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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History of Greene County, Ohio,
its people, industries & institutions
by Hon. M. A. Broadstone, Editor in Chief -
Vol. I. & II.
Publ. B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.,
Indianapolis, Ind.
1918
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DAN BAKER.
Until he recently sold his old home place and moved to the
village of Yellow Springs with a view of retiring from the
active labors of the farm and "taking things easy" the rest
of his life, Dan Baker, a veteran of the Civil War
and one of the oldest residents of Miami township, had lived
from the day of his birth on the place on which he was born,
three and one-half miles southeast of Yellow Springs, the
place on which his father had settled in 1828, and had been
quite content there to remain. He was born in a log
house there on Apr. 20, 1839, son of Nayl and Huldah
(Mills) Baker, who had taken up their residence there
ten years or more before.
Nayl Baker was born in Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, and was sixteen years of age when he came with
his parents, Thomas Baker and wife, Quakers,
from that state of Ohio, the family settling in Greene
county in 1812. Here he took his part as a young man
in the development of a pioneer farm and presently began
farming on his own account. On Jan. 6, 1825, Nayl
Baker was united in marriage to Huldah
Mills, who was born in Montgomery county in 1802, a
daughter of Jacob Mills and wife, who were
among the first settlers in this section of the Miami
valley. Jacob Mills became a resident of the
northern part of this county and when Miami township was
organized in 1808 he was elected the first justice of the
peace in and for that township. Miami township then
included the northern portions of what are now Cedarville
and Ross townships, in this county, and about one-third of
Mad River township, all of Greene township and one-half of
Madison township, in Clark county. The first election
was held in the house of David S. Brodick at Yellow
Springs. In 1828, three years after his marriage,
Nayl Baker settled on the farm which his son
Dan has just recently sold and there he and his wife
spent the remainder of their lives. He died in 1865
and was buried in the Clifton cemetery. He and his
wife were the parents of nine children, one of whom died in
childhood, and of whom but two now survive, Dan
Baker having a brother, William Baker,
living in California. The others were Sarah,
Thomas, Jacob, Rachel, Mary and
Letitia.
Dan Baker grew up on the farm on which he
was born and helped to develop the same. During the
progress of the Civil War he joined the Home Guard and later
went to the front in the hundred-days service. He
always made his home on the home place and after his
marriage in 1872 established his home there and continued
there to reside until in November, 1917, when he sold the
place preparatory to retirement from further active labors
and removed to Yellow Springs. Mr. Baker
is a Republican and for twenty-two years served as school
director in his home district and also for some time as a
director of the village schools at Clifton. He is a
member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic
and is a member of the Presbyterian church. Though now
in his eightieth year Mr. Baker retains much
of his aforetime physical vigor and is hale and hearty
beyond his years.
On Feb. 22, 1872, Dan Baker was united in
marriage to Susan E. Waymire, daughter of Daniel
and Mary Anna (Stebbins) Waymire, of Dayton, both of
whom were also born in this state and who were the parents
of six children, Mrs. Baker having had two
brothers, John and Daniel, and three sisters,
Mary, Elizabeth and Anna. Mrs.
Baker died on Nov. 8, 1907. To her and her
husband were born seven children, namely: Joseph,
deceased: Huldah, deceased; Mrs. Mary
Donovan, of this county; John, deceased;
Mrs. Bessie Dallas, who lives near Xenia
and has one child, a son, Donald; and Evan,
who is married and resides in Springfield. To Evan
Baker and wife four children have been born, one of
whom, Harold, is deceased, the others being
Mildred. Thelma and Gladys.
Source: History of Greene County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. by
B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.,
1918 - Page
412 |
Mr. & Mrs.
George Baker |
GEORGE BAKER.
The late George Baker, a veteran of the Civil War and
for years one of the best known farmers in Miami township,
this county, was born in that township and most of his life
was spent there, two of his sons and a daughter now
occupying the old home place three miles west of Yellow
Springs which their father bought in 1881 and on which he
spent his last days. He was born on a pioneer farm one
mile south of Yellow Springs on Nov. 14, 1831, son of
Isaac and Eliza (Graham) Baker, the latter of whom also
was born in this county, Sept. 27, 1809, a member of one of
the pioneer families of Greene county.
