OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS

A Part of Genealogy Express

 

Welcome to
Clinton County, Ohio
History & Genealogy

BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History of Clinton County, Ohio
Its People, Industries and Institutions
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Albert J. Brown, A.M.
Supervising Editor
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With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and
Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families
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ILLUSTRATED
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B.F. Bowen & Co., Inc.
Indianapolis, Indiana
1915
Contrib. by Sharon Wick
 
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

< CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO 1915 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >


W. H. Dakin
 
  GEORGE M. DENNY, of Chester township is an unpretentious, unassuming man, who has had a large success in agriculture and who is well known throughout Clinton county.  Mr. Denny  was born on February 11, 1871, in Chester township, on the farm where he lives.
     The parents of George M. Denny were John P. and Martha (Collett) Denny, the former of whom was born on July 4, 1823, near Lebanon, in Warren county, and the latter was born on Feb. 1, 1831, the daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (McKay) Collett.  On his mother's side, therefore, Mr. Denny is connected with two of the very oldest families in Clinton county. His grandfather on his paternal side, John Denny, married Hannah Leap.  He was born in Dec. 22, 1782, in New Jersey, and died on Sep. 3, 1853, and his wife was born on Oct. 13, 1792, in New Jersey, and died on Mar. 28, 1870.  They came to Ohio after their marriage and located in Warren county.  After moving to this county and settling in Chester township, they lived on a farm all of their lives.  Eleven children were born to John and Hannah Denny; Thomas, born on Jan. 12, 1813; Martha, Sept. 18, 1814; Peter, Jan. 10, 1816; Faithful, Aug. 26, 1818; Hannah, Feb. 7, 1821; John P., July 4, 1823; Sarah, Aug. 21, 1825; Elizabeth, Oct. 17, 1827; Joseph, Nov. 23, 1829; Samuel, Mar. 31, 1832; and Abigail, Sept. 26, 1835.
     John P. Denny was a farmer in Chester township, where he spent all of his life and where he  owned four hundred and twenty-eight acres of land.  He owned the farm upon which his son, George M., now lives and he erected all of the buildings which now stand on this farm.  George M. Denny was one of two children born to his parents, the other being Anna C., who is unmarried.
     George M. Denny was educated in the common schools of Chester township and has spent his entire life on the farm.  He is one of the most extensive farmers of the township, he and his sister owning five hundred and forty-three acres of land at the present time.
    
On Oct. 24, 1894, George M. Denny was married to Mary Antram, the daughter of Anshlem and Louisa (Dakin) Antram.  To this marriage two children have been born: John A., born on Oct. 23, 1806; and Ruth McKay, Aug. 7, 1913.
     Mr. and Mrs. George M. Denny are members of the Jonas Run Baptist church and Mr. Denny, like his father before him, votes the Republican ticket.  In this section of Clinton county, few families have occupied a position of greater prominence during the past half century than the Dennys.
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page  638
  GEN. JAMES WILLIAM DENVER.  "Through evens God makes all society plastic, and then raises up some great man to stamp his image and superscription upon the nation's hot and glowing heart."  Few citizens of this great state of Ohio have ever served humanity or held the public esteem in such generous measure as has the late Gen. James W. Denver.  Certainly, few have achieved the distinction accorded him during a  long and illustrious career.  At the zenith of his powers, he became a national figure, and in this phase of his life, as well as in those of lesser public importance, he acquitted himself with signal honor and ability.  This man seems to have leaped with a bound into places of distinction achieved by others only after slow and arduous labor.  Through the successive stages of soldier, military official, lawyer, and statesman, he arose to the place of legislature in the national halls of Congress, governor of a Western Territory, now a state, and general in the United States army.  And in all of these, so great was this public service, that he reflected honor and glory upon the place that could claim him as citizen.
     James W. Denver, son of Capt. Patrick and Jane (Campbell) Denver, was born at Winchester, Virginia, on Oct. 23, 1817, descendant of a family whose history carries us back to the days of William the Conqueror.  On the day that this nation laid to rest the "Father of his country" there landed on these shores a man whose part of the Irish rebellion had caused him to flee the mother country to avoid the penalty which the British government demanded for his patriotism, for a price had been put upon his head.  this was Patrick Denver, grandfather of Gen. James W. Denver.
     With his family, Patrick Denver went to the beautiful valley of Virginia to make his home.  One of his sons, Arthur, was in the naval service, and was one of the men taken in Chesapeake bay and confined at Halifax by British authority to be sent to England on trial for treason, on the ground that his allegiance was due England, though he was an adopted citizen of the United States.  Another son, Patrick, Jr., father of the subject of this biography, served first as lieutenant, and then as captain in the American army in the War of 1812.  This young soldier married Jane Campbell, whose family was also distinguished for military service.  In 1830 Capt. Patrick Denver removed with his family to this county, locating first at Wilmington and eventually settling on a farm near that town.
