550 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. also belongs to Sherman Lodge, K. of P., and has been for several years a representative to the grand lodge. He is now a member of the state board of equalization, representing the tenth senatorial. district. His advancement in business circles is attributable entirely to his own capable management and unflagging industry. He began to earn his living at an early age, and as he had no capital was forced to acquire the means which would enable him to first engage in merchandising on his own account. He is now classed among the substantial and reliable citizens of the community in which he resides, and his life history stands in. exemplification of what may be accomplished in a land where ambition and determination are not hampered by caste. WILLIAM J. MERRICK. William J. Merrick, who resides at No. 37 Greenwood avenue, Columbus, is a passenger conductor on the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. A native of the Keystone state, his birth occurred in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, on the 22d of March, 1859. His father, John Merrick, died February 14, 1877, and the mother, Ellen Merrick, died February 17, 1860, both passing away at their home in Carbondale. The family is of Irish lineage, and the paternal grandfather of our subject died on the Emerald Isle. His wife afterward crossed the Atlantic to the new world and spent her last days in Carbondale, departing this life in March, 1878, at the extremely advanced age of one hundred and nine years. The maternal grandfather of our subject, Thomas Murray, died in 1867, in Carbondale, where also occurred the death of his wife, in 1860. Unto Mr. and Mrs. John Merrick were born the following named : James, who is engaged in a retired merchant of New York city, where he has resided for forty years; Thomas, a resident of Carbondale, Pennsylvania; John, who is engaged in the grocery business in Carbondale ; Michael, who was an engineer on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad and was killed October 4, 1877, in a railway accident at. Melrose, Pennsylvania, leaving a wife and son, who now reside at Union Hill, New Jersey, the latter being twenty-four years of age; Patrick, now forty-six years of age, and who resides in Carbondale and has one son, but his wife is now deceased; Maria, wife of Peter O'Neil, also a resident of Carbondale; Elizabeth, who died in that city in 1891, at the age of forty-one years; Kate, who is a young lady residing in Carbondale; and Ellen, who died in that city at the age of fifteen years. In the public schools of his native town William J. Merrick pursued his education, and when nineteen years of age he secured a position as brakeman on a freight train on the Erie Railroad, running between Port Jervis, New York, and Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. He occupied that position for one year and afterward spent a year in charge of a construction train on the Long Island Railroad. He then came to the west and began braking on the Panhandle Railroad west of Pittsburg, being a brakeman on a freight train for a year and a half, after which he spent six years as brakeman in the passenger CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 551 serrvice. He was then promoted to freight conductor and a year later was made passenger conductor, which position he has held continuously since 1889, being on the Pittsburg division, between Pittsburg and Columbus. He became a member of the Order of Railway Conductors in 1888, joining Holingsworth Division, No. 100, in which he was assistant conductor for one year, and during the past two years he has been the chief conductor of the division of the order. He has been a member of the Knights. of Columbus for the past two years. On the 19th of June, 1883, Mr. Merrick wedded Miss Theresa A. Boylan, of Chicago, who was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, December 12, 1863. Her father, Patrick Boylan, was born in Ireland and died in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, March 30, 1897, while his wife, Mrs. Anna Boylan, departed this life in that city on the 28th of July, 1872. Their children were : Mrs. Merrick; John and Thomas, who are engaged in mining at Victor, Colorado; Mary, wife of Mark Brennan, of Carbondale; Jane, wife of James Crapo, a resident of Chicago; Margaret, wife of Albert Myers, an engineer now residing in Aspin, Colorado; Annie, wife of Thomas Barrett, of Chicago; Kate, wife of James O'Rourke, a railroad conductor on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Merrick have been born seven children, namely: William G., born November 10, 1884; John Leo, born October 18, 1886; Marguerite, born January 30, 1889; James Russell, born January 21, 1892; Joseph, born June 3, 1894 ; Philip B., born September 8, 1896; and Andrew, born June I, 1897. The children attend the Sacred Heart school in Columbus and the family are.. all members of the Catholic church, of which Rev. Father Eis is pastor. For fourteen years they have resided in Columbus and now have a wide acquaintance and many friends. Mr. Merrick enjoys the high regard of all with whom he has come in contact through business as well as social relations, and is a popular conductor upon the road, owing to his willingness to aid those who ride over his line, his unfailing owing and his obliging disposition. ABSALOM BORROR. Among the leading citizens and representative farmers of Jackson township, Franklin county, Ohio, is Absalom Borror, who was born in that township on the 27th of April, 1838, a son of Isaac and Olive (Babcock) Borror, natives of Virginia and Pennsylvania, respectively. The father was a carpenter by occupation, and was one of the early settlers of Jackson township, this county, where he died at the age of forty-eight years. Absalom Borror is the third in order of birth in a family of eight children, consisting of five sons and three daughters. During his boyhood and youth he was only able to attend school for about two months during the winter season. He was only ten years old when his father died and the responsibility of carrying on the home farm devolved upon him and his older brother. To its improvement and cultivation he devoted his energies until 552 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. twenty-five years of age, with the exception of the years spent in the army during the Civil war. In 1861 he enlisted in Company G, Fifty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned. to the Fifteenth Army Corps under command of General Grant. He was first sent with his regiment to Camp Dennison, fifteen miles from Cincinnati, Ohio, and from there went to Paducah, Kentucky. During the battle of Pittsburg Landing he was wounded by a rifle ball through the right side, and was honorably discharged from tje service on account of this wound. He entered the army as corporal and was mustered out as sergeant. In 1863 Mr. Borror was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Swagler, and to them have been born eleven children, namely : Bertha, Ecward L., Sadie, Dora D., Isaac N., Olive, Albert R., Clayton S., Prentiss H., Clifford M. and Nella B. Soon after his marriage Mr. Borror sold his interest in the old homestead and bought a farm in Bond county, Illinois, and he lived for one year, but. at the end of that time he disposed of his property there and returned to Jackson township, this county, where he operated a rented farm. for one year. Again he went to Bond' county, Illinois, and engaged in general mercantile business there for three years. Since then he has made his home uninterruptedly in Franklin county, Ohio, having purchased a good farm of one hundred nine acres and a half in Jackson township which he has placed under excellent cultivation and improved with good and substantial buildings. His time and attention are devoted to general farming in which he is meeting with good success. Socially is an 'honored member of Ed. Krous Post, G. A. R. For forty years he has been an earnest and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, takes an active part in its work and contributes liberally to its support. JAMES A. MILES. James Alexander Miles is one of the ablest lawyers practicing at the Columbus bar, having the mental grasp which enables him to discover the salient points in a case. A man of sound judgment, he manages his cases with masterly skill and tact. He is a logical reasoner, has a ready command of English and has .gained an enviable reputation. Judge Miles is a native of Eden township, Licking county, Ohio, where his birth occurred the 21st of September, 1844. His grandfather, Stephen Miles, was a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, and when Ohio was the home of the red men and the haunt of wild beasts he made his way into the wilderness and aided in reclaiming its unbroken tracts of land for purposes of civilization. He married Miss Dush, and unto them was born a son, John Dush Miles, whose birth occurred in Licking county March 1, 1823. Amid' the wilds scenes of the frontier he was reared, and after attaining years of maturity he wedded Miss Sarah Games, a daughter of Robert and Sarah (Evans) Games. Her father was a native of this country and a soldier of the war with England in 1812, and when Ohio first became CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 553 the home of white mien he took up his abode within the boundaries of this commonwealth. He married Miss Sarah Evans, whose mother was an adopted daughter of Lord Bradley, of England. Coming to America, she was married to Mr. Evans in Virginia, and a large estate was left by the Bradleys which has never been claimed. Throughout his active business career John Dush Miles has followed farming. When his son James was a youth of seven years he removed with his family to Delaware county, Ohio, where lie has since made his home, his present residence being in Sunbury. Although he is now seventy-eight years of age, he is still robust and vigorous. His wife, however, died in February, 1900, at the age of eighty years. One of their children, Rev. John Miles, is now a minister . of the United Brethren church. Judge Miles, whose name introduces this record, pursued: his education in the public schools of Delaware county, and subsequently entered the university at Westerville, Franklin county, where he spent one year as a student. Later he engaged in teaching for several years, and then took up the study of law under the direction of the firm of Jackson & Beer, of Crawford county, Ohio. On the 4th of September, 1868, he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Franklin county, where he has won distinction as a very able lawyer. His fitness for leadership has also led to his selection for public office, and for two terms he served as the mayor of Westerville, while in 1899 he acted as a police judge of Columbus. He has long been. a prominent and active worker in the ranks of the Democratic party, doing. all in his power to promote its growth and insure its success. The Judge was united in marriage to Miss Mary Esther Longwell, a daughter of James and Edith (Wallace) Longwell, of Johnstown, Licking county, Ohio. Her father was a very prominent farmer, who died some years ago. Unto the Judge and his wife have been born the following children: Frank A., the eldest, is a graduate of the high school in Sunbury, and for some time was connected with farming interests in Licking county. On the 5th of August, 1900, he started for the Philippine Islands: to fill the position as clerk on the transport Warren, on Which his brother, Captain Perry L. Miles, was quartermaster. The Captain is the second son and is now a captain of the regular army. He was appointed to West Point from Franklin county in 1891, and was graduated in 1895. He was cornmissioned second lieutenant of the Fourteenth Infantry, after which he was stationed at Vancouver's barracks in Washington until the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, when he went to San Francisco, and on the 28th of May, 1898, he sailed for the Philippines as second lieutenant. However, he was in command of Company I, for the first lieutenant and the captain were left behind on special duty. He. participated in the battle of Malata and was under fire and was present at the capture of Manila, where the Fourteenth Regiment lost forty-seven men in killed and wounded. He was also in the first engagements with the insurgents, and by General Overshine 35 554 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. was ordered to capture a block-house. After the capture of Manila he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, in July, 1898. For some time he was in the trenches and on outpost duty in the Philippines, and on the 10th of October, 1899, he was commissioned captain on account of bravery displayed in the capture of the block-house, the promotion being given him in recognition of "gallant and meritorious conduct in action." In Harper's Weekly appeared the following, under the title of "Ballad of Lieutenant Miles :" When you speak of dauntless deeds, When you tell of stirring scenes, Tell the story of the isles Where the endless summer smiles— Tell of young Lieutenant Miles In the far-off Philippines! 'Twas the Santa Ana fight! All along the rebel line From the thickets dense and dire Gushed the fountains of their fire; You could hear their rifles' ire, You could hark the bullets whine. Little wonder there was pause! Some were wounded, some were dead; "Call Lieutenant Miles !" He came, In his eyes a fearless flame. "Yonder block-house—that's our aim," The battalion leader said. "You must take ithow you will; You must break this damned spell!" "Volunteers !" he cried. 'Twas vain, For in that narrow tropic lane 'Twixt the bamboo. and. the cane 'Twas a very lane of hell ! There were five stood ,forth at last; God 'above, but they were men! "Come !"--oh, blithely thus he saith! Did they falter? Not a breath! Down the path of hurtling death The Lieutenant led them then. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 555 Two have fallen, now a third! Forward dash the other three. In the on-rush of that race Ne'er a swerve or stay of pace; And the rebels—dare they face Such a desperate company? Panic gripped them by the throat- Every rebel rifleman; And as though. they seemed to see In those charging foemen three An avenging destiny, Fierce and fast and far they ran. So a salvo for the six! So a round of ringing cheers! Heroes of the distant isles Where the endless summer smiles- Gallant young Lieutenant Miles And his valiant volunteers! The daughter of the family, Bertha, is a graduate of the Johnstown high school and is residing with her grandmother in Licking county. Judge miles was again married, his second union being with Miss Lena G. Witter, of Columbus, a native of Germany. Her father was a very highly educated man and spoke seven different languages. He spent his entire life in his natiye country, and is now deceased. ALONZO B. COIT. The American progenitor of the family of Coit was John Coit, a ship-builder, who came to Connecticut from Wales in 163o. The Coits assumed prominence in the colonies. Benjamin Coit, the great-great-grandfather of Colonel A. B. Coit, of Columbus, Ohio, and Isaac Coit, Colonel Coit's great-grandfather, fought for American independence in the Revolutionary war. According to a record in possession of a member of the family, Isaac Coit was a sergeant in Captain Belcher's company in the First Regiment of the continental lift from July 20, 1777, to July 20, 1780. From another record it would seem that at some time during the war Isaac Coit was a captain in a Conneoticut Regiment, and his. father, Benjamin Coit, was a lieutenant in his company. Isaac Coit died at the age of eighty-nine years, Benjamin at the age of eighty-one. Harvey Coit, grandfather of. Colonel Colt, 556 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. married Miss Stone, of Northompton, Massachusetts, and emigrated to Franklin county, Ohio, and located at Worthington, where he died at the age of seventy-seven. His son, Harvey Coit, was born at Worthington, Massachusetts, in 1848, and is now living. at Columbus, Ohio, aged eighty-two, alert, active and in possession of all his faculties. He came to Columbus in 1837 and was a dry-goods merchant there until about 1870, and he and Harvey Bancroft are the oldest pioneer merchants of Columbus now living. During all his active career he gave his attention strictly to his business interests and declined to take any part in politics except as a voter. He married, at Worthington, Franklin county, Miss Elizabeth Greer, daughter of Richard Greer, a native of the north of Ireland, who was married there to Miss Dickson and settled in Worthington about 1812, where he was prominent as a farmer and as an Episcopalian. Colonel Alonzo B. Coit was born in Columbus, Ohio, a son of Harvey, and Elizabeth ('Greer) Coit. He gained his primary education in the public schools of 'his native city and took a collegiate course at Yellow Spring Greene county, where he was graduated in 1867. He identified himself with the manufacturing interests at Columbus and is now secretary and treasurer of the Columbus Brick & Terra Gotta Company, and president of the Columbus Trunk and Hand Luggage company, which he organized in 1882. He is a director in the Galion (Ohio) Water Works Company and is a stockholder and otherwise connected with other important interests. He is a Mason and past master of his lodge and is past high priest of his chapter. Colonel Coit's military history began in 1882, when he became captain of Company B, Fourtenth Regiment, National Guard of the state of Ohio He was promoted major in 1885, lieutenant colonel in 1886 and colonel in 1887, and served as such until the outbreak of the Spanish-American war. He served with his regiment fourteen times on riot duty, occasioned by labor troubles in different parts of the state. He was indicted for manslaughter on five counts at Washington Court House, because of his part in defending negro prisoners againist mob violence. His trial lasted one hundred and fifty-seven days and the jury acquitted him after only a few minutes absence from the court room. He accomplished much toward breaking up mob rule in Ohio and, commenting on the charges against him, Governor McKinley declared that he had done only his duty and had done that fearlessly and with good judgment. At the beginning of the war with Spain, he was commissioned colonel of the Fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which, July 29, 1898, embarked for Porto Rico with the Third Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and the Fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, under Generals Haines and Brooke, and led the advance at Guayama, where he was the only colonel under fire. After the engagement at Palmasas he was given civil control of the eastern part of the island, which included thirty-one towns of more or less importance. He returned to Columbus November 2, 1898, having lost twenty-one men by sickness and had seventeen disabled by wounds, CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 557 and was placed on the retired list of National Guard colonels. He organized the Ohio Society of Spanish-American war veterans and was made its cornmander and the National Porto Rican Invasion Association, of which he is commander for the department of Ohio. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. Until after the Spanish-American war in politics Colonel Coit was a Democrat of great independence, and though he has at different times been a member of state and county committees of its party, he has resolutely refused all office proffered him, except that of police commissioner of the city of Columbus, which he has filled for two terms without compensation and that of a member of the board of education of his home township of Marion, in which hi sservices have also been gratutitous. Colonel Coit said: "The theories of Populism attempt to inflate the curency by free silver, and the unpatriotic attacks of the party leaders on the administration were not Democracy ; and it was his duty to support President McKinley." He is a trustee of the First Universalist church of Columbus and is generously helpful in all of its material interests. Colonel Coit married Miss Annette Preston, of Columbus, daughter of Samuel D. Peterson, a pioneer merchant of that city. They have three children, named Harvey, Preston and Elizabeth. Harvey is the superintendent of the water-works at Galion, Ohio. Preston was the youngest enlisted soldier in the Spanish-American war. At fourteen years of age he was a trumpeter in Company A, Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and for four months was in a hospital. He is now completing his elucation at Columbus. Elizabeth married Harry Williams, of Youngstown, Ohio. WILLIAM MILLER. Miller is a retired farmer of Columbus. He was born in Franklin township, Franklin county, Ohio, in 1845, and is a representative of one of the prominent pioneer families, for in the early paft of the century his grandfather, Major William Miller, came from Virginia to Ohio and aided in laying wide and deep the foundation for the present prosperity and progress of the commonwealth. He served in the state militia at an early .day and was a major in the war of 1812. After joining the state militia he was cornmissioned captain by Governor Morrow, the paper bearing the date of April 14, 1823, and appointing him to the command of the Second Company of the Second Regiment, of the Second. Brigade of the Seventh Division of the Ohio militia. He was identified with the interests of Franklin county during almost the entire first half of the nineteenth century and died in 1850, at the age of sixty-two years, his birth having occurred in 1788. He married Miss Christina Fisher, a daughter of Michael Fisher, who came to Ohio in 1798 and was one of the first white men to invade this region to reclaim the wild lnd for purposes of civilization. Adam F. Miller, the father of our subject, was born on the old, family 558 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. homestead in Franklin township, January 1, 1818, the farm being then the Property of Major William Miller, while at the present writing it is in the possession of William Miller, the subject of this review. Throughout his active business. career he carried on farming and stock-raising and his well directed efforts brought to him a comfortable competence. Recognized as one of the leading and influential citizens of the community, he was called upon to fill various offices, arid discharged his duties with promptness and fidelity. He wedded Mary Elizabeth Wolf, who came to from Washington county, Pennsylvania, and died in 1855, at the age of thirty-four years. Her parents were Jacob and Margaret (Clark) Wolf, and the former served in the war of 1812, participating in several battles. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Miller were.born four sons and one daughter. One son, Jacob, has for fifteen years been a member of the police force of Columbus, while Fisher Miller is a farmer of Franklin township; Margaret is the wife of J. B. McDonald; and George died in 1894. Upon the home farm William Miller spent the days of his early boyhood and in 1862 became a student in the Schools+ of Granville, where he continued his education until 1864, when, at the age of nineteen years, he responded to his country's call for troops, enlisting as a member of Company G, One: Hundred. and Thirty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He participated in the battle of Monocacy and in several skirmishes, and when the country no longer needed his services he received an honorable discharge and returned to his home, taking up the pursuits of peace. He was trained to habits of industry upon the home farm and early became familiar with the work of cultivating the fields, and continued to operate his land until 1890, when he left the old homestead and became a resident of Columbus, but still runs his farm. On October 16, 1867,. was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Miller and Miss Emily House, a daughter of William and Julia (Moler) House. Her father was born in Franklin township and is still living. He has filled the position of township ̊trustee and is a well known and highly respected citizen. Her mother was a daughter of Rollin and Susan Maier, the former having been one of the pioneer settlers of Franklin township. On coming to Ohio he took up his residence in Franklin township and there spent his remaining days. He owned a water power, which he used in operating a gristmill, just south of Greenlawn avenue, carrying on business along that line for many years:. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been born three children: Mary Gertrude, the wife of Harry E. Bulen, who is a graduate of the high school of Columbus 'and was for seven years a successful teacher, but is now the proprietor of the Bryden Hotel i Clara Julia, who is a teacher in the public schools and is also a graduate of the high school of Columbus and Kindergarden School; and Alice Pearl, their youngest daughter, who is engaged in pyrography—the new art of burnt wood. She was married May 27, 1901, to Herbert Rockinham Earhart and is living in Charleston, West Virginia. The family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 559 and Mr. Miller is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he is a stalwart Democrat and for six years he was the township trustee. He belongs to Wells Post, No. 451, G. A. R., and in the year 1900 served as officer of the day, while now in 1901 he is junior vice commander. As a citizen he is public-spirited and progressive, manifesting a commendable interest in everything calculated to prove of benefit to the communty along social, material, intellectual and moral lines. GEORGE W. HOOVER. One may travel far and see much, but it is doubtful whether any land presents more marked contrasts than our own, transformed from the wilderness of the primitive forests to the cultivated farms of the present. Interesting and instructive, indeed, are the stories of frontier and pioneer life, and none can tell them so well as those who literally hewed their way to civilization and comfort. Such were the parents of the subject of the present sketch, George W. Hoover, a resident of Jackson township, who was born in Franklin county, Ohio, September 23, 1824. His father, George Hoover, was a native of Kentucky, a son of John and Margaret (Smith) Hoover. The former took part in the Revolutionary war, and came to Franklin county in 1807. George Hoover was here married to the mother of our subject, Catherine Kious, a native of Virginia, who had accompanied her parents to Franklin county in 1806. Her father, John Kious, was a native of Virginia, a natural mechanic and a soldier of the war of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. George Hoover after marriage settled upon the farm where George W. now resides, living a life of labor and struggle with nature, peacefully passing away in their seventy-sixth year. He was firm in his religious convictions and a consistent member of the New Light Christian church. In politics he was a Democrat, and highly esteemed in the cocommunity holding a number of minor public offices. which he filled with a firm adherence to duty. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hoover. Polly married William Neiswendere and died in her sixty-seventh year; and Margaret married Jonas Smith and died when about seventy-four. George W. Hoover was reared in Jackson township, learning of his father the values of crops, drainage, the raising of cattle and the various lines which make agriculture a success. He attended the district school and can relate many amusing and interesting details concerning the conveniences provided for the children of that early day in their pursuit of knowledge. His marrage to Miss Nancy Smith took place in 1847. She was a native of Franklin county, Ohio, and came of sturdy stock and was a capable assistant to Mr. Hoover, moving into a log cabin and proving equal to the emergencies of pioneer life. The most of the land upon which Mr. Hoover now resides was cleared by himself, and he feels entitled to the comfort and rest he now enjoys 560 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Mr. and Mrs. Hoover became the happy parents; of a fine family of children, all of whom have grown to be esteemed and some of them prominent in educational centers. The names of these children are : Dr. Louis Smith, who is a practicing physician and surgeon at Laura, Miami county, Ohio; George, who settled on the home farm; Dr. William, a practicing physician of Grove City, Ohio; Catherine, deceased ; Laura J., deceased; Eliza E.; Trevitt, in the grocery business in Columbus ; John, a druggist of Grove City; Sarah; Clement L., a prominent teacher of Portland, Oregon; Warren J., deceased and Adah A., remaining at home. The death of Mrs. Hoover occurred in 1887, leaving a vacancy in this family impossible to fill. Mr. Hoover commands the respect of the whole community in which he lives and is a remarkably preserved man for his years. An easy explanation may be found for this, as he has ever lived a most temperate life, having in perverted tastes, using no tobacco, and drinking only cold water. He certainly gives a fine example of temperance and is an object lesson to many who do not follow his example and live sickly, unsucoessful lives. Mr. Hoover has been honored often with marks of esteem and confidence from his neighhors, having served three years as justice of the peace, two terms as township clerk, and for thirty-three years was school director in hi district. He is not identified with any religious organization, and since the last admiistration of Mr. Cleveland has been independent in politics. JOSEPH N. BRADFORD. A representative of the educational interests of Columbus, occupying the position of professor of architecture and drawing in the Ohio State University, Professor Joseph N. Bradford is well known in his adopted state as a man of strong mentality and sterling worth who has attained an enviable position as a representative of the calling which he has made his life work. He was born April 3, 186o, near Placerville, then a mining camp of California. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bradford, now reside in Columbus. They were natives of Lincolnshire, England, and the father came to this country when twenty years of age, landing at New York city, whence he made his way direct to Columbus, arriving in Ohio's capital in 1850. His wife was a maiden of fourteen years when she came with her parents from England, the family locating in Oberlin, Ohio. The family name was Pickworth, and their marriage was celebrated in Columbus in the year 1858. Unto them were born the following children : Joseph N., of this review; Samuel, who was born December 25, 1862, and was married, in October, 1886, to Miss Winnie Nearevamer, of Columbus, where they now reside; Frank, who was born August 12, 1865, and is not married, and resides with his parents in Columbus Helen, a teacher in the public schools of this city; Ernest, who was born September 7, 1869. and is now occupying a position in the city as an analytical chemist ; and Herbert, born August 21, 1872, and married Catherine Mauk. They, too, reside in the capital city. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 561 Professor Bradford, whose name. introduces this record, acquired his early education in the public schools of California, and in 1873 accompanied his parents upon their return to Columbus. Here he entered the public schools and in the year 1877 matriculated in the Ohio State University, and after a six-years course was graduated with the degree of mechanical engineer. His high scholarship and ability are indicated by the fact that he is now occupying the chair of architecture and drawing in that institution. On the 30th of Deoember, 1885, was celebrated the marriage of Professor Bradford and Emma Walter, whose parents came to the United States from Paris, France, at an early date. Her father, Frederick Walter, has been dead for twenty-two years, having departed this life in Jersey City, New Jersey, but her mother, Mrs. Victoria Walter, is still living and is now in the eightieth year of her age. She also has a sister, Mrs. Marie Moore, who is now a widow. Unto the Professor and his wife have been born two children, - Grace E. and Florence,—both of whom are in school. They attend Dr. Gladden's church in Columbus, of which Mrs. Bradford is a member, and the Professor is an active member of the Sigma Xi, the American Society for Advancement of Science and American Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education. It would be almost tautological in this connection to say that Professor Bradford is a man of broad intelligence and intellectuality, for this has been shadowed forth in the lines of this review. Added to his knowledge acquired in the collegiate course, he is constantly broadening his mind by study, reading and observation, and has more firmly fixed his knowledge by his work in educational circles. The surest way to prove one's understanding of a question is to explain to others, and his labors as an instructor have given him rank among those whose knowledge is sure and dependable. He has many friends in Columbus and among those who have come under his instruction, for his personality is one that makes him popular. JOHN McCLURE. The career of the subject of this sketch is that of a self-made man, who, beginning in an humble way, has advanced by industry and perseverance to an assured position in his chosen avocation and as a citizen of Columbus, Ohio. His ancestors were of Scotch descent and they located early in Virginia, whence those of a later generation removed to Ohio. His father, John McClure, died at Columbus, about 1852, at. the age of thirty-five years, and his mother died in 1890, aged fifty-eight years, at the residence of her son, the subject of this sketch. John McClure, of Columbus, Ohio, was born at old Franklinton, near the west side market, Columbus, February 7, 1850, and received his early education in public schools in that neighborhood; where he lived until 1862, when his parents removed to the east side of the city.. About his first employment was as a bell-boy in the United States Hotel at Columbus, and as such 562 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. he was on duty there during all the earlier days of the Civil war. July 12, 1864, he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and enlisted in the United States Navy and was assigned to the Victory, No. 33, commanded by Captain Fred Reed. The vessel was attached to the Tenth Division of the Mississippi Squadrpm and was assigned to patrol duty on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. After considerably more than a year's arduous and dangerous experience the youth was honorably discharged from the service November 18, 1865, at Mound City, Illinois, and returned to Columbus, Ohio, in such a condition physically that he was unable to do any active work for several months. January 1, 1866, Mr. McClure entered the employ of S. P. Elliiott, a baker on High street, Columbus, with whom: he remained a year. During the succeeding two years he was employed in stone masonry construction and acquired a very good knowledge of the stone mason's trade. In December, 1869, he became .a :switchman in the Columbus yards of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, and in the fall of 1871 he was employed as a brakman on the Indianapolis division of the Pan Handle Railway. After ten months' service in that capacity he was, July 22, 1872, given a position as fireman on the same road, which he held until August, 1874, when he resigned it voluntarily and for a time was out of the railway service. In February, 1875, he was again employed in railroads yards at Columbus and later again accepted a position as fireman on the Pan Handle. Early in 1876 Mr. McClure was promoted to the position of yard engineer at Columbus, and :a few months later was promoted to road service, a position which he held until January 27, 1883. From that time until May 21, 1883, he was engineer on the Cincinnati Southern Railway, and after that was employed until July 5, 1883, on the Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis Narrow Gauge Railway. August 27, 1883, he became an engineer in the service of the Scioto Valley Railroad, now a part of the Norfolk & Western Railway, and has filled that position continuously to this time, having been a passenger engineer since September 25, 1887. He became a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers in 1880 and has been an active and helpful member of the order since, being chief engineer of Division No. 72, one term. Mr. McClure was married December 10, 1868, to Miss Elizabeth Nowell, Who died March 28, 1881, after having borne him three children as follows: Charles R. was born October 27, 1869, and is in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railway Company, and is not married. John F., horn August 5, 1871, is married and is also in the Pennsylvania Railway service. Sadie G. married Thomas Heilman and lives in Pennsylvania. Mr. McClure's second wife, whom he married June 21, 1884, was Miss Hannah Blankinship, of Ironton, Lawrence county, Ohio, whose Welsh ancestors early emigrated to Virginia. She was born at Coalgrove, Lawrence county, Ohio. Her father died there December 2, 1865. Her father was a member of the One Hundred and Eighty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the last year of the Civil war, and after serving five months received a sunstroke, while on an CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 563 arduous march, from the effects of which he died. He had three brothers, Fusion Blankinship, now deceased; John, deceased; and Hiram Blankinship of Portland, Oregon. Mrs. McClure's mother was born in Scott county, Virginia, and is living in Kimball county, Nebraska. Josephine Blankinship, Mrs. McClure's eldest sister, married Joseph Hoke, of Silver Lake, Indian, and they have three children, named Bertha, Charles and John. Her sister Maud married John Klei, and is living at Portsmouth, Ohio. Blanche, her youngest sister, married James H. Lindsay, of New Cumberland, West Virginia, and has a. son named' Edwin. Mrs. McClure's brother, Charles Perry Blankinship, is living in California, is married and has three children: Charles, Josephine and Rowland. Mr. McClure has advanced to his present good position as a railroad man and his creditable standing as a citizen by his own unaided efforts. Though not a practical politician he has decided views' on public questions and is not without influence in his party. LAFAYETTE WOODRUFF. A prominent physician of Columbus, Ohio, is the subject of the present sketch. Lafayette Woodruff was born December 27, 1830, in Warren county, Ohio, a son of Israel and Sarah (McNabb) Woodruff, and a grandson of Jesse Woodruff, well known in early days in the state. Having obtained a preparatory education in the academy at Lebanon, Ohio, he read medicine under Dr. F. A. Williamson, at Harveysburg, Ohio, beginning in 1848, later attending lectures at the Ohio Medical College, in Cincinnati, and Starling Medical College, at Columbus, taking his degree in the latter in 1852. He locatedin Alton, Ohio, and continued there in practice until March 19, 1900, when he removed to his present location. Dr. Woodruff served as an assistant surgeon in the Civil war in 1861-2, in the Fifty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He is a prominent member of many medical associations, belonging to the Ohio State Medical Society; the American Medical Association ; the Central Ohio Medical Society, of which he was president in 1883; the Madison County Medical Association, of which he was president in 1875; of the Alumni Association of Starling Medical College, and a member of the board of censors of that college; and scoially is also connected with the Masonic fraternity; the Grand Army of the Republic: and in addition is medical examiner for several life insurance companies. He is at present the president of the hoard of pension examining surgeons for Franklin county and belongs to the military order of the Loyal Legion. Dr. Woodruff is widely known among the members of his profession and the state at large, by his literary productions, including an address before the alumni of Starling Medical College, in 1884, published by the association in the Columbus Medical Journal ; Vomiting, its importance as a symptom, published in July, 1894; Polypharmacy, published in December, 564 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. 