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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS

A Part of Genealogy Express
 

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ALLEN COUNTY, OHIO
 HISTORY & GENEALOGY


 


BIOGRAPHIES

Source: 
A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio
Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co.
1896

A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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  JOHN N. BAILEY, one of the leading representative men of Ohio, is by profession a banker and an attorney at law.  He was born in Maulton township, Allen county, Ohio, though now a part of  Auglaize county, Sept. 3, 1839, and was the eldest of five sons born to Christopher and Nancy (Noble) Bailey.  His grandparents were natives of Virginia and of good old Quaker stock, their family dating back in church relations to the reign of King Charles II.  The father, Christopher Bailey, was born in Virginia in September, 1807, being the son of Thomas and Mary (Timberlake) Bailey, who were also natives of Virginia and of good old English stock.  The grandfather, Thomas Bailey, removed with the small family to Highland county, Ohio, in 1808,in which county they became pioneers and were interested in agricultural pursuits during the remainder of their days.  They experienced all the privations of pioneer life, and here, in the woods, reared their family and became first among the well-known and highly popular citizens of  the neighborhood.
     Christopher Bailey was scarcely a year old when his parents immigrated to Highland county, Ohio, where he was reared to manhood upon a farm, and received his education mainly in the subscription school of that day.  He early in life studied civil engineering, which profession he followed occasionally at local work, and also taught school during the winter seasons for several years.  He remained in Highland county, Ohio, until twenty-eight years of age (18350, when he migrated to Allen county, Ohio, and entered 160 acres of land in what was then Maulton township, but now belongs to Auglaize county.  Here he forged from the forest a good farm, upon which he lived and enjoyed many of the comforts and pleasures of this life, rearing his family to man and womanhood, and upon which he died.  He was one of the prominent men of his township and served in some of the minor offices, such as justice of the peace and town treasurer; politically he affiliated with the whig party.  He was reared by Quaker parents and adhered to their faith until middle age, when he joined the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he was a prominent worker until his death.  He was twice married, the first time choosing Miss Phebe Baker for his companion; she died a few years later, leaving two sons, viz.:  Jacob, now a resident of the state of Iowa, and Walter, deceased.  For his second companion he chose Miss Nancy Noble, who at that time was a resident of Mercer county, Ohio, having been born in Clinton county in Sept., 1815; by this marriage they became the parents of five sons, namely:  John N., the immediate subject of this sketch; Girard, a physician and farmer of Mercer County, and an ex-soldier of the Civil war, from which he was mustered out as captain; Joshua, also a soldier in the late year, a member of Company B, Ninety-ninth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and was killed in battle in Saint Paris, Ky.; Greene, a farmer of Auglaize county, and Elisha, deceased in early manhood.  This old couple went hand in hand down life's journey, living to see their family all grown to manhood and established in life, the mother dying in 1888, and the father in the spring of 1891, having both been highly esteemed citizens wherever known.
     John N. Bailey, the subject of this sketch, remained at home on the farm until seventeen years of age, when he began working at the carpenter trade, and continued in this until twenty-four years of age - teaching meanwhile three winters - and in all doing a large amount of public work as bridge builder for railroad, etc.  About this time he began reading law, and in the winters of 1880-81-1-82, attended the Cincinnati School of law, graduating in 1882, in which year he began the practice of his profession in Spencerville, to which he has since given his entire attention.  He enjoys a large and lucrative practice - the largest, without doubt, in Allen county, outside of the city of Lima.  In 1891, in company with his son-in-law, Austin Britton, established the Farmers' Bank of Spencerville, which is now doing a large business, with Mr. Bailey as president and Mr. Britton as cashier.
     Mr. Bailey is also an extensive farmer, being the owner of 440 acres of good farmland in Spencer and Amanda townships, operated as stock farms.  Mr. Bailey, in 1889, made a trip to Europe, and he has otherwise traveled extensively and is an intelligent and trustworthy observer.  It has been his aim to keep himself in touch with the times and fully abreast with current events.  Politically he is a republican to the core, and desires nothing better than the republican party to interpret his political views.  He is a Mason, a member of Acadia lodge, No. 306, and a Knight of Pythias of Spencerville lodge, No. 251.  Mr. Bailey has been twice married, his first wife having been Miss Minerva Babber, who died at the age of thirty-six years, leaving seven children: Mary A., Minnie, Alice (deceased), Emma, Charles F., Lillian and Arthur H.  Mr. Bailey was married the second time, in 1879, to Mrs. Hannah Caldwell of Darke county.  The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mrs. Bailey is superintendent of a Sunday-school.  It would be fulsome to add more to this sketch.  A good wine needs no bush, so does a good man need no spoken praise.  His deeds are his best friends; his actions his stanchest champions.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 182
  JOHN A. BARR, a highly respected citizen of Beaver Dam, Allen county, and one of the veterans of the war of the Rebellion, was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, August 14, 1837.  He is descended from Irish ancestry, his grandfather having emigrated from Ireland, and settled in Tuscarawas county.  It is believed that his father, JOHN BARR, was born in Tuscarawas county, and served as a soldier of the war of 1812-15, or, as it is sometimes called, the second war for independence.  He was married twice; first, to a Miss Baker, by whom he had three children:  Thomas, Hughes and Margaret.  After the death of his first wife he was married to a Miss Boone, who was born in Maryland, of German ancestry, Aug. 17, 1814, and died in Tuscarawas county, Jan. 9, 1859.  After this marriage he settled down in Tuscarawas county on 100 acres of land, and cleared it up from the woods, making of it a good farm.  To this second marriage there were born three children, one that died in infancy, and (Source#1:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 James and John A., the latter being the subject of this sketch.  Thomas, a son by his first wife, was in the Nineteenth regiment Michigan volunteer infantry, and served three years, being in the Atlanta campaign and being wounded near Marietta, Ga.
     John A. Barr, received in his youth the education common to boys of that day and age of the world.  When he was but two years of age his father died and he was reared among strangers.  He was living in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, when the war broke out, and was the first man in his company to enlist in the service of his country, becoming in private soldier in company B, Fifty-first regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, under Captain Woods, his term of enlistment being for three years or during the war.  He served in this company until he veteranized at Shell Mound, Tenn., Jan. 1, 1864, and continued in the service until honorably discharged as a corporal, Oct. 3, 1865, at Victoria, Tex.  During his period of service he participated in the following battles:  Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and in most if not all of those of the Atlanta campaign, including Resaca, Burnt Hickory, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesboro and Lovejoy Station, and many smaller battles and skirmishes too numerous to mention.  Afterward he was in the Fourth corps under Gen. Thomas, and fought at the battle of Franklin and that of Nashville, and then went to Texas, where he remained until honorably discharged.  He was always an active soldier, ready to perform any duty assigned him, was never captured by the enemy, and was never in the hospital..  He was in all the battles, skirmishes, marches, and campaigns in which his regiment was engaged, except the battle of Murfreesboro, when he was sick in his tent.  Always a faithful soldier, his duty was promptly and cheerfully performed.  His left eye was blinded early in the war, and the sight of this eye was later entirely destroyed.  He was promoted corporal for meritorious conduct near the close of his term of service.  After the war was over Mr. Barr returned to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and not long afterward removed to Williams county, still later removing to Allen county, and was married at Beaver Dam, Aprl 26, 1883, to Mrs. Levina (Dilly) Murray, who was born August 14, 1855, and is a daughter of Jacob and Anna (Johnson) Dilly. 
     Jacob Dilly was born in New Jersey July 15, 1809, of an old American family.  On Feb. 13, 1834, he was married in his native state, and moved to Ohio, settling in Tuscarawas county in 1837, and in the spring of 1855 he moved to Allen county.  The farm he purchased and cleared lies on the line of Monroe and Richland townships, and here he labored for years, making a good and comfortable home for himself and family.  In 1865 he removed to Beaver Dam and died when eighty-three years of age.  He and his wife were the parents of nine children, beside Mrs. Barr, as follows:   Margaret, Catherine, James, John, Leona A., and Aaron, and three that died in youth.  John and Aaron were soldiers in the Civil war, serving in an infantry regiment.  Mr. Dilly was a member of the Disciples' church at Beaver Dam, was a republican in politics, and a highly honored citizen.   
     Mr. and Mrs. Barr, soon after their marriage, settled at Beaver Dam and there he engaged in various kinds of employment for some years, such as farming, running a stationary engine, etc.  In politics he is a prohibitionist, and both are members of the Disciples' church.  They are the parents of two children, Sadie and Mary.  Mr. Barr had been married, previous to her marriage with Mr. Barr, to George Murray, by who she had one child, Wilda.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 184
  CURTIS BAXTER, one of the oldest and best known farmers of Marion township, Allen county, was born in Ross county, Ohio, Oct. 26, 1822.  His great-grandfather was a native of Ireland and an early settler of Pennsylvania.  SAMUEL BAXTER, the father of our subject, it is thought, was born in Knox county, Ohio, where he married Polly Boyd, who became the mother of three children - Sarah, Polly and John.  Polly (Boyd) Baxter died in Knox county, where he married, for his second wife, Keziah Cremean, daughter of Curtis Cremean, and to this union were born nine children, viz: Jane, James Maria, Samuel, Curtis, Smith, Rachael, David and Eliza, all of whom were born in Ross county, with the exception of Eliza, who was born in Allen county, Ohio, Samuel Baxter, in October, 1828, came to Allen county, and settled on the Auglaize river, in Amanda township, about seven miles south of the farm now occupied by our subject, Curtis Baxter.  The county was at that time an utter wilderness, and Mr. Baxter's life here was but brief, as he died two years after his arrival, leaving his widow with her large family to struggle with the adversities of life in the dense forest.  James, the eldest son, was at that time but fourteen years of age, and two years later the family moved to Huwey Run.
     Curtis Baxter came to Allen county with his parents, reaching Amanda township Oct. 29, 1828, and still has a vivid recollection of the wolves and other beasts of prey, as well as the abounding deer and other game that roamed the forests through which his elders had to cut their way to reach a site for the erection of a cabin, and he also has pleasant memories of the superabundance of fish that made their home in the waters of the Auglaize river.  The grist-mill was fifty miles away, and for daily use the pioneers ground their corn in household hand-mills.  An old fashioned log school-house, with split logs for seats and desks, and floors of clay or puncheons, was the temple of learning, and here Curtis received his limited education.  Amid such scenes Mr. Baxter grew to manhood, but married early.  Jan. 8, 1843, he took to wife Miss Emily Johns, daughter of Griffith and Rachael Johns, who were the parents of thirteen children, viz:  Sarah, Emily, Ethan, Vienia, Jesse, Biah, Martha, Louisa, Palina, Meliss, Tamsa, Eliza, and one deceased.  The father lived to be over sixty years of age, and he and wife were members of the Methodist church.
     After marriage Mr. Baster settled on a farm of seventy-five acres in teh woods, which farm he later increased to 202 acres, but of this he disposed of thirty-five acres subsequently, retaining for his own use 167 acres.  On this homestead have been born in Mr. and Mrs. Baxter eleven children, viz:  Samuel M., Eliza J., John, William A. B., David E., Curtis T., Clarissa A., Elizabeth, Emily M., Charles and one child that died in infancy.  Curtis Baxter was a soldier in the late Civil war, serving in company A, Thirty-third Ohio volunteer infantry, for eight months; his son, Samuel M., was also a soldier and served for two years in McLaughton's squadron.  Curtis was enrolled September 22, 1864, at Lima, fought at Averysboro and Bentonville, N. C., having accompanied Sherman on his march to the sea, and was present at the grand review in Washington, D. C., in which city he was honorably discharged June 5, 1865.
     November 14, 1888, Mr. Baxter was united in marriage with his second wife, Cynthia E. Hawkins.  of his children by his first wife, Samuel M., deputy sheriff of Van Wert county, and also city marshal of Van Wert city, married Mary J. Miller, who became the mother of four children, and then died; for his second wife he married Ellen Cahill, but to this union no children have been born; Eliza J., is the wife of William J. Judkins and has six children; John married Jennie Hayden, of Iowa, and has two children;  William A. B. married Sarah Dennis, and has three children; David E., mayor of Delphos, married Vida Morgan, and has one child; Curtis T. married Osie Westerfield, and has four child; Clarissa A. married James E. Wickham and has three children; Elizabeth married Charles Mollenhour and has five children; Emily M., married David Rosell, and has six children; Charles M., married Estella Brickstell, and has three children.
     Curtis Baxter is a highly respected citizen and has the full confidence of the people of his township, who he has served as trustee, constable, as a member of the board of infirmary directors, and as a member of the school board.  He is an ardent member of the Methodist church, in which he has filled the office of steward for many years, and his social standing is with the best families of Allen county, who have an enduring respect for him on account of his christian virtues and usefulness as a citizen, not to mentioned the esteem in which he is held as an ex-soldier.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 185
  DAVID BAXTER, SR., a prominent farmer of Marion township, Allen county, Ohio, is a son of Samuel and Keziah (Cremean) Baxter, was born in Ross county April 28, 1828, and was about six months old when brought by his parents to Allen county.  By reference to the sketch of Curtis Baxter, which sketch precedes this biographical notice, the reader will find further details relating to the history of the Baxter family.  The opportunities afforded for an education in the pioneer days were somewhat meager and our subject was compelled to rest satisfied with the knowledge to be obtained in the old log school-house, but even that was sufficient for the requirements of frontier life.  The services of our subject were in demand as a woodsman and farmer and he was, at a very early day, given full employment in clearing away the forest and in bringing the soil into a state of productiveness, and he manfully devoted himself to the performance of these duties on the homestead until he was twenty-two years of age, when he married Miss Elizabeth Shock, daughter of Peter and Mary (Boyd) Shock.
     Peter Shock was born in Allegheny county, Pa., in Feb., 1799, was married in his native state, and came to Allen county, Ohio, in 1846, settling in Amanda township on eighty acres of woodland.  He and wife are still living at the ages respectively of ninety-six and eighty-nine year, and are the parents of eleven children, viz: Levi, Elizabeth, Huldy, Carlisle, Mary A., George, Catherine, Sarah, Alvina, William  and Peter. The parents are members of the United Brethren church and are greatly venerated by their neighbors.
      After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Baxter settled on thirty-seven acres of woodland, which Mr. Baxter cleared up and brought to a fine state of cultivation, and added thereto until he became possessed of 213 acres, all of which he cleared from the timber as rapidly as he acquired it.  He has now a most beautiful residence, and his farm buildings are models of convenience and neatness.  To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Baxter have been born ten children, viz: Lewis, Simon P., William, Mary, James, Nelson, Franklin, Ulysses (who died at the age of ten years), Lester and Samuel, twins; Samuel died when six months old.  Mr. and Mrs. Baxter are consistent members of the Methodist church, in which Mr. Baxter has been a class leader for twelve or fifteen years; as to a member of the church he can count the years back to the number of forty-six; but he does not confine his pecuniary aide to the Methodist congregation alone, for he has contributed to the building fund of every church edifice within a radius of ten miles from his home.  In politics Mr. Baxter is a republican and has served as a member of the township school board; he takes great interest, indeed, in educational matters, and is equally ardent in his advocacy of good roads.  He is a most excellent farmer, is straightforward in all his dealings, and has the esteem of all the community in which he lives.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 187

