Henry Best
Henry Best (deceased); was born in Cincinnati Nov. 21, 1804, and died in Dayton Jan. 26, 1873, in the 69th year of his age. His father, Thomas, and his uncles, Samuel and Robert, were early pioneers of the "Queen City." His parents, Thomas and Margaret, moved during his infancy to Lebanon, Warren Co., Ohio, where Henry was reared and learned the jeweler's trade of his father. In 1828, he located in Dayton, where for forty-five years he plied his trade with that industry so characteristic of the early inhabitants of our land. He was of a quiet, unassuming disposition and very retiring in manners. With no aspirations for office, he seemed to shrink from publicity; but was a lover of nature and its solitude. He was a confirmed devotee of piscatorial amusement, and lost no opportunity for indulging his taste in that sport. He was always considered one of the most moral, upright, reliable and worthy citizens of Dayton. In the latter years of his life, he retired from active business, leaving the conduct of his affairs to his son Edwin. In religious beliefs he was a Free Thinker in the broadest sense of that term. In 1832, he married Ann S. Drill, daughter of Andrew Drill, of Dayton, formerly of Frederick City, Md. The fruits of this union were seven children, of whom three sons and two daughters survive. The sons are all jewelers by trade, and constitute the fourth generation of the family in the same business. His son Newton resides in Union City, Ind. Edwin has a jewelry store on Main street, near Second, being the old stand in which his father carried on for years before him, and in the house in which he, Edwin, was born; William has a jewelry store on the corner of Main and Third streets. The daughters are Mrs. Emma Hilkey and Miss Carrie Best. Edwin was born in Dayton Sept. 10, 1839, and, after receiving a public school education, entered his father's store, where, at 21 years of age, he became a partner. On the death of his father, the old firm name was not changed, but went on in the same style, Edwin taking full charge as he did when his father was living, being the active partner. Since then, he has made many changes for the better. On the 19th of September, 1861, he married Mary Cecelia, daughter of Gilbert Collins, by whom he has had three children.
From History of Montgomery County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1882