(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 150 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. came the parents of eight children,—Mary, George, Frederick, William, John, Christian and Henry. Gertrude died when young and George died of camp fever while serving his country in the war of 1812, but the other children lived to a good old age and were married. Adam Goul died on the 12th of October, 1845, aged eighty-four years, and his wife was called to her final rest on the 13th of November, 1846, in her eighty-third year. They were members of the Presbyterian church, and were numbered among the prominent old pioneers of Champaign county. Christian Goul, the father of him whose name introduces this review, received his education in the county of his nativity. After his marriage he located on government land in Union township, Champaign county, where he remained for about three years, and during that time our subject was born. Mr. Goul thence returned to Goshen township, later made his home in Marysville, Union county, for about one year, for three years was a resident of Richwood, Ohio, and in 1854 again returned to Goshen township. His death occurred in Mutual, Union township, September 6, 1879, passing away in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was long a worthy member. In the early days his residence was always the home of the ministers, and he did all in his power to promote the cause of Christianity among his fellow men. He also assisted materially in the erection of the house of worship at Mutual. Nearly his entire life was spent within the boundaries of Champaign county, and all who knew him entertained for him the highest respect and esteem, for his enire life was above reproach. In his early manhood he voted with the Whig party, and after the organization of the new Republican party he joined its ranks. Mr. Goul was married in Goshen township, Miss Ruth Lawson becoming his wife. She was born in Brown county, Ohio, December 8, 1806, but at three years of age was brought to Goshen township, Champaign county, and here she lived to the age of ninety-two years. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 151 Her father, Thomas Lawson, was a native of Pennsylvania, but subsequently removed to Brown county, Ohio, and in 1809 took up his abode in Goshen township. He was of German descent, and his wife was of English origin. Mrs. Goul was the second of their eight children, and the eldest daughter. Eight children were born unto the union of Mr. and Mrs. Goul, namely : Luellyn, a farmer of Madison county, Indiana ; Adam; a resident of Union township, Champaign county, Ohio; John, of this review; Newton W., also a farmer of Union township; Jane, the wife of John Strock, a farmer of Johnson township, Champaign county; Sarah, deceased; Rachel, also deceased; and Anna, the widow of Thomas Thompson, a resident of Union township. John Goul, the subject of this sketch, attended the subscription schools of his neighborhood during his early youth, and was afterward a student in the district schools. He remained at home and assisted his father in the work of the home farm until after his marriage, which occurred on the 28th of September, 1854, Miss Susan F. Coffenberger becoming his wife. She was born near Williamsport, Maryland, on the 23d of December, 1835, a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Turner) Coffenberger, both natives of Virginia, The father died in Maryland, and afterward, in 1845, the mother came with her family to Champaign county, locating in Union township. Mrs. Goul was then about ten years of age, and she has spent the remainder of her life in this locality. She is the sixth in order of birth of her parents' seven children. Mr. and Mrs. Goul began their domestic life in a little log cabin on the farm on which they now reside, which continued as their place of abode for six years, and then, in 186o, they removed to Union township, where they built a small log cabin and cleared a farm. Selling their possessions there in 1864, he purchased another farm in the same township, and on the 2d of May, of the same year, enlisted for service 152 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. in the Civil war, joining Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth. Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a private. He enlisted for one hundred days' service, and on the expiration of that period received an honorable discharge and returned to his home and family in Union township. In 1869 he traded his place there for the old homestead, which has been in the possession of the Lawson and Goul families since 1815,, and here he has one hundred and fifty-five acres of excellent land, all under a fine state of cultivation, thirty-seven and a half acres in Union township, which farm is also well improved. He is also one of the stockholders in the Farmers' Elevator at Mechanicsburg. Five children have been born unto the union of our subject and wife, two sons and three daughters, namely : Ella, who was born September 3, 1855, and died on the 9th of October, of the same year; George, who was born April 25, 1857, and married 011ie Wyant, of Madison county, Indiana; Isabel R., who was born July 3, 1859, and died on the 28th of July, 188o; Parthenia F., who was born November 7, 1861, and died October 16, 1870; and Walter S., who was born February 18, 1868, and married Louisa Pullens. They reside in Columbus, Ohio, where he is employed in a steel plant. Mr. Goul has been a life-long Republican, his first presidential vote having been cast for Fremont, and he twice voted for Lincoln.. He has been the choice of his party for many township offices, but he would never allow his name to be used as a candidate for county offices. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mechanicsburg, in which-they are active and prominent workers. CALVIN R. HUNTER. The business stability of Mechanicsburg has been augmented by the successful career of Calvin R. Hunter, senior member of the firm of C. R. Hunter & Company, grain merchants, and president of the CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 153 Central Bank. A native son of Mechanicsburg, Mr. Hunter was born September 15, 1857, a son of Vincent and Sabina (Weaber) Hunter, the former born in Clark county, Ohio, in 1819, and the latter in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, in 1829. The maternal grandfather, William Hunter, was a native of Virginia, and upon starting out to fashion his own career located in Clark county, Ohio, of which he was one of the earliest settlers. An equally worthy and successful pioneer of Clark county was the maternal grandfather, Philip Weaber, a native of Pennsylvania, and who in later life removed from Clark to Champaign county, Ohio. Following the marriage of the parents of Mr. Hunter they took up their residence in Goshen township, Champaign county, Ohio, where the elder Hunter attained to considerable prominence in general affairs and by reason of well applied industry accumulated a competence. He was chiefly interested in farming and milling, occupations in which he was well versed and progressive, and for many years he was a large dealer in grain in Mechanicsburg. His death, in 1884, at the age of sixty-five years, removed one of the substantial men of the community and a stanch supporter of the Republican party. The wife, who survives him, is still a resident of Mechanicsburg, where also live her two surviving children, one of whom is Mrs. Laura Burnham. The earliest business inclinations of Calvin R. Hunter were naturally along the lines adopted by his father, and while still a youth attending the public schools he gained a fair knowledge of grain and general elevator trade. Eventually he embarked upon an independent venture, which was none other than the beginning of the present business of C. R. Hunter & Company, established in 1890, and which has since known uninterrupted prosperity. So long and extensive an experience has qualified Mr. Hunter to speak with authority upon the grain possibilities of Ohio, a state resource in which he has unbounded 154 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. faith when accompanied by expert management. Mr. Hunter is also interested in general farming and stock-raising, and he has been president of the Central Bank since January 2, 1893. Although a stanch upholder of Republican principles and issues, he has never entered the arena of political preferment, his time having been devoted principally to the discharge of business obligations. Fraternally he is associated with the Knights Templar. He married Lizzie Burnham, daughter of D. D. Burnham, in 1890, and of this union there are two children, Eldon and Norvell. Mr. Hunter is a business man of unquestioned integrity, and his reputation in the community is in keeping with his public spirit and devotion to the general well being. CLAUDE C. CRAIG, M. D. As one of the representative young members of the medical profession of Champaign county, of which he is a native son, Dr. Craig assuredly merits a place in this compilation. He is successfully engaged in the practice of his chosen profession in the city of Urbana, where he is associated with Dr. Harry Cook, under the firm name of Drs. Cook & Craig, and to them is also due much credit for the maintenance of a high-grade sanitarium and hospital in this city, the same proving of great value to the community and being conducted with marked ability, while its equipments are of the most modern and approved order, facilitating the treatment of varied classes of disease and effective surgical work. Dr. Craig is a representative of one of the pioneer families of the county, having been born on the parental homestead, in Concord township, on the 18th of September, 1873, the son of Harrison Craig, an CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 