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
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PETER D.
LEAMING. No product of agriculture has ever come from
Clinton county which has had more to do with the revolution in corn
growing in the state of Ohio and, in fact, in the Middle West, then
Leaming's corn, which was originated by the late Jacob Spicer
Leaming, father of Peter D. Leaming, the subject of this
sketch. The tremendous influence of this splendid variety is
realized when the claim is considered that practically all of the yellow
corn grown in the United States today has been developed from the
variety known as Leaming. Whether this is true or not, it
is a fact that the corn bearing this name is more widely distributed
than any other variety. Careful inquiry through agricultural
colleges and experiment stations and through farmers, warrants the
statement that from twenty to thirty per cent, of the yellow corn grown
in the corn belt is of the Leaming variety, while if that grown
under local names, but which is undoubtedly of Leaming origin is
considered, the per cent. would be even larger.
The history of the origin of this variety is an
interesting story. One autumn in 1855 the father of Peter D.
Leaming was driving in his wagon along Bullskin run, in Hamilton
county, and, having neglected to bring feed with him for his horses,
stopped at a wayside corn field and asked the men husking in the field
to sell sufficient corn for this purpose. He was so much impressed
with the beautiful yellow color of the corn and also with the maturity,
as indicated by its sound, hard condition, that when leaving he took
with him a bushel of this corn for seed. The following year he
moved with his family to Clinton county, purchasing a farm two miles
from Wilmington, where he lived until his retirement in 1884. The
corn which he had brought with him from Hamilton county was planted in
the spring of 1856. As the consequence of a favorable season and
painstaking cultivation it yielded an excess of one hundred bushels to
the acre. This was a phenomenal yield for that day and the fame of
"Leaming's corn" was spread broadcast.
In a large measure Peter D. Leaming, who was
born on Nov. 18, 1856, on the farm where he now lives, on the
Martinsville pike, in Union township, has inherited the fame which his
father richly earned as a corn grower. His father was born on Apr.
2, 1815, and died on May 12, 1885. His mother, who, before her
marriage, was Lydia Ann Van Middlesworth, was a native of New
Jersey, born on Nov. 1, 1817. She died on Mar. 21, 1890.
The parents of Jacob Spicer Leaming were
Christopher and Margaret Leaming, who came to Ohio from Cape May
county, New Jersey, early in the last century. The family is of
English origin. The first of the name to arrive in America was a
Christopher Leaming, who came to Boston in 1670. Later the
family moved to Long Island and still later to New Jersey, where it
became prominent in provincial history. Christopher Leaming,
II, the father of Christopher Leaming, who immigrated to
Ohio, and grandfather of J. S. Leaming, served for twenty years
as a member of the provincial assembly. Christopher Leaming,
III, was much more than an average farmer, and as early as 1825 his
son, Jacob, a lad of ten years, was acquiring corn inspiration
through the medium of a noe handle in the Langdon bottoms along the
Little Miami river in Hamilton county.
The parents of Jacob Spicer Leaming's wife were
Tunis and Ellen Van Middlesworth, both natives of New Jersey, and
of Dutch descent. About 1825 they removed by wagon to Hamilton
county, Ohio, purchasing a farm at the edge of Cincinnati.
Tunis Van Middlesworth owned a large farm between what is now East
Norwood and Oakley, suburbs of Cincinnati. They had ten children.
Jacob Spicer Leaming attended the district
schools and obtained a good education, after which he taught school for
a time. He became a great reader and an able writer. At the
beginning of his active career he rented a farm and operated a bus line
between Madison and Cincinnati. In the spring of 1856, as
heretofore noted, he removed to Clinton county and rented a farm from
his elder half-brother, Christopher Leaming, in Union township.
Later he purchased the farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres from
his brother and still later added to the farm until he owned one hundred
and sixty-five acres. Subsequently, he purchased fifty-three acres
additional on the edge of Wilmington, and there spent the last years of
his life. He was prominent in the politics of his day and
generation and served as township trustee for some time. Both he
and his wife were members of the Methodist church.
