John Little
In many respects John Little was one of the greatest men Greene county has ever produced. As a lawyer he ranked among the best of the county, while as a versatile man in public affairs he was easily the greatest man the county has ever produced, with the notable exception of Whitelaw Reid. From the time he was mayor of Xenia in the sixties until his death in 1900 he was before the public in some official capacity most of the time, his succession of official position including in order the following: Mayor of Xenia, prosecuting attorney of Greene county, state Legislature, attorney general of the state of Ohio, member of Congress, member of Venezuelan commission, member of the Ohio state board of arbitration and finally a member of the court house commission of Greene county.
John Little was a native son of the county, born in Ross township, April 25, 1837. He called this county his home until his death in Xenia on October 18, 1900. He lived on his father's farm until he was nineteen years of age. In 1856 he became a student in Antioch College and graduated therefrom in 1862. He then began reading law with Judge J. J. Winans in Xenia. While still reading law he was elected mayor of Xenia. He was admitted to the bar in 1865 and the following year was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, being re-elected in 1868. Before his second term as prosecuting attorney came to a close, he announced his candidacy for a seat in the General Assembly of Ohio. He resigned as prosecutor, made the legislative race and was elected by a goodly majority to the fifty-ninth session. He was re-elected and became a political power in the state. In 1873 Little was elected attorney general of the state and two years later was elected for a second term. For seven years thereafter, 1877-1884, devoted himself to his legal practice. He had been a partner of Charles G. Shearer since 1872. a partnership which continued up until the latter took his seat as a member of the circuit court of appeals in 1887. In 1884 Little was nominated for Congress by the Republicans of his district, and elected in the fall of the same year, serving from March 4, 1885, to March 4, 1887. At the close of his term in Congress he returned to his home in Xenia and resumed his practice, but two years later he was called upon to fill the position of the Venezuelan commission to which he was appointed in 1889 by President Harrison. Little was chosen president of the board and wrote 'the preliminary opinion concerning the disputed boundary line. Other official positions came to Little after his retirement from the Venezuelan commission. Governor McKinley appointed him as a member of the Ohio state board of arbitration and he held this position until his death. When the county commissioners decided to erect the present court house, they created what they called a court house commission and on that commission they placed John Little—the last official position to which he was appointed. The court house was still unfinished at the time of his death, October 18, 1900.
Little was married October 19, 1865, to Barbara Jane Sheets. They had two children, George and Mary. His widow died in Xenia on May 30, 1902.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918