Henry H. Eavey
The late Henry H. Eavey, president of the Citizens National Bank of Xenia, founder and head of the wholesale grocery firm which bears his name, a soldier of the Civil War, former president of the local school board and for many years a conspicuous figure in the commercial life of Xenia, who died at his home in that city in the spring of 1918 and whose widow is still living there, was a native of the state of Maryland, but had been a resident of Greene county since the days of his infancy, and has thus been a participant in the affairs of this community all his adult life. He was born on a farm in the vicinity of the city of Hagerstown, Maryland, August 6, 1840, son of John and Margaret (Knode) Eavey, who in the following spring came to Ohio and settled on a farm in Greene comity, the child Henry then being under one year of age.
Reared on the home farm, Henry H. Eavey received his schooling in the local schools and remained at home until he was sixteen years of age, when he took employment in the retail grocery store of David Hinton at Xenia, his wages for that service being fixed at eight and one-third dollars a month and "board," the latter being apportioned to him at such boarding houses as owed his employer grocery bills. At the end of nine months he relinquished this employment as a bad job and returned to the farm, but a few more months of farm life convinced him that he was not cut out for a farmer and in the fall of 1859 he returned to Xenia and entered the grocery store of D. A. Dean, which was situated on the corner now occupied by the Steele building, and was thus engaged when the Civil War broke out. In July, 1862, Mr. Eavey enlisted for service and went to the front as a member of Company H, Ninety-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served for five months or until his discharge by reason of physical disability caused by injuries he had received while a prisoner of war at Lexington, Kentucky. Upon his return to Xenia Mr. Eavey resumed his former position in the Dean store, which meantime had been purchased by Frank E. Arnold, and remained there until in May, 1865, when he opened a store of his own in West Main street. From the beginning this venture was successful and on July 1, 1869, Mr. Eavey, in association with M. C. Allison and James Carson, inaugurated the wholesale establishment which still bears his name, the firm opening for business with a capitalization of eighteen thousand dollars in the building now occupied by the Smith Advertising Company on East Main street. In 1880 Mr. Carson and Mr. Allison withdrew from the firm, the former going to Springfield and the latter becoming engaged in the cordage business at Xenia, and Mr. Eavey took into partnership with him J. D. Steele and W. B. Harrison, the new company, under the firm name of Eavey & Company, erecting the brick building on West Main street, which was the home of the company until destroyed by fire in February, 1908. Both Mr. Steele and Mr. Harrison withdrew from the firm within seven or eight years after the association was effected and invested their capital in the cordage business, S. F. Evans, of Jamestown, buying an interest in the grocery business following their withdrawal. This latter partnership, however, did not last longer than a year or two and then Mr. Eavey took his sons, William E. and H. Earl Eavey, into business with him, a mutually agreeable arrangement that continued until the death of the elder Eavey. whose sons had gradually assumed the responsibility of the business as their father retired from the more active duties of the business which he had built up and to which he had devoted his life for nearly half a century. In addition to his business interests at Xenia Mr. Eavey had helped in the establishment of other wholesale grocery houses and at various times was thus interested in concerns at Springfield, Findlay and Dayton, this state, and at Ft. Wayne and Huntington, Indiana. Mr. Eavey also was one of the incorporators of the Citizens National Bank of Xenia, served for ten years as vice-president of that concern and on January 15, 1897, was elected president of the bank, a position he held until his death. In 1880 he was elected a member of the board of education, was for thirteen years treasurer of the same and also served for some time as president of the board. For years he also was a member of the Woodland cemetery board. He was an elder of the local congregation of the Reformed church and was a member of Lewis Post No. 357, Grand Army of the Republic, and of the local lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Eavey died at his home in Xenia on April 18, 1918, and was buried in Woodland cemetery.
Henry H. Eavey was twice married. His first wife, who was Catherine Winters, daughter of the Rev. Thomas H. Winters, died in December, 1891, leaving four children, Mrs. Arthur H. Perfect, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and William E. Eavey, Mrs. George R. Schuster and H. Earl Eavey, of Xenia. In February. 1896, Mr. Eavey married Alice Galloway, who survives him and who is still making her home at Xenia, residing at 106 West Market street. Mrs. Eavey is a daughter of the late James C. Galloway, a member of one of the real pioneer families of Greene county and further mention of whom, together with a comprehensive narrative relating to the Galloway family in this county, is presented elsewhere in this volume.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918