HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1225 leader in Toledo affairs and in the republican politics of the state. He served as mayor two terms, from 1893 to 1897, and was succeeded by the late Mayor Samuel M. Jones, the Golden Rule mayor. It was after he retired from the office of mayor that he organized The American Linseed Oil Company. In 1897 Mr. Major was prominently mentioned for governor, but after a conference at Zanesville Governor Asa S. Bushnell was renominated and later elected. His many friends and business associates in Toledo petitioned him to become a candidate for mayor at the last municipal election before his death, but after giving the petition much consideration he decided that his business interests would not allow him to make the fight. In politics he was thoroughly a business man, and carried business efficiency into his campaigns. He was first defeated for office by L. G. Richardson, a prominent Toledo attorney. He was in politics during the stirring times of the A. P. A. in Toledo, when feeling ran very high. One of the most important features of his official record as mayor was his attempt to secure the passage of a code then known as " The Ripper Bill," which threatened to abolish the old city boards and centralize the responsibilities of city government. Centralization is now not a novelty in municipal government, but it was then, and while the measure was before the Legislature hundreds of its adherents and opponents met at Columbus and waged relentless warfare on each side. The bill was defeated, partly through bitter personal enmities and also for the fear that the measure, if carried, would give Mr. Major and his associates a dangerous power in the city. Only a few years ago when the state adopted a new code for city government, some of the very features contemplated by the so-called "Ripper Bill" were incorporated. Guy G. Major married Miss Hattie E. 'Leonard of Middleboro, Massachusetts. Mrs. Major and her two children are still living. The daughter is Minnie M., who married E. Langdon Walbridge, and the son is Leonard of Toledo, Ohio. Guy G. Major died in New York City January 30, 1912. He had gone to New York about two weeks before on business and was taken ill with pneumonia while at the New York Club. Mrs. Major soon went East and later his son and daughter were summoned and were with hip at his death. His body was brought back to Toledo, and the funeral was an impressive service, held in the Coiling-wood Avenue Presbyterian Church. Among the representative gathering of Toledo's best people were many members of the Knights Templar Commandery and Scottish Rite Masons, who had been his companions in those orders. In his funeral discourse Doctor Black spoke of the former mayor's important service to the city during his two terms as mayor, of his warm, generous nature and the rich personal friendships he enjoyed with his business associates and men of all classes. Out of respect for his death, the city offices were closed at noon on the day of the funeral by order of Mayor Brand Whitlock, and the flag hung at half mast. HON. JAMES DONOVAN. For many years the name Donovan has signified much in professional and public affairs in Henry County. Judge James Donovan at one time filled with admirable care and efficiency the office of probate judge, and has been an active lawyer at Napoleon for the past thirty-five years. His brother is Hon. D. D. Donovan, a former congressman and also prominent as a lawyer and business man of Napoleon. Judge Donovan's parents, John and Catherine (Hannin) Donovan, were natives of Ireland, were poor people, and the father spent some years in seafaring life. After coming to Ohio he married and set up a home in a little log cabin on the banks of the Maumee River nine miles east of Napoleon. He was an honest, thrifty, hard-working and honored citizen of Henry County until his death, and his sons inherited many of his worthy characteristics and they give their parents credit for much of what they have accomplished. Born in his father's home on the banks of the Maumee River in 1856, James Donovan spent his early years in a log house, was well trained in the habits of industry, and was given the advantages of the local public schools. As a means for advancement he qualified and taught school for several years in Henry and Hamilton counties, and he graduated from the National Norman University at Lebanon, Ohio. Later, determining upon the law as his profession, he began to study under Hon. Justin H. Tyler. Mr. Tyler was at that time one of the leading members of the Napoleon bar, was a member of the State Legislature, and Mr. Donovan has always held him in grateful memory. Admitted to the bar from Mr. Tyler's office 1226 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO en October 5, 1880, Judge Donovan began his practice in the City of St. Louis, but soon returned to Napoleon and has since looked after a growing and increasingly important and general practice. He served six consecutive years as probate judge of Henry County, and in that office as in every other undertaking of his life acquitted himself with honor and credit. He is a strong factor in the democratic party in his county and district, has served as committeeman and as delegate to various congressional, county and state conventions, and whether in the ranks or in an official capacity is a real popular leader. He is a charter member of the local lodge of Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In Napoleon Judge Donovan married Susan N. Yeager. She was born and reared at Napoleon, a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Kraig) Yeager. Her father was of Dutch and her mother of Scotch ancestry. Her father died at Wauseon in 1913, at the age of seventy-two, while her mother is still living there at the age of seventy-three. Henry Yeager was a soldier throughout the Civil war, and afterwards spent his active career as a farmer and became the owner of two fine estates in Fulton County. Judge and Mrs. Donovan have two children. Their daughter, Katherine, is the wife of Fred H. Kirtley, a prominent young attorney .at Toledo. Mr. and Mrs. Kirtley have one son, Billy. James Donovan Jr. graduated from the Napoleon High School and from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1913, was admitted to the Ohio bar in June of that year and to the Michigan bar on• November 15, 1913, and has since been in active practice with his father under the firm name of Donovan & Donovan. WALTER M. FOX. One of the institutions of Napoleon which has brought considerable revenue to that city and which reflects the business energy and enterprise of a local man, is the large cigar manufacturing establishment of The Fox Brothers' Cigar Company, of which Mr. Fox is the president. He is a tobacconist and cigar maker who grew up in Napoleon, and in early youth applied himself to the trade of cigar maker and has followed it either as a journeyman or as a manufacturer on his own account for the past eighteen years. It was in 1906 that he set up a factory of his own, though on a very modest scale and with small capital. He made goods that pleased the trade, and has always been extremely careful of the quality of his products. The result was that increased business necessitated the construction in 1912 of a large cement block building constructed especially for his manufacturing plant. It occupies a foundation 22 by 80 feet, with full basement, and is located on Oakwood Avenue. It is completely equipped for cigar manufacturing purposes. All of Mr. Fox's cigars are hand made and he employs twelve skillful cigar makers. In the manufacture of cigars a Pennsylvania filler is used, and the first wrapper is Connecticut tobacco, while the outside wrapper is pure Sumatra. His trade extends all over Northwest Ohio and his leader is the "Vo-Lant," a five-cent cigar, the popularity of which is indicated by the fact that in 1915 his factory made more than 600,000. He also manufactures a ten-cent cigar of the same brand name, and it is a high-grade cigar, rapidly growing into favor. Walter M. Fox was born in Defiance, Ohio, February 19, 1881, and when two years of age was brought to Napoleon by his parents. After finishing the work of the common schools, he learned his trade in Napoleon, and then spent five years working as a journeyman in some of the leading tobacco towns in the country. With experience and a very modest equipment of capital he returned to Napoleon and set up as an independent cigar maker. His first shop was on Washington Street, later on Perry Street, and about four years ago he moved into his present handsome quarters. For several years his brother, Edison D. Fox, was active in the business, but is now only a "silent" partner. Mr. Fox's grandparents, Reuben and Katherina (Klase) Fox, were born in Pennsylvania, and from there moved to Crawford County, Ohio, where they settled on a farm, and in 1848 established a home in Henry County. Reuben Fox bought and improved a tract of land in Harrison township. He was born February 12, 1831, and though eighty-five years of age still retains all his faculties and is a hale and vigorous old gentleman. His wife died at Waterville, Ohio, in 1910, at the age of eighty-three. While the grandparents were not regular church members, they were fine and upright people, who prospered and paid their debts, and did what was to be expected of them in the way of neighborly kindness. It is an interesting fact that Grandfather Reuben Fox is a demo- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1227 crat, while his son Edward, the father of Walter, is a regenerationand then in the next genqration Walter M. Fox returns to the type and is a democrat. Edward Fox . was born at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah G. Siebring, was a native of Clyde, Ohio. After their marriage they moved to Defiance, where the father followed his trade as a skilled carriage painter. In 1883 he brought his family to Napoleon and continued to follow the trade there and also took up the sale of pianos. Walter M. Fox was married at Napoleon, Ohio, to Miss Mary Deitzen, who was born in Ohio, but was educated in Indiana and is of German parentage. Her father, Jacob Deitzen, died in 1912, and her mother, Anna (Mangus) Deitzen, is still living and makes her home in Napoleon. The Deitzen family were members of the Catholic Church, while the Fox family are Protestants. Mr. and Mrs. Fox have two daughters : Angeline, who was born April 22, 1910 ; and Anna Bell, born March 29, 1912. Mrs. Fox is a member of the Catholic Church. Mr. Fox is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, with the Modern Woodmen of America and belongs to the United Commercial Travelers at Defiance, Ohio. JOHN HALL WHITAKER. Nearly fifty years of business activity distinguished the life of the late John Hall Whitaker, who was among the strong and forceful group of enterprising citizens who laid securely and for all time the foundation of Toledo's metropolitan greatness. Born in Castleton, New York, May 6, 1813, he died at Toledo March 2, 1882, in the sixty-ninth year of his life. Few men succeed in crowding so many .useful and constructive activities into a lifetime as did he. His early life was spent in New York. There he received such educational advantages as were given to the boys of the time. In 1830 his father, Stephen Whitaker, came West, locating first at Monroe, Michigan, and after about a year going to Cleveland, Ohio. John H. Whitaker remained at Cleveland until 1843 and in that time acquired a detailed experience and a thorough mastery of the extensive hardware business owned by his father. In 1843 Mr. Whitaker removed to Massillon and was there engaged in business for himself. Even at tha early date the striking possibilities of Toledo as a coming business center made a strong appeal to Mr. Whitaker, and acting upon a judgment which subsequent years justified he closed out his interests in Massillon and came to the young town of the Maumee Valley. Here he formed a partnership with W. J. Kirkland, under the name Kirkland & Whitaker. After a year or so Mr. Stephen Whitaker bought the Kirkland interests and the firm then became S. and J. H. Whitaker. In subsequent years there followed various changes of partnership, but all the time the firm was rapidly growing and extending its trade horizon. In 1857 Mr. C. B. Philipuntil admitted to the firm and Lntil 1866 the name was Whitaker & Philips. At the latter time Harry Haynes and William Millspaugh, who were clerks, were given an interest, and that caused a change of name to Whitaker, Philips & Company. With the retirement of Mr. Millspaugh in 1872 he was succeeded by Mr. Whitaker's oldest son, Charles H. Whitaker. Mr. Philips continued a member of the firm until 1876. After that the name was Whitaker, Haynes & Company, and so continued until the death of Mr. Whitaker. In 1845 atLeroy, New York, Mr. Whitaker - married Miss Frances Elvira Grosvner. At her death on September 2, 1849, she was the mother of two children, one of wham died in infancy. The only survivor is Charles H. Whitaker mentioned elsewhere, and who at the time of his father's death was junior member of the hardware house of Whitaker, Haynes & Company. In 1853 John H. Whitaker married Miss Catherine McDonald, who died in January, 1866. There were three children of that marriage : Stephen, who died in California ; Mary Jane, now Mrs. John S. Kinnan of California ; and John H., Jr., of Interlaken, New York. For the last eleven years of his life John H. Whitaker suffered from a disease of a paralytic nature, and the last three years he suffered intensely. Notwithstanding his infirmities he attended personally to most of his business affairs. It was a matter of great pride to him that during the fifty years of his residence in Toledo the city had made such wonderful progress and in more ways than one he was a factor in many lines of that progress. Mr. Whitaker was one of the founders of The Milburn Wagon Works of Toledo, and at the time of his death was vice president of the company, an office he had held since its foundation. He was also 1228 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO a director of The Merchants National Bank, being ore of the original incorporators, and was a stockholder in The First National Bank and a director in the Merchants & Clerks Savings Bank. He was a director of The Toledo Gas Light and Coke Company. For many years he was one of the directors of The Cleveland and Toledo Railroad, which later became a part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, and is now a part of the New York Central lines. Soon after his removal to Toledo he became a member of the First Congregational Church, and throughout the rest of his life was one of its faithful and consistent members. His funeral, conducted at the old home, then located at the corner of Monroe and Eleventh streets, was directed by Rev. W. W. Williams, then pastor of the church, and who spoke feelingly of