the old homestead, in this county, the place of his nativity having been Indiana county, Pennsylvania, where he was born October 28, 1825, being twelve years of age at the time his parents located in the Buckeye State. His educational advantages were confined to the district schools of Mill Creek township. Attaining maturity he began an apprenticeship at the cooper’s trade, in New California, and for seven years was engaged in this line of work, the greater portion of the time being located on the old farm. As the result of his industry as an artisan, he accumulated sufficient money to purchase, in 1850, thirty-four acres of the paternal farmstead, subsequently purchasing the interests of the other heirs, and thus acquiring possession of the entire landed estate, which comprised a quarter section. By industry and correct methods he gained the smiles of prosperity, and added to his possessions from time to time until he is now the proprietor of 487 acres, —which represent one of the finest farms in this section of the State. In 1873 Mr. Henderson erected a substantial brick residence of attractive architectural design, the place being recognized as one of the finest homes in the county. Aside from his agricultural interests our subject is otherwise concerned with financial enterprises of the county, being a stockholder in and one of the Board of Directors of the Union Bank, of Marysville, one of the solid monetary institutions of Union county.
     There is ever a degree of satisfaction in noting the success attained by personal endeavor alone, and in the premises our subject stands forth distinctively as a self-made man. As a boy he began work for himself at the merely nominal stipend of from twenty-five to thirty-one cents per day, and from this he has forged his way forward to the goal of success, having been indefatigable in his industry, frugal at the time when self-denial was essential to the securing of desired ends, and ever observant of the principles which serve as the attributes of honor and integrity. He has been broadened rather than narrowed by the experiences of life, and has ever been ready to lend an impetus to public improvements and to foster public interests to the extent of his ability and limitations. In the connection it is interesting to note the fact that he has contributed fully $4,000 to the securing of the fine system of pike roads which have given Union county a prestige above all other counties in the State.
     In December, 1870, Mr. Henderson was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Sewell, daughter of Aaron and Margaret (Mosher) Sewell, both of whom are now deceased, having been honored residents of Union county for many years. Mrs. Henderson has one brother living, William, who resides in Lulaski [sic] county, Missouri.
     Our subject and his wife have had two children: Myrtie A., who was born March 20, 1877, died March 13, 1894; and Frank D„ who was born September 26, 1881.
     In politics Mr. Henderson is a firm and uncompromising advocate of the principles and policies urged by the Democratic party. As a man he is honored for his sterling worth of character as well as for his pronounced ability, which has gained him so marked success in temporal affairs.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 82-84
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

THOMAS HERD, one of the venerable citizens of Liberty township, Union county, Ohio, has lived in this township longer than any other man in it. A sketch of his life will be of interest to many, and it is as follows:
     Thomas Herd was born in Harmony township, Clark county, Ohio, six miles east of Springfield, March 4, 1813. His father, also named Thomas, was a native of Berkeley county, Virginia, and was a member of a prominent family of the Old Dominion. He and three of his brothers, Benjamin, Lewis and Stephen, were participants in the Revolutionary war. After the war Lewis and Benjamin went to Massachusetts, where they settled and reared their families, some of their descendants becoming prominent as lawyers, ministers and doctors. Stephen and Thomas settled in Fayette county, Kentucky. The mother of our subject, Dorcas Herd, was born in Pennsylvania, her people being of Scotch origin. From Fayette county, Kentucky, Thomas Herd and his wife removed to Clark county, Ohio, where both died of milk sickness, the father dying before the birth of our subject, and the mother six months after that event. They had a family of eight children, namely: James, William, John, Ann, Mary, Lewis, Betsey and Thomas.
