Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1081

WILLIAM S. McCLANAHAN.        There are many points of more than passing interest in connection with the personal and ancestral history of this sterling and honored citizen of Vinton County, from which he went forth as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war and within whose borders he has maintained his home since his boyhood days.  He is a scion not only of one of the honored pioneer families of Ohio but also of one that was founded in America in the colonial era of our history, a number of his kinsmen of an early generation having been soldiers in the war of the Revolution.  Mr. McClanahan owns and occupies the attractive old homestead farm that was long the place of residence of his parents and that is eligibly situated in Swan Township.  He has been a resourceful and successful exponent of agricultural industry in Vinton County and is a citizen whose character and civic status render it specially consistent to incorporate in this publication a brief review of his career.
     The lineage of the McClanahan family traces back to staunch Scotch-Irish origin and the first representatives of the name in America settled in Maryland prior to the War of the Revolution.  In Washington County, that state, Alexander McClanahan, the paternal grandfather of Lieutenant McClanahan of this review, was born in the year 1775, and there he was reared to manhood.  In Maryland was solemnized his marriage to Miss Nancy Miller, and there were born their first three children, - David, Alexander, Jr., and Elizabeth, the last mentioned having been a small child at the time of the family immigration to Ohio.  In company with other families the McClanahans made the long and onerous overland journey from Maryland to Ohio, utilizing teams and wagons for transportation and camping by night while enroute, the journey having been of several weeks' duration.  Alexander McClanahan had intended to locate in Pickaway County, but the prevalence of malaria, or chills and fever, in that section led him to establish the family home in Perry County, where he procured Government land and reclaimed a farm from the wilderness, both he and his wife having passed the residue of their lives on this pioneer homestead, where he passed away in 1850, at the age of seventy-five years, his wife having died about two years previously.  Three of his uncles, Alexander, Robert and John McClanahan, became settlers in Augusta County, Virginia, and Alexander and John became captains in the Continental forces in the War of the Revolution.  They served in a regiment commanded by Colonel Lewis and took part in the battle at Mount Pleasant, in what is now West Virginia, this having been known as the first definite engagement of the great Revolutionary struggle.  There are famous old Indian known as Cornstalk met his death in the fort established by the patriot soldiers.  Capt. Alexander McClanahan continued his services as a gallant soldier during the entire period of the war for national independence, and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel of his regiment.
     After Alexander McClanahan, grandfather of the subject of this review, established his home in Perry County, Ohio, ten more children were born to him, the entire roster of the family having thus included ten sons and three daughters.  All of the children attained maturity, all married and reared children, except one, and all passed away when well advanced in years.
     Alexander McClanahan, Jr., father of him whose name introduces this article, was born in Washington County, Maryland, on the 28th of June, 1813, and was a youth at the time of the family immigration to Ohio, where he was reared to manhood under the conditions and influences of the old pioneer farmstead in Madison Township, Perry County.  In 1837 he wedded Miss Nancy Davis, who was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, on the 25th of November, 1817, and who was a child at the time of her parents' removal to Perry County.  She was a daughter of James and Catherine (Sinift) Davis, and her father was a native of Loudoun County, Virginia.  James Davis, a scion of sturdy Welsh ancestry, was reared to manhood in the historic Old Dominion and as a young man he came to Ohio and became a resident of Fairfield County.  There he married Catherine Sinift, who was of German parentage, and a few years later they removed to Perry County, where the devoted wife and mother died many years later.  Mr. Davis finally removed to Hocking County and there he died when seventy years of age.  Alexander McClanahan, Sr., and his family held membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics he was an old-line whig.  James Davis, maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a member of the Lutheran Church, of which his wife also was a devout communicant.
