Richard Botkin
Richard Botkin, deceased, was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, September 25, 1803, where he passed his minority days on a farm. On the 22d of October, 1829, he married Miss Elizabeth Short, of Hamilton County, Ohio, where she was born January 20, 1809. Mr. Botkin moved to Shelby County with his family in 1832, entered, made improvements, and settled on a part of section 5, Dinsmore Township, on which he lived and conducted the business of farming in connection with dealing in stock, until the time of his death, which occurred April 29, 1858. His companion died March 19, 1839, leaving him with four small children viz., Martha, Russell, Robert, and Hannah. In the fall of 1840 he married Miss Jane Elliott, daughter of Cornelius and Elizabeth Elliott, who was born in Licking County, Ohio, April 4, 1824, and came to Shelby County with her parents in 1835. By this union he reared a family of six children, viz., Sarah M., John W., Alexander, Selvenis, Emma J., and Charles S., all of whom are now living except Emma J., who died in October, 1878. Mrs. Botkin is still residing on the old home farm near Botkins Station. Mr. Botkin was one of the most energetic, enterprising business men in the township, and at his death the church of which he was a member (viz., the Methodist Episcopal) lost one of its best members, and Dinsmore Township one of its leading citizens.
After Mr. Botkin’s first entry of land, he made other purchases of land until he owned several hundred acres in the vicinity of where Botkins village is now located. During the erection of the Dayton and Michigan Railroad, he contracted and graded three miles of the roadbed. He donated to the railroad company the right of way through his land, nearly a mile in length, with the understanding that the company would give him a station on his land, at the most convenient point for the accommodation of the citizens in the neighborhood. In his will, a short time prior to his death, he ordered a town to be laid out, which was done soon after his death, and given the name of Botkins in honor of him and to perpetuate his name.
From History of Shelby County, Ohio; R. Sutton & Co, Philadelphia PA, 1883