     Thus left an orphan, young Thomas found a home with ’Squire James Herd, a cousin, with whom he remained until he was fourteen. He then served an apprenticeship to the trade of tanner and currier, at which he worked for seven years and eight months, becoming an expert at the business. Subsequently he worked at this trade at Chillicothe and Marion, Ohio. Later he turned his attention to farming, settling on 100 acres of land, all covered with heavy timber. In the midst of this dense forest he built a log cabin and at once set about the work of clearing and developing it. He has been a hard worker all his life and in his younger days was regarded as one of the strongest men in the county. As the years passed by and prosperity attended his earnest efforts, he acquired other land, and at one time was the owner of 703 acres, the most of which was well improved and under cultivation. He has given each of his sons a farm and now has 450 acres left. In connection with his farming operations, he has always given considerable attention to stock-raising, especially horses and cattle. During the war he bought and sold horses and he found it a paying business at that time.
      Mr. Herd was married October 11, 1835, to Lydia Darrow, who was born in Clinton county, New York, and reared in Champaign county, Ohio, daughter of James and Sarah (Willard) Darrow. Her grandfather Willard served all through the Revolutionary war. He was a native of Massachusetts. Mrs. Herd died May 15, 1892, leaving a family of five children: Olive, wife of John Reed, of Liberty township, Union county; James, a Justice of the Peace and a popular and successful teacher for a number of years, died at the age of forty-nine; Hiram D., resident of Liberty township; William, of Allen township, this county; and John, on the home farm. In 1893 Mr. Herd married Mrs. Jane Sparks, widow of Charles Sparks. Her maiden name was Bryan and she was born in Wayne county, Ohio.
     Politically Mr. Herd is a Republican; religiously a Universalist. Time has dealt gently with him, and although now in his eighty-second year he is well preserved and appears much younger. He is frank and genial and has many friends both among the old and the young.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 335-336
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

DAVID HILDRETH, who resides on a farm near Pharisburg, Ohio, is one of the prominent men of Union county, he having resided here for nearly half a century. We take pleasure in presenting the following sketch of his life:
     sDavid Hildreth was born in Knox county, Ohio, on the banks of Dry creek, October 7, 1821. His father and grandfather, both named William, were natives of Connecticut, and the latter was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The younger William Hildreth was a boy when he came with his parents to Ohio and settled in Muskingum county, which was then on the frontier and nearly all covered with forest. There he grew up and married, the lady of his choice being Elizabeth, daughter of David Stoakly, who had moved from Kentucky to Ohio. In 1817 he and his wife took up their abode in a log cabin in the woods of Knox county, they being among the first settlers of the county. Game of all kinds was plenty then, and by actual count the father of our subject killed over 200 deer. His home was located five miles southwest of Mount Vernon. The first load of goods that was ever brought into Mount Vernon was hauled there with an ox team by him from Zanesville. He continued to reside there until 1850, when he removed to Union county, and here he spent the rest of his life, and died at the age of sixty-nine years. In Leesburg township he built a saw and gristmill, which he ran for some time. He also practiced medicine some. Indeed, he was a man of general usefulness, and always exerted an influence for good in the communities where he lived. His good wife survived him some years, she being eighty at the time of death. The names of their ten children are as follows: David, William, Gilman, Benoni, Lafayette, Marcus, Abigail, Elizabeth, Mary and Bethsheba.
     David was reared on his father’s farm in Knox county. He received his education in the log school house near his home and later in the dear school of experience. At the age of twenty-five he married and came to his present location, and here he has ever since resided. He built his log cabin in the woods, cleared away the forest and cultivated the land, and in time from his own planting a fine orchard sprang up. He now has ninety-eight acres of land and good farm buildings, his residence being made attractive by a pretty lawn in front, and here he is surrounded with all the comforts of life, the result of his years of honest and earnest toil.
     Mr. Hildreth was married March 19, 1846, to Eliza A. Riley, a most amiable lady, a native of Muskingum county, Ohio, and a daughter of William Riley, who came to Ohio from Kentucky. After the death of her father, which occurred in Muskingum county, the widowed mother and her childdren [sic] removed to Knox county, where Mrs. Hildreth was reared. Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth have children as follows: Columbus S., Harriet A., wife of A. Gardiner; Josephine, wife of S. I. Bell; Lucy, wife of E. M. Steneman; Alice, wife of McDow Bolinger; Angeline, wife of Alva Vamti; and Rosella, wife of William Soliday.
