Bou Ne/I 161

A feeling of responsibility for public affairs runs through both lines of Boss Neff's ancestry. His grandmother Catherine was born a Sayler of Virginia. The Saylers were of the Dunkard (or Dunker) faith, and spoke Pennsylvania Dutch. Her brother, Daniel Sayler, was one of the early settlers in Harrison township, Preble County, and at one time represented Preble in the legislature. His son, partner of Jacob Neff, was a senatorial member of the Ohio legis­ lature in 1840, representing the district of which Preble County was a part. John Sayler had four sons, three of whom distinguished them­ selves. Nelson, the second, became one of the ablest lawyers in , and the youngest, John Ryner Sayler, was judge of a Superior Court in Cincinnati. Milton Sayler, John Sayler's eldest son, born in 1831, was the first boy to be sent away from Lewisburg to attend college, probably in 1848, as he graduated from , Oxford, Ohio, in 1852, afterward studying law at Eaton, Ohio. 5 He studied law at the Cincinnati Law School, was a member of the State house of representatives in 1862 and 1863, a member of the City Council of Cincinnati in 1863 and 1865, and was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-third, Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Con­ gresses, serving from March 4, 1873 to March 3, 1879. He served as Speaker pro tempore of the House of Representatives on June 4, 1876. In later years, he practised law in , and died there in 1892. 6 Mr. Neff's maternal grandparents, Casper and R-ebecca Gusler Wampler, came from Adams County, Pennsylvania, to Ohio about 1833. Rebecca also spoke Pennsylvania Dutch fluently, as did Mar­ garet Neff, Mr. Neff's mother. Hearing a second language spoken in the home probably accentuated Mr. Neff's interest in Spanish when he arrived in the West. Boss Sebastian Neff married Ida Eubank February 17, 1893, and to them were born eight children. The eldest, Jacob Milton, born May 2, 1894, married Mary Wagner; they and their child, Boss Ira, live on part of the old home ranch in Texas County. Lona, the eldest of five daughters, was born January 31, 1896. She and her husband, Sterling Graham, have a home on their ranch north of Boise City, in Cimarron County of which she was deputy county clerk for ten years. Esther, born February 25, 1898, married Rex Powelson, and lives with him and their daughter, Zella Zane, on their extensive ranch northwest of Boise City. Orel, born May 14, 1900, wedded Bill Dettle, and bore him two sons, Jack Neff Dettle and Douglas Dee Dettle. Two boys,

5 From a letter written in October, 1912, by Isaac Kay, M.D., of Springfield, Ohio, to Mr. G. M. Kumler of Lewisburg, Ohio, for publication in the Lewisbur8 Leader in answer to the inquiries by Mr. Neff about his family. 6 From a letter from Ross Rizley, M.C., Congressional representative from the 8th District, Oklahoma, to Mr. Neff, April 21, 1945.