the useful life led by the deceased. Mr. Whitaker in his will made several bequests to the American Board of Foreign Missions, to the American Home Missionary Society and to the Protestant Orphans' Home at Toledo. As a proper tribute to one of Toledo's eminent business men and citizens, a large concourse of people followed his remains to their last resting place in Forest Cemetery, and a group of distinguished pioneers were the pall bearers, including C. A. King, W. W. Griffith, William Baker, Peter F. Berdan, Valentine H. Ketcham and Henry L. Hall ; all of whom have since followed him to the great beyond. CHARLES HENRY WHITAKER, a son of the late John H. and Frances Elvira (Grosvner) Whitaker, referred to above, is one of Toledo's oldest native born citizens still living and had a long and active business career before he retired. Born in Toledo September 6, 1846, he attended the public schools in Cleveland, and graduated from the Cleveland High School in 1865. Returning home to Toledo he at once began his business career in the hardware house of which his uncle, William H. Whitaker, was at that time the senior member. In 1872 Charles H. Whitaker was admitted as junior member of the firm of Whitaker-Philips & Company, and continued to be actively identified with its %management until September 6, 1901. After his father's death the business was conducted as Whitaker, Haynes & Company, for four years, and then John H. Whitaker, Jr., became associated with Charles H. Whitaker in the active control of the business and under the name Whitaker & Company. In 1892 the firm became Whitaker & Kirk and still later Whitaker & Mitchell. This concern had its headquarters at 210 Summit Street in a block erected by the Whitakers in 1851. Mr. C. H. Whitaker is an active member of the Sons of the American Revolution, Anthony Wayne Chapter, which he has served as secretary and historian. Five of his ancestors were revolutionary soldiers. He is also a member of the Toledo Commerce Club, and is deacon of the First Congregational Church. Outside of these affiliations his social pleasures have always been found at home, which is his club. On November 5, 1873, he married Miss Olive S. Davis of New York City. They were married at Palatine Bridge, New York, the summer home of her father, William H. Davis. Her mother was Anna Catherine Geortner. The Davis family was of Welsh descent and long residents of the Mohawk Valley. Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker have two daughters: Edith H. and Anna K., both of whom are graduates of the Toledo High School. Mr. Whitaker constructed a substantial home on Glenwood Avenue, which is one of the fine residence streets of the city. He and his family have occupied that residence since January, 1909. Surrounding the house are beautiful and well kept grounds. At his home he has a fine private library. It contains some very rare old books, some of which were published several centuries ago and which are heirlooms. FRED BADENHOP. In an attractive home. on Stephen Street, Napoleon, Mr. Badenhop has lived virtually retired from active business since the year 1911, and his is the prestige of having been long and successfully identified with the basic industry of agriculture in Henry County, which has represented his home since his boyhood, and in which he is a sterling scion of an honored pioneer family. He has, like his father before him, contributed much to the civic and industrial progress of. Henry County and is a venerable and representative citizen who commands unqualified popular esteem, and who is specially entitled to recognition in this publication. Mr. Badenhop maintained his home on a farm in Napoleon township from his childhood until his removal to the county HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1229 seat, where he is now enjoying the well earned rewards of former years of earnest endeavor. Fred Badenhop was born in the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany,. on the 30th of April, 1839, and thus was a lad of nine years at the time of the family immigration to America. He is a son of Dietrich and Nora (Runge) Badenhop, who were likewise born in Hanover, and who were representatives of old and substantial Lutheran families of that section of the great German Empire. Dietrich Badenhop was a child at the time of his father's death and later his mother contracted a second marriage. He was reared on the farm of his stepfather and as a young man he married Miss Nora Runge, daughter of a neighboring farmer. They became the parents of four children, Maria, Fred, Henry and Mary, and in 1848 the family embarked on a sailing vessel at Bremen and set forth on the long and weary voyage to the port of New York City, nearly twelve weeks having been consumed in making the trip across the Atlantic. Wearied but sustained by high hopes and ambitions, the parents were glad to set foot in the land of their adoption, and soon after their arrival in the national metropolis they continued their journey to Toledo, Ohio, by means of the primitive transportation facilities of river, canal and Lake Erie. From Toledo the family came overland to Henry County, and on the 11th of November, 1848, settlement was here made on an embryonic little farm of twenty acres, in Napoleon Township. This little tract of land was entirely unreclaimed from the forest, and a clearing was made to permit the erection of a pioneer log cabin of primitive order, the floor being of puncheon, or hewed slabs, and the chimney of stick and mud construction. In this humble dwelling sorrow was soon to make its way, for eighteen days after the family home had here been established the devoted wife and mother was summoned to the life eternal, when still less than forty years of age. Bereft of his loved helpmeet and left with four young children, Dietrich Badenhop faced a stern proposition in the new and wild country, in which wolves and deer still roamed at will through the dim forest aisles. He was favored in gaining for a second wife Mrs. Mary Weigard, a widow, who likewise was a native of Hanover; Germany, and who brought to the pioneer homestead the one child of her first marriage, Anna, who is still living and whose ' sons and daughters are all of mature age. Under conditions that did not seem propi tious, Dietrich Badenhop began the reclaiming of his land, much of which was marsh, and after having placed a considerable portion of the original tract under cultivation he exchanged the property for a tract of forty acres in section 7 of the same township. He eventually added to his landed estate until he had become the owner of a good farm of 160 acres, and upon this old homestead he continued to reside, a man of industry, unswerving integrity and civic loyalty, until the close of his long and useful life. He was one of the patriarchal citizens of Henry County at the time of his death, which occurred in the opening period of the twentieth century, as he attained to the age of ninety-four years, nine months and eight days, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest, and both having been devout communicants of the Lutheran Church. On the old homestead the four children of the first marriage were reared to maturity, and the two daughters are married and have reared children of their own. Henry, the younger of the two sons, was a valiant soldier of the Union during virtually the entire period of the Civil war, after the close of which he returned to the paternal home, it having been his good fortune to have escaped serious injury, though he had participated in many sanguinary engagements. He later went to the State of Missouri, after which his kinsfolk in Ohio entirely lost trace of him, although it is supposed that he died a bachelor. Fred Badenhop, the immediate subject of this sketch, was, as before stated, nine years of age at the time when the family home was established in the pioneer wilds of Henry County, and here he attended the primitive schools until he had attained to the age of fourteen years. He then obtained a position as mule-driver on the towpath of the local canal, with the operation of which he continued to be associated three years. He then located at Lafayette, Indiana, and when the Civil war was precipitated on a divided nation he enlisted in the Sixteenth Indiana Independent Battery of Light Artillery. With his command he proceeded to the front, and he participated in the second battle of Bull Run and the battle of Fredericksburg, besides various skirmishes and other minor engagements. He continued in the ranks of the boys in blue for only one month less than three years, and proved himself a gallant and faithful soldier of the Republic. While with his battery at Fort Washington, in the winter of 1230 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO 1863-1864, Mr. Badenhop was seriously injured by a ponderous cannon falling upon him as it was being removed from its carriage. He was grievously crushed, three ribs being broken and his spine being injured, and his comrades supposed that he was dead when they removed him. A vigorous constitution and correct habits, however, enabled him to recuperate from his severe injuries, and after he had remained in the hospital three months he reported to his battery fit for duty. Thereafter he continued in active service until the close of the war, when he received his honorable discharge. After the close of his loyal service as a soldier Mr. Badenhop returned to Henry County, where he engaged in independent enterprise as a farmer in Napoleon Township. Energy, good judgment and progressiveness brought to him with the passing years a generous measure of success and prosperity, and he accumulated a valuable landed estate of more than three hundred acres, which he equipped with excellent buildings and other permanent improvements of the best order, and which he developed into one of the model farmsteads of this now favored opulent section of the Buckeye State. Thus he was fully justified, when the many years had crowned his efforts with success, in relegating to others the heavy labors and responsibilities that had long been his portion and in seeking the gracious repose which he now employs in his pleasant home at Napoleon, the judicial center of the county. Both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Lutheran Church, and it is interesting to note that their respective parents were prominently concerned in the organization and upbuilding of the first church of this denomination in Henry County, the father of Mr. Badenhop having served as an officer therein. He whose name initiates this article has been as loyal in civic affairs as he was in his strenuous service as a soldier during the Civil war, and though his ambition has not run in the course of seeking political office he has given a stanch allegiance to the republican party. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Napoleon, in connection with which he vitalizes the more pleasing memories and associations of his military career. In the year 1877 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Badenhop to Miss Otena Schwrebert, who was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1843, and who was a child at the time when her parents established their home in Henry County, Ohio, where her father developed a good farm and became a substantial and valued citizen, both he and his wife passing the residue of their lives in this county. In the concluding paragraph of this article is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Badenhop. Fred H. was forty-two years of age at the time of his death and is survived by four sons and two daughters. William is a prosperous farmer in Monroe Township, Henry County, and is the father of four sons and six daughters. John, who is a representative agriculturist in Marien Township, has two daughters. Anna is the wife of George Whitenberg, a farmer of Napoleon Township) and they have two daughters. Dora is the wife of George Gerken, who now has control of the homestead farm of the subject of this review, and they have one son. Mary is the wife of William Wenszamann, and they have two sons and one daughter, their home being on one of the farms owned by Mrs. Wenszamann's father. Carl is a progressive farmer of Napoleon Township and is the father of one daughter. Matilda is the wife of Oliver Vorwerk, who is engaged in the shoe business at Napoleon, in partnership with George Kotta, and he and his wife have one daughter. HON. ORVILLE SMITH. Not only the members of the legal profession but the public generally regarded with exceptional satisfaction Governor Willis' appointment of Orville Smith as judge of the Court of Common Pleas at Napoleon. Judge Smith is a prominent young lawyer, is thirty-four years of age and is a man of rare scholarship and in every way a credit to the profession and to the bench. A native of Henry County, he attended the public schools regularly, later entered the Tri-State Normal School at Angola, Indiana, and then took up teaching. For a time he was principal of the high school at Angola and for two years was principal at Bryan, Ohio. Entering the Ohio Western University at Delaware he graduated with the class of 1901, and in 1906 took his Master's degree at Harvard University in history and economics. Thus his entire scholastic preparation furnished a splendid foundation for his regular profession. Judge Smith took a two years course in the Law School of the Ohio State University in Columbus, finishing in 1908, and on being admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court located at Napoleon and set up in general HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1231 practice. He enjoyed a promising clientage and already had a secure position in the profession when Governor Willis called him to a vacancy on the Common Pleas Bench for Henry County. Judge Smith for a number of years has taken much part in local affairs and has some valuable business interests both here and in other states. His father was Jacob B. Smith, who was born in Henry County in 1853 and the grandfather Michael Smith was born in Germany and came to America when twelve or fifteen years of age with his parents, who located in Crawford County, Ohio. Michael Smith grew up in that section of the state, and married a German girl, who came to this country when she was six years of age. Prior to the Civil war Michael Smith and wife located in Henry County, Ohio, on Turkey Foot Creek and developed a good farm in that district. The grandparents lived to be old people, the grandfather passing away at the age of eighty and his wife about fifteen years before. Jacob B. Smith grew up on the old farm along the banks of Turkey Foot Creek, and married Sarah Jane Ketring, who was born in Washington Township of Henry County in 1858, a daughter of John and Leah (Seidle) Ketring. Her parents were natives of Pennsylvania, and after their marriage they moved to Henry County, Ohio, where Mr. Ketring followed farming until his death at about the age of