     Politically Mr. Hildreth is a Republican. Both he and his wife are members of the Christian Church at Glendale, in which he has officiated as Elder. Cordial and jovial in manner, he has many friends among both the old and the young.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 451-452
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WATERMAN HILL, whose magnificent farmstead, in Union township, Union county, Ohio, lies just contiguous to the thriving village of Milford Center, stands as the representative of one of the prominent pioneer families of the Buckeye State and as one of the must successful and substantial farmers of the county, being most clearly entitled to specific mention in this connection. He was born in Union township and his entire life has been passed therein, but, unlike the prophet, he is not without honor in his own country.
     Aaron Hill, father of our subject, was a native of Windham, Connecticut, a son of John Hill, the family being one of much prominence and long residence in that State, its men being loyal and honorable both in times of peace and war. The brother of Aaron was Captain Abel Smith Hill, who was a commissioned officer in the war of 1812, and participated in the most decisive actions of that conflict. The latter died October 9, 1840, aged forty-seven years and nine months.
      To those of the present end of the century period the tales touching the old pioneer days read like a romance. Time has placed its softening hand on the records which told of privations, hardships and vicissitudes, leaving a picture strongly limned, but with an obscurity of detail like that of the mellowed toes and misty atmosphere of the canvas of one of the old masters. Those who can give reminiscent glances into the remote past, which marked the formative epoch of our commonwealth are fast passing, with bowed forms and silvered heads through the gate of eternity, and with avidity should their utterances be treasured, for in their words lies the deeper history of the pioneer days, —the individual history which is the veritable nucleus of all.
      In 1830, more than an half century ago, Aaron Hill left his home in Connecticut and started on that long and tedious journey to what was then the practical Western frontier, arriving in Ohio without money and yet determined to win success, even against great odds, and to make for himself a home. He located in this county and here remained for three years, when he returned to the old home in the East and made ready to bring his wife with him on his return. The equipment for the journey was a slight variation from that most in favor with the emigrants who were traversing the weary stretch of country. He manufactured with his own hands a one-horse wagon and this unpretentious vehicle served as the means for transporting himself, his wife, and their worldly possessions to the sylvan wilds of their new home, where, in a primitive domicile, they installed their household gods and prepared for the battle of life on the frontier. The wife of Aaron Hill was Lucinda, daughter of Andrew Robinson, and, like her husband, she was a native of Windham, Connecticut. She was a lineal descendant of Rev. John Robinson, from whom a genealogical tracing has been prepared as follows, by Rev. William Allen, of Northampton, Massachusetts:
     Rev. John Robinson, born 1575, was graduated at Cambridge University, England, in 1600; was pastor with Pilgrim Fathers; died March 4, 1625. He is one to whom history refers as the “pastor of that colony, originally from England, known by the name of Puritans.” He is spoken of as an able and pious man, whom his congregation loved and who with them disposed of their property and prepared for their removal to Holland, which at that time granted a free toleration of worship to different denominations. This was in 1607. After a number of years had passed here, becoming dissatisfied, the pilgrims went to Delftshaven, in the south of Holland, where they were to embark for the New World. To this port they were kindly attended by many of their brethren and friends from Amsterdam and other places, and, on August 5, 1620, the pilgrims went on board the Mayflower and Speedwell, sailing from Southampton on that memorable voyage for the New World.
