My Genealogy Hound

STEPHEN A. GREER, physician; P. O. Willow Dell. Aaron, the father of Stephen A., was a native of Kentucky, born in Bourbon Co. on the 23d day of November, 1785; Elizabeth, his wife, whose maiden name was Reed, was a native of Ohio, born in Chillicothe in August, 1792; they were united in marriage in Montgomery Co., Ohio, and in 1816 moved to Darke Co., where they resided till death called them from earth to heaven; he departed this life in March, 1848, being 62 years 11 months and 23 days old; she sank peacefully to rest March 5, 1871, at the ripe old age of 79. Stephen A., the subject of this memoir, was born in Darke Co., Ohio, on the 8th of June, 1817, being the first white child born in Wayne Township; he spent his boyhood days on his father’s farm, assisting in the clearing and the cultivation of the soil, during the summer months, and in the winter season he attended the district school, which was held in an old log cabin, thereby obtaining a good common-school education; he commenced to read medicine under Dr. L. Houston, of Shelby Co., Ohio, when he was 22 years of age; taught school during the winters and read medicine till his funds ran out, then he would go to work, and managed in this way till he had gained sufficient knowledge of medicine to practice; he now came to the conclusion that he would take in a partner for life, and on the 19th day of September, 1839, he celebrated his marriage with Miss Huldah Brandon, in Versailles, Ohio; she is a native of Ohio, born in Versailles, on the 11th day of October, 1823; her mother, Lydia, was a native of New Jersey; born on the 12th of September, 1803, and departed this life Feb. 28, 1877; her father, Vincent G. Brandon, was born in Virginia on the 31st of December, 1793, and departed this life, Jan. 5, 1870; after his marriage, he taught school and continued the study of medicine; in 1845, he moved to Ft. Recovery and opened an office, where he followed his profession, meeting with good success, remaining there about one year, after which he moved to New Harrison, Darke Co., in the spring of 1847; he practiced here till 1848, when he moved to Patterson Township, and during the winter of 1849 and 1850 attended the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati. When he moved to Patterson Township, it was a gloomy outlook, as he moved into an old log cabin, covered with clapboards, and, as he says, “we did not have an overplus of furniture;” he purchased 40 acres in Sec. 20, for which he paid $200, the tract being all heavy timber; he now built a hewn-log house, into which he moved his family, and commenced the task of opening up a farmland, at the same time, practiced medicine; he would work in the clearing during the day time, and at night study medicine, and, as he says, “I am not done reading yet.” The Doctor has accumulated a considerable amount of property by his hard labor, in which he has been nobly assisted by his good and amiable wife; he is strictly temperate in all his habits; he owns 140 acres of land in Patterson Township, 80 acres in Kansas, near Garnett, the American House and City Livery Stable, in Versailles; he is in no sense of the term a political aspirant, although he has filled nearly every office in the township; in the fall of 1855, he was elected County Commissioner, which office he filled for three years; in 1870, was elected Land Appraiser; served as Township Trustee for several years, also Township Clerk, and is now filling the office of Land Appraiser. They are the parents of ten children of whom eight are living viz., Rachael J., born Sept. 16, 1856; Vincent B., May 19, 1844; Aaron R., Jan. 19, 1847; Lydia A. Sept. 15, 1849; Millnor, Dec. 16, 1852; Stephen, Aug. 26, 1859, Mary B., Oct. 10, 1862; Elizabeth Irene, born Jan. 6, 1866. The Doctor was admitted to the bar of Greenville, Ohio, as an attorney and counsellor at law, on the 12th day of May, 1858; this acquisition he picked up himself by his own hard study, and it is said of him that he is an able attorney, a wise judge and a good pleader.