Aaron Comeans was born
in Fayette County, Ohio in 1828. He had three brothers that we know of; Thomas, John, and Elijah. Orphaned
at an early age, Aaron and Thomas were placed as indentured servants with the John Yates (or Gates) family in Ross
County, Ohio.
Indentured servants were required to work
for their room and board with little or no pay for their trouble under the guise of little more than slavery. Aaron
and Thomas had to endure this indenturedness until their early twenties, when they had finally saved up enough money to strike
it out on their own.
It is not known for sure exactly when Aaron moved
to Madison County, Ohio, but records show that he began to purchase land there in the mid to late 1850's. In 1865, he
purchased additional land from James Lilly, of whom the town of Lilly Chapel was named.
Shortly after moving to Madison County, Aaron
met Rosanna Cissna. The Cissna family was already well established in the area. Rosanna's grandfather, Evan Cissna,
was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and had received a land grant in Ohio in leiu of back pay owed to him.
Aaron and Rosanna had 14 children together.
Two of them did not survive infacy. The other 12 are listed in our records as well as their descendants.
In the fall of 1882, while on a trip to Fairfield
County, Aaron succumbed to sunstroke. His obituary notice stated that he was an older resident of Lilly Chapel.
Aaron was 54 years old at the time of his death.
Rosanna outlived Aaron by thirty years, and she
never remarried.