     After their marriage Alexander McClanahan, Jr., and his wife continued their residence in Perry County until 1851, when they removed with their four children, William S., Catherine J., Matilda and Mary, to Vinton County and established their home on a partially improved farm in Elk Township, where was born their daughter Harriet E., and where they continued to reside until 1856, when they removed to Swan Township and established themselves on the fine old homestead farm now owned by their son William S., of this review, who is here giving his time and attention to successful operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower.  Of the other children it may be noted that Catherine J. is married and resides in the State of Minnesota; Matilda is the widow of Dr. A. W. Schuck and maintains her home in Minnesota; Mary is the wife of Erastus Fautch and they now reside in California; and Harriet E., who became the wife of Dr. E. P. Frampton, was a resident of New Plymouth, Vinton County, at the time of her death, in 1901, her husband having passed away in 1897.  Alexander McClanahan, Jr., continued his activities as a farmer in Swan Township until 1889, when he and his wife established a home in the Village of New Plymouth, Vinton County, where Mrs. McClanahan was summoned to eternal rest on the 12th of June, 1891, and where her husband lived virtually retired until his death, which occurred on the 6th of January, 1896.  In Perry County they held membership in the Lutheran Church but after removal to Vinton County they became earnest members of the Presbyterian Church,  both having lived righteous and altogether worthy lives and both having commanded the high regard of all who knew them.  In politics Mr. McClanahan was aligned with the whig party until the organization of the republican party, when he transferred his allegiance to the latter, its principles thereafter enlisting his support during the remainder of his life.
     William S. McClanahan, the eldest of the family of five children, was born on the old homestead in Madison Township, Perry County, Ohio, on the 25th of July, 1838, and thus he was about thirteen years old at the time of the family removal to Vinton County, where he was reared to maturity and availed himself of the advantages of the common schools of the period.  He has never severed his allegiance to the basic industry of agriculture and has long continued one of its energetic and successful representatives in Swan Township, where he owns and resides upon the fine old homestead farm of 160 acres, devoted to diversified agriculture and the raising of excellent grades of live stock.  The farm is eligibly situated in section 20 and its improvements are of substantial order, making it one of the attractive and valuable farms of the county, this place having been the home of Mr. McClanahan since 1856, so that he is now one of the most venerable of the pioneer citizens still remaining in Swan Township.  He has been one of the loyal and public-spirited citizens of Vinton County during the long years marked by earnest and worthy achievement on his part, and he is known and honored for his sterling character and his earnest efforts to be of use to the community.
     When the cloud of civil war cast its shadow over the nation Mr. McClanahan was among the sturdy young men of Ohio who promptly tendered their services in defense of the Union.  On the 19th of April, 1861, in response to the first call of President Lincoln, he enlisted as a private in Company D, Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to West Virginia, where he continued in service until the expiration of his three months' term of enlistment.  He then returned home, but on the 25th of March, 1862, he again manifested his patriotic ardor, by re-enlisting in a company that was organized in Ohio but that became a part of the Second Virginia Cavalry.  With this gallant regiment he served for some time under command of General Cox, and his later service was in the commands of Generals Crook, Sheridan and Custer.  In 1864 he and his comrades of the regiment re-enlisted as veterans, and he continued in service thereafter until victory had crowned the Union arms and the long and sanguinary struggle came to its end, his honorable discharge having been received on the 30th of June, 1865. As a soldier Mr. McClanahan made an admirable record, and the same will reflect lasting honor upon his name.  He took part in many important battles and minor engagements, including the battles of Cove Mountain and Lynchburg, Virginia, and in the various engagements of the historic Shenandoah Campaign.  He was a participant in a fiercely contested battle at Moorefield, West Virginia, and was with General Sheridan's forces in the famous Battle of Winchester, on the 19th of September, 1864.   Three days later he took part in the Battle of Fisher's Hill, Virginia, and on the 19th of October he was a participant in the engagement at Cedar Creek.  His regiment then went with General Sheridan down through Central Virginia, but prior to this he had been in the command of General Custer when that gallant officer administered most severe defeat to the forces of General Early.  Mr. McClanahan was one of the valiant soldiers who aided in destroying the Confederate influence along the course of the James River, and he took part in the Battle of Five Forks, Virginia, on the 30th of March, 1865.  He was of the Union forces that dislodged the Confederate at Sailor's Creek and who took part in the spirited fight at Appomattox Station, Virginia, on the 8th of April, 1865, the surrender of General Lee having occurred the following day, and the regiment of Mr. McClanahan having thus been at the time very near the scene of the great surrender.  In November, 1860, he was commissioned second lieutenant, and he continued the able and zealous incumbent of this office until he received his honorable discharge.  In recognition of his gallant and meritorious service lie receives from the Government a pension.