     As already stated, Rev. John Robinson died in 1625, and in 1629 his wife came over to the colony of Plymouth, accompanied by her children, by name as follows: John, Isaac and Fear. Isaac settled near Plymouth and had a son, Peter, who was one of the original members of the church in Scotland Parish, Windham, Connecticut, 1735. He had nine children, namely: Peter, Israel, Thomas, Simeon, Isaac, Benjamin, Joseph, Elizabeth and Martha. Peter had twelve children, as follows: Samuel, Experience, Peter, Elizabeth, Jacob, Nathan, Abner, Ruth, Eliab, Rachel, Bathsheba, and Joshua. The children of Experience, son of Peter, were by name as follows: James, Tryphena, Elias, Elethia, Lydia, and Andrew. Peter, the father, died at Windham, Connecticut, in 1849, aged eighty-five years.
      Elisha, son of Andrew, had nine children, as follows: Hovey, Mary Ann, W. D., Olive, Simeon H., Augustus, Samuel M., Frederick and Elisha. The father died in October, 1875, aged eighty-five years. Andrew was twice married; by his first wife, Olive Hovey, he had nine children, as follows: Albigence, Ebenezer, Elisha, Permelia, Triphena, Lucinda, Dorcas, Urban, and Darius. By his second wife he had four children: Newton, Lydia, and the twins, Augustus and Harriet, who were drowned when young, having gone onto the ice, which gave away beneath them.
     Dorcas married Archibald L. Bates and became the mother of three children, namely: Andrew, who died at the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, April 1, 1853, aged twenty-four years, ten months and twelve days; Amelia, who died at the Delaware, Ohio, Seminary, July 30, 1852, aged nineteen years, ten months and ten days; and Asa G., who died near Irwin Station, Union county, April 8, 1894, aged fifty-eight years and six days.
     Lucinda, daughter of Andrew, has been already mentioned, and she was the mother of the subject of this sketch. She was born in Windham, Connecticut, July 22, 1798, and remained in the East until June 3, 1833, when she married Aaron Hill and came with him to this part of Ohio to encounter the experiences of the new-country life. Faithfully she upheld him in the discharge of his duties and was ever a true helpmeet in times of prosperity and adversity alike, leading an humble Christian life, exemplary in her sweetness of spirit and kindly influence. She died near Irwin Station, August 31, 1883, in the eighty-sixth year of her age.
     The farm upon which Aaron Hill and his wife located was yet a portion of the unbroken forest, but, nothing daunted, they set valiantly to work to improve the same and to reclaim from nature’s hand the benefices she had in store. Coming here a poor man, Mr. Hill was enabled, by industry, frugality and good management, to develop a fine farm and to attain a high degree of incidental success. He was a man of broad intelligence and in a sense was one far abreast of his time, for while the avarage [sic] farmer of the locality and period was content to follow the drudge-like work so essential, and to give no thought to the ultimate conditions which would maintain, Mr. Hill’s ken far transcended this narrow and sordid limitation, and his aim was not only to keep pace with improvement and progress, but to anticipate them. Thus it is not strange that he was found ever in the lead, nor that, as the years went by and children were gathered about the old hearthstone, he determined that these, his cherished offspring, should be fortified by wider educational opportunities than those afforded by the district schools. To them came by inheritance the sterling principles of honesty and integrity and a wholesome respect for the dignity of labor, but, beyond this, the parents, with self-abnegation, removed to Yellow Springs and there remained for a considerable length of time, in order that the children might take advantage of the educational opportunities afforded be Antioch College, one of the earliest institutions of the sort in this section of the State. The parents lived in Union township until they were summoned into eternal rest, the father’s demise occurring November 24, 1862, and that of the mother on the 31st of August, 1883, as already noted. Mrs. Hill was an earnest Christian woman and a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her life was one of signal purity and beauty and her death the consistent merging into immortality. The father was distinctively prominent in the community and was progressive in his methods and honorable in all his dealing with his fellow men. In connection with the general work of the farm he engaged quite extensively in the manufacture of cheese, and the “Hill cheese” had an enviable reputation about the State fully fifty years ago.
