DARKE COUNTY OHIO - BIOS: DEVOR, JOHN (published 1900)
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JOHN DEVOR (includes mention of AARON DEAN
                  and RACHEL [Devor] ARMSTRONG)

     John Devor was born in Pennsylvania and came to Darke county
in 1808.  He died in Greenville in the year 1828.  He and one
Rachel Armstrong entered the first half-section of land within
the present limits of the county, being the west half of section
35, township 12, range 2 east, and laid out the town of
Greenville in 1810.  The legislature of Ohio, in session at
Zanesville, by their act of January 3, 1809, created the county
of Darke out of the territory previously forming a part of the
county of Miami and, within a year afterward, a commission
appointed by the legislature established the seat of justice of
the newly formed county at Terry's, town of Greenville, north of
Greenville creek; but there being some dissatisfaction, it may be
well to state that by the enactment of the legislature at its
session of 1810-11 a new commission was created, to whom was
confided the duty of relocating the seat of justice of the
county.  This commission consisted of two members from Miami
county and one from Preble, and after considering the proposition
of Terry, Briggs, and that of Devor and Mrs. Armstrong, and
looking to the material benefits to the county, as proffered by
the parties, accepted the proposition of Devor and Mrs.
Armstrong, and selected as the future county seat the town laid
out at Wayne's old fort of Greenville.  The accepted proposition
covenanted to donate to the county one-third of all the town lots
then laid out, or that they or their heirs might thereafter lay
out, on the adjoining lands in the west half of said section 35,
in which their town plat was located.  Some years after, Mrs.
Armstrong having died in the meantime, Devor, for himself, and on
behalf of the heirs of Mrs. Armstrong, pursuant to the order of
the court of common pleas, executed their contract so far as the
lots then laid off was concerned, by conveying to the
commissioners of Miami county in trust for the county of Darke,
when it should thereafter be organized, thirty-two of the ninety-
six lots then laid out, but, although additional town lots on the
adjacent land of the half-section have since been laid out by the
heirs of Devor, and also by the heirs of Mrs. Armstrong, no
further donation or conveyance has ever been made, nor have the
commissioners of Darke county ever demanded or required any
further performance of their covenant.  John Devor's son, James,
was born near Maysville, Kentucky, while their family were on
their way from Pennsylvania, in 1797.  He learned surveying from
his father and for a number of years was county surveyor of Darke
county.  He was the first auditor of Darke county, from May,
1844, to October, 1847, he was county treasurer, and for a number
of years was a justice of the peace; he died in October, 1855.
His wife, Patience Dean, was a daughter of Aaron Dean, one of the
early settlers of the county.  They were married March 1, 1828,
and ten children were born unto them, of whom five now survive,
John and Elijah being prominent attorneys of the Greenville bar,
the latter being also a referee in bankruptcy, under the late
United States bankruptcy law.  John Devor is a prominent
politician, an unswerving Republican and a warm personal friend
of Hon. John Sherman.  He was the Republican elector for the
fourth congressional district in 1888 and had the honor of
casting his vote for Hon. Benjamin Harrison for president of the
United States.