Isaac Baker was born in Chester county,
Pennsylvania, May 3, 1807. and became one of the early
settlers of Greene county, establishing his home here after
his marriage to Eliza Graham. He and his
wife reared their family here and here spent the remainder
of their lives. They were the parents of nine
children, of whom the subject of this memorial sketch was
the first-born, the others being Mrs. Louise
Hawkins, deceased; John, who was killed in the
battle of Cedar Creek on Oct. 19, 1864, while serving as a
soldier of the Union during the Civil War; William P.,
who died on July 1, 1907; Brinton, who is still
living, making his home now at Dayton; Joseph, who is
now living at Pratt, Kansas; Mrs. Hester
Hutchinson, who is living at Yellow Springs, in this
county; Sarah, who died in 1868, and Charles
West, who died on Apr. 14, 1914. Five of these
brothers served in the Union army during the Civil War.
Reared on the home farm in Miami township, George
Baker received his schooling in the neighborhood schools
at Yellow Springs and early learned the trade of blacksmith
at which he worked, at Yellow Springs and at Salem, until he
was twenty-five years of age, when, in 1856, he joined that
considerable band of Green county young men, including
Senator Plum and Captain Frazer, who went to
Kansas in 1856 and started things going in the vicinity of
where the flourishing city of Emporia now stands.
George Baker set up the first blacksmith shop in Emporia
and remained there for three years, or until 1859, being
thus an active participant in the desperate struggle that
then was being waged in "bleeding Kansas" between the free-soilers
who wanted to preserve the Territory of Kansas against the
intrusion of the institution of slavery and the "border
ruffians" who, coming in from Missouri, across the river and
from other points south, were determined to fasten slavery
on the prospective state. The struggle finally became
so acute that Mr. Baker, in 1859, became
disgusted with the unsettled condition of things and came
back home and resumed his labors as a blacksmith at Yellow
Springs and was living there when the Civil War broke out.
Early in the progress of that struggle between the states he
enlisted his services in behalf of the Union and went to the
front as a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he
served until the termination of his term of enlistment, when
he returned home and started farming; but a short time later
he enlisted in Company K, One Hundred and Eighty-fourth
Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he
served until the close of the war, then returned to his farm
and there remained until Jan. 3, 1881,when he bough a farm
of one hundred acres three miles west of Yellow springs,
moved onto the same and there spent the rest of his life,
his death occurring on Feb. 6, 1890. His widow
survived him for more than twenty years, her death occurring
on Jan. 18, 1911. George Baker was reared in
the Methodist church and his wife was reared in the Catholic
church, and their children were reared in the faith of the
latter communion.
On Sept. 14, 1864, at Springfield, George Baker
was united in marriage to Elizabeth Higginson, of
Yellow springs, who was born in Ireland, but whose girlhood
was spent at Albany, New York, where she was living when her
family came from that place to Greene county during the
'50s. To that union five children were born, namely:
John Wentworth, who died in 1866; Mamie C.,
who is still living on the old home place, keeping house for
her brothers, William and George, who are farming the
place; William J. and Elizabeth (twins), the
latter of whom is now a nun, a member of the Visitation
Order, in the convent at Georgetown, Kentucky, and the
farmer of whom is noted above as remaining on the home farm,
and George, who is also living on the home place, he
and his brother operating the same, while their sister
Mamie keeps house for them. The Baker brothers
are good farmers and have a well-kept and profitably
cultivated farm. They are Republicans, as was their
soldier, and take a proper interest in local civic affairs,
but have not been seekers after public office.
Source: History of Greene County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. by
B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., 1918 - Page 288-290 |
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HENRY F. BAKER, M. D.
Dr. Henry F. Baker, of Yellow Springs, the oldest
practicing physician in Greene county, has been a continuous
resident of the village in which he is now living for nearly
forty years, with the exception of about three years during
the early '80s, when, on account of the declining state of
his wife's health, it was necessary to seek a temporary
change of scene. In August 1879, Doctor Baker
located at Yellow Springs. In 1881 he left, but in
1884 returned to the village and has since made that his
place of residence, engaged in the practice of his
profession.
