(RETURN TO THE MAHONING COUNTY INDEX)

100 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY five years before he took up his duties at Struthers on September 20, 1913. At that time the local church was burdened with a debt of $15,000, largely due to the construction of a new church edifice. The debt was paid off in four years and there has been some constructive progress in the material welfare of the parish every year of Father Monaghan's pastorate. The parsonage has been thoroughly overhauled. There are no parochial schools, the Catholic children attending the public schools. St. Nicholas' parish has representatives of many nations, and the duties of the pastor are very onerous and require the exercise of much patience, energy, good sense and broad sympathy. It is those qualities that have made Father Monaghan's work both pleasant and profitable in this field. He played baseball in college, and has always encouraged athletic sports among the boys of his church. He is a scholar and gentleman, and also has the faculty of being able to mingle with his people and with citizens of all classes irrespective of creed, and has justly become a favorite in the town. LAWRENCE H. UNDERWOOD received a technical training in civil and engineering, but about fourteen years ago his attention was attracted by the great future possibilities of the coke industry and its related lines. He is one of the thoroughly competent men in that modern field of industry, and for the past five years has enjoyed the responsibilities of superintendent of the coke plant of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company, an office he took over on August 1, 1915. Mr. Underwood was born at Dixon, Illinois, November 2, 1880, son of Nathan and Hannah E. (Weeks) Underwood, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Maine. His parents soon after their marriage moved to Chicago, and two years later located at Dixon, Illinois, where Nathan Underwood became a flour miller. In 1892 he left Dixon and moved to South Dakota, where he continued flour milling. He was retired from active business several years before his death, which occurred in 1913. His wife died in 1903. Lawrence H. Underwood was the youngest of a family of five sons and one daughter that reached mature years. He lived at Dixon, Illinois, to the age of twelve and spent three years with his parents in South Dakota. He then lived with an older sister in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was graduated from high school in 1899. Soon afterward he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Boston, graduating in 1903. The first two years his principal studies were concentrated on surveying and engineering and the last year on mining and metallurgy. Even while a high school boy he became keenly interested in surveying, and his work as a surveyor's assistant gave him a large part of the means necessary to defray his college expenses. After leaving the great technical school at Boston he entered the service of the National Tube Company at Wheeling, West Virginia. He was an apprentice in the blast furnace department from July, 1903, until March, 1904, being appointed assistant superintendent of blast furnaces at the latter date. In May, 1906, he was made superintendent of that department. This office he filled until 1912. In order to gain the fullest experience in the coke industry and its by-products Mr. Underwood went to Gary, Indiana, in January, 1913, and served in the coke department of the Illinois Steel Company until May, 1914. At that date he was appointed assistant superintendent of the coke, plant, an office he filled until he came to Youngstown to accept his present work. Mr. Underwood is a member of the Youngstown Engineering Society and the American Iron and Steel Institute. He is also affiliated with the Youngstown Country Club, the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce and the Masonic fraternity. September 25, 1906, he married Cleve E. Lozier, of Elyria, Ohio. GEORGE G. ERSKINE, who is market master of the Gardeners' Markets on the south side at Youngstown, is a veteran truck gardener himself, and has had a very influential part in providing for better marketing conditions in Youngstown, as a result of which the producer and consumer are brought closer together. Mr. Erskine is member of an old and prominent family of Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. He was born at Bolivar in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, February 28, 1858. His parents were James and Catherine (Geddes) Erskine. His father, who died at Lowellville a few years ago, was long prominent in the clay product industry of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and a resident of Youngstown many years. Several members of the family have attained distinction in the commercial life of Ohio, and more of the particulars in the family history will be found elsewhere. George G. Erskine was eleven years of age when the family moved to Youngstown, where he lived until 1880. After getting his education in the common schools and taking a short course in the Ohio State University, he busied himself clerking in his father's store at Lowellville, and in company with his brother James went to a farm in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. His father had bought this farm for the development of its clay deposits, and the son opened a clay bank. The clay had a special use as the chief constituent of a mortar to be used in repairing the lining of furnaces instead of lime mortar. While the working of the clay bank was continued for only two years, George G. Erskine remained on the farm for several years. By his work he was able to pay his brother James' expenses while a student of mining engineering at the Ohio State University. James graduated in 1885, and then took charge of his father's fire brick plant at Hillsville, which had been bought from John W. Phillips. After two years there James took a course in the Homeopathic Medical School at Cleveland, and went west to practice at Albany, Oregon, and while there also became identified with mining interests in Oregon. George Erskine remained on the farm in Pennsylvania until 1905, and then bought twenty-one acres at his present location in Poland Township, between Lowellville and Struthers. He had developed the Pennsylvania farm to truck growing, and continued that business in Poland Township. In 1906 he erected his first greenhouse for the purpose of growing vegetables under glass, specializing in lettuce and cucumbers. Eventually he had three quarters of an YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 101 acre tinder glass, and in 1910 incorporated the Erskine Garden Company. He remained in charge of this industry until February, 1917, since which date the property has been leased to the Darrow Brothers. For a number of years the local gardeners had found conditions at the old public market in Youngstown unsatisfactory. It was the custom to lease stalls, but some burdensome restrictions were placed upon the marketers, who were compelled to confine their sales to individuals prior to 8 o'clock in the morning and after that to local grocers. Eventually the gardeners got together and organized the present Growers Market Company, the membership of which now comprise 15o producers. There are about thirty stockholders in the company. They established a market on East Woodland Avenue, and Mr. Erskine was chosen as the market master. Sales are held three times a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and there are no restrictions as to sales to consumers or dealers. The arrangement has proved very satisfactory to all concerned, and the daily volume of transactions now ranges in value between $5,000 and $10,000. About April 1, 1920, the Growers Market Company purchased about three acres on Pyatt Street, which they will hold for future use. Mr. Erskine lives. between Lowellville and Struthers, where he erected in 1908 a fine modern brick home overlooking the industrious valley. For nearly thirty years Mr. Erskine has also handled in connection with his other affairs a fire insurance agency, and that gives him much occupation and also a wide acquaintnce in this section of Ohio. Mr. Erskine is in ardent prohibitionist, and he and his wife are members of the Christian Church. June 9, 1881, he married Anne Wright, of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. She died in 1908, the mother of seven children : Paul, the oldest, has been connected with the Bell Telephone Company at Los Angeles, California, since 1908. Arthur W. is a physician and surgeon at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Marcia C. is the wife of A. M. Cunningham, of Lowellville. Ralph J., who has been associated with his father in the greenhouse business, lived on the old homestead in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. George G. is a rancher in Saskatchewan, Canada. Dorothy M. is teacher of Domestic Science in the schools of Edmonton, Alberta. Florence P., who formerly taught in Saskatchewan, is now a teacher in the Struthers schools. July 3, 1912, Mr. Erskine married Esther McFarlane, widow of Dr. B. F. Gibbons. She is a first cousin to his former wife. Her parents were Irvine and Ellen (Beggs) McFarlane, life residents of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania . Her grandfather, Frank McFarlane, came originally from Philadelphia, and settled on the state line, three and a half miles east of Coitsville, near Bedford. Irvine McFarlane after his marriage moved to the Beggs farm of his wife. This farm is just east of the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line. Irvine McFarlane died there in 1877, at the age of seventy, and was survived by his widow for thirty years. The old farm is still in family. Mrs. Erskine's first husband was a dentist at Youngstown, and on account of his health moved to a farm at Warren, Pennsylvania, where he died September 12, 1909. By a previous marriage Dr. Gibbons had a son, Edward F., who was reared from the age of twelve by Mrs. Erskine and is now a resident of Cleveland. ROBERT ERSKINE, M. D. A prominent member of the medIcal fraternity of Lowellville for twenty years, at an earlier date a merchant, Doctor Erskine has accepted many opportunities to serve his community, and his three terms as mayor mark the highest stage in the municipal improvement of Lowellville. Doctor Erskine, who is one of a numerous family in the Mahoning Valley, is a son of the late James Erskine. James Erskine was born at Paisley, Scotland, in 1825. The Erskines for several generations were identified with the historic industry of Paisley, weavers of the famous shawls. His parents were Hugh and Elizabeth (Craig) Erskine, and his grandparents were Robert and Helen (Allison) Erskine, also of Paisley. James Erskine in early life worked in the shawl factory. Through the early death of his father he became largely dependent upon his own resources. While employed with an iron works he became a competent engineer, and with this experience he came to New York in 1849. For a time he worked on a farm at Pittsburgh, and was then employed in the clay products industry at Bolivar, Pennsylvania. He became general manager of a brick yard, also conducted a store and had other interests there. While in Pennsylvania he became associated with the group of men who founded the Brown-Bonnell Company at Youngstown. In 1866 he came to the Mahoning Valley and acquired a tract of land containing brick clay. He organized Erskine & Company, the company part being the Brown-Bonnell Company, manufacturers of fire brick. This company was organized about 1869, buying out the plant previously established by Mr. Sutton. They mined clay and made fire brick for furnace lining and blast furnaces. The old brick plant stood on a site now occupied by steel mills. James Erskine also conducted a general store at Lowellville, becoming associated with Leo Guthman in 1873. Mr. Guthman had charge of the business until the sons of James, Robert and John G. Erskine, took over the enterprise. Doctor Robert subsequently sold to his brother John, who continued the business until his death, about 1909. It was then taken over by his widow and son Davidson. Mrs. John G. Erskine is still living, and her son Davidson is a coal operator in Kentucky. John G. Erskine was a prominent citizen of Lowellville, and became widely interested in the local business and civic affairs, serving on the school board, the council and in other positions. James Erskine also spent his last years at Lowellville, where he died in 1916, in his ninety-first year. He was widely known among brick manufacturers, and had interests in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, where a special grade of clay was found for making high grade fire brick. In the Mahoning Valley he developed a limestone quarry which subsequently was acquired by the Mahoning Limestone Company. In 1853, at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, James Erskine married Catherine Geddes, a native cf Scotland and daughter of George and Margaret Geddes. 102 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY She died at the age of fifty-seven, the mother of six children. The oldest of these is Dr. Robert Erskine. Reference has already been made to his brother John G. Erskine. Another member of the family is George Erskine, superintendent of the market gardeners' stands in Youngstown. William L. lives at Lowellville, and James is a resident of Honolulu, where his son is employed by the Government. In 1890 James Erskine married for his second wife Ella Hicks, and there were four children of this union, three of whom are still living: Isaac P., a business man at Lowellville ; Hugh Craig, connected with the Republican Iron and Steel Company, and a graduate of Hiram College ; and Sarah E., Mrs. Burton Smith, of Lowellville. Robert Erskine was born at Johnstown, on the Conemaugh River in Pennsylvania, and the old house where he first saw the light of day was swept away by the great flood of 1889. He grew up in Ohio, attended school here, and spent about seventeen years in the mercantile business at Lowellville, until he sold out to his brother John in 1896. He was also associated with his father and uncle in the Carbon Fire Brick Company, and had charge of the company's books. Robert Erskine prepared for his profession in the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville, graduating in 1898, and since then for over twenty years has been engaged in a general practice at Lowellville. Along with his busy professional work he has filled several offices, including township clerk, member of the sch00l board, and for three times was mayor. While mayor he secured the construction of a sanitary sewer system, water works and other improvements, and also directed the agitation for village extension and the approval of the county commissioners to a plan whereby the village could secure greater benefits, though the courts have issued injunctions against the carrying out of this policy and the issue is still unsettled. Doctor Erskine lost his only son at the age of thirteen, and his daughter, Bessie, is the wife of Arthur W. Erskine, a physician and surgeon at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. THOMAS REESE PHILLIPS. In such men as Thomas IC Phillips, a well known and successful business man of Youngstown, there is peculiar satisfaction in offering their life histories—justification for the compilation of works of this character— not that their lives have been such as to gain them particularly wide notoriety, but that they have been true to the trusts reposed in them and have not neglected the opportunities that have come to them during their business careers, showing such attributes of character as entitle them to the regard of all who know them. Thomas Reese Phillips was born at Church Hill, which is now a part of Youngstown, on April 28, 1879, and is the son of John and Maria (Thomas) Phillips, the former of whom was of Welsh nativity and the latter, English. They are both now deceased, the father dying on November 14, 1900, when sixty-six years of age, and the mother on January 2, 1901, at the age of sixty-three years. They had both come to the United States in their youth and had met and married here. Mineral Ridge became the home of the Phillips family, being now owned by the oldest son, John Phillips. John Phillips, Sr., was an honest, hard-working man, occupying the position of foreman in a coal mine. Eventually they moved to Grove City, Pennsylvania, where their deaths occurred. They were Methodists in their religious faith. Of the sixteen children born to these parents, the subject of this sketch is the fifteenth in order of birth. He remained with his parents and was their chief support and reliance in their closing years, being a steady and reliable worker in the mines of Mercer County. After the death of his parents he erected a neat and tasty memorial stone over their last resting place. He was then twenty-one years of age, but up to that time his education had necessarily been greatly neglected, his time being devoted to work and the care of his parents, so that his attendance in the Grove City schools had been extremely brief. When twenty-three years old Mr. Phillips, realizing the ultimate value of better education, gave it serious attention. He attended night school three evenings each week and thus prepared himself for entry into Grove City College. He lacked but a year of graduation when he met his future wife and decided to marry. In 1906 Mr. Phillips came to Youngstown and for one year was in the employ of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. He then decided to embark in business on his own account, a decision which proved to be the stepping stone to his future success. He had a cash capital of $150, with which he purchased a horse and wagon. A stock of goods, worth $400, was bought on credit from his sister, and with this modest stock he began his mercantile career in a little building at the corner of High and Edwards streets. He managed well and was wisely economical, so that he soon had his goods all paid for and a considerable cash surplus. With the latter he bought the site of his present store, at No. 900 High Street, and had the building erected. Here he carries a large and well selected stock of general merchandise and commands a large trade in his part of the city. He has richly earned the success which has come to him, for his business principles and policies are in accordance with the highest ethics, good goods at right prices being his motto. Mr. Phillips devoted himself indefatigably to the building up of his business and has wisely invested his profits. A few years ago he joined with some friends in the development of oil lands in Butler County, Pennsylvania, he himself investing $5,820. They have drilled one hundred wells, and the general results of their operations. have been very satisfactory. Mr. Phillips is now president of the Phillips Dale Oil Company, and has gained recognition as a man of rare business judgment and sound discrimination. Mr. Phillips was married to Ada M. Campbell, the daughter of Silas and Mary Campbell, of North Washington, Butler County, Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of three children, Thomas Reese, Jr., Harold J. and DeWitt. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips are active members of the Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a trustee. Fraternally YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 103 he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, including the Blue Lodge of Master Masons, the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and the Council of Royal and Select Masters, and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. Politically he is an earnest supporter of the democratic party, though he reserves the right to vote for the men and measures which in his opinions are for the best interests of the whole community. As a man of ability, sturdy integrity and usefulness, and as a citizen representative of the utmost loyalty, he merits consideration by his fellow men, among whom he is held in the highest regard. JESSE CUNNINGHAM. While his home for the past two years has been at 313 Arlington Street in Youngstown, Mr. Jesse Cunningham is still active in the management of the big business he built at Lowellville as a furniture dealer and undertaker. That business has enjoyed a steady growth with passing years, and at the present time represents an investment of about $60,000, including not only a high class undertaking department, but also a complete stock of furniture, house furnishing goods and musical merchandise, including phonographs. Both floors of the main store are taxed to capacity for the display of goods and other uses, while a storage room and detached warehouse afford as much more space for the business. Mr. Cunningham was born near Haselton in Ma- honing County February 17, 1872, son of Arthur Murray and Ellen (Bentley) Cunningham. His father spent his active life as a skillful mechanic, and at different times worked as a carpenter, wagon-maker, blacksmith and pattern maker. The mother died in 1890. Their large family of children consisted of John, Lois, Jesse, Lucy, Charlotte, Clarence, William H., Ellen, Frank, Blanche, Arthur M. and Marietta. During the first eighteen years of his life in Coitsville Township Jesse Cunningham received his education in the district schools and the high school of Coitsville Center and learned the carpenter trade under his father. For six years he was employed in the factory of a prominent firm of casket manufacturers, and was advanced to the position of foreman. After this experience he removed to Lowellville in 1896, and stocked a small building with furniture. His business grew and prospered and he had one or two partnerships and since 1903 his business has been at its present location, where a large building was erected for the special purpose. Mr. Cunningham was one of the organizers and a director of the Lowellville Savings & Banking Company and in earlier years gave much of his time to the improvement and welfare of his home city. For twelve years he served as a member of the school board, and was a leader in the movement to erect a new school building in 1905. He was also on the committee which brought about the installation of an electric light plant in Lowellville. He was also village treasurer for 'one term of two years. Mr. Cunningham is a past chancellor of Lowellville Lodge of Knights of Pythias, and is a member of Hillman Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons at Youngstown. June 13, 1894, he married in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Mary E. Groah. They have two children: Jesse Lawrence, who was born May 3, 1895, is a furniture salesman at Los Angeles, California, and by his marriage to Hazel Mervin, of Meadville, Pennsylvania, has one child, Jesse Marvin, now two years old. The daughter of Mr. Cunningham is Virginia Marie, born October 7, 1898, now the wife of G. W. Bankson, an electrician of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. of Los Angeles, California, where they now reside. Mr. and Mrs. Bankson have a daughter, Virginia Marie. WILLIAM JOHN LOMAX. One of the principal centers of trade in the town of Lowellville is the Lomax Department Store, a business that was founded thirty-five years ago by Eliab Lomax, but for nearly twenty years has been under the proprietorship and direction of William John Lomax. It has grown from an exceedingly modest enterprise to a store of a number of departments filled with desirable merchandise, and during the past decade the volume of trade has more than doubled. The great-grandparents of the present merchant at Lowellville were Henry and Nancy (Fisher) Lomax, who spent all their lives in England. Their son John was born in 1823, married Margaret Taylor, and in 1853, a year after the birth of their son Eliab, they came to the United States and located at Lowellville. Eliab Lomax grew up to a life of industry, was employed in the coal and oil regions of Ohio and , Pennsylvania, and in 1885 started a small confectionery shop in Lowellville. In 1896 he erected a substantial two-story building for his business, but in 1902 sold the site and removed the building to another location. In the meantime the store had grown with new stock and new departments, and Eliab Lomax took in his son William J. as a partner, and in 1902 retired from business and moved to Youngstown, where he is still living. He has owned several residences and other parcels of real estate property at Lowellville and Youngstown, and has served as a member of the Board of the Children's Home. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, is a Knight of Pythias, and during his residence at Lowellville was a member of the village council and the school board. Eliab Lomax married Amy Brown. She died in 1881, the mother of three children, Carrie M., Alberta and William John. Eliab Lomax married for his second wife Frances Hayes, and they are the parents of one daughter, Hazel V. William John Lomax was born at Ohioville in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1879, but has spent most of his life at Lowellville, where he finished a public school education and took a business course in Newcastle, Pennsylvania. He became a partner with his father in 1900 under the name E. Lomax & Son, and on January 25, 1902, became his father's successor. At that time the business was on the south side, and the store was in the path of the destructive fire of June, 1910. Soon afterward Mr. Lomax opened his business on the north side, and has found his location an exceedingly desirable 104 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY one, and his business has grown and prospered without interruption. Mr. Lomax is vice president of the Lowellville Bank, and has been a builder and developer of residence property in the town. During his service of eight years on the local school board the present school buildings were erected. He is a trustee of the Presbyterian Church, is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Knights of Pythias, and is a public spirited worker in all things that concern the welfare of his community. September 17, 1899, Mr. Lomax married Sarah Cole, who was born at Coleburg, Ohio, October 1878, daughter of James and Jane (Williams) Cole. Her father is still living, and her mother died in 1901, at the age of fifty-four. Mrs. Lomax is one of eight surviving children: Mrs. Mary Morgan, of Youngstown; Mrs. Lizzie Jane James; Mrs. Rachel Thresher, of Youngstown; William, of Hubbard; Margaret, Sarah, Priscilla and Thomas. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Lomax are Amy Jane, Frances Alberta, Helen Mildred and Ivy May. The two older daughters are graduates of high school and never missed a day while they were in grade and high school work. They are now students in the Carnegie Institute of Technology of Pittsburgh. Helen Mildred is in the first year of her high school work. NOBLE T. ROBBINS, who for the past several years has been the Ford representative at Niles, is a young business man of much enterprise and public spirit, and is a member of one of the old and historic families of this section of Trumbull County. He is a descendant of Josiah Robbins, one of the very early settlers at Niles, and a forceful and interesting character in the early history of the town. In the early days Josiah Robbins and his wife kept the principal inn or hotel in the community. Josiah Robbins was distinguished among the early settlers as a strict temperance man, and it is said that he signed a pledge to abstain from liquor at the time of his marriage. The Robbins family in the early days owned large tracts of land along the Mahoning River, and much of this land has since been acquired for manufacturing sites. Noble T. Robbins was born at Niles, September 23, 1891, a son of George B. and Mary (Robinson) Robbins. His mother was born in England and died in 1897, at the age of thirty-three. George B. Robbins, who died November 19, 1919, at the age of fifty-six, was a native of Niles and for many years one of its prominent business men. He and his brother, F. C. Robbins, were associated in the steel roofing business. George B. Robbins succeeded in 1906 as president of the Dollar Savings Bank of Niles. Noble T. Robbins graduated from the Niles High School in 1910, thus allowing him ten years in which to achieve a position in business affairs. Soon after leaving school he became associated with the Niles Forge and Manufacturing Company and served as vice president and in other capacities until May, 1917. He left that industry to become a Ford representative, and since then has built a large and commodious garage and has all the facilities for ready and prompt service to the Ford patrons. Mr. Robbins is affiliated with the Lodge, Chapter and Council of Masonry, and is a member of the Church of the Disciples. August 26, 1917, he married Jennette McIntire, daughter of G. M. McIntire. They have one daughter, Mary Grace. JOHN A. SAUER. The exponents of the contracting business at Struthers are men of skill and experience, and their work shows evidences of careful attention to detail. One of these men whose dependability is unquestioned is John A. Sauer, whose reputation is that of a thoroughly reliable citizen. He is one of the best known men in the Mahoning Valley, but has never cared for public office, devoting himself to his business, and probably has built more and better residences than anyone else at Struthers. The birth of John A. Sauer took place in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, on August I, 1854, and he is a son of George and Sophia (Bohlander) Sauer, both natives of Germany. George Sauer was a miner and farmer who died at Petersburg, Mahoning County, Ohio, at the age of eighty-six years, having come to the county about 1845 and settled on the Kimmel farm five miles north of Struthers. John A. Sauer learned the brick and stone mason trade at Cleveland, Ohio, and was in the contracting business at Petersburg until 1891, when he came to Struthers to build a bridge for the county, and then began taking contracts first for cellars and foundation work, and developing into a general contractor. He has erected the postoffice, bank building and nearly all of the brick buildings at Struthers, and he also operates in cement. A skilled workman himself, he gives his personal supervision to all of the details and will not tolerate anything but good workmanship. Employment is given by him to from eight to twelve men, according to the season, and he keeps several jobs moving at the same time, and takes contracts outside of Struthers. Mr. Sauer was married first at Petersburg, Ohio, to Mary Kline, who died three years later, leaving one daughter, Minnie, who is living at home and working in the Struthers postoffice. His second wife bore the maiden name of Christina Oswald, and she lived at Struthers. Mr. and Mrs. Sauer have one daughter, Mary, wife of Harold Roland, working in an Akron, Ohio, tire factory. Mr. Sauer's present prosperity and high standing have come to him as a result of his industry, skill and willingness to give the best of himself in each job, no matter how unimportant it might be, and he sets an example for others to follow in his fidelity and carefulness. THOMAS REYNOLDS. Beginning life in humble circumstances, with but limited advantages of any kind, Thomas Reynolds, a well known and prosperous business man of Struthers; has courageously fought the battle of life, gradually but surely overcoming all difficulties, and may well be accounted a self-made man in every sense implied by the term. A native of England, he was born June 3, 1867, near Birmingham, on a manor or lordship, it being the YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 105 particular part of Sutton Coldfield visited by King Henry VIII, and afterward called in his honor Royaltown. Having an inclination for mechanical pursuits, Thomas Reynolds served an apprenticeship of five years at the blacksmith's trade, receiving for his work a very scant supply of pocket money, at the age of twenty-one years his trade being his only capital. The following year Mr. Reynolds worked as a journeyman for his old employer, who gave him a pound a week for his services. He later assisted in building the Manchester ship canal, after which he was employed as general blacksmith by his former employer until 1895. Immigrating in that year to the United States, Mr. Reynolds came directly to Youngstown, where his wife's sister resided, but business was very dull, and desirable employment so little in evidence that he decided to return to his native land. Being offered 81.35 a day nailing horse shoes, he accepted, and worked for three whole days at that rate. Mr. Reynolds tried farming for two years, having a smithy on his farm, and at the same time worked at his trade. It was uphill work, and he was rather discouraged until a change in the presidential administration brought about better results. Locating in Struthers, he has been doing general blacksmithing for several years. He now owns and manages a garage, having a well- equipped repair shop, and handling automobile accessories of all kinds, and has built up a very satisfactory business. Mr. Reynolds has been twice married. He married first, in 1891, Mary Hadley, who was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, England. She died in 1917, leaving one son, Thomas Hadley Reynolds, who has taken a course in automobile manufacture and repair, and is now in business with his father. Mr. Reynolds married for his second wife Mrs. Anna Liber, nee Sweeney, who was born in Salem, Ohio. A. LAMOIN CLINGAN, who died on the 5th of October, 1918; at the age of sixty-two years, was one of the prominent and influential factors in the development and upbuilding of the vital little city of Struthers, Mahoning County, where also he was one of the interested principals in establishing the prosperous hardware business now conducted under the firm name of H. 0. Lyon, an enterprise of which adequate description is given on other pages, in the sketch of the career of the junior member of the firm, Harry O. Lyon. Mr. Clingan was born and reared near Hubbard, Trumbull County, Ohio, the date of his nativity having been February 9, 1856, and his father having been one of the substantial exponents of farm enterprise in that county. The subject of this sketch was reared to the invigorating work of the farm, but in his youth he manifested marked mechanical ability, with the result that eventually he became a skilled artisan. Upon coming to Struthers he found employment in the cooperage plant, but his energy and ambition could not be restricted, and he showed his enterprising spirit by erecting a number of high-grade houses on Hawthorne Street. In the selling of these improved properties he developed a prosperous business and also contributed to the civic and material advancement of the village. He also gave his financial, and a measure of executive, support in the development of the business of the firm of Clingan & Lyon, which began, and continues operations in a building that was owned by him. After the death of his wife, Mr. Clingan lived virtually retired for several years, and within this period he visited his sisters, Mary and Edwerta, who were in active service as evangelistic missionaries in the Ozark mountains in Missouri and Arkansas. Later he erected and presented to his sisters an attractive residence in Missouri. After the death of his wife he passed much of his time in travel, and in this connection it may be noted that for several years he made annual fishing trips into Canada for rest and recreation. He wits a man of sterling character, honest and upright in thought, word and deed, and he commanded the unqualified respect of his fellow men. His political views placed him in the ranks of the republican party, he served as a member of the village council of Struthers, and here held membership in the United Presbyterian Church. Mr. Clingan first married Miss Sylvia Gault, of Muskingum County, and she died within a few years thereafter, leaving no children. Later Mr. Clingan wedded Mrs. Edith Gaston, of Findlay, this state, and she still maintains her home at Struthers, where the death of her husband occurred.. She is an active member of the United Presbyterian Church and is popular in the social life of her home community. Mr. and Mrs. Clingan had no children. HARRY O. LYON is the active executive head of one of the important and well ordered business enterprises in the thriving little city of Struthers, Mahoning County, where he became associated with the late A. Lamoin Clingan in forming the firm of Clingan & Lyon, which on the loth of November, 1911, with an invested capital of $2,500, opened a general hardware store at Struthers. From this modest inception has been developed the large and substantial business still conducted under the name of H. O. Lyon, the stock of the establishment now representing an average valuation of about $35,000, and the annual sales having increased to an average of $100,000. The salesrooms are equipped with complete lines of heavy and shelf hardware, stoves, ranges, etc., and the building occupied is a part of the estate of the late A. Lamoin Clingan, who continued as senior member of the firm until the time of his death. In making proper provision for storage in connection with the constantly increasing trade a large warehouse is now utilized in addition to the store itself. On other pages is dedicated a memoir to Mr. Clingan, one of the founders of this business. Harry O. Lyon was born at Middleton—now known as Mosk—Columbiana County, Ohio, February 5, 1873, and he was a child at the time of the family removal to New Waterford, that county, where he was reared to the age of nineteen years and where he profited by the advantages offered in the public schools. He is a son of Marcena and Hannah J. (Lewis) Lyon, representatives of old and honored families of Columbiana County. Marcena Lyon was for many years successfully engaged 106 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY in business as a contractor and builder, was active in local politics as a republican, and was one of the well known and highly respected citizens of Columbiana County at the time of his death in 1893, his wife surviving him by several years. At the age of sixteen years Harry O. Lyon took a position as clerk in a general store at New Waterford, and four years later he became associated with the general store conducted by the R. S. Chamberlin Company at East Palestine, that county. At that place he subsequently formed a partnership with C. P. Rothwell and opened a general store, under the firm name of Rothwell Sr Lyon. He continued his connection with this enterprise for six years, and thereafter he was for several years retained as one of the successful traveling salesmen for the Beaver Falls Rubber Company. His assigned territory was eastern Ohio, and thus he frequently came to Mahoning County. Becoming impressed with the alert and progressive village of Struthers, this county, he finally decided to engage in the retail hardware business at this place, the result being the formation of the firm of Clingan & Lyon, as noted in a preceding paragraph of this review. His careful methods, strong initiative and progressive policies have proved potent in the upbuilding of the substantial and prosperous business, of which he has had the active supervision the greater part of the time from the inception, as Mr. Clingan had other interests that required much of his time prior to his death in 1918, since which time the junior member of the firm has continued in executive control of the business. Mr. Lyon is not only a representative business man of the village, but is also known for his civic loyalty and progressiveness. He is a republican in political allegiance and has given effective service as a member of the village council. He was one of the foremost in placing the municipal government upon a stable financial basis and in conserving economy and efficiency in all departments of the village administration. While he has been the staunch champion of progressive municipal policies, he has insistently advocated wise economy in village affairs, and it is a matter of gratification to him to realize that the village is now in a healthy and prosperous condition. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife became members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in their home village, in the affairs of which Mrs. Lyon continued to be actively identified until her death. In 1897 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lyon to Miss Mary Rowe, of East Palestine, Columbiana County, and she was called to the life eternal on the 19th of March, 1919—a woman whose gracious personality had won to her the affectionate regard of all who knew her. LaVelle Lewis Lyon, elder of the two children of this union, was born in 1900, and is now associated with his father's business; Louise Florence, born in 1911, is a student in the public schools of Struthers. DRAYTON J. FINNEY manufacturer at Niles, has had his home in at city since 1883, and is a member of one of the pioneer families who established homes in the Western Reserve at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In America the family is much older. The Finneys came from England and settled in New England in 1631. For a number of generations they were substantial New England farmers, and agriculture has been the chief occupation of the several generations who have lived in Eastern Ohio. While the colonies were fighting for independence one of the patriot soldiers was Josiah Finney. His son, also named Josiah, was the grandfather of the Niles business man. Josiah Finney was born at Warren, Litchfield County, Connecticut, and represented the fifth generation of the family in America. Josiah, Jr., when a young man came west in 1804 and settled at Johnston in Trumbull County. In, the early days he was a captain of militia during the old "training days," and served as a soldier in the War of 1812. After coming west he married Clarissa Bushnell, and they had a large family of nine children, eight reaching mature years. Theron L. Finney, son of Josiah and Clarissa, was born at Johnston, and in early life determined to leave the farm and follow a business career. He worked as a clerk at Johnston and later at Fowler, and at Fowler he married Lucy Fidelia Andrews, a daughter of his employer. With his father-in-law and later alone, he conducted a store at Johnston, and was a very successful merchant. Drayton J. Finney, the oldest of the five children born to Theron L. Finney and wife, was born at Johnston, Trumbull County, January 9, 1855, and grew up in his native village, attending public schools. At the age of thirteen he was doing regular work in his father's store. Before he was seventeen he began mastering the art of telegraphy and subsequently was employed as a railway telegrapher until the spring of 1883. At that date he came to Niles, where he became associated with his father-in-law, Dr. W. F. Ball, in the retail drug business. Later he acquired the business and conducted it until 1898, when he sold out. Since then various business enterprises have claimed his time and attention. In 1906, associated with E. A. Gilbert, he helped organize the Standard Boiler & Plate Iron Company, one of the leading industries of Niles. He served that corporation as secretary and treasurer until the death of Mr. Gilbert, April, 1920, since which time he has been its president and treasurer. Mr. Finney is also vice president of the Niles Trust Company and is president of the Home Savings & Loan Company. He has been voting since the Hayes and Tilden campaign of 1876 and almost altogether as a republican. In 1903 he was elected county commissioner of Trumbull County, but declined to become a candidate for a second term on account of the demands of his business. He is a Knight Templar Mason, is a member of Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland, is a member of the Country Club and the Niles Chamber of Commerce, and is president of the Niles Memorial Library Association. In 1880 Mr. Finney married Miss Luella M. Ball. Their one son, Carleton W. Finney is now vice president and secretary of the Standard Boiler & Iron Plate Company. YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 107 LEE B. MILLIGAN, the present postmaster at Lowellville, is a native son of the Mahoning Valley, a former teacher, and for eight years has given all his time and best energies to the postal service. He was born at the old Milligan homestead March 13, 1887, in Coitsville Township. His father is James R. Milligan, still living near the old home. Lee B. Milligan acquired a very thorough education and at the age of twenty began teaching in Mahoning County. For four years he was principal of the East Youngstown schools and had a staff of some eight or ten teachers under him and a scholarship enrollment of about three hundred. When he left school work he entered the Youngstown post- office, and during the next seven years became qualified in the several branches of this great Government business. It was as a result of a civil service examination that Mr. Milligan was appointed to his present office of postmaster of Lowellville on January 1, 1919. Lowellville is one of the older postoffices of Mahoning County. It was established at a time when the canal was the great artery of traffic and transportation in the county. Several of the former postmasters have been prominent men of the village. In recent years the business of the office has steadily grown and now in addition to the local service two rural free delivery routes originate at Lowellville. November 5, 1914, Mr. Milligan married Miss Freda M. Smith, daughter of Henry D. and Edna Smith. For over half a century the Smith family has been prominent in the commercial life of Lowellville. Mrs. Milligan's grandfather, Henry Smith, established a store in the village more than half a century ago. He was succeeded in its management by his son Henry, and when the latter died in 1911 there was a well qualified successor to take his place, his daughter Freda, who continued the management four years. This old landmark in local commerce is still in operation and in the same building erected by Henry Smith fifty years ago. The heirs recently took over and are now running the business in the same building and on the same corner their grandfather established fifty years or more ago. Mr. and Mrs. Milligan have two children, Robert Lee and Ruth Shirley. Mr. Milligan is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. Henry D. Smith was the youngest of four children. His three sisters were Martha, who married John L. Stewart and died in advanced years; Mrs. Sophia Moore, deceased; and Mrs. Mary Newell, who is now connected with the Glenwood Children's Home at Youngstown. Henry D. Smith was one of the best known men in his section of Mahoning County, and was always an ,important factor in community affairs, holding nearly all the local offices. He was postmaster during President Cleveland's first term. He was one of the charter members and the first president of the Lowellville Bank. He owned considerable real estate, including the present home of Mr. and Mrs. Milligan. This was his old residence and had been originally built by his father, Henry Smith, who was a skilled carpenter. The house, however, was subsequently removed to its present location, a delightful site overlooking the valley. It has also been thoroughly modernized, and is now one of the attractive homes of the village. The family of Henry D. Smith consisted of four children: Freda, Mrs. Milligan ; Julia Grace, wife of Gaches Hess, of Newcastle, Pennsylvania; Henry Miller, who married Margaret Braatz, and is an electrical engineer with a sheet and tube company at Lowellville; and Anna Elizabeth, wife of Edward Hoffman, a plumber at Youngstown. HUGH TRUESDALE COWDEN, a retired resident of Struthers, and a director in the Struthers Savings and Banking Company, is an honored survivor of the Civil war and for many years has been identified with the farming and other interests in Mahoning County. He was born near Poland Center, Trumbull County, August 3, 1845, a son of Samuel M. and Rachael (Truesdale) Cowden. His parents were natives of the same township. The grandfather, Dr. Isaac P. Cowden, came from the vicinity of Harrisburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, to Poland Center in 1806. His three brothers, Joseph, Reynolds and William Cowden, had come to Ohio in 1796, and were among the very first settlers. They located in the same community and all of them spent their lives here. The last of the three brothers was William, who died during the boyhood of Hugh Trues- dale Cowden. The father of these four pioneer brothers fell at Yorktown at the concluding battle of the Revolutionary war and was buried on the battlefield. Dr. Isaac Cowden practiced medicine and continued his professional services in Poland until extreme old age. Samuel M. Cowden spent his life at the old homestead. He had two brothers, Dr. John Cowden of New Bedford, Pennsylvania, and Isaac P. Cowden of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, who lived to old age. Samuel M. Cowden was a farmer and stock grower, and though interested in the success of the anti-slavery cause was never in politics. He was an elder in the United Presbyterian Church, and several other members of the family have filled a similar post in the church at Poland Center. Samuel M. Cowden died at the old farm at the age of eighty years. His wife, who died at the age of seventy-eight, was born in the same locality, a daughter of Hugh Truesdale and a granddaughter of John Truesdale, a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The Truesdales were likewise among the first arrivals in Poland Township. Hugh Truesdale was a member of Captain Walker's company in the War of 1812. He lived to a good old age. There were five sons and three daughters born to Samuel M. Cowden and wife: Isaac and John, both of whom died in early manhood; Julius W., of Columbus; Samuel Alfred, of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania ; Hugh T.; Julia, widow of J. C. Lawrence, of Struthers; Mary L., Mrs. James R. Stewart, of Poland; and Jennie, who died unmarried. Hugh Truesdale Cowden acquired a common school education and in 1864, at the age of nineteen, volunteered in Company D of the 155th Ohio In- 108 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY fantry under Captain Whitzler. This was a Mahoning County company. He was in the Army of the Potomac and saw some of the hard fighting toward the close of the war. After the war he engaged in agricultural pursuits on the old Cowden farm near Poland Center, and followed that occupation until 1902, when he retired. He is at present a resident of Struthers. For forty years Mr. Cowden has been a member of 'Tod Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Youngstown, and is a past commander and has attended a number of the national encampments and reunions. When Mr. Cowden retired from the farm he moved to Struthers, where he has had his home for seventeen years. He was one of the original stockholders of the Struthers Savings and Banking Company and has been on its Board of Directors for twelve years. JACOB DILGER WADDELL is a prominent iron and steel man of the Mahoning Valley and for a number of years has been active in the public and business life of Niles, where he is president of the Mahoning Valley Steel Company. Mr. Waddell was born on a farm in Brookfield Township, Trumbull County, July 7, 1870, son of John and Catherine (Richert) Waddell. His mother was an Alsatian by birth. His father, who was born at Adria, near Glasgow, Scotland, was nine years of age when, in 1852, his parents came to the United States. He grew up near the old Tod farm in Mahoning County, and has made his mature life one of honor and usefulness. In 1861 he promptly espoused the Union cause, and at the age of seventeen took his place as a member of Battery I, First Ohio Light Artillery. He was with that regiment in all its service for three years and reenlisted for another three years or the remainder of the war. He was under the command of General Rosecrans and other great Federal leaders, and the severity of his service is attested by the fact that he was four times wounded. At the close of the war he received his honorable discharge, and returning to the Mahoning Valley reengaged in the occupation of coal mining and subsequently became a farmer. In recent years he has been retired from active business and makes his home in Youngstown, where he enjoys the companionship of his children and his old army comrades. Jacob D. Waddell spent his early life on a farm, and supplemented his education in the district schools with a year in a business college at Meadville, Pennsylvania. He learned stenography, and for a year was in the office of the division passenger agent of the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad, first at Warren and then at Youngstown. With that exception his mature career has been entirely identified with the iron and steel industry. His first training in the business was under James A. Campbell of Youngstown. For two years he was with the Falcon Iron and Nail Company at Niles under Arms Brothers, for four years with the Mahoning Valley Iron Company, Youngstown, for a similar period with the American Sheet & Steel Company, with headquarters in New York City, and for four years was secretary and treasurer of the Empire Iron and Steel Company, now the Empire Plant of the Brier Hill Steel Company. After that until 1916 Mr. Waddell was general manager of sales of the Brier Hill Steel Company. He resigned to organize the Mahoning Valley Steel Company, became its president, and has directed the company's growing business until it now is one of the largest plants at Niles. He is also secretary and a director of the Niles Trust Company, having officiated in that capacity since the organization of the company. He is the present and first president of the Niles Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Waddell is a Knight Templar Mason, has attained thirty-two degrees of the Scottish Rite, is affiliated with Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland, and is a member of the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh, the Union Club of Cleveland, the Youngstown and Youngstown Country clubs, the Warren Country Club, the Trumbull Club of Warren, and the Niles Club of Niles. December 12, 1917, he married Miss Mary Ann Thomas. Her father, John R. Thomas, was one of the most widely known citizens of Niles. JAMES R. STEWART. From the safe vantage ground of his farm in Poland Township James R. Stewart has been an interested witness of progress and change in Mahoning County during the past fifty years. He has been unwavering in his loyalty to the soil as a means of winning a livelihood, and has never yielded to the attractive opportunities offered by the great neighboring industries. He has tilled the soil, has grown something like forty successive crops in Poland Township, and has tried to perform his duties as a good citizen, friend, neighbor and homemaker. Mr. Stewart was born at Coitsville in Mahoning County, December 18, 1856. He is a member of that old and prominent branch of the Stewart family in Mahoning County, where they have had their seat for over a hundred years, the family genealogy being sketched elsewhere under the name of Mr. Stewart's brother, David H. Stewart. James R. Stewart was about ten years of are when his parents moved to Poland and to the house where James R. Stewart still lives. This house was originally built by a Mr. Campbell. Mr. Stewart grew up on this farm, attended school at Poland, and remained with his father until the latter died. For a number of years prior to that time he had had practical charge of the farm. His father on coming to Poland first bought twenty-five acres, then acquired twenty-five acres adjoining on the east, and later seventy-seven acres on the north. In the division of the property James R. Stewart acquired the original twenty-five acres and also some additional land, so that his present farm consists of fifty-two acres. Mr. Stewart has always been a diversified farmer, keeping up the fertility of his fields by judicious rotation of crops and by keeping a herd of dairy cattle. He has a silo, and keeps a herd of Jersey cows. His milk is sold wholesale and goes to supply the market at Youngstown. Mrs. Stewart also takes an active interest in the productive work YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 109 of the farm, and has a flock of 150 Rhode Island Red chickens. The Stewart home occupies a pleasant elevation and has the mellow character of a place that has been lived in through a long period of years. One of its attractive features is a large elm tree, near the front door, under the shade of which two or three generations of children have played. Mr. Stewart is a republican, and for the past twenty-five years has been an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Poland, with which all members of the family are identified. Mr. Stewart married for his first wife Lizzie McNab, daughter of James McNab, a neighbor of the Stewarts. She died two years later, leaving one son, James A. This son is now twenty-two years of age, and has relieved his father of the heavier burdens of the farm work and management. October 13, 1898, Mr. Stewart married. MagCowden, sister of H. T. Cowden, and she died July 19, 1920. The old Cowden home is a mile and a half southeast of Poland Center. After her marriage Mrs. Stewart was closely devoted to her home and family, and was also a woman of varied intellectual interests. For six or seven years she taught in the district and village schools of Poland and had a high school education. They had one daughter, Rachel Trues- dale, who graduated from the Poland High School and spent one year in the Rayen High School at Youngstown. She is a young woman of marked social and intellectual tastes. She is an active member of the Young Ladies' Missionary Society, is a Sunday school worker, and is an amateur naturalist, being a recognized authority on the flora of Mahoning County. She has mounted some 300 specimens of native wild flowers found in the county, and her exhibit was awarded a prize at the County Fair. She has also been called upon to read papers for the Women's Club at Youngstown. WILLIAM DEHN. JR One of the younger industrial and commercial centers of Trumbull County is Struthers. William Dehn, Jr., has been identified with its growth and development practically from the beginning. Mr. Dehn for the past five years has rendered splendid service in the capacity of postmaster. He was born at Hubbard in Trumbull County February 13, 1874, son of William and Mary (Gundlach) Dehn. His parents were natives of Mecklenburg, Germany, and the children came with their respective parents to Trumbull County. William Dehn, Sr., and wife are still living on their farm south of Hubbard. As a young man he worked in the Hubbard mills, but for the past thirty-five years has devoted his skill, good judgment and energy to farming. He is a skilled musican and for many years was leader of the cornet band of Hubbard. William Dehn, Jr., spent his early life on his father's farm, attended the Hubbard public sch00l, and as a young man learned the barber's trade. In August, 1899, he opened his shop at Struthers. That shop occupied the site of the present postoffice. Struthers at that time was a town more in promise and prospect than in reality. Only one other building stood on the opposite side of the street from Mr. Dehn's shop, and there were a few scattering ones elsewhere in the village limits. He therefore had a share in the early struggles of the village, and for fifteen years his energies were given to his trade, and in the meantime a rapid increase in population caused him to enjoy a profitable business. He sold out in June, 1914, to accept his present place as postmaster. At that time the postoffice was housed in a building giving it less than 800 square feet. Soon after Mr. Dehn became postmaster arrangements were made with William Creed, one of the leading realty owners, to construct a high class building which the Government has snce leased for office purposes. This building affords three times as much space as the former one, yet it is an interesting index of the growth of Struthers, both in population and in business, that the present quarters are completely outgrown and inadequate for the volume of mail and service transacted. The Struthers postoffice more than doubled its volume of business and receipts in five years, and on that basis has been raised to a second class office. Mr. Dehn has been devoted to his work from the time he accepted the commission, has given his personal time and energies to the affairs of the postoffice, and has studied means of improving the local service, so that no warranted criticism has ever been made since his administration. Steps have been taken at the time of this writing (1920) for free delivery. February 1, 1899, at the age of twenty-five, Mr. Dehn married Mary J. Williams, of Hubbard, daughter of the late Lewis Williams. Mr. and Mrs. Dehn own a handsome brick bungalow, which they built. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and for fifteen years he has served as chorister. He is active in the local Chamber of Commerce, is a Mason, and is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias. JOSEPH KIMBEL HORNE. Among the prominent crtrzens wom trutersas been called upon to mourn within the past few years none are more genuinely missed than the late Joseph Kimbel Horne, whose record, without blemish or flaw, bespeaks his integrity and worth, although it was those with whom he was brought into closest touch that could fully appreciate the great heart and strong nature of the man. Quietly and unostentatiously, he labored for the improvement and betterment of the community, and his influence for good has long been felt in business, social and religious circles. While in his death a circle of friends limited only by his acquaintanceship mourned his loss, the needy and helpless were deprived of a benevolent friend, his kindly words and many deeds of charity having brightened many a sad heart and made life's burdens easier to bear. Mr. Horne was born in Chili, Ohio, May 12, 1851, and was practically a life-long resident of Ohio. Soon after his marriage he located in Windham, Portage County, where he resided for a score or more of years. In 1895 he embarked in the flour and feed business at Youngstown, and in its management was quite successful. Coming from there to Struthers in 1902, Mr. Horne established what has since developed into one of the most prosperous 110 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY business enterprises of this section of the Mahoning Valley, the firm of J. K. Home & Son, of which he was at the head, having built up an extensive and lucrative trade in grain, coal and builders' supplies. Fond of travel, sometimes on business and sometimes on pleasure bent, he saw much of this continent, more especially of the Gulf countries, having spent several months in Cuba, and having visited different Gulf ports. A prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Mr. Horne was one of its most liberal supporters, and took a deep interest in the erection of the present church edifice, which would do credit to a much larger community. Mr. Horne married, October 1, 1871, Margaret Wilson and into their household two children were born, namely : Etta Ellen, wife of W. C. Shafer, of Struthers, a confectioner and news dealer; and Clair Frank, who, immediately after his graduation from the Youngstown High School in 1907 was admitted to partnership with his father, becoming junior member of the firm of J. K. Horne & Son. A man of excellent business capacity and judgment, Clair Frank Home is managing the affairs of the firm with ability, and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He married, October 21, 1915, Alice Phoebe Gough, and they have one child, Joseph Kimbel Horne, born June 23, 1919. GEORGE L. CAMPBELL is probably the dean of the fire insurance business in the Mahoning Valley. For over forty-five years he has been steadily in that line of work at Niles. In the literal sense Mr. Campbell could not be called an insurance solicitor, many years having passed since he could make any claim to that title. He has built up a clientele which has been loyal to him by reason of his upright dealings and thorough knowledge, and various important business interests have sought out his services. His work is now largely of an advisory nature, a confidential relationship between him and his clients. Several generations of the Campbell family have been identified with Trumbull County. His father, George Campbell, was born near Church Hill, a son of Irish parents. The father of George on coming from Ireland located in what is now Liberty Township of Trumbull County, though at the time most of this district was a trackless wilderness. George Campbell grew up among pioneer surroundings, and had little opportunity to gain an education. The intelligent exercise of strength was a more important asset at that time than formal book learning. As he grew up he helped clear the 140 acre tract owned by his father, and the rich forest growth was converted into charcoal. The Campbell family operated a number of charcoal kilns, and much of the product was sold to the old Heaton Furnace. On the old farm George Campbell discovered coal, probably one of the first discoveries of that mineral on the Ridge. George Campbell was an exceptionally able business man, accumulated other tracts of land, also operated a small store, and was active in his locality until carried off by an epidemic of typhoid fever in 1852. Of Irish parentage but of Protestant stock, he be came active in the Presbyterian faith and rigidly adhered to the old tenets. George Campbell married Mary McConnell, daughter of John McConnell, who was one of the contemporary pioneers of the locality with the father of George Campbell. To their marriage were born nine children : John, Calvin, Allen, William, Eliza, Alexander, Nancy Jane, George L. and Luther. Only the last three are now living, Nancy Jane being Mrs. John Leavitt. Eliza, William and Alexander never married. Descendants of the others are widely scattered over the country. George L. Campbell was born at the old home farm on Mineral Ridge, November 9, 1844, and as he grew up was thoroughly trained in the routine of farm work. He had a public school education and after the death of his father, which occurred when he was only eight years old, he did what he could to help his mother. Later for several years he lived in different sections and worked at different occupations. For three months he was in the Union Army as a member of the 171st Ohio National Guard, and helped repel the Morgan raid through Southern Ohio. He was in the battle at Kelly's Bridge in Kentucky against Morgan's men, a battle in which the Federals lost eighteen and eighty- four of the enemy were killed. Mr. Campbell founded his general fire insurance business at Niles in 1874. Aside from the demands made upon him by business he has taken a public spirited interest in other local affairs, and is a stockholder in several business enterprises. For eight years he was superintendent of the City Waterworks, is a member of the Niles Chamber of Commerce, and is a Master Mason. Politically he is a republican, and is a Presbyterian. In 1864 he married Miss Mary Garside, and their companionship continued for half a century, until her death on February 16, 1914. Five children were born to their marriage: James B., in the insurance business at Niles; Charles L., a resident of Sharon, Pennsylvania ; George E., credit manager of the McKelvey Company of Youngstown; Nellie; and Cordelia, wife of Col. L. J. Campbell, of Youngstown. JAMES W. SEXTON. Of pioneer ancestry and honored Revolutionary stock, James W. Sexton, of Struthers, is distinguished not only as a native born citizen, his birth having occurred here June 21, 1847, but for the acceptable service he has rendered his fellow-townsmen as justice of peace during the thirty-five years he has held the office, his wise advice as a magistrate ever tending to allay rather than foster disturbances of any kind. He is a son of the late Joseph Sexton, and grandson of Stephen Sexton, an early settler of Mahoning County and a soldier of the Revolutionary war. His great-grandfather, Lawrence Sexton, was reared in New Jersey. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah Jane King and they were married by the Rev. John Baxter at Chester, Pennsylvania, he following his trade of carpenter, and both were members of the Presbyterian congregation of Chester. Some months after their marriage the congrega- YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 111 tion was building a log church at Chester and he and others present at the raising were attacked by the Indians. His father-in-law, Mr. King, and Rev. John Baxter were killed, and Lawrence Sexton was severely wounded and six weeks later died of his wounds. Stephen Sexton was born about seven months after his father's death and Stephen's mother subsequently remarried and settled in Washington County, Virginia, where Stephen Sexton grew to manhood's years and as a brave soldier in the Revolutionary Army participated in the battle of Saratoga and wintered with Washington at Valley Forge. He took an active part in many hard-fought battles and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Coming to Mahoning County in 1801, he cleared a few acres of land in Poland Township, built a log cabin and returned to Washington County, Pennsylvania, and removed his family to his new home, landing here April 15, 1802. He lived to the venerable age of ninety-three years and at his death his body was laid to rest in the old Poland Cemetery, his grave being indicated by a Sons of American Revolution marker. His homestead farm of 200 acres is now owned by the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. He reared four sons. John, the eldest, served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and the musket that he carried at the battle of Detroit is now owned by his grand nephew of Hubbard, Ohio, Frank Sexton. His son, Stephen Sexton, Jr., died in Poland Township and his body was the second buried in Riverside Cemetery at Poland, Ohio. Joseph Sexton was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, near Cannonsburg, April 7, 1796, and died in Struthers, Mahoning County, in 1890, aged ninety-four years. His first wife was Margaret Justice. After her decease he married Hannah W00ds, of Western Pennsylvania, of whom James W. Sexton is the only survivor. Numbered among the older citizens of Struthers, James W. Sexton has practically spent all of his life within its boundaries, and has contributed his full share towards advancing its growth and prosperity. As a young man he assisted in making the original survey of the village, being pole bearer, and is, may-hap, more familiar with the history of the place than any other one person. A farmer by occupation, he has met with well deserved success as a tiller of the soil. As justice of the peace Mr. Sexton, has ever encouraged due respect for the law, and it can be truly said that his influence has done as much, if not more, than that of any other one individual to make Struthers a desirable place of residence. Mr. Sexton married in 1869 Jennie E. Wolverton. She passed to the life beyond in 1899, leaving three children, namely : Bessie, living with her father, is assistant circulation manager for the Vindicator, a leading newspaper of Youngstown; Ada, wife of J. G. Funkhouser, of Struthers; and Frank, of Trumbull County, Ohio, a successful agriculturist. GEORGE SCHOENFELDER, Of the large population living and working at Struthers, there are few who do not know and esteem George Schoenfelder, the popular postmaster of the Amlyon branch postoffice, and also member of the firm Runge & Schoenfelder, grocers and meat dealers. Mr. Schoenfelder, who for many years followed his trade as an electrician, and first came to the Mahoning Valley in that capacity, was born April 4, 1884, in Silesia, Germany, and came to the United States in 1895 with his parents, Rudolph and Emma Schoenfelder. The family located in Chicago, where his father lived until his death. He was a decorator by trade. George Schoenfelder was a resident of Chicago for eighteen years, completing his education there and learning electrical work, particularly installation and house-wiring. In 1914 he came to Youngstown as motor inspector for the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company. After two years he and Mr. Runge put their funds together, amounting to only $1,500 in all, and started their present business. They built their store at Struthers in 1918, and have been in one spot for three years. Their business has grown so rapidly that about $15,000 is now needed for the stock and the operation of the business from day to day. Both partners are in the store from opening until closing time, Mrs. Schoenfelder also does her share, and there are three clerks besides. On January 1, 1919, the Amlyon branch of Struthers postoffice was established in the Runge & Schoenfelder store. Amlyon, named in honor of Mr: A. M. Lyon, is the name of the finest residence section of Struthers, and it is the home trade of the best people of this vicinity to which the firm of Runge & Schoenfelder especally cater. Mr. Schoenfelder married in 1916 Mss Hattie Runge, a sister of his business partner Carl Runge. Mr. Schoenfelder is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. CARL RUNGE is senior partner in the firm of Runge & Schoenfelder, whose grocery and market is probably the most popular trading center in the residential section of Struthers. Besides the high class merchandise they purvey their store is also the headquarters of the Amlyon branch postoffice, which was established early in 1919 to serve this new residential section of Struthers. Mr. Runge was born in Silesia, Germany, March 7, 1895, and was twelve years of age when brought to the United States by his parents, Carl and Annie Runge. The family lived in Baltimore, Ohio, for a time and then moved to Chicago, where the father is still a resident. Carl Runge, Sr., is a wagon maker by trade. The son Carl grew up in Chicago, attended grade schools, and since the age of sixteen his chief business has been as a market man and butcher. His sister married Mr. Schoenfelder, and three years ago Mr. Runge came to the Mahonng Valley and helped start the present business at Struthers. He is unmarried, and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. HARRY C. WALTHER. Possessing not only excellent business qualifications, but artistic tastes and a natural love of flowers, Harry C. Walther, of 29 Wood Street, Youngstown, a well-known florist, has closely applied himself to his favorite in- 112 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY dustry, and is meeting with eminent success, at his flower shop, being kept busy in meeting the demands of his many patrons. A native of Youngstown, he was born in 1889, a son of Christopher Walther, Jr., and grandson of Christopher Walther, Sr. The grandfather, born in Germany eighty-six years ago, was for a long time wreck boss on the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad, but is now living retired from active pursuits in Youngstown. Christopher Walther, Jr., was born in the Mahoning Valley August 21, 1861, and was there brought up and educated. Beginning work on a rialroad as a boy, he has been in the service of the Erie Railroad Company since early life, at the present writing, in 1919, being an engineer in the Youngstown yards. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Clara Reel, reside in this city, their home being at 219 Scott Street. Having acquired his preliminary education in the Elm Street school, Harry C. Walther took a course in bookkeeping and shorthand at Hall's Business College, becoming proficient in both branches of study. Interested in flowers from his youth up, the business of a florist appealed to him, and he entered the establishment of Walker & McLean on Federal Street, where he obtained a practical knowledge of the art of caring for, buying, and distributing flowers and plants. In 1912 Mr. Walther opened his present flower shop at 29 West Wood Street, and has since built up a large and constantly growing business, his persistent industry, fair and upright dealings, and wise attention to the details of his business having won him the patronage of people from all parts of the city. Buying his products in the open market, Mr. Walther is enabled to keep a fresh and choice stock of flowers and plants always on hand, and to give his customers the best of service, his slogan being "Say it with flowers." In 1911 Mr. Walther was united in marriage with Miss Elva Webb, of Mercer, Pennsylvania. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Walther are members of the Christian Church. Fraternally Mr. Walther belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and to the Knights of Pythias. Socially he is a member of the Kiwanis Club. ETT S. SMITH, director of the Board of Public service in Youngstown, has for many years been a prominent civil engineer in Mahoning County, and before taking up the responsible duties of his present office was county surveyor and also highway superintendent. His people have lived in what is now the City of Youngstown for more than a century. His birthplace, where he first saw the light of day, June 26, 1860, was on the old Robbins farm then in Youngstown Township, now in the City of Youngstown, and in that locality he has spent his life. His parents were James and Harriet (Gourley) Smith. The former was born on Mill Creek Hill just adjoining Idora Park, where his father, William Smith, had settled in 1804. William Smith, who came from Washington County, Pennsylvania, had his choice of a home governed by the presence of a spring on Mill Creek, and near that spring he built a house and developed a farm. He lived to the ripe age of ninety-six. James Smith, also a farmer, likewise established his home near a spring, on the Robbins farm, and that home for a number of years was the log house in which Ett S. Smith was born. James Smith, who died at the age of seventy-five, was a member of the United Presbyterian Church, was one of the founders of the Tabernacle and for many years served as an elder. The house where he died has been the home of Ett S. Smith for fifty years. It is at 2237 Glenwood Avenue, and when built the house was out in the country. James Smith first married Mary Ann Gibson, of an old family of the Mahoning Valley. She was the mother of two sons, William and James F., the latter of whom served as a Union soldier during the Civil war. Harriet Gourley, the second wife of James Smith, died at the age of seventy-two. She was a sister of Squire Gourley and came from West Virginia. Her six children were: Nancy, unmarried; Hannah, widow of David Houston, both these daughters living in homes built on the old Smith place at 2364 Glenwood Avenue ; James, Jr., who was a pioneer and had a large farm on the Hubbard Road, now deceased; Joseph, who resides at Pleasant Grove, now a part of the city ; George B., deceased, an attorney by profession who served as justice of the peace six years; and Ett S. Ett S. Smith as a boy attended the Fosterville School and the Rayen High School and studied engineering at Iron City College in Pittsburgh. Leaving school at the age of twenty-two, he was first employed as a bookkeeper, then for a few years as assistant surveyor, and from that launched into a steady practice as surveyor and civil engineer. He was at one time engineer for the Pittsburgh Coal Company, doing a great deal of work in surveying and planning their mines and other properties. He was also employed in an engineering capacity in street railway construction. For many years he was engineer for the Mill Creek Park Commission, locating many of the driveways, built Lake Glacier Dam, and assisted Volney Rogers in beautifying and laying out Mill Creek Park. Mahoning County at present has about 400 miles of improved roads; 300 miles are composed of macadam, concrete or bituminous construction, and nearly 100 miles of brick and concrete. Mr. Smith has had something to do with all these improvements. For three years he was in charge as engineer of the Special Road District, composed of Youngstown, Austintown, Jackson and Boardman townships. For eight years he served as county surveyor and superintendent of state, county and township highways. While county surveyor he was appointed on the Legislative Committee of the Ohio Engineers Society. Serving with A. R. Taylor, the present state highway commissioner, and W. A. Alsdorf, secretary to the Ohio Road Federation, he assisted in recodifying the road laws of Ohio into what is known as the Cass Highway Bill. This necessitated the repealing of twenty-three old and obsolete road laws then on the statute books and adopting the present workable system. YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 113 In 1887 Mr. Smith married Miss Jennie Crowe, who was born at Northwood, Ohio, where her father, Dr. S. J. Crowe, a Presbyterian minister, was at one time president of Northwood College. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had three children: John Earl ; Jeannette, wife of Ralph R. Miller, an attorney; and Delbert, still in school. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the South United Presbyterian Church on Market Street. For eight years he has been a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and for a similar time a member of the Ohio Road Federation. He is also a member of the Automobile Club, the Kiwanis Club, the American Association of Engineers, the Ohio Engineers' Society, which he served as president during the year 1919, and the Youngstown Society of Engineers, which he served as president in 1916. CHARLES J. JACKSON is a native of the Mahoning Valley, an for the past thirteen years has been achieving a most favorable and dignified position among the lawyers of Youngstown. He was born on a farm in Bloomfield Township of Trumbull County, January 27, 1877. His father, Joseph Jackson, was born in Ireland in 1840, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. When he was twelve years of age he was brought to the United States. His father, Alexander Jackson, had died in Ireland and he came to this country with his widowed mother, Eleanor Jackson, who located in Bloomfield Township of Trumbull County. Joseph Jackson helped with the farm work and attended school until October 5, 1861, when he enlisted as a private in Company A of the Sixth Ohio Cavalry. He was for three years a soldier helping to put down the rebellion, and fought in many of the memorable battles in Virginia. He received an honorable discharge October 5, 1864, and then resumed his place on the farm and made agriculture his steady vocation throughout the rest of his life. He died in 1912. After the war he was satisfied to find his duty on the farm, and therefore lived a quiet life, but one of irreproachable character and sound public spirit. He married Sarah M. Jackson, who is still living. Of their three children two reached mature years, J. C. and Charles J. Charles J. Jackson lived on his father's farm to the age of thirty. In the meantime he had graduated from the Bloomfield High School in 1897 and in 1899 from the New Lyme Institute. For a year after that he was a teacher and then for two years a student in Adelbert College of Western Reserve University at Cleveland. Again returning home, he helped handle the farm and also was employed in a local bank for about two years. Mr. Jackson took the three years' course in law at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, graduating in 1907. In a class of 176 applicants at the state bar examination he stood first, with a percentage of 95 1-10th. With this thorough preparation Mr. Jackson came to Youngstown in October, 1907, and for about six years was connected with the title department of the Realty Trust Company. Since then he has found all his time and talents taken up with a general practice of law. He is a Methodist and a democrat. November 16, 1915, he married Mabel C. Smith, of Green Township, Trumbull County. She is a daughter of Newton S. Smith. ISADORE S. WEIL, a merchant of more than twenty years' standing in Youngstown is president and treasurer of the Weil Shoe Company, a development out of his early modest enterprise at Youngstown and now a business represented in a number of localities by branch stores. Mr. Weil was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 14, 1874, son of Simon and Clara (Arnold) Weil. His parents were born in Germany and came when young people to the United States, where they were married. Simon Weil was a retail shoe merchant and at different times had stores at Reading, Altoona and New Castle, Pennsylvania. About 1902 he came to Youngstown and thereafter lived retired until his death on August 24, 1917. He was of the Jewish faith and was affiliated with the Masons and Odd Fellows. Though born in Germany, he was intensely loyal to America and her institutions. His widow is still living at Youngstown, and celebrated her eighty-first birthday April 12, 1920. Isadore S. Weil, one of four children, finished his high school education at Altoona, Pennsylvania. He learned the shoe business as clerk in his father's store, and in 1897, with his experience and a modest capital, opened a store at New Castle, Pennsylvania. From there in 1899 he removed to Youngstown, and with his uncle, Isaac Arnold, established the firm of Weil & Arnold. Their business grew and prospered and at the death of Mr. Arnold in 1903 Mr. Weil became successor to the firm and eventually moved from the old location in the Excelsior Block to 207 West Federal Street. At that time Mr. Well began expanding the scope of his enterprise and incoroprated the Weil Shoe Company. This company now operates a chain of nine stores, with the main office of management in Youngstown, at 255 West Federal Street. The branch stores are located as follows : Akron, Canton, Dayton, Springfield, Toledo and Steubenville, Ohio, Wheeling, West Virginia and Erie, Pennsylvania. Mr. Weil is active in the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, is affiliated with the Masons and Elks and is a republican. June 3, 1907, he married Miss Sadie E. Bachman, of McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Their two sons are Harold B. and Max B. HARRY C. HOFFMAN, a banker, a lawyer by training and also thoroughly versed in business affairs, has been identified with Youngstown since 1908, and has been one of the men who have contributed to the success and standing of the Youngstown Citizens Savings Company. Mr. Hoffman was born at Cheshire in Gallia County, Ohio, July it, 1878, and comes of a very patriotic family. His father, James H. Hoffman, was a carpenter by trade and served all through the Civil war, at first in the Seventh West Virginia Cavalry and later in the Eighth West Virginia Infantry. Two of his brothers, and one 114 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY brother of his wife were also in the war and paid the supreme sacrifice with their lives for the cause. Several other members of the family were in the great conflict. James H. Hoffman married Electa McCarty. Harry C. Hoffman was four years of age when his father died, his early death being occasioned by disease contracted in the war. The son grew up in his native community of Cheshire, attended public schools, read law, and in order to complete his legal education he earned money as a teacher. He graduated from the law department of the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso in 1900, and then continued teaching until 1906. On leaving the schoolroom Mr. Hoffman located at Cleveland, as a representative of the International Correspondence School of Scranton, also as special agent for Collier's Weekly. Continuing as representative for Collier's, Mr. Hoffman removed to Youngstown in 1908. He resigned that post in 1910 to establish a general collection agency, and built up a profitable business which he sold in 1917 in order to take an active part in the organization of the Youngstown Citizens Savings Company. He has served that corporation as secretary, general manager and attorney. He has also engaged in the practice of law, having taken the bar examination in June, 1914. Nearly all his work as a lawyer has been confined to probate and real estate practice. Mr. Hoffman has been an exponent of the progressive brand of republican politics. He was on the progressive ticket as candidate for state senator in 1914. A believer in the great principle of fraternalism, he is a member of the Masons, Knights of Pythias, Junior Order of American Mechanics, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Sons of Veterans, and is a member of the Kiwanis Club, Youngstown Chamber of Commerce and the Baptist Church. Mr. Hoffman married Miss Edna E. Swisher, of Cheshire, Ohio, September 4, 1904. They have one daughter, Mariellen. JOHN W. EATON. With growing business connections for thirty-five years and with a hearty and wholesome cooperation in the welfare of the community, John W. Eaton is everywhere known as one of the most constructive citizens of Niles. Particularly has he assisted his community in the matter of good roads and good schools. Mr. Eaton was born at East Palestine, Columbiana County, Ohio, May 10, 1852. His grandfather was Hugh Eaton. a pioneer settler in Columbiana County from Washington County, Pennsylvania. John W. Eaton, of Niles, is the only child of John W. and Mary Ann (Eyester) Eaton. His father grew up on a farm in Columbiana County. As a young man he walked eighty miles to Meadville to enter Allegheny College. With a liberal education acquired largely by his own efforts, he became a teacher, and one of his pupils was Mary Ann Eyester. He was a man of strong convictions, had a well deserved reputation for wisdom, and stood high in the esteem of his neighbors. He died May 12, 1852, two days after the birth of his only son. John W. Eaton spent most of his youth in the home of his maternal grandfather, Elias Eyester, Sr., in Green Township, Mahoning County, three miles east of Salem. His environment was a farm, and in proportion to his strength he was assigned a routine of farm work. He attended the district schools and also attended Mount Union College. As has been true of many successful business men, Mr. Eaton learned a mechanical trade, at Hubbard, Ohio. He became a resident of Niles in 1883, in which year he entered the hardware and stove business. For twenty years of his career as a merchant he was also the local agent of the Adams Express Company. Later he added a builders' supply department, and in 1914 sold out his hardware stock and with his son Howard T. organized the Eaton Builders' Supply Company, a business that has rapidly grown and is one of the substantial business houses of Niles. Mr. Eaton was also one of the incorporators and from the beginning has served as vice president and a director of the Dollar Savings Bank Company at Niles. Reference has already been made to his keen interest in the good roads question. He was one of the three men to call a meeting to organize the Good Roads District No. 2, including Weathersfield and Lordstown townships in Trumbull County. From this initial movement came about the improvement of many miles of roads in these two townships. Later he was appointed Good Roads Commissioner in Weathersfield Township, serving until the office was abolished by the Legislature. Mr. Eaton served for fifteen years as a member of the Niles School Board, three terms as president and two terms as secretary. For three terms he was township treasurer. He is a republican, an active member of the Niles Board of Trade, which he served one term as president and for a number of years as a director. He is active in the Chamber of Commerce, which succeeded the Board of Trade organization. He was appointed to represent the Warren and the Niles Boards of Trade for the Trumbull County Delegation on the Lake Erie and Ohio River Canal Commission, and attended all the Pittsburgh meetings and the one at Washington in December, 1919. Mr. Eaton and wife are members of the Methodist Church. On Christmas Day, 1873, he married Miss Margaret Johnston, of Hubbard, Ohio. She died in 1883, the—inOther of two children: Anna M., wife of R. L. McCorkle, of Niles, and Charles A., of Niles, Ohio. On February 25, 1885, Mr. Eaton married Miss Mary Tiefel, of Niles. They have two children : Howard T., his father's business partner ; and Erma M., wife of Carl H. Stewart. GEORGE P. THOMAS has been a factor in the Home Savings and Loan Company of Youngstown for over twenty years, a connection accompanied by quiet and efficrent service that has meant much to the growing welfare and prosperity of the institution. Mr. Thomas was born at Youngstown September 13, 1874, a son of Henry H. and Jane (Pritchard) Thomas. His father, a native of Wales, spent his early life as a seafaring man, and shortly after the Civil war came to the United States to visit his brother John W., then living at Youngstown. The YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 115 visit ended with his becoming a permanent resident, and for upwards of half a century he was identified with the coal mines and steel mills of the Mahoning Valley. He is still living in advanced years. His wife, Jane Pritchard,, was born at Youngstown and died in 1881. Her father, Thomas Pritchard was a blacksmith in the early days, and is credited with making the first furnace twyers ever made at Youngstown. The oldest of four children, George P. Thomas grew up in Youngstown, graduating from the Rayen High School in 1895, and four years later, in 1899, earned the well-merited A. B. degree from Oberlin College. As a young college man he entered the offices of the Home Savings & Loan Company in the spring of 190o, and his abilities have given him increasing responsibilities. For the last ten or twelve years he has been with the loan department and now has the title and responsibilities of loan officer. Mr. Thomas is a republican and a member of the First Baptist Church. October 23, 1915, he married Miss Loretta C. Burky, daughter of M. H. Burky, one of the oldest members of the bar of Mahoning County. Mrs. Thomas has also been identified with the Home Savings and Loan Company for the past fifteen years, and is now chief title clerk. WILLIAM G. TAGGART, general agent for the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Company at Youngstown, is one of the most efficient men connected with this company and is a towering figure in railroad circles in the state. He was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, which is now included in the City of Pittsburgh. He is a son of Andrew Taggart, Jr., now an assistant chief engineer in the Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, and his wife, Mary (Gibson) Taggart. Andrew Taggart, Jr., is a son of Andrew Taggart, who came from Ireland to the United States in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and settled in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, where he followed his trade of butchering. Andrew Taggart, Jr., grew to manhood in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, and learned the carpenter trade. During the war between the North and the South he served in the Union army as a member of the One Hundred and Twenty-Third and the One Hundred and Fifty-Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He participated in the engagements at Antietam, Bull Run, Gettysburg, Wilderness and other battles, and was slightly wounded. William G. Taggart was reared in his native city, where he attended the public schools, and when he was fourteen years old began to make himself useful as a cash boy in a dry goods establishment at Pittsburgh, and received a salary of $1.25 per week for his services. Following this he was messenger boy in the office of the chief engineer of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. Subsequently he became coal clerk for the same company, and at the same time took up the study of stenography under the tutelage of C. C. Ramsey, who later became president of the Crucible Steel Company of America. Having gained a working knowledge of this calling, Mr. Taggart became stenographer and bookkeeper for William H. Her ron & Sons, real estate dealers at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On May 1, 1886, Mr. Taggart became an employe of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, and has been in the employ of this road continuously ever since. He began his period of service as a stenographer to F. A. Dean, general freight agent, and during the time thus employed he also served as rate and voucher clerk. Mr. Taggart is, a man who has never been satisfied to simply discharge the duties which fell to his share, but has always tried to learn those of the man above him. and when the opportunity came for promotion he was ready for it. So he rose to be chief clerk in charge of the coal, coke, iron ore and limestone of the company; was then appointed traveling freight agent in 1909, with headquarters at Youngstown, Ohio, and continued as such until January 1, 1910. At that time the traffic departments of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie and the New York Central roads at Youngstown were merged, and Mr. Taggart's duties were extended to cover this consolidation, and he proved equal to the demands made upon him, and at the same time kept on reaching out for fur ther information, and on January I, 1915, was deemed capable of assuming the responsibilities connected with the position of general agent of his road to succeed Col. Myron Wood, who had been retired on a pension, and Mr. Taggart has since held it. With out any doubt Mr. Taggart owes his remarkable success to his own initiative and natural ability. Beginning at the bottom of the ladder, he has climbed up until he now occupies a position very close to its top. Mr. Taggart is a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery of Pittsburgh, and the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland, Ohio. He also belongs to the Youngstown Club and the Youngstown Shrine Club. On September 27, 1894, Mr. Taggart was married to Miss Nancy Blanche Calhoun, of Pittsburgh, and they have three children, namely : Edward C., William G., and Martha R., the two last named being twins. Edward C. Taggart enlisted for service during the late war and was a non-commissioned officer, belonging to the Three Hundred and Twenty-ninth Field Hospital Company, Eighty-Third Division. For nine months he was at Camp Sherman, and was then sent overseas, where he spent six months in France and seven months in Germany. ISADORE AND JACOB KLIVANS, twin brothers, have been actively engaged in commercial pursuits in Youngstown since 1906. They were born in Riga, Lithuania, Russia, June 10, 1879. Their parents, Joseph and Pearl (Boren- stein) Klivans, were farmers and operated a dairy in the old country. Of thirteen children, five sons. and two daughters are still living. Abraham, the oldest son, to escape compulsory military service came to America about 1888. His representations of conditions influenced other members of the family, and Isadore came over in 1895 and Jacob in 1897. These sons used their earnings to assist the rest of the family to America. The father died at Youngstown in February, 1919, and the widowed mother is still living. 116 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY Isadore Klivans for about two years after becoming an American worked as a clerk for his brother Abraham at Toledo. Jacob after coming over became a country peddler. Both brothers worked hard, saved their money, and in 1898 embarked in a modest clothing business and later added furniture. They were in business at Toledo until 1906, when they removed to Youngstown and opened a store at 329 East Federal Street. At that time their capital aggregated only $300. As soon as possible they added other lines of merchandise. A fire almost put them out of business in 1910, but undaunted they began the struggle over again, and since their sphere of action has been enlarged until they carry merchandise of all kinds and besides the two stores at Youngstown they operate three stores at Akron and one at New Castle, Pennsylvania. The Klivans brothers have prospered. While of foreign birth no native born citizen is more loyal than they to their American allegiance. Isadore Klivans married Miss Frances Ferrer, of Toledo, Ohio. Their three children are Helen, David Milton and Eleanor. Jacob Klivans married Dora Lipsitz, of Detroit. They have a family of four children : Harold, Gertrude, Ruth and Jean Audrey. Both brothers are members of the Emanuel Temple and Rodef Sholem Temple at Youngstown, and are also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the B'Nai B'Rith. AUGUST CHANDONNE, vice president of the Ohio Leather Company of Girard, has had a career of unusual experience. and achievement, and it can best be described briefly by taking the facts chronologically. He was born at Lyons, France, May 4, 1856. His parents were August and Mary Chandonne. August, Sr., was a farmer and died at the age of thirty-three. The mother died in 1895, at the age of sixty-seven. The son August was five years of age when his father died. Young as he was there was work for his youthful shoulders. The produce raised on the little farm was every day loaded on a cart, and he pushed that vehicle into the market at Lyons. About a year later he was put to work in a big tanning establishment at Lyons. There he gained his preliminary knowledge of making leather, an art in which for a number of years he has been one of the recognized authorities in America. Besides industry and application he undoubtedly had special talents for the business, and at the age of eighteen had been advanced to a foremanship. By that time he was regarded as an expert in the treatment of bales and manufacture of the best qualities of leather. Several years later Mr. Chandonne established a plant of his own at Lyons, but anticipating greater opportunities and possibilities elsewhere he sold out and came to America, landing at New York January 30, 1888. At that time he was unable to speak the English language. He had no special recommendations, and secured recognition in this country solely on the merit of his skill and proficiency. The day after he landed he happened to see a leather wagon on the street and followed it to the tannery. He was given employment and remained there about a year. Future advancement did not seem encouraging, and about that time he bought about two dozen hides, tanned them at his own home, and took them to the best shoemaker he could find. The product was so superior that the shoemaker at once recommended him to Oscar Scherer & Brother, leather manufacturers at Newark, New Jersey. Mr. Chandonne remained as plant manager for this concern four years, and supervised their manufacture of French calf for the highest class of shoes. From that time on his name has secured him ready recognition wherever the highest grades of leather are manufactured. From New Jersey he went west to Chicago, served two years as superintendent for Walker & Oakley, whose products were patent leathers ; from Chicago went to Milwaukee, and was superintendent of the plant of Pfister & Vogel, manufacturers of patent leather and Russian calf, and for four years was superintendent for Gallum & Sons in Milwaukee, who specialized in Russian calf. His next scene of employment was Little Falls, New York, where he located in 1899 and for eighteen months was with Barnet & Company. After twelve years of continuous application and with a well earned reputation in leather circles, Mr. Chandonne then took a vacation and returned to his old home in France in 1900. On coming back to America he went to Mexico City, and was offered $10,000 in gold to superintend a proposed plant for the making of Russian leather. He studied the situation, observing that most Mexicans did not wear shoes, and that the industry would have to depend upon a foreign rather than a local demand. He consequently declined the offer, returned north and for a time was superintendent of a department for making patent leather in the Clark plant at Toronto, Canada. While there the Ohio Leather Company of Girard induced him to take charge of the local business. That was in 1901, and it required a great deal of faith on the part of Mr. Chandonne to ally himself with this inconspicuous industry. The plant comprised two small frame shacks, worth not to exceed five hundred dollars. The daily capacity was only two hundred hides. In less than twenty years the Ohio Leather Company has become one of the important leather producing concerns of the country, and the investment in the plant today represents fully a million dollars. Mr. Chandonne remained as superintendent for eleven years, giving the product the high grade quality which has continued to be the basis of the reputation of the Ohio Leather Company ever since. For six years he was general manager, and for the past two years has been vice president of the company. Mr. Chandonne is a well traveled man. Besides the early trip noted above he has been back to Europe in 1905, 1907 and 1910, and in March, 1919, and was again from March to May 1, 1920 in France and made a tour of the devastated battle district. His trips abroad have been made chiefly in a business way, securing raw material for the Ohio Leather Company. Mr. Chandonne married in France Henrietta Bermono. Their oldest daughter, Henrietta B., died YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 117 leaving one child, Henrietta, who is now the life of the home of Mr. August Chandonne. His other two daughters are Hilda, wife of James Newman, of Freeport, Illinois, and Jeanne, also at home. The family residence is at Churchill Road. Mr. Chan- donne is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner. JOHN BEIL wears his honors as a veteran business man of Youngstown easily, and after half a century of service is still at the plant of the Beil-Evans Printing Company. every working day, and handles his duties as president and treasurer of the company with no noticeable diminution of energy or enthusiasm. Mr. Beil is the oldest book binder of Youngstown, a trade which he learned in his early youth and which he made the basis of his later independent business. He was born in Baden, Germany, April 24, 1849, son of John and Theresa Beil. His parents spent all their lives in Germany, where his mother died when a comparatively young woman. However, in the paternal line he comes of very long-lived ancestry. His grandfather reached the age of ninety-two and his father was eighty-nine at his death. John Beil, Sr., was a merchant and financier of considerable prominence in Germany and for forty-three years served as secretary and treasurer of the Building and Loan Association. Other members of the family besides John who came to America were: Eugene, an upholsterer on Williamson Avenue in Youngstown; Albertina, who died in Youngstown in 1890 as the wife of John Gerlach; Jacob, a cabinetmaker living on Joseph Street; Carl, who studied art in Baden and Munich, is a well-known sculptor, doing the sculptural work on the Mahoning County courthouse, and now a resident of Chicago. John Beil acquired a liberal education in his native province and served his apprenticeship as a book binder there. Coming to the United States at the age of eighteen, he spent a brief time in Pittsburgh, then in Buffalo, and came to Youngstown in 1869. Since April t, 187o, he has been a book binder at Youngstown. His first shop was over the German Union store, and then successively over the First National Bank on West Federal Street, in the Vindicator Building, on the site of the present courthouse, thence moved to 225 East Federal, and in 1911 to the present location. At that time the Beil-Evans Printing Company was organized, and the modern building with every mechanical facility for the business was erected in 1918. This is a complete modern printing industry, with hook bindery and all facilities for a varied line of production. Mr. Beil since 1888 has also been interested in some local steamship agencies, and since 1913 has been associated with Michael Willo. October 1, 1872, he married Anna Schmidt, a native of Germany, who was brought to this country at the age of three years. Mr. and Mrs. Beil have an interesting family of eight children: Albertina, wife of Frank Vogelberger ; John, secretary of the Beil-Evans Printing Company; Eugene, with the Consolidated Light and Power Company; Frank, also in his father's business; George, who lives on a farm at Transfer, Pennsylvania; Matthias, connected with the Bell-Evans Company; Bertha, at home ; and Leonard who was with Evacuation Hospital No. 22 in France. The family are members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Mr. Beil for thirty-eight years lived on Joseph Street in Youngstown, and his residence is now in Boardman. BENJAMIN EVANS. Some of the numerous friends of Ben Evans at Youngstown have no difficulty in remembering when he was a printer's apprentice, earning $1.00 a week, and at the same time putting in long and diligent hours acquiring a technical knowledge of everything connected with the printing industry. Those friends have been warm admirers of the energy and study he has put into his business and have followed with great interest his rapid climb until he is now vice president and general manager of the Beil & Evans Company, Youngstown's foremost printing establishment, at 85o Market Street. Mr. Evans was born on Front Street in Youngstown August 10, 1883, a son of Thomas and Anne (Jones) Evans. His parents were Welsh people and his father came of a long line of iron workers. The parents were born in a suburb of Cardiff, Wales. After their marriage they came to America in 1877, living for a time in Toronto, Canada, where the father worked in one of the large iron plants, was next in the South Chicago mills, and then came to Youngstown. Thomas Evans for nearly forty years has been one of the skilled workers in the Brown-Bonnell plant. He and his wife are devout members of the Elm Street Congregational Church. Their children consisted of four sons and four daughters, and two sons and two daughters are living today, namely: Mrs. James A. Faulkner of Cleveland; Mrs. Thomas Chambers, of Detroit; Joseph, manager of Tellings ice cream plant at Youngstown; and Benjamin. Benjamin Evans left the Front Street school to go into the printing establishment of L. K. Prince on East Federal Street at a stipulated wage of $1.00 a week. He has given all his time and energies to the printing business, and has in a large degree been responsible for the success of the Beil & Evans Company, which has the most complete and up-to- date printing and binding plant in Youngstown. Mr. Evans is a member of the Engineers' Club of Youngstown, the Chamber of Commerce, is a republican, a member of the Poland Public Club, and the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a prominent Mason, having been a member of Hillman Lodge for the past twelve years. He has also taken the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite and is a member of Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland. He is secretary of the Youngstown Shriners' Club, and was representative to the Imperial Shrine at Indianapolis in 1919. In 1907 he married Nita Hagan, daughter of John and Della (Sultner) Hagan. They have one daughter, Clara Louise. style="text-align: center">118 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY WILLIAM H. JOHNSON, a prominent business man and citizen at Girard, has the distinction of having been one of the first "traveling men" in the Youngstown district. His traveling was done on foot, and there were several other features of his work that distinguished him from the modern type of traveling salesmen. The territory was not an extensive one. He represented the business of his father, who was a manufacturer of tin and sheet iron at Mineral Ridge, and the business was conducted under the firm name of William & W. H. Johnson. The chief business of the company was to fill the orders taken by William H. Johnson, who periodically would walk from Mineral Ridge to Girard, Brier Hill, Youngstown, Austintown, West Austin- town, and other points in the Mahoning Valley and secure a schedule of the wants and desires of such patrons as the McKelveys, J. H. Fitch, James Predmore and other old time merchants. Mr. Johnson was born January 22, 1847, in a house located where the Torrence monument now stands in the Oak Hill Cemetery at Youngstown. The land in that cemetery was then owned by his father, William Johnson, who was a pioneer manufacturer of tinware in Eastern Ohio. The original plant of the business was in Youngstown at the end of Spring Common bridge over the Mahoning River. William Johnson was born in the village of Boston, near Cleveland, Ohio, in 1809, and died in 1877. His wife was Matilda Whitslar, whose brother, Dr. Whitslar, was one of the earliest practitioners of dentistry in the Youngstown district. She was born in 1812 and died in 1858, the mother of five children, William H. being the fourth and the only survivor. William Johnson learned his trade as a tinner in his own shop from people in his employ. From Youngstown he moved his business to New Franklin in Stark County, then rementurned to Youngstown, and finally established his plant at Mineral Ridge, where he died. William H. Johnson attended a school on what is now Mahoning Avenue, school being kept in a little one-room house. He shared his father's strong views with regard to slavery and the secession movement, and at the age of fifteen, with his father's consent, he left school to join the army. The family were then living in New Franklin. With eighty-six others he went to Canton to enlist. At that time he weighed ninety-five pounds and Captain Day, the enrolling officer, promptly sent him home. Two weeks later came a second effort; this time at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but again his youth was a bar. On August 15, 1862, Mr. Johnson made his third and successful effort, and was enrolled in Company D of the 115th Ohio Infantry. This company had an interesting personnel, his captain being a justice of the peace, his first lieutenant a local postmaster, his second lieutenant a constable, while the captain had three sons in the company and there were twenty-four pairs of brothers. William H. Johnson saw nearly three years of active service, chiefly in the campaigns of Kentucky, Tennessee and the middle South. He was in the battle of Stone River, in the second battle of Murfreesboro, and in many other engagements. He was mustered out at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and discharged at Cleveland, July 5, 1865. After the war Mr. Johnson joined his father, and soon afterward began taking orders for the business in the manner above described. He continued the manufacture of tinware and sheet iron after his father's death, and in 1887 removed to Girard and bought the ground where his present store is located. He bought this property from Joseph Leavitt. It then contained a little wooden storeroom and an adjoining residence. These buildings were destroyed by fire in 1890 and they were replaced by the three story brick storeroom and residence still owned and occupied by Mr. Johnson. As an old time resident of Girard Mr. Johnson has played a worthy and public spirited part in community affairs. He served a number of times as president of the school board, has been a member of the village council, and is a prominent member of the Christian Church, having served as elder thirty years. For twenty-four years he had taught one class in Sunday school, made up largely of young women, chiefly teachers from the public schools. Mr. Johnson is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Protective Home Circle, is a member of Tod Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Youngstown, and in politics is a republican. In 1868 he married Alice Marshall, of Mentor, Ohio, who died in 1876, leaving no children. In 1878 Mr. Johnson married Lizzie Williams, of Mineral Ridge, daughter of Ambrose Williams. They have three children: Lucy L., wife of J. Carl Wakefield, a druggist at Clairton, Pennsylvania; William C., associated with his father in business ; and Mary E., wife of R. T. Campbell, formerly superintendent for Moore & Lamb at Youngstown, and