seventy. The Ketrings were members of the United Brethren Church, and in politics John Ketring was a democrat and for fifteen years held the office of justice of the peace in Washington Township. After their marriage Jacob B. Smith and wife located on a farm in Damascus Township, and in time acquired a competence represented by extensive land holdings. Mr. Smith was %a republican and a member of the Evangelical Church. Their children were : Lula Ozora, wife of Dr. Charles Mowry of Napoleon, and they have a daughter named Frances ; the second child is Judge Smith ; the youngest is Raymond Victor Loring, who is a member of the class of 1917 in. the Tri-State Normal at Angola, Indiana. Judge Smith was married in Napoleon to Desdamona Miller, who was born in Marion County, Ohio, December 8, 1886, and after attending public schools there was graduated in ;907 from the Ohio Wesleyan University. Her parents, Jacob W. and Laura E. (Orvis) Miller, are now living at Napoleon, where her father is p. manufacturer, and also a dealer in real estate. Formerly he was superintendent of The Huber Manufacturing Company at Marion. The Miller family are members of the Methodist Church and Mr. Miller is a democrat. Judge Smith and wife have three children : Sarah Marjorie, born June 3, 1909 ; Harriet Eleanor, born October 14, 1911; and Laura Isabelle, born December 14, 1914. Judge and Mrs. Smith are members of the St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church in which he is secretary of the official board. He is also a member of a Greek letter college fraternity. ANTHONY A. PARYSKI. One of the many distinctions of Toledo as a city is that it is the headquarters of the largest Polish Weekly in the world, and also has the largest printing and publishing house. This was largely brought about and is directly due to Anthony A. Paryski, who a little more than thirty years ago arrived in America a poor Polish boy and who at one time in his early American career peddled goods and worked on a farm near Detroit. In loyalty to all that is American and all that is best in American life and institutions, no one could surpass Mr. Paryski. His has been a brilliant and successful career and he has used his ability largely among his fellow countrymen and for the purpose of educating and encouraging them to the attainment of such ideals as America stands for. He was born on a farm near Warsaw, capital of Poland, July 11, 1865, a son of Nicholas and Agnes (Gayda) Paryski. His parents never came to America, and his father died at the old home in Poland in 1910. The mother is still living there. Of their family three sons and two daughters survive, while one boy and one girl died. During the first eighteen years of his life spent in Poland, Mr. Paryski graduated from what was known as a fourth-class gymnasium, ranking as a college in America. He received his early education in Warsaw. At the age of eighteen he came to the United States, landing in New York. From there he went direct to Detroit, Michigan, and had only $12 left after paying his fare to that inland city. At Detroit he tried peddling for a time, but did not find that a successful business. He then went to work on a farm near Detroit and was a farmer for about three years. In the meantime he had saved his money carefully for the purpose of extending his education. While 1232 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO peddling in Detroit he had attended night school there, learning to read, write and talk English. From the farm he entered Northwestern University at Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained a student as long as his money lasted. At that time it was his intention and ambition to became a physician and surgeon. Those who know what he has accomplished in later years will say that it was fortunate that his slender means obliged him to leave school before attaining his object. When he left school he was offered a place on a Polish newspaper called the National Gazette at Detroit, and as assistant editor was connected with that paper for about nine months. From there he went to Chicago, serving as assistant editor on the Polish Gazette a short time, and then became editor of the Polish Guardian at Winona, Minnesota, where he remained six months. On his return to Chicago he continued his work with an English paper, and for a time was reporter on the Chicago Daily News, afterwards a member of the reportorial staff of the Detroit Free Press and Detroit Evening News and the Philadelphia Record. During a brief interruption. in his newspaper duties he became a general organizer for the Knights of Labor and succeeded in establishing forty of its lodges or assemblies among his fellow countrymen. For about a year Mr. Paryski was editorin-chief of a paper in Buffalo, New York, called the Voice of Freedom. From there in 1887 he came to Toledo and began the publication of The Star, a Polish paper. Thenceforward his success as a newspaper editor and master of journalistic enterprise rapidly unfolded. Having established his Toledo paper on a sound basis, he began buying and combining other newspapers, under the title Ameryka-Echo. This journal was originally established in New York City in 1883 and in Toledo in 1886. In 1902 he had succeeded in consolidating some of the leading Polish organs in the United States, and in 1907 effected further consolidation, until at the present time there are forty Polish newspapers combined under one title and one management, with Mr. Paryski as publisher and editor. These forty newspapers are situated in nearly all the leading centers of America, especially those with large Polish populations. They are as far west as St. Louis, Missouri, as far east as Boston, and also cover the large metropolitan fields in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Buffalo, Cleveland and other cities. The weekly circulation of the Ameryka-Echo is now 150,000 copies and the paper is actually distributed over almost the entire world. In 1912 Mr. Paryski established a daily Ameryka-Echo, which circulates in Toledo to the extent of about 42,000 copies. Originally there was a stock company organized to publish this great journal, but Mr. Paryski finally bought out the other interests and is now both publisher and editor of the entire combination. Without question the Ameryka-Echo is the most influential Polish paper in America today, and its equipment and resources are unequalled. The plant at Toledo has modern machinery for printing, binding and is complete in every mechanical detail, while the staff of editors comprises some of the ablest men in the profession. In 1910 a fine large plant was built at 1140-1156 Nebraska Avenue in Toledo, as a home of the Ameryka-Echo, both as a newspaper and publishing plant. The building comprises four floors and it is built of concrete and brick, with nearly 90,000 square feet of floor space. It is the largest Polish printing and binding establishment in the world. From this plant are published books in the Polish language on every conceivable subject, and a list of the editions and individual publications would in itself cover several pages. To a large degree the publications are of an educational nature, designed to help in the instruction of Polish people, and the work comprises everything from scientific works to religious treatises, juvenile and fiction literature, and a large number of books on practical economics, mechanics, and commercial affairs. The papers and books from this plant go to every country in the world, and there are many offices maintained both here and in foreign countries. Before the war there was an office in Warsaw, Russia, and that will be opened again at the close of hostilities. It is said that the sales of books alone total $800,000 a year. Nearly all these 700 books or more are priced within moderate range so as to be available to the Polish people of all classes. Mr. Paryski is a member of several scientific and literary societies, belongs to the Toledo Commerce Club, the Polish Social and Commerce Club of Toledo, and is undoubtedly today one of the most conspicuous leaders among the Polish race in the United States. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1233 At Chicago on May 1, 1903, he married Miss Irine Ostrowska. Mrs. Paryski was born and educated at Warsaw, and was about twenty-three years of age when she came to the United States with relatives. Mr. and , Mrs. Paryski have a son and two daughters : Marie Julia, Thaddeus Julian and Helen Amelia, all of whom were born in Toledo and are now attending the Toledo public schools. WINFIELD S. FREASE. The city of Napoleon had few men who more justly deserve the kindly memory of the present generation than the late Winfield Scott Frease. He was a distinctive factor in business affairs, and had a reputation as a scholar and a man of conspicuous judgment and of broad humanitarian principles. It is the main purpose of this article to give some account of his family, his individual career and his more important activities and attainments. He was born in Henry County, Ohio, April 19, 1849, and died at Mount Clemens, Michigan, August 17, 1904. As a boy he attended the schools of this county, but was largely self educated, and became a scholar and student of no mean accomplishment. He was always a voluminous reader, and found his greatest pleasure in the standard works of literature. During a portion of his early career he clerked in a dry goods store at Napoleon, and later was in the shoe business on Perry Street. After selling this, he became associated with Mr. Frederick Aller, another of the conspicuous figures in Napoleon's business life, and together they manufactured the Baker Windmill. From that time, 1887, until his death, Mr. Frease was one of the men chiefly responsible for the upbuilding and splendid prosperity of a business which for years 'has been one of the leading industries in this part of Northwest Ohio. It became the Heller-Aller Company, manufacturing windmills and pumps and steel and wooden tanks. Mr. Frease was one of the founders of this concern, and the industry, had many struggles and adversities to contend with, but with such men as the late Mr. Frease in connection with it ultimate failure was an impossibility. His brain and energy entered into the permanent success of that institution. Not only in business affairs but in those broader relations of every human life he was esteemed as a good and noble character, and was widely beloved. For a number of years he belonged to the Ohio National Guard, and was one of the first to join the organization at Napoleon. He was a Knight of Pythias, and an active republican. More details concerning the Frease family in Henry County will be found on other pages under the name of another of the family. Winfield Scott Frease was married in Napoleon in 1886 to Lillian M. Aller, who was born in that city, and has survived her husband and occupies the family home at Napoleon. Mrs. Frease received her early educational advantages in Napoleon and has been a factor in its social and cultured circles for many years. Her parents were Frederick and Savilla (Higgins) Aller. It is proper that some space should be devoted here to her father, the late Frederick Aller. He was born in Germany and when twelve years of age came with his parents to the United States. His father was William Aller, who married a Miss Altgeld, an aunt of former Governor John P. Altgeld of Illinois, and a political figure whose career shed luster on his native state of Ohio. William Aller on coming to the United States located four miles from Mansfield in Richland County, Ohio, and he and wife spent their last days on a farm there. The Allers in the earlier generations were members of the Lutheran Church. Frederick Aller grew up on a farm in Richland County, but when quite young came to Napoleon, where he learned the trade of wagonmaker. Subsequently he enlisted in the Sixty-eighth Ohio Regiment and was a Union soldier during nearly the entire period of hostilities. He returned from the army in good health and soon became a factor in local politics, being elected to the office of county commissioner and for four years served as sheriff. While in that office he had the painful duty of executing by hanging the last man who ever suffered the death penalty in Henry County. This was Wesley Johnson, who was convicted of an atrocious murder. Subsequently Frederick Aller joined his brother-in-law Frederick Baker and Mr. Frease in manufacturing windmills under the Baker windmill patent. After Mr. Baker's death Frederick Aller, still comparatively young, became associated with S. M. Heller, and together they laid the foundation for the present business which has already been noted. Frederick Aller passed away in 1908. He was a man of prominence and very successful and was past seventy when he died. In politics he was a democrat and always interested in local affairs. His widow is still living. Mrs. Frease is the mother of two daughters. 