     James, afterward General Denver, was the eldest of eleven children.  His youth and early manhood were spent on the paternal farm, which he left in order to study thereafter he practiced law and edited the Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic newspaper at Xenia, Ohio.  He then went westward, locating at Plattsburg, Missouri, and later, at Platte City, in the same state, where he remained until the outbreak of the war with Mexico.  Fired with patriotic zeal, he recruited Company H of the Twelfth United States Volunteer Infantry, of which he was commissioned captain on Apr. 9, 1847, serving in General Scott's army until the termination of hostilities.  He then returned to Platte county, Missouri, and edited the Platt Argus until suddenly word came from beyond the Rocky mountains that there was found at last the fabled land of gold.  In 1850, James Denver's adventurous nature sought new fields of conquest, and with a little band of followers, he started bravely across the Western plains and trackless ranges of the giant mountains.  Only stout hearts could have defied the dangers and hardships that were before them, and although the ranks of the little group of travelers were decimated by disease, the survivors pushed onward until their hazardous journey was accomplished. 
     Finally, the mountains were climbed and the streams forded, and the forests traversed, and Sacramento was reached.  It offered an attractive stopping-place, and there General Denver remained until the spring of 1851, when he engaged in trading between Humboldt bay and the mines.  Temperamentally unable to keep out of politics, it was not long until his personal qualities had endeared him to the people, and in 1852 we find him a state senator.
     It was during this time that he was placed in command by Governor Bigler of a relief train to rescue a large party of emigrants snow-bound in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  Here, as in all of the experiences of his varied career, his physical bravery and moral courage enabled him to accomplish what he set out to do.
     Easily becoming a conspicuous figure in California state politics, this born leader, in 1853, was elected secretary of state, which office he held until the autumn of 1855.  The preceding fall he had been elected by the Democratic party to the thirty-fourth Congress of the United States from California, which state then had only two representatives.  This session convened in December, 1855, and in this Congress the Hon. James Denver became a useful and prominent member, being made chairman of the select committee on the Pacific railroad, which reported a bill for the construction of three trans-continental lines.  This seemed a wild scheme to the majority of the Congress, and later the bill, as reported, was limited to the construction of the Union Pacific, which bill was favorably received.   Mr. Denver did not seek a re-nomination, and, at the expiration of his congressional term, President Buchanan appointed him commissioner of Indian affairs, the duties of which office he was faithfully discharging when he was urged to succeed Hon. Robert J. Walker in the difficult management of affairs in Kansas territory.  Reluctantly he consented to accept the governorship of that strife-torn territory, and entered upon his duties in December, 1857.  Previously to his acceptance of this office, four territorial governors, even though backed by federal troops, had resigned their office, driven off by threats of assassination by outlaws, and it was generally held to be as much as a man's life was worth to accept the office of governor and rule those lawless lands.  But Governor Denver, with characteristic bravery, determined to hold aloof from all factions, and to do his duty conscientiously.  To this end, he dismissed the military, and adopted a course so firm, yet so just to all parties, that order was restored, and "bleeding Kansas" was no longer a reproach to the government or a terror to her neighbors.  Colorado was then a portion of Kansas, and her beautiful capital city at Denver bears the name of the courageous man who thus brought about peace, order and prosperity within the borders of the territory.
     Taking a peculiar and almost paternal interest in the welfare of the Indians, Governor Denver resigned from office on Oct. 10, 1858, and returned to the duties of commissioner then to California.  He later entered the race for United States senator from that state, but was defeated by two votes.
     With such a record, it is not surprising that, at the outbreak of the Civil war, Governor Denver  warmly espoused the cause of the Union, and, without solicitation on his part, received from President Lincoln, on Aug. 14, 1861, the commission of brigadier-general of volunteers.  General Denver was first placed in command of all the troops of Kansas, but soon afterward was sent to Pittsburg Landing, on General Rosecrans' staff, and from there was transferred to a more active field, being in command of the Third Brigade of Sherman's Division, in the Army of the Tennessee, until April, 1863.  Then it was that personal affairs called him from the life of an army officer.  General Denver later engaged in the practice of law at Washington, D. C., having previously established his home in Wilmington, Ohio.  In 1876, and again in 1880, he had become so conspicuous in national affairs that his name was prominently mentioned as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency.
     In 1873 General Denver took an active part in organizing the veterans of the Mexican War, and he was the president of this national society until the time of his death.  Among his last public services, was an effort to have Congress pass an act giving a twelve-dollar-a-month pension to the old Mexican War veterans.