now superintendent of one of the large construction companies engaged in building the Supreme Motor Plant at Warren, and a resident of East Liberty. WILLIAM L. CARROLL, M. D. A resident of Youngstown since 1902, Doctor Carroll has for eighteen years been one of the leading specialists in the eye, ear, nose and throat in Eastern Ohio, and is the specialist on those branches of medicine and surgery on the staff of St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Doctor Carroll, who graduated in medicine more than a quarter of a century ago, was born on a farm near Steubenville in Jeffersonville County, Ohio, November 20, 1868. He was the youngest of the four sons and one daughter of William and Susan (South) Carroll. His mother was born in the same locality of Ohio, while his father was born in Dublin, Ireland, and came as a boy with his people to Toronto, Canada, and some years later came to the United States. He was a river man, and became one of the most skillful pilots on the Mississippi when that river was the great thoroughfare of traffic in the Middle West. During the Civil war he was in the service of the Government, running boats up and down the Mississippi. Later he bought a farm in Jefferson County, Ohio, and spent the rest of his life in the quiet vocation of agriculture. When he died in 1915 he was eighty- five years of age. His wife died in 1912, aged YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 119 eighty-two. He was a democrat in politics, and always remained true to the church of his boyhood, the Catholic, while his wife was a Presbyterian. William L. Carroll spent his boyhood days on an Eastern Ohio farm, attended district schools, graduated from the Steubenville High School, and completed his literary education in old Scio College. In his youth he never had the command of any wealth, and out of his own earnings paid most of the expenses connected with his medical education. For three years he was a school teacher. Doctor Carroll pursued his medical studies in the Baltimore Medical College, now the medical department of the University of Maryland, graduating in 1894. He began practice at Toronto, Ohio, near his old home, and performed all the general duties of a country physician. Three and a half years later he began the special study of eye, ear, nose and throat, and subsequently spent a year in the Philadelphia Polyclinic, and for one year was a surgeon in the Wills Eye Hospital, the oldest institution of its kind in the United States. Then when he removed to Youngstown in 1902 he limited his practice altogether. to the special lines of his experience and research. Doctor Carroll is a member in high stand-. ing of the Mahoning County, State and American Medical associations. He is president of the Youngstown Pension Board. In 1896 he married Lorena Cooper, daughter of Ephraim Cooper. Doctor Carroll had the misfortune to lose his wife October 14, 1919. Four sons survive: Paul, Arthur, Kenneth and Donald. Doctor Carroll is affiliated with the Brown Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church and is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason. His home is in Boardman. WALLACE W. RYALL, M. D. A resident of Youngstown fifteen years, Doctor Ryall came to this city after several years of arduous country practice, and has also gained a high and merited place among the medical profession of the city. He has given the public much of his professional time, and during the war he spent a few months as captain in the Medical Corps. Doctor Ryall was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 17, 1874, son of Oliver B. and Margaret (Lafferty) Ryall. His parents are still living in Pennsylvania. His father was born in 1834 and is now eighty-six years of age, and his mother was born in 1844. Oliver B. Ryall spent many years as an oil operator in the Pennsylvania fields. During the Civil war he was a corporal in the Squirrel Hunters' Brigade and had a commission signed by Governor Tod of Ohio. Oliver Ryall is a republican, and he and his wife are active members of the East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Wallace W. Ryall is a graduate of the Pittsbugh High School, and in 1897 received his degree in medicine from the University of Pittsburgh. For nearly eight years he was located in Ashland County, Ohio, and gained a large professional following there, not only as a result of his skill but also his readiness to attend calls through all kinds of weather and night or day. In January, 1905, Doctor Ryall came to Youngstown, and besides the heavy work of a private practice he is now serving his second term on the Youngstown Health Board and is chairman of its finance committee and member of the committee on nuisances. He is a member of the Mahoning Medical Society and the State and American Medical associations. Doctor Ryall was commissioned captain in the Medical Corps in September, 1918, and was sent for training to Camp Greenleaf, Georgia, and given a regular assignment of duties at General Hospital No. 3 at Columbia, New Jersey. Doctor Ryall is a republican, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Moose and Foresters of America, and he and his family are Presbyterians. Doctor Ryall was the second in a family of two sons and one daughter. In 1902 he married Emma Vernon Stewart, and they have two sons and one daughter, named Margaret V., Wallace W., Jr., and J. Stewart. MELVIN E. MCCASKEY. It is always pleasant and profitable to contemplate the career of a man who has made a success of life and won the honor and respect of his fellow citizens. Such is the record of Melvin E. McCaskey, president of the Tri-State Motor Company of Youngstown, than whom a more whole-souled or popular man it would be hard to find in his community. The record of Mr. McCaskey is that of a man who by his own unaided efforts has worked his way from a modest beginning to a position of influence in the business world. His life has been of unceasing industry and perseverance, and the systematic and honorable methods which he has followed have won him the unbounded confidence of his fellow citizens of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. Melvin E. McCaskey was born on his father's farm near Butler, Butler County, Pennsylvania, on November 3, 1861, and is the son of Joseph and Darcus Ellen McCaskey. Joseph McCaskey was the son of a native of Scotland on the paternal side, the mother being of Scotch-Irish blood. He was born in Oakland Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, and his death occurred in 1877, at the age of forty-two years. He was a carriage-maker by trade and was successful as a business man. During the Civil war he volunteered his services in defense of the Union and served faithfully until receiving his honorable discharge at the close of the conflict in 1865. He was a republican in politics and a Presbyterian in his religious belief. He was survived by his widow, who afterward became the wife of Samuel Stepp. She died in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 1905, at the age of seventy-seven years. To Joseph and Darcus McCaskey were born ten children, and the subject of this sketch is the youngest of the sons. He secured his education in the schools of Saxonburg, Butler County, Pennsylvania, completing his school course in the schools of Washington County. He made a special study of pharmacy under Doctor Cyrus at Middletown, in the oil district, but he did not take kindly to drugs and was wise enough not to force himself to stick to that science. He turned 120 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY his attention to the oil business, as pertaining to the operating department, at which he worked until 1882, when he entered the employ of the Pittsburgh Street Car Company, driving one of the old horse cars of that period. Later he was placed in charge of the horses of the company, holding that position until the tracks were rebuilt for cable power, when he was engaged on the construction as road master. From Pittsburgh he went to Rochester, New York, in the same line of work, the car lines there being electrified. Then, after being similarly employed for awhile in Buffalo, New York, he returned to Pittsburgh as assistant superintendent of the South Side lines, and assisted in the electrifying of the roads there. He was then for a time general manager of the street car lines in McKeesport, followed in succession by the superintendency of the lines at Greensburg, Uniontown and New Castle, all in Pennsylvania. In 1902 Mr. McCaskey came to Youngstown as superintendent of the street car lines, holding that position until 1911, when he resigned. It was said of Mr. McCaskey in reference to his long identification with the city transportation problem that he was probably one of the best informed men in the country on matters pertaining to the surface car operations in a city. He attained eminent success in each position held by him and enjoyed a widespread reputation because of his success in handling the difficult and peculiar problems which confronted him. He understands how to handle men and gain their loyalty, and his systematic methods enabled him to do his work with a minimum of effort. In 1911, when he quit the street car company, Mr. McCaskey became secretary and treasurer of the Elton Motor Company, retaining that position until 1917, when he was mainly instrumental in the organization of the Tri-State Motor Company, of which he was eleced president, retaining the position to the present time. In 1882 Mr. McCaskey was married to Addie B lle Coulter, of Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, and they the ame parents of two children, Roy, who died at the age of thirteen months, and Anna, who is the wife of J. C. MacClaren, who also is engaged in the automobile business in Youngstown. Politically Mr. McCaskey is a republican, while his religious affiliation is with the Evergreen Presbyterian Church, which he has served as president of the board of trustees. Socially he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Youngstown Club, the Youngstown Automobile Club, and the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce. Mr. McCaskey's residence in this city has but strengthened his hold on the hearts of the people with whom he has been associated, and today few here enjoy a larger circle of warm friends and acquaintances, who esteem him because of his sterling qualities of character and his business ability. ISA VAN BAALEN. A public-spirited and highly —respected resident of Youngstown, noteworthy for his good citizenship and upright character, Isa Van Baalen, president of the Standard Auto Sales Company, distributors of the Dodge Brothers cars, is at the head of a substantial and extensive business, whose growth and expansion are largely due to his enterprise and energy. A son of E. H. Van Baalen, he was born February 27, 1870, in Detroit, Michigan, of pure Dutch ancestry. Born in Amsterdam, Holland, seventy-three years ago, E. H. Van Baalen was but a boy when he came with his parents to this country, being sixty-eight days crossing the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, a long and tedious voyage. He lived for a time in Cleveland, Ohio, and then accompanied the family to Detroit, Michigan, where he was subsequently engaged for many years in the jewelry business, although he is now residing in Chicago. Realizing the superior advantages America offers a man without means, his family having been very poor on coming to the United States, he has ever been a strong, loyal supporter of American institutions, and while living in Michigan his sons were members of the Detroit Light Infantry. He married Abbie Van Baalen, who was a distant relative, and they became the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters. His wife died at the age of sixty- eight years, and he has since made his home in Chicago. Isa Van Baalen was educated in Detroit, after his graduation from the high school of that city having completed a course of study at the Detroit Business University. After leaving school he was employed in a wholesale dry goods house for a year, and then traveled through Michigan for a time, selling dry goods for Brown & Company. Subsequently entering the employ of the Harberger & Homan Company, he traveled extensively, for more than seventeen years selling the famous George W. Childs cigar, and later being for a while similarly employed for the manufacturers of the Bull Dog cigar. During his travels Mr. Van Baalen frequently passed through Youngstown, and being impressed with the many advantages of the city located here, opening the finest cigar store in the Mahoning Valley, the "Sign of the Bull Dog," in the building just next door to the Central Bank, on Federal Street. In 1908 he accepted a position as salesman for the Standard Auto Sales Company, of which he is now proprietor and president, and as a dealer in Dodge Brothers cars has met with almost unprecedented success. Although the company's salesrooms are the finest in the city, they will shortly erect another, which will be the best in its equipments of any in the United States. Mr. Van Baalen married, July 7, 1904, Mrs. Edith Hallewell, a daughter of George M. Summers, the representative of an old and honored family of Youngstown, and they have one child, Betty Maye Van Baalen. By her first marriage Mrs. Van Baalen had one child, Jack, who is now a student at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Van Baalen took an active part in all the war drives, serving on important committees, and is now a member of the Civil Service Committee of Youngstown. In securing employes for the various departments of the city, he is just and impartial, regarding efficiency above everything else, politics and religion bearing no weight in his selection of workmen. Broadminded and liberal in his religious views, both Mr. YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 121 Van Baalen and his wife are active and valued members of the Unitarian Church. Fraternally he belongs to Hillman Lodge, Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is also a member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce; the Rotary Club; the Country Club and the Youngstown Club. WALTER G. SMITH. A few brief paragraphs seem hardly sufficient tribute to the veteran services rendered by Walter G. Smith as a Youngstown merchant. He has beeen in the jewelry business in this city for fifty-one years. All this time he has been an expert watchmaker, and even now, when most men of his age are glad to relax and retire, he has a daily enthusiasm for his work and can do better work and put a watch together quicker than at any time in his career, When Mr. Smith came to Youngstown in 1868 the city had a population of 6,000 people. It was nothing more than a straggling village with mud streets. While prosecuting his own affairs he has given his modest co-operation and public-spirit to every movement for the growth and development of the city, and has really been associated with the builders of the great prosperity Youngstown now enjoys. Mr. Smith was born in Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, March 5, 1845, son of Henry and Elizabeth Smith, the former a native of Wooster and the latter of Maryland. His father, a cabinetmaker in early life and later a furniture merchant, died at the age of eighty-one, while his wife was ninety at the time of her death. They were members of the Disciples Church, and he was a republican in politics. The father of Henry Smith was a native of Germany. Of the ten children of Henry and Elizabeth Smith three are still living, Walter G. being the oldest. The latter acquired his education in Wooster and in October, 1861, at the age of sixteen, having shown an aptitude for delicate tools, he was started to learn the jeweler's trade, taking the place of an older man who had enlisted in the army. Then some seven years later he came to Youngstown. His first place of business was on Federal Street, in what was then the Hamilton store, while from 1875 to 1878 he had a jewelry store in the Diamond Block near the Grand Opera House. For the past eighteen years he has been located on North Phelps Street. Mr. Smith is an enthusiast in his work, but loves fishing still better. He is a Mason, being a member of St. John's Commandery, is an Elk, and is nominally a republican, but voted for Wilson. He and his family are members of St. John's Episcopal Church. October 3, 1871, he married Ollie Van Hyning, daughter of Julius Van Hyning and a niece of Judge Van Hyning, who for many years.was a member of the bench when the Mahoning County Court House was at Canfield. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two children: Edward is his father's partner in the jewelry business. Ada M. is the wife of R. C. Brown, who is the W. B. Pollack Company representative in New York City, their home being at Plainfield, New Jersey. S. D. MYERS as president of the Myers Laundry and Dry Cleaning Company has given to Youngstown a high class and efficient institution and is one of the city's succesful business men who spent many years in raidroading and other mechanical occupations. Mr. Myers was born at Duncansville in Blair County, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1858, a son of Charles Myers, who for many years was with the train service on the Pennsylvania Central Railroad. S. D. Myers lived from early childhood at Greensburg in Westmoreland County, and received his education in the public schools there. At the age of nineteen, following in his father's footsteps, he became a railroad man, and for fourteen years was in the operating department, most of the time as a conductor on a freight train on the Pennsylvania Central. He lived at Derry, afterward at Greensburg, and on leaving the railroad was employed by the Keystone Coal and Coke Company for sixteen years as stationary engineer. While in Derry he operated a laundry for a few months. The business proved congenial and he saw in it a future and a means of establishing himself independently. At Youngstown he bought the laundry which he now operates. The plant was then a scrap heap and the patronage on the decline. The laundry was originally established by John Fithian and subsequently was the Goetz Laundry, when it was bought by Mr. Myers. The latter put into the business knowledge, efficiency and energy, and he now owns one of the best concerns of its kind in the Mahoning Valley. The business was recently reorganized, taking over the Crystal Laundry Company. The capital of the company is now a hundred thousand dollars, and the plants are thoroughly equipped and modern. These plants are on Market and Pyatt streets. Mr. Myers is not only president of the company but general manager and the active personality in the conduct of the business. Mr. Myers is a member of the First Baptist Church. While belonging to no political party he always votes, feeling that to be the duty of a good citizen. July 17, 1879, he married Miss Hattie Wingert, of Derry, Pennsylvania. She died many years ago. In 1905 he married Mrs. Nellie Miller, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania.JOHN JOHN K. WOLFF & SONS. One of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens of Youngstown is the venerable merchant, John K. Wolff, who has done his full share in the development of his section of the city. This locality he has honored by his citizenship for many years, having given his support to the church, the schools and to all measures for the public good, and his name has ever been synonymous with honorable dealings in all the relations of life. As he has passed so many years in this locality he has a wide acquaintance among its best citizens, many of whom are included within the circle of his warm personal friends. John K. Wolff was born in Pennsylvania, just over the state line from Petersburg, Ohio, on December 29, 1841, and is the son of Andrew Wolff, a native of Wurtemburg, who, at the age of six years was 122 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY brought to the United States by his parents, the family settling in Mahoning County, Ohio. John K. Wolff was married to Maria Yarian, who was born on October 20, 1846, the daughter of Benjamin Yarion, of Columbiana County, this state, but whose family originally were located in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. During the Civil war John K. Wolff offered his services to the government, but he was rejected. He was reared to the life of a farmer, which lie followed for a number of years, until on account of failing health he was compelled to get away from the strenuous work of a farm, and he then established a store at Steamtown, now known as Woodworth, of which he was appointed postmaster. Many years ago he opened a little store where he now lives on Oakhill Avenue, his sole capital being seventy-nine dollars in cash and his credit, which was good. He put both to work and soon found himself in possession of a business which demanded an enlargement of his little store. Enlargement followed enlargement until the building reached a tree, which afforded the boys a convenient way to slip out when sent early to bed. Later Mr. Wolff built on Market Street, where also he opened a store. He has always had a strong faith in Youngstown, because of its stability and its promise of continued future growth. A number of years ago he joined his son Orin C. in the wholesale produce business, under the firm name of John K. Wolff & Sons, and this has become one of the most reliable and prosperous firms in its line in Youngstown. Besides a general line of produce of all kinds they also handle crackers and cakes on a large scale. Mr. Wolff is well preserved for his years, his chief recreation being fishing, of which sport he is an ardent devotee, having fished in many of the best northern lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida and Cuban waters and the Catalina Islands. He is a man of fine personal qualities, genial and companionable, and enjoys to a marked degree the confidence and good will of all who know him. Orin Clark Wolff was born on January 26, 1876, and received his education in the Youngstown public schools, attending the South Side schools, and later the Front Street School, where he was graduated. He then took a complete business course, and in 1895 he formed a partnership with J. H. Harshman, under the firm name of Harshman & Wolff, wholesale dealers in produce, in the Bissell Block on North Chestnut Street. In 1907 the business was moved to No. 206 West Front Street, where it was reorganized under the new firm name of John K. Wolff & Sons, the latter being Orin C. and Ralph Andrew. On September 17, 1901, Orin C. Wolff was married to Eva Hawn, the daughter of Sergt. Jacob Hawn, now and for a long time connected with the Youngstown police force. Ralph Andrew Wolff was born December 29, 1881, and received his education in the public schools of this city, completing his studies at the Rayen High School, where he was graduated. He is now devoting himself to the produce business with his father and brother, being a man of excellent business qualifications. He was married on June 20, 1912, to Lilly Lakey, the daughter of George Lakey. He is a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, and, with his brother Orin, is a member of the Knights of Pythias. The brothers, who have taken the burden of business details from their father's shoulders, have gained enviable reputations as energetic and farsighted business men, affable and tactful in their relations with others, and eminently deserving of the splendid success which has rewarded their efforts. WILLIAM H. SITTIG. Possessing undoubted executive and business talent and tact, William H. Sittig, of Youngstown, who is actively identified with the mercantile affairs of this section of Mahoning County as general manager of the Buckeye Supply Company, has been an important factor in advancing the growth and expansion of the company's interests, and influential in furthering the success of the enterprise. A son of the late William H. Sittig, Sr., he was born in 1883 in Trumbull County, Ohio, on the parental homestead. Born in Germany, William H. Sittig, Sr., was a lad of nine years when he came with his parents to Mercer County, Pennsylvania, where he was brought up and educated. In early manhood he came to Ohio in search of a favorable location, and at one time was offered, for the small sum of $600, four acres of land, with a five-room house on it, that being the land on which the Tod House in Youngstown is now located, and which has since multiplied many, many times in value. Instead of accepting that offer, he bought a farm at Stop 29, on Jacobs Road, and was there successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits for forty-six years. He was a man of sterling integrity, a trustworthy citizen, and had the respect and esteem of the community in which he so long resided. In October, 1918, at the age of seventy-six years, he passed to the life beyond. The maiden name of the wife of William H. Sittig, Sr., was Caroline Bergman. She died in 1906, her death occurring on the sixtieth anniversary of her birth. Both were devout members of Saint John's Lutheran Church at Hubbard. Eleven children blessed their union, of whom ten, five sons and five daughters, are now living, their homes being in or near Youngstown. Twice each year these loyal children have a family reunion, meeting on the days marking the anniversary of their father's and their mother's birth. Having acquired a practical education in the public schools of Hubbard, William H. Sittig, at the age of fifteen years, began working in the Carnegie Steel Plant, with which he remained seven years, being afterward employed for an equal length of time in the Republic Plant. Accepting a position then with the German-Buehrle Company, at the place where he is now located, Mr. Sittig began work as a driver for the firm, which dealt in coal and builder's supplies. At the end of nine years, having proved himself capable and faithful in minor positions, he was made assistant manager, and organized the new Coal & Supply Company, which subsequently became the Buckeye Supply Company, of which he is now the general manager. Under the wise supervision of Mr. Sittig the firm has built up YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 123 an enormous trade in coal and builders' supplies and in order to facilitate matters has established two branches, one at the crossing of the Indianola & Youngstown Southern Railroad, and one on the New York Central Railroad, at the corner of Logan Avenue and Thornton Street. Mr. Sittig married, May 12, 1904, Minnie, daughter of Emil and Louisa Gransee, of Erie, Pennsylvania, and into their home three children have been born, Leroy, Wilbur and Eleanor. For twenty-two years Mr. Sittig was a member of Martin Luther's Church and for the past three years he has been an active member of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, and has served as leader of its choir for that period of time. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic Order, being a member of Hillman Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Youngstown, Ohio, Burchner Council, Royal Arch Masons, and Youngstown Commandery, Knights Templar, and he is likewise a member of the Chamber of Commerce, of the Builders' Exchange, and of the Kiwanis Club. Mr. Sittig has also been affiliated with most all the leading musical organizations of this valley, such as the Monday Musical Club, the American Glee Club, the Shackamaxon Quartet and played one of the leading roles in the following light operas : Dorothy, The Highwayman, The Mocking Bird and the Mikado. These operas were played by the Youngstown Opera Club under the direction of R. M. Brown. JOHN T. ROCHFORD. A native of Youngstown and a resident of the city over fifty years, John T. Rochford since early boyhood has had one leading and dominant business interest, construction and building work. Mr. Rochford is president of the Youngstown Construction Company and is widely known as a safe and substantial business man. He was born in Youngstown September 5, 1867, son of Michael and Anna (Taffe) Rochford. His father, a native of Ireland, went as a boy to England and when still a young man came to the United States. He was a coal miner, but later engaged in contracting. He performed all kinds of construction work, including the digging of wells and cellars. His death occurred in 1906, at the age of eighty-two. His widow survived until 1916, at the age of seventy-seven. They were members of St. Columba's Catholic Church. Their family consisted of the following children, all in Youngstown : Elizabeth, wife of Patrick O'Hara; Mary, who died at the age of twenty-two, the wife of Thomas O'Hara ; John T.; Peter, a foreman for the Republic Iron and Steel Company; Alice, wife of John Gartland, a contractor ; Katherine, wife of Michael McFarland, a mill worker ; Margaret, wife of Austin DeLosier, a Youngstown plumber ; Theresa, wife of John Farragher, a mill man. With his brothers and sisters John T. Rochford attended St. Columba's parochial schools and also had the advantages of Cook's Business College. As a boy and man he worked with his father until 1900, and since then has engaged in business independently. One of his first independent contracts was the grading and building of Poland Avenue. He did that piece of construction long before the street railway was laid along the important thoroughfare. He and his organization have built many miles of streets and laid miles of paving and sewers. For a number of years Mr. Rochford operated in partnership with John Comisky under the firm name of Rochford & Comisky. In 1910 he organized the Youngstown Construction Company. This company has a large staff of skilled and unskilled workers and a complete equipment of steam shovels and other apparatus for the rapid and efficient handling of its special lines of work. The company did all the contract work on the streets and paving north of Wick Park, also on Market Street on the south side, and laid out the Stewart allotments. In 1902 Mr. Rochford married Mary Buchner, a native of Youngstown and daughter of John Buchner. To their marriage were born nine children : Florence, Helen, John, George, Mary Louise, Clara, Gracie, Laura and Harry R. Mary Louise died at the age of four years. The family are members of St. Patrick's Catholic Church. DAVID A. FRAMPTON, whose business headquarters are in the Federal Building, is president and manager of the Ohio Lumber Company. The mills of this concern are located in Ashtabula County, and the business is the manufacture of hardwood timber products, particularly for the use of steel plants. The present organization is the result of years of experience, and the service has been availed of by the iron and steel industries of Northeastern Ohio for a number of years. For over three-quarters of a century and through at least three generations the name Frampton has been intimately connected with the lumber and timber interests in Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. The grandfather of the Youngstown business man was Maj. Jonathan Frampton of Clarion, Pennsylvania. He was a timber operator in a .number of Pennsylvania counties, and at one time supplied timber to the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad. He also conducted a hotel at Clarksville, Pennsylvania. He began business in 1844, and his grandson has some of his old business records. Some items in those records indicate that seventy-five years ago good whiskey could be bought for twenty-five cents per gallon and three cents per drink. In the time of the old militia musters Major Frampton was a leader in the local military and also had an active part in politics. John H. Frampton, father of David A., also spent the greater part of his active life in the timber business. He was born at Transfer, Pennsylvania, and in 1862, at the period of the Civil war, he took a contract to supply ties for the Mahoning Division of the Erie Railroad between Meadville and Kent and to Cleveland. At that time ties were split and hewed. To carry out that contract John H. Frampton went to Canada for timber workers, as most of the able bodied men in Ohio were in the army. While filling the contract he maintained headquarters at Warren and Hubbard. John H. Frampton is still living at the age of seventy-four and makes his home at West Middlesex. He married Mary Bean. David A. Frampton, a son of these parents, was 124 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY born at Middlesex, Pennsylvania, in 1872 and received his education in the schools of Middlesex and Sharon and also attended Mount Pleasant Academy, a fine school instituted and maintained by the late H. C. Frick, and in which many of the proteges of Mr. Frick received their education. After leaving school Mr. Frampton developed his experience in the family business of timber working, and spent several years in his father's mills around Wellsville, Lisbon, East Liverpool and Hubbard. In 1900 he established his headquarters at Hubbard, and remained there until coming to Youngstown. While at Hubbard he manufactured 5,000,000 feet of white oak products. Most of his activity in politics was a feature of his residence in Hubbard. Mr. Frampton is a member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, the Commercial Travelers Association and the Knights of Pythias, and with his family is a member of the Baptist Church. In 1895 he married Miss Belle Hassan, daughter of James Hassan. Her father was born on the Chestnut Hill farm originally belonging to James Hassan and was the property of the Wick family in Mahoning County. Mr. and Mrs. Frampton have four children: Katherine, wife of John Law; Dorothy, wife of Alfred Hinchcliff, of Girard; Blanche and James. GEORGE A. WEBSTER. Occupying a noteworthy positron among the prosperous business men of Youngstown, George A. Webster, head of the G. A. Webster Electric Company, has been in truth the architect of his own fortunes, his life furnishing a forcible example to the rising generation of the material success to be obtained by persevering industry and wise economy. A native of Youngstown, he was born October 3o, 1872, a son of the late Kirk Webster. Kirk Webster was born at Girard in the Mahoning Valley in 1847, and as a youth of eighteen years entered the employ of the Erie Railroad Company, and subsequently filled various positions until being made conductor. When thirty-five years of age he was stricken with paralysis, and, being unable to perform the duties of conductor of a train, was made gate keeper at the Phelps Street Crossing, a position that he filled until his death, October 12, 1907. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Ellery, was born in England, and came with her parents to Youngstown when a child of five summers, where her father secured a position in the iron works. She has been a faithful member of the Baptist Church since a girl. She now makes her home with a son at 540 George Street. To her and her husband six children were born, as follows : Harriet, widow of W. E. Fownes; George A., the special subject of this sketch; Grace, wife of Richard Francis, who is engaged in the insurance business in Youngstown, and who is a brother of Jesse Francis, county clerk of Mahoning County; Fred, superintendent of steam fitting for the Republic Iron & Steel Company; Blanche, who is the wife of William Warren, and Ed, an electrician, living in Cleveland. A lad of nine years when his father was stricken with paralysis, George A. Webster had to leave his studies at the Covington Street School, it being necessary that he should, thus young, have to help support the family. Entering the employ of the Union News Company, he sold papers and periodicals at the Erie Railroad Station and on Erie trains for a period of five years. The ensuing five years he was with the Youngstown Carriage Company, and for nineteen years thereafter was employed in the City Light Plant. Becoming a proficient electrician, Mr. Webster embarked in business on his own account in 1910 and now, in partnership with George Dieter, is carrying on a successful business as head of the G. A. Webster Electric Company, which has installed electric systems in many residences and business houses, among others of prominence having been the G. M. McKelevey Store, the Grascelli Plant at Niles, the J. A. Campbell residence, and other large buildings. Mr. Webster married, in 1897, Gertrude Knight, daughter of George E. Knight, a draftsman in the Republic Iron & Steel Works, and they have one daughter, Jane, born in 1914. Mr. Webster is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; of the Rotary Club; and of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce. FRED W. BANKS. A man of versatile talents, laboring with never varying energy and enterprise, Fred W. Banks, of Youngstown, has been actively identified with many lines of industry, and is a leading and successful dealer in coal and sand. His most pronounced success, however, was as a member of the Civil Service Commission, with which he was intimately associated for six years, retiring in 1919. During his term of membership, rules and regulations were established and improvements of value were made, the practical workings of the Civil Service Commission having made Youngstown in many respects a model city, and one of which its residents may well be proud. He was born January 27, 1863, in Toronto, Canada, of English descent. George Banks, his father, was born on Threadneedle Street, London, England, which was also the birthplace of his wife, Whose maiden name was Maria Ventress. Soon after his marriage he emigrated to Canada, locating in Toronto, where for many years he was profitably employed in the feed and grain business. Coming from there to Youngstown many years ago, he was first engaged in the oil and gasoline business, later becoming a dealer in coal. Both he and his wife spent their last years in Youngstown, his death occurring in 1916, at the age of seventy-four years, and hers in 1915, at the age of seventy-six years. Both were worthy members of the Episcopal Church. Their children, six in number, were as follows: James V., now serving as mayor of the City of Niagara Falls, New York ; George, employed in a rubber plant at Akron, Ohio; Fannie, widow of J. L. Henderson, resides on Emma Street, Youngstown; Sarah Jane, widow of R. G. Patterson, of Akron, Ohio; Fred W., the special subject of this sketch ; and William formerly of Northwestern Canada, is now a resident of Toronto. Brought up and educated in Toronto. Fred W. Banks began when but a boy to accumulate money YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 125 that he earned by picking strawberries and cherries. After coming to Youngstown, and even after his marriage, he advanced his education by taking a course in accounting and banking at Hall's Business College. While in Toronto he was for a time salesman in a dry goods establishment, and later served in the same capacity for seven years for Mr. Kaufman, whose general store was located on West Federal Street in Youngstown. Mr. Banks subsequently was with the Weinberg firm for three years, and later spent two years in the Youngstown Rolling Mills, making cotton ties on the seven-inch rolls. Changing his occupation, Mr. Banks was employed in the Milliken-Boyd Car Works two years, and the following five years was associated with the Youngstown Pump Works at Holmes and Wood streets, after which he was engaged in the pump business on his own account for two years, having an establishment at the corner of Holmes and Chestnut streets. Later, when the Youngstown garbage business was sold by a receiver, he purchased it, and operated the same until the city took it over. Since then he has carried on a thriving business as a dealer in sand, gravel and coal. On April 21, 1885, Mr. Banks was united in marriage with Margaret, daughter of John Brady, of Jamestown, Pennsylvania. Two children, twins, have blessed their union, Arthur W., associated in business with his father; and Lillian, wife of Albert H. Bailey, a dealer in electrical supplies on Wick Avenue. Politically Mr. Banks is a republican and a strong prohibitionist. Fraternally he is a member of Youngstown Lodge No. 403, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Religiously both Mr. and Mrs. Banks are active members of the Westminster Presbyterian Church. HARRY PARROCK who has been a resident of Youngstown since 1890, was for many years a technical expert in the local mills, and in that capacity had much to do with the transformation of Youngstown from an iron to a steel center. Mr. Parrock was born at Stourbridge, England, February 20, 1858, a son of Joseph and Ann (Tranter) Parrock. His father spent his active life as a master mechanic in rolling mills. He died many years ago and the mother passed away in 1918, at the age of ninety-two. Harry Parrock had his schooling in England, and was only a boy when he began working on the rolls in an iron plant. During his nineteenth year he was transferred to the shipping department. He came to the United States in 1881, and for nine years was at Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, in the mills of the Catasauqua Manufacturing Company, both in the shipping and operating department. From there he came to Youngstown, and for a year or so was assistant superintendent in what is now known as the Upper Mill of the Carnegie Company, his employers being William H. Baldwin and George D. Wick. Mr. Parrock in 1892 became superintendent of this plant and filled that office until 1902. In that year he became superintendent of the Brown-Bonnell plant, now part of the great Republic Company's industry. Under his direct superintendence the build ing and remodeling program was carried out necessary to convert that plant to a steel works. Mr. Parrock has also had a prominent part to play in public affairs in Youngstown. In 1912 he was appointed safety director by Mayor Hartenstein, serving as such four years, and in 1916 was appointed service director by Mayor Thornton, holding that office two years. Previously, in 1902, he was elected a member of the City Council at large, being one of the first to hold that office. Other members at large were Chase Truesdale and Warren Williams. While in the council, where he served from 1902 to 1906, inclusive, he was chairman of the fire and police committee and a member of the finance committee. Since coming to this country Mr. Parrock made five trips to Europe, and only recently he returned from a visit over the devastated district in Flanders. He is a member of the Society of St. George and is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, being affiliated with Lake Erie Consistory and Hiram Lodge of Perfection. He is also an Odd Fellow and Knight of Pythias, and is a member and trustee of the First Unitarian Church at Youngstown. In 1878 he married Tamar Parkes. Her father, Henry Parkes, is still living in England, at the age of eighty-two. To their marriage were born three sons. William H. is a roller in the Steel & Tube Plant at South Chicago. Henry P. is in the order department of the Republic Plant at Youngstown. Edwin J., a graduate of Purdue University, is associated with the Efficiency Engineering Company of Detroit. JAMES A. HENDERSON has been engaged in the automobile business a oungstown for ten years. He has given his service entirely, with the exception of one year, to the Overland car. He has developed a tremendous business for that company over the greater part of the Mahoning Valley, both in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Mr. Henderson, who is general manager and treasurer of the Henderson-Overland Company, was born at Youngstown, December 4, 1883, son of William and Justin (McKenzie) Henderson. His parents were born and married in Scotland, came to America in 1867, and after a brief residence at St. Louis, came to Youngstown, where William Henderson was employed as a puddler and later foreman for the old Brown-Bonnell iron plant, and subsequently with the Republic Iron and Steel Company. He died March 6, 1914. James A. Henderson was one of seven children, and grew up at Youngstown, graduating from the Rayen High School in 1901. By private study he mastered shorthand, and made his way into business affairs through the possession of stenography. He was stenographer in the Ohio plant of the Carnegie Steel Company about two years, following which he went to Chicago and was secretary to the vice president of the Continental National Bank and subsequently secretary to the general superintendent of the Pullman Car Company. On returning to Youngstown Mr. Henderson on January 1, 1910, took the local agency for the Brush runabout. Then, in 1911, he became the Youngstown representative for the Overland automobile 126 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY and soon showed his qualities as a salesman and promoter of the interests of the Overland Company. In 1916 the company made him general distributor for six counties in Eastern Ohio and Northwestern Pennsylvania, and at that time he organized and incorporated the Henderson-Overland Company. A prominent man in his business, he is a past trustee of the Ohio Automobile Association, is a past president of the Youngstown Automobile Dealers' Association, and past president of the Youngstown Automobile Club. He is also a director and assistant treasurer of the South Side Savings Bank. Mr. Henderson is a republican, a member of the Youngstown Club, Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, belongs to all branches of the Masonic fraternity and Mystic Shrine, and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Elks and Knights of Pythias. He is a trustee of the Community Corporation and the Mahoning County War Chest Fund, and gave much of his time from business in behalf of war auxiliary movements. He and his wife are members of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. September 12, 1905, he married Miss Jessie Eddy. They have one son, James Paul. FREDERICK C. KIRCHNER. The great industries of Youngstown have naturally attracted to this city many men of expert technical ability. Among them is Frederick C. Kirchner, now factory manager of the Mazda Lamp Division, National Lamp Works, General Electric Company. Mr. Kirchner is familiar by long experience with many branches of industry and the technical fine arts. He was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, in 1872, son of George and Christina Kirchner. His parents on coming to the United States lived for a year in Belleville, Texas, and then removed to Brooklyn, New York, where the father engaged in the manufacture of ornamental iron work. Both parents are now deceased. Frederick C., one of nine children, had no knowledge of the English language until he went to Brooklyn. By training and practice he now seldom bementrays the traits of foreign accent in his speech. He has put in many hours in a thorough course of education in addition to time spent in making his living as a youth. He attended public schools in Brooklyn, and for many years has been a devoted student along electrical engineering lines. He took several courses with the International Correspondence Schools of Scranton. As a boy he worked for a Brooklyn glass company, learned glass blowing, and at the age of nineteen had charge of a department. For a time he was also employed at making five gallon tin cans for the Standard Oil Company. An experience with direct bearing upon his present usefulness was the eight years he was with the firm of Sawyer & Mann, manufacturers of incandescent lights. While with them he diligently carried on his studies in night school. For two years he was with the Sunbeam Lamp Works at Chicago and another two years with the Steuben Electric Comapny of New York. After other employment with the New York State Electric Company he came to Youngstown, and went with the Orient Electric Company, and since then has been an active associate of Mr. Norman L. Norris, now the active head of the Youngstown business of the National Lamp Works. When the Williams Street branch of this establishment was built Mr. Kirchner was appointed its superintendent, and later has been factory manager. In a modest way he has helped develop the Mazda lamp and has other valuable discoveries and inventions to his credit. Mr. Kirchner is a member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, of the Rotary Club, and with his family worships in the Woodland Avenue Evangelical Lutheran Church. October 4, 1896, he married Emma R. Mauser, daughter of Chris Mauser. They have seven children: Lucinda, now in the Ohio State University; Hiram, with the Cleveland Trust Company; Alice, Karl, Norman, Mary and Josephine, the last two being twins. HON. HARRY P. McCOY, who gave the greater part of his younger years to educational work, is a Youngstown attorney and for about a year has been in civil life after an active service as an American offrcer in France. He is a member of the State Senate, and in a business way is secretary of the Federal Savings and Loan Company, one of the large financial organizations of Youngstown. Mr. McCoy was born on a farm in Scioto County, Ohio, May 20, 1879, son of James N. and Ruth V. (Cartwright) McCoy. His paternal ancestors were Scotch-Irish and most of the generations have been affiliated with the Methodist and later with United Brethren Church. James N. McCoy was born in Adams County, Ohio, April 8, 1846, and died October 2, 1909. He spent his active life as a farmer and also operated saw mills and did considerable contracting. During the Civil war he tried several times to get into the Union army but was rejected. Two of his brothers went all through the struggle, earned good records as soldiers, and died as a direct result of hardships incurred in the war. James N. McCoy was deeply interested in the success of the republican party, and while never an aspirant for political honors he assisted his friends in various campaigns. His ,wife was born in Pike County, Ohio, April 8, 1854, and is now living at Cynthiana, Ohio. Her father, Peter Cartwright was a direct descendant of the famous itinerant et odist preacher, Peter Cartwright. Harry P. McCoy is one of a family of three sons and four daughters, all of whom were given the best advantages of the neighborhood in which they grew up in the way of schools and social privileges. At twelve years of age Harry P. McCoy went to work in a saw mill. After attending the village school he taught, and alternately attended Wooster University, and remained actively in educational work for twenty years. In 1902, on coming to Ma- honing County, he had charge of schools at Coitsville and East Youngstown, and was later principal of the Brier Hill School and the Jefferson School. While teaching Mr. McCoy studied law, and was admitted to the bar before America entered the war with Germany. May 13, 1917, Mr. McCoy entered the officers' training camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and was YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 127 commissioned a second lieutenant August 15th. Later he was promoted to first lieutenant, went overseas with the Expeditionary Forces, and saw active service in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Lieutenant McCoy was honorably discharged and returned home in August, 1919. At the death of Senator Davis he was elected by a handsome majority to fill the unexpired term, and during the recent session of the Legislature has served as a member of the committees on schools, cities, law, taxation and public utilities. In April, 1920, he was appointed secretary of the Federal Savings and Loan Company. He is a member of the Friends' Church, is affiliated with Ashley Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, St. John's Commandery, Knights Templar, Hiram Lodge of Perfection, Lake Erie Consistory of the Scottish Rite at Cleveland and Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and the Kiwanis Club. JOHN SIMON, Among the many solid comforts and conveniences to be enjoyed in a modern, progressive city like Youngstown, is the possibility of securing an abundance of "the staff of life," equal, and often superior, to the old-time domestic loaf, without any of the drudgery of its preparation, in living quarters entirely inadequate as is often the case. A city that can command such high class bakery goods as those supplied by the Simon Bakery of Youngstown may be considered very fortunate. The head of this large enterprise is John Simon, an enterprising and successful business man who has had years of practical experience in the baking industry. John Simon was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 12, 1894, and is a son of John and Barbara (Mauer) Simon, both of whom were born in Alsace-Lorraine, France. The father came to the United States when a young man, and for a short time after reaching Pennsylvania worked as a carpenter at Beaver Falls. From there he went to Pittsburgh, in which city he was married, and there became a carpenter contractor of recognized merit. His death occurred at Byers, Colorado, on April 17, 1907. The mother resides with her children at No. 1120 Oak Hill Avenue, Youngstown. There were eight children in the family, six of whom are living and four of these, John, Adam, Joseph and Anna, are interested in the Simon Bakery at Youngstown and are helping to still further increase the efficiency of the enterprise. John Simon was reared at Pittsburgh, where he attended the public schools until twelve years old, at which time his practical father deemed it wise to take him as an apprentice to the carpenter trade, but in the following year the father died and John went to work in the August Bold Bakery at Pittsburgh. He immediately took an interest in baking and remained with this employer for the following ten years, learning every detail and having thorough baking training. In 1916, when Mr. Simon came to Youngstown, with the intention of going into business for himself, he bought the Kimmard Bakery on Market Street, removing it to No. 7 Ridge Avenue, where he remained until his present plant was built. It is one of the most commodious and best equipped plants in the city, modern baking machinery being installed and every sanitary regulation complied with. When Mr. Simon started in business here his bakery goods were carried in baskets to customers, while now the volume of the output requires six trucks to accommodate the trade. There is no cunning secret of delicate baking that is unknown to Mr. Simon, and his force of bakers is equal to any demand made for ceremonious occasions, but he rests his reputation on his standard home-made bread, which, it is safe to say, appears on the tables of the most fastidious epicures in the city. During the great war his brother Adam served with the Thirty-seventh Division in France. The family belongs to St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Mr. Simon is a member of the order of Elks. GIOVANNI PASSARELLI, the Youngstown banker, has long enjoyed an influential status in this city, where he is regarded as one of the best educated and most polished citizens. Mr. Passarelli has been an editor, official representative of his mother country, and has a fluent command of nearly half a dozen languages. He was born in Alfedena, an old Roman town in Italy, located in the valley of the Appenines. From the summit of one of the mountains near his birthplace a view is had of both the cities of Rome and Naples. He was born June 24, 1880, son of Alexander and Teresa Passarelli. His father died May 24, 1914, at the age of eighty-four, and his mother passed away on the 24th of September in the same year, aged seventy-four. His father was a building contractor. Of twelve children six are still living and four are in the United States, two in Detroit and one in Pennsylvania. Giovanni Passarelli had the benefit of six years education in a college at Trivento. For eight years he lived in the city of Rome, and the greater part of that time was news reporter for the Giornale Di Italia. He also served six months in the Third Regiment of Infantry, and during the World war his old commander was in charge of the garrison at Milan. Mr. Passarelli landed at New York April 28, 1904, and soon went to Cleveland, where he was editor of La Voce Del Popolo four months. Receiving a teacher's certificate after examination, for two years he was teacher in the night schools of Cleveland, and also employed during the day in an Italian bank. In October, 1906, he was appointed Italian Consul at Indianapolis, and was a resident of that city engaged in his official duties until June, 1909. During 1908 Mr. Passarelli took an active, part in the campaign for the election of Taft for president. He spoke and used his influence in practically every Italian community in Indiana. Mr. Passarelli has been a resident of Youngstown since 1909, when he was made assistant manager of the Foreign Department of the Dollar Bank of Youngstown. In 1913 he engaged in the banking business for himself, his first location being at 386 East Federal, from there removing to 222 East 128 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY Federal and then to his present location at 256 East Federal. Besides his bank he has a steamship agency. Mr. Passarelli is a well qualified lawyer, having studied in Indianapolis and being admitted to the Indiana bar. He made application for citizenship as soon as he arrived in this country and received his final papers in 19u. As a linguist Mr. Passarelli has a fluent command of Latin, French, Spanish and English. He acquired his knowledge of the English language after coming to this country. He is a member of the Italian Society, St. Patrick's Catholic Church and is an Elk. September 18, 1907, Mr. Passarelli married Miss Minnie J. Merrian, daughter of Nicholas Merrian. Their family consists of two sons and one daughter : Edwin William, Arthur Francis and Merrian Rita. NORMAN L. NORRIS, About twenty-five years ago one of the industries of Youngstown that could lay little claim to prominence was the Phoenix Electric Company. Its chief output was an electric lamp. The product was a creditable one, but the chief problem of the organization was to get proper recognition and secure a sufficient volume of sales. About that time Norman L. Norris, who was bookkeeper for a Warren concern, took charge of the sales. At first he did all the work by correspondence and presented the merits of the electric lamp so convincingly that in a short time he had developed enough business to tax the factory to the utmost. Such in brief was the beginning and the first chapter of one of Youngstown's most flourishing business concerns today, of which Norman L. Norris is general manager. The old Phoenix Electric Company discontinued business in 1898. The Banner Electric Company was organized in 1901, and in 1907 the company's assets and good will were merged with the National Electric Lamp Works. The business is now designated as the Banner Electric Division of National Lamp Works of General Electric Company. Every year has seen the growth and enlargement of the industry. The first plant was a modest one in the old Davis homestead on Bane Street. Additions were made to that house, and the output grew to 1,000 lamps per day. At the present time the Youngstown plant has a daily capacity of 35,000 lamps. A large factory was built on Market Street in 1905, and later one on Williams Street. Today this constrtutes one of Youngstown's model industries. Practically all the 600 employes are young women, who enter the business after special training and apprenticeship. Their work is that of a skilled trade. Some of the most advanced ideas of industrial efficiency and plant management have been carried out here. A physician and dentist are available to all the employes, there are attractive lunch rooms, a library, periodical lectures and entertainments, and every safeguard is thrown around the welfare of the workers. Mr. Norman L. Norris was born on a farm near Windsor in Ashtabula County, Ohio, November 25, 1863, and is a member of two families who were pioneers in the old Western Reserve. His parents, George G. and Celia M. (Alderman) Norris, were also natives of Ohio. His grandfather, Lemuel Norris, was a farmer in Ashtabula County and the Norrises came from Connecticut and settled in the forest among the Indians about the time Ohio was admitted to the Union. George G. Norris left the farm to become a soldier in the Civil war, and his death in 1865 was. directly due to exposure and the hardships of a soldier's life. He died at the age of forty-seven. His wife, Celia M. Alderman, who for twenty years was a resident of Youngstown, died in 1918, at the age of ninety-four; she was a daughter of Jesse Alderman, who served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and was a carpenter and shoemaker. He cut the timber from his own land and built the home of the first Episcopal Church at Windsor, a church edifice still in use. The Norris and Alderman farms were near North Windsor and Windsor Mills. George Norris and his wife were schoolmates. They had two children, Norman and Elsie S., the latter the wife of John E. Hart, a salesman for the Banner Electric Company of Youngstown. Their mother was married to Albert E. Brainard, and they left the old farm in Ashtabula County and moved to Gustavus in Trumbull County. Norman L. Norris grew up at Gustavus, acquired his education in the Academy there, and at the age of sixteen began teaching a country school. He was in school work five years at Gustavus and Kinsman, and following that became a clerk in the Philo Gates general store at Gustavus Center. This was an old fashioned country store, buying everything produced on the farm and selling everything needed in the country community. By his diligence and alertness, Mr. Norris won commendations both as a teacher and salesman, and the success of his early years has been broadened and amplified in mature life. After three years as a clerk in the store at Gustavus Center he removed to Warren and became bookkeeper for the Warren Manufacturing Company, a retail lumber firm and also engaged in the manufacture of furniture. He was there four years, and during the last year organized the Phoenix Electric Company, as noted above. Mr. Norris married Miss Josephine M. Swager. Their marriage was celebrated on his twenty-second and her twenty-first birthday. She was born at Bazetta, Ohio, and her father was a native of Ohio and her mother of. England. Her father was Lorenzo Swager. Mr. and Mrs. Norris have three children: Alta M., wife of W. E. Bancroft, who lives on the Norswa Farm in Canfield Township, Mahoning County; George E., who is manager of the Automatic Oil Burner Company, of Youngstown; and Norman L., Jr., a high school student. The son George did his bit during the war by nine months' service in the gas defense department with the Hero Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia, a concern making gas masks. Mr. Norris has served as one of the trustees of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, is a member of the Youngstown Credit Men's Association, is a trustee of the Poland Country Club and of the Youngstown Public Library, and is a republican in politics. JOSEPH A. SPIEVAK, A young man of rare personal worth and ability, possessing much force of YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 129 character, Joseph A. Spievak, of Youngstown, has met misfortune bravely, and, though physically sadly handicapped, has thoroughly overcome all difficulties, and by persistent energy and effort has built up a substantial business in the manufacture of artificial limbs, it being at the present time a useful and much-needed industry. He was born August 13, 1892, in Galicia, Austrian Poland, and as a boy of eight years came to the United States with his parents, Anthony and Hannah Spievak, who settled in Derby, Connecticut. Beginning his studies in the parochial schools of Derby, Joseph A. Spievak further advanced his education by reading and observation, and later by taking a correspondence course at the International Correspondence School and a business course at the Alexander Hamilton Institute. When a lad of but thirteen years he worked in various factories in his home town, and at the age of sixteen years entered the employ of the Erie Railroad Company. Six months later, in a railroad accident, he was unfortunate enough to lose both legs below the knee, a calamity that would have crushed the ambition of many a boy. Nothing daunted, however, Mr. Spievak subsequently found a position with the late C. A, Frees, of New York City, a veteran artificial limb manufacturer, who had acquired a national reputation for his skill in making artificial limbs. Becoming an expert in the art, Mr. Spievak was afterward associated in the same line of work with J. E. Hanger, of Washington, District of Columbia. In 1914 Mr. Spievak located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was in business for four years, representing Mr. Hanger. Coming to Youngstown in September, 1918, he has since been successfully conducting the business of the Youngstown Artificial Limb Company, and is meeting with unquestioned success. WILLIAM H. PETERSON. The office of biography is not to give vorce to a man's modest estimate of himself and his accomplishments, but rather to leave upon the record the verdict establishing his character by the consensus of opinion on the part of his neighbors and fellow citizens. The life of William H. Peterson, who is capably discharging the responsible duties of plumbing inspector of Youngstown, has been such as to elicit just praise from those who know him best, and today he enjoys to a marked degree the esteem of the community. William H. Peterson was born in Monticello, Iowa, on May 24, 1880, and is the son of Joseph and Mabel (Stambaugh) Peterson. The father was born in Rochester, New York, in 1854, and the mother, in Sharon, Pennsylvania, in 1853, and they now reside in Cloquet, Minnesota. Her father, William Stambaugh, was a farmer in the Keystone state, and when Mrs. Peterson was a mere child, they drove overland to Iowa, where he filed a homestead claim. He is a cousin of Daniel and Jacob Stambaugh, of Youngstown. Joseph Peterson was a plumber in Monticello, Iowa, but went from there to Bay River, Minnesota, where he homesteaded a farm in the timber country. After living there for a time he moved to Cloquet, Minnesota, where he is now living. He and his wife are members of the Presby terian Church. They became the parents of two children, the subject of this sketch, and Martin L., who is engaged in the plumbing business in Cloquet. William H. Peterson spent his boyhood years under the parental roof and received his education in the public schools of Monticello, being a graduate of the high school. He learned the trade of a plumber in his father's establishment, and later went to Chicago, where he worked at his trade for about a year and a half. From there in 1897 he went to New Castle, Pennsylvania, where he worked until 1898, when he enlisted in Battery B, United States Artillery, with which he was sent to Cuba. He took part in the battle of San Juan Hill, where he was wounded. He served in the army until 1901, when he was discharged with the rank of sergeant. Upon leaving the army Mr. Peterson came to Youngstown and engaged in the plumbing business as a partner in the firm of Vinopal-Peterson Plumbing Company, in which he continued to be engaged until 1905. in which year he was appointed to the position of plumbing inspector. His discharge of the duties of this office, has been so eminently satisfactory that he has been retained in his position through the several succeeding administrations, which is certainly a marked compliment to his capability and faithfulness. Mr. Peterson is today one of the oldest members of the official personnel at the City Hall, but few men having served the city longer than he, and none more efficiently. On September 1o, 1902, Mr. Peterson was married to Grace Edna Jones, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Jones, and to them has been born a daughter, Edna Louise. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while fraternally, Mr. Peterson is a member of the Masonic order, in which he has attained, to the degrees of Knight Templar in the York Rite and to the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite, and he is also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Politically Mr. Peterson is an earnest supporter of the republican party. Personally he is a genial and pleasant man, who easily makes friends, and he is held in high esteem by all who know him. JOSEPH V. MCCLASKEY. Deeds are thoughts crystallized, and according to their brilliancy do we judge the worth of a man to the country which produced him, and in his work we expect to find the true index to his character. A worthy representative of that type of American business man who may properly be termed "progressive," that character which promotes public good in advancing individual prosperity and conserving popular interests, is Joseph V. McClaskey, well known business man of Youngstown, who has not only been successful in his private undertakings, but has also maintained a keen interest in local public affairs. Joseph V. McClaskey was born in Millvale, Pennsylvania, on February 14, 1890, and is the son of I. 0. and Laura (Gilbert) McClaskey, the former a native of New York state and the latter of Ohio. I. O. McClaskey, who is now retired from active interests at the age of seventy-eight years, was in the sheet metal business for many years in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Warren, Ohio, and Helena, 130 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY Montana. He is a veteran of the Civil war, having been a member of the Thirteenth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, in which he held an officer's commission. He participated in many battles, including the Wilderness, and was wounded twice. He is a republican in his political views. Joseph V. McClaskey attended the public schools of Millvale, being a graduate of the high school, and then pursued his studies in the Carnegie Technical Institute at Pittsburgh, where he was, graduated in June, 1913. Thereafter, for the purpose of gaining practical experience in the manufacture of sheet metal, he worked in various mills of the United States. For a year and a half he was in business for himself in a small way in Pittsburgh. Then he became connected with the Ohio works of the Carnegie Steel Company, in connection with gas engines, in the engineering department. In 1915 Mr. McClaskey started in the manufacture of sheet metal in a modest way at 1419 Mahoning Avenue, Youngstown, in which he was prospered, so that some time later he was able to buy land and erect a plant at 1583 Mahoning Avenue, where he is now located and where he is making plans for an extensive addition to the plant, necessitated by their rapidly growing business, which is conducted under the title of J. V. McClaskey & Company. When the business was first established there were three workmen employed, whereas now from eighteen to twenty-five men are given constant employment. In addition to sheet metal the firm handles furnaces and all kinds of roofing. Mr. McClaskey has an accurate and comprehensive technical knowledge of the business, and is considered a sound and practical authority in his line. Mr. McClaskey was married to Nellie Morris, the daughter of Benjamin Morris, who is a Civil war veteran and who is an employe of the Ohio works of the Carnegie Steel Company. To Mr. and Mrs. McClaskey has been born a son, Clyde Brooks. Mr. and Mrs. McClaskey are members of the Central Christian Church and he is an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is also a member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, the Builders' Exchange, the Employers' Association and the Master Sheet Metal Workers' Association. He is a splendid example of the virile, progressive, self-made man who believes in doing well whatever is worth doing at all, a man of keen discernment and sound judgment, and he enjoys to a marked degree the confidence and good will of all who know him. FRANK B. SMITH,. Proprietor of one of the largest, finest equipped, and most nearly up-to- date garages in Youngstown, Frank B. Smith, whose slogan is "service," has a thorough knowledge of automobiles, from radiator to differential, and has established for himself an enviable reputation for superior executive and business ability. In 1915 Mr. Smith erected his present plant, at 36-46 Pyatt Street, the building being of reenforced concrete, with 32,000 square feet of absolutely fire-proof floor space. The big, bright, clean, modernly furnished sales room is one of the pleasantest and most commodious in the city, and, like each of the eight dis- tinct departments of the plant, is under the superintendence of an experienced man. During the recent World war this shop furnished' training for special service, the army demanding the highest possible skill in every department of its work. A son of W. and Matilda (Walters) Smith, Frank B. Smith was born December 13, 1889, on Rayen Avenue, Youngstown. His father, for many years a prominent business man of Youngstown, was born in Tecumseh, Michigan, and died in Youngstown, Ohio, July 7, 1916. His wife survives him, and is still a resident of Youngstown. A further history of the family may be found on another page of this volume. Having acquired his preliminary education in the Elm Street School, Frank B. Smith attended the Rayen Avenue School three years, after which he entered the employ of the Sheet and Tube Company, beginning as office boy and being rapidly advanced to positions of more importance. Embarking in business in a machine shop in 1908, at Tod Avenue and Irving Place, Mr. Smith later was at 114 East Boardman Street until 1911, when he began specializing on inventions and patents. Subsequently devoting his energies to the selling branch of the business, he handled the Buick and the Rambler in 1911 and 1912; the Ford from 1912 until 1917; and since that time has carried on a thriving business as a dealer in the Paige and Chevrolet machines, having a large and remunerative patronge. On the twenty-fifth day of September, 1911, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel Lemuel Foster, and of their union two children have been born, Jane Elizabeth and Lois Eleanor. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Smith are active members of the First Presbyterian Church. Fraternally Mr. Smith is a thirty-second degree Mason, and a prominent member of all of the local bodies of the Free and Accepted Order of Masons. He is also a member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce and the Poland Country Club. REV. JESSE LEROY MILLER, who has been pastor 'of the Grace English Lutheran Church at Youngstown since 1897, has well deserved the reputation he enjoys as the strongest and most popular pastor of his church in the Mahoning Valley. The great strength and success of his pastorate is due to his ability to get harmonious team work from his congregation. He has been a real leader in the sense that he has been able to inspire his people to work and co-operate with him. His congregation is a splendid example of harmony, of prosperous growth, and the efficiency resulting in practical good to the members of the congregation themselves and the broadening influence of the church to humanity. The present church at Youngstown is the outgrowth of an idea and movement during the early seventies for the establishment of the Lutheran Church with services in the English language. The first meeting of those English German. Lutherans was held in September, 1877, and the society was continued as a mission for several years. The first church at the corner of Wood Street and Belmont Avenue was dedicated December 11, 1881. The first YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 131 regular pastor was Rev. E. J. Meissner, who resigned early in 1887 and was succeeded the next year by Rev. Homer W. Tope, whose administration was marked by the enlargement of the church building, the erection of a parsonage, and the placing of the congregation upon a self-supporting basis. His pastorate continued until the spring of 1895. Then after an interim Rev. Jesse Leroy Miller became pastor in July, 1897, coming to Youngstown fresh from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Mount Airy, Pennsylvania. Mr. Miller was born in German Township, Harrison County, Ohio, June 9, 1870, son of John and Susanna (Mikesel) Miller. His father was born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1822, and his mother in Frederick County, Maryland, February 15, 1824. They were married in Harrison County, Ohio, in May, 1848, by Rev. David Sparks. The father died at the old home where the family had lived for fifty years, January 3, 1905, while the mother passed away January 5, 1910. In a family of eleven children nine reached mature years and seven sons are still living. The oldest, Oscar B., is a teacher in the high school in his home town of Germano, Ohio; Henry Allison was a farmer near the old home, who died at the age of sixty-seven; Andrew B., a farmer near the old home; Rev. Daniel D., of Smithton, Pennsylvania ; Joseph M., a farmer near Steubenville, Ohio; Professor Samuel H., who for eighteen years has been a member of the faculty at Thiel College; Clement E., on the old home farm ; Clayton L., who was a farmer near Greenville, Pennsylvania, and was born in 1865 and died in 1918; and Jesse Leroy. Jesse Leroy Miller is a graduate of Thiel College at Greenville, Pennsylvania, and took his theological work in the Lutheran Seminary at Mount' Airy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Early in Mr. Miller's pastorate the church was found to be hemmed in by the commercial growth of the city, and on March 3, 1901, the old church property was sold and a new site secured on West Rayen Avenue. The cornerstone of the handsome new church edifice was laid August 10, 1902, and the building was dedicated September 6, 1903. At the present time Grace English Lutheran Church has nearly a thousand members, and has all the auxiliary organizations for effective work, both in the church and domestic and foreign missionary and educational movements. The mortgage on the present church was burned in October, 1918, and since then large sums have been raised within the congregation for educational work at Thiel College and other institutions. The pastorate and membership of the church have always been noted for devotion to American institutions, which in fact is the principal foundation stone of the English Lutheran Church in America. Rev. Mr. Miller has been fortunate in his career, in his pastorate, and also in the inspiration of his devoted and Christian wives. June 25, 1897, a short time before coming to Youngstown, he married Alice Theresa West, daughter of Samuel and Mary West. She was born February 12, 1860, was a graduate of Thiel College, and died September 8, 1900. Her death was regarded as a grievous loss to the entire congregation of the church at Youngstown. She was the mother of one son, J. Leroy, Jr., who is a graduate of South High School at Youngstown, and now enrolled as a student at Thiel College, Greenville, Pennsylvania, and many times expressed a regret during the World war that he was too young to enlist and do his bit as a youthful patriot. Rev. Mr. Miller married for his present wife, Ada Elizabeth Ritter, daughter of Eugene and Sarah Ritter. She was born at Youngstown August 25, 1875, is a graduate of Rayen High School, and for ten years was a teacher in the public schools of the city and both before and since her marriage an able and devoted church worker. They have one daughter, Alice Elizabeth, born May 27, 1906. Mr. Miller is a member of the Board of Trustees of Thiel College. PHILIP KREUZWIESER. The office of biography is not to give voice to a man's modest estimate of himself and his accomplishments, but rather to leave upon the record the verdict establishing his character by the consensus of opinion on the part of his neighbors and fellow citizens. In touching upon the life history of the subject of this sketch the writer aims to avoid fulsome encomium and extravagant praise; yet he desires to hold up for consideration those facts which have shown the distinction of a true, useful and honorable life—a life characterized by perseverance, energy and well defined purpose. To do this will be but to reiterate the dictum pronounced upon the man by the people who have known him long and well. Philip Kreuzwieser, who has been actively identified with the lumber business in Youngstown for more than a quarter of a century, was born in Germany in 1863, and is the son of Conrad and Elizabeth Kreuzwieser. The father, who was a farmer in his native land, is now deceased, and is survived by his widow, who is now eighty-six years of age. The subject of this sketch was reared on the home farm, and also had considerable experience in the timber business, having engaged in the manufacture of heavy timber for ships and in the production of cooperage timbers. In 1893 Mr. Kreuzwieser, desirous of larger opportunities for business advancement, immigrated to the United States, coming at once to Youngstown, to which place relatives and friends had preceded him. Having had considerable experience, as just stated, in the lumber and timber business, it was but natural for him to turn to the same line of work here, and his first employment was with Heller Brothers, where he had charge of the lumber yard and of shipping. Later he became connected with the Iron City Lumber Company, until their interests were taken over by the Union Wholesale Lumber Compary, when he became superintendent of the latter company's plant on Williamson Avenue. Recently, on account of his proficiency in the use of the German language and his general knowledge of the business and of its manufacture, he was put in charge of Plant No. Four, which position he still retains. This position entails a vast amount of responsibility, but Mr. Kreuzwieser is well qualified for the duties thrown upon him and is discharging them in a manner that has won for him the complete approval of the officers of the company. 132 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY Mr. Kreuzwieser was married in Germany to Louisa Albrecht, and they have become the parents of eight children, all of whom are living, namely : Philip, Jr., associated with the Hawk-Palmer Company; Louisa, the wife of Elza Booth, superintendent of Yard No. Three of the Union Wholesale Lumber Company ; Conrad, a plumber in Youngstown; Henry, engaged in business in Niles, Ohio ; Irma, the wife of David Jenkins; Esther, employed in the offices of Plant No. Three, Union Wholesale Lumber Company; Alma, with her father in the offices of Plant No. Four ; and Hilda, at home. Religiously Mr. Kreuzwieser and his family are members of the First Reformed Church, of which he has been a deacon for fifteen years and is also corresponding secretary. He is a member of the Protective Home Circle. He belongs distinctively to that class of German-American citizens to whom this country owes so much, for he has shown all the qualities of good citizenship and has been loyal to our institutions both in time of peace and conflict. The splendid success which has come to him is directly traceable to the salient points in his character, for he started life at the bottom of the ladder, which he has mounted unaided, and today he enjoys to a notable degree the esteem and good will of all who know him. THOMAS JOSEPH BRAY. No better eulogium can be pronounced upon a community or upon its individual members than to point to the work they have accomplished. Theories look fine on the printed page and sound well when proclaimed from the platform, but in the end it is effort in the various lines of industrial activity which develops the man and tells on society. This is essentially a utilitarian age, and the man of action is very much in evidence. Thomas J. Bray, president of the Republic Iron and Steel Company of Youngstown, is such a man, and as such it is pleasant to contemplate briefly his career and character. Intimately associated for years with the industrial development of this thriving city, and taking an active part in other local activities, he is not underestimated by a people who long since learned to appreciate his true value as a potent factor in important affairs. Though a man of unpretentious demeanor, he possesses the silent but powerful force that attracts men—the mental qualities and personal magnetism that draw men to him and the tact and power that make men as well as events subserve his purpose. Thomas Joseph Bray was born May 1, 1867, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a son of Thomas Joseph and Anna Jacova (Collins) Bray. The father, who was a native of rock-ribbed Wales and came to the United States in his early youth, was a mechanical engineer by profession. He became actively identified with the tube making industry, and at the time of his death he was the manager of the Continental department of the National Tube Company. He was a man of more than ordinary ability and technical acquirements and designed and built various plants which are now a part of the National Tube Company. The subject's mother, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, was of old Virginia and Kentucky stock, dating in this country back to 1750. Her grandfather, Sylvester Pattie, a native of Kentucky, was a noted frontiersman and pioneer of his day. Thomas J. Bray received his elementary educational training in his native city. He then began an apprenticeship in pattern making with the Lewis Foundry and Machine Company of Pittsburgh, with whom he remained from 1883 to 1836. During the following four years he was with the Riverside Iron Works and the Lewis Foundry and Machine Company, becoming chief draftsman of the latter company. He resigned this position in 1890 in order to enter Lehigh University at South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1894 with the degree of Mechanical Engineer. During the period from 1894 to 1901 Mr. Bray was with the Ohio Steel Company of Youngstown and McGill & Company of Pittsburgh, being secretary and mechanical engineer of the latter. From 1901 to 1906 he was chief engineer of the United Engineering and Foundry Company, and in the latter year he became associated with the Republic Iron and Steel Company of Youngstown, as assistant to the president. Soon afterward he became vice president, in charge of the operating department, and in April, 1911, he was elected president of the company, in which position he has served continuously to the present time, being also a director in the company and president of their various subsidiary companies. The Republic Iron and Steel Company is one of the most important and prosperous corporations in the Mahoning Valley, and to Mr. Bray is directly due a large part of the success which has characterized the operations of the company, especially during recent years. He is also a director of the First National Bank and the Dollar Savings Bank and Trust Company, both of Youngstown. He is a member of the Duquesne and University clubs of Pittsburgh, the Youngstown and Youngstown Country clubs, of Youngstown, of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the British Iron and Steel Institute, and of the American Iron and Steel Institute. He is a progressive man in the broadest sense of the term, and because of his earnest life, high attainments, well rounded character and large influence," he is eminently entitled to representation in a work of the character of the one in hand. In 1896 Mr. Bray was married to Isabel Matthews, and to their union have been born three sons, Thomas J., Jr., Theodore M. and Charles. During the recent World war Theodore M., while a student in Yale University, enlisted in the naval service of the United States. The family attend the First Unitarian Church of Youngstown. FRANK L. DENORMANDIE. The life history of him whose name heads this biographical review is closely identified with the history of Youngstown, which has long been his home. He began his business career here many years ago, and through the subsequent years he has been closely allied with the city's interests and upbuilding. His life has been one of untiring activity and has been crowned with a degree of success that has been richly earned through persistent and consecutive effort. He is of the highest type of progressive citizen and none more than he deserves a fitting recognition among YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 133 those whose enterprise and ability have achieved results that awakened the admiration of those who know them. Frank L. DeNormandie was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on January 15, 1853, and is the son of Theodore and Christina DeNormandie. Theodore DeNormandie was descended from a sterling line of Swiss ancestors, the family having come to this country from Geneva, Switzerland. He was a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and was by trade a nailer, or maker of the old-style cut nails. After his removal to New Castle he became foreman in the plant of Rice, Brown & Berger. He was a splendid citizen and was a man of strong religious feelings and principles, having been a leader in religious activities for many years, as a Sunday school worker and in other lines. He was a very close friend of Ira D. Sankey, the world-famous song writer and evangelistic singer, and at one time they were partners in business. Mr. DeNormandie made a washing machine and he and Sankey sold some of them to the farmers in Western Pennsylvania. Mr. DeNormandie was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife are both deceased, his death occurring in 1867, at the age of forty-seven years, and his wife passed away some time later. Nine children were born to their marriage, several of whom died in infancy. The three now living are, Mary, the wife of Noble Holton, of Youngstown; Frank L., the immediate subject of this sketch, and Lida, the wife of John Knox, of New Castle, Pennsylvania. Emma, who was the wife of William Mc- Burney, of New Castle, died at the age of about twenty-seven years. Frank L. DeNormandie was reared in New Castle, where he secured a good practical public school education. In 1869, at the age of sixteen years, he entered the employ of John H. Bushnell, a harness- maker in Youngstown, but later he returned to the paternal farmstead for a time. He then re-entered Bushnell's employ as foreman, holding that position until 1884, when, in association with J. T. Kay, he bought the Bushnell business. Later he also purchased Mr. Kay's interest at No. 24 South Phelps Street, where for many years the DeNormandie business activities were centered. About that time (1908) Mr. DeNormandie's son, Albert Franklin, was admitted to a partnership in the business, the firm name being styled F. L. DeNormandie & Son. Formerly for many years the business was confined to harness and harnessmaking, but of recent years they have added a full line of automobile accessories and are among the leaders in that line also, as they have been for many years in the handling of harness and its kindred lines. Mr. DeNormandie built a business block which Frank L. DeNormandie & Son now occupy at Elm and Thornton streets, Youngstown, Ohio. Mr. DeNormandie has always had abidrng faith in Youngstown's future and has given evidence of this in his business activities, having for a number of years followed the practice of building handsome residences and then selling them. In 1874 Mr. DeNormandie was married to Emma McIntire, the daughter of John McIntire, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, and the two children born to them were Albert Franklin, who is now junior mem ber of Frank L. DeNormandie & Son, and Blanch Ada, deceased, who was the wife of John W. Miller of Cleveland. She left one daughter, Ruth, who is being reared by her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. DeNormandie. Politically Mr. DeNormandie has been a life-long supporter of the republican party and has been active in local public affairs. On the death of James Botsford he was appointed to fill the vacancy on the City Council caused thereby, and was then elected to succeed himself and served one term, but he refused to qualify for a third term, for the reason that as a member of the City Council he could not deal as a merchant with the City of Youngstown. In 1905 he was elected sheriff of Mahoning County, and was elected for a second term, thus serving until 1909 and giving a very satisfactory administration of the office. He was also a member of the Civil Service Commission of the City of Youngstown for three years. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. While advancing his individual interests he has never lost sight of his obligations to the community in general and has contributed in a very material way to the upbuilding of the city and has always been an earnest supporter of every movement for the moral and civic betterment of the community. Essentially a man of affairs, sound of judgment and far-seeing in whatever he has undertaken, he has won and retains the confidence and esteem of all classes. LEO S. WILKOFF. a son of one of Youngstown's foremost business men, Samuel Wilkoff, whose career is sketched on other pages, has earned his own right and distinction in his native city as a lawyer. Leo S. Wilkoff received his early education at the Rayen High School, and attended college at Bedford City, Virginia, and at Mount Union, Alliance, Ohio. He then entered the Cincinnati Law School, graduating with his LL. B. degree in 1914. Soon afterward he was appointed second assistant prosecuting attorney by Mr. Huxley, and the two years and three months he spent in that office gave him a great variety of experience and also confidence for independent practice. He resigned to give his time to his growing general practice. He has had much success in criminal cases. Mr. Wilkoff is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Elks, with the Progress Club and other local social and civic organizations. In 1913 he married Miss Cecelia Belle Cohen, daughter of Charles and Rae Cohen, of Connellsville, Pennsylvania. They have one daughter, Ruth Caropline, born in 1914. GEORGE B. EASTLAKE In the respect that is accorded to men who have fought their own way to success through unfavorable conditions we find an unconscious recognition of the intrinsic worth of a character which can not only endure so rough a test, but gain new strength through the discipline. The gentleman to whom the reader's attention is now called was not favored by inherited wealth or the assistance of influential friends, but in spite of this, by perseverance, industry and a wise economy, he 134 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY has attained a comfortable station in life and a high place in the estimation of those who know him. George B. Eastlake was born at Jamestown, Pennsylvania, on September 30, 1878, and is the son of George W. and Melissa Jane (Lawyer) Eastlake. George W. Eastlake, who is now living in Andover, Ohio, at the age of eighty years, was a farmer by vocation during his active years. During the Civil war he offered his services in defense of the Union and served two years as a member of Company C, Twenty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was seriously wounded and disabled and received an honorable discharge. He is a republican in his political views and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He comes of sterling old English stock, and his wife, who is now deceased, was of Welsh ancestry. They became the parents of seven children, of whom six are living, Byron having been killed in an accident when twenty-seven years old. George B. Eastlake received his education in the public schools of Jamestown, Pennsylvania, and Andover, Ohio, graduating from the high school in the latter place, whither the family had moved in 1890. After leaving high school Mr. Eastlake taught country schools for two years, and then became a traveling salesman in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. His next employment was as a driver for the Adams Express Company at Canton, Ohio, from which he was appointed express agent at Wellsville, Ohio. Nine years later he became bookkeeper for the Franklin Manufacturing Company at Franklin, Pennsylvania, remaining there two years. Again he joined the Adams Express Company as agent at Alliance, Ohio, but a year later he was sent to Indianapolis, Indiana, as night bill clerk for a few months, following which he was sent to Coshocton, Ohio, as agent. In 1912 the Adams Company sent him to take charge of the Youngstown office, but one year later he quit the express business and became manager of the Wheeler Mineral Springs Company, with which company he has remained to the present time. His practical business experience prior to coming here has enabled him to manage the affairs of this company with splendid success, its volume of business growing from year to year in a very satisfactory degree. This company is erecting a modern sanitary building to take care of the ever increasing demands for this wonderful spring water. In 1910 Mr. Eastlake was united in marriage with Mary M. Graham, the daughter of C. C. Graham, of Coshocton, and they are now the parents of four children, Virginia, John, Robert and Eleanor. Politically Mr. Eastlake is nominally a republican, but at the ballot, as in other things, he is honest to his convictions, voting for the men and measures which he believes to be for the general good. He is an active member of the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is a member of the board of trustees, the board of stewards, the estimating committee, and is assistant financial secretary. Although a quiet and unassuming man, with no ambition for public position or leadership, he has contributed his share to the material, civic and moral advancement of his community, while his admirable qualities of head and heart and the straightforward course of his daily life have won for him the esteem and confidence of the circles in which he moves. JAMES H. GROSE. It is by no means an easy task to describe within the limits of this review a man who has led an active life and by his own exertions reached a position of honor and trust in the line of work with which his interests are allied. But biography finds justification, nevertheless, in tracing and recording the story of such a life, as the public claims a certain property interest in the career of every individual, and the time invariably arrives when it becomes advisable to give the right publicity. It is then with a certain degree of satisfaction that the chronicler essays the task of touching briefly upon such a record as has been that of James H. Grose, president of the Brier Hill Steel Company, at Youngstown, a man of high standing among his business associates and one who enjoys to a marked degree distinct prestige in this community. James H. Grose was born at Calumet, Michigan, on December 31, 1865, being one of five children born to James H. and Eliza (Richerd) Grose. James H. Grose, senior, was a native of England, where he was reared and, near Cornwall, engaged in farming. He married there, and in 1864, in the hope of bettering his financial condition, immigrated with his family to the United States. Following the example of many of his acquaintances, he went to the copper country of Michigan, where he secured work in the mines. From there he came to the Youngstown, Ohio, district about 1871, and engaged in coal mining here and in Mercer and Jefferson counties, Pennsylvania. Later he engaged in railroad work and was a faithful employe of the Lake Shore road for thirty-three years, his death occurring on September 28, 1915. He was a man of excellent principles, honest, hard-working and law abiding, and he commanded the respect of his fellow men because of his exemplary character. He did not accumulate much of this world's goods, owing to the fact that his qualities did not lie in that direction, but he provided a good living for those dependent upon him and also was punctilious in paying every obligation incurred by him. His widow survives him and resides in Youngstown. James H. Grose, the immediate subject of this review, is indebted to the public schools for his early education, later attending and graduating at Reidsburg Academy at Reidsburg, Pennsylvania. Shortly thereafter he entered the employ of the Morris Bridge Company, where after a short time he was put into the mechanical department and there learned the machinist's trade. Later he was transferred to the engineering department to learn bridge engineering, but unfortunately the plant was destroyed by fire and he found himself without employment. In 1887 he went to Homestead, Pennsylvania, and became foreman of the bridge department for the Carnegie Company, and has been connected in some capacity with that great corporation ever since. From foreman on the bridge work he became superintendent of the structural department, then superintendent of the Howard Axle Works, superintendent of the Schoen Pressed Steel Car YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 135 Works at McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and then, on January 20, 1912, he was transferred to Youngstown as superintendent of the Ohio Works and Furnaces, under Thomas McDonald. On January 1, 1916, he was promoted to district general superintendent, to succeed Mr. McDonald, a position he occupied until January 12, 1920, when he was elected president of the Brier Hill Steel Company. This is a position of vast responsibility, but Mr. Grose's long experience in the iron business and his natural qualifications have eminently fitted him for the position which he now so creditably fills. In May, 1890, Mr. Grose was married to Sadie S. Owens, of Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, and they have two sons, William J. and James P. The former was in the United States naval service during the recent war with Germany. Mr. Grose is a member of the Youngstown Club and the Youngstown Country Club, while fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Order, in which he has attained to the Knight Templar degree of the York Rite and the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, belonging also to the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a member of the American Iron and Steel Institute, the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania, and the Engineers Society of Youngstown. By a straight forward and commendable course he has made his way from a humble beginning to a responsible position in the business world, winning the hearty admiration of those familiar with his record. Pe:sonally he is a man of genial and kindly disposition, who readily makes friends, and he is exceedingly well liked by all who come in contact with him. BENJAMIN R. ISENBERG. Among the citizens of Youngstown who have built up a good business and distinguished themselves by right and honorable living is Benjamin R. Isenberg, another of the large band of foreign-born citizens who have done such a commendable work for the upbuilding of Mahoning County. His prominence in the community is conceded and his career will speak for itself, for he has been a man who has believed in helping others in a general way, at least, while laboring for his own advancement along material lines. He has much of the characteristic thrift and energy of the race of which he is a creditable representative, and while he reveres his old homeland, as is natural and right, he nevertheless has been loyal to the western republic in which he has cast his lot and has taken about as much interest in our affairs, domestic and national, as we who are native born. Benjamin R. Isenberg was born in Tylitch, Austria, on August 23, 1878, and is a son of Solomon and Malke Isenberg. Solomon Isenberg immigrated from Austria to the United States and located first in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Some time later he went to Beaver Falls, that state, and then to Roscoe, the same state. His first employment here was in iron mills, where he made good money, of which he was wisely economical, so that he was enabled to start in business for himself. Though now seventy- two years of age, he is still engaged actively in business. After he had become established in business here he sent for his family, who came to the United States in 1890. The mother died in 1896, when forty-two years of age, and some years afterward Mr. Isenberg was married to Fannie Friedman, of Scranton, Pennsylvania. To the first union four sons were born, namely : Philip, a dealer in shoes and leather findings in Youngstown ; Benjamin R. is the next in order of birth ; Samuel H. is connected with Robins Brothers, of Youngstown; J. H. is associated with the subject in the shoe business and is in charge of the store which they operate at Sharon, Pennsylvania. Five children were born of the second marriage : Benjamin, who died while serving the United States in the Great European war ; Fannie, Esther, Molly and Jacob. Benjamin R. Isenberg attended school to some extent in his native land and was about twelve years of age when the family came to the United States. His first employment was in selling newspapers on the streets of New York City, where he lived from 1891 to 1895. Later he found employment in a brush factory, and in the meantime he sought to supplement his education by attendance at night schools. In 1895 he came to Youngstown in company with his brother Philip and engaged in the operation of a shoe repairing shop and second-hand store. He was financially successful in this enterprise and in two he engaged in the shoe business under the name of the "People's Shoe Store," at No. 260 West Federal Street, Youngstown. Later he moved to No. 241 on the same street, and eventually to his present store at No. 250 West Federal Street. Starting in a modest way, he soon built up a large and representative patronage and has since become recognized as an enterprising, progressive and successful business man. In 1910 Mr. Isenberg also opened a shoe store in Cleveland, but later he moved that stock to Youngstown and opened another store on East Federal Street. In 1912 a store was opened in Sharon, Pennsylvania, which is, as stated, under the management of a brother of the subject, J. H. Isenberg. The subject of this sketch is the buyer for the three stores, and by buying right he is able to sell right, the buying public being the beneficiary. In 1907 Mr. Isenberg was married to Helen Zinner, a daughter of Adolph Zinner, of Cleveland, and to them have been born three children, Helen, Jacob and Joseph. Mr. Isenberg is an active member of Rodef Sholem Congregation and is vice president of a committee which has been selected to supervise the erection of a new temple for Anshe Emeth Congregation, of which he is to become a member. He is also a member of the B'rith Sholem. He has been successful in business, respected in social life and as a neighbor he has discharged his duties in a manner becoming a liberal minded, intelligent citizen. He is charitable and generous and, because of his success and his fine personal qualities, he is respected and esteemed by all who know him. LOUIS GREENBERG. Although born under another flag, in a country of widely different customs from ours, Louis Greenberg, proprietor of the Ohio Creamery Company of Youngstown, has been true to the duties of citizenship in his adopted country, faithful to every trust reposed in him and well 136 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY worthy of the high regard in which he is universally held. A plain, straightforward, unassuming gentleman, he has sought to make his business what is should be, one of the really essential industries of the community, and one would judge from the steady growth of the business in a general way and from the many laudatory statements from his hundreds of customers that he has succeeded admirably well. He seems to have ever had the good of this locality at heart and has advocated and supported every movement calculated to benefit the same in a material, civic or moral way, and he therefore enjoys the good will and esteem of all classes. Louis Greenberg was born in 1876, under the rule of the Czar, the son of Barnard Greenberg, who also was a native of Russia. His mother died there, and when he was a boy of six years his father brought him to the United States. Their first permanent location was at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, where the father followed his trade, that of a tailor. Later he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where his death occurred. The subject of this sketch received his education in the public schools of Beaver Falls and Philadelphia, and at the age of nineteen years he was engaged in the creamery and wholesale and retail dairy products business in Philadelphia. He was so engaged for several years, but in 1903 he came to Youngstown, Ohio, and established himself in the retail clothing business on Federal Street, which occupied his attention for several years. Then, disposing of that business, he opened a wholesale dairy products establishment at No. 24 Walnut Street,. in which he met with so gratifying a degree of success that a short time afterward he was enabled to purchase his present place of business at Nos. 242-4 East Boardman Street, where he has built up one of the largest volumes of trade in his line in the Mahoning Valley, his operations being conducted under the name of the Ohio Creamery Company. His trade covers the towns of East Youngstown, Warren, Niles, Girard and Struthers, as well as a large section of Youngstown. While living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mr. Greenberg was married to Fannie Greenberg, and to this union have been born four sons and a daughter, namely : Harry, Samuel, Raymond, Henry and Ida. Mrs. Fannie Greenberg died on July 14, 1911, and sometime afterward Mr. Greenberg was married to Hannah Greenburg, of Cleveland, Ohio, to which union have been born three children, Morris, Gertrude and Bertha. Harry and Sam played their part, as far as was possible, in the World's war, the former having been on the way overseas when the armistice was signed, while Sam was serving in the general hospital at Otisville, New York. Both are graduates of the Rayen High School, and their records are such that their father has reason to be proud. Mr. Greenberg and his family are affiliated with Emanuel Jewish Congregation. Mr. Greenberg is a member of the Credit Men's Association. Though a foreigner by birth, America is the only country he knows and the only country he loves, his loyalty being of that type that is proven by his actions rather than by words. His splendid business success is the legitimate fruitage of hard and consecutive effort, directed and controlled not only by good judg ment but also by correct moral principles. He takes a deep interest in the welfare of the city with whose interests he is identified, and is considered a progressive and enterprising business man. RAYMOND N. PRETSCH, of Youngstown, is an engineer by profession and training, has had much to do with both the sales and construction ends of several industrial corporations, and developed a large and prosperous business known as the Builders Steel Products Company, of which he is proprietor. Mr. Pretsch was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 28, 1886, a son of one of the two children of John J. and Elizabeth (Meister) Pretsch. His parents are still living in Philadelphia, where Mr. Pretsch was reared and received a public school education. In 1906 he entered the University of Pennsylvania where he pursued a technical course and graduated as civil engineer in 1910. For the past ten years all his work has involved some branch of the engineering profession. For one year he was employed in building construction for the Bell Telephone Company. He then opened a branch office at Scranton, Pennsylvania, for George H. Walters & Company of Philadelphia, selling their structural and ornamental products. Mr. Pretsch in September, 1912, became sales engineer for the Berger Manufacturing Company of Canton, Ohio. His home has been at Youngstown since May, 1914. He came to this city as sales engineer of the fireproofing department of the General Fireproofing Company. In 1917 he was made assistant sales manager of the corporation. He resigned September 1, 1919, to become an agent handling the products of the General Fire Proofing Company, and to do that more effectively he organized the Builders' Steel Products Company, and at the same time established a branch office at Akron. Through this company Mr. Pretsch now handles the general trade over a large territory of the fire proofing products of the General Fire Proofing Company, also the re-enforcing bars of the Concrete Steel Company of New York, and various miscellaneous products used in steel construction. Mr. Pretsch is a member of the Engineers Club, the Builders' Exchange, the Youngstown Credit Men's Association, is a republican voter and is affiliated with the First Presbyterian Church. May 14, 1915, he married Mabel Barrie, of Canton, Ohio. They have one daughter, Marjorie Barrie. GEORGE CARL WARNOCK, M. D., began the practice of medicine at Youngstown in 1912, some years after his brother Fred J. had located in the city as a lawyer. The Warnocks are a family that have long been identified with Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio, and while Doctor Warnock is the only one in the medical profession, several of his brothers have earned success as railroad men, in the law and in public affairs., George Carl Warnock was born at New Castle, Pennsylvania, November 17, 1883, a son of Hugh H. and Mary Jane (Rose) Warnock. His father was a native of Pennsylvania. He was a painting contractor at New Castle until his business was swept away in the panic of 1873. Later he farmed east of New Castle and died in January, 1896. He YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 137 was a son of Hugh Warnock, who was a native of the North of Ireland. Mary J. (Rose) Warnock, a resident of New Castle, is a daughter of Isaac P. Rose, who was a western plainsman and a companion of Kit Carson in many Indian campaigns. Finally returning east he spent many years as a teacher in Western Pennsylvania. Doctor Warnock graduated from the New Castle public schools, attended Westminster College in Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1911 from Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia. As his people were in only modest circumstances, he had to depend upon his own efforts to secure his higher education. Three years of teaching in the country gave him at least part of the money that enabled him to go to college and through medical school. For one year he was resident physician in the Shenango Valley Hospital at New Castle and also has taken further training in the Post-Graduate School in New York. During his general practice at Youngstown since 1912 he has earned a reputation as a well qualified and a skillful and hard-working physician. He is a member of the Mahoning County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is affiliated with Western Star Lodge of Masons and is a member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church. In 1914 he married Miss Laura Mills, daughter of William G. Mills of Gault, Ontario. CHARLES F. DuCHANOIS. Clearly defined purpose and consecutive effort will inevitably result in the attaining of a due measure of success, but in following out the career of one who has gained success by his own efforts there conies into view the intrinsic individuality which made such accomplishment possible, and thus there is granted an objective incentive and inspiration, while at the same time there is enkindled a feeling of respect and admiration. The qualities which have made Charles F. DuChanois one of the prominent and successful men of Youngstown have also brought him the esteem of his fellow men, for his career has been one of well directed energy, strong determination and honorable methods. Charles F. DuChanois is a native of the city now honored by his citizenship, having been born at the parental home on Wood Street in 1884. His parents, Frank and Sarah Ann DuChanois, came to Youngstown from Frenchtown, Pennsylvania, which, as might be inferred from its name, was largely peopled by French and their descendants. The father of Frank DuChanois, who was a Frenchman by nativity, was a sculptor and artist by profession and became a resident of Frenchtown. Frank DuChanois was connected with the Dingledy Lumber Company for the long period of thirty-five years, or from the time they started in the lumber business. Then