D. E. Baxter, Jr.		 DAVID E. BAXTER, Jr., mayor of the city of Delphos, Ohio, and one of the representative men of that city, is a native of Allen county, Ohio, having been born in Marion township, within five miles of Delphos, on the 29th day of April 1858, a son of Curtis and Emily (Johns) Baxter, of whom a full biography is given above.  While prominent in his neighborhood Curtis never south public office, the only position he ever held being that one of the first infirmary directors of Allen county.  He and his three brothers - James, David E., Sr., and Smith are the oldest living settlers of Allen county in point of time.  Emily Johns was also born in 1822 in Ross county, Ohio.  Her death occurred on March 4, 1887.  There were born to Curtis Baxter and wife seven sons and four daughters, one now deceased.
     David E. Baxter, the eighth child born to his parents, was reared on the farm in Marion township, and while a boy attended the common schools.  When about eighteen years of age he began teaching, which he continued for a period of twelve years, and during that time, in the intervals between the terms of his schools, Mr. Baxter himself attended school at Elida, Ohio, and at Valparaiso, Ind.  He began his political career in 1887, when he was nominated by the democratic party of Allen county for the state legislature, but was defeated at the election, his party being generally disrupted that year.  In 1888 he was elected as a democrat to the office of justice of the peace of Marion township, which office he holds at the present time, having been re-elected at the present time, having been re-elected twice in succession.  On June 30, 1888, he was appointed by President Cleveland post master at Delphos, and held that office nearly through President Harrison's administration.  His term of office as postmaster expiring on August 15, 1891, he accepted the position of assistant postmaster under C. P. Washburn, and held that position for three months.  In the spring of 1892, he was elected mayor of Delphos, and in 1894 was re-elected to that honorable position.  During Mayor Baxter's administration some of Delphos' most extensive street improvements have been made - the Minute Fire department inaugurated, water works system constructed and the telephone exchange established.  His administration has been singularly clean, energetic and satisfactory, winning for the mayor the high encomiums of his fellow-citizens.  Mayor Baxter has three times been a delegate from Allen county to the Ohio state conventions, taking a prominent part in all.
     Mayor Baxter is one of a company of citizens who are engaged in the development of oil and gas wells in the neighborhood of Delphos, the company having under lease 2,000 acres of lands.  He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the degree of knight templar, being a member of Shawnee commandery, No. 14, at Lima.  He is also a member of the I. O. O. F., of which he has filled all the chairs.  He is at present the worshipful master of Hope lodge, No. 214, F. & A. M., of Delphos.  He is also a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, and the Knights of Pythias.  In November of 1895 he was elected as representative to the grand lodge of I. O. O. F., from the twenty-sixth district.  Prior to Mayor Baxter's appointment as postmaster, he was a county school examiner for three months, which office he was compelled to resign upon entering upon the discharge of the duties of postmaster, but is at the present time examiner for the Delphos union schools.
     Mayor Baxter was married on December 23, 1884, to Miss Vida B. Morgan, who was born near Gomer, Allen county, and is the daughter of Thomas B. and Margaret Morgan.  To their union one son - Richard A. - has been born.  Mr. Baxter is now reading law, with the expectation of making it his future profession.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 188
  JOHN F. BAXTER, member of the Delphos city council from the Fourth ward, was born in Marion township, Allen county, Ohio, Dec. 14, 1857.  He is the son of Samuel and Mary (Robbins) Baxter, both natives of Ohio and both deceased.  Our subject was reared on the farm in Allen county, and attended the district schools, securing a fair English education.  He remained on the farm until 1880 and then came to Delphos, and has resided here ever since.  His occupation has been chiefly that of a salesman in the dry goods business, having held positions with S. F. Shenk, H. J. Wolfhorst & Co., and other well-known firms.  He has always been a stanch republican in politics and has taken an active interest in public affairs.  He was the nominee of his party in the Fourth war for city councilman in the spring of 1895, and was elected by a majority of twenty-seven votes, which was an increase over the party's last majority, and the largest republican majority ever given for councilman by the ward.  In the council Mr. Baxter is one of the leading members.  he is chairman of  the claims committee, and is also on the committee on street light and police, and on the buildings and grounds.
     Mr. Baxter resides on the corner of West Third and Bredick streets, in the Fourth ward, Delphos, Van Wert county.  Mr. Baxter was married on Dec. 25, 1887, to Cora A. Smith, daughter of Casper Smith,  of Delphos.  Mr. Baxter is a member of the I. O. O. F., fraternally, and the National Union Insurance company.  Mrs. Baxter is a member of the Presbyterian church and of the Daughters of Rebecca.  For twelve years she has held a position as teacher in the Delphos public schools.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 187
  SAMUEL BAXTER

