My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Portrait and Biographical Album of Greene and Clark Counties, Ohio published by Chapman Bros., in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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JOHN HAUSE is an early settler of Clark County, his home being on section 21, Moorefield Township. The estate comprises one hundred and twenty acres of excellent land, well improved and carefully cultivated, and is a standing monument to the industry, prudence, and integrity which have characterized the life of the owner. In a financial sense he is a self-made man, and it is but just that after the arduous labors of earlier years, he should now be able to spend his days in comfort and a degree of rest, although he is not ready to give up all share in life’s labors. It would be easy for those acquainted with national traits to trace his ancestry to Germany, whence his paternal progenitors came, and to find in him some characteristics of the Irish race from which his maternal ancestors are said to have sprung.

The subject of this sketch is a native of Lancaster County, Pa., where he was born July 8, 1811. He is the third son in a large family of children born to Daniel and Elizabeth (McNeal) Hause, who were also natives of the Keystone State. He grew to manhood in his native county, with but meager educational advantages in his boyhood and circumstances compelled him to begin hard work when quite young. His father died about 1825 and our subject then became the mainstay of the family. In 1832 he came to Clark County, Ohio, in company with David Rigel, who afterward became his father-in-law. The journey was performed in a covered wagon, over rough roads, more than five weeks being occupied en route. The journey was somewhat lengthened however, by the death of a daughter of Mr. Rigel, while they were on their way.

Mr. Hause and a brother found their first occupation in the Buckeye State in cutting eighty cords of wood, for which they received twenty-five cents per cord and two meals per day. This labor was performed for Henry Becktle for whom our subject afterward repaired a mill in Springfield Township. For about five years he worked at carpentery, after which he devoted himself to agricultural labor, taking possession of his present farm about 1855. He also owns property in Springfield. As will readily be seen by the date of his arrival in this State, he has been identified with the pioneer work of the county to a considerable extent. After the old Barnett road, running east from Springfield, was laid out, he was the first man to pass over it with a team of horses. In 1840, he helped to build a log cabin which was hauled on a wagon in the Harrison Campaign, the wagon also containing thirty-two men, representing the States in the Union. A span of black horses belonging to him was hitched to it, as were also the teams of some of the neighbors.

Mr. Hause has continued to support the political principles to which he first gave his vote and for some years past has been a member of the Republican party, which embodies the old Whig doctrines in its platform. For many years he has acted as Road Supervisor and he has also served his fellow men in the capacity of School Director. His influence is ever given to that which tends to the elevation of society and in his daily life he endeavors to carry out the doctrines of Christianity, both he and his wife being consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Few couples in this section of country have spent more years in wedded life than Mr. and Mrs. Hause, who were united in marriage October 25, 1832, and who have therefore shared each other’s joys and sorrows for nearly sixty years. They have had fourteen children, of whom five are now living. These are: Mattie; Barbara, wife of Joshua Smith, whose home is in Springfield; Louisa, wife of O. Smith of the same city; Sarah, wife of John Ober, also of Springfield; and Harriet, wife of A. H. Kitchen, of this county. Mrs. Hause was born in Lancaster County, Pa., November 14, 1812, to David and Elizabeth (Smith) Rigel, and bears her mother’s given name. She is of German descent. Her grandfather Rigel shod horses for the American army during the Revolutionary War, and a hammer which he then used is carefully preserved by the granddaughter and her husband. Another heirloom which they prize very highly, is a history of the Bible, published in 1660, in German, and which was also handed down in the Rigel family.

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This family biography is one of the many biographies included in Portrait and Biographical Album of Greene and Clark Counties, Ohio published by Chapman Bros., in 1890. 

View additional Greene County, Ohio family biographies here: Greene County, Ohio Biographies

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