From "History of Dayton and Montgomery County": Perry Apple, a farmer and stock raiser of Germantown, Montgomery County, Ohioi, was born on the farm upon which he now lives, January 27, 1867, the son of Henry and Catherine (Meckley) Apple. The name Henry was borne by a son in this family for three generations continuously, the great-grandfather, Henry Apple, being a son of John Apple, who was of German descent. This Henry came to Ohio from Pennsylvania, and in the course of his long and useful life, followed several occupations, all very necessary in those early days. He was a blacksmith by trade, farmed for his vocation and also ran a distillery that was famous for its applejack, creating fame and reputation for its owner. Henry Apple, the grandfather of our subject was born in Pennsylvania in 1802 and was but three years old when his father came to this county and entered land in Jackson township. Henry Apple, the third, was born in this locality on the 6th of August, 1835, and like his parents before him, followed the life of a tiller of the soil, bequeathing some of his skill and fondness for the life to those who have come after him. Catherine Meckley Apple, the mother of Perry Apple, was born in Pennsylvania, in February, 1804, the daughter of Michael and Nancy (Keener) Meckley.
With so noble a heritage of birth and descent Perry Apple was endowed for the struggles of life. All his years have been passed on his present farm, so that it may well be asserted that he knows the character of the land he tills. The raising of stock of different kinds soon appealed to him with greater attractiveness than the mere growing of produce for market. As he as able to specialize in his breeding, he selected polled Durham cattle, Poland China hogs and Plymouth Rock chickens. He has been more than ordinarily successful in his ventures and his stock is among the finest of its kind, and yet his farm has not been neglected. He keeps it in excellent shape, being a man who realizes the value of care in little things that he may have a large return of the things that are greater.
Alone has Mr. Apple faced the struggles and trials of this life; his wife, who before her marriage was Miss Amelia Catherine Leis, has been his helpmeet and companion for 18 years, during which time she has proved how indispensible are her ministrations. They were married March 12, 1891, when she lacked three months of being twenty years of age.
She is a member of the Reformed church, while Mr. Apple is a Lutehran in religious belief and has served as a deacon of his church for a number of years. As both a stock raiser and a farmer he has worked hard, but the returns the years have brought him have fully repaid him for this outlay of labor. His fields, always among the first to be tilled, his buildings and fences ever in the best of repair, bespeak the good workman, the man of thrift and the home where good management points the way along which success will travel.
The FTM program points out to me that, if these dates are correct, Perry Apple's mother Catherine Meckley was nearly 63 when he was born. I have no corroborrating evidence. |