      Aaron and Lucinda Hill reared three children, namely: Waterman, subject of this review: George, now a resident of Colorado: and Aaron Augustus, who resides at Irwin Station, this county.
     Waterman Hill was born on the old homestead farm in this county, November 5, 1834, and there passed his boyhood days, attending the district schools and finally completing his educational discipline at Antioch College, which institution he was one of the first students to enter after its doors were thrown open. He has been intimately associated with the noble art of husbandry throughout his entire life and in this field he has attained success and honor. Some years ago he purchased the Hiram Stokes farm of 333 acres, and this remains his home, having been, under his effective management, developed into one of the most productive and most thoroughly improved places in the county. A thorough system of drainage has been perfected and there are miles of tile drains ramifying throughout the farm; the many fields being fenced in approved style, and communication to all parts of the place being afforded by a series of gates, more than fifty in number. The family residence is a fine modern structure of spacious order and the accessories and substantial improvements about the farm also include commodious barns and out-buildings, a model windmill, which furnishes water for stock and culinary purposes; and numerous other appurtenances which serve to facilitate the work of the model farm, which everywhere gives evidence of the substantial prosperity of the proprietor.
     The marriage of our subject was celebrated December 9, 1857, when he wedded Miss Susan E. Bennett, a woman of education and gentle refinement. She was born in Vermont, February 12, 1837, the daughter of William and Experience Bennett, both of whom are deceased. Mrs. Hill was reared by her aunt, Mrs. John Smith, of Union township, and received her education at Granville and Antioch, this State, having been for several years an efficient and popular teacher.
     Mr. and Mrs. Hill are the parents of four children: Anna L., who is a successful teacher in the public schools of Milford Center; Ollie, who is the wife of J. Leny Boerger, who conducts the leading clothing establishment at Marysville, this county: Mattie C., a graduate of the Milford high school, class of 1887; and Blanche M., who is a student in the same school and a member of the class of 1895.
     In politics our subject is a stanch Republican and has taken consistent interest in local affairs of public nature, but has never consented to accept political office, finding his chiefest pleasure and satisfaction in the management of his farm and in the enjoyment of his cultured and happy home.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 54-57
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

GEORGE HOLLOWAY, Raymond’s, Ohio, is one of the well-to-do farmers and prominent men of Liberty township, Union county, where he has resided since 1845.
     Mr. Holloway was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, January 21, 1827, son of Isaac Holloway, a native of Culpeper county, Virginia.  Grandfather Asa Holloway was a Quaker, but notwithstanding his religion he took some part in the Revolutionary war, and drove his own team.  The Holloways are of English descent.  Isaac Holloway was married in Columbiana county, Ohio, to Miss Hope Garwood, a native of Culpeper county, Virginia, and a daughter of Isaiah and Mary Garwood, both of whom died in Columbiana county.  This marriage resulted in the birth of five sons, namely: Charles, Eli, George, Isaiah, and William.  The father was reared a Quaker, but in later life was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Politically he was a Whig.  The mother lived to the advanced age of ninety-three years.
     The subject of our sketch was reared on a farm in his native county, and was educated in the public schools, remaining in Columbiana county until he was eighteen, and then coming to his present location.  This part of the township was then all covered with dense forest.  Here he at first bought fifty acres of land, and, after he had cleared and improved it, bought other land.  He now has a fine farm of 150 acres, a comfortable residence, other good farm buildings, and is nicely situated.
     Mr. Holloway is a veteran of the civil war.  He enlisted in 1864 in the One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and joined the regiment at Rossville, Georgia.  At Kenesaw Mountain he received a gunshot wound in the right knee, from the effects of which he was confined in the hospital for some time, after which he was honorably discharged and returned home.