155 honored citizen of Urbana, to whom individual reference is made on other pages of this work. To the article in question we refer the reader for further data concerning the genealogy of our present subject. The Doctor was reared under the sturdy discipline of the farm and receive( his early educational training in the district schools, after which he entered the Urbana high school, where he completed the course an property fitted himself for the technical study and reading which pre pared him for his chosen life work. For a period of three years h was employed in the egg-case factory of his father, and then begat reading medicine under the direction of Dr. H. C. Houston, of Urbana. In 1894 he was matriculated in the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College, where he was graduated, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in March, 1897, after which, in order to more fully fortify himself for the practical work of his profession, he passed one year as it tern in the Huron Street Hospital in Cleveland, where he gained exceptionally valuable clinical experience. He then returned to Urban; where he has since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession and where he has gained prestige as a finely qualified and discriminating physician and surgeon, while his genial personality has been a distinct factor in promoting his popularity in both professional. and social circles. As has already been stated, Dr. Craig is associated in practice with Dr. Harry Cook, and they are proprietors of the Urbana Sanitarium, whose headquarters are the old Hotel Sowles, a commodious and conveniently arranged building, which has been fitted up with special reference to the use to which it is now applied. The sanitarium has the equipment of a first-class hospital, having appliances for hot air and other baths, the best of electrical devices, static, galvanic and faradic, for the treatment of nervous disorders and other diseases, and a specially efficacious apparatus utilized for the treatment of catarrhal conditions. The sanitarium has comfortable and cheerful 156 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. rooms for the accommodation of patients, who may here receive the best of attention in every respect, the institution being a valuable acquisition to the city and being admirably conducted. In his political allegiance Dr. Craig gives his support to the Republican party, but he has never sought public office, the only official incumbency he has retained being that of health officer of Urbana, in which capacity he served for a period of two years. He is an able exponent of the theories and methods of Hahnemann, keeps thoroughly in touch with the advances made in the sciences of medicine and surgery and is one of the representative members of his school of practice in this section of the state. On the 14th of June, 1899, Dr. Craig was united in marriage to Miss Stella Talbott, daughter of George A. Talbott, of Urbana, Ohio. Fraternally the Doctor is identified with the time-honored order of Free-and Accepted Masons, holding membership in Champaign Lodge. DAVID CLEM. There is no element which has entered into our composite national fabric which has been of more practical strength, value and utility than that furnished by the sturdy, persevering and honorable sons of Germany, and from that nationality our subject is descended. His paternal great-grandfather was horn in the fatherland, but when a young man left his home across the sea and came to America, taking up his abode in the Old Dominion, and in that commonwealth his son David was born.. The latter became the grandfather of our subject, and his son Isaac was also a native of Virginia, born in Shenandoah county, where he was reared and married. In 1829 he came to Champaign county, Ohio, locating on a farm in Johnson township, but in 1853 he CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 159 sold that tract and bought a farm west of Saint Paris, where he died at the age of seventy-five years. His political support was given to the Democracy. For his wife he chose Rebecca Crabill, also a native of Virginia, as was her father, John Crabill. She reached the age of seventy-nine years, and by her marriage to Mr. Clem became the mother of nine children, six sons and three daughters, all of whom, with the exception of one, who died at the age of four years, grew to maturity, and five sons and two daughters are still living, our subject being the third child and second son in order of birth. David Clem, of this review, was born on the home farm in Johnson township, Champaign county, on the 3oth of September, 1836. During his youth he attended the primitive school of the neighborhood during the winter months, while the summer seasons were spent in assisting his father in the work of the farm, thus continuing until he reached his majority. He then started out to make his own way in the world, and for a time thereafter worked for neighboring farmers by the day or month. For about six years he was also employed at the shoemaker's trade in Saint Paris, after which he purchased a farm in Johnson township, near Millerstown, on which he made his home for about one year, on the expiration of which period he sold that tract and purchased one hundred acres in Adams and Johnson townships. Four years later he again sold his farm, after which he removed to Caldwell county, Missouri, and in Davis county, that state, purchased a farm. Returning after a time to Champaign county, he became the owner of one hundred and thirty-five Acres in Urbana township, but after a residence there of five years he sold that tract and purchased his present homestead, consisting of three hundred acres, in Salem township, and in addition he also owns one hundred and sixty-seven acres in the same township, two hundred and seven acres southeast of of West Liberty and one hundred acres in Johnson township, thus mak- 160 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. ing his landed possessions consist of seven hundred and seventy-four acres. Starting out in life a poor boy, he has steadily worked his way upward, gaining success and winning public confidence. Mr. Clem was married in 1876, when Miss Romelia Perry became his wife. She was born in Virginia, but when ten years of age accompanied her parents to the Buckeye state, the family locating in Clark county. Her grandfather, Abram Perry, was a native of Pennsylvania and was of Dutch descent, while her maternal grandfather, Henry F. Hensley; was a native of Virginia and was a member of a prominent old southern family. Mrs. Clem's parents, George and Margaret (Hensley) Perry, were also natives of the Old Dominion, but in 1865 they came to Clark county, Ohio, where the father died in 1868, and he is still survived by his widow. They were the parents of nine children, five daughters and four sons and seven of the number grew to years of maturity. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Clem has been blessed with six children,—five of whom are living: Joseph, born October 20, 1877; Samuel, born January 24, 1879; Pearl, October 16, 1881; Ivan, October 17, 1883; and Blanch, born March 15, 1891. One daughter, Grace, died in infancy. Since attaining to mature years Mr. Clem has given his political support to the Democracy. He stands on the side of progress, advancement and civilization, favoring education, religion, law and order, and whatever makes for the good of the people as individuals and as communities. JAMES W. ANDERSON. Mr. Anderson was born in Augusta county, Virginia, on the 6th of November, 1827, being the second in order of birth of the eight children of John and Fannie (Clark) Anderson, the former of whom CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 161 was born in the same county of the Old Dominion state, on the 12th of December, 1788, while the latter was born in Clarke county, Virginia, on the 4th of August, 1804. John Anderson was a son of James and Isabella (King) Anderson, the former of whom was born in the picturesque Shenandoah valley of Virginia, in 1749, while his wife was a native of Pennsylvania, where she was born in 1758. James Anderson was a son of James, Sr., who married a Miss McLanehan. He was born in Ireland, being of Scotch-Irish lineage, and came to America in his youth, his parents having removed from Scotland to the north of Ireland in 1665. Upon coming to America he located in Pennsylvania, where his marriage occurred, and thence he went on an exploring expedition through the Shenandoah valley, having organized a company for this purpose and having started from Philadelphia about the year 1725. After making due investigation he returned to his home in Pennsylvania, whence he later removed with his family to the Shenandoah valley, being one of the first settlers in that beautiful section of the Old Dominion. During the early days there he was an active participant in many sanguinary conflicts with the Indians and there he passed the remainder of his honorable and useful life. His son James, grandfather of our subject, served with marked distinction as a soldier in the Continental line during the war of the Revolution. His wife. Isabella (King) Anderson, was a daughter of John and Isabella (Christian) King, of Scotch-Irish stock. Fannie (Clark) Anderson, mother of the subject of this review, was a daughter of Joseph any Mary (Reynolds) Clark, both natives of Maryland and the latter being a daughter of John Reynolds. Her maternal grandfather, John Reynolds, was captain of the first company organized in Washington county, Maryland, at the inception of the war of the Revolution and held this office in the Sixth Regiment of Maryland Volunteers. He was killed by Indians on the Ohio river in 1799. His father, John 162 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Reynolds, a son of a