     In the "piping times of peace" Mr. Clanahan has shown the same patriotism and loyalty that prompted him to go forth in defense of the nation's integrity in the Civil war, and though he has not sought to identify himself with the activities of practical politics he has given unfaltering allegiance to the republican party and for twenty-one years served in the office of township clerk, with deep interest in all that touches the material and civic welfare of his home community and county.
     In Swan Township, on the 14th of January, 1864, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Clanahan to Miss Rachel Reed, who was born in Perry County, this state, on the 30th of July, 1838, her future husband having been born on the 25th of the same month and year, and their devoted companionship having continued for more than half a century, so that they are passing the gracious evening of their lives under conditions that make for serene peace and happiness.  Mrs. McClanahan is a daughter of John and Eleanor (Iliff) Reed, both of whom were born and reared in Ohio, where the respective families settled in the early pioneer days.  Mr. Reed was a prosperous farmer in Perry County at the time of his death, on the 2d of June, 1842, and his widow removed with her children to Swan Township, Vinton County, when Mrs. McClanahan, was a girl of fifteen years.  Mrs. Reed here passed the residue of her life, which was prolonged somewhat beyond the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, and she was a devout member of the Baptist Church.
     Ida, the only surviving child of Mr. and Mrs. McClanahan, was born on the 25th of May, 1865, and she and her husband remain with her parents on the home farm.  She is the wife of Edward E. Hunter, who was born in Vinton County, on the 27th of February, 1858, and who since his marriage has had the general supervision of the farm of his father-in-law.  Mr. and Mrs. Hunter have no children

Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1191 - 1196

JACOB H. MILHON.    Both Mr. Milhon and his wife are representatives of old and honored families that were early settled in the Buckeye State and the names of which have been worthily linked with the annals of American history since the Colonial days, Mrs. Milhon being, through both paternal and maternal ancestral lines eligible for membership in the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and on the distaff side being a lineal descendant of Elder Brewster, an historic character and Pilgrim clergyman who came to America on the time-renowned ship "Mayflower."  The fine farmstead home of Mr. and Mrs. Milhon is eligibly situated one mile north of the attractive little City of McArthur, the judicial center of Vinton County, and is known for its generous and gracious hospitality, while the family is one of distinctive popularity in the community and Mr. Milhon is recognized as one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of this favored section of his native state.
     Jacob H. Milhon was born in Belmont County, Ohio, on the 16th of June, 1848, and is a son of Rev. James and Eliza (Larrick) Milhon, the former of whom was a native of Virginia and the latter of Belmont County, Ohio, where her parents settled upon their removal from Virginia.  The Milhon family is of stanch German lineage and representative of the same settled in Virginia, the historic Old Dominion, prior to the war of the Revolution.
     James Milhon was reared and educated in Virginia and at the age of twenty-one years he came to Ohio and became a resident of Belmont County.  There he met and wedded Miss Eliza Larrick, a member well known pioneer family, and in that county he engaged in farming, besides devoting his attention to teaching in the pioneer schools and to service as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he had become a devoted member prior to leaving his old home State of Virginia.  In 1855 the family came to Vinton County and Mr. Milhon purchased a homestead of 160 acres, in Jackson Township.  There he re- claimed a productive farm and eventually became the owner of a valuable landed estate of more than 300 acres.  He long held prestige as one of the substantial agriculturists and honored and influential citizens of the county and when well advanced in years he and his wife removed to Elk Township, where they passed the closing period of their long and noble lives in the home of their son, Jacob H., subject of this review.  The father died when somewhat more than eighty-six years of age, and the mother, a woman of gentle and gracious personality, passed to the life eternal at the age of eighty-three years, both she and her husband having been Christian folk of consecrated zeal and devotion and having labored earnestly for the aiding and uplifting of their fellow men.  Mr. Milhon continued his earnest service as a  ninister of the Methodist Episcopal Cliurch until virtually the close of his long and useful life, and it is altogether probable that no other clergyman in this section of the state officiated at so great a number of marriage and funeral services as did this honored pioneer.  Of the six sons and one daughter Jacob H. is now the only one living, and of the other children the last of the number to pass away was Justus V., who is survived by his wife, one son and one daughter and they reside in the State of California.  Joseph F., a nephew of Jacob H. Milhon, is a resident of Columbus and has a family of three children.