Source: History of Greene County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. by
B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.,
1918 - Page 430-431 |
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JUSTUS LABAN BAKER.
The late Justus Laban Baker, who died at his farm
home in Silvercreek township in the fall of 1895, and whose
widow is still living there, was born in that township on
June 15, 1844, son of Jacob and Lorena (Haughey) Baker,
well-known residents of that township, whose last days were
spent there. Jacob Baker and his wife were
members of the Methodist Episcopal church and were the
parents of three children, of whom the subject of this
memorial sketch was the first-born.
Reared on the home farm in Silvercreek township,
Justice L. Baker received his schooling in the local
schools and remained at home until after his marriage when
twenty-one years of age. Trained as a farmer from the
days of his boyhood, he ever followed that vocation and at
the time of his death had the farm property of sixty-six
acres, on which his widow is still living and the operation
of which is being carried on by his son-in-law, George W.
Buckwalter. Mr. Baker was a Republican and had
held minor public offices in his home township, particularly
school offices. He was a member of the Baptist church
at Jamestown, as is his widow. Mr. Baker died
on Nov. 21, 1895, he then being in the fifty-second year of
his age.
On Feb. 1, 1866, Justice L. Baker was united in
marriage to Mary Ellen Smith, who was born in
Frederick county, Virginia, and who had come here in 1865
with her parents, John and Maria (Keiter) Smith, the
family locating in Silvercreek township. For a year
after coming to this county John Smith rented a farm
and then he bought the farm on which W. F. Lewis now
resides and there he spent the rest of his life, his death
occurring on Feb. 12, 1880. He was born on June 19,
1806. His widow, who was born on May 6, 1806, survived
him for more than four years, her death occuring on July 10
1884. She was a member of the Presbyterian church.
John Smith and wife were the parents of seven
children, of whom Mrs. Baker was the fourth in order
of birth.
To Justus L. and Mary L. (Smith) Baker were born
ten children, namely: Elma Rosella who is now
living in the state of Oklahoma, widow of Grant Bush;
George O.; Anna Lorena, who died in the days of her
girlhood; John Isaac, who married Eva Gerrard;
Emma J., who married George W. Buckwalter and is
living on the home place; James Franklin, who married
Eva Hargraves and is farming in Jefferson township,
this county; William J., who married Sarah Johnson
and also is farming in Jefferson township; Wilbur C.,
who married Bertha Seslar and is farming in the
neighboring county of Fayette; Zola, deceased, and
Laban, who died in infancy. They have sixty-six
acres.
Source: History of Greene County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. by
B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.,
1918 - Page 722-723 |
Mr. & Mrs.
Samuel T. Baker
Amos Wilson
Creswell |
SAMUEL T. BAKER.
Samuel T. Baker, farmer and stockman, a soldier of
the Civil War, president of the Greene County Fair
Association, former mayor of Jamestown and former township
trustee, has been a resident of this county all his life.
He was born on a farm on the Xenia-Jamestown pike, one mile
west of Jamestown, Mar. 17, 1847, son of John Winans and
Elizabeth (Towell) Baker, the latter of whom also was
born in this county, in Silvercreek township, in 1813,
daughter of John and Sarah Towell, pioneers of that
section, who had come here from Pennsylvania. John
Towell was regarded as the strongest man in Greene
county in his generation and he died as a result of putting
his great strength to an excessive test. On a wager he
carried four bushels of wheat up a stairway in a mill, but
the strain was too much and he died shortly afterward,
leaving his widow with four small children, of whom Mr.
Baker's mother was the youngest, the others being
John, who became known as Squire Towell and lived
in Ross township, Samuel, who moved to Indiana, and
Mrs. Caanan Brouse, who also moved to Indiana.
The Widow Towell did not remarry and lived to be
ninety-six years of age.