1234 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Marion E. graduated from the Napoleon High School in 1905 and later from Virginia College at Roanoke, where she pursued English studies and vocal instruction, subsequently taught for four years, and is now the wife of Dr. P. Paul Sherwood, of Ottawa, Ohio. Phyllis Savilla, the second daughter, graduated from the city high school in 1910 and in 1913 completed her course in music and English at Virginia College in Roanoke, and is now the wife of Ralph 0. Orwig, formerly of Napoleon but now member of a drug firm at Fostoria, Ohio. WILLIAM N. ZIEROLF. This sterling citizen, who is now living in well earned retirement, is one of those whose memories form a distinct link between the early pioneer era and the latter days of opulent prosperity and progress in Henry County, and in his pleasant home at Napoleon, the county seat, he finds himself compassed by the most gracious of associations and memories, his being a secure place in popular esteem in the county which was long the stage of his successful endeavors as one of the representative farmers of Marion Township. Mr. Zierolf was born in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, in June, 1844, and is a son of Casper and Anna M. (Bvoden) Zierolf, both natives of the Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, where they were reared and educated and whence their respective parents followed them to the United States. Casper Zierolf and his wife came to America when young folk and their acquaintanceship was formed in the City of Boston, where their marriage was solemnized. After their parents had joined them at Boston both families came to Ohio and established a home in Medina County. .Five years later, on the 5th of May, 1852, Mr. Casper Zierolf and his wife established their residence in Henry County, where he purchased eighty acres of wild land in Marion Township, for the sum of $500. On the place he erected a pioneer log house, with puncheon floor and roof of clapboards, not a single nail having been used in the construction of either roof or floor. Casper Zierolf and his noble wife lived up to the full tension of pioneer life and by their earnest endeavors reclaimed and improved a good farm, the old homestead continuing as their place of abode until their death. He died in 1880, at the age of sixty-nine years, and she passed to eternal rest eight years later, at the venerable age of seventy-six years. To their original farm they added until they were the owners of one of the large and valuable landed estates of the county. Both were lifelong communicants of the Catholic Church. In the City of Boston were born their first four children,—Casper, Jr., William N., Elizabeth and James. Mary and Peter were born in Medina County, Ohio, and none were born after the removal to Henry County. All of the children married and reared children, and of the number only two are now living,—William N., of this review, and Mary, who is the wife of John Whittaker, a farmer in Benton County, Oregon. James died in Ohio, and Casper, Elizabeth and Peter were residents of Benton County, Oregon, at the time of their death. William N. Zierolf was a lad of nine years at the time of the family removal to Henry County, Ohio, where he was reared to manhood under the conditions and influences of the pioneer days, and the discipline which he here received in the common schools was later supplemented by a higher course of study at Heidelberg College, at Tiffin, this state. In initiating his independent career as a farmer he first obtained eighty acres of land in Marion Township, and in section 19 of that township he and his earnest and devoted young wife began their married life in a house of hewed logs. Prosperity attended his indefatigable labors during the passing years and eventually he became the owner of a splendid landed estate of 240 acres, including the old homestead of his father. All of the land is well improved and under a high state of cultivation, without a cent of indebtedness against it, and the permanent improvements are of the best modern order, including an attractive house of ten rooms, a barn that is 45 by 100 feet in dimensions, with a shed 140 feet long and 25 feet in height, and with windmills that make ample provisions for the watering of stock and for all general farm and household purposes. Mr. Zierolf continued his residence on his fine farm, which he still owns, until 1901, when he removed to Napoleon, the county seat, where he purchased his present fine brick residence of eleven rooms, at 625 Leonard Street, and here he and his gracious wife and helpmeet find themselves compassed by the most gracious environment and by a host of friends who are tried and true. He is a democrat in politics and both he and his wife are zealous communicants of the Catholic Church, in which all of their children were confirmed in youth. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1235 In the pioneer days Mr. Zierolf used to go from the old home in Marion Township to Brewensburg, twenty miles distant, to have grain ground for the family use. He made these journeys with an ox team and set forth on the trip at midnight, in order to compass his return the next day. In traversing the swamps and almost impassable roads at night he provided himself with an old-time tin lantern to aid him in making his way, and this was but one of many interesting experiences that involved much labor and incidental hardship in the pioneer days. In the year 1869 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Zierolf to Miss Christina Swabley who was born in Henry County in 1846 and who has since maintained here her home, her parents, Hugo and Anna M. (Frank) Swabley, having been very early settlers in the county, her father having been born in Baden and her mother in Bavaria, Germany. Mr. Swabley came to America in 1834 and was one of the pioneer settlers in the German colony at New Bavaria, Henry County, where he met and wedded his wife, who had come to America in 1835 and who had lived for a time in Defiance County, Ohio, whence she came with her mother and step-father to New Bavaria. Mr. Swabley was one of the pioneers of Henry County and he assisted in the construction of the old canal through the county, in 1845. He secured a tract of forty acres of land in Pleasant Township, where he established the family home in a log cabin and where eventually he became the owner of one of the large farm estates of the county. On his land was built the first schoolhouse in the district, the same having been a log cabin with puncheon floor, slab seats and desks and large fireplace. Mr. Swabley died in 1855, his birth having occurred in 1805, and his name merits place on the roll of the honored pioneers of this section of the Buckeye State. His widow survived him by forty years and passed to the life eternal in 1892, at the venerable age of eighty-five years, six months and twenty-four days. She was a woman of noble personality and was a lifelong communicant of the Catholic Church. Mrs. Zierolf is one of a family of four daughters, Catherine, the eldest, and Mary, the youngest being now deceased, and Elizabeth, being a resident of Pleasant Township ; all of these children married and reared children. In conclusion is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Zierolf Casper P., who now has the active charge of the old homestead farm, is married and has two sons and four daughters. Rev. William C. was ordained to the priesthood of the Catholic Church in December, 1905, and is now pastor of St. Paul's Church in the City of Canton, Ohio. Anna M., who remains at the parental home, received the best Of educational advantages, as did also the other children.. Frances L. is the wife of John J. Mangas, a prosperous farmer of Putnam County, and they have two sons. Elizabeth C. completed her education in what is now Valparaiso University, and she is now confidential stenographer for the law firm of Donovan & Warden, of Napoleon. John A. remains at the parental home, and Catherine died at the age of six months. The members of 'the Zierolf family who still reside in Henry County are earnest communicants of St. Augustine's Catholic Church and the subject of this sketch contributed $900 toward the erection of the church edifice, at New Batavia, he having been a member of the building committee. He served twelve years as township treasurer, eleven years as a member of the school board, and in 1886 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, an office of which he continued the incumbent for six years. JAMES SHOEMAKER. A useful and honorable life in Lucas County came to a close with the death of James Shoemaker at Waterville on April 3, 1896. He represented that old and substantial family that located in that section of Lucas County when it was a wilderness, and in his own generation he contributed worthy associations to the family name. He was a valiant soldier during the war between the states and as a business man he occupied himself chiefly with farming. He was born in Waterville December 22, 1836, a son of Thomas and Catherine (Van Fleet) Shoemaker. Thomas Shoemaker came to Waterville during the decade of the '20s, and became a factor in pioneer affairs. With an education acquired in the Waterville schools and the Maumee Seminary, James Shoemaker started his active life as a farmer, and was still a young man when in April, 1861, he answered the first call for troops to put down the rebellion. He enlisted in the three months' service in Company I of the Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. That service was spent in West Virginia, and on returning to Toledo he was 1236 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO mustered out August 3, 1861. Going back to the farm he remained only a short time until he re-enlisted on October 5, 1861, in Company K of the Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He became sergeant, first sergeant, and on May 22, 1864, was promoted to second lieutenant of Company K. However, owing to the fact that his term of enlistment would soon expire and because of his partial disability from wounds and hardships, he never mustered in with that rank. He participated in all the early engagements of his regiment, and after nearly four years of service was honorably discharged at Columbus on January 17, 1865. Thereafter he worked hard and industriously as a farmer and in establishing a home, but spent many years in later life retired at Waterville. On October 29, 1865, a few months after he came home from the war, he married Jane E. Gillette. Mrs. Shoemaker is still living at Waterville, and it is more than fifty years since she and her husband began liGrelton.her. For twenty years of that time she has lived a widow. Her parents were Orrin and Louisa (Smith) Gillette. They came from New York State and settled in 1834 on a farm two miles west of Waterville. All that country was then in the woods and there were no roads but blazed trails through the trees. In their particular neighborhood there were only one or two houses to mark the settlements of white men. Her father carried his corn or wheat for flour to the mill at Monroe, Michigan. In 1856 the Gillette family retired to Waterville, and Mrs. Shoemaker's parents spent the rest of their days there. Her mother died in December, 1887, and her father on October 1, 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Shoemaker had two children. Cora A., who was born June 29, 1867, is the wife of Clifford Ballow and their two girls are Gladys, aged twenty-three and. now attending a nurses' training school, and Lucile, aged ten. Clarence R., the only son, was born January 30, 1873, and by his marriage to Miss Bess Ostrander has three children, named Roland, aged fifteen; Carolyn Jane, aged eleven ; and Jafnes William, aged eight. The late James Shoemaker was an honored member of J. Fisher Pray Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of Waterville. FRANCIS P. DIEMER, now manager and secretary-treasurer of the Napoleon Telephone Company, has been closely identified with this public utility from its beginning, starting as a boy operator in the exchange, and being promoted through the various grades until he is now the sole executive officer residing at Napoleon. Mr. Diemer has mastered the telephone business, and his long and varied experience has taught him every detail in the management. In 1896 the nucleus of the present business Was started at Napoleon, the company being incorporated by E. L. Barber and James S. Brailey of Wauseon, and Judge M. Donnelly, Fred D. Prentiss and Oliver Higgins of Napoleon. Francis P. Diemer was one of the first employes. At the organization Judge Donnelly became president of the company, Fred D. Prentiss secretary-treasurer, and Mr. Higgins manager. The capital stock at that time was $10,000. In 1900 the original company was dissolved and the Home Telephone Company incorporated with a capital stock of $50,000 and with the same officers. At that time the company expanded the business, taking in all the exchanges in the county, including those at Rolgate, Hamler, Liberty Center, Florida, Grelton During the next twelve years the officers remained the same, and the only important changes were improvement and various extensions to make the system adequate in service to its increased patronage. In 1912 the Napoleon Telephone Company was organized also with a capital of $50,000, and the first officers were : D. J. Cable of Limcarrieddent ; John L. Cable, secretary ; B. P. Apples, treasurer. All these men were residents of Lima. At that time a new system was inaugurated, a fine central office was constructed at Napoleon, and many important improvements installed, including additional toll lines. In 1915 the original officers were replaced by the following : J. B. McMahon of Toledo, president ; and F. P. Diemer, secretary-treasurer. Mr. Diemer has been active manager of the Napoleon exchange and its connecting branches since 1900. The company has never had a vice president. At this time the Napoleon Telephone Company has in operation sififteen;s, and makes connection in telephonJamesice with lines radiating to all parts of the United States. It has 110 miles of poles, strung with about 563 miles of wire, and there is also 4 miles of cable. These lines accommodate over 2,000 patrons and altogether give service to about 4,000 people in Henry County. As mentioned, Mr. Diemer is the only resident officer of the company in Henry County. The HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1237 fine Exchange Building is located at 720 Perry Street. Francis P. Diemer was born in Napoleon March 17, 1881, grew up in the town, attended the parochial and high schools, and was only fifteen years of age when he took his first position as a night operator in the old telephone exchange. His father was John Diemer, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, February 2, 1839, and when fourteen years of age came across the Atlantic in a sailing . vessel with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Diemer, Sr. The family located on a farm near New Bavaria in Henry County, where the grandparents spent their lives. John Diemer, Jr., grew up on the old home at New Bavaria and in 1860 married Miss Josephine Grebal, who was born in Michelfelt, Bavaria, May 11, 1840. She and her sister Catherine came to the United States and to Napoleon when she was sixteen years of age in 1856, and four years later she was married. She died February 15, 1914, at Napoleon, and the father passed away January 2, 1896. After their marriage John Diemer and wife started out as farmers at New Bavaria, but later in the same year they came to Napoleon. In 1863 John Diemer enlisted in Company F of the One Hundred and Forty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served until the war closed, though escaping uninjured. After his return from the army he set up a meat market on Perry Street and conducted it until 1895, when he sold out to F. M. Beck, who in turn ran the business until 1915. The Diemer family for generations have been Catholic, and John Diemer was one of . the leaders in the church at Napoleon. In politics he was a democrat. There were twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, two of whom died young, while the others grew up and all married • except one daughter. Four sons and three daughters are still living. Two of them, John and Charles, live in New York State. George B. is a resident of Los Angeles, California. Mrs. C. V. Baldwin resides at Huntington, Indiana. Mrs. F. M. Beck resides at Napoleon. Otto A. Diemer died at Napoleon May 11, 1916. Lottie A., who has the leading millinery store at Napoleon, married F. B. Anderson June 9, 1916. The year following Francis P. Diemer 's first connection with the telephone company he was made night operator and collector, subsequently gave all his time to collections, and then was in the repair department. Thus he acquired a knowledge of all phases of the tel- Vol. II-37 