1894; Habitual Constipation, published in the Indiana Medical Herald, in October, 1894; Heredity, in 1901, and other important papers. Dr. Woodruff was married, November 25, 1856, to Mrs. Maria L. Golliday, who died January Jo, 1872. His second marriage occurred March 4, 1874, to Miss Mary L. Miller, a daughter of Rev. John Miller, of Wauseon, Ohio, who died July 26, 1898. He married his present wife, who was Miss Catherine E. Williams, of Columbus, Ohio, March 15, 190o. Since the spring of 1900 our subject and his 'excellent wife have been residents of the city of Columbus, where he commands a lucrative practice. His residence on West Broad street is situated in one of the finest localities in this beautiful city. MILTON NEAR. Among the farmers of Jackson township who have grown up with the country and not only have seen the improvements in the section but:have materially assisted in the same, is Milton Near, a resident of Stringtown Pike. He was born in Ross county, Ohio, April 30, 1856, a son of Philip and Sarah J. (Duff) Near, the former a native of Ross county, the latter of Jackson township, Franklin county. The grandfather of.Mr. Near on the paternal side was one of the old settlers. of Ross county, having emigrated from Pennsylvania at an early day. Philip Near was a farmer by occupation, but was the victim of a cyclone when only thirty years of age, dying before he had been able to provide for his family of three small sons. The mother of the subject of this review, although born and reared in Jackson township, located in Ross county after her marriage to Mr. Near. Later she married Solomon Swagler and is now a widow, living in Jackson township. Her father was one of the old settlers of Jackson township. The family of the parents of our subject consisted of three sons: Marion, who is a resident of Jackson township ; William, who died at the age of eight years; and our subject, who was left fatherless at the tender age of two years. By her second marriage his mother became the parent of three daughter's : Emma, now the wife of R. E. Shover, and now resides in Jackson township upon the farm that her grandfather, William Duff, cleared and improved; Jennie, the wife of L. J. Kolter, resides in Wapakoneta, Ohio; Viola, the wife of Otis Borror; lives upon the farm where Mr. Milton. Near resided for eleven years in Jackson township. When Mr. Near was brought to Jackson township he was about three years of age, and here he grew to manhood, working on his stepfather's farm and attending the district school until the date of his marriage. This occurred November 7, 1878, to Clara E. Preston, who was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, May 2, 1856. She was a daughter of Solomon Preston, a farmer by occupation who had emigrated to Ohio at the age of sixteen and had settled in Muskingum county, afterward removing from there to Franklin county and locating in Jackson township. His first marriage had occurred in Franklin county, but his second wife was a resident of Madison township, Frank- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 565 lin county, by the name of Rachel Kramer, and after this marriage Mr. Preston, senior, removed to Pickaway county, where he engaged in farming. The last years; of his life were spent in Columbus, Ohio. Mrs. Near, the fifth child: in a family of eight children, was reared in her native county, enjoying some superior educational advantages, having had a course of three years at Winchester. Milton Near, after marriage, located near Borror Corners, Jackson township, where he rented his stepfather's farm and remained upon it for eleven years, leaving it to remove to his present farm which he had bought. Since that time he has successfully pursued agricultural pursuits, improving his land, which: comprises sixty acres and has responded so generously that he also engages in marketing. Mr. Near's family numbered seven children: The oldest died: in infancy, and the next one lived only to be three years old; and the others—Otto S., Guy C:, Sheldon, Myrll and Ethel J.— are still at home with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Near are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, where they are highly esteemed. He is a Republican in politics and is considered one of the representative men of Jackson township. EDWARD J. MILLER. The scriptural declaration that he who is "faithful in few things" shall be made "master over many," is exemplified in the advancement of every competent, honorable and deserving man who has a responsible position in a permanent business managed by appreciative and far-seeing employers. The name of Edward J. Miller, foreman of the mechanical department of the Panhandle machine shops at Columbus, Ohio, is presented as; that of one who ub his career has exemplified the truth of the declaration referred to above. Mr. Miller was born at Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1863, a son of Nicholas J. and Catherine (Gabel) Miller. His father, a native of Germany, came to the United States in 1858. A carpenter by trade, he for a time found employment at his trade in Zanesville, but eventually retired from active business. He had nine sons and daughters, of whom Edward J. Miller was the second born. The boy was educated in the Zanesville high school land at the Zanesville Business; College. In 1879 he apprenticed himself to the H. & F. Blandy Machine Company, of Zanesville, builders of portable and stationary engines, by which he was employed four years. After that he went to Newark, Ohio, and was for several months employed by the Newark Machine Company. We next find him in the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company, in it machine shop at Garrett, Indiana. He afterward worked at Chicago, Illinois, and at Kansas City, Missouri. Later he returned to Ohio and entered the service of the Morgan Engineering Company, at Alliance. From there he came to Columbus. and began work in the old Piqua shops west of High street as a machinist. In 1886 the shops; were moved on the hill, and he was also trarisferred. In 566 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. 1887 the value of his services was recognized by his appointment as acting foreman of the machine department of the Panhandle machine shops at Columbus, and he was soon afterward made foreman and given control of the shops and a large number of employes,. Being a skilled mechanic, thoroughly acquainted: with the construction and operation of machinery in all its parts, he is able to direct and assist officially in every department of the shops and virtually has oversight of thirteen hundred men. In 1889 Mr. Miller associated himself in business with P. C. Krouse, the firm being known as P. C. Krouse & Company, jewelers, at 232 North High street, which has grown from a small plant to its present magnitude. In 1897 Mr. Miller married Miss Anna Abrams, a daughter of Thomas Abrams, of Columbus. Politically he is a strong Republican and takes a deep interest in all matters of public importance calculated to affect the in interests of the people of his city, county or country. He is a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a popular Mason, who; after having been made a Master Mason, was exalted to the august degree of a Royal Arch Mason and constituted, created and dubbed a Knight Templar, WILLIAM A. HARDESTY. Honored and respected by all, there is no man in Columbus who occupies a more enviable position than William. A. Hardesty in industrial and financial circles, not alone on account of the brilliant success he has achieved, but also on account of the honorable, straightforward business policy he has ever followed. He possesses untiring energy, is quick of perception, forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution; and his close application to business and his excellent management have brought to him the high degree of prosperity which is to-day his.; and he has demonstrated the truth of the saying that success is not the result of genius, but the outcome of a clear judgment and experience. He is now president of the State Savings Bank and Trust Company, president of the Columbus Varnish Company and owner of the Capital City Mills, at Columbus. Mr. Hardesty was born at Malvern, Carroll county, Ohio, February 14, 1848, and is a son of Thomas and Mary J. (Collins) Hardesty. His grandfather was William Hardesty. The father was a native of Ohio and was a merchant and miller, continuing in those various lines of business until within a short time of his death, which occurred' in 1870. His wife was a native of Virginia. The subject of this review spent his boyhood days; in Malvern Ohio, and attended the public schools there, acquiring his preliminary education, which was supplemented by a business course in P. Duffs Business College in Pittsburg. On leaving that institution he entered upon his basiness career in his nineteenth year, becoming connected. with the milling interests at Canal Dover. He operated his mills at that point successfully until 1872, CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 567 when he purchased an interest in another mill at the same place, continuing its conduct until 1880, when he came to Columbus and built the Capital City Mills, which are supplied with all the latest and best improved machinery, including a complete roller system as well as the best separators. The mill is operated by steam power and the capacity is five hundred barrels in twenty-four hours. Mr. Hardesty has a large local trade, and the surplus, which is also quite extensive, is shipped to different cities throughout the United Kingdom. It is not difficult to find a market for their product, for it is of superior grade and quality and is thus easily sold. Mr. Hardesty is a practical miller, his connection with the business dating from his early manhood, so that he is well versed in the mechanical operation, at the same time being fully competent to control its financial and trade interests. A man of resourceful ability, his efforts have not been confined, to this one line, for he has extended the field of his labors and his counsel has proven an important factor in the successful management of other enterprises. He assisted in the organization of the Columbus Varnish Company, of which he is the president and one of the principal stockholders; and he is vice-president of the Hanna Paint Manufacturing Company, of Columbus, also a director in the Columbus Machine Company. In 1892 he joined with other prominent and reliable citizens in the organization of the State Savings Bank & Trust Company, and was thereupon elected its president, in which capacity he is still serving. A general banking business is carried on, and the institution has become one of the solid financial concerns of the county and its business returns a good dividend to the stockholders. In 1870 Mr. Hardesty was united in marriage to Miss Della F. Moore, of New Philadelphia, Ohio, a daughter of Thomas and Nancy (Dickson) Moore. They now have three children,—Florence M., Thomas M. and Helen Josephine. Their home is a neat and substantial residence at No. 91 Hamilton avenue. His career has ever been such as to warrant the trust and confidence of the business world, for he has ever conducted all transactions with the strictest business principles of honor and integrity. HUGH V. McDERMOTT. So comparatively few are the accidents which occur in railroad service that the public little realize how greatly indebted it is to the employes who have charge of the trains that daily carry their human freight from point to point. The great corporations which control the railroad lines of the country deman of their representatives the most painstaking care and thus in safety the travel of the country continues day by day. Mr. McDermott is among the well known representatives of the Pennsylvania line, occupying the position of conductor. His home is located at No. 750 St. Clair avenue, in Columbus, and in the city, as well as among the patrons of the road, he has many warm friends. When twenty-four years of age the subject of this review began rail- 568 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. roading, accepting a position as section workman on the Pennsylvania road May 14, 1881. In the summer of the same year he secured a position as brakeman and on the 1st of October, 1883, he was promoted to that of a conductor, in which capacity he has since faithfully performed his important duties, his run being on the Pittsburg division between Columbus and Dennision, Ohio. He has always. been at the post of duty and has never sustained any personal injuries during his long connection with railroad service. He is now recognized as one of the most popular and efficient conductors on his line, his 'obliging manner, genial disposition and unfailing courtesy winning him the esteem and good will of all with whom he comes in contact. On the 15th of October, 1889, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. McDermott and Miss Olive Moody, of Dennison, Ohio, and unto them have been born four children: Helen, born September 12, 1890; Hazel, born August 3, 1892; Catherine, born August 2, 1897; and Hugh, born August 15, 1900. In 1885 Mr. McDermott became a member of Division No 100, of the Order of Railway Conductors, at Columbus, and in 1895 he was transferred to Division No. 278, at Dennison, Ohio. He is a prominent member of the Orders of Foresters and Hibernian's. He and his family are communicants of St. Peter's Catholic church in the capital city. He was resided' in Columbus since 1889 and has here a wide acquaintance among men whose respect he commands by reason of his sterling worth. FREDERICK WILLIAM STELLHORN, D. D. In the sphere of his special vocation, one of the most eminent of the citizens of Columbus is Frederick William Stellhorn, D. D., who has been connected with the Capital University as a professor of theology since 1881. His duty and his choice have 'limited his work and influence mainly to the church and theological learning, so that he is not so well known to the general public even in his own city; but his ability is recognized in the Lutheran church throughout our land and other lands, and his labors have contributed much toward shaping the course of events in the congregations and synods of our country. His extensive learning, his profound thinking and his lucid speech have given him eminence which those Who appreciate his sincere devotion and persistent work could not fail to accord. Frederick William Stellhorn was born in a little village of Hanover, Germany, on the 2d of October, 1841. His parents were poor and could do but little to give him an eminent position in the World, if they ever had any such thought : it is likely that they never had. They were devoted and therefore humble members of the Evangelical Lutheran church and were instructed in the ways of righteousness through faith in the Saviour of the world, in this faith they trained their boy. Having been baptized into Christ in infancy, he was sent to the village parochial school, where he learned besides reading, writing and arithmetic, the gospel truth unto salvation set forth in the Lutheran catechism, the Bible history and the beautiful hymns CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 569 of the church. This truth of God was the guide of his life and the joy of his heart in all his subsequent career. When he was not quite thirteen years old his parents in 1854 emigrated to the country with their family and located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There his father died, of cholera, but a week after their arrival. The bereavement was great, but an older brother was enabled to supply the wants of the family, so that the orphaned boy could still have the advantages of a good education. He entered the parochial school connected with the Lutheran congregation then in charge of Dr. Sihler, and in the following spring, having attended a course of instruction by the pastor, was received as a communicant member by the rite of confirmation in the fifteenth year of his age. Notwithstanding the limited circumstances of the family, it was desired that he should have further educational advantages, and means were found to realize the desire. The practical seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Missouri Synod for the Education of Ministers was then located at Fort Wayne, and he entered that institution as a student in the autumn of 1857. Two years afterward he was sent to the Concordia College at St. Louis, where he graduated in 1862. He then entered the theological seminary of the same synod in the same city and completed the prescribed course of three years and was graduated as a candidate for the