     On Nov. 26, 1856, James W. Denver was married to Miss Louise C. Rombach, of Wilmington, Ohio, and to this union four children were born, Mrs. Katharine Denver Williams, of Wilmington; J. W. Denver, Jr.; Mrs. Mary Louise Lindley of New York City, and Matthew R. Denver, president of the Clinton County National Bank, of Wilmington, mentioned elsewhere in this volume.  Mrs. Williams is a woman of rare intellectual attainments, a social leader of distinction and president of the Civic League of Wilmington.
     Gen. James W. Denver, noted soldier, lawyer and statesman, died on Aug. 9, 1902, in Washington, D. C.  Six feet two inches in stature and of fine proportions, General Denver was a man of dignified and commanding presence.  Genial and refined, he had the happy faculty of attracting warm friendships, and retaining them.  His cultivated mind was a storehouse of information, and his heart was big and broad in its sympathies.
     This incomplete record of the life of Gen. James W. Denver shows that his name and the record of his works are graven deeply on the history of this country, and that to him, as a man and as a public servant, are due not only the honor but the gratitude of a people.  Fearless in the face of danger that would have daunted weaker men, active, with an energy that seemed to know no bounds; loyal to his conception of right, even though he stood alone, this great man was born to be a leader, and to direct the destinies of a people.  But "we yield homage only to the greatness that is goodness," and so, in placing the laurel wreath upon the brow of this man, we pay grateful and earnest tribute to nobility of heart and brain.
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page  365
  HON. AZARIAH W. DOAN.  The brilliant career of the late Hon. Azariah W. Doan, who was a distinguished soldier and officer in the Civil War and who later arose to an eminent position in the legal profession and political life of this state, is one which may be referred to with pride by his descendants. Eulogy and encomium cannot overdo the worthy deeds of the Doan family in Clinton county, for at least two generations of the family have been prominent in the public life of this county and of the state of Ohio.
     Azariah W. Doan was born on December 17, 1824, at Wilmington, and died on August 22, 1911, at that place. He was the son of Jonathan and Phoebe (Wall) Doan, the former of whom was born in North Carolina and the latter in Pennsylvania. Jonathan Doan was a blacksmith by trade and came to Ohio in 1804 with his parents, Joseph and Jemima Doan. Joseph Doan located in what is now Union township, Clinton county. He gave to the county thirteen acres in the center of Wilmington for a county seat. Phoebe Wall, the mother of Azariah W. Doan, was brought from Pennsylvania to Ohio by her parents in 1808. She died in November, 1869, and her husband in July, 1874.
     Reared in Wilmington, Ohio, Azariah W. Doan, before reaching his maturity, worked on farms in the vicinity of Wilmington and attended the public schools of the village. Later he attended the Wilmington Seminary, taught by David S. Burson, of New York City, and noted for his attainments in the mastery of the language of ancient Greece. He taught school for a short time and then read law in the spring-house now on the Fife farm. He studied law in Frank Corwin's office and was admitted to the bar in 1846, at Wilmington. Previously, he had been appointed deputy clerk of the common pleas court, and while serving in that capacity devoted his spare time to the study of law. At different times he was in partnership with different lawyers, first with L. C. Walker, later with R. B. Doan, then with Madison Betz, and finally with D. T. White. He was deputy clerk under C. N. Osborne and served as prosecuting attorney subsequent to that time.
     In April, 1861, he assisted Judge R. B. Harlan in raising Company B, Twelfth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was the first company offered to the state in reply to President Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand volunteers. He was made first lieutenant and served during the three months' service. When the company was reorganized for a three-year campaign. Lieutenant Doan was made captain of the company and in 1862 was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Seventy-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving in the latter position until the close of the war.
     Subsequently, he was commissioned colonel and was breveted brigadier-general for meritorious service. on the battlefield, of Averysborough, North Carolina. During that battle Colonel Doan took charge of two regiments and made a vigorous assault on the enemy's right wing, capturing in; a short, time the batteries of artillery on that wing of the Confederate forces. He was a gallant soldier during this war and participated, in all, in twenty-three battles and skirmishes. He first served in West Virginia under General Rosecrans and was afterward attached to the Army of the Cumberland and  subsequently, to the Twentieth Army Corps when Sherman marched from Atlanta to the sea. He participated in the Grand Review, at the-close of the war and was honorably discharged in July, 1865, after which he returned to Wilmington and resumed the practice of the law.
     On October 21, 1847, Azariah W. Doan was married to Amanda M. Stratton, a native of Wilmington. Five children were born to this union, of whom only one, Corwin F. W., a merchant at Doans, Texas, is living.  Mrs. Amanda Doan died of cholera on August 6, 1854. This fatal disease also carried off a greater number of the children. Judge Doan was married, secondly, on June 5, 1856, to Martha G. Taylor, of Pennsylvania, who had been previously married to Samuel Hale, who died about 1801, leaving one child, Fred. By his second marriage, Judge Doan was the father of six children, namely: Will, the first born, who died in April, 1914, was a farmer in Texas; Joe T., a lawyer in Wilmington; Mrs. Alice Green, who is assistant matron of the Clinton county infirmary; Walker J., who is a reporter and printer in Wilmington; Fannie, who married Frank L. McDonald, superintendent of the Clinton county infirmary, and Charles, who died in infancy.
     Mrs. Martha Doan, the wife of Judge Doan and the mother of Joe T., was the daughter of Jacob and Margery (Gwinn) Taylor, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, and lived in Washington county. About 1835 they came to Wilmington, Ohio, where he was a builder and contractor. He died at the age of thirty-five and she lived to be seventy years old. They were members of the Christian church.
     In the fall of 1865, Judge Doan was nominated in the primary convention of the Republican party and subsequently elected to represent the people of his district in the state Senate for a period of two years. In April, 1875, he was elected judge of the court of common pleas by a special act of the Legislature and was triumphantly re-elected in 1879 for a term of five years, commencing on May 3, 1880. Altogether he served as judge of the common pleas court of Clinton county for fifteen years. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of Ohio in 1873 and served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nominated President Harrison. He was an ardent Republican and mixed in politics all of his life. He was a great campaign speaker and orator. In 1890 he formed a partnership with his son, Joe T., which continued until his death, in 1911. He was a generous-hearted man and a public-spirited citizen. For many years he was a member of the Friends church and a trustee of this church. He was a member of Wilmington Lodge No. 52, Free and Accepted Masons, and also a member of the chapter. He was a member of Morris McMillan Post No. 38, Grand Army of the Republic, at Wilmington, and served as its commander for many years.
As a lawyer, no one ever prosecuted a case more vigorously than Judge Doan when he considered himself in the right. He always discouraged litigation, however, if a fair settlement could be made. On the bench, Judge Doan observed the strictest impartiality in his rulings and his strongest desire was to satisfy contesting parties of the fairness of his decisions.
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page  575
NOTE:  Azariah W. Doan is also mentioned in the Biography of FRED G. WILLIAMS, D. D. S.
  JOE T. DOAN.  Among the distinguished lawyers of Wilmington, Clinton county, Ohio, is Joe T. Doan, who has long occupied a position of eminence before the bar of this county and who, besides other positions of trust and responsibility, ahs filled the office of prosecuting attorney for more than a decade.  Moreover, he has been prominent for a number of years in the councils of the Republican party in this section of the state.
     Joe T. Doan was born on April 10, 1862, in Union township, Clinton county, Ohio the son of Hon. Azariah W. and Martha G. (Taylor) Doan, whose biographies are presented elsewhere in this work.
     Joe T. Doan attended the public schools of Wilmington and also Wilmington College and subsequently entered the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated with the class of May 28, 1884.  After his graduation, he formed a partnership with L. J. Walker, and in 1800 formed a partnership with his father, which continued until 1911.  After his father's death, Mr. Doan formed a partnership with H. G. Cartwright, which still continues.  Mr. Cartwright had been identified with the law firm of Doan & Doan previous to Judge Doan's death.
     Sine 1904 Joe T. Doan has been prosecuting attorney of Clinton county, and as a Republican has served as secretary of the Republican central committee of Clinton county for several years.  He is associated with several fraternal orders.  He is a director and solicitor for the Savings and Loan Association.
     On October 13, 1886, Joe T. Doan was married to Bertha Hill, daughter of Dr. G. S. and Louise S. Hill, both of whom are deceased.  Mr. and Mrs. Doan are the parents of three children, as follows:  Louise, who born on December 19, 1888, and married J. Albert Thomas, a Methodist minister at Eden, Ohio; Charles S., June 30, 1890, is a graduate of Wilmington College and Swartmore, and at present is employed as a teacher of mathematics in the Friends select school; and Esther E., October 31, 1802, who is still at home.
     Mr. and Mrs. Doan are members of the Friends church.  They are popular in the social life of Wilmington and have a hospitable home.
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page  581


ROBERT R. DOAN

ROBERT R. DOAN, who is one of the most brilliant young men in Clinton county, and who perhaps, is one of the best-informed men, young or old, is not only a descendant of one of the earliest pioneers of this county, but a member of a family which has distinguished itself in the political life of this state. That Robert R. Doan is possessed of wide vision, initiative and executive ability is proved by his success in an enterprise in which the people of Clinton county have good reason to take great pride. A short time ago he organized a company to publish the first daily newspaper ever launched in Clinton county.