     April 16, 1853, Mr. Holloway married Miss Abigail Phifer, a native of Clinton county, Ohio, and a daughter of Joseph C. and Charity (Crihfield) Phifer, both deceased, her father dying in Union county, at the age of fifty-seven years, and her mother in Logan county, at the age of fifty-two.  Both were members of the Church of Christ and were people of high standing in the community in which they lived.  They had eight children, ––William, John, Amelia, Mary, Abigail, Sarah, Jane, and Narcissa.  Mr. and Mrs. Holloway have two sons: Clifton E., who married May Dean and has one son, Olin, living in York township, this county; and J. P., who married Lizzie Snider, and lives on the home farm.
     Politically Mr. Holloway is a Republican.  He has served three terms as Township Trustee and on various occasions has been a delegate to his party conventions.  He is a member of the Disciple Church and a Deacon in the same.  A man of the strictest integrity, honorable and upright in all the affairs of life, frank and cordial with all, he is as highly esteemed as he is well known.
Source:  Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 376-377
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

NATHAN HOWARD, whose life history now comes under consideration, stands conspicuously forward as one of the most extensive farmers and one of the most prominent in Union county, Ohio, where he has passed his entire life, and where he has attained to a notable degree of success in a material way. The history of the Howard family, and its intimate identification with this section of the Buckeye commonwealth, traces back to the early pioneer clays when the hardy settlers came and builded [sic] their rude domiciles, grappled with the giants of the forest, and from the sylvan woods evolved the fertile and productive fields that now characterize the State. The red man, in his motley garb, stalked about through the dim, woody avenues, and the wild beasts disputed his dominion. To establish a home amid such surroundings, and to cope with the many privations and hardships which were the inevitable concomitants, demanded an invincible courage and fortitude, strong hearts and willing hands. All these were characteristic of the pioneers, whose names and deeds should be held in perpetual reverence by those who now enjoy the fruits of their toil.
     The landed estate of our subject comprises 1,800 acres, located principally in Allen and Union townships, this county. The home farm, or as it has been most appropriately termed, “Indian Field Farm,” is unexcelled by any in the county, situated as it is, on the rich bottom lands contiguous to Darby creek. Indeed, its surpassing fertility can scarcely be doubted when we recall the fact that these bottoms were selected by the Indian squaws, more than a century ago, as the most available locality for their primitive cultivation of corn. The magnificent farmstead came into possession of Mr. Howard in 1866. In 1860 he commenced farming on 283 acres, residing in a double log cabin, which is still standing. Six years later, as already noted, he effected [sic] the purchase of the present homestead, buying the same of Moses Coe, at the rate of $90 per acre. He continued his abode in a frame dwelling on this farm until 1876, when he erected his present substantial residence, which is of modern and attractive architectural design, and which is unmistakably one of the most elegant farm-houses in the State, its interior appointments being consonant with the beauty of architectural structure. The residence is eligibly located as to site, with sweeping lawns and grateful shade. The farm has barns, sheds and other outbuildings for the accommodation of stock, machinery and hay; wide-stretching meadows of timothy and clover; large cornfields that are now made productive by the expenditure of large sums of money for the putting in of both open and tile ditches; wood lots that are yet dotted with patriarchal oaks and stately elms, and furrowed lowlands that bespeak the bountiful harvests gathered in their time, —the whole constituting a symmetrical and attractive homestead which tells of prosperity and happiness.
      Mr. Howard was born on the old homestead farm, in Union township, this county, September 21, 1831, the son of William and Nancy (McDonald) Howard. William Howard was born in Connecticut, June 18, 1802, and the records of the family trace the lineage back to the first English ancestor who took up his abode in the New World. The father of William Howard was John Howard, who was a resident of Ipswich, Massachusetts, as was also she who became his wife, Sarah Bennett, their marriage being consummated in Hampden county, that State, June 8, 1740. John Howard was a son of John and Mary (Martin) Howard, the former of whom was a son of William, who was a son of Thomas Howard, who came from England to Massachusetts in 1600, when but a boy in his ’teens. The mother of our subject, née Nancy McDonald, came of a family prominent in the early history of Ohio, her place of nativity being Ross county, this State. Her parents removed to Union county when she was but three years of age.