     Jacob H. Milhon was a lad of about seven years at the time of the family removal to Vinton County, and he was here reared to maturity on the old homestead farm in Jackson Township, where he made good use of the advantages afforded in the common schools of the period and where he continued his active association with agricultural pursuits until 1898, when he removed with his family to Elk Township and purchased his present farm, which comprises 236 acres of most fertile and productice land, the greater part of which is under effective cultivation and devoted to the various products best suited to the soil and climate.  He also raises excellent grades of cattle, sheep, horses and swine, and is known as one of the energetic and progressive farmers and substantial citizens of the county that has long been his place of residence.  On his farm he erected the present attractive and modern house of eight rooms, and the other buildings on the place are of excellent order - thrift and prosperity being everywhere in distinct evidence.  Mr. Milhon has had no desire for the honor's or emoluments of public office but is essentially loyal as a citizen and is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party.  He and his wife and daughter are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at McArthur and he has served as a trustee of the same.  Though as previously stated, he has had no predilection for political preferment, Mr. Milhon has consented to serve in various local offices of public trust, including that of township trustee, and thus has subordinated personal desires to civic loyalty.
     In Jackson Township, Vinton County, the year 1872 recorded the marriage of Mr. Milhon to Miss Roxana Pettit, who was born inMorgan County, this state, on the 18th of June, 1853, and who was a young woman at the time of the family removal to Vinton County, where her parents settled on a farm in Jackson Township.  She is a daughter of John and Amanda (Brewster) Pettit.  John Pettit was a native of Ohio and was a son of Samuel and Margaret (Sniff) Pettit, who came from New Jersey and numbered themselves among the pioneers of Morgan County, where the father obtained government land and developed a farm from the forest wilds.  He was killed in an accident incidental to a house-raising and was in the prime of life at the time of his death, his widow surviving him by many years.
     After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. John Pettit continued their residence in Morgan County until after the birth of all their (children, and they then, in April, 1865, removed to Vinton County and established their home on a farm in Jackson Township, where Mr. Pettit died in 1887, after having passed the age of three score years and ten.  His widow survived him by more than a decade and passed the closing period of her life in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Milhon, wife of the subject of this review, where she died in 1899, at a venerable age, both she and her husband having been zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he having been a republican in politics from the time of the Civil war until his death.
     Mr. and Mrs. Milhon became the parents of three children: Leonette, who remains at the parental home, has been for a score of years an earnest, successful and popular teacher in the schools of Vinton County, but has recently resigned to a large extent her labors in the pedagogic profession.  Clarence V. died at the age of eighteen months.  Herman C. is a locomotive engineer in the employ of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Company and has served in this capacity for the past fifteen years, his original work as a railroad man having been in the service of the Hocking Valley Railroad.  He is a bachelor and maintains his residence at Elmwood Place, a suburb of the City of Cincinnati.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1203

GEORGE W. MILLER.  One of the best small trading communities of Vinton County is the Village of Orland in Swan Township.  To a large degree the commercial enterprise of the village has been supplied by George W. Miller, whose large stock of general merchandise has been drawn upon to supply the needs of the surrounding community for a number of years.  Mr. Miller is a merchant who understands his business and also the people with whom he deals, and is one of the most highly regarded men of Vinton County.