ephone business and was well qualified for the job when he was promoted manager in 1900. In 1915 he was elected to the additional responsibilities as secretary-treasurer. He is also vice president of the Napoleon Automobile Company and one of the directors of the Carnegie Library of Napoleon. At Holgate, Henry County; on January 7, 1903, Mr. Diemer married Miss Elsie M. Cramer, who was born in Holgate October 3, 1881, grew up there, and after completing her education was clerk in a general store for a time until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Diemer have two daughters : Irene E., born August 1, 1904, and now in the seventh grade of the parochial schools ; and Elsie J., born December 1, 1906, and also a student in the parochial schools. The family are all confirmed in the Catholic Church. Mr. Diemer is a member of the Knights of Columbus, is one of the directors of the Napoleon Chamber of Commerce and in politics is a democrat. LEROY B. SHREVES is one of the most influential and popular citizens of Napoleon. As a soldier of the regular United States army made a splendid record of service during the Cuban war and also the Philippine war and it was while in the army, stationed at one of the posts in the United States, that he first learned the trade of horse shoeing and farrier. At the present time Mr. Shreves bears the enviable reputation in Napoleon of being "the honest blacksmith" of the city. All he has acquired, he has made through his own efforts and has gained a merited prominence in the affairs of the municipality. He has also acquired considerable property, and has a shop at the lower end of Perry Street near the river where the best work of the kind in the county is performed. He is a member of the Master Horse Shoers Association of America, and is secretary of the local body of that organization at Napoleon. He is now serving his first term in the city council. He is especially prominent in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a member of the local lodge and encampment, and has taken the Grand Master's degree in the Grand Lodge of the state. Both he and his wife belong to the Rebekahs, and he is also affiliated with the Loyal Order of Moose in Napoleon and the Fraternal Order of Eagles at Defiance. He is a popular member of Napoleon Lodge No. 929, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Due to his army 1238 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO service he is a member of the Spanish-American War Veterans at Napoleon. A native of Ohio, he was born in Fulton County, April 13, 1876, but grew up and received his education in Defiance, which was the home of his parents, William and Mary (Brower) Shreves. His mother, who is still living, was born in Putnam County, Ohio, sixty-seven years ago, a daughter of Hoadley Brower of New York State. William Shreves was born in Fulton County, Ohio, but was married in Ottawa County, lived for a time in Fulton County, later moved to Henry County, then in Defiance, and sixteen years ago removed to Fulton County and died there in September, 1907, at the age of fifty-nine. William Shreves was an excellent carpenter, and did a great deal of construction work on houses and barns in this part of Ohio. His parents, Charles' and Thankful (Stone) Shreves were of Scotch ancestry. The father of Charles Shreves was Charles C. Shreves who married in Scotland and then brought his family to the United States and located in Mahoning County, Ohio. Charles Shreves married Miss Stone and lived in Mahoning County, where his father and mother, Charles C. Shreves and wife, spent their last years. Charles Shreves and his son, William, afterwards moved to Fulton County, Ohio, where Charles and his wife spent their last years, having developed and owned a good farm. They were past eighty when they died, and were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and all the older generations supplied members to the democratic party. LeRoy B. Shreves is the oldest of four children, two sons and two daughters, all of . whom are married. His brother, Claude W., is a blacksmith at Liberty Center, Ohio. His sister, Ora May, is the wife of Charles Andrew, a farmer in Fulton County. Octavia is the wife of Martin Richardson, an automobile dealer at Archibald, Ohio, and they have a son named William. LeRoy B. Shreves grew up in Northwest Ohio, where he attended the public schools, and at the age of twenty-two enlisted in the regular United States army. He was stationed at Fort Crook, Nebraska, and while there started to learn the trade of blacksmith and horse shoer. He accompanied his command to Detroit, Michigan, and at the beginning of the Spanish-American war became a private in the Twenty-second Infantry Regiment. This regiment was sent to Tampa, Florida, and thence to Cuba, and in June, 1898, landed at Byiquiri under the protection of the guns of the Indiana, Brooklyn and Mobile ships of war. The regiment subsequently went to Sibony, Cuba, and a little later took part in the battle of San Juan Hill and in the night attack around Santiago of July 3d. Mr. Shreves remained there with his command until the 17th of July and after Santiago was surrendered by the Spanish forces he was sent back to the United States, where he remained a time at Montauk Point and in September was sent to Fort Crook, Nebraska. In January, 1899, he started for the Philippine Islands, landing in March of that year, and was soon attached to General Lawton's staff as battalion quartermaster. He was with that noted leader on five different expeditions and participated in thirty-seven engagements with the insurrections, but escaped without a scratch. On January 26, 1900, he received an honorable discharge at San Luis, Philippine Islands, his discharge being due to physical disability, and after several weeks of recuperation in the hospital at Manila he was transported home, first going to China and Japan, and landed at San Francisco April 5, 1900. He soon afterward reached Wauseon, Ohio, and in the following February came to Napoleon, where he finished his apprenticeship at the blacksmith and horse shoer's trade and has since made his home there and built up a flourishing business. At Napoleon in April, 1902, Mr. Shreves married Nella Brubaker of Napoleon Township, where she was born and reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Shreves have one child, William W., born March 21, 1908. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church of which Mrs. Shreves is an active member. JOSEPH JOHNSTON LOYD, WhO recently retired from the activities and responsibilities of business life is now filling the post of mayor of Waterville. He has been a resident of this section of Ohio for fully half a century, and his work and business and his good citizenship. have made him a host of friends. He was born September 22, 1842, at Emmittsburg, Maryland, a son of Joshua and Martha (Johnston) Loyd. The family on both sides have lived in America for generations, and his forefathers fought in the Revolutionary war and in other struggles of the colonists. Mr. Loyd's father died at Greencastle, Pennsylvania, in 1886 at the age of sixty-five. His mother died when Joseph J. was a child. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1239 With only a common school education at the beginning of his life, Mr. Loyd made the best of his opportunities, learned the trade of miller, and thus was able to take a useful and serviceable part when he arrived in Toledo in 1865. He was connected with the milling industry in that city for many years, and in 1889 removed to Waterville, where for five years he continued milling. He was then located at Grelton, Ohio, eleven years, since which time he has been a permanent resident of Waterville. He continued active in business until 1915, and now occupies himself entirely with his home interests and the management of his orchard. As a republican he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, and is one of the comparatively few men who have that distinction. He is giving much of his time to the administration of his office as mayor of Waterville. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order and took his degrees in that fraternity in Royalton Union Lodge, No. 434, of Lyons, Ohio. In 1877 he was admitted to Rubicon Lodge at Toledo. His church is the Presbyterian. Mr. Loyd enlisted in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, June 24th, 1863, in the Twentieth Pennsylvania Cavalry and served until honorably discharged June 21, 1865. He took part in several skirmishes and battles in which that brigade engaged. He is a member of Page Post, No. 264, G. A. R., of Sylvania, Ohio. In 1865 Mr. Loyd married Miss Mary Billman, of Reading, Pennsylvania. There are two children: Delvan J., who is now in the Waterville State Savings Bank ; and Arthur L., with the Home Telephone Company of Toledo. Their mother died in 1901, and in the following year Mr. Loyd married Alma M. Detrich, who was born in Dresden, Germany. By this union there are two children : Leota Josephine and Carl Detrich Loyd. THOMAS JEFFERSON EDWARDS. The popular proprietor of the Wellington Hotel at Napoleon has had a progressive career from hotel clerk to hotel proprietor, and is one of the best known men not only in Henry County, bet all along the line of the Wabash railroad in this section of Northwest Ohio. Samuel E. Edwards, the "Daniel Boone of Northwest Ohio," was his father. There is a book in existence which is filled with dramatic incidents and reflects the pioneer and wilderness life of Northwest Ohio during the early days of settlement. The book itself is an important contribution to Ohio history, and was published in 1893. The author was Samuel E. Edwards, and the book is under the title " The Ohio Hunter, or a Brief Sketch of the Frontier Life of Samuel E. Edwards, the great bear and deer . hunter of the State of Ohio." The book has about 240 pages, and every page is filled with personal reminiscences and romantic stories that are as instructive as they are entertaining. Samuel Edwards as a matter of fact spent most of his life in the wilderness of the northwestern counties of Ohio, and was known far and wide for his prowess as a hunter and as would be natural with such a character many associations and stories of pioneer life have gathered around his name. The book derives some of its chief charm and importance from the fact that it is from the pen of the chief actor. He not only tells of his many hunting expeditions and of his experiences on the frontier, but also throws much light on the early superstitions and religious fallacies which prevailed among the Indians and the early pioneers. While he acknowledges that it is a large enterprise for a man not specially qualified to attempt to Write a life story of himself, he wisely adds that the man who leaves so important a matter to those that follow leaves many important facts to be lost to oblivion. The reader of the book frequently has cause to wonder how a backwoodsman by training and experience could tell so interesting and romantic a tale. Samuel E. Edwards was born in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, March 22, 1810. His mother was Irish German and his father was Welsh. He inherited the art of the Irish, the sagacity of the German and the eloquence of the Welsh, and in early youth he also developed, perhaps by inheritance, an instinct for the marvelous and a love of nature's wonders and mysteries. He grew up strong, vigorous, alert of mind and senses, and possessed not, only physical strength but a marvelous endurance. As a boy he sat absorbed listening to the many tales of ghosts and witchcraft which were so frequently told by the firesides of the homes, and as he became better acquainted with the woods there developed a skepticism as to these early teachings, and when he found how strong a hold such superstitions had upon the Indians and the ignorant white settlers, he seized every opportunity to dispel the fog of ignorance, and in fact he devoted many of the years of 1240 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO his life to the enlightenment of intelligence and morals among the people with whom he came most frequently in contact. In 1812 when he was two years of age his father moved to Washington County, Ohio, and three years .later the mother was left .a widow with seven dependent children. Soon afterwards she moved to Cincinnati, and when Samuel was twelve years of age the family went to Piqua County, where they located in a community of Pennsylvania Dutch people. At that time the City of Piqua had only one house on its site. There Samuel Edwards grew to manhood, and he employed much of his time in working on a farm. In Piqua County on September 22, 1832, he married Mary Altman, who was of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. The year after his marriage Samual Edwards and his young wife and infant son George moved into the dense forest of Hancock County, Ohio. He afterwards went up into the Northwest Ohio district, until cold weather and the impenetrable swamps made further progress impossible, and he then returned to Piqua County, a distance of 125 miles, arriving after enduring hunger and the most severe hardships. He soon afterwards returned to Hancock County, where he and his little family eked out a bare subsistence largely from wild meat and wild honey, and they thus bridged over the time of scarcity until they could establish a home and raise their own bread. In those early days they hauled their grain and flour through the swamps from Logan and Champaign counties, about a hundred miles away. Samuel Edwards had many rare and interesting experiences in the Maumee River basin. There he came in contact with the Indians and soon learned that they were more dangerous when excited' by drink, than any of the wild beasts of the forest. He had narrow escapes, and for years he lived a life of risk and hardship. In 1838 he made the first,of his hunting excursions, which thereafter continued for a number of years until the hunting grounds of Northwest Ohio were entirely eliminated by the advance of settlement and general development. In. the first winter he killed thirty-eight deer, including one large buck which he had wounded and with which he had a dangerous struggle before he was able to cut its throat. From 1838 forward Samuel Edwards was the greatest hunter of wild .game, especially deer and bear, in Northwest Ohio. It has been said that when he raised his old “killall" gun something usually fell dead. He mingled freely with the Indians found still in that section of Ohio, and often made friends with them and seldom had any difficulties. One time he was walking from Maumee to Bucyrus in Crawford County and got lost in the woods. He sought shelter for the night in the but of an Indian couple whose daughter took a special fancy to the fearless woodsman and hunter, and when he set out the next day she provided him with a generous store of meat and directed him to the proper course. During the winter of 1846-47 Edwards hunted in the big woods of Putnam and Paulding counties, and his work there netted him about $70, a considerable sum for that time, and with it he was able to pay his debts and owe no man anything. At that time he had a family of nine children. He owned some fine hunting dogs of which he was especially proud. His favorite dog was Madge, who had been his main support in many a fight with crippled bears, and without her aid he could never have dispatched the beast. After the advance of settlement closed the hunting grounds, Samuel Edwards devoted more of his time to fishing, especially in the Maumee River, and he was equally skillful in the handling of reel, hook and line as with the rifle. He hooked some of the largest sturgeon and other fish ever caught in that river. Later he confined his hunting chiefly to coon, turkey and small game, and would traverse long distances in order to find good fishing grounds. During those years he lived on his little farm in Harrison Township of Henry County, where he spent his last days and died when about ninety years of age. His first wife had passed away before the Chi]. 