     Robert R. Doan was born on March 10, 1889, in Wilmington, Ohio, and is a son of Albert W. and Jennie (Rutherford) Doan, the former of whom is also a native of Wilmington, the deputy probate judge of this county, who resides at Wilmington. Albert W. Doan was born on August 25, 1860. His wife, who was a native of Wilmington, Ohio, was born on January 27, 1864. Mr. Doan's mother is also living.
     The paternal grandparents of Robert R. Doan were Robert E. and Maria (McMillan) Doan, the former of whom, although eighty-four years old, is engaged in the practice of law at Washington, D. C, where he has lived since 1890. Robert E. Doan was born in Union township, Clinton county, Ohio, on June 23, 1834, and his wife, who was born on August 8, 1836, is also still living. Robert E. Doan is a son of William Doan, who, in 1804, came with his parents, Joseph and Jemima Doan, from Chatham county, North Carolina. They settled near what is now the city of Wilmington, where they purchased nearly one thousand acres of land, and it may be said here that  Mr. Doan is the owner of twenty-six thousand acres of land in the state of Sonora, Mexico. William Doan was a Whig in politics, and a leading member of the Friends church. He was a farmer most of his life, and he and his wife were the parents of three children, Robert E., Joseph, who died unmarried, and Maria, deceased, who was the wife of Thomas Waltham, also deceased.
     The Doan family in Clinton county dates from the coming of Joseph Doan, who arrived here on November 4, 1804, in company with John Stout, from Chatham county, North Carolina, by the Flower Gap. John Vestal, who was his wife's brother, died before they arrived at Todd's Fork. On January 22, 1805, Joseph Doan purchased two hundred and thirty-eight acres of land in Posey's survey at one dollar and a half an acre, paying altogether three hundred and fifty-seven dollars, three hundred dollars to Posey and fifty-seven dollars to Nathan Linton. On November 27, 1806, he paid on his land one hundred dollars, and on December 4, 1807, he paid another hundred dollars. Joseph Doan was born on October 23, 1759, and died on May 28, 1838. His wife was born on May 8, 1762. They were the parents of twelve children, Thomas, John, Ruth, the wife of Joseph Haines; William, Elizabeth, Joseph, Jesse, Jonathan, Jacob, Rachel, the wife of Isaac Hines, Ellsha and Mary.
     The Hon. Robert E. Doan was a very ambitious young man, who desired to study law, and was accustomed to take law books to the field and studied while he plowed. With his own earnings he attended the Cincinnati law school and became an attorney at Wilmington, Ohio. His mother, who, before her marriage, was Betsy Eachus, a native of Winchester, Virginia, died in 1864. Five years later his father, William Doan, passed away.
     Robert E. Doan served as prosecuting attorney and was finally elected to Congress during President Harrison's administration. After serving one term in this office he became a partner of Major Anderson, of Washington, D. C, and when Major Anderson was appointed judge of the United States District Court, Mr. Doan continued the practice of his profession alone, and is still engaged in the practice. He is now president of the National Biographical Society of Washington and is also a charter member and historian of the Ohio Historical Society at Washington.
     It is Robert Doan's original conception which launched and founded, in Washington, D. C., in 1910, the International Law Association of the United States, Mexico and the Dominion of Canada, which received the endorsement of the highest judicial tribunal in the world, the supreme court of the United States. Mr. Doan served one year as secretary of the Steele-Evans Manufacturing Company and as secretary-treasurer of the Clinton Publishing Company. His literary efforts have been published in the Frank A. Munsey's publications and a syndicate of eastern newspapers. He is acquainted and corresponds with Colonel Roosevelt, which pleasant relations were also maintained with the late Elbert Hubbard and wife.
     To return to his early history, it may be said that both of Robert E. Doan's parents were members of the Friends church; that he attended an academy at Harveysburg, Warren county, Ohio, and afterward taught school in Warren, Greene and Clinton counties, in this way earning money to pay for his law course. He finished the course in the Cincinnati law school and received his diploma with the degree of Bachelor of Laws on April 19, 1857. For some time he was in partnership with his cousin, A. W. Doan, in the practice of law, the firm having been dissolved fifteen years later, when A. W. Doan was elected judge of the court of common pleas. In 1880 he made seventy-seven speeches in favor of James A. Garfield's election to the Presidency in the state of Ohio, in which year he was a Presidential elector from the Clinton county district, and named by acclamation. He was a candidate for Congress in that year, but was defeated for the nomination, receiving, however, only thirteen votes less than the nominee. In 1857 he was married to Maria McMillan, a native of Clinton county, arid to this union were born six children, Clinton, who was a farmer, is deceased. He was a specialist in raising thoroughbred horses; Albert W. is the father of Robert R., the immediate subject of this review; Charles died at the age of fifteen; Burritt died at the age of fourteen; Willie died at the age of six; Frank M. died in Arizona. He was collector of customs in that state, having been appointed to this position by President McKinley. The commission of Frank M. Doan was the last which President McKinley ever signed before his death.