Scotchman, emigrated to America in 1714, and was the original progenitor of the family in the New World. He was a Presbyterian of the stern and unbending Scotch type and his wife was a member of the established church of England, she having been born in Ireland, of Welsh ancestry. They were married in Ireland in the year 1681, and came to the United States in 1714, locating in Pennsylvania. John and Fannie (Clark) Anderson became the parents of eight children, namely : Mary H., deceased; James W., the subject of this sketch; George D., a. resident of Augusta county, Virginia; Jane C., the widow of Henry Coyner and now residing in Augusta county, Virginia; Isabella A., deceased; John J., of whom specific mention is made elsewhere in this work; Norval W., who was a valiant soldier in the war of the Rebellion, in which he sacrificed his life in defense of the Union, having been killed in the battle of Stone River in 1863; and Sarah M., the widow of Captain George H. Killian, who served on the staff of Stonewall Jackson. The parents of this family passed their entire lives in Virginia, where the father devoted his life to farming. James W. Anderson was reared and educated in Virginia, where he secured such advantages as were afforded in the common schools, so fortifying himself as to become eligible for pedagogic work, having been a successful teacher for some time in his youthful days. He devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits in his native state until he had attained the age of twenty-nine years, when, in 1856, he came to Champaign county, Ohio, and took up his permanent abode in Urbana, where he established himself in the drug business, in which he continued for the long period of forty years, being one of the pioneer business men of the city at the time of his retirement, in 1896, and having attained a competency through his able and discriminating efforts. A man of marked intellectuality and unswerving integrity in all the re- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 163 lations of life, he has commanded the unbounded confidence and esteem of the community in which he has passed so many years of his life, and here, in well earned retirement from active business, he rests secure in the regard of old and tried friends. Though he has never sought the honors of political office he has not been unmindful of his civic duties and has given his support to the Republican party since 1861, and prior to that time was a Whig. He and his wife are zealous adherents of the Methodist Episcopal church and are members of the First M. E. church of Urbana, with whose work they have been identified for many years. On the 19th of December, 1872, Mr. Anderson was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Baldwin, the daughter of Judge Samuel Vance and Catherine (VanMeter) Baldwin. Our subject and his wife have no children. Samuel V. Baldwin, father of Mrs. Anderson, was born in Hampshire county, Virginia, being a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Wilson) Baldwin, the latter of whom was a granddaughter of Captain Wilson who distinguished himself in connection with the Indian wars both prior and subsequent to the war of the Revolution. Samuel V. Baldwin was a lad of ten years at the time when his parents removed from the Old Dominion to Clark county, Ohio, where they were numbered among the early pioneers. Here he was reared to maturity, having such educational advantages as were afforded in the primitive schools of the locality and period and effectively supplementing this by a most devoted and careful self-application and study. He studied law and ably fitted himself for the practice of his profession. He came to Urbana about the year 1835, becoming one of the distinguished members of the early bar of the county, where he was held in the highest esteem. He held preferment as prosecuting attorney of Champaign county and for eleven years was incumbent of the office of probate judge of the county, being the first probate judge of the county after the office was created. His 164 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. administration was one of signal ability and honor, and his death occurred just after his re-election. His political support was originally given to the Whig party, but he became a loyal adherent of the Republican party at the time of its organization and was thereafter an uncompromising supporter of its principles and policies. Judge Baldwin entered into eternal rest in 1861, at the age of fifty-five years, his widow surviving until 1881, when she passed away, at the age of seventy-one years. Of their eight children seven attained maturity and four are living at the present time. MRS. MARIA PATRICK. The venerable lady whose name initiates this sketch is certainly worthy of representation in a volume which has to do with those who have lived and wrought to goodly ends within the borders of Champaign county, for not only is she one of the pioneers of this county but is a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of the state. She has now reached the age of nearly four score years and ten, and is a veritable "mother in Israel," revered by all who know her and having within her mental ken a purview of the marvelous changes which have been wrought in this section of the Union during the flight of many years. She retains her home in the city of Urbana and is undoubtedly the oldest living pioneer of the county, a noble type of those true-hearted and courageous women who contributed in so large a measure to the development and material prosperity of this locality. Mrs. Patrick is a native of the old Buckeye state, having been born near the town of London, Madison county, on the 2d of February, 1813, so that her ninetieth birthday anniversary will occur within a few CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 165 months after this work is issued from the press. Her parents were Charles and Mary (McDougal) Atchison, and in their early life they were residents of Kentucky, where they met with reverses, principally through the burning of their property, which led them to seek a new home in Ohio and to here endeavor to retrieve their fortunes. They became squatters, as the title was familiarly given in the early day in Madison county, where they passed the residue of their lives, the mother of our subject passing away when Mrs. Patrick was but tent years of age, and her father when she was but fifteen, so that she w orphaned while still a child. Her father had been previously married and there were three children of the first union and six of the second Mrs. Patrick being the only survivor at the present time. After the death of her mother she lived for a short interval in the home of one her half-sisters, and when she was eighteen years of age she came Urbana to live with another half-sister. She arrived in the city which is now her home on the 30th of November, 1830, and on the 12th of November, 1833, the night made memorable by one of the most notable meteoric showers ever witnessed in this section of the Union, she was united in marriage to Jacob H. Patrick, who was born in Urbana, the son of Anthony Patrick, the date of his nativity having been September 22, 1811, and his death occurring March 12, 1890, so that he lived to attain the patriarchial age of nearly eighty years. Of this union nine children were born, of whom three only are living at the present time, namely : Ellen, the widow of John S. Kirby; Emily, the wife of Joseph C. Vance; and Walter K., of Urbana. Owing to the exigencies of time and place, the early advantages of Mrs. Patrick were limited in scope and were of primitive character, but her receptive mind, keen powers of observation and personal application enabled her to effectively supplement this early and meagre discipline. Her husband, who was a man of sterling integrity and who 166 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. was honored by all who knew him, in early life learned the saddler's trade, but he devoted his attention to the same only for a short time and then engaged in the hardware business, which he followed for many years, being recognized as one of the representative citizens of Urbana, where his entire life was passed. He retired from this enterprise a few years prior to his death, and thereafter 'devoted his attention to looking after his farming interests, also conducting an insurance business. He was a stanch Republican in his political proclivities, but never sought official preferment, the only office of consequence of which he was incumbent having been that of member of the city council. He was a devoted member of the Baptist church, while for more than seventy years his widow has been an active member of the First Methodist Episcopal church in Urbana, where her name and zealous services are held in reverence as the many golden years rest as a crown upon her aged head. In early life Mrs. Patrick purchased and brought to Urbana a sewing machine, and it is worthy of particular mention that this was the first ever brought to this city. Her gentle character and noble attributes have endeared her to a wide circle of friends in the younger generations, as also was true in her own, and the years have rested lightly upon her and have been crowned with love and esteem, as is most justly due. WILLIAM J. ABBOTT. William J. Abbott, a farmer and representative citizen of Concord township, Champaign county, and one of the leading farmers of the county, is numbered among Ohio's native sons, for his birth occurred in Shelby county, January 13, 1836. His paternal grandfather, William Abbott, was a native of Pennsylvania and in pioneer days took up his abode in Shelby county, Ohio, taking an active part in the work CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 169 of improvement and progress there. His political support was given the Whig