John Winans Baker was born in Kentucky in 1814
and was but a child when his parents, John and Mary (Winans)
Baker, came up here with their family in 1816 and
settled in the immediate vicinity of Jamestown, where
John Baker built a large house and became a considerable
landowner. He did a large business in hauling to
Cincinnati. He and his wife were Methodists and were
the parents of thirteen children, Mathias, George,
William, Douglas, John Winans, Hilary, Jacob, Andrew, Mary
and four daughters who died young. John Winans
Baker grew up in the Jamestown neighborhood and after
his marriage became engaged in the grocery business at
Jamestown, remaining there until his sons were grown, when
he moved to his farm southeast of the village. Upon
his retirement he and his wife moved to Columbus, where in
1900 Mrs. Baker died from the effect of injuries
received in a fall down a cellarway, she then being
eighty-seven years of age. A year later John W.
Baker fell down stairs and received injuries from which
he died on Christmas Day, 1901. They were Methodists
and he was a charter member of the Odd Fellows lodge at
Jamestown. John W. Baker and wife were the
parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this
sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the others being the
following:
James, who died in his youth; Sarah, now
living at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, widow of James Alexander;
William Raper, of Xenia; John H., who died at
Columbus; Erastus Frank, who died at Chicago;
Isadora, who died at the age of four years, and
Arvilla, who is the widow of Willis H. Dye and is
now living in Florida.
Samuel T. Baker was reared at Jamestown, where
he received his schooling and became familiar with the
details of the grocery business in his father's store.
He was but a boy when the Civil War brook out and in
January, 1864, he then not being seventeen years of age, he
enlisted for service as a member of Company A,
Seventy-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and became
an orderly to Major-Gen. Charles T. Walcott,
commanding the First Division of the Fourteenth Army Corps,
and while thus detailed went with Sherman's army to
the sea and participated in the Grand Review at Washington,
being mustered out at the close of the war. Upon the
completion of his military service Mr. Baker returned
home and not long afterward opened a grocery store at Grape
Grove, but presently returned to Jamestown and was there
engaged in the grocery business for three years, at the end
of which time he and Alf Johnson started a
horse-breeding farm just east of the village, making a
specialty of breeding and training saddle, draft and coach
horses. For twenty-five years Mr. Baker
exhibited his horses at county and state fairs and in show
rings and acted as judge and starter at race meets over a
wide territory. He also made a specialty of
auctioneering at horse and general farm sales and for
forty-five years followed that vocation throughout this
section of Ohio and over in Indiana. For the last five
years Mr. Baker has been serving as president of the
Greene County Fair Association. On the place on which
he lives, the old Amos W. Creswell farm east of
Cedarville, Mr. Baker has in late years given much
attention to the raising of registered Berkshire hogs and in
1913 was the winner of the grand champion sweepstakes for
boars at the Ohio state fair. Mr. Baker is a
Republican, served for two terms as mayor of Jamestown and
for two terms as township trustee. He and his wife are
members of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville.
Mr. Baker has been twice married. In 1868
he was united in marriage to Sarah Rebecca Townsley,
a member of one of Greene county's pioneer families, and to
that union two children were born, Harry T.,
now living at Columbus and Raymond, now living at
Cincinnati. The mother of these sons died in 1898 and
on Oct. 9, 1901, Mr. Baker married Ada L. Creswell,
who also was born in this county, daughter of Amos W. and
Rebecca (Ward) Creswell, who were the parents of five
children, but two of whom, Mrs. Baker and William Ward
Creswell, grew to maturity. Mrs. Baker is
connected with two of the oldest families in Greene county.
She completed her schooling in the college at Delaware, this
state. Her father, Amos W. Creswell, who was
the owner of five hundred acres of land east of Cedarville,
a part of which tract is now occupied by Mr. and Mrs.