     In addition to his law practice, Robert E. Doan has large interests in copper mines, and is also heavily interested in a publishing company at Washington, D. C. For many years he maintained his large residence in the city of Wilmington, where his grandson, Robert R., now lives.
     Albert W. Doan attended the public schools of Wilmington, and later was a student during 1878-79-80 at the normal school at Lebanon, Ohio. Upon returning to Wilmington from school he was elected mayor of Wilmington, in which office he served four terms of two years each. For several years he was engaged in traveling, but in 198.3 was appointed deputy probate judge of Clinton county, an office which he is now holding. He is a Republican in politics, and fraternally, a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was married on February 6, 1887, and Robert R. is the only child.
     Robert R. Doan received his early education in the public schools of Wilmington, Ohio, and later became a student of Wilmington College for four years. Still later he was a student at Ohio Wesleyan University for a year, where he pursued a literary course. After this he was a student at Georgetown University, near Washington, D. C, where he was a law student. In 1913 Mr. Doan returned to Wilmington and engaged in the printing and publishing business. On November 1, 1914, he started the Clinton Review, a monthly magazine, and in April, 1915, organized the company to publish the first daily newspaper ever issued in Clinton county. Mr. Doan's firm does job printing and local publishing.
     On January 5, 1915, Mr. Doan was married to Mabel Compton, a native of Champaign, Illinois, and a daughter of L. L. Compton and wife, the former of whom is an architect of Wilmington, Ohio.
     Mr. and Mrs. Doan are members of the Friends church at Wilmington. He is a Republican in politics and a very ambitious young man, one entirely worthy of the splendid career of many of the Doan family in this county. He and his wife are popular socially in this city, and, of course, are well known.
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page  388
  HENRY DRAKE is a well-known farmer of Liberty township, this county, where he owns one hundred and eleven acres of land.  He was born in Richland township, this county, the son of John S. and Rebecca (Ford) Drake, the latter of whom is the daughter of Robert and Eliza Ford.  His maternal grandfather was a farmer of Clinton county and a member of the Methodist Protestant church, and his paternal grandfather, Daniel Drake was a native of New York state born on Staten Island, who moved to Clinton county and engaged in farming.
     John F. Drake was educated in the common schools and was a contracting carpenter and builder.  He was also a farmer and owned considerable land in this county.  He was active in the affairs of the Methodist Protestant church, of which he was a member, and was a successful business man.  He died in 1883.  His widow is living at Melvin, the county.
     Henry Drake, who was reared on the farm and educated in the common schools of Clinton county, was married on Nov. 8, 1894, to Bertha Beckett, who was born this county, daughter of Isaac and Emma (States) Beckett, of Starbucktown.  Isaac Beckett was a soldier in the Union army during the Civil War and served for three years in that great struggle between the states, and he and his wife lived in Starbucktown practically all of their lives and were members of the Methodist Protestant church.  Isaac Beckett was a son of Joseph Beckett, a native of Indiana who served in the War of 1812 and who, subsequently, engaged in farming near Elwood, Indiana.
     After his marriage, Henry Drake located near Melvin, this county, and later took up farming.  He purchased the farm where he now lives, in February, 1914, and expects to make many improvements on the farm in the next few years.  The place consists of one hundred and eleven acres and in time should be made one of the best farms in the county.
     To Mr. and Mrs. Drake have been born two children.  Lawrence and InezMrs. Drake is a member of the Christian church at Bloomington.
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page  956
  JOHN S. DRAKE is a well-known and enterprising farmer of Jefferson township, this county.  He was born in this county, Oct. 3, 1880, son of Samuel and Hannah N. (Holliday) Drake, the former of whom was born in Georgetown, Ohio, and the latter in Clinton county.  The paternal grandfather of John S. Drake was Jonathan Drake, a well-known tobacco raiser of the Georgetown district.  The maternal grandparents, William and Anna (Carter) Holliday, settled on the farm now belonging to Doctor Dennison.  They cleared the land and lived there all the rest of their lives.
