HENRY FREE, one of Staunton Township's representative citizens and substantial farmers, resides on his well improved estate of eighty acres, which he owns Jointly with his wife. Mr. Free was born on the old Knoop farm in Staunton Township, Miami County, on which his parents first settled after coming to Ohio, August 26, 1844, and is a son of Philip and Sarah (Helsel) Free.

The father of Mr. Free was born in France and was twenty years of age when he accompanied his parents to America, settling in Pennsylvania. There he married Sarah Helsel and there were ten children born to them, namely: George, who is deceased; Jacob, who lives in California; Barbara, now deceased, who was the wife of G. Struble; Daniel, who is deceased; Caroline, who is the wife of Henry McDowell, of Casstown; Elizabeth, who is the wife of S. Ferr, of Indiana; Philip, who died young; Lavina, now deceased, who was the wife of M. Small, also deceased; John, who died while serving his country in the Civil War; and Henry. With his wife and four children, Philip Free came to Ohio, and both he and wife passed the rest of their days in this State. Their first home was on the Knoop farm, on Lost Creek, which Philip Free rented for a number of years. Later he purchased a farm of 100 acres not far from the farm now owned by his youngest son, and there he died in 1877, when aged seventy-eight years. On that farm his first wife died, and he married Nancy Konkel, who survived him but a few years. Although he encountered much misfortune and had a great deal of sickness in his family which entailed much expense, he had good children, and with the help of his sons cleared up his farm, acquired other property, and at the time of the Civil War not only gave one son, but contributed some $500 in money to aid in its prosecution.

Henry Free was the youngest of the family and was an infant when his parents moved to the farm near his own. He has been a continuous resident of Staunton Township, with the exception of eleven months, when he lived in Brown Township, and during the periods covered by several trips to California, Oregon and Washington. He had but meager educational opportunities in his youth, but travel, reading and association with many people have all contributed to making him one of the best informed men of his section. He lived at home until his marriage, after which he engaged in farming for his father-in-law for thirty-six years. In 1905 be bought his present farm from Mrs. John Cavault, a sister of his wife, residing in Mercer County, Ohio. It is a productive tract of land and lies in Staunton Township, where the Troy, the Spring Creek and Peterson Turnpikes corner.

On September 6, 1866, Mr. Free was married to Miss Margaret Ann Smalley, who is a daughter of John and Sarah (Cullen) Smalley, the former of whom was born in Butler County, Ohio, and the latter in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Free had two sisters: Mary Ellen, who married John Cavault, and Eliza Jane, who died young. Mr. and Mrs. Free have had four children, namely: John, who married Martha Marr, has three children Murray, Bertha, and Everett-and is a farmer in Spring Creek Township; Flora, who married Bert Cavault, of Piqua, and has four children Blanche, Iva, Ralph and Margaret; Charles, who married May Deninan, now deceased, and had three children: Elden, Arthur and Opal, the youngest deceased and the other two living with their grandparents; and Harry Allen, who died aged six years. Mr. and Mrs. Free are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is an official. He is a Republican and has served as township supervisor for many years.