Samuel Flack (b.1834) - Prarie Township, Holmes County, Ohio, USA.
(Grandson of Samuel Flack b.abt 1765 & Elizabeth (Betsy Smith))

The life of Samuel Flack, well known farmer of Butler township, Knox county, has been that of the average man—of sunshine and shadow, victory and defeat, toil and respite, failure and success, but withal a commendable and satisfactory one, and now that the harvest time is over and the autumn winds have come, he finds himself very comfortably situated and can take a retrospective glance over the backward-leading way and, seeing nothing of which he might be ashamed, for he has always been a man of upright principles and has done his duty as he has seen and understood the right.

Mr. Flack was born in Prairie township, Holmes county. Ohio, August 7, 1834 He is the son of James and Jennie (Grant) Flack. The maternal grandparents, Jonathan and Sarah (Kelley) Grant, were natives of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and they came to Ohio in a very early day, and in 1809 built the first cabin in Prairie township, Holmes county, when this country was a wilderness and the haunt of Indians and wild beasts. The grandfather cleared a "patch"' and then fell ill, as so many of the newcomers, to a wild country did, and for twenty-eight days lived by roots and barks, provided by his son. When about to die, an Indian buck happened along and directed them to the family of a ''pale-face" on the Killbuck river, and there the son found Jonathan Butler, who, with his father-in-law, had reached the place the day previously, and subsequently the two families became very friendly, and as Grant could speak the Indian language he acted as "outlook" for surveyors who were surveying the "new purchase." He was a mighty hunter and many deeds of prowess are told of him. He returned to Pennsylvania the winter after his arrival here, and in April, 1810, brought his family to his new home; and, prospering through hard work, he made a good home here and in it spent the balance of his life. He was a veteran of the Revolutionary- war, and for many years was a spy among the Indians of the early times. His family was a large one, and the mother of the subject had the distinction of being the first white girl born in Holmes county.

Samuel Flack, the paternal grandfather of the subject, came from Westmoreland county. Pennsylvania, to Holmes county, Ohio, in 1812. His wife, Betsy Smith, was of Irish descent. Their family consisted of nine children, namely: Robert, Jennie, James. Richard. Ibbie, Mary, Samuel, Thomas and William. After the death of his first wife, Betsy Smith, Mr. Flack married a Mrs. Beaver, a widow with two children, and to his second union five children were born.

James Flack, father of the subject, married Jennie Grant. He lived to be seventy-two years old, having devoted his life to farming, finally owning a good home. His family consisted' of nine children. Politically, he was a Democrat, and he and his family belonged to the Disciples church.

Samuel Flack, of this sketch, grew up on the homestead in Holmes county and received such education as he could in the pioneer log cabin schools, and early in life took up farming for a livelihood, in connection with which lie worked at the broom-maker's trade. He moved to Knox county about 1863, locating on o. farm in Butler township, one mile north of his present home, then for ten years rented where he now lives, then bought land in Liberty township, on which he lived for seven years, returning to Butler township about 1881 and bought the Lepley homestead, a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and here he has since resided, keeping the place well improved and under a fine state of cultivation, carrying on general farming and stock raising successfully. This farm was entered from the government by Jacob Lepley, it now consisting of about nine hundred acres in Butler township, one of the best farms in the county.
Politically. Mr. Flack is a Democrat and he belongs to the Grange, and he has always taken the interest of a fair-minded citizen in public affairs.
Mr. Flack was married in 1860 to Elizabeth Lepley, daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Hoyman) Lepley. a complete sketch of whom is to be found on another page of this work. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Flack, namely: Jacob, born August 29, 1861; Sylvia Ellen, born March 17, 1864; Philip \V (or W)., born July 13, 1866, married, in 1904, Georgina Babcock, and they have four children, James C., J. Paul, Elizabeth Ann and Sylvia Ruth; Joseph L. was born on September 12, 1870; Dessie R. was born April 22, 1878. Two sons and two daughters live at home, all constituting a happy and congenial family.
Personally, Mr. Flack is a very pleasant gentleman, hospitable, obliging and he and his family have always stood high in the social life of this part of the county.

The above is an extract from the book "Past and Present, Kox County, Ohio, Volume II - by Albert B Williams - published 1912 by B F Bowen & Co. "
(Kindly copied to me by Barbara Lively - 30 Mar 2010)