party. His son, James Abbott, the father of our subject, was a native of Pennsylvania, but when a boy left the Keystone state and came with his parents to Ohio, the family settling in Shelby county, where he was reared, acquiring his education in the district schools. He was married there to Susan Schlusser, a native of Shelby county, reared and educated within its borders. Her death occurred about four years after her marriage in. 1839 and in 1840 the father was again married, removing thence to Champaign county in 1845, his home being in Johnson township. There he remained until his death, which occurred in 1853. Unto the parents of our subject were born two children, the younger being John, who is now deceased. The second wife was Matilda Beach, a native of Shelby county, while her parents were natives of Virginia. There were six children born of this union, of whom three have passed away. All of the number were born in Champaign county with one exception. William J. Abbott acquired the greater part of his education in this county, completing his studies when twenty-one years of age. He engaged in teaching school for twelve years, first in Shelby county and afterward in Champaign county. He had begun his work as an' educator before he completed his own education. At length he turned his attention to farming, renting a tract of land in 1864 and in 1872 removed to the farm of James D. Powell, which was his place of residence until 1877. With the capital he had thus acquired through his industry and economy he purchased a farm of eighty acres and made most of the improvements thereon, ditching, draining and clearing the land of timber. He remained thereon until 1883 and then came to his present home in Concord township. He makes a specialty of stock raising and in his business affairs is meeting with creditable and deserved success. 9 170 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Mr. Abbott was married in Champaign county, in 1858, to Emily V. Compton, who was born in Virginia but became a resident of Champaign county when twelve years of age. Her father had died in the Old Dominion, after which her mother removed with her children to Ohio. The family are all now deceased with the exception of Mrs. Abbott. Unto our subject and his wife have been born five sons and five daughters, all natives of Champaign county, namely : Charles M., who is engaged in the clothing business in Chicago, Illinois; John H., at home; Anna, who is the wife of Walter S. \Vilson, a farmer of Champaign county; Minnie A., the wife of Dr. \V. H. Hinkle; Emma Maude, the wife of D. H. Taylor, a farmer of Champaign county ; Oma J., the wife of Dr. C. E. Stadler of West Cairo, Ohio; Ora M., the wife of Frank J. Barger of Champaign county; and Chester P., at home. Two of the sons died in infancy. Mr. Abbott has served as township clerk for a number of years and in his political affiliations is a Republican, taking an active and helpful interest in the work of the party. Both he and his wife are members of the Concord Methodist Episcopal church and their labors have contributed to its upbuilding and growth. Mr. Abbott is a representative farmer, whose progressive methods, unremitting diligence and resolute purpose have been salient features in his success, enabling him to win a place among the substantial men of his community. He now farms two hundred and seventy-eight acres and is one of the leading farmers of Champaign county. Since 1882 he has, in addition to his own land, been cultivating the Oliver Taylor farm. HARRISON CRAIG. The subject of this sketch occupies a position of prominence in connection with the industrial activities of Champaign county, of which he is a native son, and he is recognized as one of the representative CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 171 and progressive business, men of the thriving city of Urbana, where he holds the dual office of secretary and manager of the Urbana Egg Case Company, whose enterprise is one of the most extensive of the sort in the Union. In the agnatic line Mr. Craig is of stanch Scottish lineage, as the name implies, while on the maternal side the genealogy is of German origin. He was born in the city of Urbana on the 23d of August, 1847; being the son of William B. and Indiana (Hess) Craig, the former of whom was born in Berkeley county, Virginia (now West Virginia), and the latter in Champaign county, Ohio, whither her father, Jacob Hess, removed from Hillsboro, Kentucky, and became one of the pioneer settlers in Champaign county, where he devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. The father of our subject was reared and educated in the Old Dominion state, but when a lad of thirteen years he severed the home ties and came to Zanesville, Ohio, where he remained until he had attained his legal majority, when he came to Champaign county, where he was engaged in farming during the residue of his active and useful lift, being successful in his efforts and being honored as one of the sterling citizens of the county. His death occurred in 1886, at the age of sixty-eight years, and his widow still resides on the old homestead farm in Harrison township. Of their union were born six sons and three daughters, of whom all are living, the subject of this review being the eldest of the family. Though born in Urbana, as has been noted, Harrison Craig was reared to the sturdy discipline of the old farm, while to the public schools of the locality and period he is indebted for the early educational privileges which were accorded him. In 1870 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary M. Baker, and they took up their abode on a farm in Harrison township, where he was successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits for a score of years. 172 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. In the year 1891 Mr. Craig took up his residence in the city of Urbana, where he was one of the organizers of the Urbana Egg Case Company, of which he became secretary and manager, having ever since retained the incumbency and having been one of the prime factors in the building up of the large and important business. of the company, whose operations are now of wide scope, making the enterprise one of marked value in connection with the industrial activities of this section. The other members of the executive corps are W. R. Ross, who is president and treasurer; and H. N. Kirby, who holds the office of vice-president. In politics Mr. Craig is independent, and while taking proper interest in public affairs of a local nature he has never sought the honors or emoluments of public office. He and his wife are members of the First Methodist Episcopal church. They have six children, namely : Minnie L., Claude C., Mamie G., Ethel A., Grace G. and Chauncy D. HENRY C. PEARCE, A. M., M. D., PH. D. Henry Clay Pearce, who for a number of years has been actively engaged in medical practice in Ohio, is one of the representative members of the profession in this. section of the state. He has ever stood as the champion of progress, and his influence has been exerted at all times on the side of right and truth. The Doctor was born in Union township, Champaign county, April 10, 1833, a son of Harvey C. and Beulah (Barrett) Pearce, also natives of this county. The father, who was born in 1805, was called to his final rest in 1891, and the mother passed away in death in 1885, at the age of seventy-six years. The former was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Collins) Pearce, and Thomas Pearce was a hero of the American Revolution. He removed. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 175 from New York to Maryland, and in a very early day came to Ohio. The mother of our subject was a daughter of Captain Abner Barrett, a soldier in the war of 1812, and he, too, was among the very early settlers in Champaign county. In his early life Harvey C. Pearce followed agricultural pursuits, but for many years thereafter was a prominent shoe merchant of Urbana. In political matters he was a Whig, and for several years while residing in Union township he served as a justice of the peace. Both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and they lived consistent, Christian lives, while for many years he was a local minister and did effective work in the cause of his Master. This worthy couple became the parents of eight children, namely : Henry Clay, of this review; Lucas E., deceased; Abner B., a resident of Champaign county; John W., of Chicago; William Raper and Mary E., both deceased; Richard S., of Urbana; and Harvey C., deceased. Dr. Henry C. Pearce received his elementary education in the common schools of the neighborhood. At the age of twenty years he began the study of medicine, first under the preceptorship of Dr. Carter, of Urbana, and afterward with Dr. Dawson, while still later he became a student in the Starling Medical College, in which institution he was graduated in 1863. For five years previous to his graduation he had practiced his chosen profession at Mutual, Champaign county, and since 1864 he has been numbered among the leading medical practitioners of Urbana. From 1866 until 1874 he served as professor of physiology and microscopic histology in the Starling Medical College, of Columbus, 'Ohio, was the founder and trustee of the Columbus Medical College, and from 1874 for a period of seventeen years was professor of obstetrics and surgical diseases of women in the Columbus Medical College, retiring from the latter position on account of failing health. He has long been a member of the Ohio State Medical Society and of the 176 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. American Medical Association, and in i866 was made surgeon by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, a position which he has since continuously held, covering a period of longer