Lutheran ministry in 1865. His first call was to become assistant pastor in the large congregation of Rev. J. F. Buenger, in St. Louis. He accepted this call, although he was in doubt whether he could long endure the hot climate. His fears proved well founded, for in little more than a year he was incapacitated for the work by a sunstroke, from which he recovered slowly and which, notwithstanding his efforts to go on with his labors, compelled him to resign, much against the wishes of the congregation. He then, in 1867, accepted a call to a small congregation in Indiana, where the work was comparatively light and where he had ample opportunity to recuperate and to continue his studies. But it was only a few years that he was permitted to enjoy this retreat. In 1869 he was called to a professorship in the Northwestern University, at Watertown, Wisconsin, where he spent five years in teaching ancient languages. As this was in accordance with his inclinations, he, in 1874, accepted a call to a similar position in Concordia College, his alma mater, where he expected to have a larger field of usefulness, though his present field of labor was quite congenial. After six years of work at Fort Wayne troubles came. They were not in his department of work, and were not of a nature to affect his position; but as a member of the church he was interested in the controversies which arose, and as a constant student of theological subjects he was doubly interested in them. The Missouri Synod, of which he was a member and under whose control the college was, in which fie was a professor, promulgated a doctrine of predestination, which is essentially Calvinistic and which he, as an earnest Lutheran, could not accept. He was therefore at war with his own synod, and was glad to accept a call which was extended to him to a 36 570 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. higher position, by the synod of Ohio, which was not in harmony with the synod of Missouri. He accepted the call to a professorship of theology in Capital University, and since the spring of 1881 has been performing the duties of his office in quietness and in strength at Capital University, in the city of Columbus, a part of that time also serving as the president of the college after the resignation of Dr. Schuette. It is only since Professor Stellhorn has come to Columbus that he has fully developed his strength. Here he has had a field of labor that has furnished the proper opportunities. for his varied powers. In connection with his college and seminary work; into which he entered with a zeal that is born of faith and love, lie became the editor of the German. weekly journal published by the synod, and later of the theological bi-monthly, as well as a contributor to other periodicals and being active in other synodical labors. He has also published books of value to the church, prominent among which are a dictionary of New Testament Greek, a practical commentary on the four gospels for popular use in English, a commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, and an exposition of the pastoral epistles in German. His favorite studies and labors are in the line of exegesis, for which he has eminent qualications, both natural and acquired, his judgment being accurate and profound and his knowledge of the original languages. of the Scripture being extensive and critical. He is engaged at present on a commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, which is appearing in parts in the Theological Magazine, and will no doubt soon be published. in book form. Dr. Stellhorn was married in 1866 to Miss Christiana Buenger, who was a faithful. helper to him in all of his, labors and trials, and with whom he lived happily. until her death, in 1899. In this union eight children were born to him, four sons and four daughters. Three of these sons are pastors of Evangelical Lutheran congregations, 'respectively at Marion, Sandusky and Botkins, Ohio, and the oldest daughter is the wife of Rev. L. Hess, the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran church at Crestline, Ohio. One daughter died at the age of four years. One son and two daughters still remain with their father at the old home across the way from the campus and buildings of Capital University, and there he still continues to perform the arduous and effective work which duty and love have laid upon him, and which the synod hopes will in the goodness of God be continued yet for many years. JOSEPH M. BRIGGS. One of the oldest residents and most prominent citizens of Franklin township, Franklin county, Ohio, is Joseph. M. .Briggs, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Briggs was born upon the land where his home is now located in the village of Briggsdale, November 25, 1833. The grandmother of our subject, Mary Briggs, widow of Edward Briggs, a soldier in the war of 1812, emigrated from New Jersey to Franklin county in 1816, and settled on the west side of the Scioto river, four miles south of the present city of Colum- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 571 bus. She had a family of. seven children,—John, Henry, Nicholas, Mary, Catherine, Lydia and George. The latter went to New York, and there became a prominent man in political and business life. He was three times elected to congress and was a strong Whig for many years, but later adopted the principles of the American party. The father of our subject was Nicholas Briggs, who was born on the 26th of February, 1807, and with his brothers, John and Henry, he bought a large tract of land in the vicinity of what is now Briggsdale. They improved the land, but had to contend with a great deal of sickness of a malarial nature, incident to the settling up of any new country, and from this disease Nicholas Briggs died in 1843. He was a Whig, although he voted for Jackson in 1828, and in 184o cast his .ballot for Harrison. The name of the mother of our subject was Martha Johnson Chambers, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Franklin county about 1825, making the journey on horseback. She was married in 1832, and lived a widow for twenty-one years, attending capably to the business of the estate, not only retaining it intact, but adding to it. Her death occurred in 1864, when she had reached her fifty-third year. She was of Holland and Irish ancestry, while the Briggs family trace back a long English line and possess a coat of arms. The family of our :subject's parents consisted of six children : Elizabeth, deceased wife of H. C. Darnell ; William, a resident of Columbus; Sarah, now the deceased wife of William H. -Davis, a resident of Dublin; Ohio; Katherine R., the deceased wife of William Armistead; and John Edward, deceased. Joseph M. Briggs, the eldest of the family, was reared on the home farm, his time being divided between its duties and his attendance upon the district school. He. also attended the grammar school in Columbus, completing his schooling at the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio. He early displayed a taste for public life, resulting in his election as township assessor at the age of twenty-one years, this being followed by six years’ service as treasurer. In 1857 he Visited Kansas for the purpose of investing in land, the trip resulting in a purchase of eleven hundred acres, from which. he sold a few lots at a large advance in price. In 1864. he became interested in the purchase of cotton, making a trip to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he met with excellent :success. Mr. Briggs is a large land and property owner in Briggsdale. He also possesses much property in the city of Columbus, which is of high value, including twenty-seven residences. The rental from all of this property aggregates a large amount annually. In 1861 Mr. Briggs was elected first lieutenant of a militia company of one hundred and seven men,—Company B, Fourth Ohio Volunteer Militia,—going out to defend the state against Morgan's raiders. He was afterward commissioned captain of this company by Governor Brough. The public services of Mr. Briggs are well known in the county. In 1880 he was elected county commissioner, his re-election following in 1883. His term of service. covered more than six years, in which many of the most necessary and substantial county improvements were brought to a satis- 572 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. factory end. It was during his administration that the Broad street and State street bridges were built, also the bridge at Dublin and many others through the county, making such permanent improvement that his services earned the thanks of the community.. While Mr. Briggs had influence on the board the land was bought for the county poor farm and the buildings erected, as was also the new court house. Mr. Briggs has taken a great interest in the town that bears his name, contributing largely to its interests, and has been one of the active promoters of the street railway that runs through it. Since 1887 he has been the postmaster of Briggsdale, with the excepticn of a period of nine months, being reappointed to the office, although he has always been a Democrat. Mr. Briggs was married, October 16, 1867, to Miss Louisana Ransburgh, a native of New Madrid, Missouri, whose father, John Ransburgh, many years ago was a citizen of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Briggs have reared seven: children,—William Irving, John R., Joseph M., Lillie (who is the wife of L. W. Morehead), Claud N., Martha and Josephine. During the period of thirty-five years Mr. Briggs has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, also belongs to the Woodmen and for three years has been the president of the Franklin County Pioneer Association. He is a consistent and esteemed member of the Methodist church, in which he is a trustee. He and his associate trustees are now building a six-thousand-dollar church in Briggsdale. No one in the county is more highly regarded than the subject of this review, his public services having been acceptable and his private life has been without reproach. In all matters pertaining to the commercial growth of his section he has been earnest and progressive, to the much of its development may be directly traced to his influence. ANDREW G. PUGH. Andrew G. Pugh, a contractor for street-paving of all kinds, sewers, masonry, etc., was born in this (Franklin) county June 5, 1857, the third son of Richard and Elizabeth (Jones) Pugh, who were born and married in Wales. Leaving their native country in 1854, the latter sailed for the United States. Arriving in New York, they at once proceeded westward, locating here in Franklin county, Ohio, where the father engaged in farming pursuits, Both his father and mother are still living. After his education in the Columbus public schools our subject was engaged for about a year in the employ of Brown Brothers, civil engineers. In December, 1873, he entered' the city engineer's office, under John Graham, civil engineer, and. was employed in this office until April, 1878, when he entered the service of Kanmacher & Denig, contractors for building the Indiana statehouse, under Thomas H. Johnson, the chief engineer for the contractors on masonry foundations for the Indiana statehouse at Indianapolis. Next he was under W. H. Jennings, the chief engineer of the Hocking Valley Railroad, for a short period, on the location of branch coal lines in Hocking, CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 573 Perry and Athens counties, Ohio. Then he was the clerk for Chief Engineer M. J. Becker, of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company, until the spring of 1880, when he was detailed as assistant engineer master of work on Indianapolis division of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway until the spring of 1882, then appointed superintending engineer on the construction of the northeast main trunk sewer at Columbus, under John Graham, city engineer, which work was completed December 15, 1883; diameters of sewers from nine to six feet. Next Mr. Pugh was with Thomas H. Johnson again, the principal assistant engineer of the above mentioned railroad, on special surveys on the Chicago division. In the spring of 1884 he was appointed assistant city engineer, in special charge of sewer construction for two years, until the spring of 1886. He was the superintendent of block stone paving on High street from Naghten street to Livingstcn avenue for contracts made by Booth & Flinn, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in October; 1886, and built for that firm the first brick roadway in Columbus on Spring street from High street to Third street. November 1, 1886, Mr. Pugh went to New York city, as superintendent for Booth & Flinn, on a large contract they had there for laying gas mains for the Standard Gas Company, and completed this work with a large force of men by December 31, that year. Next, under M. J. Becker, the chief engineer of the Pennsylvania lines, Mr.. Pugh was the superintending engineer on the sewer system built at the Columbus shops in January, February and Marrch, 1887; and superintendent of masonry on the Little Miami, Louisville, Richmond and Chicago divisions until the close of the year 1887. During the next March, 1888, he commenced work as a contractor, and is still engaged; in business wherever contracts can be secured. He laid the first concrete foundation for brick streets in Columbus, in 1899, and for the street railway in this city on Neil street from Spring street to Naghten street in 1899. October 25, 1882, Mr. Pugh was married to Miss Mary Helen Black, a daughter of John and Edna (Mann) Black, of Richmond, Indiana, and they have had . two children,—Edna Helen and Grace Black. Mrs. Pugh died July 12, 1894, and Mr. Pugh was again married, this time, September 1,1896, to Miss Jessie Miles, a daughter of Yearsley and Minerva (Fitzwater) Miles. Mr. Pugh is a member of Goodale Lodge, No. 372, F. & A. M., and has attained the Knight Templar degrees, also the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite; and he is also a member of Aladdin Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. In his professional work he has his office rooms at Nos. 41 and 42 Dispatch Butler block, and his residence is at No. 875 Franklin avenue. LORENZO D. ALLEGRE. Lorenzo D. Allegre, deceased,. was one who for many years exerted a strong influence for good in Franklin county. As the morning of hope, the noontide of activity and the evening of completed effort ending in the grate- 574 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. ful rest and quiet of the night, so was the life of this good man. He was born in Madison county, Kentucky, March 25, 1805. His father, James Allegre, born in Kentucky, was a prominent farmer of Albany, Delaware county, Indiana, through a number of years, removing to that place from Highland county, Ohio, and here he spent -his. remaining days. His children were : Matilda, who became the wife of John Mann and died in lndiana; Lorenzo; Lucinda, deceased ; Erasmus, married, and Asbury, married, both of whom died in Indiana; Rhoda, deceased wife of Evan Evans; Mary deceased wife of William Denton; and Minerva, deceased, the wife of Simeon Long; Calista, the deceased wife of . Wade Posey, a Methodist minister; and James and Emily, deceased. Lorenzo Dow Allegre spent the first eleven years of his life in the state of his nativity and then accompanied his parents on their removal to Highland county and soon afterward to Fayette county, Ohio, so that he became a resident of the state in 1816. On leaving that county he took up his abode on his farm in Franklin county in 1850, upon which he spent his remaining days. Throughout his business career he carried on agricultural pursuits and was the owner of a good tract of land which yielded to him an excellent living in return for the care and labor he bestowed upon it. As a companion and helpmeet on the journey of life he chose Angeline Taylor, their wedding being celebrated on the 21st of. June, 1827. For more than sixty-two years they lived happily together, their mutual love and confidence increasing as the years went by. Mrs. Allegre was a daughter of Aquilla Taylor, who was born August 8, 1764, in Frederick county, Maryland, and with his wife, Rachel E. Taylor, came to Ohio, locating in Clermont county in 1817, where they made a permanent home... Unto Mr. and Mrs. Allegre were born eight children: Emily, who died at the age of fifteen; Francis Marion, of Anderson county, Kansas, is married; Angeline, the wife of William Kern, is deceased; Wesley, married, who died in Indiana; Mary, the wife of Joseph W. Tipton; William; who was a member of the Sixtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in 1881; Emily, the wife of Isaac Tipton, of Columbus; and Rachel Elizabeth, the wife of James. Butler Taylor. Mr. Allegre was to his family a devoted and affectionate husband and father. He endeavored to instill into the minds of his children lessons of industry, uprightness and probity. He counseled them to love one another and especially to care for their mother. He was always doing service for others, always appreciated what was done for himself and he expressed much gratitude to his friends and neighbors for attention during his last illness. In early. manhood he was specially impressed with the immortal declaration all men are created free and equal," and he regarded African slavery as barbarous, advocated its overthrow, always felt that the down-trodden colored man and the poor and needy of every race had a claim upon him and in dispenning his charities he learned that "it was more blessed to give than to receive." By acts of kindness and benevolence he laid the foundation of the respect which in his old age was constantly shown him throughout the com- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 575 munity in which he lived. A home of poverty was always sure to attract his attention and received from him a measure of relief proportionate to his: means and to the necessities of those whom he aided. For many years he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and: was a devout Christian gentleman. He died in the faith of that denomination, at his home in Prairie township, October 14, 1889. "His life was noble, and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world—This was a man." Mrs. Allegre died at the old home in Prairie township November 26, 1893. She was born in Frederick county, Maryland, and at the age of fourteen years came with her parents to Ohio, where she experienced many of the hardships and privations of pioneer life. She was a lady of quiet disposition, with no trace of revenge or enmity in her nature. She possessed a wonderful memory and could relate many incidents of the early days in Franklin county. During her childhood she joined the Methodist Episcopal church and was ever afterward one of its faithful members. She loved to read her Testament and all good books. Her influence was marked, although quietly exerted. Mrs. Taylor, the youngest member' of her family, was born in, Fayette county March 6, 1846, and was four years of age when brought by her parents to Franklin county. She