John R. Nash
Though now in the ninetieth year of his age, John R. Nash, one of the real "old-timers" of Greene county and a substantial retired farmer living on his old home place in Xenia township, on rural route No. 8 out of Xenia, where he has made his home for nearly sixty years, is a remarkably well preserved old gentleman, retaining his faculties in an astonishing degree for one of his years, his memory clear and distinct, his sight so clear that he is still able to read without glasses and his hearing practically unimpaired. Mr. Nash was born in Greene county and during the long period that has elapsed since he began to retain a recollection of events he has been a witness to some amazing developments in the manner of living and is able to tell many interesting stories of the days of the earlier settlers in the county.
John R. Nash was born in a little log stable on a farm two miles south of Cedarville, in this county, May 25, 1828, and was cradeled in a sugar trough hewed out of a log. His parents, Hugh and Rebecca (Graham) Nash, were members of two of the early families to settle in this part of the county. Hugh Nash having been a son of Nathan and Polly (Ward) Nash, who drove through with their family from Washington county, Pennsylvania, and settled in Greene county about the time the county became organized as a civic unit and here established their home. They later moved to Licking county and settled on a farm in the vicinity of Newark, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of ten children, William, James, Thomas, Hugh, John, Nathan, Sarah, Margaret, Nancy and Maria. The family was very poor in world's goods and it is a matter of tradition in the family that it was not uncommon for the children to have to go barefooted even after snow had fallen. Hugh Nash grew up in this county and lived here continuously save for a couple of years spent in Warren county, Illinois. Upon his return from there he settled in Xenia township and there spent his last days, his death occurring at the age of sixty-five years. His widow survived him for years, she having been eighty-there years of age at the time of her death. They were members of the Associate Reformed church, but after the union of that church and the Associate church became afifiliated with the United Presbyterian church. Hugh Nash was originally a Whig, but upon the formation of the Republican party became affiliated with the latter party. He and his wife had two children, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Mary, widow of John Miller, of Columbus, Ohio.
Reared on the farm, John R. Nash received but limited schooling in the days of his boyhood and the most of that was received during the period of two years the family lived in Illinois, he retaining distinct recollections of the little old log school house with its puncheon floor and with its greased paper for window "lights." Being the only son, he was from early boyhood a valued assistant to his father in the labors of the farm and he remained at home until his marriage when twenty-one years of age, after which he located on a farm on the Columbus pike in Xenia township, in the immediate vicinity of the present site of Wilberforce, and there lived for eight years, or until 1859, in which year he bought and entered upon possession of the farm of ninety-four and a half acres in that same township, on what is now rural mail route No. 8 out of Xenia, where he now lives and where he ever since has made his home. When he took possession of that farm there was standing on the same a house that was erected in 1840. He remodeled the house and made other improvements to the place and has for many years had a well-kept place. In addition to his general farming Mr. Nash gave considerable attention to the raising of live stock and did well. He continued actively engaged in farming until 191 2, since which time he has been content to "take things easy." Mr. Nash is a Republican and for three years served as supervisor in his district, was land appraiser in his township during the year 1900 and in that same year served as one of the local census enumerators for the federal census. He is a member of the First United Presbyterian church at Xenia and has been a member of the session of the same for the past forty years.
It was in 1850 that John R. Nash was united in marriage to Hilary Jackson, who was born in the neighborhood of Yellow Springs, this county, January 28, 1832, daughter of Gen. Robert and Minerva (Eddy) Jackson, the former of whom was born in Belmont county, this state, and the latter in the South. Gen. Robert Jackson, who gained his title by right of his commission in the old Ohio state militia, and further and extended references to whom is made elsewhere, was a farmer and miller who moved from the Yellow Springs neighborhood to Xenia, where he operated a mill for some time and later bought a farm two miles east of that city, where he spent his last days. His widow died in Yellow Springs. Mrs. Mary Nash died on September 28, 1904, survived by her husband and two sons, Robert Harvey and Hugh Leander. the latter of whom is still living. Robert H. Nash, who died on November 25, 1917, was a former member of the board of county commissioners of Greene county and a well-to-do farmer who lived two miles east of Xenia. He married on November 28, 1876, Agnes G. Watt, a daughter of William Watt, a former member of the board of county commissioners, and had four sons, Herbert W., Walter L., Charles E. and William H., further reference to which family is made elsewhere. Hugh L. Nash is farming the old home place east of Xenia, his father continuing to make his home with him there. He married Mary Ellsworth Frazier and has one child, a son, John F. John R. Nash has se\en great-grandchildren, in whose companionship he takes great delight.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918