The name of Jacob Spicer Leaming will go down in
the history of Clinton county as the most noted corn producer in the
United States. He soon began shipping seed corn to all parts of
the United States. His son, Peter D., and the latter's
brother, J. S. Leaming, Jr., still continue this industry.
In 1884 Jacob S. Leaming received a large silver medal as first
prize for seed corn awarded at the Paris corn show. In 1900
Peter D. Leaming received a fine bronze medal at the Paris
Exposition for his seed corn.
Peter D. Leaming, early in life, learned the
principles of the proper selection of seed corn from his father, and has
been able to carry on the industry successfully since his father's
death. James S. built the second pike ever constructed in
Clinton county. In 1869 he contracted for and built three miles of
the Martinsville pike and in 1870 he built five miles of the Cuban pike.
He was considered an excellent road builder.
Jacob and Lydia Ann (Van Middlesworth) Leaming
had nine children, namely: Tunis, lives in Ft. Wayne, Indiana,
where he is a farmer; Christopher, lives in East Norwood, Ohio,
and is also a farmer; Eli, is a resident of Columbus, Ohio, and
is a carpenter; Ella, married Thomas M. Babb, and is
deceased; Jacob, now lives in Denison, Texas, where he is a
gardener and truck farmer; Joseph, lives at New Burlington, Ohio;
Jennie, lives in Dayton, Ohio; Peter D., was the eighth
child; George S., is a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where
he is in the dairy business and engaged in truck gardening.
Peter D. Leaming attended the Burtonville
district school and grew up on the farm. After his father moved to
Wilmington he worked the farm on the shares and after his father's
death, he purchased the home place, going heavily into debt, but he has
paid the indebtedness off and is now financially independent. He
is a genial, businesslike, up-to-date farmer.
In 1899 Mr. Leaming built his present splendid
home. It is an attractive place and one of which he has every
reason to be very proud. He set out the pretty trees that decorate
the place. He carries on general farming, but still makes a
specialty of raising and selling Leaming seed corn.
On Dec. 2, 1890, Peter D. Leaming was married to
Emma Skimming, who was born near Burtonville, in Union township,
Clinton county, and who is the daughter of Robert and Mary E.
Skimming, whose complete family history is contained in the sketch
of S. H. Skimming, a brother of Mrs. Leaming, presented
elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Leaming have had two
children, Grace Anna and Robert Russell.
Mr. and Mrs. Leaming are members of the Baptist
church of Wilmington. Mr. Leaming is a Republican. In
a very large measure Peter D. Leaming has carried forward the
work of his worthy father, whose name was presented "as the first
candidate for Ohio Farmers' Hall of Fame."
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F. Bowen &
Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page 724 |
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HENRY L. LEWELLEN, a
pleasant, prosperous and public-spirited business man of Sabina, Ohio,
has stamped his individuality in now uncertain manner upon the locality
where he resides. He is an excellent representative of that type
of the much heralded American business man - the type that does things -
Mr. Lewellen having, by his own exertion, established at Sabina,
a flourishing trade in furniture.
Henry L. Lewellen was born on Jan. 17, 1870,
near Sugar Tree ridge in Adams county, Ohio. He is the son of
Morgan and Mary J. (Hunter) Lewellen, the farmer of whom was a
native of Pennsylvania, who was accidentally killed in October, 1875,
and the latter of whom was a daughter of John Hunter, who married
a Miss Sloan. The grandparents on the paternal side were
John and Nancy (Stantz) Lewellen. He was a blacksmith and
farmer of Adams county and reared a family of six children as follows:
Lydia, Catherine, Alfred, Abbie, William and Morgan.
The late Morgan Lewellen began
farming early in life in Adams county, Ohio, and later branched out and
engaged in the live-stock business. He was killed by the falling
of a derrick pole at the building of the court house at West Union,
Ohio, in the fall of 1875. During his life he was actively
identified with the Democratic party. His wife was a member of the
Baptist church. Morgan and Mary J. Lewellen had eight
children, of whom Henry L., the subject of this sketch, was the
sixth. The others were: Anna, who never married; Frances,
who married S. C. Spears; John, who is unmarried; Lewis,
who married Nettie Roberts; Thomas, who married Margaret
Thompson; Edgar and George, neither of whom ever
married.
