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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SAMUEL D. FOGLE. As a rule the man in the channels of trade who is uniformly courteous and obliging, upright in his transactions and upon whose word those who deal with him can depend, seldom fails to meet with success. Especially has this been the case with Mr. Fogle, who deals extensively in agricultural implements and harness in Fairfield, Greene County, who is enterprising and liberal and has thus secured a large and lucrative patronage. He also operates a fertile farm of one hundred and seventy-eight acres in Bath Township. It is safe to say that he is one of the most popular men, both in social and business circles, in this part of the county.

A native of Frederick County, Md., the subject of this notice was born November 13, 1849, and lived there with his parents until 1866. He received such education as the common schools afforded and accompanied his father to Ohio when a youth of seventeen years. He remained a member of the parental household until the following year, then started out to explore the great West, traveling over the States of Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, and occupying in this manner nearly eighteen months. Thence he emigrated to Mexico and engaged as a cowboy for six months, driving cattle north to the Black River.

We next find Mr. Fogle on board a river steamer making his way to St. Louis, Mo., where he only sojourned, however, but a brief time. Then, tired of roaming, he returned to his father’s house and thereafter worked on various farms in that vicinity until 1869. In the spring of that year he repaired to Springfield and engaged as a painter in the Champion Reaper shops. He rapidly rose in favor with his employers, who conceived the idea that he could represent them suitably on the road and he was consequently fitted out as a salesman, occupying himself in this manner for nearly a year. In 1871, he located at Enon and established himself as a dealer in agricultural implements.

Mr. Fogle remained in the above-mentioned place until 1877, then selling out turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and located on a farm which he now operates in Bath Township. He was thus engaged until 1885, when he established his present business in which he has been very successful, while the farm is carried on by hired help. Mr. Fogle also has a branch house in Osborn and enjoys a monopoly of the territory of Greene, Clark, Miami and Montgomery Counties.

Mr. Fogle, on the 8th of September, 1870, was joined in wedlock with Miss Matilda Spath at the bride’s home in Dayton, Ohio. This lady was born in Maryland, May 13, 1850, and is the daughter of Michael Spath, a native of Germany, and who is now living in Fairfield. Of this union there have been born no children. Mr. Fogle affiliates with the Democratic party and belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Fairfield, being a member of the lodge in that place and belonging to the Encampment at Osborn. His estimable wife is a member in good standing of the German Reformed Church.

The father of our subject was John Fogle, a native of Frederick County, Md., and the son of Solomon Fogle, who was reared in that State and was of German extraction. The latter spent his last years in Maryland. John Fogle carried on farming for many years in his native county, being located about seven miles from Gettysburg, Pa. During the war he experienced heavy losses, and in 1866 removed with his family to Montgomery County, this State. In 1877 he retired from active labor and has since made his home with his son, our subject, being now sixty-seven years old. He is a Democrat politically, and in religious matters belongs to the German Reformed Church.

Mrs. Elizabeth (Young) Fogle, the mother of our subject, was likewise a native of Frederick County, Md., and the daughter of Henry Young, who was a weaver by trade, but who, in later years, followed the occupation of farming. He served in the War of 1812 and spent the closing years of his life in Maryland. The mother of our subject died in Butler County, this State, in 1887. The parental family consisted of five children, the eldest of whom, a son, William, is a dealer in agricultural implements at Enon; Mary died when five years old; Samuel D. was the next in order of birth; Henry is farming in Miami County, this State; Daniel makes his home with our subject.

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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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