     The date of the settling of the parents of our subject in Union township, this county, is chronicled as 1830, and they took up their abode on a tract of wild land, which is still retained in the family. The father gave his attention to the improvement of this old homestead until his death, in 1839. The bereaved widow was left with three young children, and upon her shoulders was placed the additional burden of lifting the considerable balance of indebtedness upon the farm of 500 acres, 200 acres of which remained unpaid for. She bravely fortified herself for the task in hand, proved most capable as a business woman, and in due time, with the assistance of her sons, paid the entire indebtedness and brought the farm to a high state of cultivation. She lived to see her three children grown to maturity and well settled in life, her death occurring in 1876. She was a woman of noble character, devoted to her family, and loved and esteemed by all to whom came an appreciation of her sterling worth. Nathan, who is the immediate subject of this review, was the eldest of the children; Harriet became the wife of Edward Mann, of Madison county, and her death occurred in 1861; William is a successful farmer and resides on the old homestead in Union township.
     Our subject grew up amid the plain environment and manifold duties of the farm, and, as the oldest child, upon him devolved much of the care and responsibility, which he willingly shared with his widowed mother. As educational facilities were meagre at that time, and as there came to him the higher duty of assisting in the maintenance of the family, his scholastic discipline was not of comprehensive scope. He was enabled to attend the district schools in a desultory way, but as his mind was receptive and his native ability marked, he secured by absorption and assimilation a good, practical education in connection with his daily toil, becoming a man of broad intellectual grasp and of comprehensive information concerning men and affairs. As has already been stated, Mr. Howard took up his residence on his present fine farm in 1860, since which time he has devoted himself assiduously to its cultivation, the place now comprising 1,400 acres. In connection with general farming he has given special attention to the breeding of Norman horses, Shorthorn cattle and Shropshire sheep, and to general stock-raising, being one of the most extensive operators in this line that this section of the State can boast. In later years he has given much attention to raising and feeding cattle, hogs and sheep for market. Mr. Howard also owns 1,800 acres of rich land in Bourbon county, Kansas, having purchased this valuable tract in 1883.
      In his political adherency our subject is a Republican and has been an active worker in the party ranks. He has served two terms as County Commissioner, and by reason of his peculiar eligibility and business sagacity, he was chosen to represent his county in this important capacity at the time the fine new court-house of the county was being erected. He was a member of the Union County Board of Agriculture for a full decade, and for two years held preferment as vice-president of the same. He has been president of the Marysville Bank since its reorganization. In his bearing Mr. Howard is genial, frank and courteous, and he is held in high esteem both by reason of his business ability and his unswerving rectitude of character.
     The marriage of Mr. Howard was solemnized September 21, 1859, when he was united to Miss Helen M. Hathaway, daughter of Ebenezer and Mary (Hopkins) Hathaway, prominent residents of the county. Mr. Hathaway was a son of the late Dr. Nicholas Hathaway, who was one of the first judges of the court of common pleas in Union county, and a man of conspicuous ability. Mr. and Mrs. Howard became the parents of four children, one of whom, Hattie, died in childhood. Those living are: Charles M., who has charge of his father’s farm in Bourbon county, Kansas, where he is recognized as a prominent stock-man; he married Lucy Reichenker and has three children, Helen, Nathan and Nelson; Cony, the second child, is associated with his father in conducting the home farm; and Otto N., who married Miss Euna Smith and is now a resident of Champaign county, this State. Mr. and Mrs. Howard also adopted a daughter at the age of three years, —Emma Maude, —who is now a young lady of marked intelligence and refinement and devoted to her foster father, to whom she gives a true filial affection.
