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demolition and ravages of war. It is a well-approved saying, that the best of men seldom find their way to the front. When, however, exceptions occur, the lesson is fraught with encouragement and example to posterity. Ancestry is a subject of which men have long been proud. There is pleasure in tracing a long line of honorable ancestors back toward the obscure shadow of the past. This pleasure is enjoyed by the subject of this sketch, Henry A. Webb, whose line of eight generations is on record, from Christopher Webb, of Wales, who came from that country about the year 1650, on down to the present. The following genealogy presents the chain of descent: Christopher Webb the second, the father of Benjamin Webb, the father of Timothy Webb the father of Stephen Webb, born at Windham, Conn., Oct. 4, 1742, who was the father of Nathaniel Webb, born Jan. 15, 1770, and died at Guyandotte, Va., Aug. 22, 1823; he was the father of Nathan Webb, born July 27, 1798, who married Margaret Albright, of Hanover, Penn., Oct. 31, 1819, and Nathan was the father of Henry A. Webb. The family removed to Vincennes, Ind., when Henry was an infant, from Hanover where he was born (Sept. 22, 1822), and the father dying, his widow, with a family of four children, returned to Pennsylvania. The journey is remembered as a long and tedious one, to which present travel is but as a pleasure-trip. At the age of 13, Henry was bound as an apprentice to George Young to learn the trade of tobac conist; having served six years, the desire to see other places, and to find a congenial and promising opening for exertions, induced him to travel to various places, engaging in such work as could be had. On the 15th of June, 1845. he married Elizabeth Warner at Hampton, Penn., and three years later removed to Baltimore, Md., where he continuously engaged in his business as a dealer in tobaccos until 1870, when he migrated to his present place of residence, Greenville, Ohio; here he resumed business, which has prospered and been increased, until the present stock affords an ample choice to the public of all articles kept in a variety store. From childhood, Mayor Webb has shown a fondness for painting. and studiously labored during leisure hours to master the difficulties of this ideal and realistic work; he succeeded, and many portraits extant are the work of his hand; despite the discovery and perfection of sun pictures, his services are yet in demand, and the ancient and noble art yet exists. He was originally a Democrat, and cast his first vote for James K. Polk; upon the nomination of President Lincoln to the office of chief magistrate of the nation the second term, Mayor Webb became a Republican, and has since continued to act with that party; in March, 1878, his name was placed upon the Republican ticket for the city of Greenville, as Mayor, and his election resulted by a majority of about one hundred over his opponent, A. P. Gorsuch, Mayor for two terms. a strong, popular man, well calculated for the position. Believing in the refining and elevating tendencies of religion, he joined the English Lutheran Church, in 1848, at Baltimore, and remained with it till the time of his removal to Greenville; there being no church of this denomination, he stood temporarily connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church four years, and acted as Superintendent of their Sabbath school; he then began to attend the Episcopal Church, which considers him practically a member, and is the Superintendent of the Sabbath school therewith connected. He joined the Washingtonians in 1840, and stands by the brief pledge of the organization-abstinence from the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage. In 1844, he became a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Mechanics' Lodge, and is also of the Encampment of Greenville. Taking little part in politics, he acts from principle; he is earnest in example and influence for Christianity, delights in painting, and is beloved by his family, and generally respected. Mayor Webb is of fine personal bearing, is well preserved, social, easy of approach, and a pleasant conversationalist. Following a quiet business and official routine, life is made useful, and the years pass swiftly and pleasantly.

NATHAN B. WEBSTER, merchant, Allen's Block, Fourth street. Green

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ville; dealer in groceries, provisions, glass and queensware, etc., etc. subject of this memoir was born in Mt. Sterling, Madison Co., Ohio, Nov. 3, 1846, and is a son of J. S. Webster, now a prominent merchant of Ansonia, whose biogrpahy appears among the sketches of Brown Township, in another part of this work; our subject came to Darke Co. with his parents in 1865; after one year's residence he removed to Illinois, where he resided until 1871, at which time he returned to Greenville and followed clerking and various pursuits until January, 1880, when he purchased his present business, and from his extended acquaintance and popularity we predict, that he will command a large increasing yearly trade. His marriage with Dottie Martin was celebrated in Greenville in April, 1872; she was born in Greenville Sept. 2, 1850; they have four children by this union, viz., William, Charles T., Clyde and Gertrude. Mrs. Webster is a daughter of William Martin, one of the prominent early pioneers of Darke Co., whose biography appears among the sketches of this township.

