nine children. Benjamin Leyda was born in Washington county, Pa., September 29, 1806, and settled in Clinton township in 1825, where he married Elizabeth Newkirk, daughter of John Newkirk, who was born June 3, 1812, and died December 9, 1845. She was the mother of the following children: Reuben N., Cyrus, Louisa, Christena, Elmira, Newton, John N., of whom Louisa, Christena and Elmira are dead. Mr. Leyda was married a second time to Elizabeth Betz, of Holmes county, but a native of Germany, and by this marriage had six children, viz: Henry A., George W., Frank P., Flora E., Clinton C., and Mary J. George W. Leyda was born October 3, 1850, in Clinton township, and on October 25, 1873, was married to Miss Ella C. Eberly, sister of Professor J. B. Eberly, of Smithville Academy. In 1871, with his brother Newton, he engaged in mercantile business in Big Prairie; was burned out August 6, 1876, and erected his present building in 1877. He is the present postmaster of Big Prairie, and railroad agent at that station.

Elijah Pocock, was born in Hartford county, Maryland, December 29, 1770. At an early age he was apprenticed to a blacksmith, with whom, after five years service, he arrived at the age of manhood and maturity. He immediately began the duties of his trade, of which he had acquired a superior knowledge and mastery, and in the course of a few years of persevering industry, unremitting labor and rigid economy, he accumulated a handsome amount of money-in fact, a little fortune.

A man of resolute purpose, of firm, unbending will, and with a determination of placing himself in a situation where no man could be his master or dictator, he concluded on a trip west of the mountains. He was married in the summer of 1815 to Catharine Hughes, and in the summer of that year he immigrated to Wayne county, where he purchased from the Government and at private sale over 2,000 acres of land, 1,760 acres in Clinton township, Wayne county, and 640 in Ashland county. He then returned to Maryland, where he remained till 1820, when he removed his family to Ohio and settled upon his land. He now devoted himself wholly to his farm, abandoning his trade altogether. An unfortunate occurrence transpired soon after his arrival, in the death of his wife, who had borne him five children, all of whom are dead. He was married a second time, to Grace Smith, by whom he had ten children. Jabez, the oldest of the boys, married

Hester Dull, of Plain township, and lives in Montgomery county, Illinois, and is a farmer-a high-minded gentleman, whose life has been successful and prosperous. Cornelius is unmarried, and lives.

in Iowa. Robert was married to Keziah White, lived in Clinton township, dying July 12, 1865. Elias H. lives in Walnut, Indiana, and is a practicing physician. He had one daughter, Eleanor C. Pocock, who married Hiram Whitney, and who died in Mansfield, Ohio, May 16, 1861, leaving one son, Harvey W., who now resides in Nokomis, Montgomery county, Illinois, and is a teacher. John is a citizen of Shreve, and is married to Alice, daughter of John Moore. Eli D. Pocock, M. D., was born June 13, 1845, read medicine with Dr. J. H. Todd, and graduated at Bellevue Hospital in February, 1870, began practice in Mansfield, staid there three years, and came to Shreve in 1873. He was married October 18, 1870, to Luilla B. Foltz, of Shreve.

Elijah Pocock, the apprenticed blacksmith, the owner of over 2,000 acres of land in the primal days of the county, was indeed. and emphatically a forest nobleman. He started upon life in poverty, and by the blows struck upon the anvil, carved out the means with which he laid the basis of his fortune. He was a man distinguished for his prudence and sterling honesty. He detested and despised the indolent man, and his disposition was most liberal, charitable and benevolent. He believed that God helped the man who helped himself, and he was ever ready to bestow assistance and benefactions upon all worthy objects. We pronounce him the best type of the pioneers who settled in the county-a man of remarkable life and signal achievements.

John Newkirk was born in Washington county, Pa., and removed to Clinton township in 1814. He was among the earliest of the settlers, and upon his arrival purchased from Joshua Oram the farm now owned and occupied by John Rainey. He was married to Christena Clouse, and had seven children, to wit: Elizabeth, Milton, Newton, Ursula, Cyrus, George W. and Rhoda. Her death occurred September 17, 1827, and his, October 2, 1827, he being but forty-one years of age. He was better known as Captain John Newkirk, and in the early days kept a stage-office, running from his place to Wooster. He was among the first Justices of the township, and taught the first school in Lake township. His name is of frequent occurrence in the county records, and he was a brilliant, keen, public-spirited man.

Henry Newkirk, a native of Washington county, Pa., emigrated to Clinton township, Wayne county, as early as 1814. He settled upon a farm, which his father, Isaac Newkirk, a soldier under General Crawford, had entered, and immediately addressed himself to its improvement. As early as 1815 he had erected upon his own farm, near the Big Spring, a frame dwelling for himself.

He returned to Pennsylvania thereafter and married Jane Hart, of Washington county, when he returned with his wife to his new home on the hillside of the most beautiful valley of the whole county. Here the wedded pair toiled and struggled, and here the problem of life was finally solved.

In 1827 Mr. Newkirk, in conjunction with General Thomas McMillen, constructed the carding factory, the first one ever erected in the township. Mr. Newkirk devoted his attention more exclusively to the farming interests, in which he was highly prosperous and successful, eventually acquiring competence and wealth. His family consisted of David H., Sarah, Isaac, Rhoda Maria, Paxton, Emily J. and Nercissa L. Newkirk. David H. died July 3, 1826, aged fourteen months; Sarah married George Bell, and died in the West; Rhoda Maria married A. P. Hopkins, Esq., of Washington county, Pa., and has two children, Henry and Mary; Isaac married, and is dead; Paxton married Ellen Pocock, and died May 3, 1861; Emily, a graduate of Washington Seminary, Pennsylvania, married W. N. Paxton, a prominent lawyer of Pittsburg, Pa., and who served through the Rebellion as a Captain; Nercissa L., a graduate of Urbana Seminary, Ohio, married Ben Douglass, the author of this history, June 20, 1861, having two children, Misses J. Mabel and Anna D. Douglass. The father of this family died August 21, 1847, aged 57 years, 10 months and 27 days, his wife, Jane, dying February 21, 1854.

He was a man of great uprightness of life and purity of character, and his wife was a most gentle, amiable and prepossessing woman, of rare intellectual culture and refinement, whom death relentlessly separated from her family when many of them needed. the guidance and counsel of both father and mother. The mysterious influence which the Christian life of the parent imparts, in this instance left its impression, and all of the children, those dead as well as living, became members of the church.

In early life he and his wife united with the Methodist church, and deeded the grounds on which the church edifice now stands; likewise deeding the present beautiful cemetery grounds to the