William Weller
William Weller, farmer, P. O. Centerville. William Weller, son of John and Elizabeth Weller, was born April 30, 1816, in the State of New Jersey. When about two years old, he came with his parents to Washington Township, Montgomery Co., Ohio. When the family landed here, 50 cents was all the cash the father possessed, but being a blacksmith, just the man needed in a new settlement, the neighbors gathered together and soon had a house and shop ready for occupancy by the new-comer. He went to work; the neighbors patronized him; soon he began to receive help from his boys; this enabled him to turn out more work, and he began to run his attention to farming. About the year 1827, he moved on a large farm as a renter; fortune smiled on him and in the course of a few years he became the owner instead of the renter. At his death, he was quite wealthy, leaving a large estate for division among his children. William’s privileges for schooling were only on a par with other farm boys. When old enough to work, he was introduced to it; he says his first plowing was done with the wooden mold-board plow. He never had nay desire to mingle in politics. He was married, March 19, 1840, to Miss Martha Young; from this union were six children, four of whom are now (July, 1881) living and married. Educated to farming, he has always adhered to it; knowing how to mange it, he has made it a success. He was a renter for fourteen years, and a part of that time sold his corn for 10 cents per bushel pork for $1.75 to $2 per one hundred pounds, net. The first crop of wheat raised he received one-half as his portion; he had it ground and hauled to Cincinnati, where he sold it for $10 per barrel; that was his first start in life. Wearing apparel in his boyish days was principally of home manufacture; could not well make it anything else, for he says he has reaped wheat many a day for 50 cents, and the day then was from sunrise to sunset. The first fine suit of clothes was that given him by his parents when he reached the age of twenty-one, called a freedom suit. He is now the owner of a nicely improved farm, adjoining the town of Centerville on the southeast, containing 143 1/2 acres, which constitutes his homestead. The church of his choice was the New-School Baptist, which he joined about 1860; Mrs. Weller joined same some three years previous.
From The History of Montgomery County, Ohio, W.H. Beers & Co., 1882