'war, leaving him a large family of children. Late in life he and his second wife embraced the Christian religion, joining the Christian Church, and he died happy in that faith. He was one of the unique characters of Northwest Ohio and well deserves this brief tribute to his memory and his accomplishments. He and all his sons except Thomas J. were republicans in politics. Thomas Jefferson Edwards was born within four miles of Napoleon, in Harrison Township, and is now about fifty years of age. 'His mother, whose maiden name was Rachel Hill, was the daughter of Michael Hill, a pioneer of Henry County, who died here when quite advanced in years. He was well known as a HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1241 minister of the Seventh Day Adventist denomination. Rachel Hill, his daughter, is now eighty-six years of age, and is still vigorous and makes her home with her daughter in Mount Vernon, Ohio. She was the second wife of Samuel Edwards, and a brief record of other children is as follows : Frank, who lives in Malden, Missouri, and has three daughters; William H., who is a graduate in dentistry and in practice at Napoleon and has two daughters and one son ; Grant, who lives near Damascus in Henry County, and has.four sons. Thomas J. Edwards had three half brothers : George, Squire and Joe, who were all soldiers in the Civil war. Joe was wounded and returned to Henry County, where he spent his last years, and died about eight years ago. George and Squire were both killed while serving with the Union forces in the South, and were both unmarried at the time. Squire had reached the rank of lieutenant the day before he was killed. Thomas J. Edwards grew up in Henry County, acquired an education in the public schools, and when quite young left the farm to begin life on his own account and soon became identified with the hotel business. Since 1909 he has been proprietor of the Wellington Hotel at Napoleon. This is one of the well known hostelries of Northwest Ohio, has fifty rooms, and has accommodations in the dining room for twice as many guests as can be entertained as lodgers. In 1897 Mr. Edwards became proprietor of the Joy House at Findlay, and in 1898 he took over and repaired the Ross Hotel at Deshler in Henry County, and continued the management of that house until he removed to Napoleon. He has been very successful as a landlord, and besides his hotel he looks after the cultivation and management of a fine farm of ninety-five acres all of which lie within the city limits of Napoleon. Here he has two large bank barns, two houses, grows grain, vegetables, fruits and stock, and is in a position to supply much that is consumed on the tables of his hotel. While living at Deshler Mr. Edwards married Miss Blanche Heller, daughter of George and Flora Heller, who now live retired in Napoleon. Mr. Heller was an active farmer for many years, and for four years served in the Civil war. He was in many battles and at one time was captured and held a prisoner in Andersonville prison. For the past eight years Mr. Edwards has been president of the Henry County Fair Association. Politically he is a democrat and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Deshler, the Encampment at Leipsic, and is a charter member of the Elks Lodge at Napoleon. JOHN H. DOUTY is manager, secretary and treasurer of the Napoleon Lumber and Handle Company, has been a practical lumberman since early youth, and is one of the vigorous powers in the industrial affairs of that Northwest Ohio city. Since Mr. Douty took an executive place in the corporation the business of the Napoleon Lumber and Handle Company has more than doubled. This concern's chief output is shovel and other farming tool handles, and it furnishes these handles in immense quantities to manufacturers of shovels and other farming tools requiring such. A number of years ago Thomas Burke started a small factory of this kind at Napoleon, but its chief output was hubs. He was succeeded by C. F. Ferguson, a Detroit manufacturer, but the success of the concern was only nominal until Mr. Douty came into active charge. In 1906 Mr. Douty acquired a half interest in the business, and in 1910 there was incorporated the Napoleon Lumber and Handle Company with a capital of $10,000. The officers since incorporation have been C. F. Ferguson of Detroit, Michigan, president ; M. H. Ferguson, vice president, and John H. Douty, treasurer, secretary and general manager. In one year this company manufactured over a million handles for farm tools, a record unsurpassed by any factory of the kind in the county. All these handles were taken by the Wallingford Manufacturing Company of Wallingford, Vermont, and used by them as the wooden part of various farm tools. There is a large warehouse at Napoleon for the storage of handles used by the Wallingford Manufacturing Company. The company also manufactures a large quantity of D shovel handles and for this product have more orders than they can fill. The material used for the manufacture of these handles is a high grade of straight grained white ash, most of which is secured within the borders of Ohio. The plant employs thirty-three men the year around, and the business is one which constitutes an important asset to the city. John H. Douty practically grew up in the lumber business in Putnam County, Ohio, 1242 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO and also had experience in the states of Arkansas and Missouri. He was born in Putnam. County, Ohio, January 7, 1880, received sufficient education for business needs, and was still a boy when he began working in a sawmill. At the age of eighteen he was a full fledged sawyer, and that was his regular vocation until he was twenty-three. At that age he took complete charge of the sawmills of a large corporation at Hoxey, Arkansas, where he remained until he came to Napoleon about ten years ago. His father, Elijah Douty, who was born in Hancock County, Ohio, sixty-six years ago, also entered the lumber and sawmill business as a boy, and made that his chief pursuit for many years. He finally became a farmer in Michigan, but about ten years ago retired from his Michigan farm and has since lived at Defiance, Ohio. Elijah Douty was married in Hancock County to Hannah Rinehart, who was born there sixty-four years ago. Both parents are still living, are members of the United Brethren Church and in politics he is a democrat. There were three sons and one daughter, but the daughter 'died in infancy. Byron D. is married and is in the electrical supply and contracting business at Defiance, Ohio, and has one son named Paul. George is a clothing merchant at Defiance and has two daughters Lucy and Dorothy. The youngest of the sons, John H. Douty, was married in Defiance, Ohio, to Miss Theresa Fink, who was born there June 24, 1882, and received her education in her native town. Her parents Jacob and Pauline Fink were both natives of Germany, but were married after coming to this country, and spent most of their lives in Defiance. Jacob Fink died in 1914, and his widow is still living at Defiance at the age of sixty-six. They were members of the German Methodist Church and in politics he was a republican. Mr. and. Mrs. Douty are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has been very active in church affairs, has filled various church offices and is now trustee and steward. Politically he acts independently. ROBERT BAUR is secretary and treasurer of The Schunk Hardware Company, one of the largest establishments of its kind in Northwest Ohio. At its establishment on Monroe and Superior streets, Toledo, it handles all kinds of general hardware, builders' supplies, stoves and house furnishing goods, and the business is conducted both wholesale and retail. The principals of the business have been identified with Toledo for a great many years, and the firm is one of the highest standing. The president of the company is W. C. Schunk, the vice president R. H. Aish, with Mr. Baur secretary and treasurer, and other directors are J. G. and W. S. Nuhfer. It is the wholesome tendency of American business men to more and more take up outside diversions and pursuits, and they are all the better business men for such avocations and interests. While Mr. Baur has been working and paying his own way since boyhood, he has never concentrated all his energies in one channel to the exclusion of the many good things of life outside. He is a student by nature, a characteristic probably inherited from his father. Though essentially a business man, he is interested in scientific studies and some years ago he took a course in commercial law and general law at Toledo as a member of the law class conducted by Wilbur A. Owen in the Toledo Court house. He also took a correspondence law course with the Sheldon School of Chicago. His aim in studying law was not for the purpose of engaging in practice as a member of the bar, but merely for his individual improvement and for a better understanding of the basic fundamentals of business. Mr. Baur has a fine private library of from 800 to 1,000 volumes in his home, and is both a lover and reader of good literature, and his entire family share with him this diversion. He is a student of history, and has also delved into the mysteries of several sciences, including geology. He has spent many pleasant and profitable hours with his microscope, and he also has a telescope and has learned to read the message of the heavens. Mr. Baur is a member of the German Pioneer Society and of the Toledo Historical Society, and is a prominent layman of the German Methodist Church, having long been identified with the Lakeside Association of the Central German Conference, and was recently elected a director of the association. Whenever and wherever possible Mr. Baur gives his influence to the cause of higher education, and is a congenial and progressive business man whose support can readily be enlisted for the betterment of anything that concerns his community. He was born July 30, 1861, at Oberhofen in Canton Berne, Switzerland. His parents were Abraham and Anna (Streit) Baur. His father was born at Oberhofen and his mother HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1243 at Kirchdorf, Switzerland. Abraham Baur was a man of studious pursuits, and though a poor boy he paid his own way and educated himself, and became a lawyer and notary public in Switzerland, practicing successively at Wattenwyl, Erlenbach and at Oberhofen. He was quite prosperous, and he was planning the erection of a villa in Switzerland when the Franco-Prussian war came on in 1870 and caused financial reverses which made it necessary to abandon those plans, and not long ,afterward he set out with his family for America. A son by a former marriage had already come to Toledo and on August 3, 1873, Abraham Baur came with his second wife and their children to this city. While the removal was doubtless a benefit to the family as a whole, it was somewhat unfortunate for Abraham Baur. The family have always believed that he suffered extremely from homesickness and a longing for his native land and his friends in Switzerland. In the old country he had been constantly striving to get ahead in the world, was exceedingly progressive and was congenially engaged in the practice of law and his other affairs. When he came to America he was past middle life, was unable to speak the English language, could not continue his law practice, and was thus thrown upon his own resources and the limited opportunities of social intercourse contained in his own family. He died three years after coming to this country, in July, 1876, at the age of fifty-five. His wife wished many times that they had returned to Switzerland if such return would have been a means of prolonging his life. Mrs. Anna Baur survived him many years and passed away at Toledo December 27, 1912, at the age of eighty-four. By his first marriage Abraham Baur had two children. The son Gottfried, who was the first of the family to settle in Toledo, died there during the '80s. The daughter, Mrs. Magdalena Ruembeli, lives in Toledo, but her home was in New Yorli State until after the family had joined her brother in Toledo. By the second marriage Abraham Baur had seven children : Alfred E., who is a plumber with business on Monroe Street in Toledo; Mrs. Jacob Frutiger, Widow of the late Jacob Frutiger, who was connected with The Hein Furniture Company of Toledo ; Emil, who died in Tyro, Kansas, in 1912 ; Robert, the subject of this review ; Rev. Arnold C. Baur, who is pastor of the German Methodist Episcopal Church at Evansville, Indiana ; Adolph, who died in 1884 as the result of an accidental fall from a second story window on Summit Street at Toledo; Ernest, who is engaged in the real estate and insurance business and proprietor of the Baur Collection Agency in the Smith-Baker Building at Toledo. All the children were born in Switzerland. Robert Baur was thus twelve years of age when the family came to Toledo. He had attended the German schools in Switzerland and continued his studies in the Toledo public schools and by other courses of instruction as already mentioned. When quite young he entered business life, having charge of a small men's furnishing goods and merchant tailoring establishment at Elmore, Ohio, for a time. He then entered the Baldwin-Wallace College at Berea, Ohio, and continued his studies there until' his money gave out. Returning to Toledo, he spent two years with the Sterling carpet house. For thirty years his business experience has been in the hardware trade. He was the first bookkeeper of the firm with which he is now connected. This firm was then Schunk & Hillenkamp. He began keeping books for them June 1, 1886. Later the firm became Schunk, Hillenkamp & Company, and the business was removed to larger quarters. In 1893 the business was