for a long time he was engaged in farming on the Applegate farm, which is located on the Hubbard road. Later he moved back to Youngstown and for a time was connected with Henry Reno in the meat business on Phelps Street. His death occurred in April, 1914, at the age of sixty-one years, and his wife died on January I, 1917, at the same age. He was a member of the Roman Catholic Church and she of the Lutheran. They became the parents of five children, of whom four are living, namely : Pearl, whose death occurred at the same time as her mother's, when thirty-one years of age ; Maude, Catharine, Joseph and Charles. Charles H. DuChanois received his education in the schools at Crab Creek, near where the family were living during his school years. When seventeen years of age he obtained employment in the electrical department of the Ohio Works of the Carnegie Steel Company, where he remained three years. He then began experimenting with magnetos, to which work he devoted all his money and a year's time, and following this he devoted himself to the studying of batteries. As a result of his research work he has developed some very valuable inventions, which are extensively used all over the United States. His first business venture on his own account was as a dealer in batteries, carrying his stock in a barn at No. 128 West Wood Street. From that modest beginning Mr. DuChanois has enjoyed a steady and constant growth in patronage, and eventually he was enabled to purchase the place where he is now located, No. 663 Bryson Street, which is 80 by 280 feet in size. Here he has had erected a building adapted especially to his requirements, and which contains a fully equipped machine shop and every facility for the prompt and satisfactory handling of every sort of repair work that may be brought to him. He keeps constantly employed from twelve to fifteen skilled machinists and electricians, and his shop is widely known as one of the most complete automobile repair shops in the Mahoning Valley. Mr. DuChanois makes a specialty of handling the Willard storage batteries and the Detroit and Rausch & Lang electric cars. Mr. DuChanois' brother Joseph is associated with him in the business. Mr. DuChanois is a member of Western Star Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. He takes an intelligent interest in public affairs and has consistently given his support to every worthy movement for the benefit of the people. A man of clean and upright character and fine personal qualities, he enjoys an enviable standing in the community, where practically his entire life has been passed. JOHN J. WEITZ. The gentleman whose name heads this paragraph is widely known as one of the honored citizens and successful business men of Youngstown. He has lived here for nearly three decades and for nearly that long has been prominently identified with the commercial interests of the community. His well-directed efforts in the practical affairs of life, his capable management of his business interests and his sound judgment have brought to him prosperity, and his life demonstrates what may be accomplished by any man of energy and ambition who is not afraid to. work and has the perseverance to continue his labors in the face of any discouragements which may seem to arise. In all the relations of life he has commanded the respect and confidence of those with whom he has been brought into contact and a biographical com- 138 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY pendium of his community would not be complete without a record of his career. John J. Weitz was born in Hubbard, Trumbull County, Ohio, on July 17, 1867, and is the son of John J., Sr., and Catharine Weitz, both of whom were born in Germany and came to the United States when young, settling in Hubbard. His real start in business was at Clinton, Ohio. He was killed by a railroad engine at Liberty Crossing while driving cattle, in 1881, when fifty-five years of age. He was a butcher and an extensive dealer in cattle and was successful in his business affairs. He was survived by his widow, who died in 1911, when eighty-six years of age. They were faithful members of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church at Hubbard. They became the parents of a large family, of whom the youngest is deceased, and Margaret died at the age of twenty-six years. John J. is the immediate subject of this review ; Mary E. is the wife of John S. Birk, of Youngstown ; Rose is the widow of John Powers, who, in the capacity of confidential man, was associated with McKelvey's for years ; Joseph was for a number of years manager of the Morris Packing Company's interests in Youngstown ; William, who is in the meat business in Hubbard, Ohio ; Lawrence, was associated with his brother William until his death February 29, 1920; J. P. is a stock dealer ; Annie F., who is the wife of Frank Kohl, of Massillon, Ohio ; Kate is the wife of Michael Pigott, of Seattle, Washington. John J. Weitz, Jr., received his educational training in St. Patrick's Parochial School at Hubbard and then completed his studies in the Hubbard High School. He was reared in close touch with the meat business and early learned every detail connected with it from his father, who was one of the most prominent butchers in his section of the country. In 1892 the subject came to Youngstown and established a meat market at No. 239 North Avenue, later moving the business to No. 206 West Rayen Avenue, where he is still located, and where during the years since he became first established here he has not only ably met the wants of his patrons, but at the same time has retained their confidence and esteem because of the eminently fair treatment they have ever received at his hands. In addition to the handling of cattle for the meat trade. Mr. Weitz has also given considerable attention to horses, of which he has handled • many thousands. Also he has recently become the local representative of the National Motor Company and has a garage in the rear of his meat market, where he gives active attention to the automobile trade, in which he has been successful, as he is in all his transactions. On November 23, 1901, Mr. Weitz was married to Nellie C. Holway, the daughter of Robert Holway. They are faithful members of St. Columba's Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Weitz's chief characteristics seem to be keenness of perception, a tireless energy, honesty of purpose and motive and every-day common sense. He has been successful in business, respected in social life and as a neighbor he has discharged his duties in a manner becoming a liberal-minded, intelligent citizen of the state. GEORGE M. MCKELVEY. Among the successful, self-made men of the past generation in Ohio whose efforts and influence contributed to the material up building of their respective communities the late George M. McKelvey, president of the G. M. McKelvey Company of Youngstown, occupied a conspicuous place. Being ambitious from the first, but surrounded by none too favorable circumstances, his early youth was not especially promising, but, resolutely facing the future, he gradually surmounted the difficulties in his way and in the course of time rose to a prominent position in the commercial circles of his community, besides winning the confidence and esteem of those with whom he came into contact, either in a business or social way, so that for years he stood as a representative citizen of the locality of which this history treats. Strongly in contrast with the humble surroundings of his early youth was the brilliant position which he eventually filled in business circles. He realized early that there is a purpose in life and that there is no honor not founded on accomplishment. His life and labors were worthy because they contributed to a proper understanding of life and its problems. There were in him sterling traits which commanded uniform confidence and regard, and his memory is today honored by all who knew him and is enshrined in the hearts of his many friends. George McCartney McKelvey, whose death occurred at Youngstown on December 24, 1905, was born at Armagh, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, on August 17, 1849, the son of James McKelvey. He was born amid humble surroundings, his early opportunities being meager, but he was ambitious and took eager advantage of such educational facilities as were provided by the common schools. After undergoing the necessary examination he was given a teacher's certificate and for several years thereafter he alternately taught school and farmed. Having relations in Youngstown, Ohio, he came here in 1869, and in partnership with his cousin, Lawson McKelvey, embarked in the general mercantile business at the corner of Oak Hill and Mahoning avenues. Later he operated on his own account what was known as the Red Hot Cash Store on West Federal Street, and it was about this time that he displayed the keen business qualifications that characterized his after life. For some time he conducted a store at Hubbard, Ohio, known as the Hubbard Store Company, but in 1882 he returned to Youngstown, and in association with Messrs. Andrews, Cochran, William J. Hitchcock and George J. Margarum, bought the mercantile establishment of the E. M. McGillen Company. The new organization became G. M. McKelvey & Company, a copartnership, which was successful from the beginning and soon became one of the most important mercantile concerns in the city, as it became, still later, of the state. In 1901 the concern was incorporated as The G. M. McKelvey Company, of which he was chosen president, holding that position up to the time of his death. Prior to its incorporation he had been the general manager. It can be said of Mr. McKelvey that he was a striking example of that comparatively small class of men who find their proper spheres in life. He YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 139 loved his work and threw into it all his energies. He was in the fullest sense of the word a progressive, virile, self-made American citizen, thoroughly in harmony with the spirit of the advanced age in which he lived. He made good use of his opportunities, and prospered from year to year, conducting all business matters carefully and systematically, and in all his acts displaying an aptitude for successful management. He did not confine his efforts solely to mercantile pursuits. He helped to organize the Commercial National Bank, of which he became president on the death of C. H. Andrews, and continued as such until his death. He was also one of the organizers of the Standard Oilcloth Company, now the Standard Textile Products Company, of which he was a director and the chairman of the executive board. He was vice president of the Youngstown Iron and Steel Roofing Company, of the Mahoning Foundry and Machine Company, and of the Edwin Bell Company, now of Pittsburgh. Unquestionably his greatest success was in the development of the great store bearing his name into a model department store, of which he was justifiably proud. Politically Mr. McKelvey was a stanch adherent of the republican party and his religious membership was with the Tabernacle United Presbyterian Church. He was an appreciative member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he had attained the degree of a Knight Templar. In September, 1876, George M. McKelvey was married to Leah M. Brownlee, of Struthers, Ohio, and to them were born five children, namely: Letitia, who married and has three children; Lucius B., who is the only male descendant of his father; Katherine, the wife of Charles F. Owsley; Gertrude, the wife of George Jones; and Florence, the wife of George Clegg. Mr. McKelvey's character was one of signal exaltation and purity of purpose. His character was the positive expression of a strong nature and his strength was as the number of his days. He lived and labored to worthy ends, and as one of the sterling citizens and representative men of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley his memory merits a tribute of honor on the pages of history. Lucius B. McKelvey was born on October 5, 1879, atubbard, Ohio, but has lived in Youngstown since early childhood. After completing the public school course he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Boston, where he made a special study of mining engineering. Thereafter for two years he was engaged in mining in Idaho, but in 1903, owing to his father's failing health, he returned to Youngstown and assisted him in looking after his various business interests, particularly of the G. M. McKelvey Company. He became president of this company in February, 1917, and still fills that position. He is a worthy successor of his father and has easily taken his place among the leaders of business in this community. He is a man of impressive personality, broad of mental ken and possesses the characteristics which ever beget esteem, confidence and friendship. On June 28, 1905, Lucius B. McKelvey was married to Blanche McConnell, of Salem, Ohio, and to them have been born four children, George M., Jane, Leah Margaret and William B. Mrs. McKelvey is a member of the First Presbyterian Church. Mr. McKelvey is a member of the Youngstown Club and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Emery L. McKelvey, vice president and general manager of the G. M. McKelvey Company, was born at Dilltown, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, on September 27, 1866, and is a son of Nathaniel W. and Mary (Peters) McKelvey, the former of whom was a half-brother of George M. McKelvey. The family moved to Mahoning County, Ohio, in 1871, and here the father followed farming. During the Civil war he served in the Union army, receiving an honorable discharge at the close of that conflict. To him and his wife were born eight children, all sons. Emery L. McKelvey received his educational training in the public schools of Youngstown. His first employment was in a clerical capacity with Andrews Brothers & Company at Hazelton and later with the Morse Bridge Company at that place. In 1885 he came to Youngstown and has since been engaged here in mercantile pursuits, in which he has been rewarded with a satisfactory measure of success. He is now a director, vice president and general manager of the G. M. McKelvey Company, a director of the New York Realty Company, which is capitalized at $100,000, and a director of the Wheeler Mineral Springs Company. For a number of years prior to the reorganization Mr. E. L. McKelvey served as secretary-treasurer of the G. M. McKelvey Company. On September 13, 1893, Mr. McKelvey was married to Emma Vogan, of Grove City, Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of three children, Mary Louise, the wife of Thomas J. Bray, Jr., of Youngstown, with the Republic Iron & Steel Company, of which his father, Thomas J. Bray, is president; Jane and Barbara. Fraternally Mr. McKelvey is a member of the Masonic Order, in which he has attained the degree of a Royal Arch Mason, and is also a member of the First Presbyterian Church, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Youngstown Club and the Youngstown Country Club. Because of his sterling traits of character and his genial disposition he commands the confidence and good will of all who know him. He is public spirited and gives his support to all movements for the betterment of the community. HERMAN C. HOLSTEIN. It is a well authenticated fact that success comes as a result of legitimate and well applied energy, unflagging determination and perseverance in a course of action when once decided upon. She is never known to bestow her largesses upon the indolent and ambitionless, and only those who seek her untiringly are recipients of her blessings. In tracing the history of the influential business man and representative citizen whose name introduces this sketch, it is plainly seen that the prosperity which he enjoys has been won by commendable qualities and it is also his personal worth that has gained for him the high esteem of those who know him. Herman C. Holstein is a native of the old Buck- 140 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY eye state, having been born in the City of Akron on the 7th day of July, 1876, and he is the son of Nathan and Ida (Kalmus) Holstein. Nathan Holstein was born in Hungary on December 10, 1845, and lived there until eighteen years old, when he immigrated to the United States. He knew something of cigar making and his first business venture after arriving in this country was to engage in cigar making, he having formed a partnership under the name of Holstein & Goldberger Cigar Company. They made good cigars and were prospered in their business, which grew to extensive proportions. In 1881 they were giving employment to about fifty people, but in that year they moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and greatly increased their output, giving employment to from 150 to 200 persons. They continued in business there for many years, their plant being located at No. 123 Water Street, Cleveland. Nathan Holstein, who is now seventy-five years of age, has retired from active business, though he is still a large holder of property interests, including a large tobacco farm near Dayton, Ohio. He and his wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on January 2, 1920, and it was an occasion of great pleasure to his large circle of friends. To him and his wife were born five children, four sons and a daughter, all of whom are living, namely : Alex is engaged in business at Lima, Ohio; Charles who lives in Dayton and who has acquired a wide reputation as a concert violinist, studied under the best teachers in America, and then went to Europe, completing his studies at Budapest and at Vienna under the great virtuoso, Yean Hubay ; Herman C. is the next in order of birth; Sidney is a manufacturer of women's wearing apparel at Cleveland, Ohio; and the daughter, Gertrude, is the wife of Dr. U. M. Bachman, of Cleveland, who entered the United States service during the recent war, took special training for war work at Baltimore, Maryland, and organized a field hospital and saw much active service on the battle fields of France. So prominent did he become because of the character of his services that he was called to the Peace Conference in Paris by President Wilson, and only just recently has he returned to America. Nathan Holstein has always taken a prominent part in church and charitable work and is a leader among his people, being an active and influential member of the Hungarian Jewish Society and other organizations. Herman C. Holstein received a good practical education in the public schools of Cleveland, to which city the family had moved in his childhood. He learned to make cigars in his father's factory, but later turned his attention to other lines of business. For a number of years he was on the road as a traveling salesman for Bloch & Company of Pittsburgh, covering Pennsylvania and Ohio. He was frequently in Youngstown, and at that time made up his mind to locate here eventually. On August 26, 1909, he formed a partnership with Abraham Freed, and they engaged in business as outfitters of men, women and children at No. 323 East Federal Street, Youngstown. So successful were they in that enterprise that in 1914 they opened "The Fair" store at 205 East Federal, and but re cently opened still another store of the same character, known as "The Famous," located at No. 233 Federal Street. The first store, which is known as "The Old Reliable," demonstrated the capacity and commercial ability of the new firm, and, though they started into business with but moderate resources, they soon acquired a high reputation for honorable business methods and commanded good credit, the result being not only a large and steady growth in trade, but also an enviable standing as an enterprising and progressive business firm. On October 26, 1905, Mr. Holstein was married to Helen Belle Freed, the daughter of H. Freed, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and to them have been born two children, Marvin, deceased, and Charles, who was born on December 6, 1913. Mr. Holstein has taken a very active part in church affairs. In every phase of life's activities in which he has engaged he has faithfully performed his part and is therefore worthy of the confidence and regard reposed in him by all who knew him. REV. FRANCIS KOZELEK, Consecrated to the noble calling to which he is giving his best efforts, Rev. Francis Kozelek, who has charge of Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church in Youngstown, has led a busy and useful life, and his work has been blessed to the advancement of God's kingdom. A son of Aloys and Marianna Kozelek, he was born December 12, 1872, in Beneschau District, Ratibor, now belonging to Czecho-Slovania, where he spent his childhood days. When Francis Kozelek was six years old his father, who was a stone mason by trade, moved with his family to Vitkovice, Moravia, where the lad acquired his early education, attending the public schools from 1878 until 1886. The ensuing eight years he continued his studies at the Diocesan College in Kromeriz. Desirous of fitting himself for the priesthood, he studied theology at Olomuc four years, and in 1898 was ordained as a priest by Right Reverend Theodore Kohn, archbishop, being one of a class of seventy-two to he invested with priestly orders. For nine years thereafter Father Kozelek served as a priest in his native land, residing in that part of the country that had been taken by Prussia, strong efforts at that period being made to Germanize it, but it now belongs to Czecho-Slovania. In 1907 Bishop Kondelka was sent across the Atlantic by Right Reverend Bishop Horstman to find priests willing to come to America to minister to the spiritual needs of their countrymen. Responding to the call, Father Kozelek volunteered his services, and on his arrival in the United States was settled in Lorain, Ohio, where he had charge of Holy Trinity Church from February 1, 1908, until July 14, 1915. He was well repaid for his labors in that vicinity, the church under his care growing to a congregation of 200 families. Coming from Lorain to Youngstown, Father Kozelek has been equally successful in his pastoral work, the church of which he now has charge having made rapid growth, at least 500 families being represented in its congregation. During his pastorate in this city he has not only endeared himself to his own people, but to those outside of his own de- YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 141 nomination, the community with which he is identified holding him in high respect. WILLIAM JAMES HITCHCOCK. The conditions under which industrial and commercial enterprises of magnitude are prosecuted in this age of phenomenal advancement in all lines of human activity demand men who are forceful and of strong potentiality, courage and judgment. Numbered among such representatives in the personnel of the successful business men identified with the material and civic progress of the commonwealth of Ohio during the past generation was the late William James Hitchcock, of the City of Youngstown. Invulnerable integrity and high purpose characterized his life, and he left an indelible impress upon the annals of the community honored by his residence, and upon his record there rests no shadow or blemish. His strength was as the number of his days, and not only did he accomplish much in connection with the practical affairs of life, but his nature, strong and vigorous, found denotement in kindly tolerance and human sympathy, generous deeds and worthy service. His long and active career was one of close and fruitful identification with business interests of great magnitude, in which he gained marked prestige. Measured by its accomplishment, its beneficence and its helpful optimism, the life of Mr. Hitchcock had wide and emphatic significance. William James Hitchcock was born in Granville, New York, May 16, 1829, and was a son of Warren Ferris and Almira Willoughby (Adams) Hitchcock. The family is of English origin, whence they came to America in 1635 and established homes in New England, where, genrally speaking, they established themselves in agricultural pursuits. About the year 1785, having received grants of land in Western New York, members of the family located there and became well and favorably known. Among these was Warren Ferris Hitchcock, who served as sheriff of Washington County. There also was born the immediate subject of this sketch. William James Hitchcock was reared on the farm of an uncle, where he remained until, while yet in his teens, he went west as far as Cleveland, where he supplemented the scholastic training which he already had received at Kingsbury, New York. Later he spent a winter at Buffalo, and then went to Detroit, where he learned the trade of a machinist. Then, returning east as far as Pittsburgh, he found employment as bookkeeper for the predecessors of the present firm of McIntosh, Hemphill & Company. Later he was sent by his employers to New Castle, Pennsylvania, as receiver's agent for an iron mill. In 1859 he became associated with C. H. Andrews at Youngstown, Ohio, in the mining of block coal. Their first operation was at the Thorn Hill Mine, and later they operated the Burnett Coal Company at Hubbard. Eventually in order to utilize their own production of coal, they engaged in the blast furnace business and in 1869 completed their No. I blast furnace at Hubbard, and in 1873 their No. 2 furnace. In January, 1892, their furnaces were incorporated as the Andrews & Hitchcock Iron Company. Previous to this, about 1880, they had begun using coke in their blast furnaces in conjunction with their block coal mined at Hubbard. Eventually their furnaces were remodeled so that coke alone was used. Mr. Hitchcock was president of the Andrews & Hitchcock Iron Company from its organization. The principal members of this corporation enjoyed an unusually harmonious career, founded on mutual respect and trust, and were exceptionally prosperous in their business affairs. Each in his way was a' leader, not a follower, in that transitory period of industrial and commercial development in this section of the country. They branched out in other avenues and became interested in various public utilities. Mr. Hitchcock became interested in the Foster Coal Company, the G. M. McKelvey mercantile establishment, was a director of the Commercial National Bank and was interested in many other enterprises. His life was a busy and successful one, and the record is eminently worthy of perusal by the student who would learn the intrinsic essence of individuality and its influence in moulding a successful career. With all his business activities, with their multitudinous details and constant demands on his time, Mr. Hitchcock never ceased being a student. He was an omnivorous reader, a deep thinker and a keen observer of men and things, so that he was generally recognized as a man of unusually wide and accurate information. When St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church was organized he was one of the charter members and for years thereafter served as a vestryman. In politics he was a republican, but his life was otherwise too fully occupied to accept office, he being content to religiously exercise the right of franchise He particularly took a keen interest in the improvement of the city of Youngstown and vicinity. Although straightforward and unostentatious, and a man who delighted in keeping the even tenor of his way so far as was consistent with good citizenship, he made his influence felt among those with whom he mingled, for his was a strong personality. There were in him sterling traits which commanded uniform confidence and regard, and his memory is today honored by all who knew him and is enshrined in- the hearts of his friends. He died on November 18, 1899, honored and respected for his many sterling qualities. While living in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on November 9, 1858, Mr. Hitchcock was married to Mary Johnson Peebles, who survived him, her death occurring on January 1, 1907. They became the parents of five children, namely: Almira, who became the wife of Myron I. Arms ; Frank; William James, Jr.; Mary Peebles, the widow of George D. Wick, and Robert Peebles, who died in infancy. Frank Hitchcock, the oldest son, was born on May 24, 1862, and has always resided in Youngstown. After completing the public school course he attended Adams Academy at Quincy, Massachusetts; and Harvard College. He was connected with his father's enterprises in a business way, and at the latter's death he succeeded him as president of the Andrews & Hitchcock Iron Company, continuing to serve as such until the business was disposed of to the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company in 1916. Since that time he has confined his attention to his private business interests. 142 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY On June 2, 1896, Frank Hitchcock was married to Bertha Rockwell Coles, of Utica, New York, and the three children born to this union are, Katherine, born October 5, 1897, the widow of Capt. Francis R. McCook, who lost his life in the Argonne Forest of France, in the war with Germany; Frances, born on September 19, 1899, and Bertha, born on July 21, 1906. Mr. Hitchcock is a republican in politics, a vestryman of St. John's Episcopal Church, and a member of the Youngstown Club and the Youngstown Country Club. He is a director of the First National Bank and the Dollar Savings and Trust Company. William J. Hitchcock, Jr., was born on July 19, 1864, and completed his education at St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire, and Williston Seminary at East Hampton, Massachusetts, spending two years at the latter institution. His life work has been in connection with the commercial activities inaugurated by his father. For several years he was manager of the furnaces at Hubbard, but of late years he has given his attention to the many ramifications of business with which his people have been connected. He is a republican in his political views, an Episcopalian in his religious belief and, socially, is identified with the Youngstown Club, the Youngstown Country Club and the Union Club of Cleveland. Mr. Hitchcock was married in 1903 to Grace Jones, of Toledo, Ohio, and they are the parents of two sons, William J., III, and John Paul. CHARLES T. GAITHER., Well versed in the mechanical arts, and a pioneer in the automobile business, Charles T. Gaither, of Youngstown, is distinguished as having designed and built the first automobile made in the city, and about the third manufactured in the United States. A native of Ohio, he was born March 24, 1869, in Zanesville, a son of Thomas and Algeo Gaither. His father, who worked for many years as a machinist at the Tod Plant, was born in Maryland, while his mother was a native of Ohio. Acquiring his rudimentary education in the public schools of Warren, Ohio, Charles T. Gaither began work in the office of the Vindicator when fifteen years of age, having charge of the engines, machinery and presses. When the Fredonia Company was organized for the purpose of manufacturing automobiles, he resigned his position with the Vindicator to become designer for that firm, with which he was associated from first to last. In 1902, in the great endurance race from New York to Boston and return, Mr. Gaither, with a Fredonia car, was one of the seventy-two entries for the test. Eight of the automobilists made the trip and return, five of them winning a perfect record, Mr. Gaither being one of the five. A pioneer in the automobile business, Mr. Gaither built the first garage erected in Youngstown, it having been located at the corner of Belmont Avenue and Wood Street. In 1907, at the corner of Arlington Street and Belmont Avenue, he built his place of business and is now engaged in business at 793 Wick Avenue, its management having met with undoubted success. Mr. Gaither has probably sold more cars, and a greater variety, than any other dealer in the city, having handled the Reo, Rambler, Maxwell, White, Oldsmobile, Oakland and Peerless. At the present time he is carrying on a substantial business, selling both the Reo and the Peerless. Mr. Gaither married in 1912 Miss Clyde Hassan. Fraternally he belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he is a member of all of the automobile clubs of the city. MARKHAM B. AND CLIFTON W. MILLER proprietors of the Hippodrome Theatre and The H. L. McElroy Company, are properly numbered among the alert and sound business men of Youngstown, whose phenomenal success is stable and the legitimate outcome of a succession of shrewd and honorable operations which have resulted in the establishment and development of their firm. Their interest in Youngstown dates from January, 1905, and each year since then has seen it considerably augmented. Both brothers are natives of Kentucky, the former having been born at Cynthiana, in the heart of the Blue Grass country, on January 28, 1872, and the latter at Covington, just across the Ohio River from the more pretentious city of Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 20, 1874. Their father, Rev. Charles W. Miller, was a Methodist clergyman who married Virginia Markham. Like other Methodist preachers, he was sent to various stations in his conference, and at these his sons were born. Unfortunately he died when his boys were small and they were compelled to secure employment at an early age. However both were ambitious and Markham B. Miller matriculated at the Kentucky State College and was graduated therefrom with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He started on his business career as a clerk in a furniture store in his native town, and at the termination of five years had acquired an interest in the business. In the meanwhile Clifton W., when thirteen years old, became a clerk in a clothing house at $5.00 per week. Previously he had taken special lessons in accounting. Later he became a clerk in the same house as his brother, and for a number of years following his leaving that concern, lived at Pullman and Chicago, Illinois, where he was engaged in a diversified line of business, clerking for a number of establishments, handling real estate, selling typewriter attachments, and being on the road as a commercial traveler. After twelve years he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and , joined his brother Markham B. Miller in establishing a chain of stores. The Miller Brothers in this way bought the McElroy Company at Youngstown in January, 1905. In January, 1907, the Callahan Building, in which the business was housed, and the Ewers Building adjoining were destroyed by fire. The day following, Miller Brothers bought the interests of the Guthman Brothers Furniture Company, and on the second day business was resumed. A part of the land where the firm operates was in 1872 rented by De Loma Callahan and used as a livery stable. Mr. Callahan was urged to buy the property, which he finally did for $5,000, payment being made in cash, mules and horses. This property is now valued at nearly $600,000. By actual purchases and long time leases the Millers now have a total of 25,000 square YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 143 feet of ground space extending from Federal to Commerce streets. As their business expanded improvements were made to meet their requirements. An arcade was constructed through from street to street, and here, in addition to their own. extensive establishment, stores and offices were leased so that in this arcade are to be found almost every conceivable kind of merchandise. At this time the Hippodrome Company was organized, and the Hippodrome Theatre was built. This theatre, one of the best in Ohio, has a seating capacity of 2,000, and possesses the Youngstown exclusive rights of the E. F. Keith's circuit. Markham B. Miller located permanently at Youngstown in 1912, and Clifton W. Miller, the year following. These brothers have done much in various ways toward building up Youngstown and achieved notable results for its permanent good. Each one has become identified with the various organizations which make for good citizenship. Markham B. Willer belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Youngstown Country Club, the Poland Country Club, the Elks Club and the Chamber of Commerce. His wife to whom he was united on April 17, 1905, was formerly Miss Minnie Good, of St. Paul, Minnesota. Clifton W. Miller belongs to the Youngstown Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1895 he was married to Miss Mabel Blann, of Chicago, Illinois, and their three sons are: Clifton W., Jr., Harry M. and Charles M. The eldest, named for his father, was a student at Rayen High School when the United States entered the World war. He joined a local cavalry organization which was merged into a field artillery organization. After a season in camp he was sent abroad on the "Victoria," which was torpedoed en route by an enemy submarine. A depth bomb judiciously dropped destroyed the submarine, the wound of the "Victoria" was temporarily mended, and the troops were safely landed on French soil. Young Miller, among other actions, participated in the famous Saint Mihiel salient engagement, which proved to be the beginning of the end of the war. He later, until the signing of the Armistice, was an instructor on gas uses in the war. Clifton W. Miller, Sr., was particularly active in Youngstown in a non-combatant way, serving as a member of the American Protective League, private police, private detective, deputy sheriff and in the various drives to raise funds for the prosecution of the war. Both brothers have earned and maintain a reputation for sense and honor, and their personal popularity has given them no inconsiderable influence in their community and a place in its affairs to which their business abilities and public-spirited endeavors entitle them, without the shadow of a doubt. JOSIAH WALTER SLATER. There has been a good deal of variety to the business career of Josiah Walter Slater. He was in the factory of the Winfield Manufacturing Company for a number of years, later was a merchant, was in the newspaper business, and more recently has taken a spirited part in the wonderful development of Warren as treasurer of the William Coale Development Company. His father was the late John H. Slater, a native of Pennsylvania, who served through two enlistments as a Union soldier. He was first in a Pennsylvania regiment, and afterward joined an Ohio regiment at Conneaut. After the war and his honorable discharge he located at Niles, Ohio, and in 1870 moved his family to Warren, where he lived until his death. His wife was Lomary Partridge, a native of Ohio, and still living, residing in Warren. Josiah W. Slater was born at Niles, August 5, 1870, and two months later was brought to Warren, which has been his home for half a century. He was educated in the public schools here, and at the age of sixteen went to work in the Winfield