Biographies
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THOMAS BLACK, a old and highly esteemed citizen of Miami County, is a native of Preble County, Ohio, and dates his birth from November 21, 1812.  His parents, Daniel and Elizabeth (Deem) Black, were natives of Pennsylvania and Kentucky, respectively, born as follows:  The father born Sept. 2, 1776, and the mother was born Nov. 6, 1783.  They were married in Kentucky, Apr. 25, 1802, and subsequently settled in Butler County, Ohio, and later moved to Preble County, Ohio, where they afterwards resided until their respective deaths, which occurred as follows:  The father died Mar. 16, 1863, and the mother June 4, 1867.  They were the parents of four children, viz:  John, David, Uri and Thomas, our subject, the youngest member of the family.  He was married in Preble County, Ohio, Aug. 21, 183, to Barbara, daughter of  John and Catherine (Siler) Craft.  She was born in Preble County, Ohio, Mar. 25, 1814.  In the fall of 1843, Mr. Black moved to Miami County, Indiana, and settled upon the farm where he now resides, in Richland Township.  He owns 158 acres of fine and well-improved land.  He has laid born to him eight children, viz?  William H., born May 8 1846 (deceased); Clementine, born Aug. 20, 1848 (deceased); Deem, born June 20, 1852 (deceased); Thomas F., born Mar. 22, 1855, and two which died in infancy and not named.  Mr. Black is a highly esteemed and enterprising citizen. Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z. Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page  772

JOHN BOOKWALTER, eldest son of John and Catharine Bookwalter, was born in Johnstown, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, in 1812.  In 1822 he moved with his parents to Montgomery county, Ohio, and settled five miles southwest of Dayton.  His mother died soon after their arrival in this State.  She had contracted a trouble in her lungs during the journey which terminated in consumption.  At the age of sixteen he learned the wagon-making trade, and in 1833, started his shop in Winchester.  In the year 1835 he married Mary Mikesell, by whom he had eleven children, seven of whom are now living.  His wife died in 1869, and in 1870 he married Sarah A. Gorsuch.  No children were born of this marriage.  Mr. Bookwalter died in 1879.  G. W. M. Bookwalter married for his first wife, Rebecca Bowman, by whom he had one child, now deceased.  His second wife was Sarah, daughter of John Russell, of Winchester.  George Bookwalter was engaged in painting for thirty years.  He has been mayor of Winchester of eighteen years, and clerk of the township nineteen years, both of which offices he is now holding. Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z. Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page 192

JOHN M. BOOKWALTER married Louisa Canarroe, daughter of Richard Conarroe, of Butler county, Ohio/  Their children are Ivea L. and L. Veturia.  One child is dead.  Mr. Bookwalter is a carriage-trimmer by trade.  He was in the one hundred day service during the Rebellion. Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z. Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page 193

BENJAMIN F. BOOKWALTER married Elvira, daughter of John and Catharine Russell  They have six children.  He is engaged in the blacksmith shops of Bookwalter & Fetherling. Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z. Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page 193

JOSIAH BOOKWALTER married first Sarah E. Mitchell.  Three children were born them, only one of whom survives.  His second wife was Eva McKee, by whom he has one child.  He is a partner in the firm of Bookwalter & Fetherling at Winchester - carriage-makers. Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z. Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page 193

LEONARD BROCK moved from Virginia and settled in Harrison township about 1850.  His wife, Mary Ann (Voze), died in Union county about 1843.  They had five children, four of whom are dead.      Joseph, the sole survivor of the family, was born in 1833.  He married Susan Vay, born in 1835, and has had eight children, six of whom survive: William, married, lives in Darke county; the remaining five, Joseph, Augustus, Noah, Perry, and Elmer, live at home.

