My Genealogy Hound

DAVID RIFFLE, retired farmer, Dallas; P. O. Ansonia; one of the early pioneers, and among the oldest continuous residents of Darke Co.; born in Montgomery Co., Ohio, Nov. 2, 1816; he was a son of Jacob Riffle, a native of Randolph Co., Va., born in 1793, and emigrated with his parents to Montgomery Co., Ohio, in 1796, and in the year 1818, came to Darke Co., and located in Richland Township (this was the second white family of that township), and here he lived until his decease, which occurred in the fall of 1853, his wife having died in February, 1852. David Riffle was raised to agricultural pursuits, and followed school-teaching until 1841, when he came to Ansonia and purchased a farm and engaged in farming in summer, and school-teaching during the winter; he taught the first school in District No. 1 for three years; he has been almost continually in office for a period of forty years, having held the office of Justice of the Peace or Notary Public for that length of time, and has held all the township offices in Brown Township; his advantages for obtaining a school education were very limited, but, by devoting his spare time to study, he has been able to obtain a good education, and became master of the common branches of study, as well as surveying, and for several years did surveying in Brown Township; he has a recollection of his early playmates, who were little Indian children, with whom he passed many pleasant hours. Upon March 8, 1841, he was united in marriage with Mary Beeler, a native of Butler Co., Ohio; they were the parents of ten children, of whom five are now living, viz., Emma, James K., Sephrene, Mary J. and William E.