Manufacturing Company's plant and for about thirteen years was employed at the bench. He then retired and invested a modest capital in the retail grocery business and left that in 1903 to become circulation manager for the Warren Chronicle. He proved a valuable man in this difficult field, and in 1906 he was made traveling representative for the Cleveland Press. Mr. Slater gave up newspaper work in 1916 to become manager of the Trumbull Realty Company of Warren, and when that was incorporated as the William Coale Development Company he was elected treasurer. He is a member of the Warren Real Estate Board. Mr. Slater has passed all the chairs in Mahoning Lodge No. 29 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of Warren Council No. 222 of the United Commercial Travelers, He is active in the Boy Scout Council, a member of the Second Christian Church, and is president of the Men's Club of that church. Mr. Slater married Elizabeth Parks, daughter of the late Samuel and Ann Parks. They have two children: Virgil E., now a resident of Cleveland, and Zelma R. LESLIE CLAYTON WRIGHT. Mr. Wright for a period of years was a traveling salesman over Northeastern Ohio, and when he finally cast anchor in a permanent business he chose the city of Warren, where during the past five years he has built up a very successful real estate business. He is of New England ancestry, his family on both sides being of English descent and residents of Vermont for several generations. His father, Elias H. Wright, was a native of Vermont and tilled a farm on its rugged hills throughout his active career. He died in the fall of 1914. The mother, Frances (Hendrix) Wright, was also born in Vermont and is still living. Leslie Clayton Wright was born at West Jay, Vermont, August 17, 1873, and acquired a public school education. When he left home lie went to Boston, Massachusetts, and for five years as clerk in a store acquired a good fundamental knowledge of business. When he left New England he began traveling over the territory of Northeastern Ohio as salesman for the G. F. Harvey Drug Company of Saratoga, New York, and represented that house for nine years. He then transferred his services to The Zemmer Drug Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and covered the same Ohio territory for that firm until August, 1913. At that date he left the road and engaged in the real estate business in 144 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY Warren, with offices in the Western Reserve Building. His home is at 33 Washington Avenue. Mr. Wright is an active member of the Warren Real Estate Board, the Board of Trade, the United Commercial Travelers, the Cleveland Traveling Men's Association and is a prominent Mason, his affiliations being with Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons, Chapter 66, Royal Arch Masons, Council No. 58, Royal and Select Masters, and Warren Cornmandery No. 39, Knights Templar. He and his family are members of the Central Christian Church. He married Miss Emma Rice, of Warren, daughter of Lucas and Mary Rice. They have four young sons, Philip Leslie, Gordon Rice, Leslie Clayton, Jr., and Robert Hendrix Wright. WARREN P. WILLIAMSON. The advent of the Williamson family at Youngstown dates back to 1798, when Joseph Williamson came from Washington County, Pennsylvania, by wagon to the present site of Youngstown. He built a log cabin on land now occupied by the public school building at the corner of Erie Street and Dollison Avenue. After he had erected this cabin he returned to Pennsylvania for his wife, Elizabeth, and brought her back to the new home he had prepared for her on what was then the frontier of civilization. Here he was engaged in farming and working at his trade of blacksmithing until his death, which took place in 1827. He was a man who possessed the confidence of his neighbors in marked degree, papers still in existence proving that he was oftentimes chosen by them to act as executor of estates and general counsellor and advisor for the community. His two children probably survived him, one of them being Pyatt Williamson. Pyatt Williamson was born rn the log cabin in Youngstown in 18o1, and practically followed in the footsteps of his father in occupational and neighborly relationships. In due course of time he married Anna Knox, and they had six children. He and his wife were charter members of the old Christian Church, which they helped to organize. The first church edifice, which they assisted through generous contributions in erecting, stood on the present site of the Diamond Block. Pyatt Williamson, like his father, was made executor of many estates, and this fact speaks for itself as to his standing. His children grew up, married, and their descendants, many of them, are now living in this same community. Among these children was Joseph Williamson. Joseph Williamson was born on July 31, 1827, and that same year marked the death of his grandfather, for whom he was named. He was not born in the old log cabin, however, but in a new house which had been erected about l00 yards from the old cabin. There he grew up and when old enough served an apprenticeship at the carpenter trade. He worked at carpentering, and a number of the buildings on which he was engaged are still standing, are in good repair and in use. One brother, Horace, lived here all his life, dying when eighty-four years of age, in April, 1919. Another brother, Isaac Williamson, lived on a part of the old farm, which is now South Avenue, Youngstown, and died when eighty years old. Joseph Williamson married Belinda A. Detchon in 1856, and they had three children, namely : Warren P., and Mary B. and Martha B., twins. All of his life Joseph Williamson was engaged in farming and carpentering, and he died in July, 1912. His widow survives him, although now (1920) eighty-five years old. They, too, were devout members of the Christian Church. The Williamsons were all the way through honest, law-abiding, industrious and church-going people. Warren P. Williamson was born on the old farm which his great-grandfather acquired in 1798, on October 4, 1858. He, like his immediate progenitors, grew up on that farm. As a boy he attended the public schools, milked cows, cleaned stables, swung the cradle and flailed out the grain. He attended a commercial school at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and for three years worked with his father at carpentering, and then was bookkeeper for O. P. Shaffer. Still later he became bookkeeper and cashier of the News, and later, in February, 1882, secured employment in sweeping out the office and keeping the books of the Youngstown Carriage & Wagon Company. He was successively advanced from this position through others until he became general manager of the company, and held it until the concern was sold to the Ohio Hotel Company in 1911. Mr. Williamson then organized the Youngstown Carriage Company, of which he is general manager and treasurer. He is a republican in politics and has served one term in the City Council and one term as trustee of the water works. He is a Knight Templar, York Rite and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and belongs to the Mystic Shrine, Odd Fellows and the Elks. On December 31, 1890, Mr. Williamson was united in marriage with Mary M. Thompson, a daughter of Dallas J. Thompson, and they are the parents of two sons, namely: Joseph Dallas and Warren P., Jr. Both these boys were in the great war. Joseph D. enlisting in the aerial department of the Coast Artillery, and Warren P., Jr., in the radio department, of which he was a sergeant and master radio electrician. FLOYD PERRY JOHNSON is one of the younger business men of Warren, where he is proprietor of the Johnson Electric Company, one of the two principal concerns of the kind in Warren, which business has felt the stimulus and impetus of the energies and personal skill of Mr. Johnson, and has grown rapidly within the past three or four years. Mr. Johnson was born at Vermilion, Ohio, September 10, 1887, son of Frank M. and De Etta (Hewitt) Johnson. His parents are still living, as are also both of his grandmothers. In the earlier generations the family name was spelled ohnston. Mr. Johnson's grandfather, John Joh son, was an early settler around Vermilion, and for many years was a farmer. De Etta Hewitt was born in Camden Township of Lorain County, and was only an infant when her father died. Frank M. Johnson for a number of years was engaged in the fishery industry in Lake Erie, with home at Vermilion, and in later YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 145 years has operated a retail grocery store at Conneaut, where he and his wife still reside. Floyd Perry Johnson was four years of age when his parents moved to Conneaut and he grew up and remained at home to the age of twenty-one. He attended the common schools, but while in the eighth grade he left school to go to work. Later he realized the need of a better education, and earned the money for his college career by practical work as an electrician. For one year he was a student in the scientific course at Defiance College and spent another year in special studies in the Ohio State University. He put his knowledge of the electrical trade into practice at Columbus for a year after leaving the State University, and then returned to Conneaut. Mr. Johnson came to Warren in December, 1916, and bought the "Light Shop" from George Phelps. He changed the name to the Johnson Electric Company and has actively directed its affairs. The business has more than doubled in volume and in importance during the last three years. Mr. Johnson has achieved his own success in life, depending on his own efforts to advance him step by step. He is a member of the Warren Board of Trade and is affiliated with Independence Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and the Christian Church. September 20, 1909, he married Miss Lena Cheese- man, daughter of L. D. and Deborah (Sherman) Cheeseman, of Conneaut. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have two children: Louise, born December 29, 1912; and Ruth, born August 16, 1914. FRANK ENSIGN ROSE. Few families have impressed their business energies and civic activities more prominently upon Trumbull County than the Roses. The family has lived in this section of the Western Reserve more than a century: Representing the third generation, Frank Rose has had an active career as a farmer, business man and public official ;he having served as chairman of the Board of County Commissioners until he resigned from that board in August, 1920. Mr. Rose was born on the home farm in Mecca Township, Trumbull County, on December 26, 1869, the son of Thomas H. and Josephine G. (Gridley) Rose. His grandfather, Jonathan Rose, was a native of Pennsylvania and of Pennsylvania Dutch stock, and founded the family in Trumbull County. The land which he took up and developed in Mecca Township was not sold out of the family until 1913. Jonathan Rose married Anna Craft, a native of Washington County, Pennsylvania, and also of Dutch ancestry. The late Thomas H. Rose was born in the same house as his son Frank E. in 1842, and died at Warren in 1907. For many years he was the most extensive cheese and milk operator in Northern Ohio. At one time he operated fifteen cheese factories and creameries, the product of which was sold all over Trumbull, Mahoning, Portage and Ashtabula counties. For all his extensive business cares he gave much of his time to public affiairs, serving three full terms as county commissioner of Trumbull County. His wife, Josephine G. Gridley, was born in Mecca Township and died in 1905, at the age of sixty years. Her grandfather, Albert Gridley, was a native of Massachusetts and was also a pioneer of Trumbull County. Frank E. Rose spent much of his early life in the country in Mecca Township. He attended district schools, also the Cortland High School, and for many years was in active association with his father, especially in operating the home farm. His home has been at Warren since 1905. On moving to the county seat he engaged in the livery and transfer business, and is still interested in real estate and in the buying and selling of heavy draft horses, Mr. Rose is most widely known for his official record. He was elected sheriff of Trumbull County and reelected, serving four years in that office. Before he retired from the position of sheriff he was elected county commissioner, and was twice reelected. Mr. Rose is affiliated with Cortland Lodge of Masons, Warren Lodge of Elks, and is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Warren. He married Miss Mabel C. Christy, daughter of James and. Frances (Forward) Christy, of Brookfield Township, Trumbull County. They have a family of three children: Frances Rose, born in 1903, Thomas, born in 1905, and Hazel, born in 1908. WILLIAM PERRY BEAL, president and general manager o e arren ome Building Company, and president and general manager of the Warren Home Development Company, both of which concerns he assisted in organizing, and both of which have been, and are still, important factors in the growth of this city, is a product of the Mahoning Valley, where he has spent his entire life. Mr. Beal was born in Austintown Township, Ma- honing County, on April 28, 1880, and is descended from two old Mahoning Valley families. His grandfather, William Beal, was a native of Trumbull County, and his father, Hiram Beal, was born in Lordstown Township, Trumbull County. Hiram Beal spent the greater part of his life engaged in farming in Lordstown and North Jackson townships, Mahoning County, and after retirement in 1909, removed to Warren; where he died on March 16, two, at the age of sixty-five. Mr. Beal's mother, Florence Drake, was born in Weathersfield; Trumbull County, the daughter of Perry Drake, who was also born in Weathersfield Township, and was the son of Robert Drake, a pioneer blacksmith of the valley. Mrs. Beal died on the family homestead in North Jackson on November 10, 1908, at the age of sixty-one. The early days of William P. Beal were passed on the home farm, which he left in 1909 to come to Warren. He was engaged in contract building for about five years on his own account, and then, in 1916, he organized and incorporated the Warren Home Building Company, of which he is now president and general manager. In 1919 he organized and incorporated the Warren Home Development Company, of which he is also president and general manager. He is also financially interested in the Builders Hardware Company. Mr. Beal was one -of the organizers of the Warren Builders Exchange, and is its vice president. He is a member of the Warren Real Estate Board 146 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY and a member of the Warren Board of Trade, and is active and prominent in civic and social life. He is a member of the First Christian Church, as is also Mrs. Beal, Mr. Beal is also a director of the Kiwanis Club. Mr. Beal married Millie S., daughter of Frank S. Sullivan, of Bristol, Ohio. CHRISTOPHER DEIBEL was born in the Rhine country of Germany on December 20, 1831, and died at Youngstown, Ohio on December 4, 1918. He was reared to early manhood in his native country, obtained a fair practical education and learned the stone mason trade. He was expected to register for military service when old enough, but when on his way to do this he received such brutal and inconsiderate treatment from an army officer that his ideas were changed and he determined to leave his native land and seek his fortunes in America. Already four of his brohers had come to the United States, and undoubtedly this fact strengthened his determination to make this country his future home. In 1850 he set sail for the United States, and upon his arrival here came west to Massillon, Ohio, where he worked at his trade. Here he was married to Anna Gauff. From Massillon he came to Youngstown and engaged in contracting. About the first work in this line accorded to him was for Chauncey Andrews. Mr. Deibel built many of the furnaces, business blocks, churches and other structures which are still standing, and he became identified with various other matters. Not only was he one of the organizers of the Home Savings & Loan Company, but he was its first president and had much to do with its early development. He was one of the founders of Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, and was an active member of it until his death, and he was also a member of the Knights of Columbus. Becoming interested in real estate, he acquired considerable property. He worked hard, was frugal and industrious and accumulated a comfortable competency, and considerable of this he distributed among his children. In his later life he gave up active contracting and engaged in the life insurance business, and was the first agent of the New York Life Insurance Company at Youngstown. This business which he founded is now carried on by his son Edward J. He and his wife had born to them the following children: Ernest C., Oscar G., Edward J., Clara A., now Mrs. C. P. Venus, Christopher W., all of whom are living, and Catherine, who became the wife of Martin A. Keifer; Amelia, who became the wife of Dr. J. B. Kotheimer; Alban, 0., Elmer and William, all of whom are deceased. The mother of this family died in 1909. The predominant characteristic of Christopher Deibel was his strict observance of all honorable conventions. He was the soul of honor. He made friends readily and people esteemed him for his many loveable qualities. While devout in his religious convictions, he was not narrow in his associations. He took an active part in all that seemed best for the general good of the community.. While of German birth, he was thoroughly American in all that the name implies. A grandson of his, Oscar Kotheimer, lost his life in France while serving in the great war. The passing of Christopher Deibel removed from the community one of the best of the old-time citizens. Ernest C. Deibel married Miss Elizabeth Renner, and they have one daughter, Helen, and reside at Akron, Ohio. Oscar G. Deibel was born on March 9, 1865, and like his brothers was reared at Youngstown. For thirty-eight years he was engaged in the wholesale and retail handling of druggists' supplies, but is now connected with the New York Life Insurance Company. He married Louisa Hoffman in 1886, and they have a family of ten children, four of whom survive, namely: Fred H., Esther, now Mrs. Donald H. Gordon, Isabel and Marcella. Mr. Deibel is a republican in politics. Both by inheritance and conviction he is a Catholic, and is a lifelong member of Saint Joseph's Catholic Church. He belongs to the Poland Country Club. CHRISTOPHER W. DEIBEL, who bears the name of his honored father, is still an active force in the business life of Youngstown. He was born in this city May 7, 1874, and was educated in both the public and parochial schools. For twenty years he was a merchant tailor. But he is best known for his theatrical ventures, and was one of the pioneer operators of moving picture shows in Youngstown. He named his first theater, a small place seating 186 people, the Dome. He had four successive theaters, each named Dome. The present theater of that name was begun by Mr. Deibel in 1912. His most notable contribution, however, to the amusement resources of Youngstown came with the organization by him in February, 1918, of the corporation which established and built the Liberty Theater, at 202 West Federal Street. Fifty years earlier his father on the same site built the old Excelsior Block, which was razed by his son to make room for the Liberty Theater. Not only Mr. Deibel but the entire community take pride in the Liberty. It is not excelled by any other theater of its size in the United States in the matter of attractive equipment, comfort and bookings. It has a seating capacity of 1,800 people. Mr. Deibel is a business man of many congenial qualities and is well known socially. He is a lover of the game of golf. During seven of the last ten years he has carried off the championship honors at the Youngstown Country Club. He is also a member of the Youngstown Club and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Deibel married Miss Elizabeth Gallagher, daughter of John Gallagher. He is very happy in his family and has five children, three daughters and two sons: John, generally known as Jack, Dorothy, Ella, Rosemary and Christopher, Jr. An interesting feature of the family history is that three Christopher Deibels have lived in Youngstown. The second of the name was born forty years after the birth of the first, while the youngest was born forty years after the birth of the second. SHERMAN H. DE GROODT. Contracting has been the chief bisiness of the De Groodt family for YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 147 many years, and Sherman H. De Groodt of Youngstown has the organization, the equipment and the personnel which he has directed as a successful business for street paving, sewer work and other municipal construction. He is one of the leading contractors of this kind in the Mahoning Valley. He was born in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, July 12, 1870, a son of Chester R. and Mary E. (Howe) De Groodt and a grandson of Cornelius De Groodt, who was one of the pioneers of Conneautville, Pennsylvania. Chester R. De Groodt was born in Crawford County in 1842, and as a young man volunteered his services for the Union army. He nearly realized his ambition for the experience of a soldier, being near the front when he was sent home on account of a bad arm. He took up contracting, and for several years followed the construction of the Lake Shore Railroad. He also lived at Coalburg in Trumbull County, and for twenty years had a home on Himrod Avenue in Youngstown. His principal business in Youngstown was as a teaming contractor, moving buildings and doing other heavy work in that line. He died in 1911 and his wife died at the age of fifty-eight. They were members of the Trinity Methodist Church. Of their six children, two sons and four daughters, Sherman H. is the only one living in Youngstown. His only brother, Henry C., recently lost his life in an accident. Sherman De Groodt acquired his early education in the Wood Street School at Youngstown, and at the age of nineteen began taking contracts for street and sewer work. In 1890 he put down the second paving in Ashtabula, Ohio. His business as a street and sewer contractor has had a wide range, and has included work in Niles, Warren, Girard and other points. He laid the first paving at Conneaut, Ohio, put in the sewer around the Central Square at Youngstown and from West Lake Crossing to Brier Hill and also the Market Street sewer. Mr. De Groodt for a number of years has given employment to a large force of men and. as a contractor he is well known for his reliability. In 1898 he married Miss Marie Perry, who was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, a daughter of William B. Perry. Mr. and Mrs. De Groodt are members of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Elks, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, is a member of the Youngstown Builders Exchange, and is a republican voter, though he has friends in both parties. CHARLES HENRY WOODWORTH. While for several years engaged in a busy practice as a lawyer at Warren, Mr. W00dworth's early life was spent in technical industries. He had a technical education, and for ten years was in the service of the General Electric Company at Warren. He was born at North East in Erie County, Pennsylvania, May 23, 1883, son of Rev. Watson W. and Josephine (Holridge) Woodworth. The Woodworth family for several generations lived in Cattaraugus County, New York, where his grandparents, Madison and Lydia Woodworth, were born. The maternal grandparents were Enoch and Sarah (Mabye) Holridge, of NeW York State. Josephine Holridge was born at Randolph, New York, and is now living at Jamestown in that state. Rev. Watson W. Woodworth was born in Western New York, and after his marriage studied for the ministry and spent his active life as a member of the Erie Conference of the Methodist Church. He died at Randolph, New York, in 1883, in his thirty-seventh year. Charles Henry Woodworth was reared by his widowed mother, and from his ninth year lived in Jamestown, New York, where he completed his early education in the high school and later spent one year in the Mercerburg Academy of Pennsylvania. He took a technical course for two years in the Case School of Applied Science at Cleveland, and from that institution entered the employ of the General Electric Company in that city. This company in 1907 sent him to Warren, where he remained as chemist and foreman of the local works for ten years. While thus employed Mr. Woodworth was making diligent use of his leisure time in the study of law, and upon admission to the Ohio bar on January 1, 1917, opened his office and began practice. Besides a general practice he is secretary of the Trumbull Realty & Investment Company. Mr. Woodworth is affiliated with the First Presbyterian Church; is a member of Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons; Warren Commandery No. 39, Knights Templar, and is a member of the Trumbull Bar Association and the Warren Board of Trade. He married Miss Harriet Rhuman, of Carrollton, Ohio. Their one daughter, Janet Ruth, was born February 27, 1915. JOHN EDWARD FARRELL'S business career for the fifteen years since he left the Rayen High School has been steadily identified with the Republic Iron and Steel Company, in which he is now chief of the Employment Bureau. This is an office requiring a great knowledge of the human side of the big industry, and his keen and thorough appreciation of men and his ready judgment and executive tact mean a great deal to the successful working of a corporation employing as the Republic Company does such large bodies of both skilled and unskilled labor. Mr. Farrell was born at Youngstown December 21, 1886, and was one of the twelve children of John Edward and Ella (Young) Farrell. His parents were both born at Lisbon, Ohio. His father for many years was a locomotive engineer with the Erie Railroad. His mother was a daughter of William Young, who for a long period was cashier of the Firestone Bank of Lisbon. John E. Farrell, Jr., grew up in Youngstown and has spent all his life in this city. He is a graduate of the Rayen High School with the class of 1904, and this training he has since supplemented with a general correspondence course in the LaSalle Extension University of Chicago. His first regular employment on leaving high school was as time clerk for the Republic Iron & Steel Company. From time keeper he was promoted to chief time keeper of the Mahoning Valley works of the Republic Iron and Steel Company, and later was paymaster 148 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY and chief clerk in the same works. Since January, 1914, he has been chief of the Employment Bureau. Mr. Farrell is a member of the Evergreen Presbyterian Church, is present master of Hillman Lodge No. 481, Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of Youngstown Chapter No. 93, Royal Arch Masons. Politically he is a republican. October 28, 1915, he married Miss Florence Wagner, daughter of Edward G. and Emma (Baumeister) Wagner, of Youngstown. FRANK VOGELBERGER. The work that served to mark out Frank Vogelberger's career in the Youngstown district is easily identified in a long and rmposing list of homes and other building construction which has been performed by his personal organization. Mr. Vogelberger is one of the older and very prominent building contractors of the Mahoning Valley. He was born in a picturesque spot, the Vogelberger homestead overlooking Lanterman's Falls, near Youngstown. His birth occurred June 27, 1873. His parents were John and Eva (Gerst) Vogelberger. John Vogelberger was a native of Germany and grew up as a farmer. Coming to the United States when a young man he successfullly combined for many years the vocation of farming with working in the coal mines at Mount Nebo and Fulda in Noble County, Ohio. He married in Noble County, where his wife was born, .and after marriage he established his home overlooking the historic Lanterman's Falls. At this homestead all their children were born and he and his wife spent their last years in that locality. He and a brother operated a mill at Lanterman's Falls for a time. Though born in another country John Vogelberger signalized his devotion to the United States by volunteering to preserve the Union when the Civil war came on. He died in 1901, at the age of eighty-one. He was always active in local matters affecting schools, churches and the general good. He was a charter member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church and helped erect the church building. His wife died in 1905, at the age of fifty-three. Of their eight children six are living, besides Frank, their names being Philip, John, Joseph, Katherine, the wife of Joseph Smith, and Gallas. The two deceased are Anna and Mary, who were children less than ten years of age at the time of their deaths. The third oldest son, Joseph Vogelberger, is widely known on account of his valued service as street superintendent of the City of Youngstown for eight years. Frank Vogelberger acquired a good education in the public schools of Fosterville and in the St. Joseph parochial school, and at the age of seventeen began learning the carpentersis trade with Heller Brothers. He was with that firm as a journeyman worker and in other capacities for over thirteen years, and the latter part of the time acted as superintendent for much of the building business performed by Heller Brothers on the north side of Youngstown. For a part of the time he was also associated with his brother. Mr. Vogelberger then engaged in business for himself, and the quality of his work can best be indicated by a brief enumeration of some of the more important buildings erected by him, which include the residences of W. A. Thomas, John A. Logan, Dr. A. M. Clark, A. E. Adams, Charles Wick, D. F. Anderson, Mose Frankle, Wilford Arms, Philip Wick, Robert Bentley, Porter Pollock, and E. L. Brown. Besides these might be noted the Knights of Columbus Building and the Moose Temple, both of which were erected by the Vogelbergers organization, and finished the Auditorium in the Butler Art Gallery, a very commendable piece of work. Mr. Vogelberger is affiliated with the Elks and the Moose and is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. His country home is at Boardman. May 30, 1901, he married Albertine Beil, daughter of John Beil. Her father was a pioneer of the Foreign Exchange banking business at Youngstown. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Vogelberger : Edna, Coletta, Frank, Albertine, Clarence, Raymond and Richard Pershing. The youngest was born on the hour of the day that marked the armistice in the World's war. MELVILLE W. COBBLEDICK, chief electrician of the Youngstown district for the Republic Iron and Steel Company, was born at Andover, Ohio, April 7, 1877. His father; the Rev. Henry A. Cobbledick, of English nativity, came to the United States in 1869. After completing an excellent scholastic training at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, he entered upon the preparation for his ministerial work, and in time became a Methodist clergyman of note, traveling about as his conference dictated. The Reverend Cobbledick married Martha A. Broughton, of Cleveland, Ohio. Melville W. Cobbledick, the younger of their two children, received splendid educational advantages in his youth, attending school in the various places in which his father was engaged in his ministerial work, and completed his training at the celebrated Case School of Applied Sciences, Cleveland, and graduated from the electrical engineering course with the class of 1898. Following this important epoch in his early life's history Mr. Cobbledick entered the service of the Ohio works of the Carnegie Steel Company at Youngstown and remained with the company until 1901, in the meantime having risen to the position of mill or turn foreman. From 1901 until 1904 he was the turn foreman for the Sharon Steel Company, and for a few years following was employed in that capacity by several other concerns at varrous places, and in 1907 entered upon a connection with the Republic Iron and Steel Company which has continued to the present time. When he first became associated with the company it contained only the Bessemer and Brown-Bonnell works, and when the tube works and open hearth departments were built Mr. Cobbledick was made the chief electrician of the BrownBonnell plant. In March, 1914, he became. chief electrician of the Youngstown district, an office he has ever since filled. He is a member of the association of Iron and Steel Electrical Engineers and of the Youngstown Engineers Club, has membership in the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, is a YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 149 member of the Masonic fraternity, is a Methodist in his religious affiliation, and politically gives his support to the republican party. On the 21st of August, 1901, Mr. Cobbledick was married to Edith L. Benjamin, of Kingsville, Ohio, and they have had three children, Meville Robert, Clara Louise and Herbert, but the last named is deceased. JOHN McVEAN, It was a notable record of service that the late John McVean, who died at Youngstown, honored and respected, April 22, 1919, made with the old Brown-Bonnell Company or Valley Mills at Youngstown. He was with that institution more than fifty years. His principal connection was as a contractor, much of the time in handling pig iron. His death occurred at the age of seventy-one, after a long and busy life, filled with achievement on his own part. It was also the great satisfaction of his later years that his sons had attained positions of honor and trust in various spheres of business and professional affairs. John McVean was born in Canada March 7, 1848, son of Donald and Catherine (McGregor) McVean. His father was born in Edinburg, Scotland, and his mother was of a Highland Scotch family. They came to Canada about 1845, and settled in Youngstown in 1862. Donald McVean, who was a farmer, died at Youngstown in 1879, while his wife passed away at the age of fifty-four. Several of their children besides John became permanently established in the Mahoning Valley. John McVean acquired his early education in Canada and Youngstown, but a year after his parents settled here, in 1863; he went to work in the Brown-Bonnell Rolling Mill. He was then only fifteen years of age, and his employment brought him in the course of time a thorough knowledge of the iron industry. Later he became a contractor for the company, and for many years had a large force of men under him. While he understood how to get results from his employes, it was noteworthy that he seldom had any disagreement or strikes to mar his management. Mr. McVean in later years employed part of his ample resources to follow a hobby as a stock farmer. He developed a fine farm, known as the Pleasant View Stock Farm, in Coitsville Township. Some of his fine dairy cattle were prize winners at fairs and exhibitions. He was also president of the Buckeye Supply Company from the time of its incorporation, was interested in the Gillen-McVean Company, undertakers and furniture dealers, and supplied financial and personal counsel to a number of other local enterprises. He was quite active in democrat politics, though frequently an independent voter, and for many years with his family was affiliated with the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and served as a member of its council. September 21, 1874, he married Miss Mary Jane Raleigh, a native of Rome, New York, and daughter of Richard and Margaret (Smith) Raleigh. Her father was born in County Limerick, Ireland, and her mother in Canada. In 1867 Richard Raleigh moved to Kansas, and was killed by the Indians on the frontier. His widow played a noble part in rearing her five young children and in giving them educational and other advantages. Mrs. McVean died May 16, 1910. She and her husband were the parents of twelve children. The nine still living are Margaret, who married Dr. J. P. Kenney, Jessie, John, Mary, Donald, Raymond, Joseph, Ruth and Edward. Three of the sons were in the United States service during the World war. Joseph I. McVean was with the Forty-seventh United States Infantry in the Fourth Division, spending eight months overseas and was in the great battle of the Argonne. Raymond, who was in training as an officer at the Great Lakes Naval Training Camp at Chicago, is a Chicago attorney in charge of the Chicago district business for the Corporation and Guaranty Trust Company. The son Donald A. is secretary and treasurer of the Gillen-McVean Company, undertakers, furniture and real estate at Youngstown. John A., formerly a chemist with the Republic Iron and Steel Company, is now a physician at Cleveland. Edward A. McVean attended the Immaculate Conception Parochial School and graduated from the Rayen High School in 1916. He became a member of the Three Hundred Eightieth Infantry, but was transferred to the Three Hundred Fifty-ninth Machine Gun Battalion and was in training at Camp Sherman from September, 1918. He now has charge of the Buckeye Supply Company's branch at Kyle Corners. SHALOR H. HEDGES, purchasing agent for the Repubiic Iron and Steel Company at Youngstown, has been practically the architect of his own success, the force which has made him so well qualified for the position he now holds. Youngstown has been his home during the past nine years, but he has been connected with the iron and steel industry during a much longer period. Mr. Hedges is descended from Connecticut ancestors, and was born at Middletown in that state on the 14th of November, 1876, his parents being Shalor W. and Sarah (Taylor) Hedges. On the maternal side he is a great-grandson of Colonel Taylor, who served under Washington in the war for independence. Shalor W. Hedges is yet living, a machinist by occupation, and for about half a century he has been associated with the W. & B. Douglass Pump Works of Middletown. He is also an honored veteran of the Civil war struggle. Shalor H. Hedges, his son, spent the early years of his life in the town of his birth and graduated from its high school in 1895. Immediately afterward he became a salesman for a Boston wholesale clothing establishment, later going to Central Kansas and engaging in the real estate and farm loan business, and in 1900, returning East, he became associated with the American. Bridge Company at East Berlin, Connecticut, as assistant store keeper, which marks the beginning of his identification with the iron and steel industry. Later on he was made cost clerk in the general offices of the company at Philadelphia, and from there went with the corporation to Pittsburg and became a clerk in the purchasing department of the Pressed Steel Car Com-