My Genealogy Hound

JOSEPH W. HAMIEL, merchant, Castine; a Buckeye by birth, and an old resident of Darke Co.; was born in Montgomery Co., Feb. 15, 1828; when he was about 5 years of age, his father removed to Darke Co. and rented a farm north of Greenville; after about two years’ residence, he started on horseback to look up a location for a permanent residence, but never returned, nor was anything learned of him except that a man answering to his description was drowned while attempting to cross the Wabash River in Indiana; this sad event made it necessary for the family to return to Montgomery Co., where the subject of this sketch grew up, being bound to an uncle; the terms made it necessary for his uncle to see that he was educated until competent to cipher in “the rule of three,” and the contract was scrupulously adhered to in not educating him beyond that point; in the spring of 1847, he came to Castine; first worked by the month for Mr. —Minich, and afterward became a partner in the lumber business; in 1859, he changed from the lumber to a general merchandising business, and has continued to conduct a general merchandise store here ever since. His marriage with Miss Rachel, daughter of John Bettelon, an early settler of Butler Township, occurred April 3, 1852; they have resided in Castine all their married life; they have six children—John R., Joseph W., Jr., William H., Elmore E. E., James F. and Emma Nettie. John R. is now married, and resides in Castine; Joseph W. is a traveling salesman, with C. W. Darst & Co., wholesale dealers in hats, caps, furs and umbrellas, at Dayton; the latter four are still members of the family household.