HERMAN WEILLS, carriage manufactory, Greenville. The subject of this sketch was born in Washington Co., Penn., May 23, 1851; he is a son of Solomon and Lydia (Shaffer) Weills; he left his place of nativity in 1856, and went to Liberty, Union Co., Ind., where he remained until 1861; he then went to Tippecanoe, Miami Co., Ohio, where he learned his trade, remaining there four years. He came to Darke Co., and settled in Greenville in the fall of 1878. He was united in marriage with Catherine Porter Feb. 23, 1874; she was born Sept. 23, 1851, and is a daughter of James Porter, a resident of Hancock Co., and is now living in Darke Co., at the age of 62 years; his wife was born in 1828, and died in 1865. Mr. Weills' business is located at the corner of Walnut and Third streets, where he gives employment to several men, and manufactures some of the finest work in Greenville.

JOHN E. WESTFALL, retired farmer; P. O. Greenville. Among the early pioneers of Darke Co., the gentleman whose name heads this sketch is accorded a place in the front ranks; he was born near where the city of Cincinnati now stands Sept. 19, 1810; when 5 years of age, he came to Darke Co., with his parents and located in Adams Township; when 12 years of age, the death of his father occurred, and at 15 years of age, he commenced the management of the home farm, continuing the same until 22 years of age. In 1832, he was united in marriage with Priscellia Williams, who was born in Ohio Sept. 21, 1805; they were the parents of seven children, of whom George and Isaac Newton only survive, and are both mentioned in the biographical part of this work. In 1832, he removed to Greenville Township and purchased 30 acres upon the same section where he has since lived for a period of forty-seven years; he has been a continuous resident of the county for sixty-five years; he now has 145 acres in his home farm, located three miles from Greenville; about the year 1869, he rented his farm to his sons, since which time he has retired from active labor. He has a vivid recollection of the Indians, the wolf and deer, and other game which in the early day of his coming here was to be found in abundance. He is one of the very oldest of our earlier settlers, nearly all of the pioneers of 1815 having either died or removed away.

MARTIN C. WESTFALL, farmer and stock-raiser, Sec. 32; P. O. Greenville; one of the early pioneers of Darke Co.; born in Montgomery Co. in 1824; he was a son of Jacob Westfall, who was born in Virginia and came to Montgomery Co., Ohio, at an early day, and to Darke Co., about 1827, and was consequently one of the early settlers of Darke Co.; he died in the same county, about the year 1839 or 1840. He was married in Montgomery Co. to Barbara Crawn; she was also born in Virginia, and died at the residence of Martin C. in 1878, at the advanced age of 88 years. Martin C. came to Darke Co. in the year 1827, being then three years of age, and has always lived on the same place for a period of upward of half a century; he is one of the oldest continuous residents of Greenville Township; he has now upward of 106 acres under a good

state of cultivation, which he has brought from a howling wilderness to its present state of cultivation by his own labor. His marriage with Mary Pannel was celebrated in 1858; she was born in Virginia; they were the parents of three children, of whom one is deceased; the living are William L., born August, 1859, now living upon the home farm; Ida E., born in 1868; the deceased, Charles M., died in infancy.

GEORGE WESTFALL, farmer; P. O. Greenville; one of the old settlers of Darke County, was born in Greenville Township Jan. 19, 1841; he is the oldest son of John E. Westfall, one of our early pioneers, whose biography appears among the sketches of Greenville Township. The subject of our sketch received a liberal education, and assisted his father in agricultural pursuits until upward of 24 years of age, when upon March 30, 1865, he was united in marriage with Martha Phillips; she was born in Butler Co., Ohio, Dec. 17, 1843; they have five children by this union, viz., Leora B., John W., Maggie M., Bertha O. and Arthur R. Upon the marriage of Mr. Westfall, he located upon his present place, where he has since devoted his attention to farming. In 1870, he was elected as Township Trustee of Greenville Township, which office he filled with credit to himself, and satisfaction to his townsmen, for a period of eight years.

ISAAC NEWTON WESTFALL, farmer; P. O. Greenville; the subject of this memoir was born in Greenville Township, Darke Co., Ohio, upon the 21st of February, 1843; he is a son of one of the early pioneers, John E. Westfall, and a brother of George Westfall, both of whom are mentioned in the biographical part of this work in this township; in early life he applied himself closely to his studies, and by so doing succeeded in obtaining a good common-school education; he has always followed the occupation of farming, and about the year 1869, rented a part of the farm of his father, which he has since operated. Upon the 4th of August 1864, he was united in marriage with Mary E. Bell, who was born in Gettysburg, Adams Township, Nov. 29, 1846; they are the parents of five sons, viz.. Oscar W., William E., Charles E., Alonzo R., and an infant unnamed. Mrs. Westfall was a daughter of Jacob Bell; her mother's maiden name was Mary Zimmerman, both natives of Pennsylvania, and early pioneers of Darke County. Mrs. Bell coming here in 1838, her husband locating here a few years previous. Mr. Bell died in 1850; Mrs. B. now makes her home with her daughter, and, at the age of 61 years, is in possession of all her faculties, and able to perform some household duties.