attended the district schools, her first teacher being William Beech.. At home she was trained by her mother in the duties of the household and on the 5th of January, 1868, she gave her hand in Marriage to James B. Taylor, by whom she had two children Daisy Dell, who died in infancy; and Lorenzo Erwin, who was born on the home farm September 23, 1871. There he was reared and attended the district schools until eighteen years of age. His grandfather died: about that time and the labors of the old homestead devolved upon him.. He has since carried on general farming and is a worthy representative of his honored ancestry. He was married, October 24, 1894, to Miss Chloe Doherty, a daughter of James M. Doherty, now deceased. They have two children : Daisy Gertrude, born July 11,1897; and Norman, born November 5, 1900. In his political views Lorenzo E. Taylor is a stanch Republican. JAMES E. CRUM. Well known as a prominent farmer of Prairie township, James E. Crum is certainly worthy of mention in this volume. He was born eight miles northwest of Columbus on the 16th of December, 1848. He is a grandson of Cornelius Crum, and a son of Samuel D. Crum. The latter was born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, near Enosville, and there resided until nineteen years of age, when he left the Keystone state and became a resident 576 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. of Ohio, accompanying 'his. parents on their removal to this state. The educational privileges which he enjoyed were those afforded by the common schools and his life was spent in the usual manner of farmer lads who assist in the work of field and meadow. .He was married in Norwich township to Miss Martha Gray, a daughter of James Gray. After his marriage he engaged in farming for a number of years, when he purchased Fishinnger's mill in Norwich township, on the Scioto river, following that pursuit five or six years. He afterward was a resident of Hilliard, and later removed to Columbus, where he established a grocery store, which he conducted for four years. In 1869 he traded his store for farm property in Prairie township, becoming the owner of the tract of land which is now in the possession of his son James E. He operated his fields for a number of vears, and then sold that property and again took up his abode. in Hilliard, where he was engaged in the grain business. In connection with Mr. Koehler he engaged in dealing in stock for a time. He afterward engaged in farming having a six-acre tract of land near Hilliard. He died in that town in August, 1888, respected by all who knew him. He was twice married, his first wife passing away in 1859. Two years later, in 1861, he wedded Miss Jane C. Parker, a native of the Empire state, who survived him for some time. Unto Samuel and Martha (Gray) Crum were born eight children, namely: Cornelius, who was accidently killed by the cars in Hilliard, when seventeen. years of age; Mary E., the wife of Hosea Romick, of Hilliard; James E., of this review; John and Sarah, who died in infancy; Samantha, the deceased wife of David Hamilton; and William R. and Edward T., both of whom are residents of Kansas. James E. Crum has spent nearly his entire life in Franklin county. He pursued his education in the public schools through the winter terms and in Delaware College, where he was a student for a year. The summer months or vacation were passed upon the home farm, where he took his place in the fields. At the age of nineteen he completed his literary course and put aside his text-books in order to enter upon the responsible duties of life. He continued as his father's assistant until his marriage, which was celebrated on the 5th of December, 1872, Miss Julia M. McWilliams becoming his wife. She is a daughter of John W. and Ellen (Postle) McWilliams, and by her marriage has (become the mother of three children, one son and two daughters: Harry Clyde, Leonora, and Edna E., all yet with their parents, the family circle remaining unbroken by the hand of death. After his marriage Mr. Crum located upon his farm of thirty-five acres, one mile west of Alton, and there resided for seven years, when he sold that property and rented a farm in Norwich township, belonging to his uncle, William Crum. He resided there for two years and then purchased his present farm comprising sixty acres of the rich land of Prairie township, He has made all of the improvements upon the place, has built fences, substantial buildings; laid many rods of tiling and has added the modern accessories and improvements found upon a model farm of the twentieth century. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 577 He carries on general farming and stock praising and is meeting with creditable success in his undertakings. Mr. Crum is a citizen of worth who withholds his support from no measure or movement calculated to prove of general good. He is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Galloway. He takes an active part in its work and has served as steward and trustee. He joined the church at the age of sixteen years, and his wife has also long been a member. Socially he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Galloway, and in politics he is a stanch Republican, unswerving in his advocacy of the principles of the party. ROGERS & ROGERS. One of the oldest representative law firms in Columbus is that of Rogers & Rogers. The members of the firm, John F. and Charles M. Rogers, are brothers, belonginb to one of the oldest and most respected and honored pionerr families of Franklin county. The Rogers family is of English lineage, some of whom emigrated to America and settled in New England at an early .period. William Rogers and his wife Mary located at Bradford, Connecticut, about 1690, from whom are descended Jonathan and his son Eli, who was born at Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1740. Eli Rogers moved to Lowville, New York, and his son Eli, born October 15, 1769, married Abigail Moore, from which union there were born three daughters and nine sons, of whom Apollos Rogers, born July 23,1792, the grandfather of the subject of this review, was the second, Apollos Rogers married Keturah Hough and resided at Houseville, Lewis county, New York, until her death, September 3, 1831, leaving four children. After her death he married Emily (Clapp) Rogers, and in the fall of 1836 removed from Lewis county, New York, to Franklin county, Ohio, buying and settling on three hundred acres of heavily timbered land on the west side of the Scioto, which is now known as the Marcellus Rogers farm in Norwich township. His family consisted of the following children Milton, who has always been a farmer and now resides on a part of the old. home farm; Martin, the father of our subjects; Marcellus, who was a farmer and died at the old homestead. April 15, 1890; and Amanda, who is the wife of E. C. Stevens, of Grandin, North Dakota. Afterward, by the second marriage, twin sons, Eli A., a farmer near Hilliard, Ohio, and Ela C., of Daytona, Florida, were born. Apollos Rogers died September 17, 1840, and was survived by his wife, Emily, who died February 9, 1871. They were devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in the community where they resided enjoyed the confidence and. respect df all with whom they came in contact. Martin Rogers, the father of our subjects, was born in the Empire state September 2, 1824, and was therefore twelve years of age when he came with his father to Ohio. He was reared upon the home farm, became a 578 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. farmer and has always followed that occupation. He married Miss Abigail Merriss, who was born near Dublin, Franklin county, Ohio, February 23, 1826, and died May 20, 1890. Her father, Benjamin J. Merriss; was a native of Vermont, and married in Franklin county, Ohio, Angeline Strain, a native of Virginia. The Merriss family were originally from England, and became early settlers of New England. Benjamin J. Merriss was a farmer who resided near Hilliard., Franklin county, Ohio, and died there July 13, 1865. The marriage of Martin Rogers and Abigail Merriss was blessed with the following children : John F. and Charles M., of this review; Ion Ellwood and Melia May, all of whom reside in Columbus. John F. Rogers was 'born March 21, 1853, spent his boyhood days on his father's farm and attended the common schools of Norwich township. He became a student of the law under the direction of William C. Stewart, of Columbus, Ohio. His reading was subsequently directed by William J. Clarke, and on the 2d day of June, 188o, he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Ohio, and' began the practice of his chosen profession. Charles M. Rogers was born November 3o, 1854, attended the common schools and was later graduated at Otterbein University, in the class of 1877. He then read law with the firm of Harrison, Olds & Marsh, of Columbus, and was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Ohio in March, 1880. The brothers at once formed a partnership and opened offices in Columbus, under the firm name of Rogers & Rogers. They have ever since been engaged in the general law practice, and have gained a reputation of high standing as representatives of the legal profession in central Ohio. In 1898 Charles M. Rogers was appointed referee in bankruptcy for Franklin county by Hon. George R. Sage, judge of the United States district court for the southern district of Ohio, and has since filled that office with efficiency and distinction. He is recognized as a high authority on bankruptcy law. Throughout their business career John F. and Charles M. Rogers, by their thorough knowledge of the law and their careful preparation and successful management of important litigation, have won and retained the respect and admiration of their contemporary lawyers. Their many sterling traits of character, their strict integrity, their courteous, unostentatious manner and their conscientious• counsel have given them the full confidence not only of the members of their profession but also of their fellow citizens. The acquaintance of such men is a pleasure and their companionship a favor. JOHN FREDERICK HORCH. All that can be said in praise of American citizens of German nativity and that is a good deal, applies to the subject of this sketch, a well-known and successful farmer of Washington township, Franklin county, Ohio, who was born in Baden, Germany, May 11, 1839. Mr. Horch's grandfather in the paternal line was a farmer and lived and died in Germany. Abraham Horch, father of John F. Horch, was born in Baden, Germany, November CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 579 21, 1805. He left school at fourteen years of age and devoted himself to farm work, and in due time married Margaret Neu. In 1846, with his wife and children, he came to the United States, sailing from. Havre, France, to New York city, where he landed after a voyage which had consumed thirty days. From York they went to Buffalo, and thence to Cleveland, Ohio, by lake. From Cleveland they 'made their way by canal to Columbus, and thence to Washington township, where they stayed for a short time under the roof of Mr. Horch's brother Jacob, who had come to the United States two years earlier and was, then livjng on his own farm. In the fall of 1846 Abraham Horch and his family located on a farm in the southwestern part of Washington township, which he had purchased and which became a landmark in that part of the county when the Lutheran church was built on it. It consisted of eighty acres of land, one-half of which was cleared, and the family began their life there in a hewed-log house, thirty by forty feet in area, which was divided into two rooms and which had a big wide fireplace in which huge logs were consumed. Mrs. Horch died on that pioneer farm before the close of the year of her arrival there, and M. Horch later married Miss Annie Miller, who was -a native of Germany. By his first marriage Mr. Horch had children as follows: Jacob, who married Mary Fladt, and died in Norwich township, Franklin county; Mary, who became Mrs. Samuel Paulus, of Dublin; Henry, who married Charlotte Wolpert, and died in Dublin; John F., who is the immediate subject of this sketch; Barbara; and Laura, who died of cholera in 1848. Abraham and Annie (Miller) Horch had born to them the following children : Caroline, who became Mrs. George Geyer, of Franklin township, Franklin county; Michael, who married Mary Ring, and lives in Perry township; Samuel, who married Margaret Datz, and lives in Washington township ; George, who married Margaret Smith, and lives on the family homestead in Washington township. John F. Horch attended school one year in his native land, and was seven years old when his parents came to the United States. He was reared to manhood on his father's farm in Franklin county and attended school in a log schoolhouse in his district when his services were not required on his father's farm, where he remained until he was twenty-one years old. He then worked for a year on the farm of John Thomas in Perry township, and after that for two years as a brick mason for his brother-in-law, Samuel Paulus, of Dublin, Franklin county. Mr. Thomas paid him one hundred and forty-five dollars for his year's -service in addition to his board, and Mr. Paulus paid him one hundred dollars the first year and one hundred. and twenty dollars the second year. He now returned to farming, renting from his father a tract of land just west of the Horch home farm. He worked rented land for eleven years, and then bought eighty acres. now owned by Phlip Wolpert and John A. Horch, on which he lived until 1879, when he exchanged it for one hundred acres of his present farm, to which he has since added twenty acres. His residence was completed in its present form 580 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. in 1887, and he has made many other improvements on the place, including fencing and tiling. He also owns a farm of one hundred and six acres on Hayden run in Norwich township, Franklin county, and is everywhere recognized as a good farmer and a useful citizen, indutrious, intelligent, hospitable, public spirited and helpful to all local interests. In politics he is a Democrat, and he is a member of the Lutheran church of his township, whose present house of worship was dedicated October 14, 1900, and which he was influential in erecting as an active member of the building committee. His father, Abraham Horch, died on his homestead in Washington township, Franklin county, July 24, 1898, at the age of ninety-three. John F. Horch was married December 16, 1862, to Miss Barbara Wolpert, who was born in Hesse, Germany, April 4, 1843, a daughter of Christian Wolpert, and died June 19, 1865. His second wife, whom he married April 6, 1866, was Catherine Scheuer, a daughter of George Peter and Christina Scheuer. She was born December 14, 1841, in Hesse, Germany and emigrated with her parents to America in 1847, finally locating in Morrow county, Ohio. By his first marriage he had children as follows: Mary M., born January 19, 1863, who married John Orb, of Columbus, Ohio; and Christian, born August 17, 1864, who died at Chicago, Illinois, in 1899. We give a few items concerning the children of the second marriage as follows : Abraham, born February 25, 1867, died in infancy; Jacob Abraham, born February 16, 1868, concerning whom more is said further on; William, who was born February 1, 1870, married Emma Finch, and Iives in Washington township; George Philip, born April 19, 1872, is a successful school teacher; Michael was born July 4, 1874, married Lena Pretz in August 1900, and lives in Washington township; Anna Margaret, born October 20, 1876, John Samuel, born March 3, 1879, and Clara, born October 27, 1881, are members of their father's household. Jacob Abraham Horch, son of. John F. Horch, was educated in the public schools near his home in Washington township, Franklin county. Ohio, and at Ringsville school, and was reared to farm work. After a course in telegraphy at Sheridan's school of telegraphy, at Oberlin, he entered the employ of the Baltimore Railroad Company as a telegrapher at Sterling, Ohio. After seven months' service there he went to Seville, Medina county, Ohio, and after working there for a time returned home. He soon went to Minnesota, however, as telegraph operator for the Great Northern Railroad Company at Granite Falls, Yellow Medicine county, and from there he went to Sioux City, Iowa, where he worked for a short time in. the train dispatcher's office of the Sioux City & Northern Railroad. Afterward he was employed for a time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in the spring of 1893 he enlisted in the United States army and was sent to Chicago. After the World's Fair closed he was sent to Columbus, where he was for three months under instruction, and was then assigned to service in the Eighteenth Regiment, United States Infantry, at Fort Clark, Texas, whence he was ordered nine CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 581 months later to Fort Sam Houston, at San Antonio, Texas. In May, 1896, he was given a three-months furlough with permission to go to San Francisco, California, and at its expiration was discharged because the end of the term of service for which he had enlisted had arrived. He returned home to Ohio, and before the close of that year enlisted at Columbus in the Seventeenth Regiment, United States Infantry, and was stationed at the Ohio capital for eighteen months afterward. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war his regiment was sent to Tampa, Florida, and assigned to the Fifth Army Corps, under General Shafter, and arrived in Cuba June 23, 1898. Mr. Horch participated in the fighting at El Caney July I, at San Juan hill July 2, and at Santiago July 3, 10 and 11. While in camp he was taken with yellow fever, from which he recovered in fifteen days, and when Roosevelt's regiment was threatened with annihilation by the Spanish and was saved by the Tenth Regiment, Colored Cavalry, the Seventeenth Infantry arrived on the scene as the final shots were being exchanged, and Mr. Horch was a witness of the end of the engagement. From Cuba the Seventeenth Regiment was sent to camp at Montauk Point to recuperate, and from there went to Columbus barracks. January 15, 1899, it left Columbus for New York, and four days later it sailed for Manila, Philippine islands. A four days' stop was made at Gibraltar, and after passing through the canal and the Red sea, the next stop was made at Aden, Arabia, for coal, thence the regiment proceeded to Ceylon, landing at Colombo for coal and provisions, thence to Singapore, and thence to Manila by way of the Chinese sea, arriving March 10, 1899. The regiment was put in the Manila trenches, where it fought nightly for a time. It then went on a raid up the Rio Grande, and for a time was under command of the late General Lawton. Thence it went to San Fernando, where it was assigned to General McArthur's division and saw arduous service. June 16 it participated in the battle of San Fernando, which it was claimed marked the turning point in the Philippine rebellion. August 9 the regiment was in another important engagement there, and many of its members fell, among them Joseph Thackeray, of Hilliard, Franklin county, Ohio, who was shot through the neck; and Tod Ballinger, of Plain City, Union county, Ohio, who was killed instantly. Later fights in which the regiment participated were at Calulute, August 11, and at Angelese, August 12. After the last battle mentioned the Seventeenth Regiment was ordered back to Calulute to guard the town, and Mr. Horch was honorably discharged from the service October 2, 1899, at the end of the period for which he had enlisted. He took passage at Manila October 7 for the United States on board the City of Pueblo, and sailed by the way of Nagasaki, Japan, and the inland sea, and arrived at San Francisco, California, November 1, and at Columbus, Ohio, November 9. He was taken sick at Columbus, of typhoid fever, and did not reach his home until November 21. His record as a soldier is one of which his friends are proud, and he is regarded as one of the most promising young men of his township. 