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page

  MARION F. BEALS, a highly respected resident of Bluffton, Allen county, Ohio, and a veteran of the Civil war, was born in Liberty township, Hancock county, Ohio, Feb. 12, 1839, and descends from an old Pennsylvania colonial family of English extraction.
     ABRAHAM BEALS, the father of Marion F., was a native of the Keystone State, was a farmer and there married Miss Rebecca Allaway, who was born near Chambersburg, Bedford county, the marriage resulting in thirteen children, all of whom lived to reach manhood and womanhood, viz: Henry, Jonathan, John, Isaac, Washington, Catherine A., Mary J., Hiram, Abraham, Marion F., Rebecca, Rhoda and Emeline.  The father of this family came to Ohio in an early day and first located in Stark county, cleared up eight acres of wild land, on which he resided some years and then moved to another farm, three miles away, comprising 120 acres, which he also cleared up and became one of the substantial citizens of the county.  In politics Mr. Beals was a democrat.  He was an upright and respected gentleman and died on his farm at the age of fifty-eight years.
     Marion F. Beals, our subject, received a good education in the district schools of his native township and assisted his father on the farm until his enlistment, at Findlay, Sept. 6, 1861, under Capt. Henry H. Alben, in company F, Twenty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years, or during the war.  Jan. 4, 1864, at Chattanooga, Tenn., he veteranized in the same organization, and served through until honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, Jul. 25, 1865, thus serving a a continuous term of almost four years.  He took an active and gallant part in the following sanguinary engagements:  Ivy Mountain, Nov. 9, 1861; Bridgeport, Ala., Apr. 15, 1862; LaVergne, Tenn., Oct. 7, 1862; Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 5, 1862; Stone River, Tenn., Dec. 31, 1862, to Jan. 2, 1863; Tullahoma campaign, Tenn., June 23 to 30, 1863; Dug Gap, Ga., Sept. 11, 1863; Chickamauga, Ga., Sept. 19 and 20, 1863; Missionary Ridge, Tenn., Nov. 25, 1863, Buzzard Roost, Ga., May 8, 1864; Resaca, Ga., May 13 to 16, 1864; New Hope Church, Ga., May 28, 1864; Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., June 9, 1864, and (in the general assault) June 27, 1864; Vining's Sation, July 25, 1864; Chattachoochie River, Ga., July 6 to 10, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, Ga.; Atlanta, Ga. (Hood's first sortie); Jonesboro, Ga., Sept. 1, 1864; Averysboro, N. C., Mar. 16, 1865; Bentonville, N. C., Mar. 19 to 21, 1865.  During the Atlanta campaign, in which some of the battles above enumerated took place, the troops were under constant fire for nearly four months, Gen. Sherman having begun his march from Chattanooga, Tenn., May 4, 1864, and the fall of Atlanta having taken place Sept. 2, 1864.  In the Atlanta campaign the troops were for nearly four months under an incessant fire, but Mr. Beals passed unscathed through it all.  Following Gen. Sherman in the renowned march from Atlanta to the sea, he was present at the surrender of Johnston near Goldsboro, N. C., Mar. 19, 1865.  On the march from Raleigh, to N. C., to Richmond, Va., a friendly race was made between the Fourteenth and Twentieth army corps, the march being executed in six days - about thirty-three miles being accomplished each day.  Many of the soldiers, during this march, dropped out of their ranks, overcome with fatigue, and many others were permanently disabled, among the latter Mr. Beals - but he kept up with his company.  He had experience a similar march from Beaver Creek to Bowling Green in Kentucky, when his regiment marched twenty-five miles, making five miles the last hour, and then camped on ground covered with snow.  Mr. Beals, as will be seen, has made an exceptionally fine military record.
     Feb. 11, 1864, while on veteran furlough, Mr. Beals married, in Hancock county, Ohio, Miss Samantha Reed, who was born in Putnam county, Mar. 26, 1840, a daughter of James I. and Mary (Edgerton) Reed.  The Reeds are of Irish descent, and were early settlers of Pennsylvania, and their history, after coming to America, is as follows, as far as the immediate ancestry of Mrs. Beals is concerned or interested:
     John Reed, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Beals, was a native of county Tyrone, Ireland, and there married Miss Elizabeth Irwin, a native of the same county.  About 1800 they came to America and settled on a farm one mile from Darlington, Beaver county, Pa., where they reared a family of six sons and one daughter and where the parents happily passed the remainder of their days.  The old farm is now the property of George N.  and J. P. Reed, Jr., sons of J. P. Reed, eldest son of Samuel, sixth son of John Reed, the original settler.  The children of John and Elizabeth (Irwin) Reed were born in the following order:
 - William, who married Miss Elizabeth Dilworth; both died in Beaver county and their descendants are now living near Enon Valley, Lawrence county, Pa. 
 - John, the second son, married Isabella Erwin, and lived near Findlay, Ohio, the result of this union being James I., father of Mrs. Beals; Jane, John T., Edson S., Eli, and Samuel; of these Jane married Mr. Veneman, but is now Mrs. Kerr;  several of these children still live near Findlay.
 - James Reed, the third son of John, the immigrant, married Fanny White, and died in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1846; one of his children, Mrs. O. Donnell, is still a resident of that city.
 - Joseph Reed, the fourth son, married Clemanda Kerr, was a Presbyterian clergyman and died in Freedom, Beaver county, Pa., in 1842; his only daughter, Elizabeth, is the wife of John V. McCullough, and resides in Seattle, Wash.
 - Robert Reed, the fifth son of John the first, settled on a farm near Auburn, DeKalb county, Ind., his eldest son, Joseph, died in Wasson, Ohio; his daughter, Flora, is married to James Wilson and lives near Ottawa, Ohio; his youngest son, Robert R., lives on a farm that formerly belonged to his father, whose body lines interred at Waterloo, Ohio. 
 - Samuel Reed, the sixth son of John and Elizabeth (Irwin) Reed, married Elizabeth Cunningham, and lived and died on the old home farm in Beaver county, Pa., his children are Nancy J., John P., Archibald S., James J., Rebecca, Samantha, Elizabeth and Isabella M. 
 - Elizabeth Reed, the  only daughter of John and Elizabeth (Irwin) Reed, was married to Jesse Savine. The father of these children, died at Darlington, Pa., at the age of fifty-nine years, and his remains rest beside those of his wife, in the old Wilson cemetery, near that town, in Beaver county, Pa.  John Reed (second), a grandfather of Mrs. Beals, married Isabella Irwin in Mercer county, Pa., moved to Wooster, Ohio, and a few years later removed to Findlay, and their died.  His four children were named James I., John (third), Ely (who was a soldier in the Civil war and died shortly after his return to his home,) and Isabel.
     James I. Reed, father of Mrs. Beals, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., Aug. 28, 1812, was a farmer, and February 8, 1837, married Mary Edgerton, of Richland county, Ohio, and soon afterward settled on a farm in Hancock county, which he cleared up from the wilderness, and then moved to Crawford county, but shortly afterwards, about 1844 or 1845, returned to Hancock county, where his death took place, in 1860, at the age of forty-eight years.  Having lost his wife while residing in Crawford county, he chose for a second helpmate Susan K. Robinson  To his first marriage were the following children: Isabel J., Samantha L. (Mrs. Beals), Mary , John T., and Edson G.; and to his second union were born Samuel J., Rachael E. and Emma R.  In politics Mr. Reed was a democrat and in religion a Methodist, and as a citizen was useful, upright, and highly respected.  Of his children, two of his sons were soldiers in the late Civil war - John T. and Edson G.  The elder of these two, John T. Reed, was born in Putnam county, Ohio, Feb. 10, 1843, and when but eighteen years old enlisted, Sept. 6, 1861, in company F, Twenty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve three years or during the war.  He served under this enlistment until Jan. 1, 1864, when he veteranized at Chattanooga, Tenn., in the same organization, and gallantly served until honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio, July 25, 1865.  At Jonesboro, Ga., he was shot n the left thigh, Sept. 1, 1864, and in consequence was confined in hospital at Atlanta, Ga., and at Nashville, Tenn., about two months - but still suffers from his wound.  On sufficiently recovering he rejoined his regiment at Louisville, Ky., in January, 1865, and served until the regiment was mustered out of service.  Edson G. Reed, when but seventeen years old, enlisted at Findlay, Ohio, Aug. 23, 1862, also in company F, Twenty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years, and valiantly served until killed in the battle of Stone River Dec. 31, 1862.
     After his marriage, Marion F. Beals located in Paulding county, Ohio, on a farm of eighty acres, which he partly cleared, and then engaged in the milling business at Antwerp, in the same county, where he remained until 1872, when he came to Bluffton and entered into the grocery trade, at which he prospered for a few years, and then engaged in carpentering, his present occupation.   To Mr. and Mrs. Beals have been born four children, who still survive to render the household more happy and are named as follows:  Etta M., Charles A., Frank C. and Henry G.  In politics Mr. Beals is a democrat, and for two terms served as constable, and for two years as marshal of Bluffton; he is a member of Robert Hamilton post, No. 262, G. A. R., in which he has filled the office of day guard.  He is highly honored by his comrades and fellow citizens and greatly respected for his military record as well as his manly and upright character.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 191
  WILLIAM L. BECHTOL