Baker, was born in that same neighborhood on Mar. 13,
1827, son of Samuel and Letitia (Wilson) Creswell,
the latter of whom, born in 1802, was a daughter of Amos
Wilson, who, with his brother, Major Daniel
Wilson, is traditionally said to have been the first
permanent white settler in the region that came to be
organized as Greene county, Amos Wilson being
credited with having built the first house in the county,
which he later sold to his brother Daniel, all of
which is set out elsewhere in this work. The
Creswells also have been here since the days before the
organization of the county, as is set out at length
elsewhere. Amos Wilson Creswell,
father of Mrs. Baker, was a grandson of
James and Catherine Creswell, the former of whom was
killed by Indians in Kentucky, after which his widow and her
children, two sons and five daughters, came up here and
settled on what is now the Andrew Jackson farm
in Cedarville township. Samuel Creswell,
born in 1778, was the fourth in order of birth of the
children of this pioneer widow, the others having been
Ann, who married Thomas Spence and had
three children: Margaret, who married John
McClellan and had six children; Betsy, who
married Daniel Boyles; Catherine, who
married William McClellan; Sarah, who
married Simon Bromagem, and James, who
married Ann Junkin. Samuel
Creswell was a soldier of the second war with England,
1812. To Samuel and Letitia (Wilson)
Creswell were born five children, namely: James,
born in 1821, who married Ellen Cregor and
moved to Crawford county, Illinois, where he died in 1895;
Ann, born in 1823, who remained unmarried, making her
home with her brother Amos and died in 1904;
Samuel R., born in 1825, who died at the age of
sixteen years; Amos W., father of Mrs.
Baker, and Benoni, born in 1828, who married
Mary Jane Marshall and spent all his life
in Cedarville township, his death occurring in 1914.
Amos Wilson Creswell was twice married.
In 1864 he was united in marriage to Hannah
Rebecca Ward, who was born on Apr. 27, 1841, and
to that union were born five children, of whom Mrs.
Baker, the first-born, was born on Nov. 24, 1865, the
others being William Ward, born on Dec. 1,
1867, who married Ethel May Fields;
Samuel Lee, born in 1870, who died in 1877; one
who died in infancy in 1872, and Anna Luella,
born in 1873, who died at the age of six months. The
mother of these children died on Jan. 26, 1875, and Mr.
Creswell later married Mrs. Margaret
A. Raney, a daughter of J. N. Townsley.
He died on Dec. 20, 1899, and the brick house he erected on
his farm in 1878 is now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Baker.
Source: History of Greene County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. by
B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.,
1918 - Page 788 |
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WILLIAM R. BAKER.
William R. Baker, a veteran of the Civil War, former
auditor of Greene county and formerly and for years engaged
in the mercantile business in Xenia, in which city he is now
living retired, is a native son of Greene county, born on a
farm in Silvercreek township, one mile west of the village
of Jamestown, Aug. 31, 1841, a son of John W. and
Elizabeth (Towell) Baker, the former of whom was born in
Kentucky in 1814 and the latter, in Virginia, in 1813, who
were married in this county and here established their home,
many years later moving to Columbus, where their last days
were spent.
John W. Baker was a son of William and
Dorothy (Winans) Baker and was fourteen years of age
when he came to this county form Kentucky with his parents
in 1828. Two years previously William Baker had
come up here from Kentucky on a visit to his kinsman,
Doctor Winans who was at that time practicing his
profession at Jamestown, then a hamlet of fewer than a dozen
houses, and had been so favorably impressed by the promising
conditions here that he decided to locate in this county.
Returning to Kentucky he disposed of his interests there and
in 1828 came with his family and took up his permanent abode
at Jamestown, where he erected a frame building on the site
now occupied by Johnson's grocery store and there
engaged in the manufacturing of harness. Not long
afterward he established a tavern at Jamestown and Bakers
tavern was for years a popular stopping place both "for man
and beast," a large yard and stable at the rear affording
accommodations for the latter. That tavern occupied
the southeast corner of Main and Limestone streets.
William Baker and his wife were the parents of eight
sons and three daughters and John W. Baker was the
fifth son. The latter grew to manhood at Jamestown and
there married Elizabeth Towell, who, as noted above,
was born in Virginia in 1813. She was a daughter of
John and Sarah Towell, the former of whom died in
Virginia, his native state, after which his widow came with
her children to Ohio and after a sometime residence at Xenia
located at Jamestown. After his marriage John W.