incorporated as The Star Hardware Company, with Mr. Baur as one of the directors and officers. In 1907 he sold his stock, and transferred his connections to The Schunk-Marquardt Company, which subsequently became The Schunk Hardware Company. Since April 12, 1908, Mr. Baur has been secretary and treasurer of this company. He was formerly a director of the old Lucas County Savings Bank, now out of existence. Mr. Baur a republican, is affiliated with Rubicon Lodge No. 237, Free and Accepted Masons, is treasurer of the German Benevolent Association, a member of the Toledo Commerce Club, and organized the Schunk Hardware Club, with a membership of fifteen employes. The object of the club is to further the efficiency of the members and interests of the company. He has long been active in the German Methodist Episcopal Church. He has served as superintendent of its Sunday School since 1909, and Mrs. Baur also takes an active part in church affairs. On November 11, 1890, he married Miss Ernestine Koeppen. She was born in Kilmanagh, Huron County, Michigan, and was 1244 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO reared in the family of Rev. Joseph Kern, who was district superintendent of the Michigan District and at the time of his death was pastor of the German Methodist Episcopal Church at the corner of Gratiot and Joseph Campau Avenue in Detroit. Since his death the Kern family have lived in Toledo. Mr. and Mrs. Baur have three sons. Elmer R., who is connected with the Probate Court office at Toledo, was married September 1, 1914, to Sophia Bender, daughter of Henry Bender, a prominent Toledo contractor. Joseph K., who was named in honor of Rev. Joseph Kern, is in the contract department of the Toledo Railways and Light Company. Clarence Carl is now taking a commercial course in the Tri-State Business College. All the children were born in Toledo and have received their education there. JOSEPH A. SLOAN, treasurer and general manager of the Ohio Gas Light & Coke Company, whose main offices are in Napoleon, has had a business career which offers encouragement and incentive to other young men who start out in life with no assurance as to the future except such as is contained within his own possibilities. When opportunity came he accepted it. But if an opportunity did not come, he went out and found it. Adversity schooled him, experience matured his ability, and on the basis of honorable integrity he has won a most commendable position among the business men of Northwestern Ohio. The present corporation of which he is general manager was incorporated in May, 1914. Its four plants are located in Henry, Fulton and Williams counties, with offices at Napoleon, Wauseon, Bryan, Delta, and Montpelier. They have manufacturing plants at Napoleon and Bryan and have an electric substation at Delta. Every one of the plants and stores is equipped in the most modern style and as a public utility it is one of the most important in, Northwest Ohio. The company manufactures coke extensively, and the combined capacity of their plants for the manufacture of gas is about 300,000 cubic feet per day. Mr. Sloan was formerly with the Napoleon and Wauseon Gas Company and the Bryan and Montpelier Gas Company. In association with his father-in-law, Mr. David Hartigan and Mr. Sloan's two brothers, Bernard A. and H. J. furnish the chief management for all these various plants. Bernard Sloan has charge of distribution from Wauseon, while H. J. Sloan has his office at Montpelier. In May, 1914, the various interests at these four places were concentrated under the corporation title above named. The president of the company is Gale B. Orwig, a son of Luther Orwig, the veteran editor of the Northwestern, the oldest paper of Henry County. Gale Orwig is one of the leading young business men of Henry County. The vice president of the company is W. J. Hartnett of Fulton, New York. Bernard Sloan is secretary while Joseph is treasurer and general manager. Mr. Hartigan is local manager for the company at Napoleon. In the various towns the company maintains shops and stores for the supplying of gas ranges and all kinds of gas equipment. The company was incorporated with a capital of $250,000 and recently $250,000 worth of bonds have been issued, which constitute a part of the capital stock, raising it to half a million dollars, and eventually the bonds will be exchanged for preferred stock in the company. Joseph A. Sloan has been associated with his brothers and Mr. Hartigan in the gas and coke business since February, 1911. Previously he spent 9 ½ years with the W. E. Moss & Company of Detroit as general manager and engineer. While with that company he showed unusual ability both in technical matters and as an executive and he has since brought his experience and other qualifications to the successful handling of the Gas Light & Coke Company of Ohio. Mr. Sloan was born in New York State thirty-five years ago, and his father was a native of Ireland, coming to the United States when young and spending his life in New York. Mr. Sloan's mother was of American parentage, and she as well as her husband is deceased. The family are of the Catholic faith. Reared and educated in his native state, after completing his high school course Joseph A. Sloan took up engineering and has been very successful in that profession as well as in general business affairs, and won his way by study and practical experience. He is a member of the National Commercial Gas Association and of the Michigan Gas Association. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Defiance Lodge of Elks and the Knights of Columbus. In Fulton, New York, he married Miss Anna E. Hartigan, who was born and reared there and finished her education in the State Normal School. Her parents are David and HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1245 Margaret (Burke) Hartigan, the former a native of Canada and the latter of New York State, but both of Irish stock. Mr. Hartigan followed a trade until 1912, when he came to Napoleon and is now connected with the Gas and Coke Company. .The Hartigans are also members of the St. Augustine Catholic Church at Napoleon, and Mr. Hartigan is a democrat, while Mr. Sloan maintains an independent attitude in politics. Mr. and Mrs. Sloan have one daughter, Margaret M., who was born September 29, 1913. ANTONE HAHN was one of the valued citizens and workers in Northwest Ohio during his comparatively brief life, and his family are well known in Henry County and other sections of the state. His son, George P. Hahn, is a prominent young lawyer of Toledo, with offices in the Nicholas Building. Born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, about 1850, Antone Hahn died at his home on East Clinton Street in Napoleon, October 12, 1888. He was of German ancestry, and his parents spent their lives in Hesse Darmstadt. After receiving a good training in the German schools, he came to the United States, locating in Napoleon, where he found employment in the store conducted by his brother George for a time, and afterwards was in business for himself until his death. He was a democrat and a member of the Catholic Church. In Toledo in 1878 he married Miss Sophia Yackee. Mrs. Hahn is still living in Napoleon. She was born in Alsace, Germany, in 1858, a daughter of T. and Salomia (Bauldauf) Yackee, who were also natives of Alsace and were born in that province when it was a part of France. Her mother died there in 1868. She was a member of the Protestant religion. Mrs. Hahn and her brother Philip L., who is a farmer in Henry County, are the only survivors of her children. Mrs. Hahn's father later married Dorothy Wieskarper of the same province and in 1872 the little family took passage from Havre on the steamer Denmark and two weeks later landed in New York City. During that voyage *Mrs. Hahn passed her fourteenth birthday. From New York they came to Napoleon, where Mr. Yackee bought and located on a farm in Napoleon Township, and the he developed a good estate. Some years lath he retired to Napoleon and died there in 1905 at the age of seventy-four. He was a democrat and a member of the Lutheran Church. His widow married William Fink and she now lives in Napoleon. Mrs. Hahn and all her family are members of the Lutheran Church. She became the mother of five children. Anthony P. died about four years ago, a young man still unmarried. George Philip was educated for the law in the Ohio State University, was admitted to the bar, and has succeeded in establishing a successful practice at Toledo. He married Estella Vocke of Napoleon, and they have two children, Philip V. and Frances H. Elnora is the wife of Henry Meyer, a pharmacist at Napoleon and a member of the firm of Morey & Meyer ; they have two children, Norman J. and Helen E. Selma C., who like the other children, was well educated in the local and high schools at Napoleon, graduated from high school in 1900 and is now the wife of George C. Roedel, a clothing merchant at Archibald in Fulton County. Ada S., who graduated from high school in 1903, married John H. Kraft of Chicago, where he is connected with a bonding house ; they have one son, John J. REV. F. J. LANKENAU. In the work of his high calling the consecrated zeal and devotion of the honored subject of this review are fortified by fine intellectual ability and by that deepening and abiding human sympathy and tolerance that transcend mere sentiment to become an actuating power for helpfulness. Mr. Lankenau has devoted fully a quarter of a century to service as a clergyman of the Lutheran Church and has gained more than ordinary distinction as a minister of the gospel and as an educator. At Napoleon, the judicial center of Henry County, he has held since 1908 the pastorate of St. Paul's Church, one of the strongest and most influential churches of this section of the state and one to whose work he has given vitality and inspiration along both spiritual and temporal lines. St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Napoleon was founded in 1856, by the Rev. J. W. Bergt, but the church did not receive its charter and adopt its constitution until 1865. In the early stage of its history its services were held in a pioneer log building that was situated at a point between the river and the old time canal. The first regular church edifice was a frame building that was erected on Monroe Street, and the charter members of the church were twenty-one in number. These earnest men signed the constitution of the organization, and within a short time other 1246 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO names were added to the list. From the old church on Monroe Street the growing congregation finally removed to its fine new edifice on West Clinton Street, where, in 1886, was erected a substantial brick building with a seating capacity for 700 persons. With its excellent furnishings this edifice represented an expenditure of $25,000. In 1909 a noteworthy and consistent addition was made to the parish property, in the erection of a fine modern parsonage, which is of brick construction and which contains ten rooms. The membership rolls of this splendid parish now contain the names of 425 communicants, and the total number of adherents and supporters is 550. All departments of the church work are carried forward with vigor and success and the pastor receives the earnest and loyal co-operation of all of the members of his flock. Under the administration of the present pastor the church has received each year an average of about twenty-five new members. Mr. Lankenau assumed this important charge in 1908, as previously noted, and he came to Napoleon from the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, where for eighteen years he had served as pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. During the final six years of this incumbency he was also president of the Lutheran College in the fine old Crescent City, and his work in both connections was remarkably successful, his congregation being made up entirely of negroes and the college likewise being conducted exlusively in the interests of the colored people. These earnest brethren also maintain at Greensboro, North Carolina, the Emanuel College for colored students, and work among the negroes of the South was greatly advanced through the earnest and devoted services of Mr. Lankenau. A quarter of a century ago, in the South, Mr. Lankenau was ordained a clergyman of the Lutheran Church, after having completed his ecclesiastical course in Concordia College, at Springfield, Illinois, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1891, the college being conducted under the auspices of the Lutheran Synod of Missouri. Mr. Lankenau was born at Fort Wayne, Indiana, on the 26th of April, 1868, and there he acquired his early education in parochial and public schools. Prior to entering the ministry he had devoted three years to effective service as a teacher. Francis Lankenau, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born near Bremen, Germany, where he was reared and educated and where his marriage was solemnized. About a year after his marriage he and his young wife came to the United States, and on the voyage their first child, Henry, was born. The family home was established at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and there Francis Lankenau and a partner engaged in the building of canal boats, he being a skilled cabinetmaker and having charge of the finishing of the boats, while his partner supervised the construction of the lower parts of the vessels, which were made for both passenger and freight transportation. After the lapse of about twelve years the demand for such vessels ceased, owing to the abatement of the passenger traffic, and Mr. Lankenau obtained employment as foreman in the repair shops of the Wabash Railroad at Fort Wayne, where he worked as a skilled mechanic and also as a patternmaker. He finally retired from active labors and he was sixty-three years of age at the time of his death, his widow long surviving him and being summoned to eternal rest when about eighty years of age. Both were devout communicants of the Lutheran Church and he was an elder of the church at the time of his death. Henry Lankenau, father of him to whom this review is dedicated, was born on shipboard while his parents were en route to America, as has been previously stated, and he was reared to manhood at Fort Wayne, where he was afforded the advantages of the Lutheran parochial schools and where later he was graduated in a normal school maintained under church auspices. He then engaged in newspaper work, as an attache of a German paper published at Fort Wayne, but when the Civil war was precipitated on the nation he promptly subordinated all personal interests to tender his aid in defense of the Union. Early in 1861 he enlisted as a private in the Fifth Indiana Cavalry and his first active service was in skirmishing duty in Kentucky. He later proceeded farther to the south and after having participated