     Samuel Drake received the rudiments of an education in the public schools near Georgetown, and there he was first married to a Miss Davis, and for some years was engaged in farming near Georgetown.  After the death of his first wife, he removed to Clinton county, and was here married to Hannah N. Holliday, the mother of John S. Drake.  Aside from five years spent in the state of Missouri, Samuel Drake lived in Jefferson township most of his life.  At the time of his death he was the owner of three hundred and seventy-one acres of land where his son, John S., now lives.  Two sons were born to Samuel Drake by his first marriage, and one son, John S., to his second marriage.
     John S. Drake was educated in the schools of Clinton county, and with the exception of five years spent in the state of Missouri, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen years, he has spent his entire life in this county on the old home place in Jefferson township.
     In 1901, John S. Drake was married to Laura Wickersham, the daughter of J. C. Wickersham, and to this union two children have been born, Walter and Eugene.  Mrs. Drake is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, while Mr. Drake is affiliated with the Christian church.
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page  360
  WILLIAM DRAKE.  When men succeed, their lives are instructive as guides and incentives to others.  They furnish splendid examples of patient purpose and successful endeavor and these examples strongly illustrate what every man may achieve.  William Drake, of Richland township, this county, is one of the hustling farmers of Clinton county, an exxample of one who has lived to good purpose and achieved a large measure of success in agriculture, the special sphere to which his talents have been devoted.
     William Drake was born on Sept. 25, 1865, in Union township, this county, the son of Charles and Frances (Wade) Drake, the former, born in 1834, on Staten Island, New York, died in April, 1907, and the latter, born in 1843, the daughter of George and Mary Wade.
     Charles Drake
was the son of Randolph Drake, a native of Staten Island, New York, who came to Clinton county from New York in 1848, and the family has been established in this county since that date, a period of nearly seventy years.  Randolph Drake located on the farm in Richland township, where his grandson now lives, and where he owned seventy-five acres.  He was a member of the Methodist Protestant church and was identified with the Whig party until the formation of the Republican party, when he identified himself with the latter.  He was the father of eight children:  David M., Charles, Caroline, who married William H. Sprague; Daniel, Elizabeth who married Samuel Bogue; Henry and Cornelius who died early in life, and John S. Charles, the second in the family, was the father of William Drake, the subject of this sketch.
     Educated in the common schools of Clinton county, Charles Drake learned the carpenter trade when he was a young man and was engaged in contract building in connection with farming for a period of about fourteen years.  Eventually, however, he quit carpentering and spent the remainder of his life in farming.  In 1867 he purchased the interest of the heirs of his father's farm and spent the remainder of his life on the estate.  He made most of the improvements now on the farm and shortly before his death was arranging to erect a new house, which was completed by the family after his death.  He was a Republican and served for many years as school director in this township.  Charles and Frances (Wade) Drake were the parents of four children, namely: William, the subject of this sketch; George, who married Ella Atley; Ella, who married A. E. Tysor, and Thomas A., who married Grace McChesney.
     William Drake
and his brother, Thomas A. Drake, have owned the Richland township farm of two hundred and fifty acres since 1912, and are engaged in general farming and stock raising.  They are extensive breeders of the big type Poland China and Duroc-Jersey hogs and both are members of the Duro-Jersey Association.  William and Thomas A. Drake have a beautiful and well improved farm in Richland township.  Both were educated in the public schools of Richland township, and both are well informed and intelligent citizens.  They are both members of the Modern Woodmen of America.
     William Drake, who is an ardent Republican, served as trustee of Richland township from 1909 to 1911.  He gave to the people of Richland township a most efficient and able administration.  The office is one which has to do with the intimate affairs of a rural community and necessitates a rather complete understanding of the farm and its problems, as well as the problems of education.  Dr. Drake gave practically universal satisfaction in the discharge of the duties of this office.  He is well known in Richland township and popular among his neighbors.
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page  878
  CHARLES PEMBERTON DUNLAP.  There are individuals in almost every community who, by reason of pronounced ability and force of character, rise above the heads of the masses and command the esteem and attention of their fellowmen.  Characterized by perseverance and a directing spirit, two virtues that never fail, such men always make their presence felt.  The vigor of their strong personality serves as a stimulus and an incentive to the young and rising generation.  To this energetic and enterprising class, C. P. Dunlap, of Liberty township, very properly belongs.  Mr. Dunlap has devoted his life and energies to the industries of his home neighborhood and has succeeded remarkably well.
     Charles P. Dunlap was born in May 10, 1851, in Highland county, Ohio, the son of James Dunlap, Mr., and Mary Cravens.  The former was born in 1819, in Connecticut and the latter was born in 1821, in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Benjamin F. and Mary Cravens.  Benjamin F. Cravens moved to Ohio some time in 1836 and located in Highland county, where he owned about six hundred acres of land.  He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and an enterprising, progressive citizen.  He possessed a remarkable financial ability and the subject of this sketch inherited that characteristic.