JOHN BROWER was born in Pennsylvania, from which State he moved to Lanier township.  During his life he was a member of the German Baptist church, of which he was for thirty years an elder.  Noah Brower, a grandson of the above, is one of eight children.  His father was a resident of Dayton for fourteen years previous to his death.  He owned a farm of three hundred and twenty acres.  Noah Brower married Caroline Neff and has one child.  He was at one time engaged in the saw-mill business.  His farm contains forty acres. Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z. Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page 192

JOHN BROWN was born about 1795, in Georgia, from which State he emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Gratis township in 1804.  His father, Richard, entered a three-quarter section, one hundred and twenty-seven acres of which is now in the possession of his grandson, Joseph Brown.  He paid a dollar and fifty cents per acre for the land.  John Brown's wife was Mary, daughter of Jonas Randall, who died in 1867.  They had seven children born to them:  Jonas, (deceased); Sarah, (deceased); John R., residing in Iowa; Jonathan, in Kansas; Richard, (deceased); Joseph and Rebecca, (deceased.  Joseph Brown was married three times.  By his first wife, Elizabeth Stanley, he had two children (both deceased).  His second wife, Mary Hasley, who died of small-p0ox in 1875, left two children:   Ellie and Milo A.  His third wife is Maria Stubbs.  They have had one child, Samuel (deceased).  Mr. Brown has been a director on the school board for twenty-four years.      John Brown and Mary Randall moved into their log hut the day after their marriage, carrying their effects upon a horse.  At the time they moved in there was no floor to their dwelling.  The house was finished after they had moved in.

