Huston Hanna Cherry
Huston Hanna Cherry, farmer and stockman and a veteran of the Spanish-American War, was born on the farm on which he is now living, in the eastern part of Xenia township. December 21, 1879, son of David H. and Mary E. (Watt) Cherry, both of whom also were born in Ohio and the latter of whom is still living, a resident of Xenia since 1903, in which year she moved from the farm to that city with her husband, the latter spending his last days there, his death occurring about twelve years after his retirement from the farm.
David H. Cherry was born on a farm on the Hook road in Xenia township, February 25, 1839, a son of James and Elizabeth (Greenwood) Cherry, Virginians, who were married in the Old Dominion on April 12, 1815, and soon afterward came to Ohio and settled in the Laughead settlement three miles east of Xenia, near where they spent the remainder of their lives. James Cherry was born on May 12, 1789, and died on December 24, 1851. His widow, who was born on April 25. 179?, survived him for more than ?? years, her last days being spent in the home of her son David, where she died on May 14, 1883. James Cherry, the pioneer, and his wife were adherents of the old Scotch Seceder faith and were the parents of eleven children, of whom David Haslip Cherry was the last-born and all of whom are now deceased, the others having been the following: William, born in 1816; Mary Ann, December 13, 1817. who died at the age of seven years; Jane, December 9, 1819, who became the wife of Robert Crawford; Rachel, December 5, 1821, who became the wife of William Kyle; James O., October 8, 1823: Robert, December 29, 1825; John. February 20, 1828; Benjamin, July 30, 1830: Andrew Louis, December 13, 1832, and Isaac New, May 22, 1836. The Cherrys and the Langheads were old friends and neighbors in Virginia and it was this acquaintance that led James Cherry to settle here, where the David Langheads had previously settled, after his marriage in 1815. The old Indian trail between the two chillicothes (Indian villages), Oldtown and the present city of Chillicothe, passed through the farm, which is now occupied by Huston Cherry.
Reared on that pioneer farm, David Haslip Cherry grew up to manhood there and after his marriage made his home on the home place for about ten years, at the end of which time he bought the Watt homestead (where his wife had lived since she was six years of age), buying the farm from a Mr. Tressler, who had purchased the land from William Watt, father of Mrs. Cherry, in time having there a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres on the Federal pike, now owned by his widow and operated by his son, the subject of this sketch. In connection with his general farming, David H. Cherry for years gave attention to the raising of full blood cattle and sheep and his sons have continued this line. He remained on the farm until his retirement in 1903 and removal to Xenia, where he spent his last days, his death occurring there on October 7, 1914. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church, as is his widow, who is still living at Xenia, and had served as a trustee of his local congregation. Mrs. Cherry was born at Bainbridge, in Ross county, this state, a daughter of William and Sarah Gordon (Carruthers) Watt, natives of Scotland, the former born in Glasgow and the latter in Dumfrees, who were married at Chillicothe, this state, and later came to Greene county, where they spent the remainder of their lives, as is set out elsewhere in this work. Mary E. Watt was about six years of age when her parents came to Greene county and she grew to womanhood on the home farm in Xenia township, where she was living when, on December 21, 1865, she was married to David H. Cherry. To that union were born five children, namely: William J., who is living on a farm adjoining the old home place in Xenia township, where he makes a specialty of raising pure-bred cattle and sheep; Lulu, who died at the age of two years and six months: Avis Belle, wife of the Rev. Frederick Elliott, a United Presbyterian minister, now stationed at Mansfield, Ohio; Huston Hanna, the subject of this biographical sketch, and David Haslip, who is engaged in business at Xenia, a member of the mercantile firm of Galloway & Cherry. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Cherry has continued to make her home at Xenia, where she continues her interest in church work and in temperance, missionary and Red Cross work.
Huston H. Cherry grew up on the home farm in Xenia township and received his early schooling in the neighborhood schools, afterward entering Cedarville College and had been a student in that institution two years when the Spanish-American War broke out. He straightway enlisted his services as a soldier and in 1898 went South as a member of Company D, Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, spending the summer with that command at Tampa, Florida, awaiting service in Cuba, but was not called over. The regiment later was moved to Fernandina, Florida; then to Huntsville, Alabama, then back to Columbus, Ohio, where it was mustered out in November, 1898, the brief war then being regarded as over, though the treaty of peace was not made until the following December. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Cherry returned home and then spent a year in study at Monmouth College, after which he resumed his place on the farm and upon his father's retirement in 1902, took charge of the farm and has so continued, having established his home there after his marriage in the summer of 1903. Mr. Cherry has made a specialty of the raising of pure-bred Shorthorn cattle and Dorset sheep and has a show flock that he has exhibited at state fairs in Ohio, New York, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas and with which he has won literally "a barrel" of blue ribbons. In 1917 he was invited to take the position of judge of sheep at the International Live Stock Show at Chicago, which invitation he accepted. He is a director oi the Dorset Club, the national association of Dorset sheep breeders. Mr. and Mrs. Cherry are members of the First United Presbyterian church at Xenia.
On August 14, 1903, Huston H. Cherry was united in marriage to Clara Gertrude Jackson, who was born at Cedarville, this county, and who had been teaching in the schools of her home town previous to her marriage. Mrs. Cherry is a daughter of the Hon. Andrew and Mary J. (Dunlap) Jackson, both members of pioneer families in the Cedarville neighborhood. t!ie latter of whom died on July 31, 1915, and further mention of whom, together with a comprehensive history of the Jackson family, is set out elsewhere in this volume.
On December 17, 1868. Andrew Jackson was united in marriage to Mary Jane Dunlap, daughter of James and Jane (Limerick) Dunlap, the former of whom was for many years engaged in the lumber business in Cincinnati, later making his home at Cedarville, where he died on January 25, 1890, at the age of seventy-six years, and to that union were born four children, of whom Mrs. Cherry was the fourth in order of birth, the others being Pearl, wife of R. G. George, who is engaged in the milling business at Jamestown, this County; Frank, sheriff of Greene county, and Fannie, wife of R. L. Baldwin, of Chicago. Mr. Jackson still lives in Cedarville in the house formerly owned by James Dunlap, father of Mrs. Jackson, to which home the latter came with her parents from Cincinnati when seven years of age, Mrs. Lillie Limerick, widow of Dr. Samuel Limerick, of Seattle, Washington, sister of Mrs. Jackson and only surviving member of the Dunlap family, keeping the old home for him—the house in which she was born and in which she is content to spend her last days among the friends of her girlhood. As noted above, Mrs. Cherry was a school teacher before lier marriage. Since then she has retanied her interest in general social-service work and in 1908 organized at Xenia a county branch of the International Sunshine Society, of which branch she is president. The object of the work of the Sunshine Society is to bring cheer, aid and comfort to the ill, shut-ins, aged and lonely and there are now more than three thousand branches of the society in the United States. For the past ten years Mrs. Cherry has been editor of the Sunshine Department of two magazines and has done other literary work. She also organized in her neighborhood the Home Club, an association of twenty women, the object of the same being to afford entertainment of a literary character once a month, meetings being held in turn in the homes of the respective members, and to provide during the winter months monthly social evenings for the husbands.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A. Broadstone, editor. B. F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918