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 194
  JOSEPH T. BENEDUM

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 195
  EDWARD R. BENTLEY, formerly and for some years the leading blacksmith and mechanic of Kalida, but since the fall of 1895 a resident of Bluffton, Ohio, was born May 8, 1866, in the last named place.  His parents were JAMES D. and Elizabeth (Fenton) Bentley, the former of whom was born in Youngstown, Mahoning county, Ohio, July 27, 1826.  James D. Bentley was one of five children born to John Bentley, of Irish parentage, and his wife, Margaret (Patent) Bentley.  He was educated in the common schools near his home, and early learned the trade of blacksmith.  When a young man he came with his parents in a wagon drawn by oxen to Bluffton, where they were among the early pioneers of that part of Allen county.  For some time he engaged in farming near Bluffton and afterward engaged in the huckster and trading business, spending several years of his life upon the road, employed by Abram Long.  After settling in Bluffton he engaged in smithing with Robert Cox, and was one of the first blacksmiths in the eastern part of Allen county.  For twenty years he successfully pursued his trade until failing eyesight compelled him to give it up.  He then again took to the road and sold one of the first sewing machines put upon the market.  He afterward engaged in contracting and building roads.  Having recovered his eyesight, he returned to the forge and opened a shop on the present site of the city building in Bluffton.  From that time he continued blacksmithing until old age compelled him to give up active work.  Along with his smithing he had engaged in farming to a limited extent.
     Jan. 1, 1830, he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Robert and Mary (McRea) Fenton, who was born in Mahoning county, Ohio, in 1831, of Irish parentage.  She was one of seven children, being the twin sister of John Fenton, of Bluffton.  She was also educated in the common schools of her native county, and when a child she came with her parents to Bluffton, where they were among the early pioneers of that part of Allen county, Ohio.  Eight children blessed this union, viz:  William P., ex-postmaster of Bluffton and now a successful livery man there; John M., ex-postmaster of Ada, Ohio, where he is now a grocer and farmer; Jeanie, the wife of Albert L. Clark, of Bluffton; Charles F., a painter of the same place; Minerva I., married to H. S. Martin, of lima, Ohio; Della, who resides in Bluffton; Frank, deceased; Edward R., the subject of our sketch.  Mr. and Mrs. Bentley were prominent members of the Methodist church, in the faith of which the wife died on Sept. 22, 1890.  The husband was a deacon in the church, and was also a charter member of the Bluffton lodge, No. 371, I. O. O. F., and member of the Rebecca Lodge No. 263, and was held in high esteem by its members.  Politically he was a stanch  supporter of the principles of the republican party, and was frequently elected by that party to local offices of the community.  He was charitable and benevolent, honored and respected by all.  His death occurred July 16, 1892.
     Edward R. Bentley was educated in the Bluffton union schools, and learned the blacksmithing trade of his father, with whom he worked for a number of years, and worked in various places in order to perfect himself in his chosen profession.  In 1891 he opened his shop in Kalida, where he enjoyed a large and profitable business.  On September 12, 1894, he married Lillian M. Bowman, who was born in Columbus Grove, Apr. 5, 1871, a daughter of Daniel B. and Martha J. (Galbreth) Bowman, and a member of the Methodist church.  Her father is a native of this county, and was born in 1853 of good old Irish ancestry; he was one of the twins born to Joseph and Clarissa (Bigum) Bowman, of Putnam county.  Her mother was born in Allen county, in 1854, her parents being William and Christina (Ahlefield) Galbreth, formerly of Allen county, but now living in Kalida.  To Mr. and Mrs. Bentley one child has been born, Leon D., born Aug. 6, 1895.  In the fall of 1895, as stated, Mr. Bentley found it to his advantage to remove to Bluffton, where he enjoys the respect of all who knew him.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 196
  JOHN H. BERRYMAN. - In the case of the family whose history is here to be briefly traced, there were seven brothers, who came together from England to America.  These seven brothers were named, so far as their names can now be recalled, John, James, George, WILLIAM and Thomas - the names of two being lost.  Their emigration was made prior to the Revolutionary war, their settlement in this country was made in New Jersey.  From these seven brothers have sprung all the Berrymans in the United States, and they are now fond in all parts of the country.  From William have descended the Berrymans of Ohio.  William Berryman served in the Revolutionary war against the mother country, having felt her oppression before his abandonment of her some years before.  He reared his family in New Jersey, and it is presumed, though it is not known, that he died in that state.  He had one son, William, that emigrated to Virginia after the lose of the Revolutionary war, and settled near Wheeling.  Some time later  he removed to Montgomery county, Ohio, and located near Dayton, on a farm, upon which he lived some years, and then he removed to what is now Auglaize county, but before that county was organized.  In Logan township he entered 200 acres of land, upon which he lived the remainder of his days, dying in 1830, and being buried in the Amanda grave yard.  He was a soldier in the of 1812-15 from Virginia, in which state he married Miss Rachael Clauson, of New Jersey, shoe parents emigrated to Virginia when she was small, and by whom he had the following children: Thomas, who died in Allen county, Ohio; William, of Spencerville, Ohio; Russell, Ephraim, and John, deceased; Eliza, who married, for her first husband, Abraham Whetstone, and for her second, Henry Noble; Mattie, deceased wife of Samuel Whetstone; Mercy, deceased wife of Dye Sunderland, who settled in Amanda township in 1820, and Annie M., who married a Mr. Gregory.
     RUSSELL BERRYMAN was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1815, and when seven years of age removed with his parents to Allen county.  during his boyhood days he spent much time with the Indians, making them his daily companions.  Under these circumstances it was perfectly natural for him to learn their language, and the Shawnee language became almost as familiar to him as his native tongue.  He was reared on the family homestead, and there spent the most of his life.  So far as politics was concerned he was a democrat, and took great interest in political and public affairs; but office was distasteful to him, and the only office he could ever be prevailed upon to accept was that of director of the infirmary.  He married Margaret Slain, of Virginia (now West Va.), she dying in 1846, the mother of the following children:  Cornelia, wife of Dr. E. A. Stockton, who died in Mexico; Ephraim, who died in Spencer township; Rosabel, wife of A. F. Blackburn, of Kansas; John H., of Lima, and James of Saint Mary's, Ohio.  For his second wife Russell Berryman married Elizabeth Whetstone, by whom he had the following children: Flora, wife of J. G. Miller; Mercy, deceased; Abraham, of Paulding county; Margaret, wife of Benjamin Shoppel, and Warren, of Saint Mary's Ohio.  the father of these children died Jan. 9, 1878, his widow surviving him.
     John H. Berryman, the immediate subject of this sketch, was born Aug. 19, 1843, on the old homestead, upon which he remained until he was twenty years of age, receiving in the meantime a good education in the common schools, which has been greatly extended and perfected by contract with the world.  From the age last mentioned for about three years he was engaged in various occupations, testing himself and testing the world, and in 1867 he settled down upon a farm in Shawnee township, upon which he lived some twelve or fourteen years.  In 1880 he purchased his present farm of 120 acres to which he has since added forty-two acres, so that at the present time his farm is comprised of 162 acres.  In 1891 he established his present dairy business, and in the winter of 1891-92 he established his dairy store in Lima.
     Politically Mr. Berryman is a democrat and he takes great interest in the success of his party.  He has served two terms as township trustee and has been several times a delegate to county and state conventions.  In 1896 he was a prominent candidate for nomination to congress at the hands of his party, showing the prominence of the position he holds in the estimation of his party friends.  In religious belief he is a Methodist, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Shawnee township.  Mr. Berryman was married March 12, 1868, to Miss Sallie Boyd, daughter of Abraham Boyd of Trumbull county, who emigrated from that county to Allen county in 1830.  to this marriage there have been born the following children: Myrtle, Margaret, John Russell, Mabel, deceased; Harriet, Robert and Waldo.  From the foregoing sketch it is manifest that John H. Berryman is a man of more than ordinary ability and enterprise, and he is in point of fact one of the most progressive and extensive farmers and dairymen in the northwestern part of the state, if not in the entire state.  To what extent his example has been contagious can not be fully stated, though it is doubtless true that his life has had a far-reaching influence upon young men who have had before them in his career a demonstration that independence and influence may be obtained, without going into any co-operative plans and schemes, in which the individuality of each member must necessarily be absorbed by and swallowed up in the community to which he may happen to belong.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 197
  WILLIAM F. BLAIR, superintendent of the Orphan Home of Allen county, is a son of Dr. Brice and Rebecca (Perdue) Blair, the former of whom was a son of Brice Blair, the former of whom was a son of Brice Blair, of Bedford county, Pa.  The family belong to that famous race, Scotch-Irish, which has given to this country so many of its sturdy sons, among them the eighth president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, whose personality produced such a permanent effect upon the destiny of the Union.  The ancestors of Mr. Blair originally came from Ireland, and settled in Cumberland valley in Pennsylvania.
     Brice Blair, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was one of the early settlers of Bedford county, that state.  He married Agnes McCauley, who was born in Baltimore, Md., and to this union were born the following children:  John, Archibald, Edmund, James, Brice, Rebecca, Rachel, Mary, Susanna, Sarah, Elizabeth, Nancy.  Mr. McCauley, father of Mrs. Brice Blair, passed his life as a farmer in Bedford county, where he died in the present century.
     Dr. Blair, father of the subject, was born January 22, 1813, in Bedford county, Pa.  He read medicine with Dr. McPherson, of Tuscarawas county, coming to Ohio in 1835, and settling near New Albany, Tuscarawas county, practicing there until the fall of 1854, when he removed to Allen county, settling in Jackson township, where he purchased a farm of sixty acres of land.  Beside this small piece of land in Jackson township he also owned 240 acres in Auglaize township, and also 160 acres in Stark county, Ind., which he, however, purchased some time later, so that he was somewhat of a landed proprietor at one time.
     The farm in Jackson township he cleared up of its timber and improved as well as the one of Auglaize township, so that he found but little time to devote to his profession.  He died in Jackson township on his farm, March 10, 1876, widely known as a wide-awake, active, industrious and enterprising man.  Politically he was a democrat, and religiously a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, was a trustee of his church and took unusual interest in the work and success of the Sunday-school.  Dr. Blair was married in 1843.  His wife, born January 19, 1814, is a daughter of William Perdew, of Bedford county, Pa., and is still residing on the home farm in Jackson township, the father of the following children:  Nancy, Sarah, Mary, William and Rebecca.  By her marriage to Dr. Blair Rebecca became the mother of the following children:  John, of Auglaize township; Edward, of the same township; Martin, who died in 1876; Nathan P., of Auglaize township; Brice, of the same township; William F.; James H. (deceased), of Auglaize township; Nancy, widow of Isaac Heffner; Clara, wife of Harrison Heffner; Jennie (deceased), wife of John McCullough; Elizabeth, wife of Madill Fisher; and Mary, wife of David Applas, and Jessie Allen (deceased).
     William F. Blair was born October 23, 1849, in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and was reared in Jackson township, Allen county.  His education was superior to that generally received by the young men of that time, as in addition to a good common-school training, he attended the high school at Lima, and Delaware college, and also the Western Normal university at Ada.  Besides all this he read medicine was his father; but nothwithstanding this preparation for the practice of one of the most useful of the professions, he preferred teaching school, for which he was eminently prepared.  He therefore taught in the public schools of Allen county for twenty years - in Jackson township, in Bath, in Auglaize and in Perry township, in all of which has he scholars who still pleasantly remember his work among them and for them.  In 1879, tired of the life of a pedagogue, he settled down upon his father's farm in Auglaize township, and became a general farmer he purchased a farm in Jackson township, supplying ample room for the exercise of any ability he might possess.  Upon this fine farm he was occupied in the way just mentioned for twelve years, and then he accepted a position with the Ohio Oil company, being engaged with them leasing land, etc., until 1893, when he was appointed to his present honorable position, that of superintendent of the Orphan's Home, Allen county, which he fills to the acceptance of all.  While he was a resident of Jackson township he was made a trustee thereof.  Politically Mr. Blair is a democrat, and he is a member of the county central committee.  Fraternally he is a member of Lima lodge, No. 91, K. of P.
     Mr. Blair was married in 1879, to Miss Rosetta E., daughter of W. H. Craig, of Jackson township, and has a family of children as follows: Luther C., Cliff, Harry, Ethel and Leah.   W. H. Craig, father of Mrs. Blair, is one of the progressive and substantial farmers of Jackson township.  He is of English decent on both sides of his family.  His great grandfather, George Craig, came from England and settled in Washington county, Pa., and it is believed he was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.  He died in Washington county in which county the grandfather of the subject's wife was born, was reared to manhood and was married to a Miss Pittinger.  After the death of his wife he moved westward, to Highland county, Ohio, in 1833, and was there among the pioneers.  He was always a farmer, did not remarry, and died in the last named county, being instantly killed while cutting down a wild cherry three, when working on the public road.
     Joseph Craig, his son, and the father of W. H. Craig, was born in Washington County, Pa.  He was about twenty years of age when his father came to Ohio, where Joseph married a Miss Charlotte Rains, daughter of George and Nancy Rains.  Joseph Craig and his wife Charlotte, were the parents of the following children:  George T.; William H.; Louisa, who died at the age of eighteen; Martha, wife of W. F. Straw; Nancy, wife of Frederick Bashore; Angeline, wife of Thomas Bashore; and John.  After their marriage the parents of these children lived for a number of years in Highland county, engaged in farming but in 1852 he removed to Jackson township, Allen county.  Upon his 160 acre farm he engaged in general farming and in raising stock.  He was an old-line whig, later a republican was township trustee, township treasurer, and a school teacher, besides being one of the early pioneers.  He died in 1872, his widow dying in February, 1881.
     William H. Craig, was born May 3, 1835, in Highland county, and was seventeen years of age when his parents removed into Allen county.  While he received a good education in his youth, yet he always preferred farming to any other calling, thereby showing excellent judgment.  Mr. Craig was married June 2, 1858, to Susan Hulliber, daughter of John and Mary (Keith) Hulliber, of Licking county, and has children as follows:  Rosetta E., wife of Mr. Blair; Mary C.; Iva C., deceased; Araminta L.; Nora O.; Walter W.  Mary C. is the wife of N. M. Boyd; Araminta L. is the wife of Clement Patterson; Nora O., is the wife of Percy A. Kershaw, a successful teacher of Jackson township, and a printer by trade.  Mr. Craig enlisted in April, 1862, in company d., One hundred and Sixty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, and campaigned in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia doing considerable skirmishing near the capital, and was honorably discharged in September, 1862.  Immediately upon his marriage he settled on a farm of fertile land, well situated and well improved, which he has still more improved.  He is a strong republican, but has never cared for office, preferring to devote his time to his legitimate calling.  He is widely known and a highly respected citizen.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 199
  DAVIS M. BLISS

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 201
  JOHN M. BOND

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 202
  WILLIAM BOOGHER

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 203
  JACOB BOOK

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 204
  WILLIAM S. BOTKINS

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 205
  TIMOTHY B. BOWERSOCK

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 206
  JOHN N. BOWYER

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 209
  MADISON L. BOWYER

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 208
 

G. ALVA BREESE, of Shawnee township, Allen county, Ohio is a great-grandson of John Breese, who was born probably about 1780.  John Breese had a son, Griffith, and Griffith Breese had a son, WILLIAM D., who was the father of G. Alva Breese, the subject of this sketch who was born December 26, 1859.
     Most of the incidents of the life of William D. Breese are well remembered by his child.  He was reared on the old Griffith Breese homestead, and there received his education in the schools of his day, which were not so well supplied with teachers and apparatus as those of the present day.  Upon this old homestead he lived the greater part if not the whole of his life, which extended much beyond the ordinary span, he dying in 1892.  William D. Breese was honored by his party friends with the offices of justice of the peace and treasurer of his township, holding the former for many years.  In politics he was a republican and labored earnestly and successfully for his party's prosperity.  He was a man of Ideas, was a great reader, and was tolerably well versed in law, his necessities as justice of the peace requiring him to read both general and statute law.  In his religious convictions he was a Methodist, and he was a member of the Shawnee Methodist Episcopal church, always living consistently with his convictions he was a Methodist, and he was a member of the Shawnee Methodist Episcopal church, always living consistently with his convictions as a religious man.  William D. Breese married Miss Ellen Yoakum, who were among the yearly settlers of Shawnee township.  To their marriage was born one son, G. Alva, the subject, and they are both now deceased, lying in the cemetery at Shawnee. 
     G. Alva Breese, the date of whose birth has already been stated, was, like his three direct ancestors, whose names have been given, brought up to a farmer's life.  His education was received in the common schools of the township in which he lived.  He has always followed the time-honored pursuit of his ancestors, that of agriculture, and to that industry, as carried on by his father, Mr. Breese has added the department of dairying, keeping at the present time nineteen cows.  In all he cultivates 130 acres of land.  In this calling he has met with abundant success, and by keeping himself fully informed as to the improvements that are constantly being made, even in agriculture, he is enabled to keep abreast of the times and to make farming not only profitable, but at the same time somewhat attractive, a feature which some people think it can not possess.
     In politics Mr. Breese is a republican, but is not actuated in his party fealty by any consideration of office.  His ambition does not lie in that direction, although as farm as qualification is concerned, of that there is no doubt.  But he believes the post of honor is the private station.  Mr. Breese was married to Miss Iva John, daughter of Jehu John, of German township, who is a descendant from Welsh Quaker ancestry, and who was among the early settlers of Northumberland county, Pa.  To this marriage there have been born six children, four of whom are still living, viz.:  Clifford E., Vida M., Don C. and Villa I.  Mr. Breese is descended from a long line of honorable ancestry, and is himself no discredit to their record.  He is upright and square in his dealings with men, and desires to see all men prosper.  Nothing in the shape of underhanded tricks or schemes find any countenance with him, feeling convinced, as he does, that what is done is done forever, and can not be recalled.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 211
  GEORGE BREESE, of Shawnee township, Allen county, Ohio, the eldest son of Griffith Breese, was born Oct. 1, 1817, in Franklin county, Pa.  Griffith Breese was among the earliest settlers of Shawnee township, Allen county, Ohio, and was a son of John Breese, a native of Montgomeryshire, an inland county of Wales.  From Wales he came to the United States in 1800, his wife having previously died.  His children he brought with him.  So far as is known to his descendants his first permanent location was near Chambersburg, Pa., in Franklin county.  A few years later he came to Ohio, settling near Bellefontaine, in Logan county, where he lived until his death, in 1815.  His children were as follows:  Susan, who married Humphrey Evans, and who died in Cincinnati; Griffith; Mary, who married Evan Evans, and who died in Franklin county, Ky.; Robert, who married Lydia Henry, and lived and died in Logan county, Ohio, and John, who died in Pennsylvania.
     Griffith Breese was born in Wales in 1790, and coming, as has been intimated, to the United States in 1800, was reared in Pennsylvania.  He early learned the trades of mason and of weaver, working at the former in summer and at the latter in winter.  In company with Humphrey Evans and Evan Evans, his two brothers-in-law, he removed, in 1819, by way of the Ohio river, on flatboats, which they had purchased, to Cincinnati, Ohio, and thence he went to Butler county, Ohio, where he purchased eighty acres of land, upon which he carried on farming and also his trades of mason and weaver.  Here he remained until 1832, when he removed to Allen county, and lived in the Shawnee council house until January, 1833, at which time the sale of the reservation lands took place.  Of these reservation lands Griffith Breese purchased eighty acres in section No. 10, and an equal amount in each of sections Nos. 6 and 21, and kept on purchasing other tracts and parcels of land until before his death he owned 1,100 acres at once, all in Shawnee township, which he ultimately divided up among his children.  On the eighty acres in section No. 10 he settled, cleared it of its timber in part, erected a brick residence thereon, and lived upon it the remainder of his days, dying Nov. 2, 1848.
     Griffith Breese married Miss Mary L. Mowen, daughter of Lewis Mowen, of Franklin county, Pa.  She died in 1852.  The children born to this marriage were as follows: Nancy, who resides on the old homestead; George, of Shawnee township; John (deceased); William D.; David M., of Shawnee township, and Griffith, who is was a member of the Ninety-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, and died from exposure while in the service of his country.  Mr. Breese was one of the most prominent men of his day in his township, and he took great interest in all matters pertaining to the development of his county's prosperity.  In the early days he was a democrat, and in later life a whig.  While not a member of any church, yet he favored the doctrines of the Baptist denomination, and was always upright and true in his conduct.  Public office he never sought nor desired, but he was always alive to the interests of the political party with which he indentified himself, and also was ready to further any movement promising to promote the public good.
     George Beese came with his parents to Ohio, and remained upon the homestead until after the death of his mother.  His education was such as the schools of that day afforded, which, supplemented by intercourse with the world, has always been sufficient for his necessities.  In 1856 he settled upon a portion of his father's land, in section No. 9, containing 160 acres, and in 1862 he removed to section No. 21, on 240 acres.  This latter farm he cleared and improved, making of it an excellent piece of property.  In 1865 he removed his house to section No. 16, on the same 240-acre tract, and he there engaged in farming until 1882, when he purchased his present farm in sections Nos. 6, and 16, where he is living, retired from active business.  At the time of his retirement from the active control of his property and busines he owned 320 acres of land, which he has divided up among his children.
     In 1855 Mr. Breese was married to Miss Sarah Yoakam, daughter of Solomon and Ruth Yoakam, of Shawnee township, and to this marriage have been born four children, viz:  Charles L., deceased; Mary E., wife of C. D. Strawbridge; Ina and John O.  Politically Mr. Breese is a republican, but cares not for office, the performance of his private duties having always been uppermost in his ambition.  He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a trustee of the church of which he is a member.  Mr. Breese is one of the original settlers of Shawnee township, and assisted in its organization.  He well remembers the Shawnee Indians, who were still living on their reservation when he came into the county.  That they were dissatisfied with its sale is also one of the things he distinctly remembers and also that they spent considerable time in trying to re-purchase it, which of course they could not do.  He has pleasant recollections of this tribe of red men, and says that they were honorable to a high degree, which is in accordance with what many early travelers among them and writers about them also state.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 209
  ABRAHAM BRENNEMAN, one of the oldest settlers of Sugar Creek township, and one of the most successful and wealthy farmers in Allen county, comes from sturdy German ancestry.  His grandfather, MALACHI BRENNEMAN, was a farmer of the state of Virginia, and David Brenneman, son of Malachi, was the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Rockingham county, Va., May 14, 1805, 2as a farmer by occupation, was a well educated man, and was a member of the Christian church.  He married Miss Catherine Myers, who was born Jan. 15, 1809, in Shenandoah county, Va., she being the daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Crumpacker) Myers.  Mr. Brenneman moved to Fairfield county, Ohio, Oct. 1, 1842, and there rented land, and resided upon two different places for three ad a half years.  He then moved to Franklin county, where he remained one and a half years, and in 1847 finally removed to Allen county (then Putnam county), and settled in Monroe township.  His wife had some money and they together bought 110 acres of land, a little of which had been cleared by some former owner, or possibly, squatter.  With the assistance of his sons he cleared the rest of this land, and afterward bought eighty acres more, becoming one of the substantial and prosperous farmers of his day.  David Brenneman and his wife were the parents of twelve children, viz: Daniel F., Abraham, Elizabeth A., Samuel C., Rebecca J., Mary A., Sarah E., Lydia F., David D., John H., Jacob P. and Martha A.  Mr. Brenneman was a deacon in his church for many years, and Mrs. Brenneman was a member of the same church, and he assisted in building the first Christian church in Monroe township.  He was a democrat, and was honored by his fellow-citizens by being elected to the office of township trustee, but cared less for political affairs than for general matters of interest to all, such as religion, education and social progress.  He was a hard-working man, and reared his family to habits of industry, economy and honesty.  Sept. 4, 1892, he died at the age of eighty-seven years and four months.
     Abraham Brenneman, the subject of this sketch, was born Feb. 21, 1831, in Rockingham county, Va., was reared a farmer, and has followed that occupation with more than ordinary success all his life.  When he was about eleven years old his parents removed from Virginia to Fairfield county, Ohio, making the journey was wagon and horses.  This journey is still fresh in his memory.  Coming with his father in 1847 to Allen county, he here assisted in clearing the farm, and was educated, as were other boys of that day, in the common school.  On Aug. 21, 1856, he was married to Eliza Ward, born July 18, 1835, a daughter of WILLIAM and Elizabeth (Ridenour) WARD.
