Noah Sipe
Noah Sipe is the oldest resident of Bath township, having lived here for more than eighty years. He has witnessed great changes as time has passed and man has \vrought for the upbuilding and improvement of this portion of the state. The forests which stood in their primeval strength during his boyhood days have been cut down to be replaced by fields of waving grain, while here and there homes have been builded and are now occupied by a prosperous and contented people. Towns and villages have also had their era of prosperity and improvement and to-day Greene county in its splendid development is the work of many enterprising pioneers among whom is numbered Noah Sipe, who resides on a farm on the Fairfield and Yellow Springs pike in the eastern part of Bath township, where his birth occurred in a little log cabin, December 28, 1820.
His parents were Christian and Catherine (Carpenter) Sipe. The father was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, and was a son of Henry Sipe, a native of Germany, who, on crossing the Atlantic to the new world, settled in the Old Dominion, where he spent his remaining days. In the county of his nativity the father of our subject was reared and educated and served as a private in the war of 1812. For two years thereafter he remained in Virginia, and about 1814 came to Ohio, settling first in Clark county, where his brother Francis had earlier made his home. When two years had passed he went to Cincinnati to see a man who had entered a half section of land. This he purchased, paying about nine hundred dollars out of the sum of one thousand dollars which he had accumulated while in the east. This land was all heavily wooded, but soon the sturdy strokes of his ax removed trees upon the place and the land was cultivated. In the latter part of his life he purchased a fine farm near Yellow Springs where he lived retired upon the place where both the father and mother of our subject died. The latter was born in Virginia and came to Greene county in 1812. She was a daughter of John Carpenter, who was also a native of the Old Dominion, and on coming to Greene county with his family settled about one mile west of the present home of our subject. Christian Sipe died in 1855, at the age of sixty-five years, while his wife passed away in 1860, when about sixty-five years of age, both being interred in Yellow Springs cemetery. The mother was a member of the ^lethodist Episcopal church and in his political views the father was a Jacksonian Democrat. Of this marriage were born seven children: Amy, the wife of Eli Routzong, who is now deceased; Noah, our subject, being the second in order of birth; John, who died in early youth; Manuel, who is also deceased: Sarah, the wife of Lewis Cosler; Elizabeth, deceased; and Mary Y., who has also passed away. As the years passed the father cultivated a very good home for his family. He became the owner of four hundred and eighty-eight acres of valuable land. He was a tanner by trade and in early life followed that pursuit, but during the greater part of his business career devoted his energies to fanning.
Noah Sipe pursued his education in the township schools but his advantages in that direction were somewhat limited. The building was a log structure and the school was conducted after the subscription plan, the tuition being one dollar and fifty cents for three months. The spelling book and the arithmetic were about all the books required and the methods of teaching were very primitive as compared with those of the present day. At the age of eleven years Mr. Sipe began to follow the plow and throughout his active business life he devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits. His practical experience in youth enabled him to successfully carry on farm work after he had attained to man's estate.
In the year 1848 Noah Sipe was united in marriage to Miss Mary Ann Wiant, a native of Champaign county, Ohio. In 1856 Mr. Sipe erected a brick house upon the old home farm, where he now resides. There was but one other house anywhere in the locality at the time the old home had been erected. The first structure was a log cabin, which was succeeded by a fine log house built when Mr. Sipe was a young lad, and is still standing, one of the mute reminders of pioneer days and an indication of the present progress and improvement of the county.
By the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Sipe have been born seven children: John, who now resides upon the old home farm with our subject, married Mary Jane Wilson and unto them four children were born—Edgar W., Emmet Clifford, Ida May, and John, Jr. Artemis, who is the wife of William Strasburg, is residing in Springfield, Ohio, and they have three children—Ota and Reta. twins, and Maude. Jasper is the next younger. Walter, who lives on the old home farm with his father, which is also the place of his birth, married Johanna Hern, and unto them six children have been born William, Walter, Mary, Frank. Charles and Catherine. He assists his father in the operation of the home farm. Ida, who married George Finfrock, resides in Boise City. Idaho. Joseph Douglas is now deceased. He married May Woodall and they made their home in Yellow Springs township. Their children were—Noah, Charles, Myrtle and Lizzie. Mertie, the seventh member of the family, married Ephraim Harshman and resides in Clark county. Their children are—Harry, Gladys, and Elmer, deceased.
In 1881 Mr. Sipe was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who in that year passed away and was laid to rest in the Yellow Springs cemetery. At the age of thirteen years she had become a member of the Baptist church and was ever a consistent Christian woman. For his second wife Mr. Sipe chose Sarah C. Scudder, who was born in Trenton, New Jersey. His landed possessions now comprise three hundred and seventy and one-half acres and he also owns a lot in the village of Osborn.
In his political views Mr. Sipe is a Democrat, but has never accepted office save some minor positions. For thirty years he has been school director and for twelve years was clerk of the school board. His son John has for three years been township trustee, elected on the Democratic ticket. Mr. Sipe has devoted his energies to general farming and stock-raising, and as the years have passed has met with creditable and gratifying success so that in the evening of life he is provided with all the comforts that go to make life worth the living as the result of his former toil. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is a steward of the church at Yellow Springs. He takes a very deep and active interest in religious affairs and his life has ever been in consistent harmony with his profession. He has passed the eighty-first milestone on life's journey and now receives the veneration and respect which should ever be accorded those who have advanced thus far. His history contains manv elements well worthy of emulation, for he has ever lived an honorable and upright life, having been true in all his relations to his fellow men.
From History of Greene County, Ohio, by George F. Robinson (S. J. Clarke Publishing Co, 1902)