Mr. Ryan was born March 3, 1840, m the township where he still makes his home, and is a son of Rudolph and Ellen (Hamilton) Ryan. The father was a native of Virginia, but his early life was passed in Maryland, and in the early '303 he came to Darke county, Ohio, where he died in 1847, at the age of forty-five years. By trade he was a shoemaker and followed his occupation here. His widow was left with nine children, and with true motherly devotion she reared them in respectability and inculcated in them the ways of industry and usefulness. She died in May, 1886, at the age of seventy-five years. The children of the family still living are: Emily
Gilliam, Mrs. Mary Thorn, Daniel and Frank L., all residents of Darke county; G. W., of Miami county, Ohio; Mrs. Eliza J. Potter, of Reno county, Kansas; and Mrs. Amelia Griffin, of Nebraska. William enlisted during the civil war for three months' service in the One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in the hospital at New Creek, West Virginia; and John, who enlisted for three years in the Ninety-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was seriously wounded and captured at Chattanooga, and it is supposed he died in Libby prison, although nothing was heard of him after being captured.
During his boyhood Frank L. Ryan obtained a very limited education, as his mother needed his assistance in caring for the family. He, too, was one of the "boys in blue" during the Rebellion, enlisting September 6, 1861, at the age of twenty-one years, in Company K, Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for three years. He first went to Camp Piatt on the Ohio river, and soon afterward crossed the river into Virginia, where his regiment saw much service. He participated in all of the engagements in which the regiment took part, numbering thirty-two in all, including the battles of Witheville, Virginia, Cloud Mountain, Strasburg, and the two engagements at Cedar Creek and Winchester. At the last mentioned place, July 24, 1864, he was captured just before his term of service expired, and for five days he was held within the rebel lines. One morning he saw his opportunity to escape, of which he took advantage, creeping away in a ditch full of briars and lying all day in seclusion near the rebel camp. That night he walked twenty-one miles, and fell in with a negro who cared for him eighteen days, all the time being within gunshot of rebel soldiers on North mountain. He struck the Union lines at Martinsburg, Virginia. In the meantime his regiment had returned to Ohio to be mustered out, and he followed in time to be mustered out with them, being discharged at Columbus, September 13, 1864.
Returning to his home in Darke county, Mr. Ryan engaged in farming on rented land for a time, but in 1870 purchased sixtytwo and a half acres in Greenville township, which he has converted into one of the best improved farms of that locality. He was married, January 26, 1865, to Miss Mary Potter, a daughter of Daniel and Catherine (Cumerine) Potter, early settlers of Darke county, their home being the farm on which our subject now resides. By this union were born four children, namely: Mary C., the wife of Owen Curtner, of Hamilton, Ohio; John D., a prominent salesman of Dayton, whose wife died leaving two children, Agnes and Frankie; Cora, at home with her parents; and Minnie, the wife of William Appenceller, of Greenville. For many years Mr. and Mrs. Ryan have been active members of the Coleville Christian church, and they are held in high regard by all who know them on account of their sterling worth. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party, and socially is an honored member of Jobes Post, G. A. R., of Greenville, and the Horse Thief Protective Association, of Darke county.