Henry L. Lewellen was educated in the public
schools of Greene and Clinton counties, Ohio, and was graduated from the
Sabina high school with the class of 1903. When he was a very
young man, he worked with his brother in the vehicle business. In
1895 he entered this vocation as a clerk and later became identified
with his father-in-law in the furniture business and in 1915 took
complete charge of the business. Mr. Llewellyn has been in
the business for more than fifteen years and it was started with a
capital of two hundred and seventy-five dollars. He has increased
from year to year until now it is one of the most flourishing
enterprises in this section. The firm owns the building it
occupies.
In February, 1895, Henry L. Lewellen was married
to Esa E. Gaskins, who was born on July 8, 1874, the daughter of
Dr. Aaron J. Gaskins. Three children has been born to this
union: Mary L., who was born on Mar. 11, 1900; Doris, Dec.
4, 1904; and Aaron, Aug. 18, 1911.
It was during the years that Mr. Lewellen
managed the furniture business from his father-in-law that it grew and
prospered to its present condition. Mr. Lewellen keeps only
a high grade of furniture and has a large business for a town of only
fifteen hundred people.
Mr. and Mrs. Lewellen are members of the Friends
church and he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Elected as a Democrat, he has served nearly six years as city treasurer
of Sabina, a position he has filled with credit as his long tenure will
well prove.
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F.
Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page 509 |
E. A. Lewis |
ELLIS A. LEWIS
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F.
Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page 504 |
Edwin C. Linton |
EDWIN C. LINTON
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F. Bowen &
Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page 524 |
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LOGAN S. LORISH, a
well-known real estate dealer of Blanchester, Ohio, was born on Aug. 21, 1867, a son of
Henry and Esther (Lacey) Lorish.
Henry Lorish was born on Oct. 26, 1826, in
Fairfield county, Ohio, the
son of Nicholas Lorish, a
native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.
He was a farmer and followed that vocation until his death in 1846.
Nicholas Lorish married
Magdaline Apt, a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania,
who died at Columbus, Ohio, in 1863.
Henry Lorish was reared
as a farmer lad, and in 1842, when sixteen years old, began to learn the
trade of harness making at Baltimore, in
Fairfield county, Ohio.
Some years later he moved to Wilmington, in
Clinton
county, and followed his trade there until his death.
He was married on February, 1856, to
Martha G. Miller, a native of Warren county, Ohio, but a
resident of Clinton
county. The one child born to this
marriage died early in the life, and
Mrs. Lorish herself died in
1863. About two years later, on
Sept. 20, 1865, Henry Lorish
married Esther A. Lacey, a
native of Clinton county, and to this union two sons were born,
Sherman T. and Logan S.
Henry Lorish was prominently identified with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows for many years, and was a member of Star of Hope
Lodge No. 127, and Hiawatha Encampment No. 7.
Although born and bred in a hotbed of Democracy, he always voted
the Republican ticket. His first
wife was a member of the Baptist church, and he and his second wife were
members of the Christian church.
Both are now deceased.
Logan S. Lorish was graduated
from the Wilmington
high school in 1884, and during the next twelve years was salesman in a
general store in Blanchester. On
three different occasions he purchased grocery stores, built up a good
trade and then sold them. In 1909
he engaged in the real-estate business, and here in
Clinton
county enjoys a large patronage.
In 1897 Logan S. Lorish is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
a Republican in politics, and active in the councils of his party locally.
He served as councilman of Blanchester for eight years, and as a
member of the school board for seven years, during which time he was clerk
of the board. He was one of the
organizers of the Business Men’s Club, of Blanchester, and is now its
president.
Source: History of Clinton County, Ohio - Publ. 1915 by B. F.
Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, Ind. - Page 846 |
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