Oliver Mallow Spahr
Oliver Mallow Spahr, clerk of New Jasper township and a farmer of that township, living on rural mail route No. 8 out of Xenia, was born in that township, a member of one of the old families of Greene county, and has lived there all his life. He was born on the old William Spahr place in the neighborhood of the village of New Jasper, December 12, 1873, son and only child of David C. and Sarah Elizabeth (Mallow) Spahr, the latter of whom died on February 26, 1888, her son then being fifteen years of age. She was born in Caesarscreek township, this county, June 3, 1852, daughter of John and Hannah Mallow, who had a farm in that township.
David C. Spahr was born on the farm mentioned above as the birthplace of his son. November 20, 1847, last-born of the twelve children born to William and Sarah (Smith) Spahr, further and fitting mention of whom, together with a comprehensive history of the Spahr family in Greene county, is made elsewhere in this volume, William Spahr having been a son of Philip and Mary (Shook) Spahr, who came here with their family in 1814 from Virginia and became pioneers of the New Jasper neighborhood. They were the parents of ten children, as noted elsewhere. Both William Spahr and Sarah Smith were born in Hardin county, Virginia, and were children when they came with their respective parents to this county, the Spahrs and the Smiths having made the trip over from Virginia together. Sarah Smith was born in September, 1807, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Kimble) Smith, who settled on a farm alongside that of the Spahrs when the two families came to locate in what is now New Jasper township, the Smith farm of three hundred acres adjoining that of the Spahrs on the east. Jacob Smith was a cooper and gave his chief attention to his cooperage business, leaving his sons to develop the farm. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, of whom Sarah, who on December 12, 1829, married William Spahr, was the eldest, the others being Susan, who married David Paullin, of Silvercreek township; Daniel, who remained a farmer in New Jasper township ; Phoebe, wlio married Evan Harris, of Caesarscreek township; Elizabeth, who married James Spahr; William, who became a Methodist minister and lived in Caesarscreek township; James, who made his home in Silvercreek township and who also became a Methodist minister: Nelson, who married Lydia Beeson and lived in New Jasper township; Catherine, who married Peter Tressler, and Amanda, who married Stephen Beal, of Cedarville. William Spahr and his wife had twelve children and further details regarding this family are set out at considerable length elsewhere. As the youngest son, David C. Spahr, remained on the home place with his father and when not more than fifteen or sixteen years of age was given practical charge of the same, his father's advancing years and crippled condition entailing upon the young man the responsibility of carrying on the operations of the place, making his home there after his marriage in 1871. His mother died on March 25, 1888, and his father died on October 1, 1891. The farm then was sold and the proceeds divided and David C. Spahr bought a farm of two hundred and forty-two acres in Caesarscreek township and sixty acres in New Jasper township and on this place he made his home until 1917, when he retired and has since been making his home with his sister, Mrs. Phœbe A. Boots, widow of John M. Boots, on her farm, a half mile southwest of New Jasper village. John M. Boots was born on May 20. 1848, and died on February 23, 1913. He married Phœbe A. Spahr, on October 11, 1866. It was on November 31, 1871, that David C. Spahr was united in marriage to Sarah Elizabeth Mallow, who died in 1888, and, as noted above, to that union was born one son, the subject of this sketch.
Oliver Mallow Spahr received his early schooling in the New Jasper district school and supplemented the same by a course in the business college at Springfield. When his grandfather's farm, the place on which he was born, was divided he bought the place, but continued to make his home after his marriage in the fall of 1892 on his father's place in Caesarscreek township, renting his own land. In 1905 he sold the latter tract, one hundred and fifty-two acres, and bought the farm of one hundred and fifteen acres on which he now lives on the New Jasper pike, just east of the village of that name. Mr. Spahr gives considerable attention to the raising of live stock, his Shorthorn herd having a registered leader. In 1916 he built on his farm a modern house, with a hot-water heating plant, electric-lighting system and the like. During the past two years or more Mr. Spahr has given up to his son the active operation of the place, but still maintains a general supervisory direction over affairs, at the same time managing his father's farms. He is a Republican, as is his father, and for the past eight years has been serving as clerk of New Jasper township.
On September 15, 1892, Mr. Spahr was united in marriage to Lyda Luetta Fawcett, who also was born in New Jasper township, daughter of Hiram H. and Elizabeth (Smith) Fawcett, both of whom are still living on a farm in that township and further and fitting mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, and to that union two children have been born, Leo David, who died in 1894 at the age of eleven months, and Hiram Russell, born on December 28, 1895. On December 5, 1917, Hiram Russell Spahr was united in marriage to Rosa Pearl Turner, who was born at Sabina, in the neighboring county of Clinton, daughter of A. J. and Sarah Frances (Dow) Turner, and since his marriage has continued to make his home on the farm, the operation of which he is now carrying on. The Spahrs are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper and Mr. Spahr is a member of the board of trustees of the congregation.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918