Baker became engaged in the grocery business at
Jamestown and remained there until his sons were well grown
boys, when he moved to a farm he had bought in Sugarcreek
township, south of Jamestown, where he remained until in the
early '60s, when, in order to secure better advantages in
the way of schooling for the younger daughter he moved to
Columbus, where he again became engaged in the grocery
business and was thus engaged until his retirement. He
and his wife spent their last days at Columbus, her death
occurring there in 1900 and his, in 1901. They were
members of the Methodist Episcopal church and their children
were reared in that faith. There were seven of these
children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third
in order of birth, the others being Sarah E., widow
of James Alexander, now living with her daughters in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin; James C., who died in the days
of his youth; John H., also now deceased; Samuel
T., a veteran of the Civil War, who is living on his
farm in the Cedarville neighborhood; Erastus F., w
traveling salesman, who died at Chicago in 1914, and
Clarissa A., wife of W. H. Dye now living in
Florida.
William R. Baker received his schooling in the
schools of Jamestown and was a well-grown lad when his
parents moved to the farm, where he was living when the
Civil War broke out. In October, 1861, he enlisted for
service, a member of Company A, Seventy-fourth Regiment,
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with that command for
three years, or until the completion of his term of
enlistment, being mustered out in the fall of 1864, when his
younger brother Samuel took his place in the company.
During that period of service Mr. Baker was attached
to the Army of the Cumberland, Fourteenth Army Corps, Second
Division, Third Brigade, and was an orderly at division
headquarters when mustered out. He participated in
many of the notable battles and engagements of the war,
including those of Stone's River, Chickamauga, Jonesboro and
the Atlanta campaign and upon the completion of that active
service became an ambulance driver and thus continued his
service until the close of the war.
Not long after his return from army service Mr.
Baker became employed as a clerk in the grocery store of
H. H. Eavey at Xenia, beginning that employment in
1867, and two years later, in 1869, bought a half interest
in the store. Soon afterward the firm again was
reorganized, Mr. Baker's brother-in-law, W. B.
Harrison, buying his partner's interest, the firm then
becoming Baker, Harrison & Company, and Mr. Baker
continued thus engaged in the mercantile business until his
election in the fall of 1883 to the office of auditor of
Greene county. He was retained in office, by
successive reelections, until 1896, when he declined to be
the further nominee of the party that had honored him by
these successive nominations without opposition. For
four years after his retirement from the auditor's office
Mr. Baker was engaged in prospecting in the Scioto oil
fields and since then as been living practically retired,
his chief attention being given to the management of a farm
he owns in this county, making his home in the old W. B.
Harrison residence at 202 East Market street. He
is a republican.
Mr. Baker has been twice married. On Mar.
1, 1876, he was united in marriage to Anna Harrison,
who was born and reared in this county, her home having been
about eight miles east of Xenia. She was a daughter of
James and Ruth (Hanna) Harrison and a sister of W.
B. Harrison, who for years was a merchant and
manufacturer at Xenia and a politician of more than local
influence. To that union were born two daughters,
Florence B., who married Frank Wickersham and now
lives in Denver, Colorado, and Jessie R., wife of
J. A. Chew,
managing editor of the Xenia Gazette. The
mother of these daughters died in October, 1892, and on
Sept. 12, 1905, Mr. Baker married Mrs. Agnes
(Garrett) Harrison, widow of the late W. B. Harrison,
mentioned above. Mrs. Baker was born at
Wilmington, Delaware, a daughter of Elwood Garrett
and wife, and was living in that city at the time of her
marriage to Mr. Harrison, her home since then having
been in Xenia. Her father, Elwood Garrett, a
Quaker, who died in 1910 at the great age of ninety-three
years, was a photographer and was quite an inventor, he
having put up the first telephone in use in the city of
Wilmington. Mr. and Mrs. Baker are members of
the Church of Christ (Scientist) and Mr. Baker is a
member of the Masonic order.
Source: History of Greene County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. by
B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.,
1918 - Page 782-784 |
William Ballard |
WILLIAM BALLARD.
