Source:-
History of Fayette County, Ohio & State of Ohio
By R. S. Dills -
Publ. Odell & Meyer Publishers, Dayton, Ohio
1881

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Union Twp. - JOHN N. VAN DEMAN, lawyer (firm of Van Deman & Russell), Washington; son of John L. and R. P. (Wilson) Van Deman; born Jan. 5, 1845, at Washington; lived there, and attended village school, until Feb., 1858; then removed with his father to Frankfort, Ross County.  They lived there two years, and then returned to Washington, where they have since resided.  At the age of twelve he began to assist his father (who was a merchant) in the store, and very early acquired a taste for the mercantile business. At the age of seventeen he attended and graduated at Duff's Commercial College, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the following year went to Miami University, where he remained until twenty, then left college, in the middle of his senior year, to accept the offer from his father of a one-third interest in his dry-goods business; and he then began business for himself, Mar. 1, 1865, becoming at once the buyer for the new firm.  The business was rapidly extended, and a wholesale trade established, until their annual sales (which had been about $25,000) were increased to $85,000.      In 1872, he began to read law in his leisure hours, not then with the intention to practice, but for information.  He had also received a course of lectures on commercial law while at Duff's College.  As he advanced in the study it became more and more attractive, until, in 1876, he decided to, and did, quit the dry-goods business to enter the profession, and was admitted by the supreme court of the state to practice law, in about three months after leaving his mercantile pursuits.  He immediately opened an office in Washington, and at once acquired a good business; and has since that time been actively and successfully engaged in the practice.      In 1873-4, he was a member of the city council.  Is a Republican in politics, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and has been for years a worker in the Sunday-school, and in the temperance cause.  Is also an active member of the order of Odd-fellows, in which he is prominently and favorably known throughout the state.  He was married, May 14, 1867, to Lizzie Nash, daughter of William and M. G. Nash of Clermont County, who was born Sept. 12, 1847, and who died Mar. 15, 1881.  She was the mother of six children, who survive her. * Source:  History of Fayette County, Ohio & State of Ohio - By R. S. Dills - Publ. Odell & Meyer Publishers, Dayton, Ohio - 1881 - Page  627

Concord Twp. - ELI RUSSELL VAN PELT, farmer and stock raiser, was born in Adams County, Ohio, Aug. 25, 1827.  He is a son of Peter and Mary Van Pelt, natives of Tennessee, who came to Ohio and settled on a farm in Adams County, at an early day.  In 1831 they removed to this county, and settled on a farm but a short distance south of the village of Staunton.  Here the father resided until his death.  His widow is still living on the farm with her son Simon and family.  She is now in her eighty-second year, and shows marked evidences of her old age.  For more than seventy years she has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  They were the parents of twelve children: Charles, farmer, living in Highland County; Sarah, married to William Craig, and lives in Iowa; Mary, married to William Johnson, and lives in Kokomo, Indiana; Susan, married to Andrew Post, both deceased; Peggy A., deceased; Andrew, married, and lives in this county; Elizabeth, married to George Rowe, and resides in this county; William S., died in California, in 1856; Simon P., married, and lives on the farm with his mother; Malinda Jane, deceased; Oliver P., killed at the battle of Shiloh, in 1862.      Our subject, Eli R., went to California in 1861, and remained five years in the mines, which proved a financial success.  Soon after his return home he married Malinda Jane Rowe, daughter of Martin Rowe.  They are without children.  They own and live on a most excellent farm of one hundred and twenty acres, adjoining the village of Staunton.      On Mr. Van Pelt's return home from California, they encountered a most terrible storm of four days' duration, when in the Gulf of Mexico, expecting every moment the vessel and all on board to be lost.  This vessel was considered unsafe, and was condemned on her arrival at port,  but was repainted and given the name of "Central America."  On her first trip, when returning, she was met in the same gulf, and went down, losing some four hundred lives, and two millions in gold dust.      Mr. Van Pelt in politics is a staunch Republican.  He is also a sound temperance man.  Himself and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. * Source:  History of Fayette County, Ohio & State of Ohio - By R. S. Dills - Publ. Odell & Meyer Publishers, Dayton, Ohio - 1881 - Page 758

Jefferson Twp. - JAMES VANNORSDOLL, farmer, Jeffersonville, was born in this township, Sept. 10, 1831, and has resided here all his life.      Sept. 4, 1853, he was married to Miss Susanna Horney, daughter of Jefferson and Margaret Horney.  Twelve children are the result of this union: Clarelda J., Lucy A., Garrett O., Frank C, Mary M., James H., Forest A., Lillie B., Effie F., Ernest E., Herbert, and one who died in infancy.  Mary M. died at the early age of fourteen.  Mr. and Mrs. Vannorsdoll are members of the Methodist Protestant Church, of Pleasant View.      He has a farm of three hundred and twenty-nine acres, well improved, situated four miles west of Jeffersonville, on the state road, and ninety-eight acres two miles west of town; also, one-half interest in the home farm of one hundred and forty acres, situated one mile southeast of Jeffersonville.      He has served several consecutive years as trustee of this township.  He has been successful in his business, and is well and favorably known throughout the township.  When a young man he taught four terms of school. * Source #2:  History of Fayette County, Ohio & State of Ohio - By R. S. Dills - Publ. Odell & Meyer Publishers, Dayton, Ohio - 1881 - Page  702

Marion Twp. - ROBERT W. VINCENT, farmer, is a son of Uriah S. Vincent, now living in Washington, and was born Dec. 26, 1839, in Perry Township, Pickaway County, where he remained till 1848, when he came to this township with his parents, locating near New Holland, on a farm now owned by Smith Chaffin.  By occupation he is a farmer.      He was married, Oct. 29, 1868, to Sarah Ann, daughter of Thomas Thompson, now deceased.  She bore him six children: Lizzie, Maria, Earl, Emma (deceased), William Coke,  and Nellie.  He is a member of New Holland Lodge No. 329, F. & A. M.  About Apr. 20, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, 13th O. V. I., in the three months' service.  On the 6th of August, he re-enlisted in Company A, 1st Ohio Cavalry, with which he remained till Sept. 13, 1865, when he was honorably discharged.  He was at the battles of Winchester, second Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, and Nashville.  The last fight occurred on the 17th of April, 1865, at Columbus, Georgia.  He did good service during the war, and escaped unhurt.  In politics he is a Republican.  He owns one hundred and six acres, on the Woods road, three and one-half miles from New Holland.  His farm is well improved, and in a high state of cultivation, and farms chiefly to grain. * Source:  History of Fayette County, Ohio & State of Ohio - By R. S. Dills - Publ. Odell & Meyer Publishers, Dayton, Ohio - 1881 - Page  912

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