     WILLIAM WARD was the grandson of an Englishman who came to America before the Revolutionary war, and fought in that war as an American soldier.  His name was William, and his son's name was William, bringing the name down to the father of Mrs. Brenneman, so that there were three generations of William Wards.  William Ward, father of Mrs. Brenneman, was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, July 1, 1810.  He and his wife were the parents of four children, viz: Sarah, Eliza, Mary A., and John H.  Their marriage occurred in 1833, and Mr. Ward died Oct. 12, 1894.  He was a member of the United Brethren church.  The first wife of Mr. Ward died when Mrs. Brenneman was six years old, that is, in 1841, and he was then married to Sarah Faustnaught, a widow, ńee Sarah Wright.   To this marriage there were born four children, viz:  George H., Marion, William and David.   After the death of his second wife he married Hanna Angus, by whom he had two children - Elizabeth and Leslie.
     Mr. and Mrs. Brenneman, after their marriage, settled on 150 acres of land near Cairo, in Allen county, a portion of which belonged to his wife before her marriage.  Part of the town of Cairo is laid out on this land.  When he settled thereon but eight acres were cleared, but the remainder was cleared by him and was made into a good farm.  A good and pleasant house was erected by him, and also other buildings, and many other improvements were made.  In 1877 Mr. Brenneman bought his present farm, then containing 250 acres.  This farm was cleared and improved, and cost him $80 per acre, the total cost being $20,000.  This is one of the best farms in Allen county, together with its improvements.  Previously he had purchased, in Monroe township, 177½ acres, and in Monroe and Sugar Creek townships, 160 acres.  He had also 166 acres in Bath township, 185 acres in German township, and eighty acres in Paulding county; making in all 972 acres, all fine farming land.  This property, which is a good fortune in itself, he has acquired and accumulated by his own industry and good management, generally making sure of his investments beforehand, but notwithstanding all the care he has taken, he lost, by misfortune, some $15,000.
     Mr. Brenneman and his wife are the parents of eight children, viz: Henrietta, born Oct. 24, 1858 - died Oct. 20, 1887; William C., born Nov. 20, 1860; Mary C., born Feb. 2, 1863; David W., born Mar. 31, 1865 - and died Oct. 15, 1868; Sarah A., born Jul. 20, 1867; Abraham P., born Mar. 7, 1870 - died Oct. 12, 1871; Jacob B., born Aug. 19, 1872, and Frank H., born Dec. 23, 1874.  Mr. and Mrs. Brenneman are members of the Christian church, and Mr. Brenneman has served his church as trustee.  In politics he is a democrat, but as the above brief sketch indicates, he has always cared less for politics than success in life as an agriculturists and as an accumulator of property.  His career and example forcibly illustrate the possibilities of American citizenship, teaching what may be accomplished by industry, economy, hard work and good judgment.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 214 (See also, Biography above this one)
  DAVID BRENNEMAN, of Marion township, Allen county, Ohio, is a son of Jacob and Caroline (Ogden) Brenneman, and was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, Nov. 28, 1840.  He was brought to Allen county in September, 1853, by his parents, and was here reared to manhood.  Aug. 12, 1862, he enlisted in company A, One Hundred and Eighteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve three years or during the war, and was honorably discharged at Knoxville, Tenn., June 20, 1865.  His regiment left Lima Sept. 12, 1862, and in Oct. of same year was engaged in guard duty on the Kentucky Central railroad; later, he was at the siege of Knoxville, and was twenty-one days and nights under fire; next had a hard fight at Mossy Creek, in Tennessee; then returned to Knoxville and was engaged in building pontoon boats until the spring of 1864, when he went on the Atlanta campaign, fighting at Resaca, Buzzard's Roost, Kenesaw Mountain, Snake Creek Gap, Peach Tree Creek, and at Atlanta.  After the fall of that city Mr. Brenneman was with Gen. Thomas in Tennessee, was at Strawberry Plains, Jonesboro, Morristown, and on to Salisbury, N. C.; was also at Lynchburg, Va., and several other points, doing good work in the engineer branch of the service until his final discharge.
     Returning from the war, Mr. Brenneman engaged in the saw mill business for four years, but in the meantime, Sept. 27, 1866, married Phebe A. Lutz, who was born Dec. 13, 1846, a daughter of John and Sarah A. (Griffith) Lutz.  John Lutz was of German descent and his wife of Welsh extraction.  The former was born in Perry county, Ohio, Jan. 13, 1820, a son of John Lutz, who was born in Maryland in 1787 and married Louise Leese, who was born Oct. 14, 1794.  To John and Louisa Lutz, the father of Mrs. Brenneman, was thrice married - first to Sarah A. Griffith, who was born Mar. 19, 1837, a daughter of David Griffith, who bore him four children; his second wife Elizabeth Miller,  who also became the mother of four children, and his third wife was Sarah Doner, who bore him four children, likewise.
     After his marriage, Mr. Brenneman located in Amanda township, Allen county, lived there four years, and then came to his present farm of 160 acres in Marion township.  There have been born to him four children, named Laura A., Irvin E., Sarah E. and Stephen A.  Mr. and Mrs. Brenneman are members of the Methodist church, and for nine years Mr. Benneman has been trustee in that body.  In politics he is independent, and has served as trustee of his township four years.  He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to Armstrong post, at Lima.  Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Brenneman, Laura married David Williams, a farmer of Van Wert county, and is the mother of three children, named Groen Lenora, William David and Anna; Irvin married Ollie Kircofe, and is working on the home farm; Sarah E. is married to Albert Morris, a blacksmith in the Lake Erie & Western Railroad shops, at Lima.
     The Brenneman homestead was first settled by Christian Stukey, the deed having been signed by President Andrew Jackson, May 2, 1833.  The next owner was Daniel Conrad, and by him it was transferred to Jacob Brenneman in March, 1853.  It is now one of the finest farms in the township, is one of the oldest settled in the neighborhood, and Mr. Brenneman has cleared up the greater pat of it.  Mr. Brenneman relates many reminiscences of the Civil war, which are too voluminous for repetition in the sketch of this character.  He was a brave and faithful soldier, and his conduct in civil life ahs been such as to win the esteem and heartfelt regard of all who know him.  He is upright, public spirited, and generous in his impulses, and few citizens of Marion township stand in a better light before the public than he.
     The family originally were German Mennonites, who fled from persecution in Germany and sought shelter in the country where all religions and sects are given freedom to worship in their own way.  They were faithful followers of Menno Symons, and the founder of the branch of the family to which John L. Brenneman belongs was Abraham,  his grandfather, who was born about 1745, so that it was probable that the family first settled in southeastern Pennsylvania, some time prior to the Revolutionary war.  Abraham Brenneman first married a young lady named Maria, who was born about 1747, and died March 29, 1788, the mother of seven children, viz: Magdalene, born Dec. 6, 1770; Elizabeth, born Feb. 10, 1773; Malachi, born May 11, 1775; Francis, born Oct. 18, 1777; Barbara, born Jan. 13, 1780; Daniel, born Mar. 24, 1782, and Abraham, after the death of his first wife, married Magdalena Schenk, who was the mother of seven children, viz: Henry, John, Jacob, Catherine, Mary, David and Abraham.
     Abraham Brenneman, when grown to manhood, left the home in Pennsylvania, and settled on a farm in Rockingham county, Va., where he prospered and reared his family, and there died Mar. 8, 1815, in his seventy-first year.  He was well remembered by many people of his latter day, as he was noted for his hospitality and liberality to all poor people; he always kept a large store of wheat on hands to give to the poor and needy, and many were those who could look to him as their benefactor.  He was honored and respected by all, and from him fourteen children have descended, of whom all grew to manhood and womanhood and raised families, excepting Catherine, who had no children.  All the Brenneman family who are settled in Allen county, except Christian Brenneman, who lives in Sugar Creek township, trace their descent back to this Abraham Brenneman, while Christian Brenneman traces his descent to a brother of Abraham.
     Jacob Brenneman, the third son of Abraham, by his second wife, was the father of the subject of this sketch, and was born on the old homestead in Rockingham county, Va., Oct. 7, 1796, and married Mary, the daughter of John Berry.  After marriage he settled on the old homestead in Rockingham county and eight children were born to them, the four oldest of whom, John L.  Abraham, Barbara and Isaac, grew up the reared families; the four youngest died while quite young after moving to Ohio.  About 1828 Mr. Brenneman moved his family from the old home in Virginia to Fairfield county, Ohio, where he bought a farm of 120 acres of partly cleared land; this he improved and was prospering when his wife died, about October, 1832. In the fall of 1836 he married Caroline, the daughter of David and Rebecca (Frey) Ogden, who were natives of Virginia and of English descent.  By this marriage Mr. Brenneman had eight children, viz: Catherine, David, Jacob, Rebecca, Noah, William F. (deceased), Sarah A. and Charles B.
     About September, 1853, Mr. Brenneman moved his family to Marion township, Allen county, and settled on a farm of 160 acres, a small part of which had been cleared.  He improved this land and made it his home the remainder of his life, dying Jan. 1, 1865, being in his sixty-ninth year.  He was a prosperous and very successful farmer, and a hard-working and honest man, and taught his children that hard work was honorable, and that they should be honest and upright in all things.  It may be well said that his word was as good as his bond.  He was a democrat in politics, and a faithful member of the Mennonite church, and was honored and respected by all who knew him.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 212
  HON. CALVIN S. BRICE, one of Ohio's favorite and most distinguished sons, was born in Denmark, Marion (now Morrow) county, of the Buckeye state, Sept. 17, 1845, and is a son of William Kirkpatrick and Elizabeth (Stewart) Brice.  The father was descended from an old Maryland and Pennsylvania family, was a graduate of Hanover college and the Princeton Theological seminary, and was a clergyman of much note, while the mother, a lady of fine education and exemplary traits of character, was a native of Carrollton, Ohio.
     Calvin S. Brice, now United States senator from the great commonwealth of Ohio, obtained his early education in the common schools of his district, and this was supplemented by attendance at schools of a higher grade at Lima, and such was his native ability and industry that, at the early age of thirteen years, he was so far advanced that he was able to enter the preparatory department of Miami university, at Oxford, in his native state, where he studied one year, and then entered the freshman class.  To those who knew the man, when a young, red-haired boy, endeavoring to get an education at Miami university, his after life has always been a story of exceeding interest.  What wealth he may have has been earned through his own efforts, supplemented by a judgment and; business capacity rarely equaled. He inherited none of it. The only heritage that came to young Brice was a sound constitution, an active mind, a thorough brand of American pluck and grit, and an intelligent comprehen­sion of the way in which to put these to the best use. While at school his progress was marked, and he was looking forward to graduation, when there came a call that his patriotic impulses and the ardor of a true-hearted American boy would not permit him to ignore. When the call of the president came, young Brice, although but fifteen years of age, relinquished his studies, enlisted as a member of Capt. Dodd's University company, and in April, 1861, took his first lesson in military discipline at Camp Jackson, Columbus. In April, 1862, he was enrolled a member of company A, Eighty-sixth Ohio volunteer infantry, of which Prof. R. W. McFarland was captain, and served with the regiment during the summer of that year in West Virginia. Returning to the university, he resumed his studies, completed the regular course, and graduated in June, 1863.
