GEORGE L. HINKLE.    Among the native sons of Butler county who have here passed their lives and by their energy, integrity and progressive methods have attained to a marked success in temporal affairs is the subject of this brief review, who is one of  the prominent and highly honored members of the agricultural contingent in the county, his home place being located in Wayne township.  He is a representative of one of the pioneer families of this section of the state, his paternal grandparents having located in Butler county in the closing years of the eighteenth century, before Ohio was admitted to the Union, and having established their home in the sylvan wilds and forests still standing practically untouched by the hand of man, while the Indians disputed dominion with the white settlers who were seeking to extend the march of civilization into the new country.
     George L. Hinkle was born in Madison township, this county, on the 12th of June, 1858, and is a son of Benjamin and Nancy (Selby) Hinkle, both of whom are still living, maintaining their home on a farm in Madison township.  In that same township the father was born, the date of his nativity having been Dec. 24, 1827, and here he has been actively identified with agricultural pursuits during the entire course of his life,,, while he has ever commanded the unqualified confidence and regard of the people of his native county.  He is a man of mature judgment and strong mentality and his life has been one of industry and definite accomplishment, so that he is numbered among the substantial and influential farmers of this favored section of the state.  He has resided on his present fine homestead farm since 1859, having previously purchased and sold a number of other farm properties in the county.  In politics he is a stanch Democrat and both he and his wife hold membership in the Baptist church.  Their marriage was solemnized on the 26th of September, 1850, Mrs. Hinkle having been born in this county, on the 18th of March, 1830, and having been here reared and educated, while she likewise is a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of the county.  Joseph Hinkle, the grandfather of the subject, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1787, two years before the inauguration of the first president of the United States, and five years later he was brought by his parents to Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his life, having become one of the representative farmers of Butler county, where he died on the 3d of July, 1881, the day made memorable by the assassination of President Garfield.  He was well versed in Indian lore and customs, having passed the early portion of his life in Ohio when the Indians were more in evidence than the white settlers, and his reminiscences of the pioneer era were graphic and interesting.  To Benjamin and Nancy (Selby) Hinkle were born eleven children, of whom only four are living, namely: Mary; George L., who is the immediate subject of this sketch; Bertha, who is the wife of Philip Telman who is engaged in farming near Dayton, this state, and Benjamin, Jr., a successful farmer of Preble county, Ohio.
     The subject of this review was reared on the home farm, in Madison township, and his educational advantages were such as were afforded in the public schools of the locality.  He initiated his independent career at the age of twenty-two, and has been consecutively identified with the great basic industry of agriculture, which he has found worthy of his best efforts and through which he has gained independence and unequivocal prosperity.  He continued to reside in Madison township until 1900, when he removed to his present farm, known as the Cory place, in section 26, Wayne township, the same being well improved and comprising one hundred and fifty-one acres of most arable land.  He is enterprising and progressive, and the prescience to take advantage of opportunities presented, and has thus been able to make his success cumulative in character, while he stands as a type of loyal and public-spirited citizenship, ever standing ready to endorse and support all measures projected for the general good of the community.  In politics he gives his allegiance to the Democratic party, and while he has never sought public office he has been called upon to serve as a member of the school board of his district, while for twelve years he was incumbent of the office of road supervisor of Madison township.  Neither he or his wife are formally identified with any religious organization, but they contribute to the support of church work.  They have an interesting family of children, all of whom have been or will be afforded the best possible educational advantages, of which the older ones, who have initiated their work in this line, have shown themselves very appreciative, making excellent and gratifying progress in their studies.
     On the 22d of December, 1880,  Mr. Hinkle was united in marriage to Miss Nancy A. Bratton, the ceremony being solemnized at the home of her parents, in Madison township.  She was born in Madison township and is a daughter of Mordacai and Matilda (Huffman) Bratton, both of whom were likewise born and reared in this country, the former on the 19th of September, 1827, and the latter on the 27th of January, 1828.  They resided for a few years in Illinois, and with this exception have maintained their home in Butler county from time of birth to the present.  Mr. Bratton being one of the honored pioneers and influential farmers of Madison township.  They became the parents of nine children, all of whom are living with the exception of the eldest daughter, Mary Catherine, who was the wife of Martin Weaver, and who died in 1898, at the age of fifty years.  Mrs. Hinkle was the sixth in order of birth.  Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Hinkle we enter the following brief record in conclusion of this sketch: Roxie M. was born Jan. 15, 1882, and remains at the parental home;  Ethel who was born Mar. 12, 1884, was married, on the 28th of December, 1902, to William Schul, and they reside in Greenbush, Preble county: Clare W. was born Dec. 20, 1886; Clinton C., Nov. 29, 1888; Leroy W., May 1, 1891; Orvin T., Mar. 11, 1896; George D., who was born Feb. 2, 1899, died on the 1st of the following August, and Arthur C. was born Apr. 19, 1901.
Source: Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio - Publ. B. F. Bowen & Co., Publishers - 1905 - Page 377