WASHINGTON ALLEN WESTON, deceased, Greenville; was born in Alexandria, Va., March 3, 1814, and died in Greenville, Ohio, April 24, 1876: his father, William Weston, was a sea captain and perished at sea; his mother. Rebecca Conyes, was an English lady, and died soon after the death of her husband; when an orphan boy of 15, he came to Ohio, and was six years a salesman in a mercantile house in Dayton, where he made a record of fine business talent, industry and honesty; about 1835, with a small capital, he began business in Piqua, Ohio, but the financial crisis of 1836-37 swept away every dollar he possessed; nothing daunted, however, he soon began again in Covington, Miami County, where he prospered and became leader in the public affairs of the community; in 1847, he was elected on the Whig ticket to the General Assembly of Ohio, and acquitted himself with credit; in the fall of 1848, he located in Greenville, and opened the first hardware store of the place; in 1856, he purchased the Dayton paper mills, and for seven years conducted a thriving business in that city, and in 1863, returned to Greenville, resumed the hardware trade, and in Jan uary, 1866, became one of the organizers of the Farmers' National Bank of Greenville, and President of the same, remaining such until his decease. He was prominently active in the local enterprise of the community, and his generosity was as universal as mankind, with a heart ever open, and a hand ever extended to relieve the necessities of the poor and unfortunate. He possessed a fine literary and scientific taste, and had a very fair education, and was a good conversationalist; he excelled as a writer, and contributed a number of timely

articles to the public prints of the day. The guiding principle of his life was the Golden Rule.

A. WINKLEBLECK, contractor in supplies for P., C. & St. L. R. R. and dealer in timber, wood, bituminous and anthracite coal; office, Martin street, Greenville. The subject of this sketch was born in Montgomery Co., on the 2d of January, 1846. He has been a resident of Darke Co. for several years, and, on Dec. 25, 1865, he was united in marriage with Susan Gorsuch. They are the parents of six children, of whom three are deceased. The living are Homer C., Maud and Carrie C.

JOHN LEOPOLD WINNER, merchant, banker, and legislator, Greenville; was born in Franklin, Warren Co., Ohio, November 19, 1816. His parents were Isaac Winner and Mary Powell, natives of New Jersey. They were married in Philadelphia and came to Ohio in 1816, where they passed their lives. Mrs. Winner died in April, 1832, and her husband in the October following. For about four years subsequent to his father's death, our subject worked at the cooper's trade. In April, 1836, he came to Darke Co. and located in Greenville, where he has since been extensively identified with the business of the community, and has also held a prominent place in the political councils of the county and State. In November, 1837, he married Miss Charlotte Clark, daughter of John Clark, Esq., of Warren Co., Ohio. For some five years Mr. Winner was in the grocery business. Eight years he kept a hotel. Four years he kept a drug store. In 1853, he engaged in banking in company with the late Col. J. W. Frizzell, and thus continued till May, 1865, when he became a stockholder in the Farmers' National Bank of Greenville, and, in January, 1866, he was made cashier of that institution, which position he held till January, 1872. In April, 1873, he opened the Exchange Bank of Greenville,and still conducts the business of that flourishing institution. His wife died Aug. 12, 1863. She possessed, in a high degree, those noble qualities of mind and heart so essential to a true wife, and was revered in the community for her sweetness of disposition and sympathizing charity for the poor and unfortunate. She left an only daughter, Hattie, who inherited the sterling qualities of her mother, but the loss of her mother so affected her that she survived her but a few weeks, dying at the age of 15 years. On April 1, 1867, Mr. Winner married Mrs. Jane Crider, widow of Frederick Crider, of Greenville, and daughter of John W. Porter of the same place. Since 1863, Mr. Winner has been a member of the firm of Moore & Winner, the leading dry-goods firm of the county. In 1846, he was appointed Auditor of Darke Co., to fill an unexpired term of four years, from 1857 to 1861 he represented Darke Co. in the Legislature, and from 1867 to 1871 he served in the State Senate. In 1874, he was elected Mayor of Greenville, and served two years. In politics, he is a Democrat. Although his school advantages were very meager, his active mind has grasped a knowledge of men and things that fully compensates the loss.