     Mr. Brice then took charge of one of the public schools of Lima, and while so engaged acted for some time as deputy county auditor. He had already formed the purpose of devoting himself to the profession of law, and made use of such spare time as he could command in study until the spring of 1864, when the old impulse to make his power effective for the good of the Union cause led him to again return to the field. He recruited company E, One Hundred and Eightieth Ohio volunteer infantry, and as captain served in the First division of the Twenty-third corps in Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas, until July, 1865. While still in the field he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel for meritorious services, but owing to the return of peace he was never mustered in under this commission. With the return of peace, Mr. Brice again devoted himself to what he felt was the real work of his life. He applied himself, with renewed activity and interest, to the study of law, subsequently entering the law department of the university of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and was admitted to practice by the state and the United States district and circuit courts at Cincinnati, in the spring of 1866.
     Associating himself with Mr. Irvine, he formed the law firm of Irvine & Brice, and began the practice of his chosen profession in Lima, where he remained more than ten years. As a member of this law firm Mr. Brice became connected with the legal department of the old Lake Erie & Louisville railroad. This was the beginning of the career of Mr. Brice as a railroad magnate. As one of the counsel for this road, he obtained an insight into the actual work of railroading and saw spread before him the opportunities which he subsequently grasped. He became interested in the road financially, modestly it is true, but his holdings gradually increased. His mind, capable of looking into the future, foreseeing what should be done and doing it at the right time, I saw where the money was being lost in the railroad business and where it should be made. Quick of conception and equally quick in execution, Mr. Brice recognized that the extension of systems and the opening up of new territory would enhance the property.
     This idea developed and resulted in the construction of the "Nickel Plate" railroad, a name given to the road in jest by Mr. Brice, and which he and his associates constructed parallel to the Lake Shore road. The Lake Shore had refused to make a satisfactory arrangement for taking care of the traffic turned over to it by the Lake Erie & Western, and its refusal led to the building of this new line from Chicago to Buffalo, which it was compelled to buy to get rid of the dangerous opposition that it gave promise of being. This operation opened the eyes of the eastern rail­road world to this rising genius of the west. His subsequent career as the moving spirit of large railroad interests and corporate investments is thoroughly familiar to the public.
     In politics, Mr. Brice has likewise been singularly fortunate. He stands today the leading politician in a great state, and one of the men of national prominence as a democrat, with courage to do what he believes to be right, and what the best interests of the whole people demand. He first came before the people in politics when he was named for the Tilden electoral ticket in 1876. He was also on the Cleveland electoral ticket in 1884, and was a delegate to the Saint Louis convention in 1888, where he was elected to represent Ohio on the national democratic committee, and he was made chairman of the campaign committee in the ensuing national campaign. At the death of M. William H. Barnum, in 1889, Mr. Brice was made chairman of the national committee, making a vigorous, but unsuccessful fight for the re-election of Mr. Cleveland. No man ever spent more of his time for the advancement of his party than did  Mr. Brice in that campaign, and it is notorious that no man ever spent more of his private means for the advancement of the cause of the ticket which he was championing.
     In January, 1890, Mr. Brice was elected by the legislature as a United States senator to succeed Hon. Henry B. Payne. In the senate Mr. Brice has not been compelled to serve the probationary period that usual falls to the lot of young members. He forged at once to the front and became an active and important figure in the councils of his party. On the troublesome questions growing out of the railroad system and transportation problems, his advice has been eagerly sought by statesmen of both parties. He devoted much time to the tariff question, and it was largely through his work that the party was able, so far as the senate was concerned, to agree upon a bill that consolidated the party vote in that body, and made it possible for the bill to be­come a law and tariff reform to be an assured fact. Mr. Brice will never be counted an orator. He is not gifted with rhetorical speech, but his short pithy five-minute speeches have condensed within them the essence of the subject upon which he speaks and drives a point home to his hearers in a way that im­presses itself upon the understanding. He has been a hard-working member and has reflected credit upon the state, which has honored him with a seat in the senate of the United States. The vast railroad interests with which Mr. Brice has been and is connected, have not prevented his active labor in other fields of invest­ment or development.  He organized and became president of the gaslight company at Lima; assumed a controlling interest in the First National Bank of Lima upon its incorporation, and has been the promoter of, or a large stockholder in, many of the manufacturing interests in that thriving place. He is also identified with the Chase National Bank of New York, and a leading spirit and director of the Southern Trust company. Contrary to an opinion expressed, Mr. Brice does not speculate in stocks. Purely speculative profits appear to have little charm for Mr. Brice, he rather preferring the fruits of a bold enterprise in his particular field wherein his many friends can share; and such is his prestige that the subscribers to such as are brought out by him are only limited by the amount of the subscription. As a trustee of the Miami university in Ohio, vice-president of the Ohio society in New York, vice-president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity of New York, a member of the Manhattan, the Lotos, the Athletic, and other leading clubs, and in like position of a public or social character, Mr. Brice has proven himself a useful and campanionable man.
     Calvin S. Brice was most happily united in marriage September 9, 1869, at Lima, Ohio, with Miss C. Olivia Meily, and this union is blessed by the birth of three sons and two daughters.  Although engrossed in business and social affairs he never carries them into the quiet atmosphere of home. As soon as he turns from his office in the afternoon, by a wonderful power of self-control, he shakes off all business care, and goes happily to a home that is palatial in its appointments and restful in its luxury. There, environed by the tenderness of family ties, and delighted by the grace of culture and the beauty of art, Mr. Brice welcomes his friends to royal hospitality and most enjoyable entertainment.
Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 171
  REV. WM. KIRKPATRICK BRICE, deceased, was born in Adams county,  Pa., near Gettysburg, November 12, 1812.
     Alexander and Margaret (Kearsley) Brice, his parents, moved to Springboro, Warren county, Ohio, in 1815.
     In 1830 he became a member of the Washington church, and having the ministry in view, soon began his studies at Walnut Hills at the opening of Lane seminary, which was then a classical as well as a theological school. In 1836 he graduated at Hanover college and at once went to the Princeton seminary, where he finished his course in 1841. He was licensed to preach, by the Second presbytery of New York, March 17, 1841, and began his ministry in the churches of Washington and Muddy Run, in Miami presbytery, serving them six months and then took charge of Canaan church in Marion presbytery, and in 1843 he was ordained and installed as pastor of Canaan church, also preaching as stated supply of Mount Gilead one-third of his time. In the beginning of the year 1849 he took charge of the Truro, Kalida and Ottawa churches in Putnam county, Ohio, and was installed as pastor of Truro in 1850. His labors at Truro were blessed, the church becoming self-supporting and growing to be one of the largest in the synod. Here he remained about twenty years, up to the time of his death. In 1869 he had an attack of pneumonia which left him with impaired lungs, from the effect of which he died July 19, 1870. In 1845 he married Elizabeth Stewart, of Carlton, Ohio, who died April 16,1852, leaving three children—Calvin S., William and James, the last named died in infancy.  William died in the spring of 1890. In 1854 Rev. Brice married Clementine Cunningham, of Lima, Ohio, who is still living, by whom he had four children— John K., Anna E. (Mrs. O. B. Selfridge, Jr.), Herbert L. and Mary, wife of Edward Ritchie, of Cincinnati, Ohio. By the first marriage of the Rev. William Kirkpatrick Brice, it will be perceived that he became the father of Ohio's eminent statesman and business prodigy, Calvin S. Brice, whose biography and portrait precede this sketch. |
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 173
  HERBERT L. BRICE. - Among the most active and prominent young attorneys of Lima, Ohio, is Herbert L. Brice, a son of Rev. William K. and Clementine Brice. Mrs. Brice is a daughter of William Cunningham, a leading citizen of the same place. Herbert L. Brice, the subject of this sketch, was born near Columbus Grove, Ohio, April 9, 1865, and at the death of his father, which occurred when young Herbert was about five years of age; his mother settled in Lima, her present home. Here Mr. Brice obtained his early education in the public schools, remaining in these schools until he was fifteen years old, and in 1880 entered Oxford academy, where he prepared for Wooster university. Entering Princeton college in 1883, he pursued his studies there three years, and was graduated from that institution in 1886. Having already chosen his profession he at once entered Columbia Law school in New York city, and was admitted to the bar at Columbus, Ohio, in 1888. So careful and thorough had he always been in his school and college courses that he found himself prepared to immediately engage in the practice of his profession, and at once formed a partnership with S. S. Wheeler at Lima, Ohio, which partnership continues to the present time.  Politically Mr. Brice is a republican and has always taken great interest in the success of his party. He is also to some extent engaged in business, being at the present writing. president of the Lima Natural Gas company, and he is also a member of the B. P. O. E., No. 9, of Lima, Ohio. Few men in this part of Ohio have a brighter prospect before them than has Mr. Brice, who is thoroughly well qualified for any practice that may fall to his share. His social standing, it is needless to say, is co-equal with that of the most promi­nent citizens of the county, his ancestors, as. well as himself, having been quite eminent.
Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 174
  JOSEPH BROWER

Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 215
  MADISON BRYAN, city marshal of Delphos, and one of the well known citizens, is a native of Marion township, Allen county, Ohio, where he was born on August 26, 1852, is the son of Morgan and Sarah (Seatehrs) Bryan, deceased, both natives of Fairfield county, Ohio.  They were among the early settlers of Allen county, at the time of their coming Delphos being known as section No. 10.  They lived and died in Allen county, and of their twelve children ten are now living.
     Madison Bryan was reared on his father's farm in Allen county, and attended the country schools.  He left the farm in 1872, was elected city marshal of Delphos, for a term of two years; in 1895 he was re-elected for another term of two years, and is filling the office at the present time in a most efficient and satisfactory manner.  In politics, Mr. Bryan is a democrat, and is quite prominent in the councils of his party.  He is a member of the I. O. O. F. fraternity, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.  Mr. Bryan was married July 1, 1873, to Allie Lewis who was born in Van Wert county, Ohio, the daughter of Morgan Lewis, deceased.  To this union two children have been born, as follows: Arminta Gertrude and Nellie.
 Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 217
  GEORGE BURKHART. - The Burkhart family had its origin in Germany, as its name implies.  It belongs therefore to that strong race of people, usually industrious, usually honest, usually able.  The influx of German blood into this country is exceedingly valuable to Americans, whose habits of life tend too much toward the production of a weakly and nervous race.  The eldest one of the family to whom it is deemed necessary in this biography to refer, was George Burkhart, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, who died in his native land, aged sixty years.  He was married twice, and by his first marriage had one son, Michael, who emigrated to the United States and settled in Jackson county, Ohio.  By his second marriage he had two sons, George And Jacob, who came to this country and joined Michael in Jackson county in 1843.  Upon the arrival of the latter two brothers they found Michael engaged in the manufacture of matches, and not long after their arrival in this country all three brothers moved to Columbus, Ohio, where they all continued in the same industry for some six years.  Then, owing to the introduction of machinery into the manufacture of these useful little articles, they found themselves unable to compete with the more modern methods, and in 1847 they abandoned the field, permitted machinery to have its way, and purchased three eighty-acre tracts of land, all adjoining, each having the same quantity of land, and settled down as it seemed for life to the occupation of farming.  This land was in Noble township, Auglaize county, Ohio.  The trees they cut down mostly for the sake of clearing the land, but not feeling willing to sacrifice so much excellent timber, as many others did and still do, they engaged here again on the farms in making matches, thus converting at least a portion of their trees into value instead of into ashes.  Michael and his family still live in Auglaize county.  Jacob Burkhart with his family removed from Auglaize county and are scattered around the country, while George remained upon his farm, where he still resides.  He was married the first time in Germany, and his wife died in 1843.  For a second wife he married Catherine Miller, of Lancaster county, Ohio.  By his first wife he had two children: Henry, who died on the way to America; and George, who resides in Shawnee township, Allen county.  By his second marriage he had the following children: Frederick, Henry, William, Jacob, Caroline, wife of Lewis Bowsher, and Maggie, wife of John Fisher.
     George Burkhart, the subject of this sketch, is the second son of George and Elizabeth (Treerginger) Burkhart, and was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, Mar. 20, 1843.  With his father he came to the United States, and was reared upon the farm, with but little or no educational facilities, except such as he found at home around the family fireside, his father serving as his teacher as well as circumstances would permit; but with all that could be done he was compelled to rely mainly on his own efforts for such learning as he acquired, as he has since done for the wealth that he has acquired.  He is therefore a self-educated and a self-made man in every respect.  At an early age he began working away form home, in order that he might make a little money for himself.  Brought up in the woods as he was, it was but natural that he should be a skillful wood-chopper, for there is, or at least used to be, such a thing as skill in chopping wood, especially in cutting down a tree so as to have it fall precisely where it was desired to lie, and then also in chopping off a log, all of which is Greek to the modern farmer's boy.  When he was twenty-two years of age he purchased forty acres of land in section Nov. 22, which is a portion of his present farm, and upon this forty acres he settled down.  Here he erected a sorghum mill and engaged in making sorghum syrup, in which industry he has been engaged ever since.  His farm contains 121 acres of well-improved land, and the improvements thereon are among the best.  He has a fine residence and other good buildings, upon the former putting the first slate roof in the township.  MR. Burkhart's specialty is potatoes, of which tuber he raises on an average 3,000 bushels a year.   He is also engaged in breeding and raising stock, feeding all the produce of his fields, which he finds much more profitable than to sell grain, hay, etc., from his farm, for by this process he retains the fertilizers.  Besides these branches of industry Mr. Burkhart is also engaged in the production of oil.
     Mr. Burkhart, politically, is a democrat, and is always interested in his party's success, whether prospects are bright or gloomy.  He has served twice as township trustee.  At the first election there was but one scratched ticket against him, and at the second election, in 1892, there was none.  He is interested in educational matters, equally with politics, and has served as school director in his district.  At the present time he is a trustee of Lima college, and he was on the executive committee on organization.  He was also one of the building committee, and one of the first board of trustees. 
     Religiously Mr. Burkhart is a member of the Lutheran church, and has served as elder thereof and also as treasurer.  Mr. Burkhart has been married twice, his first wife having been Miss Mary Bowsher, daughter of Benjamin Bowsher, who died in 1876, leaving the following children:  Charles, Ida, Frank, William and Mary.  His second wife was Miss Emma Bowsher, daughter of Samuel Bowsher, by whom he has one child, viz: Francis, who was born in 1869, was educated first in the common schools, and afterward at the Western Normal university at Ada, and is a graduate therefrom.  He has taught school in county districts and in Lima college, and is at the present time secretary of the Lima College association. Politically he is a democrat, and in 1895 was elected justice of the peace of Shawnee township.  Mr. Burkhart is a strong believer in the education of the young, and has given his children the best education possible to him.  In every other way he is an enterprising, intelligent and progressive citizen.
Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 219
  ENOS G. BURTON, M. D., of Lima, Allen county, Ohio, with his office in Kendall block, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, April 14, 1846, and is of English-Scotch descent paternally, and maternally of German extraction.
     Thomas Burton, grandfather of the doctor, was an early pioneer of Pickaway county, was a substantial farmer, and married a Miss Cutler, of Scotch descent.  Their son, Luke D. Burton, father of the doctor, was born in Pickaway county in 1818 and was also a farmer.  He married Cynthia A. Hoffhines, who was born in Pickaway county Jan. 10, 1819, this union resulting in the birth of the following children in the order named:  William V., John H. and Sarah A., deceased; George W., Enos G., Edward T., Nelson J.; Luke, deceased.  In 1860 Luke D. Burton brought his family to Auglaize count and bought a farm in Douchequet township, which he cultivated until his death, which occurred in June, 1876.  He was a sincere member of the Lutheran church and in politics was a democrat, while as a citizen he was public spirited, generous and useful.  His widow is now a resident of Wapakoneta, Auglaize county, where she is passing the declining years of her life in peace and comfort.
    Dr. Enos G. Burton was reared on the farm until seventeen years of age, received a good academical education, and for six years followed the vocation of school-teaching.  He then read medicine under Dr. C. Berlin, of Wapakoneta, and then attended the Medical college at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he graduated in September, 1871.  He immediately began the practice of his chosen profession at Westminster, where his skill and ability were quickly recognized and where he has met with success in his practice and a remunerative patronage seldom equaled in rural towns.  He is still an ardent student of the science and practice of medicine, and beside his well-assorted and well-stocked library of choice standard medical works, he subscribes for the best periodical literature devoted to the science of medicine and surgery, published either in America or Europe, and is thus enabled to keep abreast of the progress made in his profession from day to day and keep himself fully posted in its technology.
     The marriage of Dr. Burton took place May 18, 1875, to Miss Emma J. Brown, and to this felicitous union have been born the following children:  Greg E., deceased; Edna O., Elma V., Don M. and Helen H.  Of these Miss Edna O. has been, for the past six years, under the instruction of a noted local teacher of music in Lima and is already quite proficient in the art.  Fraternally Dr. Burton is a master Mason of lodge No. 205, at Lima, and is also chief ranger of tent No. 650, Independent Order of Foresters, of the same city.  In politics he is active as a democrat.
     MRS. EMMA J. (BROWN) BURTON was born in Logan county, Ohio, Dec. 6, 1856, graduated from the high school at Rushsylvania, and for two years was engaged in teaching.  The father of this accomplished lady was born in Petersburg, Va., Apr. 7, 1824, and a minister of the Methodist Protestant church all his useful life, and never attended a conference to which he did not devote all his salary.  He married Dec. 24, 1846, in Rushsylvania, Logan county, Ohio,  Miss Martha J. Blair, a native of Nicholas county, Ky., born June 19, 1825, the union resulting in the following children:  William U. (deceased), Henry M., John F. (deceased), Margaret A. (wife of Samuel McCoy), Emma J. (Mrs. Dr. Burton), and Marshall (deceased).  In 1860, Rev. Mr. Brown left Logan county and brought his family to Allen county and located in Westminster.  The reverend gentleman was a true patriot and entered the Union army as a private in company A, One Hundred and Eighty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, but was speedily promoted from the ranks to the chaplaincy of his regiment.  This service, however, ruined his health, producing an incipient consumption that culminated in his death some six or seven years later.  For eight years after locating in Westminster, the Rev. Mr. Brown filled a number of circuits in his ministerial capacity, and was called - the pious , good and faithful steward that he was - to meet the Master, August 25, 1873.  His venerated widow is still a resident of Westminster and is beloved by all who knew her or who remember her lamented husband - and none who knew him can ever forget him.
Source:  A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page  218

 

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