with his regiment in several minor battles and various skirmishes, he was captured by the enemy, at White Church, Georgia. He was incarcerated in the odious Andersonville Prison, but when Sherman's forces came forward in their successful campaign 14 was removed with other prisoners of war to another and less accessible prison. After nine months of captivity he was released, his exchange having been effected at Wilmington, North Carolina. He was made a non-commissioned officer, re-enlisted as a veteran and continued in service as a gallant HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1247 soldier of the Union until the close of the war. For five years thereafter he continued his association with newspaper work, at Fort Wayne, and he was then chosen deputy sheriff of Allen County, Indiana. Later he removed to Van Wert County, Ohio, and he gave thirty-five years of effective service as a teacher, his work in the pedagogic profession having been principally in Allen and Adams Counties, Indiana, and Van Wert County, Ohio. For thirty years he was a popular teacher in the Lutheran parochial schools at St. John's, Indiana, and there his death occurred in 1912, at which time he was sixty-eight years of age. He was an influential figure in the work of the Lutheran Church in northeastern Indiana and was an active and influential supporter of the cause of the democratic party. In the City of Fort Wayne was solemnized the marriage of Henry Lankenau to Miss Catherine Schumm, who was born in Van Wert County, Ohio, in 1849, and whose German ancestors were pioneer settlers in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Lankenau, ever a devoted communicant of the Lutheran Church, now resides in the City of Chicago, where she makes her home with her daughter Clara, who is matron of the Walther League Hospice. Of the children the subject of this sketch is the eldest; Adelaide is married and resides at Fort Wayne, Indiana ; Miss Clara, of Chicago, was the next in order of birth ; Louise is a teacher of German at Fort Wayne ; Flora is married and resides at Fort Wayne ; August is a resident of Minnesota, and always has been a farmer; Oscar is engaged in the dry-goods business at Decatur, Indiana ; Adolph is a commercial salesman and resides at Fort Wayne ; Alma resides at Fort Wayne and is married ; and Enno and Herbert, both married, are machinists by vocation. Rev. F. J. Lankenau gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and is distinctively progressive and public-spirited in his civic attitude. He is secretary of the visting board which has a general supervision of the county institutions of Henry County and is chairman of the board of trustees of the Napoleon public library. In Adams County, Indiana, in the year 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Rev. F. J. Lankenau to Miss Helen Bleeke, who was born and reared in that county and who is a daughter of Frederick and Mary (Bevelheimer) Bleeke, the former a native of Westphalia, Germany, and the latter of the State of Pennsylvania, her birth having occurred in Berks County. Mr. Bleeke was for many years a prosperous merchant in Adams County, Indiana, where he also conducted in the early days an ashery, and there his death occurred when he was seventy-eight years of age, his wife having passed away at the age of fifty-six years and both having been earnest and lifelong communicants of the Lutheran Church. They became the parents of three sons and six daughters, all of whom are living except one daughter. To Mr. and Mrs. Lankenau have been born nine children, concerning whom brief record is given in conclusion of this review : Alfred F. H. gained his higher academic education in his father's alma mater, Concordia College, and supplemented this by a course in a business college at Lima, Ohio. He is now a valued employee in a mercantile establishment at Napoleon. Arthur E. was graduated in Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana, as a member of the class of 1916, and was editor in chief of the college paper, the Torch. Francis J. is a member of the class of 1917 in Concordia College. Harold is a member of the class of 1917 and the Napoleon high school. Wilfred E., Paul R., Otto E., Norman and Helen remain at the parental home and are attending the public schools of Napoleon. GENERAL CEILAN MILO SPITZER. Until his retirement from active business in February, 1913, General Spitzer had for forty years exercised a dominant influence over the financial life of Northwestern Ohio and his name will always be associated as one of the most notable financiers of Toledo. General Spitzer now spends most of his time in his winter home in Los Angeles, California, and is one of the most conspicuous members of the Ohio colony in that city. He has been one of the fortunate men of his time and generation. He was fortunate in inheriting an old and respected family name and also some of the ability and fitness for business and finance which proved the foundation upon which he built so extensively his own career and success. Ceilan Milo Spitzer was born in Batavia, New York, November 2, 1849, the oldest son of Aaron Bovee and Laura Maria (Perkins) Spitzer. Several of his ancestors were distinguished in the early colonies of New York and the New England states. His great-greatgrandfather was Dr. Ernestus De Spitzer. His mother was descended from James Draper of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and Quar- 1248 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO termaster John Perkins of Ipswich, Massachusetts, who were the first of their respective families in America. General Spitzer's great-grandfather, Nathaniel Perkins, served, before he reached his majority, as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington during the Revolutionary . war. In another line General Spitzer is a great-great-great-greatgrandson of Hendricks Cornelius Van Buren, who as a soldier in the Indian war of 1663 was stationed at Fort Cralo in Papshire, and was an ancestor of President Martin Van Buren. In the maternal line General Spitzer is also a descendant as great-great-great-grandson of Jacob Janse Schermerhorn, who founded the family bearing his name in America, emigrating from Waterland, Holland, 1636, and locating at Beverswick in the New Netherlands, where he was noted as a man of wealth and prominence. He died in Schenectady, New York, in 1688. It has been said that blood will tell. Inheritance is indeed a factor and an important factor in every individual destiny. But it is only capital, and is not valuable except through use. The career of General Spitzer illustrates this truth. Since he was a mere youth a certain vigor and enterprise characterized and controlled his destiny and he was in business on an independent footing before he reached his majority. In 1851, two years after his birth, his parents removed to Medina, Ohio, where he attended the public schools and he also was a student at Oberlin College. In 1869, at the age of twenty, he began his active business career by buying a half interest in a drug store at Seville, Ohio. This he sold out two years later and with his father opened the Seville Exchange Bank under the style C. M. Spitzer & Company. This banking house obtained an immediate standing and reputation in that part of Ohio and under the direction of the rapidly maturing ability of General Spitzer the business flourished and expanded. In 1877 a branch bank was opened at Medina and in 1878 he organized the German-American Bank of Cleveland, which grew into such immediate favor that Mr. Spitzer soon bought the interest of Ludwig Wideman, who had become a partner in 1873. During the next two years General Spitzer with his father conducted a general banking and investment business at Cleveland, Ohio. Then came what is doubtless the most important event in his financial career. In January, 1880, owing to a financial depres sion the Cleveland bank failed, and it was necessary to settle with the creditors on a forty per cent basis. To some men this would have been a permanent blow to all aspirations for financial success. It was not so with Ceilan M. Spitzer. After he had recovered lost ground and was able to do so, about ten years later, he voluntarily and without either legal or moral necessity paid all the bank debts dollar for dollar. The act of restitution naturally gave him a splendid reputation in the business world. In 1880, associated with Ludwig and Jerome P. Wideman, General Spitzer opened the Bank of Fremont at Fremont. Ohio, but sold it the following year and formed the firm of Spitzer, Wideman & Company, bankers, at Toledo. The following year General Spitzer bought the interests of the Widemans and formed a partnership with his cousin, Adelbert L. Spitzer (to whose career reference is made on other pages), under the firm name of Spitzer & Company. In 1887 they established a branch office in Boston, Massachusetts, but in May, 1899, the Boston office was moved to 20 Nassau Street, New York City. On February 1, 1911, the name of the firm was changed to Spitzer, Rorick & Company and General Spitzer was active in its affairs until his retirement about two years later. General Spitzer has been a stockholder and director in many banks in Ohio, was a director of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, and was first president of The Spitzer Building Company, which in 1893 erected the first modern steel fireproof office building in Toledo, and which with the annex constructed in 1900, has a capacity of over 700 offices. General Spitzer is also president of The. Nicholas Building Company, which in 1905 erected the Nicholas Building, named after his grandfather. This is a sixteen-story fireproof steel structure and contains over 800 offices. General Spitzer and Mr. A. L. Spitzer conducted and owned these buildings jointly for a number of years, but in February, 1911, the ownership of these properties was divided, General Spitzer taking the Nicholas Building and A. L. Spitzer the Spitzer Building. In January, 1900, Governor George K. Nash appointed Mr: Spitzer quartermaster-general of Ohio with the rank of brigadier-general. While for years he has exercised an important influence in city and state affairs, he has steadfastly refused to permit HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1249 his name to be used for any elective office. His leadership and example has been the potent factor in the success of many movements for the real benefit of his home city and he has never failed to contribute generously to any worthy artistic, business or benevolent enterprises. He is a member of the Toledo and Country clubs of Toledo, Bankers' Club of America, New York, and the Ohio Society of New York. General Spitzer has traveled widely both in this country and abroad, and his fine Colonial home, " Innisfail," on Collingwood Avenue, in Toledo, was filled with numerous choice specimens of the artistic and curious from all parts of the world, including a fine art gallery. About a year after his retirement from active business General Spitzer erected a winter home in Los Angeles, California, on Andrews Boulevard, in the Wile-shire District. It is considered by many good judges to be the most artistic and homelike residence and grounds in Southern California. Here General Spitzer, the retired Ohio banker, has placed many of the rare paintings, fine Persian rugs and other art treasures which he has collected during his extensive travels abroad. General Spitzer has always been a picturesque figure in the financial world. He was the friend of President McKinley, Senator Hanna and other famous men. He visited California with President McKinley and Governor Nash and assisted in christening the Battleship Ohio at San Francisco. His chief diversion has been automobiling abroad in which sport he was a pioneer. He is a member of the Royal Automobile Club of England and has for many years kept a touring car there for continental tours. In 1884 General Spitzer was married to Miss Lilian Cortes McDowell, daughter of Alexander McDowell, a" lineal descendant of Elizabeth, sister of William Penn. Mrs. Spitzer is a cousin of Gen. Irvine McDowell, who for many years, or until his death was stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco, and in command of the entire Pacific Coast Division of the United States Army. They have no children. THOMAS MULCAHY. In the fifteen years since he qualified as a lawyer and began practice in Henry County, Thomas Mulcahy has found his ability and talent rewarded by many of the more substantial successes of the attorney and public spirited citizen. He has been in practice at Napoleon since 1900, and recently completed two terms as prosecuting attorney of Henry County, an office he took in 1909 and was succeeded by his law partner, Richard W. Cahill, who is serving his fourth term in the office.. Mr. Cahill was admitted to the Ohio, bar in 1880, and is one of the oldest lawyers now in practice at Napoleon. He was in practice continuously except from 1902 to 1909 when he was connected with the Morning Star Manufacturing Company. In the fall of 1916 Mr. Mulcahy was elected on the democratic ticket a member of the General Assembly for Henry County. His public service also includes clerk of deputy state revisers of Union County for two years, as clerk of the deputy state supervisors of election in Henry County two years, four years as justice of the peace of Napoleon Township, and he was also for four years during Cleveland's administration postmaster at Bake's Creek in Union County. Mr. Mulcahy was on the commission appointed by Governor Cox to revise and codify the road laws of Ohio, and he rendered particularly valuable service in that way, since by the revision and codification the road laws of Ohio are now uniform and standard and provide methods and processes for the laying out, building and maintaining of highways all over the state. Thomas Mulcahy was born in Madison County, Ohio, and at the age of ten went to Union County with his father, brothers and sisters. His father was born in County Limerick and his mother in County Tipperary, Ireland, both of old Catholic families of that country. In 1850 John Mulcahy started for America on a sailing vessel. The vessel was wrecked after a voyage of two weeks, and they made another start on another vessel and arrived in the New World after six weeks on the ocean. Later John Mulcahy moved to Madison County, Ohio, where he met and married Margaret Maher. After the death of his wife he moved to Union County, where he spent the rest of his years. He died at the age of seventy-six. Both parents were active members of the Catholic Church. Their children were : Margaret, who is unmarried and lives in Union County ; Michael, who died at the age of about twenty ; Patrick, who died when twenty-seven years of age ; John, who is unmarried and farming the old homestead in Union County ; Thomas ; and Norah, who is a successful teacher and is now located at Ostrander in Delaware County, Ohio.