     It was in 1901 that he established himself in business at Orland, and five years ago he moved his stock into a handsome new store building 20x55 feet.  He carries a full line of all wares required by the country trade, and both buys and sells intelligently and furnishes an important service.  He acquired his early commercial experience as a clerk at Wellston.  For more than eight yeas while living in Swan Township Mr. Miller was a carrier on one of the rural mail routes.
     George W. Miller was born Apr. 11, 1882, near Wilkesville on Yankee Street in Vinton County.  This county has been his home most of his life and he acquired his education at McArthur, Wilkesville and at Winchester.
     His parents are Isaac W. and Sarah A. (Boothe) Miller, the former a native of Pennsylvania and a son of Beatty Miller.  Beatty Miller married in Pennsylvania, and when his son Isaac was quite young moved to Ohio. locating in the Wilkesville community of Vinton County where he and his wife spent the rest of their days.  He was past eighty and she past ninety-four when they died.  Their influence went to promote the activities of the local Presbyterian Church and in politics he was a republican.
     Isaac W. Miller is one of five sons and two daughters, and all of them except Isaac, who is the youngest, were soldiers in the Civil War.  Most of these children are still living.  Isaac W. Miller grew up in the Wilkesville community, attended school there, and met and married Sarah A. Boothe.  She was born in Ohio and belonged to an old Ohio family of pioneers in Vinton County.  Since their marriage Isaac W. Miller and wife spent most of their years in Vinton County, where he was an active farmer and for some years a merchant and hotel proprietor.  He is now living retired at Wilkesville at the age of seventy-eight, while his wife is seventy-four.  Both have continued the allegiance of their respective families by membership in the Presbyterian Church, and as a republican he has been honored several times by local office.  The children of Isaac W. Miller and wife are:  Thomas S., who is now in business at Columbus and has three children; Jennie A., wife of N. A. Vaughan, a furniture dealer and undertaker at Adelphia, and they have five children; Mamie B. is the wife of Charles Ogden, who has a large 500-aere farm and is principally engaged in stock raising at Dyesville in Meigs County, Ohio, and their family consists of two sons; Catherine A. is the wife of Charles A. Wells, their son Brown W. is head chemist for the Buckeye Steel Castings Company at Columbus; Elizabeth first married Raulson Davidson of Columbus, who died leaving a son and daughter, and she is now the wife of Pearson Ranck, and still lives at Columbus.
     George W. Miller was married in Vinton County to Miss Emma L. Cherry.  She was born in Hocking County, Ohio, in 1880 and after completing a good education became a teacher and taught for about half a dozen years before her marriage in Falls and Starr townships of her native county.  Her parents were Samuel and Catherine (Wright) Cherry.  Her father was born in Holmes County, Ohio, in 1835, but when a boy went to Hocking County and grew up in Washington Township, where his parents Moses and Sarah (Miller) Cherry had established their home on a farm and where they spent the rest of their years, passing away when about fourscore.  Moses Cherry was a whig and republican, and he and his wife active Presbyterians.  Samuel Cherry grew up in Hocking County, and married there Miss Wright, who was born in Hocking County in 1836.  They had a long and happy married companionship of forty years before Samuel Cherry died in 1901.  His widow passed away in 1912.  They became members of the United Presbyterian Church, and he served as a church official and in politics was a republican until about 1873, after which he affiliated with the democratic party. Samuel and Catherine Cherry had the following children: Dr. T. M. Cherry, a physician at Norton, Virginia, who has a family of one son and four daughters; Joseph S., whose home is at Linden Heights, Ohio, and who has five children; Jennie is the wife of Ephraim Lane, of Logan, Ohio, and they have one son and one daughter; Moses R. is unmarried and still occupies the old homestead in Washington Township of Hocking County; Marie is the wife of Albert Armstrong, who lives at Union Furnace, Ohio, and they have two sons and two daughters.
     Mr. and Mrs. Miller are the parents of three children: Thelma K., now in the sixth grade of the public school; Phalice G. in the fourth grade; and Ivan W. The parents of these children are both active members of the Presbyterian Church, and politically Mr. Miller has always associated with the republicans, and believes heartily in the principles of that party.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1157

Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 1142