WILLIAM H. YOUART, late of this township, deceased. The subject of this memoir was born in Ireland in 1796, and came to America about the year 1818, settled in Miami Co., Ohio, where he followed farming and working at his trade, that of wheelwright, with the exception of five years' residence in Indiana, until 1850, when he removed to Darke Co., and located in Franklin Township, where his decease occurred in 1862. He married in Miami Co., Ohio, to Nancy Jay; she was born in Pennsylvania in 1809; they were the parents of nine children, of whom five are now living, viz., Anna, William H., Samuel, Jennie and Emma; Mrs. Youart is now living with her sons at their home, and at 70 years of age is in possession of all her faculties and able to attend to some light household duties; their home is located one and a half miles east of Greenville; Wm. H. and Samuel are the only sons now living; they came to Sec. 36, Greenville Township, in 1871, and purchased their present place of 60 acres, where they have since lived; in 1873, they engaged in the ice business, and have since largely supplied the citizens of Greenville with ice; they have ice-houses the capacity of 12,000 tons, which

amount they laid in the past year; a card of their business will be found in the directory of Greenville, in another part of this work.

DANIEL ZIMMERMAN, grain-dealer; firm of Zimmerman & Grubbs, grain merchants, Lower Depot, Greenville, Ohio; another of the old settlers of Darke Co., born in Lebanon Co., Penn., Jan. 25, 1827; he is a son of Henry Zimmerman, who emigrated from Pennsylvania to this county in the fall of 1835, and is now residing in Greenville at the advanced age of 83 years; our subject came to Greenville with his parents, and when 16 years of age he was apprenticed to learn the harness-maker's trade, which occupation he followed some seven years; he then associated with Eli Helm in the butcher business, continuing the same for twelve years. In the spring of 1863, he enlisted in the 94th O. V. I., and went forward to battle for the Union; he received his commission as second Lieutenant, and after two months' service. received his discharge on account of disability. In 1865, he engaged in the grain business at his present place, which business he has successfully followed; in 1876 he associated with Mr. Grubbs, since which time he has done business under the above firm name; they are extensively engaged in buying and shipping grain to the Eastern markets; their shipments having in a single season amounted to upward of 150,000 bushels. Mr. Zimmerman has held his full share of town offices, having been Marshal of the city two years, Councilman three years, Street Commissioner two years, and is now Corporation Treasurer. His marriage with Catherine Hartzell, was celebrated in Greenville in 1849; she was a native of Pickaway Co., Ohio; she died in Greenville July 13, 1876; they were the parents of two chil dren Mary, deceased, and Lillie C., living.

ADAMS TOWNSHIP.

JOHN BREWER, farmer, Sec. 16; P. O. Stelvideo. Peter, his father, was born in Pennsylvania in 1777; he married Holy Babe Larern, a native of Pennsylvania, born about 1779; they emigrated to Ohio in 1804, locating in Hamilton Co., and in 1819 he moved to Darke Co., where he resided till his death, which occurred in 1855; his wife died in 1843. John, the subject of this sketch, is one of Darke Co.'s old settlers; born in Pennsylvania on the 7th of October, 1802 : came with his parents to Darke Co. in 1819; his education, which is very meager, he obtained by his own exertions; he lived with his parents till he was about 24 years of age, when, on the 8th of June, 1826, he celebrated his marriage with Elizabeth Coppess, who is a native of Greene Co., Ohio, born on the 2d of November. 1807; after his marriage, he rented a farm on Stillwater, where he remained for two years; he purchased 80 acres in Adams Township, for which he paid $50. erected a log cabin and moved, and began the task of opening up his farm; has added 93 acres more, making in all 173 acres, with 125 acres in a good state of cultivation, the whole valued at $11,000; he also owns a house and lot in Stelvideo. Mr. and Mrs. Brewer are among the oldest settlers of Adams Township. and have lived to see the mighty forest disappear before the woodman's ax; and where the old log cabin stood, a large two-story frame house is in its place; they have passed through the many struggles, dangers and incidents so common to the pioneer of the West, but with an indomitable will, associated with frugality. industry and correct business habits, they have accumulated considerable amount of property; ten children have been born to them, of whom nine are living, viz.: Alfred, born March 10, 1827; Mahala, born Dec. 25, 1828; Peter, born Aug. 8, 1831; Adam, born Nov. 25, 1833; Daniel, born Oct. 4, 1835; Jesner, born Aug. 29, 1840; Phoebe, born Oct. 9, 1843; John, born July 2, 1847; David, born May 30, 1850. Mr. Brewer is not a church member, but a true religionist, and is

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