Joseph Aaron States
Joseph Aaron States, president of the Allen County Agricultural Society and formerly county commissioner for several terms, is one of Monroe township's most respected citizens. He resides on his highly improved farm of 160 acres situated in sections 21 and 22. Mr. States was born on this farm April 20, 1848, and is a son of Daniel and Jane (Jennings) States.
Daniel States was born in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1810, and was a son of Peter and Susan (Praul) States. The father of Peter States, Daniel by name, was born in France; while the father of Mrs. Peter States was born in England. Our subject's parents came to Monroe township, Allen County, in the spring of 1835, locating in section 21. With eight others, he was a voter at the first election held in the township, which they all had assisted in organizing. He entered 120 acres of land and on this farm, developed from the wilderness, he reared a creditable family, which through his efforts in promoting educational, religious and social movements, enjoyed many advantages which even older localities did not present. He was a man of great public spirit and was so admirably qualified for leadership, that he was frequently called upon to take a prominent part in public affairs. He served 14 years as township trustee and treasurer, was one of the founders of the Methodist Episcopal Church, built the first schoolhouse on his own farm, and through individual effort and personal expenditure, inaugurated the making of good roads and the building of bridges, in this was setting a creditable example and earning the grateful remembrances of those who came after.
On April 1, 1833, Daniel States was united in marriage with Jane Jennings, who was born June 16, 1810, and died January 20, 1873. She was a daughter of Benjamin and Betsey (Milick) Jennings, a granddaughter of John Milick, a native of Pennsylvania, and a cousin of Governor David Tod, of Ohio. Seven children were born to this union, as follows: John, deceased, of Crawford County, Kansas; George and Susan, who died in childhood; Margaret, deceased, who was the wife of Scott Harris, of Monroe township; Mary J., deceased; Joseph Aaron, of this sketch; and Huldah R., wife of Ephraim Tussing, of Van Wert County, Ohio, also deceased.
Joseph Aaron States attended the district schools and was reared on his father's farm, where he received his training as a practical agriculturist. his main business in life has continued along the same lines general farming and stock-raising. He has so frequently been called upon by is fellow-citizens to accept various offices of trust and responsibility that in later years the larger portion of his time has been absorbed in attending to duties of a public nature. In political sentiment he has always been a stanch Democrat. In 1882 he was elected by his party county commissioner and, through reelection, he served continuously in this important office for six years and one month. For three years he was township trustee and for 20 years has been a member of the Board of Education. He has always taken a deep and intelligent interest in county organizations of all kinds, and has given support to those which, in his opinion, are calculated to advance the general welfare. In 1903 he was elected president of the Allen County Agricultural Society, and under his wise administration, it held the most successful county fair during its existence. He is a man of enlightened views, business capacity, unquestioned integrity and, withal, one of the genial, wholesouled men whose citizenship honors his community.
On September 3, 1867, Mr. States was married to Mary J. Powell, who was born March 6, 1842, near Spencerville, Ohio, and is a daughter of David and Sophia (Walden) Powell, natives of Juniata County, Pennsylvania. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. States was Amos Powell, who was born in Wales and with his family, was an early settler in Allen County. To Mr. and Mrs. States were born these children: Anna V., wife of Joseph G. Hersh, an attorney, of Lima; William C., of the Lima Cigar Company, who has one son, Earl; Arthur L., a farmer of Monroe township; Samuel E., who died in 1877; and Mary Lucretia, who married Jesse Vance, a farmer of Monroe township, and has two children.