582 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. WILLIAM R. GAULT. Among the most widely known residents of Columbus is William Rogers Gault, vice president of the Market Exchange Bank and president of the Columbus Driving Park Association. He possesses untiring energy, is quick of perception, forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution and his close application to business and his excellent management have brought to him the highest degree of prosperity which is to-day his. Mr. Gault was born in Columbus in 184o, at the family home at the corner of Grant avenue and Main street. The family is of Irish lineage, the paternal grandparents having emigrated from the Emerald Isle to Baltimore, Maryland. James Gault, the father of our subject, came to Ohio from Baltimore in the year 1838, and at once engaged in the butchering business which he continued until 1856, when his life's labors were ended in death. He was then about forty-five years of age. In Maryland he married Miss Ellen Coleman, of Baltimore; who is a native of Ireland and became a resident of Baltimore when twelve years of age. She is still living in Columbus, at the age of eighty-one, retaining her mental and physical faculties to a remarkable degree. In his youth William Rogers Gault attended the public schools, and since 1865 has been continuously connected with the business affairs at Columbus. In 1863, however, he enlisted in the cavalry service of the Civil war as a member of the Fifth. Ohio Battalion, and in that command served in Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1864 he was discharged, but re-enlisted as a member of the navy, and was assigned to Farragut's fleet, dong duty at New Orleans. With that command he participated in the engagements at Spanish Fort, Fort Morgan and Mobile, and the Milwaukee, upon which he served, was blown up in the last named action. At the close of the war in 1865, he received an honorable discharge and with a creditable military record he returned to his home. In 1865 Mr. Gault became connected with the butchering business, in which he continued until 1885. He had the best conducted meat market in the city and his trade was therefore very extensive. It brought to him excellent success, but on account Of his health he was forced to abandon further effort in that line. Since then he has been engaged in the live-stock commission business, and is connected with agricultural interests, owing a large farm of two hundred acres on the Winchester pike in Franklin county, and one of two hundred and fifty acres in Fairfield county. He was one of the organizers of the Columbus Driving Association in 1892, has since served as a member of its board; and for the past five years has been its president. This association has one of the best tracks in the world and holds some of the best trotting meets in the United States. At the one of 1900 they lowered the record for the three fastest heats hitherto made. The purses amounted to forty thousand dollars, and about two hundred and fifty horses were entered. Mr. Gault is also the president of the Columbus Stockyards Com- 584 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. served as mayor from 1846 to 185o, was director of the Franklin county infirmary, was a member of the board of education of the city of Columbus from 1846 to 185o, and was for many years a trustee and steward of the Town Street Methodist Episcopal church, while for twenty-six years he was superintendent of its Sunday-school, giving much time and contributing liberally of his means to advance the interests of his church. In all these positions he sustained a high character and was noted for his firmness and integrity. He was a man of great industry and faithfulness, and never counted any work beneath him in fulfilling duties devolving upon him, and from his youth was most temperate in all his habits. Mr. Decker married Miss Martha Crum, a daughter of Christian Crum, who came from Virginia to Ohio about 1822 and located at Franklinton. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Decker were born the following children: Harriet E. married Olmsted Gates, formerly a jeweler at Columbus, now a resident of Hartford, Connecticut. Samuel August was born in 1842 and was educated in his native city, Columbus. In 1861, at the age of nineteen, he went from college to the seat of war as a member of the Eighty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served as first lieutenant of Company H for three months in the Army of the Cumberland. Later he was appointed general delivery clerk in the Columbus postoffice, in which position he served eighteen years or until his retirement in 1887. Charles Decker also served in the Eighty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a private. After the war he engaged. in business at Nelsonville, Athens county, Ohio, where he died in 188o, leaving a widow, Mrs. Mary (Cotton) Decker now of Columbus. Another daughter of our subject married Ottowell Hoffman, who is a well-known druggist at Columbus. Michael Decker, deceased, was for some years in the jewelry business in Columbus in connection with his brother-in-law, Olmsted Gates. Samuel August Decker was born on East Rich street, and for many years lived on that thoroughfare, where his father located in 1852. He is now a resident of Nyack, New York. GEORGE D. FREEMAN. One of the prominent citizens of Columbus, Ohio, who has taken an active part in many of the improvements which have made it one of the most beautiful cities in the state, is George D. Freeman, the subject of this sketch. He was born at Ovid, Franklin county, Ohio, August 11, 1842. His father, Usual W. Freeman, together with his mother, Margaret (Christy) Freeman,. came from New Jersey to Ohio in 1833. Usual Freeman served with distinction in the New York militia during the vvar of 1812, and was also an assistant engineer for the city of New York during the platting of the part of the city north of Canal street and his father, William Freeman, was a soldier of the Revolution. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 585 George D. Freeman took advantage of the limited educational opportunities afforded by the common schools of his early days, at a later period supplementing the instruction thus obtained by attendance upon night schools. When but six years of age he lost his father, and at the age of eleven years he became the only support of his mother, and bravely did he assume the responsibility. When still a lad he entered the studio of D. D. Winchester, then the leading artist of Columbus, but left the employ of this gentleman to become a page in the Ohio .house of representatives, at the last session held in Odeon hall and the first held in the present capitol-building. He received his appointment from Nelson H. Van Vorhees, the speaker of the first Republican legistature of Ohio. From here he entered the dry-goods house of Headly & Elerly, with whom he remained until 1866, when he was admitted as a junior partner in this firm. Later years found him the senior partner of Freeman, Staley & Norton, who were the successors of Headly & Elerly.. In 1880 Mr. Freeman withdrew from the dry-goods trade and entered the furniture business as a member of the firm of Halm, Bellows & Butler,. who were succeeded by Freeman, Halm & McAllister. Later Mr. Freeman withdrew from this business to establish the George D. Freeman Mantel: Company, engaged in the manufacture of mantels: and interior furnishings. In 1878, on the organization of the state militia into the Ohio National Guard, Mr. Freeman, at the urgent request of the regiment, assumed command and became the colonel of the famous Fourteenth Ohio National Guard, in which capacity he served the state for thirteen years. The period of his command was marked with many trying ordeals, where bravery, good judgment and a cool head were very necessary attributes in a commanding officer. The well-remembered Cincinnati riots were among these occasions, and it was at this time that Colonel Freeman's abilities as a commander were shown. He brought peace and order out of the turbulent mob that surged through the streets of the city, endangering lifand property. In 1890, through press of business, Colonel Freeman was obliged to resign his post. At the breaking out of the Spanish-American war Colonel Freeman was called to the position of acting assistant quartermaster general, and. was active at Camp Bushnell in equipping the troops for the front; in fact, put up the camp. From there he was ordered to. the duty of superintendent of the state arsenal, where he is still on duty ; and he had two sons in the same Spanish war,—one son now in the Philippines, a lieutenant in the Nineteenth Infantry. Our subject has taken a prominent part in all public enterprises, serving for some years on the county board of agriculture, and took an active interest in securing to the city the beautiful spot known as Franklin Park. This was not a political service, nor has he held any political office, although frequently pressed to do so. Colonel Freeman has been before the public, in this state, for many years, and his reputation for integrity, energy and stability is unquestioned. 37 586 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Colonel Freeman was married October 31, 1865, to Miss Julia A. Diemer, whose parents were pioneers in the settlement of central Ohio. A family of four children have been born of this union,—Harry D., Stanton S., George D. and Julia E. FRANK P. DILL. Frank P. Dili was born July 12, 1852, in Blendon township, and is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of the county that in the earliest period of development in this section of the state came to county and. through identification with its early interests aided in its development and progress along lines of material and substantial improvement. These were strong men and true that came to found the empire of the west these hardy settlers who built their rude domiciles, grappled with the giants of the krests, and from the sylvan wilds evolved the fertile and productive fields which have these many years been furrowed by the plowshare. On both the paternal and maternal sides Mr. Dill is descended from pioneer ancestry. John Dill, the grandfather, was a native of Nova Scotia, and his wife was also born in the same country. In early life he was a seafaring man, and, having accumulated some money, he purchased a ship of his own, which was shortly afterward sunk at sea, so that he lost all that he had acquired. Subsequently he came to the United States, locating in Baitimore, Maryland. While on the voyage one of his two children died and was build in the ocean. After arriving in Baltimore Mr. Dill took a contract to build an underground race for a mill, an extensive and important piece of work at that time. He successfully completed it, but his partner proved dishonest and defrauded him of most of his profits. Later Mr. Dill erected a mill and carried on business on an extensive scale, but the commission men who handled his flour failed when heavily in debt to him, and thus Mr. Dill again suffered great loss. He saved just enough out of the wreck of his fortune to buy a farm of one hundred acres, and made the purchase in Mifflin township, Franklin county. Here he devoted his time and energies to agricultural pursuits, and his industry and perseverance conquered an adverse fate, so that at his death he left a fortune valued at ninety thousand dollars. The parents of Frank P. Dill were Edward and Jane (Cooper) Dill. His father was born in Baltimore, Maryland, about 1820, and there grew to manhood, learning the miller's trade in his youth. When a young man he came to Ohio with his parents and his' first employment here was on the construction of the canal which was then being builded through Columbus. Ater about .a year spent in the capital city the family removed to Mifflin township, where the grandfather purchased a farm, and there he and his wife. spent their remaining days. He became a prosperous agriculturist, acquiring seven hundred acres of land. Soon after the family took up their abode on the old homestead in Mifflin township Edward Dill went to the south and for four years conducted:a wood yard on the Mississippi river, in the state CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 587 of Mississippi. He then returned to Ohio and engaged in the operation of a portion of the home farm. After his marriage he purchased a farm of one hundred acres in Blendon township, in the Cherry bottoms, and began agricultural pursuits on his own account, making his home there until called to his final rest. He was the owner of three hundred acres of rich land prior to his demise. In ante bellum days he supported: the Whig party and was a strong opponent of slavery. Later, when the Republican party was formed to prevent the further extension of slavery, he joined its ranks and earnestly advocted its principles. In the Presbyterian church he held membership, and his life was loyal to its teachings. He married Jane Cooper, who was born on the old family homestead where our subject now resides October 11, 1815, and was one of a family of nine children, but only Mary Ann now survives. Her father was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, June 11, 1777, and there he was reared, learning the carpenter's trade in early life. In 1808 he came on horseback to Ohio and purchased between four and five hundred acres of land, a strip extending from the Hart road to the township line. He made the purchase for 'himself and his brother, William Cooper, and a brother-in-law, Isaac Harrison. All of this land is still owned by their descendants excepting one hundred and ten. acres, which is known as the Harrison tract. After making the purchase Mr. Cooper returned to Virginia, and on the 22d of September following he was married. Two weeks later he started with his bride for Ohio, making the journey in a four-horse wagon loaded with their household effects and those of Isaac Harrison. Mrs. Cooper and Mrs. Harrison rode on horseback and drove the cattle. On their arrival the grandparents of our subject spent the first winter in Tobeytown, Fairfield county, and the following spring came to Franklin county, living in their wagon while their log house was being built. The land was very heavily timbered, and wild game was found in abundance in the forests. Mr. Cooper was very fond of hunting, and kept the table well supplied with all kinds of wild meat. On their arrival they made sugar from the maple sap, and that was all the sugar they had through the following twelve months. The nearest church was at Franklinton, but the minister would often stop at a house in the country and its owner would then notify his neighbors to quit work and congregate at his home in order to engage in service. Everything was primitive and new: The groceries were purchased in Chillicothe, but they depended mostly upon the farm and upon wild game to supply the table. Many hardships, inconveniences and trials were endured by the early settlers, but the land was made to yield its tribute under the effective endeavors of the pioneer. To establish a home amid such surroundings and to cope with the many privations and difficulties which were the inevitable concomitants demanded an invincible courage and fortitude, strong hearts and willing hands. All these were characteristic of the pioneers whose names and deeds should be held in perpetual reverence by those who enjoy the fruits of their toil. Mr. Cooper was a Democrat in politics and for several years held the office CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 587 of Mississippi. He then returned to Ohio and engaged in the operation of a portion of the home farm. After his marriage he purchased a farm of one hundred acres in Blendon township, in the Cherry bottoms, and began agricultural pursuits on his own account, making his home there until called to his final rest. He was the owner of three hundred' acres of rich land prior to his demise. In ante bellum days he supported: the Whig party and was a strong opponent of slavery. Later, when the Republican party was formed to prevent the further extension of slavery, he joined its ranks and earnestly advocated its principles. In the Presbyterian church he held membership, and his life was loyal to its teachings. He married Jane Cooper, who was born on the old family homestead where our subject now resides October 11, 1815, and was one of a family of nine children, but only Mary Ann now survives. Her father was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, June 11, 1777 and there he was reared, learning the carpenter's' trade in early life. In 1808 he came on horseback to Ohio and purchased between four and five hundred acres of land, a strip extending from the Hart road to the township line. He made the purchase for himself and his brother, William Cooper, and a brother-in-law, Isaac Harrison. All of this land is still owned by their descendarts excepting one hundred and ten. acres, which is known as the Harrison tract. After making the purchase Mr. Cooper returned to Virginia, and on the 22d of September, following he was married. Two weeks later he started with his bride for Ohio, making the journey in a four-horse wagon loaded with their household effects and those of Isaac Harrison. Mrs. Cooper and Mrs Harrison rode on horseback and drove the cattle. On their arrival the grandparents of our subject spent the first winter in Tobeytown, Fairfield county, and the following spring came to Franklin county, living in their wagon while their log 'house was being built. The land was very heavily timbered, and wild game was found in abundance in the 'forests. Mr. and that was very fond of hunting, and kept the table well supplied with all kinds of wild meat. On their arrival' they made sugar from the maple sap, and that was all the sugar they had through the following twelve months. The nearest church was at Franklinton, but the minister would often stop at a house in the country and its owner would then notify his neighbors to quit work and congregate at his home in order