service with the company in that capacity than any other surgeon. For nineteen years the Doctor was a member of the school board of Urbana, the cause of education ever finding in him a warm friend, and for over fifty years he has been a worthy member of the Methodist church. In 1854 Dr. Pearce was united in marriage to Sarah Jane Morgan, but she was called to the home beyond in 1872, leaving four children,—Laura Etta, the wife of C. E. Macher, of Piqua, Ohio; Ella, who became the wife of George E. Lee, and is now deceased; Charles W., of Urbana ; and Henry M. A daughter also died in infancy. In 1873 the Doctor was a second time married, Binnie A. Keller becoming his wife. She is a daughter of William Keller, an old and prominent resident of Urbana, who at one time served as mayor of the city. Unto this union were born two children,—Frank C., a physician of Edith, Tennessee, and a graduate of the Tennessee Medical College, of Knoxville ; and William K., a. promising young man who died at the age of twenty-two years. The Doctor is both a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason. Henry M. Pearce, a son of Dr. Henry Clay Pearce, was born and reared in Urbana, the date of his birth being December 20, 1868. His early education was received in the public schools of this city, and after completing his studies therein he began preparation for the medical profession under his father's direction. In 1867 he entered the Starling Medical College, of Columbus, in which he was graduated on the 4th of March, 189o, and, associated with his father, he has since followed the practice of his chosen profession in Urbana. He is a member of the Ohio State Medical Society, of the Champaign County Medical Society, of the American Medical Association, and since the begin- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 177 ning of his professional career has served as surgeon for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. For eleven years he served his county as its physician and is now the city health officer. He is a Republican in politics, a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1890 Dr. Henry M. Pearce was united in marriage to Anna M. Sleffel, a native of Australia, and they have two children,—Linda Etta and Edwin Clay. EDGAR G. BANTA. Among the young men of Urbana whose records partake of the remarkable by reason of, brilliant successes achieved is Edgar S. Banta, a gentleman of splendid ability, of keen discernment and unfaltering enterprise and yet one whose success has been so worthily achieved the there is not a blot on his record. He was born in Urbana, November 30, 1871, and is a son of John A. and Emma R. (Geiger) Banta His father was a native of New York and in the early fifties came to Champaign county. Our subject was born and reared in his native city, and acquired his early literary education in the public schools, being graduated on the completion of a high school course in 1888. He then pursued a general course in the Urbana University and his law studies were pursued under the direction of his grandfather, Judge Levi Geiger, and Grant V. Fromme. In June, 1893, he was admitted to the bar and at once opened an office, where, by close application to business, by careful preparation of his cases and by a thorough understanding of legal principles, he has built up an enviable reputation. He has made a specialty of patent law and is thoroughly informed in this department of jurisprudence. Prior to his admission to the bar Mr. Banta estab- 178 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY, lished what is now one of the largest fire underwriting agencies of the county. His first company was the American Central of St. Louis. A few months after establishing his agency he formed a partnership with his uncle, Charles L. Geiger, which continued until the latter's death in January, 1895. Rapid progress was made along this line of business, the number of companies increasing from one to seven, representing a capital of over eleven million dollars, the following old, reliable and well known companies now comprising the agency : Phoenix Insurance Company of New York; St. Paul Fire and Marine, Minnesota ; Glens Falls Insurance Company of New York; Girard Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Philadelphia ; Reliance Insurance Company of Philadelphia; German Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburg; the North German Fire Insurance Company of New York; and the Delaware Insurance Company. Mr. Banta has also added the life, accident and employers' liability branches to his insurance business and represents the leading companies of America in these lines. He is now the senior member of the firm of Banta & Spahr, Ohio managers for the Illinois Life Insurance Company. Mr. Banta also represents, as attorney and special agent, the Indemnity Savings and Loan Company of Cleveland, the capital stock of which is ten million dollars, and in this connection has done a large amount of business. He also negotiates real estate transfers and his activity in this direction has contributed not a little to business prosperity in Urbana. A man of resourceful business ability, he carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes, and his efforts have been so persistently directed along well defined lines of labor that he has met with splendid success. In 1898 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Banta and Miss Alberta A. Spahr, a daughter of the Rev A N Spahr, a former minister of the Grace Methodist Episcopal church. Socially he is identified with the Harmony Lodge, No. 8, F. & A. M. He gives his political support to CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 179 the Republican party and as a citizen is deeply interested in everything pertaining to the public welfare and progress. His business methods are of interest to all, because of the brilliant success he has achieved and yet his prosperity has been won along the lines of old and time-tried maxims. He has placed his dependence in industrial perseverance and a careful outlook over the future and these qualities have been the important elements in his career. CHARLES A. OFFENBACHER, M. D. On the roll of the able and honored members of the medical fraternity in Champaign county is to be found the name of the subject of this sketch, and he is established in practice in St. Paris, where he has a attained high prestige in his profession and built up a large and representative business, being a close student of medical and surgical science and having thoroughly fortified himself for the practice of the same. A review of his life is consistently incorporated in this volume, and it is the more consonant from the fact that he is a native son of Champaign county. Dr. Offenbacher, as the name indicates, is of German lineage though the family has long been identified with the annals of American history. He was born on a farm in Jackson township, Champaign county, on the 9th of December, 1845, being a son of Aaron and Mary (Alexander) Offenbacher, his father having been a native of Virginia, whence he emigrated to Ohio in the early '40s, locating in Johnson township, Champaign county, where he devoted the remainder of his life to agricultural pursuits. He was twice married, and his first wife died shortly after the removal to Ohio, having been the mother of eight chil- 180 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. dren, all of whom are now deceased. Mr. Offenbacher subsequently married Miss Mary Alexander and they became the parents of three children,—the Doctor and Amanda, who is the wife of James Hone, of Degraff, Logan county. Aaron Offenbacher died on the 1st of January, 1859, and his second wife was summoned into eternal rest on the 6th of April, 1895. The subject of this sketch received his preliminary educational discipline in the district schools of his native township, and so applied himself to his studies and had such distinct powers of assimilation that he became eligible for pedagogic honors, giving inception to his career as a teacher when eighteen years of age and thereafter devoting his attention to this line of work during a period of six years, in Champaign, Miami and Shelby counties, and being very successful in his work. It was but natural that a man of such distinct individuality should early form defnnite plans for a future career, and thus we find that in the midst of his duties as a teacher he began reading medicine under the direction of Dr. M. V. Speece, of Quincy, Logan county, who was his preceptor during the entire course of his preliminary technical study. The Doctor was dependent upon his own resources in thus preparing himself for his profession, and had the good judgment to so husband his means as to be able to continue his work under the best of conditions, since he finally was matriculated in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, where he completed the prescribed course, being duly graduated as a member of the class of 1870 and receiving his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine. Six months after his graduation Dr. Offenbacher entered upon the active practice of his profession in the village of Spring Hills, this state, and there he built up a large and lucrative practice, continuing his residence there for a period of twelve years, within which time he failed to respond to only three calls, his devotion to his profession having ever been of the most unequivocal order, while his humanitarian spirit has prompted CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 181 him to never refuse to minister to those afflicted, no matter what their station in life. In 1883 the Doctor came to Saint Paris, where he has since devoted himself to the demands of his practice, which has been cumulative in character from the beginning and which is of the most representative order. He keeps in close touch with the advances made in all branches of his profession, and in 1897 took a special post-graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic, while two years later he took a special course in clinics under Dr. H. H. DePew, a representative specialist residing in Chicago. For the past three years our subject has been giving special attention to the treatment of hemorrhoids and hernia, having made a careful study of these diseases and the most effective methods of treatment, and having been particularly successful in the handling of cases of the sort. As a specialist in these lines he has attained a high reputation, and his services are in requisition on the part of many from outside the normal confines of his professional field of labor. Dr. Offenbacher has always taken a lively interest in local affairs of a public nature, and his political allegiance is given to the Democratic party, minus the whisky element. During a decade of the twelve years of his residence in Spring Hills he served as a member of the board of education, and since locating in St. Paris he has been incumbent of a similar position for seven years, while for two years he has been clerk of the municipal corporation. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a member of St. Paris Lodge No. 246, Russell Encampment, No. 141, and having passed all the official chairs in the subordinate body. On the 11th of August, 1870, Dr. Offenbacher was united in marriage to Miss Sarah C. Smoot, a native of Shelby county, and they have four children, namely : Minnie, who is the wife of Franklin Clem; and James V., Charles F. and William E. The family are prominent in the 182 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. social life of the community and the Doctor is held in the highest esteem by all who know him, while recognized as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of the state. THOMAS A. COWGILL. The name of Captain Thomas A. Cowgill stands conspicuously forth on the pages of Ohio's political history. He was born near Kennard, Champaign county, July 31, 1840. The Cowgills came from England to America on the ship with William Penn, locating first in Delaware and afterward made their way to Virginia. In the latter commonwealth, Thomas Cowgill, the grandfather of our subject, was born and there reared and married. In 1800 he took up his abode in Columbiana county, Ohio, where he followed farming and blacksmithing until 1817 and in that year came to Champaign county. He was a Quaker in his religious belief, and in that faith died in 1846. He donated the grourld on which the Mount Carmel church was built. Henry Cowgill, the father of our subject, was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 18o1, and in 1817 came with his parents to Champaign county. His death here occurred in 187o, at the age of sixty-nine years. He, too, was a member of the Friends' church. For his wife he chose Anna Marmon, who was born in North Carolina in 1801. Her father, Martin Marmon, was also a native of North Carolina and was a farmer by occupation. In 1805 he took up his abode in Logan county. Ohio, locating near what is now Zanesfield, where he improved a large farm. He took an active part in the organization of the county, and for many years served as its treasurer. The Marmon family were originally Huguenots, and they left their southern home on account CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 185 of the slavery question. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Cowgill were born eleven children, nine daughters and two sons, and all but two of the daughters grew to years of maturity, while six of the number are still living Eliza, the wife of Edwin L. Carrol, of Adell, Iowa; Susan M., the widow of William M. Mead, of Salina, Kansas; Samuel; of Salem township, Champaign county ; Electa and Cynthia, who are still unmarried; and Thomas A., the subject of this review. Those who have passed away are Angelina, Martha A. Morgan, Sarah Pellett and two who died in childhood. Thomas A. Cowgill was born on the farm on which he still resides. His youth was spent as a student in the primitive log school houses of the period and in assisting his father in the work of the home farm. In 1862 he enlisted for service in the Civil war, becoming a' member of Company E, Ninety-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he became captain, and with his command he served as a brave and loyal soldier for two years, on the expiration of which period he was discharged on account of ill health. During his military career he served in many of the principal battles of the war, including that of Vicksburg. Receiving an honorable discharge in 1864, he then returned to the old home farm, where he remained until 1867, and in that year, in company with J. B. Thomas, he erected an elevator at Kennard and engaged in the grain business. In 1875 he was first elected to the house of representatives, becoming a member of the sixty-second general assembly, in which he served as chairman of the committee on agriculture and also on other important committees. His services were so satisfactory to his constituents that they secured for him a renomination without any opposition. Re-elected in 1877, he became a member of the sixty-third general assembly, which proved to be the most unsavory in the history of the state, mainly by reason of the fact that the house of representatives contained but thirty-nine Republicans to seventy- 186 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. one Democrats. Realizing their helplessness in the face of this powerful majority, at the beginning of the term' the Republican members held a consultation, which resulted in a unanimous agreement to commit the entire political and parliamentary management of the minority to the judgment and discretion of Hon. Peter Hitchcock, the veteran member from Geauga, and Mr. Cowgill. It is safe to say that no minority ever did such effective work, not only for the party but for sound legislation also, as did that of the sixty-third. So well were Mr. Cowgill's judgment, tact and parliamentary skill appreciated by his political brethren that before the clase of that session he was assured that in the event of his return and the house being Republican, he would be their candidate for speaker. The Republicans of this county were swift to recognize the excellent record, and he was accordingly renominated, with substantially no opposition, for a third term, an unprecedented proceeding in old Champaign county, two terms in succession having been awarded to but three of his predecessors. Elected in 1879 by an increased majority, upon the organization of the sixty-fourth general assembly, January 3, 1880, he was elected its speaker, his competitor being General John S. Jones, of Delaware, formerly a member of congress from the ninth district. Of Mr. Cowgill's administration of the duties of the high office of speaker, the first member ever elevated to that station from his section of the state, it is necessary only to say that it was eminently satisfactory, as the unanimous vote of thanks tendered him at the close of each session abundantly testified. No appeal was ever uttered against his decisions, nor were his rulings ever seriously questioned. In 1885 Mr. Cowgill was requested to be again a candidate for the legislature, and was accordingly nominated and elected for the fourth time by the largest majority ever given for that office in the county. Soon after the organization of the sixty-seventh general assembly CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 187 charges of bribery and corruption in connection with the election of the United States senator were alleged against three members of the house. Mr. Cowgill was strongly urged by the leading Republicans to offer a resolution of inquiry as to their truthfulness. He did so, and was made chairman of what became known as the "Payne Investigation," in many respects the most celebrated in the history of the state. In 1887 Mr. Cowgill was nominated for senator by the Republican senatorial convention which convened at Springfield for the eleventh district, and at the election received the highest plurality ever given a nominee for that office in this now widely known senatorial district. His services in the Ohio senate were laborious and conspicuous. He was an active member of the joint legislative committee on "constitutional revision," which formulated the proposed amendments to the constitution voted upon at the last election, and was also chairman of the committee on penitentiaries, universities and colleges. As will be seer he served ten years in the general assembly of Ohio, and it is worthy of remark that this length of service has been equalled by but two men now living, ex-Senator Ford, of Geauga, and ex-Senator Reed, of Ross, neither of whom was ever speaker of the house. For eleven years he has served as a trustee of the Ohio State University, for four years of which time ex-President R. B. Hayes was a member of the university board, and for a few years has been president of its board of trustees He was made a delegate to the Republican state convention at Columbus, which nominated the state delegates for the election of Abraham Lincoln, and this was the beginning of his political career. While Captain Cowgill does not desire further conferment of office he is as much alive to-day to the best interests and work of the party in the state as he has ever been. It is safe to say, that as long as life continues the Captain will be politically alive and abreast of the times in state politics. Since 1892 Mr. Cowgill has lived in quiet retirement at his pleas- 188 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. ant home near Kennard, where he owns a fine homestead of three hundred and fifty acres. In former years he was