     The greatest loss and bereavement of our subject’s life was that which came to him in June, 1892, when his devoted wife, who had been his constant companion for thirty-three years and had shared in his joys, his sorrows and his trials, was summoned into eternal rest. To him remains the consolation of having known and appreciated her true and beautiful life, whose tender grace will lend a radiance to all his future days as it has the many years when the cherished object of his love was with him in visible presence. In such an instance can we most thoroughly realize that death has lost its poignant sting, for the life of finite love merges into the realm of infinite love.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 161-163
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WILLIAM HOWARD. —A man who has lived from the hour of his nativity on the paternal homestead and who has waxed strong in mind and body until he has attained a position of unmistakable prominence among those to whom his life has been familiar, is assuredly deserving of mention in a work whose purport is the considering of the life histories of those who have made that section or locality their home. Such an one is William Howard, who was born on the farm which he now occupies October 20, 1839, the son of William and Nancy (McDonald) Howard, who were pioneers of Union township, Union county, Ohio, where they located on the farm where our subject now resides and reclaimed the same from nature’s wilds. William Howard, Senior, was born in Hampton, Connecticut, June 18, 1802, son of William and Phoebe (Fuller) Howard. The father of our subject came to Ohio when a young man, and subsequently was united in marriage to Nancy McDonald, who was a native of Ross county, this State, and a daughter of Thomas and Charity (Teeters) McDonald. William Howard, Senior, and wife became the parents of three children. Those who lived to attain maturity were: Nathan, a prominent resident of Allen township, this county, concerning whom an individual sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; Harriet, deceased, became the wife of Edward Mann, of this county; and William, subject of this review. A more complete genealogical record of the Howard family may be found in connection with the sketch of Nathan Howard. The father of our subject died June 10, 1839, having been a successful farmer and stock-raiser, and a man of unblemished character. His widow survived him many years, her demise occurring at her home in Irwin Station in the year 1876, her age being sixty-eight years.
     Our subject was reared on the farm where he now lives, and received his preliminary educational training in the district school, after which he entered Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, and pursued a course of study. After leaving school he returned to the old homestead farm, and once more devoted his attention to those pursuits with which he had been familiar from his childhood days. The farm has ever since been his home, and to-day he owns 800 acres of the finest agricultural land in the county, his place being considered as a model one. The family residence is a frame structure of modern architecture, and is surrounded by handsome lawns dotted with magnificent shade trees. The barns and other outbuildings on the place give evidence of the care given to stock and to the storing of the products and machinery of the farm. The home is one in which there abides the unmistakable evidence of culture and refinement, there being innumerable signs of that effective touch and sympathy which can alone make a home worthy the name. The accessories about the place are of modern order, and show the proprietor to be progressive in his methods. There are three tenant houses on the farm, and these are used by the employes of our subject. The Howard homestead is a beautiful rural home, and the family are surrounded by all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life.
     Mr. Howard has for a number of years been quite extensively engaged in stock-raising, in which line his efforts have been attended with pronounced success. He was one of the first in this section of the State to introduce the popular and profitable Shropshire sheep, to whose propagation he has devoted much care and attention.
     Mr. Howard’s marriage was celebrated on New Year’s day, 1866, on which gladsome holiday he was united to Miss Lucy McMullen, a lady of much intelligence and refinement. She was born in La Fayette, Madison county, Ohio.
     Mr. and Mrs. Howard are the parents of three sons and one daughter, namely: William F., born June 22, 1865, was married, October 2, 1891, to Venitia Garwood, and he now conducts a fine farm near Irwin Station, this county; John C., born July 13, 1870, is connected with a banking institution at Allegheny City, Pennsylvania; Walter W., born October 24, 1872, is at home; and M. Ancie, born October 20, 1877, is a student at St. Mary’s, of the Springs, near Columbus. All of the children have been afforded exceptional educational advantages, by which they have duly profited.
     In his political proclivities Mr. Howard is strongly arrayed with the Republican party. As a man he is above reproach, is genial and sympathetic in nature, and enjoys a marked personal popularity.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 155-156
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.