George M. Shank
George M. Shank, former trustee of Beavercreek township and the proprietor of a farm of one hundred and forty-seven acres three miles north of Alpha, rural mail route No. 10 out of Xenia, was bom on that farm on July 2, 1852, son of Absalom and Martha N. (Ankeney) Shank, the latter of whom also was born in this county, daughter of David and Elizabeth Ankeney, who had come here from Maryland, further mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume. Absalom Shank was born in Frederick county, Maryland, May 6, 1813, son of Henry and Barbara (Crumbaugh) Shank, and was but an infant when his parents came to Greene county in 1814 and settled in Sugarcreek township. In 1837 Absalom Shank married and established his home on the farm on which his son George is now living, erecting there in the fall of 1855 and spring of 1856 the present dwelling house on the place. There he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in December, 1881. He was a Republican and a Lutheran. He was twice married, his first wife, Martha Ankeney, dying in 1863, after which, in 1866, he married Margaret Fauber, who died in 1908 without issue. By his first marriage Absalom Shank was the father of eight children, of whom George M. was the fifth in order of birth, the others being Julia A., now deceased, who was the wife of George Harmon; Melinda, wife of Adam Rubert, of Mechanicsburg, Ohio; Martha Jane, who married Silas Huffman, of Fairfield, and died in 1917; Henry, now a resident of Hot Springs, Arkansas; Lewis, who is engaged in the undertaking business at Des Moines, Iowa; Jacob A., now a resident of Spokane, Washington, and Horace, of San Diego, California.
Reared on the home farm, George M. Shank received his schooling in the Ludlow school. After his marriage in 1874 he rented a farm in the neighborhood of the home place and after his father's death in 1881 returned to the home place, which, in partnership with his sister, Mrs. Harmon, he purchased a year later. In 1901 he bought his sister's interest and has since owned the farm. Mr. Shank is a Republican, served one term as township trustee and has for eighteen years been a member of the local board of education. He and his family are members of the Beaver Reformed church.
Mr. Shank has been twice married. On December 24, 1874, he was united in marriage to Ella Butts, who also was born in Beavercreek township, daughter of Basil and Anna Butts, and who died without issue on December 12, 1877. On February 10, 1880, Mr. Shank married Josephine Beare, who was born in the neighboring county of Montgomery, daughter of Henry and Mary Beare, the former of whom was a soldier of the Civil War, and to this union four children have been born, Frank, who is employed in the plant of the National Cash Register Company at Dayton; Etta, wife of John Lyons, a Montgomery county farmer; Harry, making his home on the home farm and who married Bertha Rickles and has two children, Thelma and Wilhelmina, and Mary, wife of Jobe Lyons, who is employed by the Metal Products Company of Dayton and owns his home at Belmont.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918