Ohio Biographies

William A. Paxson

The Paxsons have been represented in this county ever since the year 1804, that having been the date of the coming here of the family from Pennsylvania and their settlement in Beavercreek township. Aaron Paxson was a son of James Paxson, whose wife, Cynthia, was for years one of the most influential Quaker ministers in the city of Philadelphia, and he thus was reared amid excellent surroundings and in a manner conducing to sobriety of demeanor and steadfastness of purpose. James Paxson married Cynthia Beal and continued to make his home in Pennsylvania, having become established in Fayette county, that state, until his death about the year 1804. Then his family came to Ohio with his uncle Isaac and his mother and settled in Beavercreek township, this county. Aaron Paxson was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1797, and was thus but seven years of age when he became a resident of Greene county. He grew to manhood here and in June, 1820, married Susanna Wall, of Pennsylvania, and established a home of his own in Beavercreek township, reared his family there and there spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on December 11. 1884, he then being eighty-seven years of age, and he was buried in the Beaver Creek cemetery. He was thrice married and was the father of eleven children by his first wife. John Paxson, one of the sons of Aaron Paxson, followed the sober and straightforward course of his Quaker ancestors and in due time made for himself a home in tlie Beavercreek neighborhood. He married Louisa Le Valley and to that union were born five children, of whom the subject of this biographical sketch was the first-born and all of whom lived to maturity. Louisa Le Valley was a daughter of John Le Valley, who had come to America from France with General Lafayette and was an aid-decamp on the latter's staff. Her mother was of the family with which John Smith of Jamestown colony fame was connected.

William A. Paxson, eldest of the five children born to John and Louisa (Le Valley) Paxson, was born on the old Paxson farm in Beavercreek township, this county, July 6, 1850, and was there reared to manhood. His early schooling was received in the neighborhood schools. When fourteen years of age he found that he had exhausted the possibilities of the neighborhood school and he then began attendance on the schools at Jamestown, four miles away, walking daily to and from the school, and he recalls that during that course and despite often adverse weather conditions and other handicaps he did not miss a day of school during that period of attendance. Thus equipped by preliminary study Mr. Paxson then entered Ohio Wesleyan University and there pursued his studies for two years, at the end of which time he was licensed to teach school and for one term taught in at then was known as the Larkin school, resuming his place on the farm in the following spring. In the meantime Mr. Paxson had been devoting such leisure as he could command to the study of law under the preceptorship of J. A. Sexton at Xenia and in due time matriculated at the Cincinnati Law College, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1874 and was in that same spring admitted to the bar. During his attendance at law school Mr. Paxson was associated with the law firm of Donham & Foraker at Cincinnati and upon being admitted to the bar was inclined to enter upon the practice of his profession in the city, but the state of his health having become somewhat reduced he was advised by his physician to get out of the city. Following this advice he located at Washington Court House, county seat of the neighboring county of Fayette, there became associated in practice with Col. S. F. Kerr and continued thus engaged in that city until his return in 1876 to Greene county and location at Jamestown, where he ever since has made his home and where he has continued his law practice.

In addition to carrying on his law practice Mr. Paxson has for years been personally interested in agricultural pursuits and owns land in this county and five hundred and sixty-six acres in the neighboring county of Fayette. In the development of his properties he has followed a system carefully thought out years ago that has been beneficial to the whole community, for the example set by him in his agricultural operations has been followed with advantage and profit by many others. That he early gave his thoughtful attention to the subject of the betterment of farming conditions was shown years ago when he secured the first prize in a contest for the best article upon the subject of "Tile Drainage of Farm Lands" and the second prize in a similar contest upon the subject of "System in Farming," conducted by two of the leading agricultural papers in the United States, both of which were hotly contested; while in his great poem, "The Rented Farm," which originally appeared in the Stockman (Pittsburgh) and which, by request, has been reprinted in that journal no fewer than a half dozen times (a very great compliment to the writer), as well as copied by other farm journals and various newspapers all over the country, gave to the world a most valuable word-picture of a condition that has faced the farmer from time immemorial, and it is undoubted that the lesson there conveyed has been heeded with advantage and comfort by many. In passing, it is but proper to state that Mr. Paxson's "The Rented Farm" is presented in the "Sidelights" chapter of the historical section of this work and is thus definitely preserved as a valuable contribution to the literary development of Greene county.

Mr. Paxson also is a writer on various other subjects besides that of agriculture and has been a wide contributor to the press on political, social, legal and religious topics. He has from the days of his youth been a constant reader, and has accumulated an excellent library at his home in Jamestown. In 1901 he published a story of rural life in Ohio under the title of "A Buckeye Baron," which received considerable favorable attention on the part of the reviewers. The book is generously illustrated with pictures of scenes about Clifton and as much of the narrative of the story has to do with what must be recognized as conditions common to that section of Greene county the "local atmosphere" of the story is thus strengthened. There is a suggestion of an autobiographic quality about "A Buckeye Baron" that lends an additional interest to the tale in the minds of the friends of the author. Both by tradition and by preference a Republican, Mr. Paxson, in his political views reserves the same right to independence of expression as he reserves in the expression of his religious views and his views on other basic phases of social life. Though nominally a Methodist, Mr. Paxson has never been regarded as strictly orthodox in his observance of the tenets of that communion. "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them"—each one for himself, is his doctrine. Mr. Paxson has been a wide traveler and has given his thoughtful attention to the problems of government revealed to him in his travels. His simple creed is summed up in the following expressive little poem written by him many years ago:

I want not gains begot by pelf,
But what I honest earn myself;
I crave not piles and hoards of wealth.
But I do wish for strength and health,
My family good and true and pure,
Endowed with virtues that endure.
No honest debts unliquidater
No reputation overrated;
Uncursed amidst the harpy tribe,
Untainted by the guilty bribe;
A faith in God, who doeth right.
Unmoved by wrong, though backed by might;
No orphan's cry to wound my ear,
My conscience and my honor clear.
Thus may I calmly meet my end,
Thus to the grave in peace descend;
And when I'm gone, I'd have it said
"We're sory that our neighbor's dead."
It will comfort me in dying, to feel that it is true,
That the world is someway better for my having traveled through.

On January 24, 1875, while living at Washington Court House, William A. Paxson was united in marriage to Rebecca C. Rankin, daughter of William C. and Jemima (Doan) Rankin, of Fayette county, and to this union were born five children, two of whom died in infancy, the others being Rankin, born on December 25, 1875, who died at the age of five years; Frostie, wife of F. H. Moyer, chief engineer of the Cambria Steel Works at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and William Stanley, born on January 17, 1890. William Stanley Paxson was graduated from the Jamestown high school when fifteen years of age, the youngest member of a graduating class in the history of that school, and was awarded a scholarship in Ohio Wesleyan University on account of the excellence of his grades. In his sophomore year in this latter institution he was made president of his class. He left there in his junior year and took up the study of law under the preceptorship of his father, later entering the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated with honors after a three-years course, receiving a prize of one hundred dollars for having attained the highest grades in the class during the entire three years. In January, 1913. he began the practice of law at Cincinnati and is still located in that city, a member of the firm of Long & Paxson. In May, 1916, William S. Paxson was united in marriage to Amanda Maul, of Kentucky, and to this union one child has been born, a son, William Stanley, born on June 22, 1917.

william paxson