Brandon, Aaron C

Posted By: Wally Garchow
Date: 11 October 2004

transcribed from Frazer Wilson's History of Darke County, 1914, v. 2, pp 84-87.

AARON C. BRANDON, ESQ.

Darke county, Ohio, enjoys a high reputation because of the high order of her citizenship, and none of her citizens occupies a more enviable position in the esteem of his fellows than the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch. A life-long residence here has given his fellows a full opportunity to observe him in all the lines of activity in which he has engaged and his present high standing is due solely to the honorable and upright course he has pursued. As a leading citizen of his community he is eminently entitled to representation in a work of this character.

Aaron C. Brandon, the well known lawyer and justice of the peace of Greenville, was born in Richland township, this county, on the 20th of April, 1859, and is the son of Alexander B. and Anna (Shafer) Brandon. Alexander Brandon was born in Darke county, Ohio, and was reared to the life of a farmer. Though born in Wayne township, he spent most of his life in Richland township, where he and his wife became the owners of a fine farm of 213 acres, where they made their permanent family home and reared their children. There they both died, the father on May 2, 1882, aged about sixty-three years, and the mother on. December 17, 1881, at the age of fifty-eight years. They were members of the Christian church, he being one of the charter. members of the society at Greenville. They were the parents of ten children, namely : John T., who died while a soldier in the Civil war, when not quite seventeen years of age; Riley M., of Richland township, this county; Job M., deceased; Dorothy A., wife of Nathaniel P. Kershner, of Ansonia, Ohio; Eugene, of Brown township, this county; Aaron C., the immediate subject of this sketch; James Franklin, of Indianapolis, Indiana; Noah W., of Dayton, Ohio; Dr. Arthur M., of Beamsville, Ohio, and Retha B., wife of Clifford Thomas, of near Shepherd, Michigan.

Mr. Brandon is an enthusiastic student of the Bible, is a graduate of Professor Watkins, now of Palmer College, Missouri. Mr. Brandon now has a large class made up of different denominations.

The father of Alexander Brandon was James M. Brandon, a native of Virginia, who came to Darke county in young manhood and here married Anna Hole, a native of this county. Here James M. Brandon followed farming, in which he was successful, accumulating considerable land, but later he en-gaged in the milling business, in which venture he lost practically all he had accumulated. His wife died when past fifty years of age, and he survived her many years, dying at the age of eighty-four years. Their thirteen children were named as follows : Zachariah, Alexander B., Aaron C., Thomas A. (a Christian preacher), Elizabeth, Rhoda, Lucretia, Hannah, James, Eusebia, and three who died young. James lost his life while in the army during the Civil war.

Anna Shafer who became the wife of Alexander B. Brandon, was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and was the daughter of John and Dorothy (Mann) Shafer, who also were natives of the old Keystone state, and who became early settlers in Darke county, becoming successful farming folk in Richland township. There their deaths occurred when they were well advanced in years. They had four children, two of whom died young, the others being Job and Anna.

Aaron C. Brandon was reared on his father's farm in Richland township, securing his education in the district and public schools. Remaining with his father -until twenty-two years of age, he then began working out by the month at farm labor. He then attended the Lebanon Normal School for two terms, after which he taught school one winter. He then married and for a time gave his attention to farming. During this period he had entertained an ambition to enter the practice of law and to that end he was devoting his leisure time to the serious study of that science. In December, 1886, Mr. Brandon was admitted to the bar, and later located at Greenville where he entered upon the active practice of his profession, in which he has engaged continuously since. He was city attorney of Greenville for two terms and has in other ways received definite recognition on the part of his fellow citizens. As a justice of the peace he has achieved a splendid record, his decisions being characterized by a high sense of fairness, and few of his decisions have been reversed by the higher court. He has been a busy man through the years, has been connected with much of the most important litigation tried in the local courts, and has won the respect of his professional brethren, as well as the confidence of the general public. Careful and painstaking in the handling of all matters entrusted to him, he has ever had the best interests of his clients at heart, and has frequently been instrumental in bringing about peaceful solutions of difficulties without resorting to the courts, even though it has sometimes meant the loss of professional fees.

On the 17th of January, 1884, Aaron C. Brandon was married to Ida M. Coppes, who was born on January 13, 1864, in Richland township, Darke county, Ohio, the daughter of Jacob P. and Clarissa (Plessinger) Coppes. Her parents were natives of Ohio, and had five children who lived to mature years: Willard, Ida M., Ella, J. C. W. and Floy, and two who died in infancy. Mrs. Brandon's paternal grandfather, John Coppes, was a native of North Carolina, where he married and he and his wife became early settlers of Richland township, Darke county, Ohio. They reared a large family, all of whom were sons. Mrs. Brandon's maternal grandfather was David Plessinger, whose wife's family name was John. They were both born in Pennsylvania, and they too became early settlers of Darke county, where they died. Among their children were the following: William, Clarissa, Emaline, Serena, Samson, Jacob and Warren.

To Mr. and Mrs. Brandon have been born the following children: Ray, who is an electrician at Greenville, married Edith Hoover, of Union City, and they have three children, Keith, Richard and Helen; Algie, who is a horseman, lives at home with his parents; Bonnie who also lives at home, is a member of the senior class in Defiance College; Zeno, who lives in Greenville, married Elsie Collins. They have one child, Hester.

Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Brandon are earnest members of the Christian church, of which Mr. Brandon is the clerk. Fraternally, he is a member of Champion Lodge No. 742, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is also a Forester. Politically, Mr. Brandon is an independent Democrat and casts his vote and influence in favor of the Democratic party. In the civic life of the community he has for many years been tan important factor in the conservation of all that goes betterment of those about him and the elevation of the standard of life. He is genial and unassuming and is deservedly popular in the circles in which he moves.

Messages In This Thread

Brandon, Aaron C -- Wally Garchow -- 11 October 2004

Re: Brandon, Aaron C -- kevin coppess -- 29 April 2005

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