PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM 

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     MORGAN FUDGE, editor and proprietor of the Bellbrook Moon.  This gentleman was born five miles east of Xenia, Greene County, December 5, 1845, and his early life was devoid of special incident, his attention being given to his studies until 1863.  He then enlisted in Company A, Seventy-fourth Ohio Infantry, and served until the close of the war with all the enthusiasm and loyalty possible to a son of the Buckeye State.  His regiment was attached to the Army of the Cumberland, under the leadership of Gen. W. T. SHERMAN, and he took part in the Battles at Buzzard’s Roost, Tunnel Hill, and Resaea, and all the heavy engagements from Chattanooga until the capture of Atlanta.  He then made one of the sixty thousand gallant men who marched from Atlanta to the sea, and returning toward the North was present at the surrender of Gen. Joe JOHNSTON, in North Carolina, and took part in the Grand Review at Washington.  He was mustered out of the service at Louisville, Ky., and received his final discharge at Camp Dennison, Ohio.

     When his services were no longer needed in behalf of the Union, young FUDGE entered a commercial school at Owensboro, Ky., but subsequently became a student in Purdy’s Commercial College, Indianapolis, Ind., and was graduated from that institution.  He received an appointment as clerk in the Insane Asylum in the Hoosier capital, and remained a year, after which he traveled until 1870.  He then located in Bellbrook, this county, where he worked at the printing business for several years.  Finally removing to Dayton, he remained two years, and then returning to Bellbrook, bought the Bellbrook Moon, a newspaper published by the Magnetic-Springs Company.  The purchase was made July 18, 1885, and since that day Mr. FUDGE was continued to edit the sheet which is independent in politics, newsy and spicy, and altogether creditable in appearance and contents.

     In 1871, not long after he had located in Bellbrook, Mr. FUDGE was united in marriage with Miss Anna, daughter of Samuel and Catherine (HOPKINS) WILLOUGHBY, with whom he lived happily until August 3, 1881.  On that day Mrs. FUDGE and her son Johnnie were returning home from Dayton, after dark, when, during a thunder storm, their horse became frightened at a load of straw, and ran away.  Mrs. FUDGE was thrown out of the buggy, and her neck was broken.  The suddenness of her death added to the sorrow felt by her many friends, to whom her sterling qualities had endeared her.  Her funeral was the largest ever witnesses in Bellbrook.  She was the mother of two children, Herbert and John.  Her father was a native of New Brunswick, and during the Civil War spent nineteen months in Libby Prison; her mother was a daughter of Samuel H. HOPKINS.

     Mr. FUDGE remained a widower until October, 30, 1889, when he married Mrs. Lavenia G. ORDWAY, nee GOOD, widow of Charles ORDWAY.  By her first marriage she had two children: Franklin, born October 24, 1873; and Carrie, June 3, 1876.  She was born at Zanesville, Ohio, July 15, 1852, being a daughter of George B. and Ann (TODD) GOOD.  Her father is a native of Woodstock, W. Va., and is of German descent, being a great-grandson of Capt. Mathew MARKUM, of Germany, who lived to be one hundred and three years old.  The mother of Mrs. FUDGE was born in Worchester, W. V., and is a daughter of Benjamin TODD, of Zanesville, who served in the War of 1812, and who is of French descent.  She is a second cousin to the late Mrs. Abraham LINCOLN.  In 1854 Mr. and Mrs. GOOD with a family of seven children, joined the Shakers at Union village, Warren County, remaining there until 1864, when they removed to Xenia.

     Mr. FUDGE belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, and is a Republican in politics.  He possesses more than ordinary intelligence, is a terse and vigorous writer, and an honorable man, whose influence is felt throughout the community, and who is held in good repute by his fellow-men.

     The father of him of whom we write, was the Honorable Judge FUDGE, who birthplace was in Botetourt County, Va., April 13, 1796, and who died of a paralytic stroke September 5, 1868, at the age of seventy-three years, five months and twelve days.  Many years ago he located five miles east of Xenia, purchasing a large estate on Caesar’s Creek, where he carried on the farm and a tannery.  He was a very prominent man in this section, being a Justice of the Peace for many years, a County Commissioner for a lengthy period, and having been appointed Associate Judge by Gov. Bebb, in 1852, the year that Ramsbottom was hung for murder.  He acted as administrator of about three hundred estates, and was an officer in the Methodist Episcopal Church.  He served several years in the Legislative halls of the State, both in the Lower House and the Senate.  From “Pencilings from the Senate” in 1852, we take the following:  “John FUDGE represents the counties of Fayette, Clinton, and Greene in the Senate of Ohio.  He is a Whig, and physically the largest man in the Senate, weighing two hundred and fifty pounds.  He is a hale man, looking young, and not yet gray, although fifty-five years old.  He has filled a seat in the Legislature several times, and as a Senator is something of a model.”

     John FUDGE was married three times.  His first wife was Catherine SELLERS, of Warren County, who bore him six children, five yet surviving.  The eldest son, Joseph, was run over by a wagon, and killed in June, 1888.  The subject of this sketch is the only child of the second marriage, his mother having been Temperance SPAHR, who died two years after her marriage.  The infant was then taken by an aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth SUTTON, but upon the third marriage of his father, was again taken home.  His stepmother bore the maiden name of Susan BARNETT, and her wedding day was February 25, 1846; she still survives.