Lewis W. Ankeney
In a work of this character, dealing with the pioneer families of Greene county, there naturally appear repeated references to individual families, for some of the old pioneer stock is represented in the present generation by a numerous connection; but of all these old families there are few that have received more frequent mention than the family of the Ankeneys, for the founder of this family in Greene county left ten children to carry on the family name and traditions, and it is thus that the name Ankeney has been associated with the development of this county since pioneer times. Elsewhere in this volume there is set out at considerable length the story of the coming of the Ankeneys to Greene county and of the family's settlement on a farm in the Alpha neighborhood, the farm now and for many years owned and occupied by Albert Ankeney, a grandson of David and Elizabeth (Miller) Ankeney, the pioneers, who had come here from Washington county, Maryland, in 1830, with their nine children; and of how David Ankeney died suddenly in the fall of that same year, another child being born to his widow not long after his death, and of how that pioneer farm was developed by the family and has ever since continued in the Ankeney name. David Ankeney's ten children were Samuel, Mary, Henry, Margaret, Sarah, John, Nelson, Martha, Jacob and David, the last-named being the posthumous son. Of the daughters. Mary married John Steele, Margaret married the Rev. George Long and Martha married one of the Shanks.
Nelson Ankeney, seventh in order of birth of the ten children born to David and Elizabeth (Miller) Ankeney and the father of the subject of this biographical sketch, was born in the vicinity of Clear Spring, in Washington county, Maryland, September 15, 1825, and was thus but four years of age when his parents came to Ohio and settled in this county and was but little more than five when his father died. He grew up on the farm now occupied by Albert Ankeney and for some years during the days of his young manhood occupied his winters in teaching school. When twenty-five years of age he married and bought a farm a half mile north of Trebeins, but later sold the same and returned to the old home farm, where he remained for one year, at the end of which time he moved to another farm in that neighborhood and there remained until in 1876, when he bought the farm in Beavercreek township on which he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there on October 7, 1902. Upon taking possession of that place he erected a large new barn, and in 1879 he erected the dwelling house in which his widow is still living. Nelson Ankeney was a Republican and he and his family were members of the Beaver Reformed church.
On May 22, 1851, Nelson Ankeney was united in marriage to Elizabeth Sidney Coffelt, who was born on a farm two miles north of Bellbrook in this county. December 8, 1832, daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Crumley) Coffelt who had come to this county from Virginia. Jacob Coffelt died in 1835 and his widow married Aaron Paxton and thereafter made her home in Beavercreek township, where she died in 1883 at the age of eighty-seven years. By her union with Jacob Coffelt she was the mother of seven children, of whom Mrs. Ankeney, the sixth in order of birth, is the only one now living, the others having been Aaron C, a veteran of the Civil War, who lost an arm while fighting for the Union and whose last days were spent in the South; Joseph, who made his home in Michigan; William H., who established his home in Spring Valley, this county; Clarissa, who married John LeValley; Rebecca Ann, who married George Climber, and Harriet Jane, who died unmarried. To Nelson and Elizabeth Sidney (Coffelt) Ankeney were born four children, namely: Emma L., who married Abram W. Warner, a farmer of Starke county, this state, who later became engaged in the building and loan business and who died on December 20, 1901, since which time his widow has been making her home with her mother in this county; Charles E.. who married Emma E. Kershner and is living on the farm adjoining that of his brother Lewis in Beavercreek township; Lewis W., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, and Clara J., unmarried, who since the death of her brother Lewis's wife has been keeping house for him and his family.
Lewis W. Ankeney was born on the old Ankeney homestead place in Beavercreek township on January 13, 1856, and has been a resident of this county all his life. He completed his schooling in the old Xenia College, which then was under the direction of Professor Smith, and after leaving school resumed his place on the farm, assisting his father there until after his marriage in the spring of 1882, after which he bought the old John Steele farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Beavercreek township and for seven years made his home there, later renting one of the Cline farms and operating the same in connection with his own farm, and for twenty-five years made his home on one or another of the Cline farms, graduallv adding to his land holdings until now he is the owner of two hundred and seventy acres. In 1914 Mr. Ankeney bought sixty-four acres of the T. H. Bell farm adjoining his mother's place in Beavercreek township and has since made his home there. Of late years Mr. Ankeney has been living practically retired from the active labors of the farm, turning the management of the same over to his son, J. Blaine Ankeney, who is carrying on the operations of the farm. Mr. Ankeney is a Republican and has served as a member of the township school board. He and his family are members of the Beaver Reformed church and for the past thirty years and more he has been one of the deacons of the congregation. For years during his more active farming operations Mr. Ankeney made a specialty of raising thoroughbred Shorthorn cattle.
On March 18, 1882, Lewis W. Ankeney was united in marriage to Jessie K. Cline, who also was born in Beavercreek township, a member of one of the old families there, and who died on January 5, 1901. She was a daughter of William C. and Nancy (Harner) Cline, both of whom also were born in this county and the latter of whom is still living, now making her home at Alpha. William C. Cline was born in Beavercreek township on December 20, 1829, a son of Adam and Barbara (Herring) Cline, who had come here from Pennsylvania and were associated with the Reformed congregation in Beavercreek township. Adam Cline died in 1854 and his widow died in 1865. William C. Cline grew up on a farm and followed that vocation all his life. On August 3, 1858, he married Nancy Ann Harner, who also was born in Beavercreek township, October 12, 1834, a daughter of John and Magdaline (Haines) Harner, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume, and to that union were born six children, namely: Lina. who married Horace Ankeney; Jesse, who married Lewis Ankeney; Margaret, who married Thomas Lehman; William, who married Flora Routzong, and Maud and John. William C. Cline died at the age of seventy-five vears and, as noted above, his widow still survives him. To Lewis W. and Jessie K. (Cline) Ankeney were born six children, namely: Fred, who became an electrical engineer and who died in Chicago; William Nelson, who married Lillian Skinner and is now living at Wasliington, D. C, where he is connected with the work of the department of agriculture of the United States Government, having been called to that service from Ohio State University, in which institution he had been serving as instructor in botany following his graduation from Heidelberg College at Tiffin; Catherine, who married James P. McCalmont, a farmer of Beavercreek township, living a half mile south of Shoup's Station, and has two children. Roljert and Catherine L.; J. Blaine, who took a course in the agricultural college at Winona Lake and is now managing his father's farms; Lois, now attending college at Delaware, this state, and Jessie, who died in infancy. The Ankeneys reside on rural mail route No. 10 out of Xenia.
From Portrait and Biographical Album of Clark and Greene Counties, Chapman Bros., Chicago, published 1890