My Genealogy Hound

ROBERT N. ELDER. There is probably not within the limits of Green Township, Clark County, a more prominent or popular man than he with whose name we introduce this notice. Nature has endowed him with more than ordinary capacities and the genial disposition which makes for him friends wherever he goes. Liberal and public-spirited, no man is more warmly interested in the material welfare of his township and none have contributed more generously of their time and means with this end in view. He thoroughly believes in progress and reform and keeps himself posted in regard to current events all over the world, taking satisfaction in every evidence of the improved condition of mankind, morally, intellectually and financially.

Mr. Elder, in the fall of 1888, was elected one of the Commissioners of Clark County for a term of three years and is discharging the duties of his office with credit to himself and satisfaction to all concerned. He has always taken a very active interest in educational affairs and has been a School Director for a period of over twenty years. He served as Road Supervisor several terms and for six consecutive years was Trustee of Green Township. He cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, in Cass County, Ga. While in the army and since becoming a voter, he has steadfastly maintained his allegiance to the Republican party. Probably no man has been more active in its councils in this part of the county, he having been frequently sent to the County, State and Congressional conventions and has at various times been a member of the County Central Committee. The greater part of his life has been spent in farming pursuits, he has maintained a uniform interest in the Grange movement of which he was at one time a member, serving as Master and Secretary and in other positions of trust and responsibility. In his religious views he is a stanch Presbyterian, officiating as Trustee one year and is looked upon as one of the pillars of the church at Clifton. It will thus be seen that the sphere of his usefulness is a broad one and it may safely be said that he reaps unalloyed satisfaction in contemplation of the fact that he has not only endeavored to be a useful member in his community, but therein has fairly succeeded.

The subject of this notice was born April 10, 1843, at the old homestead in Green Township and was the ninth in a family of eleven children, the offspring of Robert and Nancy T. (Elder) Elder, who were natives of Dauphin County, Pa. The paternal grandfather, Robert Elder, emigrated to Ohio in 1813. He purchased a tract of land on section 10, Green Township, and the patent which he received from the Government at that time is still in the possession of the family, being preserved as one of the old relics with which they would not willingly part. The country at that time was very thinly settled and mostly a forest. Grandfather Elder, with the aid of his sons, Thomas, Robert and John, cleared a farm from the wilderness and there spent the remainder of his days.

The parents of our subject were married early in the twenties at the bride’s home in Green Township, Clark County, and settled upon the farm entered by the grandfather, where Robert Jr., effected additional improvements and put up the resilience which is now owned by his nephew, a son of John Elder. He was a hard-working, industrious man, more than ordinarily intelligent, and became prominent in local affairs, holding various positions of trust and responsibility and serving as Justice of the Peace for the long period of twenty years in succession. He was active in the establishment and maintenance of schools, believing that the education of the young was one of the most important adjuncts to the well-being of society.

The mother of our subject was the daughter of David Elder, who upon emigrating to this State settled in Butler County, and like most of the men about him followed agricultural pursuits. He likewise built up a home from the wilderness. Robert and Nancy Elder reared seven daughters and six of them became school teachers and followed their profession successfully. Of the eleven children comprising the household circle, nine are still living: Ann is the wife of J. P. Garlough, and they are residents of this township; Elizabeth became the wife of J. E. Stewart and died at her home in Green Township; Martha J. is the wife of J. J. Tuttle and they live in the city of Springfield; Margery A. married Hugh Cowan and they also live in Springfield; Mary A., Mrs. N. L. Griffith, is a resident of Cass County, Mo.; Susan and Harriet are unmarried and are living in Springfield; David N. is senior member of the firm of Elder & Tuttle and is engaged in the hardware business in Springfield; he is unmarried. Thomas J. married Miss Fanny Harris and they live in Vincennes, Ind. The mother died at the homestead in Green Township in 1876, at the age of seventy-two years, having been born in 1804. Robert Elder was born March 20, 1802, and died March 13, 1886.

Mr. Elder, of whom we write, was trained to habits of industry and economy and required to make himself useful about the homestead at an early age. His education was conducted in the district school and he remained under the parental roof until the outbreak of the Civil War. On the 13th of August, 1862, he enlisted in the Union service as a member of Company A, Ninety-fourth Ohio Infantry, and in due time was promoted to Corporal. He went with his regiment which at first was independent, to Lexington, Ky., where they came in conflict with the troops of Kirby Smith. Mr. Elder soon afterward was captured but paroled the following day and sent to Camp Chase where he remained until exchanged.

Joining his regiment then at Murfreesboro, Tenn., Mr. Elder thereafter remained in the service until the close of the war. About that time the regiment was made a part of the First Brigade, First Division, Fourteenth Army Corps and Mr. Elder took part in all the battles of the campaign, namely: Hoover’s Gap, the siege of Chattanooga, and was at Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge and in the four month’s campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Thence he went on the famous march to the sea and had the satisfaction of witnessing the surrender of Gen. Joseph Johnston near Raleigh, N. C., in 1865. The war now being practically ended he went with his comrades up through the Carolinas to Washington, D. C., taking part in the Grand Review, which occurred in May following. Upon that occasion the troops passed in grand array before President Andrew Johnson, Gens. Grant and Sherman and other famous men of that time. The boys were mustered out at the Capital and repairing thence to Camp Chase, Ohio, Mr. Elder received his honorable discharge, June 5, 1865, after a faithful service of thirty-four months.

Mr. Elder had a remarkable experience, escaping wounds and maintaining his usual good health although taking part in all the active operations of his regiment. He experienced many hairbreadth escapes, but returned home safe and sound and at once prepared to resume his old occupation of farming. He rented the homestead on section 10, Green Township and remained there until the spring of 1885. Thence he removed to the C. A. Estle place where he sojourned the following summer and in the fall of that year purchased the farm which he now owns and occupies. This embraces two hundred and twenty-seven acres of choice land, all of which is under a good state of cultivation and which is devoted to general farming and the raising of high-grade stock. Here as in all other transactions of his life, Mr. Elder maintains that persevering and methodical course which seldom fails of success. He has gathered around himself and family all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life while at the same time lending a helping hand to those around him as opportunity presents.

For a period of twenty-one years there has traveled beside Mr. Elder one of the most estimable of women, who in her girlhood was Miss Julia A. Stewart and to whom he was married at the bride’s home in Green Township, March 31, 1869. Mrs. Elder was born July 3, 1847, at her father’s homestead in Green Township, Clark County, and is the daughter of Capt. Perry and Rhoda A. (Wheeler) Stewart, further notice of whom appears on another page in this volume.

Of the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Elder three died in infancy. Stewart, the eldest son, on the 6th of February, 1889, was thrown from a horse, suffering a compound fracture of the ankle joint and died from lockjaw on the 15th of February following at the age of eighteen years; Robert was born January 16, 1872, and is now at home; Rhoda, September 15, 1873; Ellis W., December 14, 1877; Howard, September 27, 1879, died March 14, 1880; Walter N., born February 8, 1881; Anna, November 23, 1882, died April 28, 1883; Eula, born May 10, 1884; baby boy, unnamed, born February 23, 1888, and died two days later; and Canie, born July 8, 1889. Mrs. Elder, like her husband, belongs to the Presbyterian Church and has always been warmly interested in Sunday-school work, frequently acting as a teacher therein and giving much time to the religious instruction of the young. Their children are being carefully trained and are regular attendants at the Sunday-school. Mr. and Mrs. Elder enjoy the acquaintance of hosts of friends and represent the best element in their community.