Among the farmers of New Jasper township whose influence, in
a generation now past, lent stability to that community,
there were few who left better memories at their passing
than did the late William Ballard, who died at his
home in that township in the fall of 1894 and whose
daughter, Miss Luella Ballard, now a resident of the
village of Jamestown, still owns the old home place of two
hundred and twenty acres in New Jasper township.
William Ballard was a native son of Ohio
and all his life was spent in this state. He was born
on a pioneer farm in Adams county on Mar. 23, 1811, son of
the Rev. Lyman and Sarah (Hanover) Ballard, early
settlers in that county, who later became residents of
Greene county, where their last days were spent. The
Rev. Lyman Ballard was a native of the state of
Massachusetts, born in November, 1783. In the days of
his young manhood he came to the then Territory of Ohio and
located in Adams county, where he married Sarah
Hanover and where he remained until 1822, in which year
he came with his family up into Greene county and bought
from William Frazer a tract of land in Ross township,
about three miles north of the village of Jamestown, where
he established his home and where he and his wife spent the
remainder of their lives, his death occurring in June, 1873.
The Rev. Lyman Ballard is said to have been the first
man in Ross township to own a wagon and four-horse team and
when he used to go to mill, driving up to Clifton with his
"grist," his neighbors would utilize this conveyance as a
means of getting their "grist'' taken to mill, so that his
wagon usually was well filled before he had gone far on his
journey. As a preacher in the old Bethel church he for
years exerted a wholesome influence in the community.
He and his wife were the parents of seven children, of whom
the subject of this memorial sketch was the second in order
of birth, the others having been Joseph, Nathan,
John, Elizabeth, Jackson and Martin.
Jackson Ballard became the owner of the old homestead
place in Ross township after his father's death.
William Ballard was but eleven years of
age when his parents settled with their family in this
county in 1822, and he grew to manhood on the home place in
Ross township. He had begun his schooling in his
native county of Adams and completed the same in the schools
of Greene county; early became licensed to teach school and
for some years spent his winters teaching in the local
district schools. After his marriage in the spring of
1842 Mr. Ballard and his wife began
housekeeping in a house adjoining that of the former's
father in Ross township, but after awhile moved to another
farm in that same neighborhood and there resided until 1856,
when they moved to the farm in New Jasper township referred
to in the opening paragraph of this memorial, where both
spent the remainder of their lives. Willian
Ballard was for many years director of schools in his
home district.
On Apr. 21, 1842, in Cedarville township, William
Ballard was united in marriage to Margaret
Cunningham, who was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia,
Feb. 14. 1820, and who was but a child when her parents,
James and Mary (Leach) Cunningham, came to Greene county
with their family and settled in Cedarville township.
James Cunningham and wife were the parents of
five children, Mrs. Ballard having had two
brothers. Nelson and John, and two sisters,
Martha and Sarah. To William and
Margaret (Cunningham) Ballard were born
four children, namely: Rufus H., who died on Sept.
14. 1914, and is buried in the cemetery at Jamestown;
Aniel M., who died on Sept. 22, 1874; Elizabeth,
widow of S. F. Evans, and Luella, the latter
of whom still retains the old home farm in New Jasper
township, though now living at Jamestown, to which village
she moved on Mar. 10, 1914, and where she lives with her
sister, Mrs. Evans. The mother of these
children died on Oct. 9, 1862, about six years after the
family moved to the New Jasper township farm, and was buried
in the cemetery at Jamestown. William Ballard
survived her for many years; his death occurring on the old
farm on Oct. 18, 1894, and his body also was laid in the
burying ground at Jamestown. He was well past
eighty-three years of age at the time of his death and more
than seventy years of his life had been spent in Greene
county, which he came to know as well as any man in the
county. He had been twice married, on Mar. 1, 1865,
having married Anna Ellis, of Clinton county, a
daughter of Abraham and Sarah (Oglesbee) Ellis.
She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
While Mr. Ballard never joined the church, he always
aided church work with his means and influence.
Source: History of Greene County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. by
B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.,
1918 - Page 452 |
Mr. & Mrs.
Clark K. Bickett |
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