Allen Faulkner

ALLEN FAULKNER.

Allen Faulkner was born July 29, 1824, in Caesarscreek township on the farm which is yet his home, his parents being Thomas, and Mary (McGuire) Faulkner. The father was a son of Robert Faulkner, a native of Berkeley county, West Virginia. In his. family were four children: Susanna,.

Thomas, David and Elizabeth.

Thomas Faulkner was born in Berkeley county, West Virginia, November 8, 1787,. and as his mother died when he was about seven years of age he went to live with his. grandmother. His grandmother was a most pious and devout Christian woman, and fiom her he received his early religious impressions which proved of benefit to him in moulding his character in later life. In 1810 he wedded Mary McGuire, a daughter of Jonathan and Catherine McGuire. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and the mother died when Mrs. Faulkner was quite young. She, too, was reared by her grandmother, from whom she received Christian training. Thomas Faulkner had been reared in the faith of the society of Friends, but because he married outside of the church he was disowned by the denomination. Feeling it his duty, however, to be working for Christianity, he became a member of the Church of Christ. Later, after careful thought and deliberation, he joined the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife had become a member when sixteen years of age. In 1828 they left that denomination and became identified with the Methodist Protestant church, in which Mr. Faulkner served as class leader for many years. In 1806 he had removed from Virginia to Ohio and two years later his wife came to the Buckeye state. He had about one hundred dollars in currency when he sought a home in Greene county.

In 1808 he took up his above in

Caesarscreek township on Painter run and there rented a farm for five years. He was drafted for service in the war of 1812, but shortly after his marriage he obtained his release from the army on the payment of one hundred dollars. In 1816 he purchased a farm with money saved entirely from his own earnings and upon this place spent his remaining days. It was a tract of one hundred and thirty acres covered with a dense forest at the time he came into his possessions, but he cleared and developed it and the house which he built is still occupied by our subject. M;r. and Mrs. Faulkner became the parents of eight children, of whom two died in infancy. The others were Jonathan, who lived and died in Iowa; Mrs. Elizabeth Conklin, of Lumberton, Ohio; David, deceased; Lucinda, the deceased wife of Samuel Painter; Allen; and Mary, the deceased wife of Thomas Way, who is now in Georgia. The father of this family voted with the Whig party and served as trustee of his township. He died April 16, 1871, at the advanced age of eighty-three years, five months and ten days, and his wife passed away July 5, 1873, at the age of eighty-three.

In an old time log school-house Allen

Faulkner pursued his education, but attended school only when the weather was so bad that he could not work upon the farm, this being largely through the winter months. He always remained on the old family homestead and when his father was unequal to the task of caring for the place, its management and operation devolved upon our subject. This farm comprises two1 hundred and twenty-seven acres of land, all of which is cultivable and is now well improved.

On the 1 8th of July, 1847, Mr. Faulkner married Ablona Hartsock, who was born in Berkeley county, West Virginia, in 1828, a daughter of Elijah B. and Elizabeth (Steidley) Hartsock. The father was born in Maryland, February 28, 1798, and removed to Virginia, in 1811. There he was married in 1820 and ten years later lie came to Ohio, settling on Price run, in Caesarscreek township, where he spent his remaining days. He and his wife were devoted members of the Methodist Protestant church and took a very active interest in its work, and for a long period he served as class leader. His death occurred in 1864 when he was sixty-six years of age, and his wife passed away fifteen years afterward. Their children were: Washington, now deceased; William Harrison, who1 lives in Iowa; Francis Marion, who has also* passed away; Elizabeth A., now Mrs. Faulkner; James Frederick, a resident of Caesarscreek township; Andrew Jackson, who makes his home in Nebraska; and Mary Catherine, who is the widow of Rev. O. P. Stevens, formerly a pastor of the Methodist Protestant church of Xenia.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner have been born eight children: Jonathan R., who died in infancy; Franklin K., who is also deceased; Lydia Catherine, the deceased wife of [esse Painter; Cordelia J., who married William Bales, a resident of Clinton county, Ohio, by whom she had five children, — Emery, Thomas, Allen, now deceased, Lorenia and Flo; Louisa Elma, the wife of Eli Haines of Caesarscreek township, by whom she had three children, — Lizzie Mary, Homer Harvey, deceased, and Bernice; Thomas, who married Minnie Peterson, a daughter of C. C. Peterson, and by whom he has three children, — Howard P., Lawrence T. and Dorothy, all living with Mr. Faulkner of this review on the home farm; James, a resident of Xenia, who married Ola Peterson, a daughter of C. C. Peterson; and Cora, who has passed away.

Our subject and his son Thomas are stanch Republicans and both have served as trustee of Caesarscreek township. Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner are members of the Methodist Protestant church, while Thomas and his wife belong to the Society of Friends, and James and his wife are connected with the Reformed church. The family is one of prominence in the community for its members are recognized as people of genuine worth, closely associated with agricultural interests and reliable in all life’s relations. The success of Mr. Faulkner’s life is not due to any happy succession of advantageous circumstances, but to his own sturdy will, steady application, tireless industry and sterling integrity.

As printed in History of Greene County, Ohio : embracing the organization of the county, its division into townships, sketches of local interest gleaned from the pioneers from 1803 to 1840, together with a roster o (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.