largely engaged in the stock business, and has also served as a trustee for many large estates. He is a man of strong mentality, keen discernment, great tact and resolute purpose, and was therefore well fitted for the political honors conferred upon him. His business interests have also been capably managed and have brought to him the handsome competence which to-day enables him to live retired. He commands the respect of his fellow men by his sterling worth, and Ohio numbers him among her honored sons. JACOB McMORRAN. That Jacob McMorran is one of the leading and influential citizens. of Champaign county and that he enjoys in a high degree the confidence of his fellow townsmen is indicated by the fact that he has been called to serve in many public offices in this locality. He was for six years county commissioner and proved most capable in that position, exercising his franchise prerogatives in support of all measures which he believed would contribute to the general good. He is now living retired in Saint Paris, having formerly been connected with the grain trade there. Mr. McMorran was born in Jackson township, Champaign county, on the 15th of June, 1833. His father, Samuel McMorran, was a native of Rockingham, Pennsylvania, while the paternal grandfather, James McMorran, was a native of Scotland. Taking up his abode in Pennsylvania, he there died when his son Samuel was about eight years of age. His wife was a native of Ireland and was of Scotch-Irish descent. Samuel McMorran was reared in Pennsylvania, and New York, and when a young man came to Champaign county. He started out to earn his own living when about twelve years of age and nine years CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 191 later took up his abode in Ohio, locating first in Dayton. He was employed as a farm hand in that locality or working at anything that he could get to do that would yield to him an honest living. He was married in Dayton and then came to Champaign county, settling in Millerstown. As the years passed he prospered in his business undertakings and became a leading and active citizen of hiis community. He was honored with a number of local offices and gave his political support first to the Whig party and afterward to the Republican party. He voted in Johnston township when there were about thirty Whig votes and two hundred Democratic votes. He held membership in the Missionary Baptist church, taking an active interest in its work, and his support was ever given to every measure which he believed would promote the progress and welfare of his community. He lived to the age. of eighty-seven years. His wife, who in her maidenhood was Barbara Heaston, was born in Virginia, and when about twelve years of age came with her parents to Ohio, the family settling near Hamilton. Her father was a native of Germany and when a young man crossed the Atlantic to the new world. Mrs. McMorran died when about seventy-four years of age. By her marriage she had become the mother of the following named : John, James, Christopher, Samuel, Jacob and Eliza. Jacob McMorran was the youngest son and is the only survivor of the family. He was reared within one mile of Saint Paris and at the usual age entered the district schools where he became familiar with those branches of learning which serve as a foundation of all success in life. As a companion and helpmate for life's journey he chose Miss Mahala Boswell, the wedding being celebrated on the 6th of November, 1853. The lady is a native of this county and a daughter of David and Nancy (Colbert) Boswell, who were early and honored 10 192 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. pioneer settlers of Champaign county. The former came from Kentucky and the latter from Virginia. For three years after his marriage Mr. McMorran resided upon the old farm homestead and then located in Saint Paris. Subsequently he spent six years in Woodford county, Illinois, where he was engaged in farming and on the expiration of that period returned to Ohio, settling in Saint Paris, where he engaged in the grain trade for many years, handling a large quantity of grain annually, his sales bringing to him a comfortable competence. When elected county comMissioner in 1884 he turned the grain business over to his sons, John and Grant, who have since continued it with good success. Mr. McMorran served so capably in the office that he was re-elected in 1887 and continued in the position for six years, a most worthy and faithful incumbent. He has also been treasurer of Johnson township and a member of the council of the village of Saint Paris. In politics he has ever been a stanch :Republican from the organization of the party. He voted for Fremont, its first candidate, and in I9oo his support was given to. William McKinley. Socially he is connected with the Masonic fraternity and is .a member of the Baptist church, of which Mrs. McMorran has also been a member for more than fifty years. His life has ever been as an open book, which all may read. His entire career will bear investigation and throughout the years of his manhood he has been found an earnest champion of improvement and progress along social, intellectual and moral lines. ENOCH McCARTY. Throughout his entire life Enoch McCarty has been a resident of Champaign county and for many years was accounted one of her leading, influential and progressive business men, but he is now living in quiet re- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 193 tirement, his labor in former years having enabled him to lay aside active cares. He was born on the farm on which he now resides, on the 11th Of January, 1833. His father, Stephen McCarty, was a native of Virginia, and in Loudoun county of that state was united in marriage to Deborah Thompson, who also claimed the Old Dominion as the state of her nativity, and after the birth of two of their children they came to Ohio, locating near Zanesville. Later they took up their abode in Goshen township, Champaign county, and two years afterward bought the farm on which our subject now resides, their first residence here being a little log cabin, which during the first summer contained but a dirt floor. The land was then in its primitive condition, not a stick of timber having been cut, and everything was new and wild. As the years passed by, however, Mr. McCarty succeeded in placing his land under a fine state of cultivation, and on this farm both he and his wife spent their remaining clays, the former passing away at the age of eighty-six years, while the latter was called to her final rest at the age of seventy-six years. 'hey became the parents of six children, namely : Elizabeth Ann, deceased ; James, who prior to his death was one of the representative citizens of Champaign county ; John, also deceased ; Daniel, a resident of Auglaize county, Ohio; Enoch, of this review ; and Thomas, who died when young. In an early day Mr. McCarty voted with the Whig party, and after the organization of the Republican party he joined its ranks and afterward remained loyal to its principles. He was a public-spirited :and progressive citizen, manifesting a commendable interest in everything pertaining to the public welfare, and his honorable record won him the confidence and respect of the entire community. Enoch McCarthy, of this review, has spent his entire life on the farm on which he now resides, and in his youth was a student in the primitive log school house of the neighborhood, which he attended about three months during the year, the remainder of his time having been spent 194 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. in assisting his father in the work of the home farm. In 1864 he enlisted for service in the Civil war, entering Company D, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for one hundred days, and on the expiration of that period received an honorable discharge at Columbus. Ere leaving for the war, in 1864, Mr. McCarty was united in marriage to Miss Rebecca Jane Morgan, a native of Wayne township, Champaign county, Ohio, and a daughter of Abel Morgan, one of the prominent pioneers of that township. Two children have graced this marriage,. —Louisa, the \ v i le of J. W. Ratchford, a railroad employe in Saint Paris, Ohio, and John S., who married Susan Cushman and resides on the old homestead. Throughout his entire business career our subject has devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits, and the community has long numbered him among its representative citizens. His homestead contains three hundred and twenty-four acres of rich and fertile land, and all of the improvements thereon stand as monuments to his thrift and ability. Since the organization of the Republican party he has given a stanch support to its principles, his first presidential vote having been cast in 1856, and he supported Lincoln at both elections. He continues his old army associations through his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, Harry Davis Post, No. —, at Woodstock, and is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of that city. He is a man of integrity, of firm convictions and marked fidelity to the duties of life, and Champaign-county numbers him among her worthy sons. GEORGE A. TALBOTT. America owes much of her progress and advancement to a position foremost among the nations of the world to her newspapers, and in no line has the incidental broadening cut of the sphere of usefulness. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 195 been more marked than in this same line of journalism. In many of the smaller cities of the Union there have been enlisted in the newspaper field men of broad mental grasp, cosmopolitan ideas and notable business sagacity, and the hour has not yet arrived when it can be said that "country journalism" is ineffective or that its functions are exercised without vigor and marked influence. For more than a quarter of a century the subject of this review has been identified with newspaper work in Urbana, Champaign county, Ohio, rising from the lowest position through all grades of mechanical, editorial and managerial duty and proving himself a valuable factor in each position occupied. It is interesting to note that he has during this long period been concerned in a single journalistic enterprise, though the scope of the same has been broadened from time to time to meet normal business exigencies and popular demands, and that his identification has been consecutive save for an interval when he withdrew to render service in an office of distinctive public trust and responsibility. He is now business manager of the Daily Citizen and Weekly Gazette, in the office of which he began his apprenticeship as a devotee of the "art preservative of all arts" in the year 1874. The propriety of incorporating a review of his career in this work is manifest, since he is recognized as one of the representative citizens and business men of the thriving city of Urbana. George A. Talbott is a native son of the Buckeye state, having been born in Barnesville, Belmont county, on the 8th of January, 1854, being the son of William A, and Rebecca C. Talbott, representatives of pioneer families of the state. He is indebted to the public schools, of his native town for his early educational discipline, there continuing his studies until he had attained the age of sixteen years, when he entered the office of the Barnesville Enterprise, to learn the printer's trade. It has been well said that a newspaper office offers a liberal education, and in the 196 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. case of our subject it is evident that through this source he most effectively supplemented the training received in the schoolroom. In October, 1874, Mr. Talbott came to Urbana and secured a position in the office of the old Citizen and Gazette, which was then a hebdomadal publication, under the control of the venerable Joshua Saxton and William A. Brand. Of his rise an article previously published speaks as follows: "For twenty-two years he followed his chosen vocation:, filling every position from the bottom to the top. When the Daily Citizen was. founded he was called from the case and made city editor, a position which he filled until a year ago (1895), when he retired to enter upon his duties as a public official." The office mentioned was that of county treasurer, to whch he was elected in the year noted, giving a most capable and discriminating administration of the finances of the county and being chosen as his own successor in 1897, thus serving continuously for four years. Economy was brought about through his well directed efforts and he retired from the office in 1900 with an enviable record. Mr. Talbott then became identified once more with the newspaper enterprise to which he had given many years of service, and he is now business manager of the concern, being a stockholder of the company and handling its affairs with distinctive ability, making the success of the enterprise cumulative in character. In his political proclivities Mr. Talbott is a stalwart Republican, and he has been an enthusiastic and effective worker in the cause of his party for many years. He was chairman of the Champaign county executive committee of the party from 1891 to 1894, both dates inclusive, while in 1893 and 1894 he was a member of the Republican state central committee. His influence in the local political field has been marked, and he has ever taken an active interest in public affairs, aiding in every possible way all projects and enterprises advanced for the good of his city and county. Fraternally he is identified with the CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 197 Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Arcanum, and his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, both he and his wife being members of Grace church in their home city. On the 12th of April, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Talbott to Miss Julia C. Ross, who was born in Urbana, the daughter of the late Philander B. Ross, one of the representative citizens of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Talbott have three children,—Frank, Stella and Bert. BARNET A. AUGHINBAUGH. There is an obscurity in the game of life that, to the robust mind. is always attractive. The uncertainty which must, perforce, ever exist augments rather than minifies individual incentive. To push forward to the goal of definite success is the one common impulse and ambition of humanity. But in this vast concourse of struggling competitors the number who achieve success is comparatively small, and the man who makes his life prolific and useful and who becomes independent and successful through the exercise of indomitable will, untiring energy and honesty of purpose, is assuredly deserving of a due measure of credit and the unqualified esteem of his fellow men. The subject of this review is numbered among the representative citizens and progressive business men of the city of Urbana, with whose industrial activities he has been identified for nearly two score years, building up an enterprise of no inconsiderable scope and importance, winning success by his own efforts and gaining the confidence and good will of all with whom he has been thrown in contact. The records of such lives justify the compilation of works of this nature. From records extant it is evident that the Aughinbaugh family has 198 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. been identified with the annals of American history from the colonial epoch, the original American ancestor having come hither from Germany and located in Pennsylvania, where several generations of the line have been born. Barnet Asbury Aughinbaugh, the immediate subject of this review, is a native of the old Keystone state of the Union, having been born in the city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of October, 1837, the son of William and Lydia Ann (Deal) Aughinbaugh, both of whom were born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, the former being a son of Barnet Aughinbaugh, who was likewise born in the Keystone state, becoming one of the prominent and influential citizens of Cumberland county, where he held various positions of public trust and responsibility, retaining his residence in Carlisle for many years and there conducting a hotel. William Aughinbaugh was reared and educated in the city of Carlisle and there learned the tinner's trade, to which he devoted his attention for a number of years. He was one of the California argonauts of 1849, making the long and perilous journey to the new Eldorado in that memorable year and there devoting his attention to the mining of gold for nearly twenty years. He then returned to the east and joined his family, who had removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, about the year 1859, and later they removed thence to Illinois, where the husband and father died in the year 1867, at the age of fifty-six years. His widow eventually came to Urbana and was thereafter cared for with true filial solicitude in the home of her son, the subject of this sketch, until her death, in 1892, at the age of seventy-five years. Of her seven children five survive. Barnet A. Aughinbaugh received his early educational discipline in the public schools of his native state, the family having removed to Shippensburg when he was a lad of about ten years. He there served an apprenticeship at the trade of carriage manufacturing, and thus laid the foundations for that successful business career which has been his in CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 199 connection with this line of industry. After the completion of his three years' apprenticeship he was employed as a journeyman in various localities, finally locating in the city of Cincinnati, where he was employed at his trade for a period of seven years. At the expiration of this time Mr. Aughinbaugh came to Urbana, in 1866, and here entered into partnership with Aaron Heiserman, establishing a manufactory of fine carriages and buggies and conducting business under the firm name of Heiserman & Aughinbaugh for six years, when the firm of Aughinbaugh & McComb was organized, and this alliance continued six years, while for an equal period were operations continued in turn under the firm names of Aughinbaugh & Baker Brothers and Aughinbaugh & Todd, and then our subject became sole proprietor of the enterprise, which he has ever since continued to conduct under his own name. He has a well equipped factory, and the products of the same include the highest grade of lighter vehicles, a specialty being made of hand-made work and special designs being executed with the highest grade of workmanship and finish, thus giving the concern a reputation which is unassailable, fortified as it is by long years of straightforward and honorable dealing 01 the part of the proprietor, who has been consecutively identified with th enterprise from the time of its inception. In addition to the manufac tory Mr. Aughinbaugh also deals in vehicles manufactured by other con cerns, thus having various grades and being enabled to cater to al demands in matters of price, style, etc., the repository and general head quarters being located at 206 West Court street. Mr. Aughinbaugh cast his first vote in support of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, an he has ever since been a stalwart Republican, though he has never take] an active part in political affairs and has never been an aspirant fo office. Both he and his wife are members of the First Methodist Episcc pal church and both are highly esteemed in the social circles of the cit where they have made their home for so long a term of years.