David Near

DAVID NEAR, a prominent farmer of Dublin township, Mercer county, Ohio, was born January 15, 1818. He is a son of James and Eve (Klise) Near, the former of whom was born near Harper's Ferry, Va., in 1783, and was of English descent. He was reared on a farm in Virginia and was there educated, and about 1810 married Miss Eve Klise, by whom he became the father of ten children, as follows: Catherine, deceased wife of Peter A. Temple, of Van Wert, also now deceased; John, a farmer of Indiana; Samuel, deceased; Mary. wife of John Clark, of Illinois; David, the subject of this sketch; Elizabeth, widow of Jesse White, of Fayette county; James, of Ross county; Barbara, widow of Saul Briggs, of Jay county, Ind.; Isabelle, deceased wife of Christopher Strader, of Franklin county; and Philip, deceased. Miss Eve Klise was born in the Shenandoah valley about 1789, her father being a native of Virginia, but of German descent. James Near and wife, after their marriage, emigrated to Ross county, Ohio, and were among that county's earliest settlers. He was a soldier in the war of 1812-15, was a farmer by occupation, and died about 1828. In politics he was a democrat; he was not a church member, though his wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.


David Near, the subject of this sketch, was reared on a farm and was educated in Ross county, and in 1842 was there married to Miss Ann Putnam, a daughter of Peter and Kesiah (Hoddy) Putnam, and to this marriage there were born seven children: Joseph, died in in fancy; Jane, wife of James Foster, of Dublin township, whose biographical sketch appears on another page in this volume; Allison, living on the home place, who married Helen Dilbone, full mention of whose family history is given in the sketch of John Dilbone, on another page; Mary Ann, wife of Charles Wilson, of Dublin township; Francis Marion, deceased; Henrietta, wife of Abner Buck, of Hopewell township; Charlotte, wife of Claybourne C. Sutton, of Dublin township. Mrs. Near was born in Ross county, December 17, 1824, her parents living and dying in Ross county. She was one of a family of eleven brothers and sisters, as follows: Isaac and Joseph, deceased; Crawford and Edward, of Ross county; Phillip, deceased; Jane, wife of Allan Mouser, of Pickaway county; Mary, widow of Allan Wilkins, of Ross county; Alfred, John, Jesse and Frank, all of Ross county. Mrs. Near was the third in order of birth of the ten.


After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Near lived in Ross county seven years, and in 1849 removed to Van Wert county, where Mr. Near purchased a farm in the woods, which he cleared and improved and lived upon until he removed his family to Mercer county, purchasing his present place in 1875, the farm containing 120 acres, all cleared and under a high state of cultivation. All the improvements now upon the farm Mr. Near placed there him self, with the exception of the barn. The house he erected in 1880. Mr. Near is a democrat in politics and in religion a member of the Christian Union church, of which, in 1890, there were 18,000 members in the United States. His wife is also a member of this denomination. In Van Wert county Mr. Near served as trustee for six years, in Washington township. Mr. Near is a public-spirited citizen and is highly respected by all who know him, far away or close at hand.


Pages 456-458

Source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Mercer and Van Wert Counties Ohio, Chicago, A. W. Bowen & Company, 1896

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