to engage in service. Everything was primitive and new The groceries were purchased in Chillicothe, but they depended mostly upon the farm and upon wild game to supply the table. Many hardships, inconveniences and trials were endured by the early settlers, but the land was made to yield its, tribute under the. effective endeavors of the pioneer. To establish a home amid such surroundings and to cope with the many privations and difficulties which were the inevitable concomitants demanded an invincible courage and fortitude, strong hearts and willing hands. All these were characteristic of the pioneers whose names and deeds should be held in perpetual reverence by those who enjoy the fruits of their toil. Mr Cooper was a Democrat in politics and 'for several years held the office 588 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY: of township treasurer. A man of influence in the community, he was highly respected for his integrity, upright dealing and genuine worth. Of the Presbyterian church he was a leading member, and died in that faith October 30, 1861. His wife, who was born in Augusta county, Virginia, April 27, 1783, was a sister of Robert Craig, one of the wealthy rolling-mill operators and extensive slaveholders of Virginia, and a prominent figure in the cause of the Confederacy during the Civil war, contributing largely to the cause of the south at that time. It was to the Cooper family that came to Ohio in pioneer days that Mrs. Dill belonged. Grandmother Cooper died August 21, 1863. A member of the Presbyterian church, she was loved and respected by all who knew her. Mrs. Dill had six children, of whom four are yet living, namely: James, a resident farmer of Blendon township; Crawford, now a resident of Central College; Marcella, the widow of Huston T. Gould, who was a stock dealer of Blendon township; Frank P.; and Melissa, who was the wife of Charles Gastinger, of Blendon township, but is now deceased. The subject of this review was only eighteen months old at the time of his mother's death. He then became an inmate of the home of his maternal grandfather, where he was reared to manhood. His education was acquired in the common schools, in Central College and in Westerville Union school, where he pursued a complete course of study. He was also a student in Otterbein University. On putting aside his text-books he spent one year on the farm with his uncle, William Cooper, who then owned the old family homestead. His uncle was well known in Franklin county as a prominent Democrat, and for four years he was one of the commissioners of Franklin county. He died in 1882. In 1878 Mr. Dill went to Texas, where for three years he was engaged in farming and stock-raising, and also aided in building the Western Pacific Railroad from Weatherford, Texas, to the southern plains. In December, 1881, he returned to Ohio, after disposing of his stock and interests in the south, and assumed charge of the farm belonging to his uncle, William Cooper who was ill. He has since managed the property, and he and his aunt, Mary Ann, the only survivor of the family, own. together two hundred and sixty-five acres of land. He is one of the prosperous agriculturists of the community progressive in hiethods of work and carrying on his labors along the line of advaed thought. Mr. Dill is also identified with a number of fraternal organizations, including Blendon Lodge, No. 339, A. F. & A. M.; Mizpah Chapter, No. 38, Order of the Eastern Star ; Rainbow Lodge, No. 327, I. O. O. F.; Twilight Lodge, No. 383, of the .Order of Rebekah; of Westerville Lodge. No. 273, K. of P. ; Blendon Grange, No. 708, Patrons of Husbandry; and also of the Pomona Grange of Franklin county, No. 22. He keeps in touch with improved methods of farming and stock-raising through his membership connection with the Farmers' Institute, with the CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 589 State Horticultural Society and the Franklin County Horticultural Society. He has filled many offices in the lodges with which he is identified, and is regarded as a valued representative of those organizations. JACOB BORROR Success is determined by one's ability to recognize opportunity, and to pursue this with a resolute and unflagging energy. It results from continued labor, and the man who thus accomplishes his purpose usually becomes an important factor in the business circles of the community with which he is connected, Mr. Borror, through such means, has attained a leading place among the wealthy and representative men. of Jackson township, and his well spent and honorable life commands the respect of all who know him. In the township where he still makes his home, Mr. Borror was born April 14, 1832, in his father's house in the yard where he now resides, and is a representative of one of the oldest families of the county. His father, Jacob Borror, a native of Virginia, located here in 1809, being one of the first settlers of Jackson township, there being only two houses between his home and Columbus. On coming to the county he was accompaned by two brothers, and soon afterward was joined by his mother. In the midst of the unbroken forest he erected a cabin, and at once began to clear and, improve his farm. He married Catherine Conrad, also a native of the Old Dominion, who died at the age of seventy-eight years, while he passed away at the age of fortyeight. They were the parents of nine children, all born. on the old homestead. whee our subject now resides, but only three are. now living, these being Joel, Jacob and Silas, all residents of Jackson township. Of this family Jacob Borror is the .sixth in order of birth. Reared in his native township, he assisted in the work of the farm for about nine months out of the year, while during the remaining three months of winter he attended school in the primitive log school houses of that early day, beginning his education, however, in a church.. He was about thirteen years of age when his fathert died and upon him and his brothers devolved the arduous task of clearing and improving the home farm. On the 26th of January, 1860, Mr. Borror was united in marriage with Miss Isabel T. German, who was born, reared and educated in Hamilton township this county. Unto them were born seven children, six of whom are still living, namely : Mary Alice, wife of Michael Duff, of Hamilton township; Ida Belle, wife of S. R. Shover, who lives with our subject ; James M., who married Mary Hagans and resides in Pickaway county ; Jacob C., who married Laura McCord and makes his home in Jackson township; Otis H., who married Viola Swagler and also lives, in Jackson township; Albert B., who married Leona Harvey and resides in the same township; and Nora May, who died at the age of thirteen months. Upon his marriage Mr. Borror brought his bride to the old homestead in Jackson township, where they have resided uninterruptedly ever since. 590 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Throughout his entire business career he has followed general farming and stock raising, and has met with marked success in his labors. He has invested largely in land, and is now the owner of eighteen hundred and thirty-five acres, all of which is now operated by his children with exception of one hundred and ninety acres in Pickaway county which he rents to other parties. He also has money out at interest, and is to-day the wealthiest man in Jackson township. His success is the result of honest, persistent effort in the line of honorable and manly dealing, and he has made an untarnished record and unspotted reputation as a business man. In his political affiliations Mr. Borror is a Deemocrat, and has filled the office of school director in his district. RANDOLPH WILSON WALTON. The subject of this sketch, Randolph Wilson Walton, correspondence clerk in the office of Governor Nash, is equally known as a writer and as an orator, and is one of the most prominent of the younger generation of politicians and journalists at Columbus, Ohio. He was born at Woodsfield, Monroe county, Ohio, in a house which stood on the present site of the Lude home, October 15, 1870, a son of Dr. William Walton. The latter was a son of William Carlisle Walton, who was born at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1802, and when a boy located with his father, James Walton, on a farm in Monroe county, Ohio, where he rose to prominence as a citizen and as a Democrat, His death occurred in 1852. William Carlisle Walton studied law at Woodsfield. and practiced his profession as long as he lived. He represented his fellow citizens in the state legislature and in the state senate, and at the time of his death was a candidate for congress.. Governor Shannon was nominated in his place and was elected, and. later became governor of Ohio. He married Miss Sidney Kyger, a daughter of Sidney Kyger, a pioneer settled of, Ohio. Dr. William Walton was born in Monroe county, Ohio, in 1835, was educated at Washington, District of Columbia, and was graduated in medicine in the medical department of Columbia College about 1859. Immediately afterward he began the practice of his profession at Woodsfield. In 1863 he became surgeon, with the rank of major, in the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until 1866, when he resumed practice at Woodfield. In 1877 he removed to Clarington, Monroe county, Ohio, where he died in 1890. He gave strict attention to his profession and gained a high reputation as. a surgeon and a general medical practioner. He married Virginia Fitz-Randolph, daughter of Joel Fitz-Randolph, who came to Monroe county from Greene county, Pennsylvania, in 1827; and died there- in 1865, aged seventy-one years. He was the first abolitionist in the county, was a "station master" on the underground railroad and was sheriff of the county. He developed from a Whig to a Republican, and was prominent not only as 'a politician but as a business man. He was born in CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 591 New Jersey, a son of James Fitz-Randolph, a Quaker, who was near Plainfield. His wife was a daughter of Jeremiah Williams, who was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. He married Mary Ewart, who was born September 8, 1778, and came to Wetzel county, West Virginia, in 1785, locating on land on which he was buried, and which in the sixth generation of his descendants is owned by some of them. He was a surveyor, filled the office of justice of the peace and was, commissioned lieutenant by Governor Beverly Randolph. Mr. Walton's brother, William W. Walton, is also interested in politics, and has become well known as a member of a popular Republican glee club. His brother, Thomas E. Walton, is a resident of Boston, Massachusetts. His mother is the head of his household in Columbus. Randolph Wilson Walton passed his childhood at Woodsfield and lived at Clarington from 1877 to 1893, when he and his mother and two brothers removed to Columbus. His education was obtained in the public schools at Clarington and at a business college in Columbus. He learned. much in the office of the Clarington Independent, and more by reading, to which he devoted' all his spare time. He began .the study of medicine with his father, but the death of the latter two years later rendered it impossible for him to continue: At Columbus he acquired a knowledge of stenography, and while working in a drug store devoted himself to the study of law and hopes soon to be admitted to the bar. Politics has always had a fascination for him, and though most of his relatives and some .of his warmest friends were Democrats, he has always' been a thorough and consistent Republican and has battled manfully for the principles of that party. He has contributed many able political articles to the Monroe Gazette, the New York Tribune, Ohio; State Journal, Wheeling Inteligencer, American Economist and other well known journals. He made stump speeches before he was old enough to vote, and the first ticket he voted, in 1891, had his name on it as a candidate for town clerk. In 1892 he made a hopeless race for the office of recorder of Monroe county on the Republican ticket. In 1893 he was one of the three delegates from Monroe county to the state convention that nominated ti illia.m McKinley for his second term as governor of Ohio. He has, worked in every campaign since he has lived in Columbus, and in the fall of 1898, when Mr. Huggins was a candidate for congress, he made a favorable impression as a speaker. In the campaign of Mr. Swartz for the mayoralty he made about twenty speeches at times two of three in an evening. He was one of Judge Nash's original supporters for governor before the convention, and was one of the organizers of the Young Men's Nash Club, and at its organization sounded the keynotes to the Judge's canvass, and during the campaign that followed had numerous assignments as a speaker, which he filled in a manner that pleased his audiences and the state and county committees of his party; for his speeches. were not confined to Columbus and Franklin county, but were made in other parts of the. state upon assignments by the Repubiican state, committee. The, Ohio State Journal and other papers complimented him on his success as an orator. He 592 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. was active in the presidential campaign of 1900 and his services were up demand in Ohio, Illinois and West Virginia. He was appointed correspondence clerk in the office of Governor Nash January 1, 1900. EDWARD EVANS. Among the well-to-do and successful farmers of Brown township is numbered the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. A native of the north of Wales, he was born in Montgomeryshire, January 21, 1837, and is a son of Edward and Jane (Hughes) Evans, also natives. of the same place, and the latter a daughter of Edward Hughes, a farmer of that country. Our subject's father was born about 1798. and throughout life followed the occupation of farming in his native land, where he died in 1848. The death of his wife occurred about 1866, when she was seventy-three years of age. To them were born seven children as. follows Evan went to the gold mines of Australia, and after working there for a time he obtained employment at his trade of puddler: He is now a resident of Wallaroo, of which town his son, John Evans, is mayor. Sina married John Griffiths and died in Wales. Edward, our subject, is next in order of birth. John married Miriam Jones and lives in Lancastershire, England. Thomas married Martha Ann Barlow and resides in Logan county, Ohio. Jane married John Jones and died in Columbus, Ohio. Mary first married David Jones and second William Thickstone and died in Liverpool, England. Edward Evans attended the common schools of his native land until fifteen years of age, but not being satisfied with the education he hard acquired he afterward pursued his studies in night school for a time. The children were all young when the father died and were forced to earn their own livelihood at a tender age. Our subject began a seven-years apprenticeship to the stonecutter's trade, but at the end of three years he went to Liverpool, where he worked in a tea warehouse for three years. At Liverpool, England, April 14, 1859, he took passage on a sailing vessel, Monarch of the Sea, and after a voyage of four weeks larf!ded in New York city, penniless, having had just enough money to buy his ticket to this country. After seven weeks spent in that city, he proceeded to, Cincinnati, where he worked foundry. In 1861 Mr. Evans came to Franklin county, and was employed by farmers in Drown township by the day and month until the fall of 1863, when he entered the service of his adopted country by enlisting in the First Ohio Cavalry, which became a part of Sherman's army and participated, in the Kilpatrick raid around Atlanta and also in the Wilson raid and the battle of Selma, Alabama. Mr. Evans was mustered out at Hilton Head, South Carolina, in September, 1865, and returned to this county, where he worked as a farm hand until 1867. In that year he married. Miss Mary Ann Jerman, who was born in the city of Columbus, May 7, 1847, a daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Evans) CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 593 Jerman. By this union were born the following children : Elizabeth Jane, wife of Jewett Bancroft, of Columbus; Margaret Ann, wife of Christian Traftzer, of Brown township; Sarah, wife of Edward Elliott, of Norwich township; Hattie, a school teacher; Bessie, at home; Emma, who died in July 1900; Mary, who died in infancy; and a son, who also died in infancy, unnamed. For twelve years after his marriage Mr. ,Evans engaged in farming on rented land, but in 1877 he purchased fifty acres across the road from his present farm. Upon that place he made his home from 1879 until 189o, when he moved to his present farm in Brown township. He owns one hundred and twenty-eight acres of valuable land divided into two farms, both under a high state of cultivation and well improved with good buildings. In 1897 his house was totally destroyed by fire, but has since been replaced by the beautiful residence which he now occupies. For the success that he has achieved in life he deserves great credit as he came to the new world empty-handed, and by industry, perseverance and good management has acquired a good home and comfortable competence. Religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Alton, and politically is identified with the Republican party. He has filled the office of school director and has served as trustee of his town for the long period of twenty years with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. Fraternally he is, an honored member of West Jefferson Post, G. A. R. JAMES ROSS. The value of faithfulness in small things has exemplification in these new century days in the advancement which is given public officials who have been conscientious in the performance of the duties seemingly trivial and unimportant. This idea is illustrated in the career of James Ross, of Columbus, Ohio, a brief account of which it will be attempted to give in this connection. Mr. Ross was born in Reynoldsburg, Truro township, Franklin county, Ohio, July 10, 1862, a son of Frederick and Christina (Grossman) Ross, both natives of Germany, who came to America in 1849, landing in New York and proceeding thence to Franklin county, Ohio, where they settled on the place now known as the Sullivan farm, west of Columbus, where Mrs. Ross died in 1862, soon after having given birth to the subject of this sketch and where Mr. Ross died in 1866, when James. Ross was scarcely more than four years old. The child was taken by relatives and cared for until he was a sturdy boy with an early developed ambition to make his own way in the world. After that he lived principally among strangers, doing farm work and such other work as his hands found to do. He attended district schools and later the high school at Columbus and he managed to secure a commercial course in Bryant's college, at Columbus. After he completed his studies he was for a time employed as a clerk in a store, and later became deputy clerk under 594 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. John