My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM H. ESTLE. Among those who spent their earlier years in industrious toil, and who are now enjoying the fruit of their labors, may be properly mentioned the subject of this notice and his estimable wife, who are now retired from active labor and enjoying the comforts of a pleasant home in Miami Township. They are looked upon as comprising a portion of its best element — people conscientious and upright in their lives, devoted to the interests of their children, and who have always lived at peace among their neighbors, doing kindly acts as they had opportunity. They are eminently worthy of representation in a work designed to perpetuate the names and deeds of the oldest and most solid citizens of Greene County.

The subject of this sketch, a son of one of the oldest pioneers of Green Township, was born at his father’s old homestead September 3, 1828. He was the sixth child of the family, and like his brothers and sisters, acquired his education in the district school. His boyhood and youth were spent after the manner of farmers’ sons at that time, when no drones were allowed in the busy hive at home, and he acquired those habits of thrift and industry which have been the secret of his success in later years, he at an early age commenced to lay his plans for the future, and when ready to establish a home of his own was married, October 29, 1850, to Miss Rachel A. Farrow. The young people began the journey of life together on the old Estle farm, and sojourned there until 1882, removing thence to Clifton.

To our subject and his estimable wife there was born a family of six children, the eldest of whom, a son, William J., died in 1853, when two years old; Charles Edwin is unmarried and remains at home with his parents; O. D. married Miss Harriet Anderson, and occupies the farm of his uncle, Squire James Anderson; he is the father of three children; William D. J. married Miss Enola Beckett; they have two children and live at the Estle homestead; Phebe J. died when one and one-half years old; Henry R. is unmarried and lives at home. Mr. and Mrs. Estle have for many years been identified with the Presbyterian Church, in which both were teachers of the Sunday-school in years gone by. Mr. Estle was formerly a Whig, but since the organization of the Republican party has been one of its stanchest adherents. He has served as a member of the School Board of his district, and was at one time a member of the Clifton Council.

During the progress of the Civil War Mr. Estle, in 1864, enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Forty-sixth Ohio Infantry, and served in West Virginia until the close of the war. He belongs to the G. A. R. Post at Yellow Springs. His farm comprises one hundred and seventy acres of well-tilled land, improved with good buildings, including a substantial residence, two good barns and the other structures necessary for the storage of grain and the shelter of stock; the farm is operated by the two sons, who have inherited in a marked degree the industry and application of their parents.

The father of our subject was William Estle, a native of New Jersey and a wheelwright by trade, but who in the latter years of his life engaged in farming. The mother bore the maiden name of Abigail Little. She was born in Pennsylvania, where the parents were married, and thence came to Ohio, settling first in Greene County. Later William Estle purchased land in Indiana, but never moved there. He afterward bought a farm in Green Township, Clark County, this State, where he made his permanent home and died in 1859. The mother survived her husband ten years, dying in 1869. They were the parents of eight children, four of whom are living: Phebe J., the widow of the Rev. Moses Russell, is a resident of Clifton; Marian is the wife of the Rev. William White, and they live in South Carolina; Charles A. is a resident of Osborn, this State; William FI., our subject, completes the list.

Mrs. Estle was born May 15, 1832, in Kentucky, and is a daughter of Orson D. and Elizabeth (Brewer) Farrow, who were natives of Mason County, Ky., where they were reared and married. Thence they removed to Indiana, prior to the Civil War, locating in Putnam County, where the father died in 1863. The mother survived until 1884, spending the closing years of her life in Clark County, Ohio. Of the six children born to them four survive — William Henry is a resident of Indiana; John B. lives in Kentucky; Hannah E. is the wife of Robert Gilmore, and makes her home in Iroquois County, Ill. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Estle was Col. William Farrow, of Kentucky, who commanded a regiment during the Revolutionary War. He lived to a great age, spending his last years in Kentucky. Several of Mrs. Estle’s uncles fought as Union soldiers in the late Civil War.