WILLIAM BRUCE, The Founder of Eaton.      A high type of pioneer life and character was exemplified in William Bruce, the founder of Eaton.  He was of Scotch descent, and in him were preserved many of the distinguishing and admirable traits of the people to whom he belonged.  His father and five brothers Highlanders, came to America during the Scottish rebellion of 1746, and located upon the waters of the Potomac in Virginia.  Here the subject of our sketch was born on the twentieth of September, 1762.  When he was nine years of age his father removed to Redstone, Pennsylvania, near Fort Pitt (now Pittsburg).  Young William Bruce sought employment and was engaged while a mere boy as packer of goods across the mountains.  In this vigorous and perilous occupation he developed that physical vigor and fearlessness as well ad the sturdiness of character which fitted him for the life he was to lead.  When of age Bruce abandoned the toilsome vocation at which he had for several years labored, and, with a brother-in-law, emigrated to Kentucky, where he settled in the famous Cane Ridge locality, included in the civil division of territory now known as Bourbon county.  In Kentucky William Bruce married, about 1791, Francis Lewis, born in 1771.  They emigrated in 1793 to Warren county, Ohio, and for six years lived near Shakertown.  They then moved into Butler county, and from there to Montgomery county, from which locality they moved to Eaton, their permanent place of residence, in June, 1806.  Prior to this time Mr. Bruce had prospected for lands along Seven Mile, and, doubtless, had then conceived the idea of founding a town, for he purchased three sections, or nearly two thousand acres of land, including the site of Eaton, the "Old Garrison," and all of the ground between, being led to this measure, very likely, because of the general attractions of the lands and the particularly fine mill site which the falls of the creek afforded.      Mr. Bruce built a cabin on the hill south of the site of Eaton, laid out the town, and built a saw- and grist-mill, which proved of great convenience to the settlers in the surrounding country.  The village fast gained population under the proprietor's generous scheme of management, and, in a few years, almost entirely through his influence, it excelled in good morals and in true prosperity many of its young rivals which had better natural advantages.  Mr. Bruce made liberal donations of land for public buildings, churches, and schools, and also gave lots to a number of settlers, besides encouraging the worthy poor by various other methods.  It is related of him that he seldom took any "toll" for grinding the poor man's grist, and that he frequently gave outright to those who needed it,  quantities of flour, meal, and the other simple provisions which were in use among the pioneers and early settlers.  He was a very humane man, kind-hearted and, if such thing is possible, generous to a fault.  His life was a long and constant exercise of a very unusual energy, and his labors redounded as much to the good of the general public as to himself or immediate family.  With all his earnestness of purpose, his unswerving devotion to the right and scrupulous regard for morality, he was original in his ideas, and refused to be governed by popular opinion- a trait of independence which gained for him in some quarters the reputation of being eccentric, and in others created positive ill-will.      He was once a member of the Christian or "New Light" church, and a very consistent one indeed, with the exception that he could not be persuaded from the idea that it was not wrong to grind corn on Sunday for the poor, and in some cases absolutely destitute settlers.  Being remonstrated with by some members of the church he withdrew from their fellowship.  His creed was that the great practical good to be obtained was superior to the harm of nominally infringing a law of the church, and he continued to run his mill down by Seven Mile on Sundays as well as week days, when there was necessity for so doing, and the water was high enough.  This circumstance served well as an illustration of the character of William Bruce.  He was a plain matter-of-fact man, a utilitarian, very decided in his views, and direct in giving them expression.  He wished to infringe upon the rights of now man, and would allow no man of infringe upon his.  He preferred to do good in his own way, and always unostentatiously.  His donations were usually accompanied by some provision enjoining the recipient to perform to some work for himself, and thus he secured to the community and individuals and the fullest benefit, both directly and indirectly of his benevolence.      Mr. Bruce's sterling traits of character gained and maintained for him the universal and unqualified respect of the people, a fact that was evidenced when he was made the first treasurer of Preble county, and in later years by the number of private trusts reposed in him.      The subject of our sketch was a jovial man, of high spirits, enjoyed life, and was very fond of association with his fellow-men.  He was good humored, fond of conversation, and a man of far more than ordinary mind.      His personal appearance was prepossessing, at once commanding and benign.      Mr. Bruce died in 1832, and was buried in Mound cemetery, where an appropriate monument, formed in part of the grinding stones of the old mill, marks his resting place.      Mrs. Bruce's death occurred prior to that of her husband, in 1827.      This pair of pioneers were the parents of nine children, nearly all of whom grew to maturity and reared families, whose members have, as a precious legacy, the good name and fame of the patriarch William Bruce.  All but three are now deceased, viz:  George, who for the past fifty-three years has lived in Indianapolis;  Washington and James, residents of Preble county.  The eldest of the family, Hannah, married Jacob Spacht; Charles,  the second child, born January 15, 1796, married Eliza Lease; Hardin was born July 1, 1798.  He married for his first wife Jane Cook, and for his second Susannah Danforth (Swihort).  Mary (familiarly called Polly) was first married to James Holliday, and after his death, to Levin T. McCabe; George, born July 27, 1802, married Dove Regan; John L., born November 4, 1804, died unmarried; Washington, born in 1809, married Sarah Redmond; James and Alexander, twins, were born April 15, 1815.  The latter died in infancy, and the former is now living in Washington township.      Charles Bruce was the father of nine children:  George, a physician, in Winchester, Indiana; Jerusha (Morgan) in Eaton; William, deceased; William C., in Eaton; Melvina (Avery) in Indiana; Mary (Danford) in Eaton; Josephine (Williams) in Indiana; Julia (Minor) deceased; and John H., physician in Eaton.      Hardin Bruce had several children by his first wife, of  whom Margaret A. (Redmond) in Cincinnati, is the only one living.  By his second wife his children were:  John, Ervin, Mary (Deem), Frances (Deem), Catharine, Emma and Laura, all resident in Eaton.      Mary Bruce, wife of James Holliday, had four children by her first husband, viz: Sarah, deceased; Caroline, wife of the late W.  H. H. B. Minor, M. D.; and Frances, wife of Alfred Denny, both resident of Eaton; and James P., deceased.      George Bruce had three sons:  William, deceased; John W., and James, in Indiana.      Washington had one son, Charles W. Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z. Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881

ELIAS BUNGER was born in Greenbriar county, Virginia, in the year 1809, and came to Preble county with his father in 1817.  In 1840 he married Nancy Utz, who was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1812.  Eleven children ahve been born to them.  Mr. Bunger has been an elder in the Lutheran church for several years.  His sons Samuel, William and Andrew were in the war of the Rebellion.  At the time he commenced life for himself he had only fifty cents, which was all that remained after paying the marriage fee; but by dint of hard labor and economy he accumulated a farm of two hundred acres. Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z. Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page 208

WILLIAM T. BURK was born in 1799.  He came to Ohio from Tennessee and settled where W. W. Burk now lies, a short distance north of Sonora.  In 1823 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Ballard.  Twelve children were born them, nine of whom are now living.  W. W. Burke was born in 1838.  In 1861 he married Locetta Odell, born in 1840.  Two children have been born to them.  Mr. Burk owns a farm of about fifty acres about a mile north of Sonora, on the pike. Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z. Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page 209

 

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