William H. Woolery and Descendants

William Henry Woolery and Descendants
from information supplied by members Joyce (Woolery) Martin and Jane (Woolery) Schumacher
William Henry Woolery (November 17, 1852 – April 19, 1939) came to Randolph Township,
Montgomery Co., Ohio from Baltimore, Carroll Co., Maryland. His parents were Christopher John
Woolery and Matilda Beaver. William married a Randolph Township girl, Anna Catherine Betz (May 06,
1853 – December 14, 1934) on January 14, 1877. Anna’s parents were John Frederick Betz and
Christina Barbara Geiger. William was a farmer and owned a farm situated along the Dayton-Covington
Pike (State Route 48). [Note: A photo showing the husband and wife sitting in front of their farmhouse
at 8146 North Main Street, taken ca. 1930, was used as the “History Photo of the Month” in the
Englewood Independent on September 5, 2007. The house no longer stands, but the driveway back to
the farmhouse is called Woolery Lane and a large apartment complex occupies most of the farmland
today.]
William and Anna had eleven children. Luetta B (March 31, 1880 – March 05, 1888), John Henry
(August 14, 1882 – February 07, 1962), Mary Catherine (May 05, 1884 – May 28, 1954), Ellsworth
William (January 26, 1886 – April 03, 1963), Charles Russell (January 23, 1888 – August 06, 1959),
George Jacob (January 09, 1890 – February 11, 1963), Chester Berlan (August 26, 1892 – October 11,
1932), Mina Pearl (October 29, 1894 – March 04, 1989), Dewey Jerome (November 19, 1897 –
December 18, 1975), Benjamin Franklin (January 31, 1900 – November 30, 1964) and Nellie E. (March
23, 1901 – September 17, 1917). The parents and seven children are buried in Shiloh Park Cemetery in
Harrison Township. Mary (Weztendorf) and Charles are buried in Dayton Memorial Park Cemetery and
Benjamin is buried in Polk Grove Cemetery, Butler Township.
John Henry Woolery, the eldest son, married his first wife Anna C. Smith (February 14, 1888 –
April 14, 1912), daughter of Peter and Mary C. Smith, on December 19, 1907. Two children were born
of this union: Lawrence William (1908 – 1994) and Floyd Russell (1910 – 1985). After his first wife’s
death, John took a Champaign County girl, Bertha Etta Grubbs (December 05, 1884 – June 10, 1972),
as his second wife. They had six children: Thomas Sargent (1915 – 1999), Anna Catherine (1917 –
1924), Robert Truman (1919 – 1972), John Henry, Jr. (1921 – 1927), Paul Eugene (1922 – 1992) and
Wayne Eldon (born 1928). Robert and his wife Dorothy Alice Younce were the parents of Jane and
Joyce who shared this family genealogy of their grandparents and great-grandparents.
John Henry inherited the Woolery farm on the Dayton-Covington Pike after his father died in
1939. He lived there until his death in 1962. During those twenty-three years, he farmed, operated a
truck garden, and raised his children. John also was as active in local government. He served on the
Randolph Township board of trustees continuously from 1929 until 1962, serving as President and
lastly as Vice President. He was a member of Concord Methodist Church and Just-a Mere Grange in
Clayton. During his service to the community, he saw hundreds of acres of township farmland become
residential sites. When interviewed shortly before his death from a heart attack at age 79, he said he
took special pride in the growth of the township’s fire and protection services. It is only fitting that the
old township fire station at the end of Woolery Lane is still in use by the City of Clayton.