John N. Witham
John N. Witham, a former member of the common council of the city of Xenia, who is engaged in the grocery business at 48 East Main street, is a native son of Ohio and has lived in this state all his life with the exception of fifteen years of his boyhood, which were spent in Indiana, to which state his parents had moved when he was but a small child and where they remained until he was eighteen years of age, when they returned to Ohio, where their last days were spent. He was born on a farm in the neighborhood of Withamville, in Clermont county, November 21, 1851, son of Samuel L. and Rachel (Nordyke) Witham, both of whom also were born in Ohio.
Samuel L. Witham was born in Clermont county, son of Nathaniel and Jemima (Lane) Witham, the former of whom came to this country from England about the year 1812 and secured a tract of one thousand acres of land in Clermont county, this state, where he engaged in farming and also started a store, around which center grew up the village of Withamville, so named for him. Nathaniel Witham and wife were the parents of twelve children and the descendants of that pioneer pair in this generation now form a numerous connection. Samuel L. Witham grew to manhood in Clermont county and early became a school teacher, as well as a farmer. In Cincinnati he married Rachel Nordyke, who was born in that city, of Scotch-Irish stock, and who had a brother, Sylvester, and a sister, Caroline. In January, 1852, hardly two months after the birth of their first-born child, the subject of this sketch, Samuel L. Witham and his wife moved to Indianapolis and there made their home for about eighteen years, Mr. Witham being there engaged in school teaching and for some time in the mercantile business, and then returned to Ohio, later becoming residents of Xenia, where their last days were spent. They were the parents of five children, those besides the subject of this sketch being the following: Jemima, widow of Levi Ludlow, who is living on a farm in Clermont county and who has three children, Fred, Ernest and George: Mary, now living in the vicinity of Columbus, Indiana, who married Albert Thomas and has a large family: Grace, a widow, who lives in New York City and who has three children, two sons and a daughter; and Jefiferson C, of Xenia, who married Carrie Ridenour, who is now deceased.
As noted above, John N. Witham was eighteen vears of age when his parents returned to Ohio from Indiana. He early had learned the blacksmith's trade and continued to work at the same for six years, at the end of which time he took employment with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and after his marriage in 1872 took up his residence in Cincinnati, where he remained until 1884, in which year he moved to Xenia, continuing, however, his employment with the railroad, and was thus engaged there until 1893, in which year he became associated with his father in the grocery business at Xenia. In 1895 his father died and he then continued the business alone until 1907, in which year he returned to Clermont county, the place of his birth, and there bought a tract of twenty acres of ground and erected a house on the same, expecting to make his permanent home there, but after a residence of two years at that place sold his interests there and returned to Xenia, where, in 1908, he bought the William Harner grocery store at 48 East Main street and has ever since been engaged in business at that number. Mr. Witham is a Democrat and in 1911 was elected to represent the first ward as a member of the city common council and served in that capacity for two years. He is a member of the local lodge of Free and Accepted Masons.
In 1872, in Clermont county, this state, John N. Witham was united in marriage to Belle Witham, who also was born in that county, a daughter of Lewis and Parmelia (Anderson) Witham, who were the parents of six children, four sons and two daughters. Though both Mr. and Mrs. Witham were born to the same name they are not related by ties of consanguinity. To this union two children have been born, Lois, who married Edward Kline, now of Portland, Oregon, and has three children, Loverna, Irma and Leona, and Ellen, who married Theron White, of Xenia, and has one child. a son, Donald. Mr. and Mrs. Witham are members of the Lutheran church and Mr. Witham has been an office bearer in the same.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918