     C. P. Dunlap's grandfather, James Dunlap, Sr., was a native of New York state, born in 1794, and died in 1872.  He was first married to Henrietta Pemberton, by whom he had seven children, Mariah, Horace, Arabella, Albert, Sarah, Sinai and Frank L. all except Frank L. being deceased.  The second wife of James Dunlap, Sr., was a Mrs. Cox, who moved to Ohio about 1830.  James Dunlap, Sr., was a merchant at Salem, Ross county, Ohio, but later moved to Highland county, where he lived retired.  He was a member of the Methodist Protestant church.
     James Dunlap, Jr., father of Charles P., was a well-informed man both in religion and politics.  He was member of the Christian Union church.  He was quite a prominent citizen in the township and served as township trustee at one time.  From about 1830 he lived in Highland county.  He was first married to a Miss Foraker, a cousin of Senator Foraker.  By this union, however, there were born no children. By his second marriage there were only two children, John N. and Charles P., the subject of this sketch.  John N. was twice married, first to Mollie Kester, by whom he had three children, Earl, Chloe and Minnie.  His second wife was Anna Williams, sister to his brother, Charles P.'s wife.  James Dunlap, Jr., the father of these children, died on June 13, 1886.  The mother is still living and, on Aug. 4, 1915, was ninety-four years old.  She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.  The father owned one hundred and twenty0seven acres of land in Highland county.  The father was of New England Puritan (English) stock.  The mother was of Scotch-Irish descent.
     Charles P. Dunlap was educated in the common schools.  His character was moulded and formed by the determined will of his devoted father, assisted by the patient care of his loving mother.  Mr. Dunlap has taught school for thirty-four years, sixteen years of his loving mother.  Mr. Dunlap has taught school for thirty-four years, sixteen years in Highland county, Ohio, and the remainder of Greene and Clinton counties.  In 1886, he removed to Greene county and the same year, on August 7, he applied for a teacher's certificate at Xenia, Ohio, and was grated one for four years, averaging ninety-one percent, in the examination.  Mr. Dunlap was considered a most successful teacher, but abandoned the profession in 1904 and went to farming.  In 1902 he was elected a justice of the peace, and will hold the office until 1918.  A Democrat in politics, Mr. Dunlap was, four years ago, a candidate for county auditor.  Although in politics, Mr. Dunlap was, four years ago, a candidate for county auditor.  Although defeated, he made a most flattering race.  He is the present chairman of the Democratic central committee of Clinton county.  He believes in the doctrine both in church and state, "equal justice to all but special privilege to none."
     Charles P. Dunlap was married, on Aug. 27, 1874, to Martha J. Williams, who was born in Highland county, Ohio, Jan. 2, 1853.  She is the daughter of John and Mary (Duncan) Williams.  Mary (Duncan) Williams was the daughter of Alexander Duncan, a native of Ireland and a soldier in the War of 1812.  He located near Hillsboro, Ohio, and there became a large farmer.  He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church Mrs. Dunlap's father John Williams, was a native of Ohio and formed one hundred acres of land.  He was a member of the Drunkard church, and lived in Highland county during his entire life.  Born in 1806, he died in 1891.  His wife, who was born in 1812, died in 1903.  They had ten children, but Elizabeth, Ellen, Martha and Anna are the only ones living.  Mandy, Eliza, Susan, Allenmah, Agnes and Thomas died a few years ago.
     Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap have had seven children, Lola E., John C., Charles R., James L., Olive, Clifford and Frank.  The latter three died in early childhood.  Of these children, Lola E. married Thomas Middleton, of Xenia, Greene county, Ohio, and they have three children, Wilton E., Roy S. and Harold D.  John C. of Liberty township, married Frances Pearl Mason, and they have three children, Mary Audra, Rollo, and Charles Mason.  Charles Russell married Belva Bales and they have two children, Charles R. and Francis Willard.  They live in Clinton county, Ohio.  James L., a resident of near Xenia, married Berdie Craig.
     Charles P. Dunlap
is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.  for more than forty years he has been a Sunday school teacher, and superintendent of the Sunday school at Port William for four years.  Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap have a farm of one hundred acres in Liberty township, which they purchased Aug. 25, 1899.  C. P. Dunlap and wife are members of the Methodist Protestant church.  Mr. Dunlap has become well known in this county as a breeder of good stock, especially flocks of coarse wool sheep.  However, money getting and money making are all right in their place, but he thinks both in teaching and in life, our highest ideal should be "building and molding character for eternity."
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page  966

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