J. Joye, .clerk of the court of Franklin county, at Columbus. In 1888 he was appointed deputy sheriff under Sheriff Brice W. Custer and served in that capacity for four years. So satisfactory to the people was his perform. ance of the duties thus devolving upon him that they elected him sheriff of Franklin county in the fall of 1891 and he began his administration of that high and honorable office, January 1, following, and was re-elected in 1893. serving through a period of four years altogether. In 1897 he took a very active part in the campaign and defence of Horace L. Chapman, candidate for governor of Ohio and was a member of the Democratic state executive committee. He was a courteous opponent. After his retirement from the office of sheriff he turned his attention to real estate operations, handling chiefly city property, in which he has been successful, dividing his time between this interest and public interest of the county and state. He has served as chairman of the Democratic county executive committee and has done otherwise much effective political work. He is an Elk and a Knight of Pythias, and, while very popular in these orders he is no less so in business, political and social circles. WILLIAM J. CLARK. William J. Clark, who is an engineer on a passenger train running between Columbus and Indianapolis, was born in Springfield, Ohio, in the year 1857, and is a son of Samuel and Jane D. Clark, who have resided: in Xenia, Ohio, since 1860. His father lost both of his arms in the year 1863, but by determined purpose he worked on,, his resolute spirit enabling him to continue his labors although thus hindered. He provided for his family, who have now grown to years of maturity. His children are: Mary Bell, William J., Samuel R., Margaret and Martha, Mary Bell died when two years of age. Samuel R. is now a bookkeeper of Xenia, Ohio; Margaret, a nornal school graduate, is engaged in teaching and is living in Xenia; while Martha died in that city July 9, 1899. William J. Clark, whose name introduces this record, acquired his education in the public schools of Xenia and afterward learned the moulder's trade at that place: His railroad service dates from 1875, at which time he secured a position as brakeman on the Pennsylvania road, running out of Xenia. He was employed in that Way for two months when he met with an accident breaking his collar bone. That caused him to abandon that occupation and he became a fireman - on the same road, under engineer Nathaniel Collins. After four years he was made a freight engineer and subsequently promoted to passenger engineer, in which capacity he has since served. He has never had an accident since becoming fireman nor has he missed a day's pay, for he has always been found at his post of duty. He now has one of the best and most responsible runs on the limited trains between Columbus and Indianapolis. His promotion was well merited by close application, carefulness and ability. On. the 25th of November, 1898, Mr. Clark was married, in Spring- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 595 field, Ohio, to Miss Cora Belle Ridenour. Her father, Cyrus Ridenour, was born in Graceham, Frederick county, Maryland; March 10, 1843, and her mother was born at Woodrick, Kent, England, January 9, 1848. They were married in Springfield, Ohio, and became the parents of the following chilren: Charles Edward, born September 27, 1871, was married in Springfield, Ohio, to Miss Minnie Smith, by whom he has two children, Charles and Mildred, and he is now engaged in the plumbing business in Springfield; Florence May, born July 15, 1873, is at home; George Frederick, born March 23, 1876; Grace Vernon, the youngest, was born January 17, 1886, and died March 19, 1900, in Springfield, Ohio., at the age of twenty years. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Clark have been born one son, William Earl, who. was born August 13, 1899, and has one daughter, Grace Vernon, born on the 6th of February, 1901. Two years ago Mr. Clark removed with his family from Xenia to Columbus, and they now occupy a new and attractive residence at No. 153 North Eighteenth street. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and is a Royal Arch Mason, having held membership in Xenia Chapter, R. A. M., for many years. His wife is a member of the Eastwood Congregational church, of Columbus. They are people of genuine worth, whose many excellent traits of character have gained them many friends, whose high regard they have no difficulty to retain. HERMAN H. BUCK. One of the practical, enterprising and progressive farmers of Blendon township is Herman H. Buck, who is numbered among the native sons that the fatherland has furnished to Franklin county. He was born in Hanover, Germany, April 1, 1850. His father, Frederick Buck, was also a native of the same province, born in 1826, and there he was reared to manhood and married. He wedded Miss Christina Mine, who was born in Hanover, about 1824. In order to provide for his family the father followed agricultural pursuits, having been familiar with the work of the farm from early youth. In 1852, after the birth of our subject, their first child, he came with his wife to America, locating first in Schenectady, New York, where he learned the trade of a broom-maker, following that pursuit in the east until 1854. In that year he came to Columbus with Charles Schwenker and Henry Behren and established the first broom factory ever conducted in Columbus. He followed that pursuit until about ten years ago, when he retired from active business life and' has since lived among his children. In politics he is a stanch Democrat. His wife died in 1899. They had eight children, of whom four are yet living, namely : Herman H. ; Frank ; Mary, wife of Herbert Leech, of Blendon township; and Henry, also a resident farmer of Blendon township. Herman H. Buck came to America in 1857 with his grandparents, and then joined 'his parents. His youth embraced a period of business activity, for at the early age of nine years he began work in his father's broom manufactory. His education was so badly neglected that when eighteen years of 596 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. age he could not write his own name, and he had come to realize how necessary and important is education in the world and he therefore began a course of study at night school in Columbus. Thereby he acquired a good knowledge of the branches of English learning which fit one for practical duties, and in later years reading, study, experience and observation have made him a well informed man. When twenty. years of age he left the parental roof and entered. upon a business career in the employ of Toll & Wolfley broom manufacturers, with whom he remained for about six months. On the expiration of that period he purchased the. business, which he removed to Toledo, Ohio, where he remained for four years, during which time he was united in marriage to Miss Regina Gillmeister, a native of Mecklenburg, Germany. In 1874 Mr. Buck returned to Columbus and after a short period spent at his trade he was appointed on the police force, where he served for one year. He then resigned and again engaged in the manufacture of brooms. In 1884 he came to Blendon township, Franklin county, where he turned his atention to farming in connection with broom manufacturing, his home being upon the J. Geigle farm for three years. On the expiration of that period he removed to the Howard farm, where he followed his dual occupation for five years, and in 1892 he purchased the Sammis farm in. Blendon township, upon which he has since made his home. There he engaged in broom-making  following farming in only a limited degree until July, 1900, when he accepted the position of foreman in the factory of the penitentiary, operated by the National Broom Company. His thorough understanding of the business, excellent workmanship and superior executive ability well qualified him for this position and he has given excellent satisfaction as manager of the broom making interests there. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Buck have been born eleven children, namely: Dora the wife of William H. Budd, of Columbus.; Minnie, the wife of A. C. LoLongshore, a farmer of Blendon township; Frank, Kate, Edward, Elizabeth. Herman H., Carry and Lydia, all of whom are yet under the parental roof, and Mary and Tilly died when young. Mr. Buck is a stanch Democrat in his political affiliations and has served as township trustee, land appraiser and for many years has been a member of the school board, serving at the present time in that capacity. The cause of education finds in him a warm friend. He has a just appreciation of its importance and value in the practical affairs of life and lends his support and influence to the advancement of all measures which he believes will prove of practical good to the schools. Socially he is connected with Blendon Lodge No. 339, F. & A. M., and is also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, while with Deerfoot Tribe, No. 113, Order of Red Men, he is also associated While he does not hold membership in any church, he and his wife are regular attendants on the services of the Lutheran church, and he contributed very liberally to its support. A public spirited and progressive man, he withholds not his aid from any movement which he feels will contribute to the general good. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 597 CHRISTOPHER DAVIS. Among the residents of Franklin county who have reached the age of sixty-eight years, few can claim the honor of being a native son of the locality, but Christopher Davis, now a well known farmer of Pleasant township, was born in Prairie township, September 11, 1833. The family is of Welsh lineage. His grandfather located in North Carolina and thence removed to Cynthiana, Kentucky. In 1808 he came to Ohio, locating on the present site of Galloway, in Prairie township, trading his Kentucky property for five hundred acres of land. The journey to this state was made by wagon, and everything was in the primitive condition left by the hand of nature. After making some improvements upon his new farm Mr. Davis learned that someone had a prior claim to the land and he was forced to lose it. He then purchased a tract of ninety acres west of that place and erected a log cabin. He was probably the first settler in his section of the county. He afterward bought two hundred and fifty acres of military land, a part of which he sold and among his children divided the remainder, but again. he learned that. he had an imperfect title to the property and once more lost all that he had invested therein. The Indians were still quite numerous in the neighborhood when he came to Ohio, but he always maintained pleasant relations with them and they occasioned him no trouble. He aided in the arduous task of reclaiming the wild country for.purposes of civilization. and assisted in laying the foundation for the present prosperity and progress of this portion of the state. One of his sons, Simon: Davis, resided in the eastern portion of Prairie township, on part of the grandfather's farm. Christopher Davis, the father of our subject, was born in North Carolina, December 30, 1783, and during his boyhood accompanied his parents to Kentucky, residing at Cynthiana, where he married a Miss Locket. With his wife he came to Ohio and after a time settled on what is now the Lavely farm in Prairie township. At the time of the uprising of the Indians he enlisted for military service and the troops were on their way to reinforce Hull when they learned of the surrender. Christopher Davis, received a good education for his time. In an early day he would frequently go to Franklinton and aid in mustering in the men for frontier service. After coming to Ohio he lost his first wife, and on the loth of July, 1828, he married. America Hickman, who was born in a little log cabin on the site of Franklinton, November 25, 1807, a daughter of 'Joseph Hickman, of Loudoun county, Virginia. At that place her father enlisted in the Colonial army and served throughout the war of the Revolution. He afterward came to Franklin county, Ohio, locating in Franklinton, where it is supposed that he. died of paralysis. When only twelve years of age Mrs. Davis had to begin earning her own living and for a long time she was emplOyed 'as a domestic in the home of Michael Sullivan. She possessed excellent ability as a nurse, being particularly proficient in the care of little children, and she was often 'sent for to' visit the homes of neighbors and pioneer people for miles around, making the 598 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. necessary journey on horseback. Mr. Davis, the father of our subject, died December 31, 1856, in his seventy-third year, and his second wife passed away November 10, 1879. From the age of twelve years she was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which Mr. Davis also belonged, and they lived earnest and consistent Christian lives. In politics he was a Whig and was much interested in political affairs. By his first marriage he had four children : John, who died in Missouri ; Obediah, who died in Pleasant township, about 1874; William, whose death occurred in Franklin county in 1850; and James, who passed away at his home in Whitley county, Indiana, in 1865. The parents of our subject had nine children. The eldest, George Washington Mahlon, of Barton county, Missouri, served as a captain in an Ohio regiment, enlisting at the call for one-hundred-day men. Elizabeth became the wife of James Ward and removed to Indiana, where her husband joined a regiment for service in the war of the Rebellion. He died in a hospital in Kentucky, and she was afterward twice married, her third husband being Christopher Smeltz. Their home is now in Walkerton, Indiana. Christopher, of this review, is the next of the family. Jeremiah died in childhood, Joseph makes his home in Walkerton, Indiana. Smith W; died in that place in 1892. Ruhama became the wife of John Lavely and died in Prairie township ; Jennie is the wife of George Burton, of Terre Haute, Indiana. Jesse died in Terre Haute, December 26, 1900. In the midst of the wild scenes of pioneer life Christopher Davis was reared to manhood., The family home was a log cabin and few were the privileges and luxuries which were enjoyed by the frontier settlers. He acquired the greater part of his education in the subscription schools. The first school .which he attended was held in a private dwelling and was taught by Miss Sarah Ann Welsh. Later a hewed-log building was erected to be used as a school and therein he pursued his education, under the direction of Mr. Frissell and Mr. Neff. He attended only through winter terms, for in the summer months his services !vere needed upon the home farm. He began to work in the fields when a small boy and soon became familiar with all the departments of farm labor In those days he would break the corn off the stalks and it was then taken to the barn, where the merry corn huskings were held. Mr. Davis also attended many log rollings, at which all the menand larger boys of the neighborhood would gather. Two men would then choose sides and divide the ground, and the side which 'succeeded accomplishing its work first was proclaimed victorious. On account of his father's ill health Mr. Davis assumed the management of the home farm and after his father's demise he cultivated the place for his widowed mother until his marriage, which important event in his life occurred on the 2d of April, 1861, the lady of his choice being Miss Lydia Ann Scott, who was born on the farm where our subject now resides, her parents being William and Martha (Upp) Scott. After his marriage Mr. Davis took up his abode on the farm just east of Galloway, known as the Isaac Neff property. On the 15th of August, 1862 CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 599 he responded to the country's call for aid, enlisting as a member of Company H, Ninety-fifth Ohio Infantry, under Captain Wiley and Colonel McMillan. He served for five months and was then discharged at Camp Chase, February 10, 1863, on account of disability. . After joining the army he went to Covington, Kentucky, and thence to Richmond, participating in the battle at that place. There nearly all of the members of the regiment were captured by the forces of General Kirby Smith, but soon afterward Mr. Davis was paroled, together with many of his regiment. . They then returned on foot to Coyington, Kentucky, and to Cincinnati, finding the latter city in charge of the "Squirrel Hunters." From Cincinnati Mr. Davis made his way home by train, and at Camp Chase received an honorable discharge. He then resumed agricultural pursuits, operating on shares the farm owned by F. A. McCormick. In the following autumn he removed to the Chrisman farm in Pleasant township, where he resided for two years and then went to Vermilion county, Illinois, spending the winter in Danville. In the spring he located on Eight Mile Prairie, fourteen miles from Danville, where he purchased, one hundred and twenty acres of land, continuing its. cultivation until the winter of 1872, when he rented his farm' and returned to Franklin county, locating on the old homestead. He afterward sold his Illinois property. For three years he remained on the old home place and then purchased his present home, moving into a hewed-log cabin, which had a frame addition. This building was burned December 6, 1879, and two years afterward he erected his present beautiful brick residence, one of the most tasteful homes in, his section of the county. He has one hundred and sixty-two acres of fine farming land, all under a high state of cultivation. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Davis were born six children: Amelia, who died in infancy; William E., of Madera, California; George C., who died at the age of eight years; Leander, who died in childhood; Alletta, the wife of Charles Ruppel, of Indiana; and Scott, who is living in Terre Haute, Indiana. After the death of his first wife Mr.. Davis was again married, on the 22d of June, 1875, his second union being with Miss Malissa Gardner, who was born in Pleasant township, November 5, 1857, and is a daughter of James and Mary (Norris) Gardner. Her father is now deceased, but her mother is still living. The children of the second marriage are: Arthur, who died in 1896; Nellie E. ; Rosalie; Oliver; Theodore, who. is a student in Westerville; Laura Ann; Emma May; Ada Florence; Theressa Mary; and Grover Cleveland. Mr. Davis is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Galloway. He was a Republican during the Civil war and supported that party until President Grant's second term, when he joined the Democracy, with which he has since voted. He served as school director for eleven years and has taken an active interest in educational affairs. He served as a delegate to the state conventions of 1896, and 1900, and on the 12th of February, 1901, in connection with W. J. Bryan, Charles A. Towne, D. E. Armand and many other distinguished men; he became a member of the Jefferson, Jackson and Lincoln League.