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** RETURN TO BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX ** ** RETURN TO HISTORY CONTENTS **   JAMES M. EARP was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, December 23, 1850, and was married May 31, 1877, in Shelby County, Illinois, to Miss Ida May, daughter of Colonel Freeman B. Thompson. They have two children. Mary Ellen was born April 6, 1878, in Shelby County, Illinois, and Lillie Mary was born March 18, 1880, in Butler County. Mr. Earp came here from Illinois in 1879, and settled in Union Township, where he resided on Mr. James Beatty's farm, removing in 1880 to Hamilton. In May, 1881, he began business in West Hamilton as a hatter and dealer in gentlemen's furnishing goods. . JOHN W. EATON - Page 557, St. Clair Twp.   AUGUSTUS ECKERT - Page 604, Madison Twp.   JOSEPH ECKERT - Page 604, Madison Twp.   JOHN EGBY (Hanover Twp.) was born in Centerville, Indiana, Feb. 3, 1855, being the son of Armistead Egby and Emily Craig.  Mr. Egby served four years in the late war, and died while in the army.  John Egby was married at Hamilton, Oct. 4, 1879, to Ida Hyers, daughter of Moses Hyers and Rachel Pembrew, who was born in Centerville, Indiana, Aug. 14, 1861.  Mr. Egby is a farmer.   THE REV. ARTHUR W. ELLIOTT was the most famous of the early Methodist preachers in this county. Although others f receded him, he was the contemporary of those who made the beginnings and first uttered the Word of God to the hardy pioneers of this county. He was born in the county of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, on the 22d of February, 1784. At the age of eighteen, moved by the spirit of adventure, he fell in with the tide of emigration, just then beginning to set powerfully toward the great Northwest Territory. On horseback he crossed the Alleghanies, and continued his course westward until he reached the Miami Valley, where he determined to make his future home. He went back to Maryland soon after, where he was married in 1804, and in the year 1805 returned, settling in Liberty Township. Here he remained for many years.      In 1806 an event took place which gave a new current to his thoughts, and changed his whole character and life. He was converted, and after a brief time became a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was admitted in the traveling connection in 1818. From the beginning, however, he devoted himself almost entirely to the work of the ministry, and his labors for the Church of his love were more strenuous and more enduring than any other form of labor. He had purchased a farm on his first arrival, which was swept away by the duplicity of one of his supposed friends. With an effort, he made another start, in which he was successful, and he was a farmer as well as preacher for many years.      He was the founder of the Spring Church, the earliest Methodist organization in Eastern Butler. He was a man of powerful frame, and with great energy and force. As a preacher he was a man of great fervor and power; he moved his audiences at his will, and many were converted under his ministrations. He was a man of wit and humor, and many of his sayings are still preserved by those who were fortunate enough to hear him. He took a decided part in politics, at a time when that was regarded as far more unseemly than now. He was a Whig, and as a Whig speaker he accompanied General Harrison on his famous electioneering campaign of 1840. He was an ardent Mason, and was a member of that organization for more than forty years, in which society he was the grand chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Ohio. In 1854 he removed to Paris, Illinois, where he died January 18, 1858. He had seen his work prosper; his Church, at the time of his birth, had only ninety-three preachers in the United States, but at the time of his death it had 10,794. Few had done more for it than he had.   COLONEL GEORGE F. ELLIOTT - Page 556, St. Clair Twp.   JOSHUA ELLIOTT - Page 494, Liberty Twp.   MRS. CHRISTINA EMERICK - Page 604, Madison Twp.   CHARLES EMRICK - Page 466, Ross Twp.   JOHN W. ERWIN.  No history of Hamilton would be complete that did not include the name of John W. Erwin.  He was born in the State of Maryland, and came out here more than fifty years ago.  When he arrived there was no railroad, no canal, and no well-constructed highway in Ohio.  To these public labors he has devoted his life.  He has been a civil engineer for sixty years.  To him and James McBride must be attributed the first intelligent examination of the prehistoric relics of the State.   EVAN EVANS, of Morgan Township, was there born May 2, 1816, being the youngest son of William and Jane Evans. William Evans was a native of Wales, settling in Butler County about 1802. He reared a family of six children, of whom four are living, and died in 1821. His son received a limited education in the common schools, and was brought up to farming. At thirteen years of age he began looking out for himself, going to work for others. He was married May 28, 1842, to Miss Anna Mering, daughter of John Mering, a former well-known resident of Morgan Township. Mrs. Evans was born in Morgan Township in 1824. They were the parents of eight children, of whom seven are living. William E. is a resident of Jasper County, Missouri; John M. is a farmer of Morgan Township; Elizabeth J. is now the wife of A. L. Scott; Emma M. was the wife of Erastus Robinson, and died in February, 1877, in her nineteenth year; Albert E. is at home, fitting himself for the medical profession; Cora Belle, Spencer E., and Chester C. are still under the paternal roof.      After marriage Mr. Evans located on a partially improved place in Morgan Township, and bought and sold five different farms in Morgan Township, settling on the John Mering homestead in 1849, where he has since resided. There are one hundred and sixty acres in this place, and in Missouri five hundred. He has held all the township offices, and lately has acted much as administrator and assignee. He is a member of the Butler County Agricultural Society, and for the past ten years has been one of its officials. He is a member of the Congregational Church at Paddy's Run. Mr. Evans's oldest son, William E., was a member of the Fifth Cavalry, participating in all of the battles of the regiment. He served three years and three months before reaching the age of twenty.   JOHN EVANS, born in North Wales, July 17, 1795, came to this county in 1818, and settled on Paddy's Run.  His wife, Sarah, was born in this county in 1806, and married him June 28, 1821.  By trade Mr. Evans is a tanner.  He is the father of fourteen children:  Mrs. Mary Jones, born December 9, 1827; Evan, born November 4, 1823; William, born July 7, 1823; Mrs. Elizabeth Davis, born March 26, 1827;  James, Born February 26, 1929; Mrs. Ann Jones, born November 26, 1830; Mrs. Martha Griffith, born August 17, 1832; John, born July 17, 1834; Robert, born March 8, 1836; David, born July 21, 1838; Mrs. Sarah Davis, born November 3, 1840; Richard, born December 1, 1842; Edward, born August 24, 1845; George, born January 19, 1850.  John Evan's father's given name was Evan, his mother's name, Elizabeth; his wife's fathers and mother's names were James and Mary Nicholas.  They came to this county in 1812.  John Evans, Jr., was a soldier of the Rebellion.  John Evans, Sen., is a man of rip experience; he has accumulated a large and handsome property about him, and in all the active walks of life has acted his part well.   JAMES J. EVERSON - Page 557, St. Clair Twp. NOTES: