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town Chamber of Commerce. His integrity had been of the most insistent and unswerving type, and no shadow rests on any portion of his career as an active business man and sterling citizen. He was a man of impressive personality, broad in his mental grasp of things and possessed to a marked degree the characteristics which ever beget esteem, confidence and friendship.
MASON EVANS: The biographies of the representative men of a community bring to light many hidden treasures of mind, character and courage, well calculated to arouse the pride of the community, and it is a source of regret that the people are not more familiar with the personal history of such men, in the ranks of whom may be found mechanics, teachers, lawyers, physicians, bankers and members of other vocations and professions. Mahoning County, Ohio, has been the home and scene of labor of many men who have not only led lives which should serve as a lesson and inspiration to those who follow them on to the stage of life's activities, but who have also been of commendable service in important avenues of usefulness in various lines. The well-known gentleman whose name forms the caption to these parabugraphs is one of the useful actors in the world's work, a man of well rounded character, sincere, devoted and loyal, so that there are many salient points which render it consistent that specific reference should be made to him in a work of this character.
Mason Evans, for many years one of the most prominent and influential figures in the business and financial circles of Youngstown, is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where his birth occurred on November 27, 1849. His parents were Owen and Sarah (Roe) Evans, the former of whom was of Welsh ancestry. The father lived the greater part of his life in Philadelphia, where his death occurred in 1849. Mason Evans was reared in his native city, receiving his elementary educational training in its public schools. Subsequently he became a student in the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1869, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Having determined to devote his life to the legal profession, he began reading law under the instructions of Aaron Thompson, one of the foremost attorneys of the Philadelphia bar. In 1870 he was admitted to practice, but owing to failing health he was compelled to relinquish, temporarily, his plan of at once engaging in legal pursuits.
Having found it necessary to alter his plans for the future, Mr. Evans came to Youngstown, Ohio, and took employment as an engineer in the construction of the Hanesville & Youngstown (now the Baltimore & Ohio) Railroad, and it was not until 1874 that he engaged in the active practice of law in Youngstown. For a considerable period he was associated in the practice with Gen. Thomas W. Sanderson, under the firm name of Sanderson & Evans, and the firm enjoyed a large and remunerative practice, being one of the most prominent and successful law firms at the Mahoning County bar. In 1883 Mr. Evans quit the practice of law and became cashier of the Commercial National Bank, with which institution he has been connected continuously since. He has during the subsequent years enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as one of the ablest and soundest bankers in Northeastern Ohio. Upon the death of G. M. McKelvey, Mr. Evans succeeded to the presidency of the Commercial National Bank, a position which he later relinquished to become chairman of the board of directors. The Commercial National Bank is numbered among the strong financial institutions of Youngstown, its official personnel including a representative group of Youngstown's business and professional men. In the affairs of this bank Mr. Evans has injected his forceful personality in such measure that its success is but a reflection of his own character and makeup. In many other avenues his wise counsel and conservative judgment have had a beneficial effect. He is president of the Mahoning Water Company; was treasurer of the Youngstown Steel and Iron Company until that property was sold; was a member of the Youngstown Board of Education for twenty-six consecutive years, excepting four years, and has been a trustee-of the Public Library for a number of years, serving a part of this time as president of the board. He is an active and influential member of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Youngstown Club and the Youngstown Country Club.
On June 8, 1876, Mason Evans was married to Lucy E. Grewig, the daughter of Frederick Grewig, who for many years was prominently identified with the iron industry of the Youngstown district. To this union the following named living children were horn : Frederick G., Eunice, the wife of Dr. George B. Young, and Mason, Jr.
Fraternally Mr. Evans is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has attained the Knight Templar degree in the York Rite and the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite, and is also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. The family are identified with the First Presbyterian Church, to which Mr. Evans is a liberal contributor. For nearly a half century the life history of Mr. Evans has been closely identified with the history of Youngstown, being intimately allied with its interests and upbuilding. He is of the highest type of progressive citizen, and his enterprise and ability have achieved results that have excited the admiration of those who know him. In every respect he merits the high esteem in which he is universally held, because of his public spirit, intellectual attainments, business achievements and examplary character.
JOHN D. EDWARDS, of the Warren City Tank & Boiler Company, has been- identified with that industry continuously since he was eighteen years of age.
He was born at Niles March 5, 1879, a member of one of the old and prominent families of Western Pennsylvania and the Mahoning Valley. He is a son of the late John F. and Nancy (Martin) Edwards, and a more complete account of the family in earlier generations is given on other pages of this publication.
John D. Edwards was educated in the public schools of Niles. Coming to Warren in 1897, he began as timekeeper with the Warren City Tank & Boiler Company, and has been an increasingly responsible factor in that organization ever since. He became purchasing agent, and now for a number of
YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 751
years past has been in charge of the estimating and cost department.
Mr. Edwards is a member of Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons ; of Warren Commandery No. 39, Knights Templar, and is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1901 he married Myrtle Ferguson, daughter of Oscar Ferguson of Niles. They have two sons, H. Donald and Alfred 0.
ALBERT L. GLUCK. Well known in the business affairs of Youngstown for the active part he has played in advancing the mercantile interests of the city, Albert L. Gluck has met with well-merited success in his undertakings, and holds a high position among the trustworthy and respected members of his community. A native of Youngstown, he was born January II, 1871, a son of Louis and Louisa Gluck, of Youngstown.
Left motherless at the tender age of three years, Albert L. Gluck obtained his early education in the common schools, and as a boy became familiar with agricultural pursuits, his first work having been on a farm. In 1894 he secured a position in the George H. Dingledy Lumber Yards, now known as the Sharp Lumber Company, beginning work in a minor position, and 'eventually becoming yard manager. Subsequently, in company with his brother George, he embarked in the grocery business, a venture which proved unsuccessful and after the company liquidated Mr. Gluck returned to the Dingledy Lumber Yards. Later he bought an interest in the hardware business established by his brother, George Gluck, and has since built up a very gratifying tr ide. October I, 1919, he purchased his brother's interest, now being sole owner of the store, the business being one of importance and value. Mr. Gluck is one of the five men that organized the Retail Grocers' Association, and one of its most active and influential members. He assisted in the organization of the Lake Park Cemetery Association, of which he is a director and treasurer.
Mr. Gluck married, in 1895, Emma P., daughter of Ernest and Carrie (Smith) Kurz, and they have one son, Ernest L., with his father in business.
DANIEL J. O'ROURKE is one of the skilled and experienced industrial executives whose abilities and services were enrolled at the very foundation of one of Warren's leading establishments, the Warren City Tank & Boiler Company. He has been continuously shop superintendent of the plant, and has directed a constantly increasing force of men and facilities.
Mr. O'Rourke was born at Bristol, Quebec, Canada, May 24, 1861, son of John J. and Sarah (Daugherty) O'Rourke. When he was a small boy his family moved to Niles, Ohio, and in that town of the Mahoning Valley he acquired his early education.
He started as a factor in the industrial life of the valley in a chain factory in Niles. Later for twenty-two years he was employed at the Reeves Brothers Boiler Works at Niles. Then, in 1893, he came with Alfred R. Hughes to Warren and entered the new business which Mr. Hughes had established and which is now the Warren City Tank & Boiler Company. Mr. O'Rourke took charge of the modest establishment as shop superintendent, and his service has been continuous in that capacity ever since.
In 1899 Mr. O'Rourke married Katherine Kelly. They have five children : Lawrence, Sarah, Marie, Brennan and Regina.
J. FRED HOHLOCH. In business at Youngstown for fifteen years as a contractor and builder, also as a wholesale dealer in all kinds of lumber and building materials, Mr. Hohloch has lent the facilities of his organization in the construction of many of the city's most prominent business blocks and factories. All over the Youngstown District are evidences of his enterprise.
Only a few of the more important contracts handled by him can be mentioned. Some of them are the Mahoning National Bank Building, the Dome Theater, the Deibel Block, the McGraw Tire and Rubber Company at Palestine, Ohio, the Diamond Portland Cement Company's factory at Middlebranch, Ohio, the Homer S. Williams Company Warehouse, the Pfau & Smith Store and Apartment House, the Rayen Apartments for Jacob Gottlieb, the A. Jones Apartments, the U. S. Grant School, the J. H. Gehring Block, the Dietrich Motor Car Company Building on Wick Avenue, the Home for Aged Women, the Grace Lutheran Church at East Palestine, the Centralized School at Freedom, Ohio.
Mr. Hohloch, whose business offices are in the Federal Building, was born in Germany July 27, 1875. His father died in Germany, and his mother is living in Youngstown, Ohio, at the age of sixty-eight. Before leaving his native land in 1892, J. Fred Hohloch had served an apprenticeship and had attended technical schools to learn the builders' trade, including work in brick, stone and wood. His first home in the United States was at Sharon, Pennsylvania, and from there he came to Youngstown. Here he was employed by several contracting firms, and in 1904 engaged in the building business on his own account. He had very little money on reaching this country, and his success he credits to the opportunities of the new world. Mr. Hohloch is a member of the Youngstown Builders' Exchange, is a Lutheran, and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Elks.
In 1902 he married Miss Henrietta Brunswick, daughter of John Brunswick, an old resident of Hubbard. They have two daughters and one son, Lucinda Pauline, Laura L., and Fred J., Jr.
RALPH R. SHARMAN. A man of recognized talent and ability, Ralph R. Sharman of Youngstown, head of the Youngstown Printing Company, is a fine representative of the self-made men of our times, the high position he holds in the business and social circles of the city being due to the industry, energy and keenness of vision that enabled him to take advantage of every offered opportunity for advancing his material interests. A native of England, he was born April 3, 1867, in Northhamptonshire, a son of William and Dinah (Rollings) Sharman.
Brought up in his native land, Ralph R. Sharman acquired his elementary education in his native town, and later was graduated from the grammar school at
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Wardington, Oxfordshire, England. Ambitious as a young man to better his fortune, his father, who was a farmer, gave him a sufficient sum of money to pay his way to either Australia or America. Deciding to come to the United States, he first located in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1887, and the following year drove a wagon for John O'Thomas, a building contractor, working from five o'clock in the morning until dark, and receiving as compensation nine dollars a week. In 1888 he joined the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and was afterward engaged in the real estate business with Reuben S. Baldwin, first in Youngstown and later in Baltimore, Maryland, where they built houses on the bonus plan. Returning to Youngstown in 1892, Mr. Sharman became advertising manager of The Telegram, subsequently becoming its general manager and secretary. During his incumbency the paper grew with surprising rapidity, its success being due to his executive ability.
The Telegram having been sold in April, 1906, Mr. Sharman retained the job printing and book binding department, subsequently incorporated the firm as the Youngstown Printing Company, a close corporation, of which he is president and general manager, Oliver W. Sharman, secretary, and A. J. Jacobs, treasurer. The block in which this concern is carrying on business is owned by Mr. Sharman and contains an especially well equipped, modern printing plant.
Mr. Sharman's father's farm in England almost adjoins the Sulgrave Manor farm, which is the ancestral home of George Washington, and it was due to Mr. Sharman's urging that J. G. Butler, Jr. visited that spot and afterward persuaded the United States Government to purchase the manor as a memorial to Washington.
From the beginning of the World war until the end Mr. Sharman was enlisting officer for the U. S. A. Officers' Training Camps, and for the British and Canadian armies. Largely through his efforts Youngstown supplied a great number of technical men who eventually became officers, the mills of this vicinity having previously attracted many men especially well fitted by education in technical branches.
Mr. Sharman married in 1890 Emma Vaughan, daughter of William Vaughan, a roller in one of the mills, and their only child, Mary G. Sharman, is married to Dr. C. M. Reed. Socially Mr. Sharman is a member of the Youngstown Club, and a member, a trustee and chairman of the Greens Committee of the Youngstown Country Club. His pet hobby is golf.
JESSE R. MUNSON. While he sold his farm and livestock about a year ago, it was his achievement as a stock breeder that gave special distinction to Jesse R. Munson of Vienna Township. Stockmen, especially dairymen, have long been familiar with the wonderful herd of Holstein cattle, representing some of the very best blood and the finest productive achievements of that breed in America, which was carefully developed and maintained on the Vienna Township farm.
The Munsons have been a prominent family of Vienna Township from the time of earliest settlement. It was founded here by Calvin Munson, a native of England, who married in his native country Sarah Hunger ford. Coming to America, they settled in Connecticut, where Calvin followed his trade as a tanner and shoemaker. In 18o4 he came to the Ohio Western Reserve and bought 146 acres of unimproved land. His first cabin by mistake was erected on another claim, and the building and his first clearing went for naught. On his own land after rectifying his mistake he built his home and improved the land and lived there until his death in about 1846. Calvin Munson is credited with putting up the first saw mill in Vienna Township. His farm was divided between his two sons. One of these sons was Rilman Munson, who was born at Waterbury, Connecticut, January 25, 1799, and was a small child when brought to Ohio. He married Betsey Sowers, who was born in Germany September 26, 18o1, and was brought to America at the age of three years. Rilman Munson, who acquired the east half of the pioneer farm, followed the mason's trade and did a great deal of work at Warren. He died on the homestead in March, 1870, and his wif e June 2, 1887.
Their son, the late William C. Munson, who died January io, 1909, was born it Vienna Township October 6, 1826, being in his eighty-third year when he died. He attended some of the pioneer schools of Vienna Township, and at the age of seventeen was accepted as a partner by his father in erecting a mill. In 1845, at the age of nineteen, William C. Munson erected another mill on his own land. In 1864, having bought a tract of timber, he put up a steam mill, and continued to operate the mill and his farm until he retired in 1900. He was also interested in stock raising, and laid the foundation of the Holstein herd about forty years ago. While he raised a company to serve in the Civil war, he was compelled to remain at home to look after his parents, then in advanced years.. He knew personally not' only President William McKinley but his father, the senior McKinley.
May 13, 1851, William C. Munson married Elinor Mackey, a daughter of Andrew and Jane (Scott) Mackey. Her father was born in Ireland, and was one of the early farmer settlers of Trumbull County. Of the children of William C. Munson and wife, who died July 20, 1884, the oldest was John, who died January 13, 1909, just three days after his father. He had taken over the operation of the mill property when his father retired, and that mill has since been sold. He married for his first wife, Mary Goist, of the well-known family of that name in Vienna Township, and his second wife, Mary Ebert, is now living. at Greenville, Pennsylvania. The second of the children is Elizabeth, wife of Wesley Meeker. Lavina is the wife of Lucius Greenwood, of Fowler Township. The next in age is Jesse R. Willis J. is now a department superintendent of the Goodyear Rubber Company at Akron.
Jesse R. Munson was born April 29, 1861, and all his life has been spent on the farm, though he also had some experience in the operation of his father's mills. He was well educated, and when just past eighteen he taught his first term of school, but
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abandoned that occupation to take his place in the management of the farm. He proved a dutiful and affectionate son, and for eight years gave much of his time to looking after his father during a period of invalidism.
He has been proprietor of the farm since 1900. As noted above, his father brought in the first Holstein cattle to this part of Trumbull County in 1882, but the business first assumed important proportions under the management of Jesse Munson. He imported some of his foundation stock from herds in New York and also from the famous Heidekoeper herd of Meadville, Pennsylvania. For a number of years his herd consisted of about twenty-five registered animals, and many of them were exhibited at local fairs, the Ohio State Fair, the West Virginia State Fair and the Detroit Stock Exhibition, and carried off a goodly share of honors. Some especially valuable animals came from the Munson herd, and the records of the herd were especially high in sustained milk production. Mr. Munson gave practically all his time to this industry until September II, 1919, when he disposed of his livestock, having previously sold his farm.
For nineteen years he served as a director of the County Fair Association, and was vice president for ten years, having charge of the privileges. For sixteen years he was a member of the Board of Education of the township, and has made the welfare of his community a matter of deep interest. The old Munson farm is six miles east of Warren. Mr. Jesse Munson, who has never married, was for six years township trustee, and during that time he started the good road building, constructing some of the main east and west thoroughfares. He is a republican in politics, and is a stockholder in the Western Reserve Bank of Warren.
DARIUS WOODFORD. Nine and a half miles east of Warren is one of the old homesteads of Trumbull County continuously occupied by members of one family since the first years of the nineteenth century. The present owners are Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Pierson, Mrs. Pierson being a descendant of Darius Woodford, the pioneer.
Members of the Woodford family were the third group of people to settle in Vienna Township. The Woodfords were of stanch Puritan stock. Darius Woodford came from Hartford, Connecticut, making the journey on foot in i8o1 to select land. He then went back to Connecticut, where he married Bethiah Bass, and in October, 1803, started with ox teams for Ohio. His brother, Isaac Woodford, had preceded him, though he came to occupy land selected by Darius. Isaac Woodford was long known as Deacon Woodford, and he and his family were stanch upholders of religion and other New England institutions in Vienna.
Accompanying Darius Woodford was Timothy Alderman. Almost on the site of the house now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Pierson they built a log cabin, and in 1811 replaced it with a frame house, which in turn in 1879 gave way to a modern country home erected by the daughter of Darius, Mary, then Mrs. Samuel Strain. From the Connecticut Land Company Darius•Woodford secured 800 acres, selling part of it to his brothers Isaac and Sylvester. All three brothers settled at Woodford's Corners, though Sylvester later removed to Sandusky. Isaac remained here and died in advanced years, and some of his original land is still occupied by his descendant W. I. Woodford. Darius Woodford showed the vitality of his New England ancestry and died March 28, 1866, at the age of eighty-seven. His wife, Bethiah, was even longer lived, surviving him twenty years and passing away at the age of ninety-three. She is described as a woman of true pioneer courage and resourcefulness, and was equal to any of the emergencies of the lonely and unprotected community in which she first lived. She and her husband were charter members of the Presbyterian Church. The first religious meeting was held either in the Woodford house or barn, and the society formally organized there. Darius Woodford eventually reduced his landed properties to about 450 acres, and cleared a large part of it.
Darius Woodford and wife had six children. Eliza, the oldest, finished her education in a school at Hartford, Connecticut, taught by Catherine Beecher and her famous sister Harriet Beecher Stowe. Eliza afterward taught school, and became the wife of J. J. Humison, and thus were united two of the very early families of Vienna Township. Eliza died in 1890, at the age of eighty years. The second daughter, Celarcia, married Dr. Nathaniel Hayes, the first practicing physician in Vienna, and she died in that township at the age of sixty-six. Sophronia, who died on her portion of the old homestead at the age of eighty-two, was the wife of Adam McClurg. The son, Henry, lived in Vienna and died at the age of fifty-four. The fifth child was Mary, and the youngest was Darius, Jr., who died unmarried at the age of twenty-one.
Mary Woodford spent most of her life on the old homestead. She married Samuel Strain, a native of Pennsylvania. She was devoted to the comfort of her parents during their advanced years. As noted above, she built the present house on the homestead, and she lived there until her death, at the age of eighty-three. Samuel Strain died at Brazil, Indiana. Mrs. Strain was an expert business woman, and showed her ability and management both in and outside the home.
The only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Strain was Mary, who on April 11, 1877, became the wife of Mr. C. A. Pierson. Her entire life has been spent on the land which her grandfather acquired more than a century ago. Mr. Pierson was born at New Lebanon, Pennsylvania, August 4, 1856. When he was nine years of age his mother died, and at the age of thirteen he joined his father, E. A. Pierson, then living in Ohio. E. A. Pierson later went West and died in Montana. C. A. Pierson at the age of fourteen entered Quilts & Andrews general store at Vienna, and remained with that firm fourteen years, until his marriage.
Mr. and Mrs. Pierson have retained the old farm intact and have improved it with new barns and other equipment, owning 150 acres, and another tract of forty acres near by. This homestead is a mile and a half east of Vienna Village on the Sharon-Warren Road. Mr. Pierson, while his energies have
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been devoted to the farm, has also taken an active interest in public affairs, is a democrat, a Knight Templar Mason and a Maccabee. Mrs. Pierson has been a life-long member of the Presbyterian Church at Vienna.
Her family consists of a son, Wick Pierson, and a daughter, Olive. Wick Pierson, who received his education at Westminster College and in the Ohio Northern University at Ada, is a successful attorney and city collector at Girard. He married Mina Clawson, and they have one son, Wick Virginius. The daughter, Olive, is a graduate of Westminster College and was a teacher in Warren until her marriage to T. C. Cochran, an attorney at Mercer, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Cochran have four children: Wilson Henry, Charles Edward, Elizabeth Cornelia and Olive Amanda. Mr. Pierson was a district member and chairman of the draft board during the World war.
CHARLES R. STEWART for twenty years has been one of the successful farmers of Vienna Township, Trumbull County. He has seen his affairs prosper and has made the Truesdale farm, of which he is proprietor, one of the best country places in that part of the Mahoning Valley. The Truesdale farm is a half mile north of the Village of Vienna in the township of that name, eight miles north of Youngstown and eight miles east of Warren.
Some of this farm was part of the old Stewart estate, and at that site Charles R. Stewart was born December 22, 1871. He is a son of Robert J. and Eliza A. (Sigler) Stewart. His grandfather, John A. Stewart, came to Eastern Ohio with his parents when a boy and subsequently settled in the southeastern .part of Vienna Township, where his son, Robert J., was born. Some years later the family moved to the farm where Charles R. Stewart was born. Robert J. Stewart, who died in 1916, at the age of sixty-seven, began teaching when only fourteen. From the duties of the schoolroom he went into the army as a member of the One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Infantry, and served until discharged two years later as a result of wounds received in battle. He then resumed teaching, an occupation he continued for several years. Eliza A. Sigler, who became his wife, was one of his former pupils. She was a sister of Doctor Sigler of Niles, and her father was one of the old residents of Vienna and Fowler townships. After his marriage Mr. Stewart continued teaching until he had the responsibility of providing for three children, and then took charge of his father's farm. He was an only child, and he cared for his father and mother during their declining years. The old Stewart farm contained about ioo acres. Robert Stewart identified himself with several township offices, and was a stanch republican like his father, who had lived in a time when he was classed as an abolitionist. Robert Stewart remained on the homestead until advanced years, and the last two years of his life were spent at the home of his son Charles. He survived his wife about four years. He was loyal to the family religion, the Presbyterian Church. Robert J. Stewart and wife had a large family of children: Frank L., who was connected with the steel industry at Niles, where he died in 1919; Samuel, who lives at McDonald; Walter, who for some years was a resident of California, but returned to Ohio and died at the old homestead in 1918, being survived by two children; William, who for a number of years clerked in Peck's store at Warren, where he fell through a skylight, was a cripple for thirteen years and died at the homestead at the age of forty; Mary became the wife of Ernest Greenwood, a coal merchant at Williamsport, Pennsylvania ; Charles R. is next in age; Maude E. is the wife of a Warren real estate man, Carl Rice, son of Captain Rice; and Myrtle is the wife of Lew Brown, a prominent onion grower in Bloomfield Township, who produced from his land forty-five carloads in 1919, he having 105 acres devoted to onion growing.
Charles R. Stewart grew up on the farm, attended local schools, and for four years sold goods over the territory of Ohio and Pennsylvania. On January 1901, he married Carrie Morgan, a daughter of William Morgan. She was born in Vienna Township twenty-one years before her marriage. Having married, Mr. Stewart bought the Truesdale place, and has managed his affairs with such success that he has increased his farm to 134 acres, fifty acres being part of the old Stewart homestead, while the rest is the old Truesdale property. This land was settled by the pioneer Truesdales, who came from Connecticut in early days. On the Truesdale farm is a handsome persimmon tree which is said to have grown from a stone or pit sent home from the South by a soldier son of the Truesdales. Under his ownership Mr. Stewart has erected new barns, rebuilt the house, and has perfected his equipment for dairying. He has thirty-seven head of registered cattle, chiefly Shorthorns, used for dairy purposes. He has also been a producer of beef, and for five years operated a meat wagon.
Mr. Stewart is a member of the Presbyterian Church, a republican, and has always been interested in township affairs. He is a Royal Arch Mason, being a member of Cortland Blue Lodge and the Chapter at Warren, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias at Coalburg, and with the Knights of the Maccabees at Vienna. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart had no children of their own. An adopted daughter, Lena Carter, died of the influenza at the age of fifteen.
WILLIAM R. GRAHAM. While his duties for the past four or five years have been as trust officer of the Realty Guarantee and Trust Company, William R. Graham is a lawyer by profession and has been a member of the Youngstown bar continuously for thirty years.
He was born on a farm in Poland Township, Mahoning County, September 12, 1864. Shortly after his birth his parents, Robert and Elizabeth (Robinson) Graham, removed across the state line to Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and he grew up on a farm there, acquiring his early education in the diftrict schools. In 1886 he entered Grove City College and as a means of furthering his stay there taught one term of school. He was in Grove 'City College two years, and then entered the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, where
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he spent one year in a general course, one year in the law department, and finished his law preparation in the Cincinnati Law School. Graduating in June, 1889, he was admitted to the bar and on August 17, 1889, located at Youngstown. For many years he handled a growing general practice and his abilities enabled him to build up and hold a practice as an individual lawyer. From 1890 to 1896 he was in partnership with James B. Kennedy, who at that time was county prosecutor. His partnership brought him the substantial duties of assistant prosecutor. He has never sought office except within his profession. In the fall of 1901 he was elected prosecutor of Mahoning County, and re-elected three years later, serving six years. Outside of his routine duties his most noteworthy service in office was in perfecting the legal safeguards and advising the county officials during the construction of the present courthouse. The con- tracts, specifications, and all other details were wholly submitted to Mr. Graham for his approval.
Mr. Graham has been trust officer of the Realty Trust Company since November 1, 1915. He is a republican in politics, a member of the Tabernacle United Presbyterian Church and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On June 26, 1894, he married Miss Helen E. Rice of Poland, Ohio.
GRANT MCMULLIN has to his credit an honorable and industrious career as a farmer, and has lived all his life in the locality familiar to his ancestors in Brookfield Township of :Trumbull County.
The McMullins, history states, were the first permanent settlers in Brookfield Township. The head of the family was James McMullin, Sr., though that addition to his name is hardly distinctive since there have been James McMullins in practically every generation. However, the pioneer James came out of Pennsylvania and as land agent for the Connecticut Land Company transacted business for the company in Brookfield Township as early as 1796. Then or somewhat later he built a log house in the eastern part of the township, not far from the state line. He had seven sons, and his grandson, James, was the first white child born in the township. A son of the pioneer James was known as Capt. James McMullin. Captain James was the grandfather of Grant McMullin. He settled on the farm where his grandson now lives, 21A miles west of Sharon, and conducted a blacksmith shop on the farm. He died when a little past middle life. His wife was Catherine Draper, and their children were : Benjamin ; Martin, who remained in the township until advanced years, when he moved to Pennsylvania; Washington, who died in the township at the age of sixty ; Jane, who married Mathew Christy and lived in Trumbull County ; Hannah, who became the wife of Stephen Dunlap and also remained in the home county ; and Kate, who married George Strube', of Trumbull County.
Benjamin McMullin, father of Grant, was born at the old homestead in 1829, and had a long and useful life. He was very successful as a farmer, exercised good business judgment, and acquired land until he owned 46o acres, much of which was cleared during his active days. He was one of the extensive raisers of sheep and cattle. Benjamin McMullin married Fanny Wheeler, who was born in Erie County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of William Wheeler, and was brought to Trumbull County as a child. She was born in 1828 and died in 1915, at the advanced age of eighty-seven. Her married life was spent on the old homestead. Benjamin McMullin erected the present residence about 1875, and all the other buildings. He was the father of three children:: Grant ; Jessie, Mrs. F. M. McKay, of Brookfield; and Millie, wife of John Thomas, an old railroad employe living at Youngstown.
Grant McMullin was born September 2, 1868, while General Grant was making his first campaign for the presidency. As he grew up he received a good education and training as a practical farmer, and the increasing responsibilities added to him from year to year have satisfied his ambition for achievement. He has never married. As a farmer he has always been interested in good livestock, and has done much work for the community. He is a former township treasurer and trustee, and helped build some of the good highways of the township. His father was a rabid republican, and Mr. McMullin accepted the same political faith, and, like his father, is a member of the Church of the Disciples in Brookfield. He is also affiliated with the Order of Elks.
HOMER C. WHITE is a man of versatile accomplishments and abilities. For over forty years he has been a practical surveyor and civil engineer. The office of county surveyor of Trumbull County was filled by him consecutively for upwards of twenty years. He is also a farmer, and lives on a farm a mile and a half south of Niles in Weathersfield Township. He is also a skillful amateur photographer.
He was born August 9, 1853. The house in which he was born stood on the county line between Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Austintown Township. His grandparents were John and Elizabeth (Deneen) White. The family came originally from Ireland. John White was an early settler in what is now Mahoning County, grew up at Youngstown, and subsequently bought a wild tract of land from Joshua Stowe. That land is the present homestead of Homer C. White. He cleared away the timber and developed a farm of about seventy-eight acres. His first cabin home was built on a knoll close to the banks of Meander Creek, at the west end of the land. In later years he built a house on the road from Niles to Mineral Ridge, two miles south of the center of Niles. In that residence he spent his last years, and the old home is still standing. John White died prior to the Civil war, when about ninety years of age. Homer C. White has some recollections of his grandfather, one fact that impressed itself upon his memory being that his grandfather had not a hair on his head. John White was a soldier in the War of 1812, and for his services received a land grant which he placed in Iowa in Humboldt County, and that land was kept in the family until it was sold about twenty years ago. John White was a strong democrat, and all his sons followed him in this party allegiance except one. His wife also
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lived to a good old age, and a brief record of their children is as follows : James, who moved to Geauga County, Ohio, and died at Middlefield in advanced years ; Samuel, who served with an Ohio battery in the Civil war and lived and died on part of the old homestead; Joseph, who went out to Whitehall, Greene County, Illinois; John ; Mary, who married David McClurg and lived in Vienna Township; Martha, widow of Ambrose Erwin, lived during his lifetime near the old homestead, but is now a resident of Warren; Louisa is the widow of Levi Hood, their home being near Ohlton, but she is now living in Los Angeles, California.
The father of Homer C. White was also named John. He was born in 1828, probably on the old homestead farm. He became a carpenter but eventually bought out the interests of the other heirs in the homestead, built a new house, and lived there until his death in 1875. His death was due to accidental injury. He married Adeline Weiss, who survived him to the age of eighty-two. She was the last survivor of the sixteen children in the family of Jacob and Elizabeth (Althouse) Weiss, who were early settlers in Mahoning County and were of Pennsylvania German ancestry. One son, Jacob Weiss, died at the age of ninety-two at Austintown. John White, Jr., was a republican, rendered some public service in his community, and always kept well informed on political and religious subjects, and had many gifts in discussion and argument. As a youth he heard Alexander Campbell preach, and was one of the loyal adherents of the Church of the Disciples. John and Adeline White had four children, the only son and oldest child being Homer C. The second, Mary Elizabeth, lived in Youngstown, where she died unmarried; Priscilla became the wife of Frank Lonnen, who for many years was chef for the Young Men's Christian Association of Youngstown ; Addie Grace is unmarried and lives with her sister at Youngstown.
Homer C. White spent some of his early years in Austintown Township and moved here with the family to the homestead. He recalls that change in residence by the fact that President Lincoln was assassinated about that time. While his interests have been directed in other lines he has always kept the old farm intact and built the present house about forty years ago. The White farm, containing seventy-six acres, is now valuable for city extension, since it lies on the car line half way between Niles and Mineral Ridge. Mr. White was educated in the grammar and high schools at Niles, and also attended .oethany College in West Virginia, an institution sounded by Alexander Campbell, and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He took up the study of land surveying about 1874, and has ever since been engaged in a general line of civil engineering. Beginning in 1887, he was county surveyor foltwenty years except for three years while city engineer. of Warren. His professional services were also employed in county drainage work, and he was employed as the engineer for several road and drainage districts.
For a number of years he served as a central committeeman of the republican party. He is a member of the old Disciples Church at Mineral Ridge, of which his father was a prominent supporter. In 1878, at the age of twenty-six, Mr. White married Athaliah Hood, of Ohlton, daughter of John and Amanda (Siddall) Hood. Her father was a Civil war soldier of the Sixth Ohio Cavalry, and a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. White have three children. The son, Arthur, received an appointment in the civil service during the administration of President Roosevelt, and for the past thirteen years has been a member of the United States Marines. He is now a major in that famous organization and is on duty on the Island of Hayti. The daughter Lena Amanda is the wife of Robert Hughes, a Youngstown carpenter. Hazel is the wife of Howard Todd, a farmer at Leavittsburg in Trumbull County.
JOHN L. MCROBERTS has lived a busy life at farming and in handling various interests in the City of Niles. His country home is almost adjoining the city, being a mile west of Niles.
This farm has many associations for his family. Mr. McRoberts was born there April 14, 1866. His parents were James and Laura (Draper) McRoberts. James McRoberts was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1832, and when about four years of age was brought to the United •States by his parents, Andrew and Mary (McClure) McRoberts. The family located near the Village of Austintown, but later Andrew moved to New Castle, Pennsylvania, where he farmed until his death at the age of fifty.
James McRoberts grew up at Austintown, and in early life took up work as a railroad builder. He was foreman during the construction of the Erie Railroad, then known as the Atlantic and Great Western, from Youngstown to Kent, Ohio. While thus employed he lived at the Draper home, and thus met Laura Draper, and they were married at the homestead now occupied by their son John L. McRoberts, in the early '50s. James McRoberts formed a close friendship with the head of the Erie Railroad, Martin Kent, and he always kept up an interest in the reunions of the Erie employes. He continued railroad work for several years after his marriage.
The Drapers are an old pioneer family of the Western Reserve. Laura Draper was a daughter of Elihu and Rachel (Dunlap) Draper. Elihu was a son of Nathan Draper, who secured land from the Connecticut Land Company in 1812. His original holdings comprised about 200 acres. Some of it he gave to his grandson, his namesake, and the home place to his son Elihu. Both Nathan and Elihu lived here, and Elihu died in 1853. Recently a portion of this farm was incorporated in the City of Niles, though the tract has not been formally taken over at this writing. Mr. McRoberts still owns thirty-two acres of the old Draper place. Elihu Draper was buried on the farm, and his widow subsequently married Joseph Lewis and lived in Warren Township, near the City of Warren, where she died in old age. Her second husband died at the home of his son Doctor Lewis at Cleveland.
The children of Elihu Draper were : Nathan,. Elihu, Warren, who is a veteran of the Civil war and is now living at the age of eighty years in Oklahoma City, William, who is also still living,
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John, Hannah, who married James E. Burnett, Katie, wife of Charles Van Wye, and Laura.
James and Laura McRoberts bought the present farm. James McRoberts was a man of much initiative, especially on his farm and in business, and was also an advocate of progress in. his community but could never reconcile his personal honesty with the methods of politicians and refused to hold office. He died honored and esteemed in the community January 4, 1913, at the age of eighty-one years. His wife, Laura, died about 1870. For his second wife he married Isabel (Arnold) White, of Weathersfield. She died in 1896. James McRoberts had four children: Ida, who died in middle life, at New Castle, Pennsylvania; Alice, widow of John Smith, living at Warren; John L.; and Mary, a teacher who died at the age of twenty-four.
For half a century John L. McRoberts has lived close to the scenes of his birthplace. He acquired a good education as he grew to manhood, and at the age of twenty-one, leaving home, experienced some of the adventures of the Far West, spending five years chiefly in Utah. Besides looking after his farm and handling his property he has been interested in business at Niles as a manufacturer of cement blocks and as a coal dealer.
At the age of thirty he married Margaret Joyce, who was born at Niles, a daughter of Patrick and Mary J. (Hake) Joyce. Her father was a roller in the mills for many years, and was killed in a runaway at Salt Springs in 189o, at the age of forty-seven, when his daughter Margaret was fifteen years of age. The latter's mother had died in 1888. Mr. and Mrs. McRoberts have two children, Wade Edward, who is a graduate of the Niles High School and is at home, and John, still a student.
JAMES M. DICKSON represented that sterling pioneer family of Dickson which was established in Poland Township as early as 1801 by John Dickson. The old Dickson farm is on the north side of Lowellville, and was occupied for many years by two brothers, James and George Dickson, the former of whom died in 1887 and the latter in 1890.
The children of James Dickson, Sr., were : John Andrew, was a Union soldier, at his first enlistment became a member of the Nineteenth Ohio Infantry and at the second of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Pennsylvania Regiment. He was wounded at Petersburg, Virginia, and his wounds shortened his life so that he died in 1876. Sarah, the second of the family, became the wife of William Cooper, of Coitsville, and in 1878 they removed to Iowa, but she died at Coitsville in 1890. Her husband died in Youngstown when past ninety. Anne M. became the wife of Robert McFarland. They lived on the old Dickson farm, later went to Iowa, and spent their last years in that state. Martha H. died unmarried as a young woman. Samuel E. was a druggist at Pittsburgh, where he died in 1890, and was a soldier of the Eighty-Fourth Ohio Regiment during the Civil war. He had been a partner with his brother John A. in the grocery business.
The next in age in the family was James M. Dick.- son, who was born October 15, 1847. He remained at home operating the farm, but also served a three years' apprenticeship as a carpenter and altogether followed his trade for fifty-two years. He developed an extensive contracting business at Lowellville and for thirty years in Hubbard.
At the age of twenty-three he married Margaret Moore, a daughter of James Moore, a neighbor. They were schoolmates together. She died in 1887, the mother of three children: James F., who. married Mary Price and has two children, Clyde K, and James A.; Harry Clifton Dickson, a carpenter of Youngstown, who married Martha McComb and has a son, Paul McComb; and Amy Esther, who married William Sampson, a farmer in Liberty Township at Church Hill and has a son, Leonard.
March 12, 1890, James M. Dickson married Rebecca J. Wilson, a daughter of the late Allen Wilson. Since their marriage they have lived on the old Wilson farm in Hubbard Township. Their son, Allen Wilson Dickson, is secretary of the Builders' and Contractors' Association of Youngstown and lives at home with his parents. He is a graduate of the Rayen High School and of Westminster College.
The Wilson and Dickson families have long been identified with the United Presbyterian Church. Mr. and Mrs. Dickson attend the Cedar Corners Church, and he is an elder. He is also affiliated with. the Grange.
ALLEN WILSON came to Youngstown when it was a small village, played a part in its industrial life, and later as a farmer in Trumbull County..
He was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1844. Soon afterward, at Youngstown, he became an employe of Judge Rayen on the Rayen farm bordering Wood Street in the north part of the city. The first year he was paid $100 in cash for his services, and remained in the employ of Judge Rayen for nine years. He grew several crops of wheat and other products on land that has long been incorporated within the city limits.
While working for Judge Rayen he married Martha Caldwell, a sister of Henry and James Caldwell of Youngstown. He was also employed a year at the old Hemrod Furnace, and in 1854 moved to the home in Hubbard Township where his daughter, Mrs. Dickson, still lives. The farm here contained 109 acres, and is now owned by S. G. McClure, Mrs. Dickson retaining a small tract around her home. Allen Wilson lived on this farm and died April 23, 1905. His wife passed away October 15, 1890. Their only child was Rebecca J., now Mrs. James M. Dickson.
ROBERT WILLIAM JEWELL. The Jewells were among the earliest settlers of Hubbard Township, and in connection with the history of Trumbull County they have deeply impressed their character and influence upon all the changing developments of the century. Of this family the late Robert William Jewell spent many years of his life on a farm half way between Hubbard and Sharon, and his family still live there.
The old Jewell homestead that was situated in Brookfield Township was his birthplace, where he was born October 3, 1834. He was a son of William
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and Mary (Morrow) Jewell. William Jewell was born twenty miles from Pittsburgh in 1798, and was seventeen years of age when he accompanied the family to Ohio in 1815. His father drove across the country with a yoke of oxen, while the wife came later on horseback, carrying a child in her arms. William Jewell spent all his mature life on the Jewell homestead and died in 1879, in his eighty-first year. He was one of seven sons and six daughters and was the only one to remain in this vicinity. One of his brothers, Clark, moved to Cincinnati, and his daughter married a member of the Hall family of the Hall Safe and Lock Company. Mrs. William Jewell died in 1871.
The only children of William Jewell to reach mature years were Robert William and Elizabeth. The latter became the wife of Calvin Harris and removed to Struthers, locating a mile from that village in Mahoning County. She and her husband died there. Robert William Jewell remained on the old homestead, and after his marriage he and his wife began housekeeping where Mrs. Jewell now lives. The farm at that location comprises seventy-two acres, and later Mr. Jewell acquired half of the old homestead. He bought the other heirs' interest, owning all of the old homestead of 120 acres, where his son A. M. now lives. The present house was built in 1876, and the old house on the farm is still standing. While Mr. Jewell was not an office seeker, when his fellow citizens called upon him to act on the school board and as road supervisor he rendered some very creditable service. He was a republican, and a trustee, deacon and active worker in the First Baptist Church at Hubbard. He had quarried most of the stone for the church parsonage on his own land and the old Jewell homestead.
November 6, 1856, Mr. Jewell married Charlotte Van Ness, who was born in Hubbard Township May 18, 1838, a member of the Van Ness family whose record is given in detail on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Jewell became the parents of eight children : Freeman A. Walter W., who spent his life at home and died A.; 12, 1894, in his thirty-fourth year ; Aaron M., who lives on the original Jewell farm ; Mary Elizabeth and Pamela Evaline, who died in childhood at about the same age ; Lottie Lou, who lives in Youngstown; Ettie Albina and Nellie Grace, both at home.
Freeman A. Jewell was well educated at Hubbard and began teaching at the age of nineteen. He taught in Hubbard and Brookfield Townships, and also was connected with the schools of Coalburg when that mining village was much more prosperous than it is today. From 1884 for twelve years Mr. Jewell was a professional photographer, spending seven years at Meadville and Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, and from 1891 for five years was located at Canton, Ohio. Giving up his profession he returned to the farm, and for some years past has been engaged in responsible duties with the Pennsylvania Tank Car Company, whose plant is only a short distance from his home. He also served four years on the Board of Elections and three years on the Hubbard Township Board of Education, and for four years was the first secretary of Hubbard Progressive Grange No. 1879. He is unmarried, and like others of the family is a Baptist.
DELBERT ELIAS HOOVER, M. D., of Warren, and one of the leading surgeons of the Mahoning Valley, was born in North Burton, 'Alahoning County, Ohio, August 7, 1871, the son of Dr. and Sarah (Miller) Hoover.
Doctor Hoover, Sr., was born in Limaville, Stark County, Ohio, the son of Elias Hoover, a native of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Doctor Hoover, Sr., was graduated from Western Reserve Medical College, class of 1874, and with the degree of M. D. He entered general practice at North Benton in that year, subsequently removing to Alliance, Ohio, where he is still in active practice, having thus followed his profession for forty-six years. He is a veteran of the Civil war, having served as a private in an Ohio volunteer regiment. He married Sarah, daughter of Stephen Miller, a pioneer of the Mahoning Valley, and a direct descendant of the Governor Bradford family of Massachusetts. She was born in North Benton, Ohio, and died in Alliance, Ohio, in 1909.
Delbert E. Hoover attended the public schools and Mount Union College. He was desirous of teaching school, but his youth prevented and he entered the employ of the Morgan Engineering Company of Alliance. He eventually decided to qualify for the medical profession, and entered the medical department of Western Reserve University, where he was graduated with the M. D. degree in the class of 1895. Leaving college, he became interne at the Cleveland City Hospital, and in 1896 he entered general practice in Warren. He made a specialty of surgical work, and took extensive research work in that branch of medical science. In 1904 he took post-graduate courses at Freiburg, Germany, and at Vienna, Austria, and also spent some time in London. Returning to the United States he took a post-graduate course at Bellevue Hospital, New York City, and then resumed his private practice at Warren, and has continued it, with one important break, until the present. He has been surgeon to the Baltimore and Ohio Railway Company since 1897, and to the Erie Railway Company since 1903, and since 1916 has been chief of the surgical staff of the Warren City Hospital.
Doctor Hoover enlisted in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army in 1916, being commissioned in the grade of first lieutenant at that time. In July, 1917, a few months after the United States entered the World war, Doctor Hoover was ordered to duty at Columbus, Ohio, where for a time he served as assistant to the chief surgeon. Later he was ordered to Fort Harrison for training, and after two months at that place he spent a similar period at Pittsburgh, after which he was ordered to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, and assigned to surgical service. In December, 1917, he was promoted to the rank of captain. In April, 1918, he became chief genito-urinary surgeon in charge of the venerial camp at Jefferson Barracks, and three months later was commissioned major. In August, 1918, he was assigned to United States Base Hospital No. 131, and in September was ordered overseas. He arrived in Europe in October, 1918, and was assigned to the hospital center at Mars-sur-Allier, where he served
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as assistant commanding officer and commanding officer until February, 1919, when he was ordered to Tours, as chief of surgical service at hospital center at Joue-les-Tours. There he remained until the center was broken up and ordered home, he returning with the unit, and was discharged from Camp Dix, New Jersey, on July 26, 1919, with the military rank of major. In September, 1919, Doctor Hoover resumed private practice in Warren.
He is a member of the Trumbull County and State Medical Societies, belongs to the American Medical Association, and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Socially he belongs to the Union and Athletic Clubs of Cleveland, and fraternally to the Masonic order, being a member of the Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons, Warren Commandery No. 39, Knights Templar, to Scioti Consistory, Scottish Rite, thirty-second degree, and to the Al Koran Temple, Mystic Shrine.
ELIAS REES. While he was a practical miner and coal operator from early boyhood for many years, Elias Rees eventually was able to satisfy his ambition to become an independent farmer. Agriculture was his satisfying vocation until recently, when in response to the great demand consequent upon the increasing population he prepared to dispose of his farm and convert it into a site for homes.
The Rees farm is a mile west of the Village of Hubbard. While Elias Rees has lived in Trumbull County nearly all his life he was born at Merther in Glamorganshire, Wales, March 25, 1858. Welsh people form a large and substantial group of Ma-honing Valley citizenship, and most of the older generation who came from that country were either coal miners or iron workers. Elias Rees is a son of A. and Rachel Rees. His father was a Welsh coal miner, and on settling in Ohio in 1858, the same year his son Elias was born, he became an employe of Chauncey Andrews, mining coal at Crab Creek. He was connected with the Crab Creek mines seven years, and then in 1865 moved to Hubbard Township. During the same year, while sinking a coal slope for Rice & Clark at Cedar Corners, a car ran wild down the slope, striking him and Thomas James, the latter being killed instantly, while Rees died eight hours later. His widow was left with the care and support of six small children. He had bought a farm, but it was burdened with a debt of $1,500. Mrs. Rachel Rees showed the fine qualities of her 'noble character when deprived of her husband's aid, She literally worked night and day, both in the fields and in the house, and in four years had paid off the debt. While her work and her will were the big factors in this triumph, she always acknowledged a great debt to the capable counsel and advice of William Slemmons. She died on the old homestead in 1901, at the age of seventy. Her second husband was William G. Williams, and she survived him. The six children of her first marriage were: Mary, wife of William J. Jones, of Sharon ; Elias ; John, a retired resident of Youngstown; Jane, who died at the age of eighteen; David, who was a miner and died at the age of forty-eight; and Rees A., who was killed in a powder mill explosion at the age of thirty-one. William G. Williams had four children by his first wife: William Williams, who was killed in a blast at the Coalburg mines ; Anne, who married Nelson Holder and both are now deceased; Thomas, who lives at Youngstown; and Evan, who died at the age of twenty-three. The four children of the marriage of Mr. Williams and Mrs. Rees were : Benjamin, a member of the Youngstown police force; Elizabeth, who married William Donovan and died at the age of thirty-eight; Daniel, who died of typhoid at the age of eighteen; and Josiah, a foreman of the Republic Iron & Steel Company living at Hubbard.
Elias Rees was only eight years of age when he helped man the hand pumps in coal mines. Beginning with that as his initial experience he had every form of work and learned every phase of coal mining. For three years he was at the Niles shaft, and did his last work in that business at Cedar Corners, in the same mines where his father was killed. He took a contract to open the main shaft there and helped open several other mines and was also in charge of a shift. His career as a miner closed in 1884, after eighteen years. In that year he became a butcher and for twelve years supplied fresh meat to the coal mines and also ran a meat wagon to the Valley Mills on Crab Creek. This business he operated with profit, and from his savings bought a farm in Liberty Township, now included in the Henry Wick property. Having sold that in 1893 he bought his present place a mile west of Hubbard. This is the old C. F. Bates farm of 118 acres. Mr. Rees made his farm notable by the breeding of draft horses and Shetland ponies, and continued that profitable feature of his farm work for about sixteen years. Probably the last field crop has been gathered from the farm, since it is now in readiness for platting as a residence district.
At the age of twenty-two Mr. Rees married Mary Harriet Lewis. She died twelve years later, the mother of two children : Jane, wife of Erastus Eells, of Lisbon, Ohio; and Roger, cashier of the Truscon Steel Works at Youngstown. In 1894 Mr. Rees married Mrs. Mary (Jones) Lloyd, a native of Wales. Four children were born to their union : Elias, Jr., of Hubbard, a New York Central Railway employe : Rachel, bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Youngstown ; Ezekiel and Sarah, both high school students at Hubbard.
LEWIS HUTTON. Though he served five years in the regular army during the Civil war period, Lewis Hutton has many active business interests today in his home town of Cortland, where he is mayor, president of the Cortland Savings & Banking Company, and has an office as an insurance and real estate man.
Mr. Hutton, who has lived in Trumbull County for nearly fifty years, was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 8, 1845, son of Caleb and Elizabeth (Cooper) Hutton. The paternal grandparents were Lewis and Harriet Hutton, farming people of Chester County, Pennsylvania. The Huttons came originally from England. Elizabeth Cooper Hutton was the daughter of Phineas and Ann Cooper, also farmers of Chester County, and her grandfather, Thomas Cooper, served as a private in the Colonial troops in the Revolution. Caleb Hutton was a stone
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mason by trade, and died when his son Lewis was four years of age. He was the father of six children: Mary A., who married Constantine Strong; Lewis ; Lydia, the twin sister of Lewis, died in 1905 as Mrs. Jacob Greig; Evan, deceased; Caleb; and Philenia.
Lewis Hutton acquired his education at Avondale, Pennsylvania, and was sixteen years of age when he enlisted, August 18, 1861, in Company B of the Eighth Regiment of Regulars. He was in the army five years, and was in the Army of the Potomac during some of the greatest battles in the eastern theater of the war. He was wounded at Chancellorsville and at Gettysburg, and other battles in which he participated were Yorktown, Seven Oaks, the Seven Days' battle, the second battle of Bull Run, Antietam; Fredericksburg, the Wilderness campaign, and was at Appomattox in April, 1865. In the fall following the close of the war he was sent to California, where he remained until his honorable discharge at San Francisco, August 18, 1866. After the war he learned the trade of miller, remained at Philadelphia about four years, and after traveling over Iowa and Missouri came to Trumbull County in 1871. A friend had visited at Cortland and through his influence Mr. Hutton became miller of the local mill. Except for a year spent at Saginaw, Michigan, he has lived in Trumbull County continuously since 1871. For six years he was miller and had an interest in a mill at North Bristol, Ohio, and then returned to Cortland and with M. C. Kennedy bought the local mill, operating it under the firm name of Hutton and Kennedy until it was burned in 1891. This was an old stone mill. The site was sold to N. M. Richards. For a time Mr. Hutton was also engaged in farming and then returned to the village, where he has had an active part in banking and other affairs. He was made president of the Cortland Savings & Banking Company to succeed M. A. Cowdrey at his death in June, 1920. He served as township trustee, as a member of the village council, for six years was county infirmary director, and was first elected mayor in 1907 for a two-year term. Then in 1913 he was again elected to that office, and has been regularly continued by the votes of his fellow citizens ever since. The public lighting of Cortland is supplied by the mill company. The village has ample fire protection, with truck and chemical engine, and the sidewalks are all stone and cement, while the streets are macadamized with a Tarvia surface. Mr. Hutton also has a position as a notary public. He is a republican in politics and for fifty years has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has passed all the chairs in the local lodge. He is a member of the Burrow-Coburn Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. This Post was started in 1886 with forty members, but most of them have been mustered out by death until not more than four respond to roll call.
In 1875 Mr. Hutton married Ella 0. Post, of Cortland, who was born in that Ohio village August 6, 1855, daughter of M. C. and Elvila Post. Her father was a miller by trade. Mrs. Hutton died in May, 1915, and was buried on Sunday, May 13th, the fortieth anniversary of their marriage. Three children were born to them, Olive 0., born in 1881, is the wife of Frank Musser, a garage proprietor at Warren; Elvila E., born in 1888, is the wife of John Hartman, an automobile dealer and garage proprietor at Warren; and Lewis S., who is an electrical contractor at Warren.
JOHN A. WHITE finds in Lordstown Township, Trumbull County, a most attractive and productive stage for his vigorous activities as an agriculturist and stock grower, and his farm is eligibly situated six miles south of Warren and four and one-half miles west of Niles. He was born at Niles, this county, August 24, 1873, and is a son of Samuel and Laura (Battles) White, both of whom were born and reared in Weathersfield Township, this county, the birthplace of the father having been a farm two miles west of Niles. Samuel White passed his entire life in his native county, was for some time engaged in the teaming business at Niles, and was one of the substantial farmers of the county at the time of his death, when fifty-eight years of age, his widow being; now a resident of Niles. She is a daughter of John and Mary (Levings) Battles, his father having been born on a farm near Mineral Ridge, this county, and the old homestead is still owned by the heirs of his brother Jacob, who died when about eighty-five years of age, at Niles. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Samuel White resided for a few years on the farm of the latter's father, adjacent to and now partly within the City of Niles. Mr. White was absent from this farm about fifteen years, and then returned to the place, of which he came into full ownership by buying the interests of all other heirs except his wife. He continued his activities on this farm until the time of his death, and seventy acres of the farm are now owned by his son Charles, who there resides. Of. the three children, John A., of this review, is the eldest; Ella is the wife of Thomas H. Evans, and they reside near Niles ; and Charles W., as previously noted, owns and resides on a part of the old home farm.
John A. White profited by the advantages of the public schools and remained on his father's farm until he was twenty-eight years of age, though he had married about three years previously. He purchased the Samuel Flick farm of eighty-six acres, and here he has since continued his successful activities as an agriculturist and stock grower, dairy farming and the raising of high-grade horses being made special features of his farm enterprise. Mr. White owned his grandfather Battles' farm for a number of years, but the Gursella Chemical Works is now located on that property. He is a staunch supporter of the principles of the democratic party, and while never a seeker of public office he takes satisfaction in according service as a member of the school board, of which position he is now incumbent. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and he and his wife are members of the Christian Church.
November 16, 1898, recorded the marriage of Mr. White to Miss Olive Justice, who was born at Niles, January 16, 1876, a daughter of David and Jane (Cole) Justice, who removed to Milton Township when she was a child. Mrs. White was eleven years old at the time of her mother's death, and she assumed charge of the domestic affairs of the home,
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in which capacity she showed marked energy and ability as a housewife. In her home her venerable father has resided for the past eighteen years. Mr. Justice was for many years actively identified with lumbering interests in this section of the state. He dealt in timber, manufactured thousands of railroad ties and was a successful business man. Mr. and Mrs. White have three children, Laura, Sylvia and Alice, all of whom are attending school at the time of this writing, in 1920. Laura was graduated from the Lordstown High School and is now attending the normal school at Kent, Sylvia being a student in the high school at Lordstown.
ARCHIE A. MCCORKLE has spent his active years as a farmer, rancher and live stock man. As a youth he was in the far Southwest, managing one of the great cattle outfits in the country in the days of the free range. Since then his business has been farming in the country of Eastern Ohio, where his people have lived for over a century, and he has one of the well equipped dairy farms at Lordstown.
The McCorkles were Scotch-Irish. Three brothers, William, John and Archibald, came from Ireland to the United States in 1799. Two of them, John and Archibald, after spending a short time near Philadelphia came to the Western Reserve of Ohio and settled in the timber near the present City of Youngstown. Their descendants are now widely dispersed over many states. John McCorkle married Isabella Montgomery, a native of Ireland, and they had children named William, Margaret, Sarah, Deborah, Archibald, John, Andrew and James.
Of these the line of the present family was carried through Archibald, who was born at Boardman in Mahoning County, March 9, 1809. Nearly all his early life was spent in the era of pioneer simplicity when railroads and modern facilities were unknown. After his marriage he bought a tract of timber land a half mile east of Center in Lordstown Township, erected a log house, and gave his time and labor to the clearing of the woods and the cultivation of the fields, while his good wife performed all the arts of the pioneer woman, making homespun clothing and cooking her meals at the fireplace. Archibald McCorkle had good business judgment, was a successful farmer, an expert in handling live stock and developed a good farm of 300 acres. He was killed by a falling tree on March 9, 1861. His wife was Mary Jones, a daughter of John Jones, and she was born in Austintown Township March 29, 1814, and died October 27, 1894. Their six children were: Seymour, who died at the age of forty-two; Martha, who died at the age of eighteen ; 'Miranda, who died at the age of twenty-two; Almon G.; John Alva, who was educated at Hiram College, graduated in medicine from Michigan University, and for many years was president of the Brooklyn. Hospital at Brooklyn, New York, where he died in 1916; and Samantha J., who became the wife of L. J. Longmore and died in 1917.
Almon Green McCorkle, one of the best known of the older residents of Lordstown Township, was born in that section of Trumbull County February 4, 1842, received his early education in local schools, in Lordstown Academy, and. in a business college at Pittsburgh. He has been a man of many interests and activities. Beginning at the age of eighteen, he taught at Warren and later in the graded schools of Georgetown and North Jackson. He began his farming career by the purchase of a portion of the old homestead and eventually owned all of it. From 1886 to 1904 he had extensive interests as a rancher in Arizona, having gone to that section of the Southwest for the benefit of his health. He engaged in cattle raising on an extensive scale, and also operated an auxiliary ranch in Dakota Territory. He divided his time between his Western ranch and his Ohio farm, but since 1905 his years have been spent in Lordstown Township and for the past five years he has lived retired. He cast his first presidential vote for the democratic candidate in 1864, and has always been a democrat, though never inclined to hold office. He is a Mason, is affiliated with the Christian Church at Lordstown, and was one of the early advocates of good road improvements in his section. He served as a director of the Lords-town Mutual Fire Insurance Company, was active in the county fairs, and gave his support and influence to the centralized school system, which 'was established against a great deal of opposition, there being four votes taken on the subject before the plan was approved.
Almon G. McCorkle married Martha M. Leitch on November 15, 1865. She was born in County Donegal, Ireland, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Leitch. Mrs. A. G. McCorkle died April 19, 1912, at the age of seventy-two. She was the mother of five children: Lydia, born in 1867, lives at Fort Wayne, Indiana, widow of John M. Metts; Mary B., born in 1870, is the wife of Charles E. Rose, of Niles ; Archie A.; Robert, born in 1879, is treasurer of the Niles Trust Company; and Charles, born in 1886, is a graduate of Cornell University and a practicing lawyer at Wichita, Kansas.
Archie A. McCorkle was born May 9, 1872, and was liberally educated, attending the Northeastern Ohio Normal College at Canfield and Hiram College. He grew up and lived on the home farm in Ohio until 1896, when he joined his father in the Arizona ranch. He was in the saddle as a cowboy and after two years was made manager. The outfit was one of the largest operating in that section of the Southwest, and at times had as high as 40,000 head of cattle on the range, with from twelve to forty men employed. Mr. McCorkle spent eight years in this interesting life of the far West. In 1904 he bought a farm in Brookfield Township of 211 acres, for three years had charge of his father's home place, and in 1914 came to his present farm, the old John Woodward farm at Lordstown. He, has 200 acres, and has made dairying the prominent feature of his business. His interest goes beyond his private affairs to the various movements for the good of the community. He is an advocate of good roads, has served as township trustee, is a worker for better schools, is a member of the Grange, the Christian Church, and, like his father, a democrat in politics.
Mr. McCorkle married Miss Ruie Pardee, who was born in Portage County, Ohio, a daughter of Dwight and Minerva (Campbell) Pardee. Her mother was a daughter of Alexander and Rebecca (Yoximer) Campbell. Alexander Campbell was born
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in Newton Township in 1803, on the farm now owned by his granddaughter, Mrs. McCorkle. Rebecca Yoximer was also born in the Mahoning Valley. Alexander Campbell was a very devout Baptist, and was widely known as a Bible student. Minerva Campbell was one of a family of twelve children, and she spent most of her life in Trumbull County, having come here from Portage when Ruie was a child. Dwight Pardee died in February, 1917, and Mrs. McCorkle's mother passed away July 10, 1918. Mrs. McCorkle was the only child of her parents and she taught school until her marriage. The four children of Mr. and Mrs. McCorkle are Thelma, Helen, Martha and John Alva.
ADOLF WEISS. Progressive policies, large and well selected stocks, modern facilities and fair and honorable dealings have made the Weiss Department Store at Newton Falls one of the leading mercantile establishments of this part of Trumbull County, and the enterprise would be an honor to a place of much larger population. In the upbuilding of this substantial and prosperous business Adolf Weiss, the proprietor, has shown his initiative and administrative ability, and he is not only one of the representative merchants but also a liberal and popular citizen of Trumbull County.
Mr. Weiss was born in Hungary, December 26, 1866, and there he gained his early education, though he was still a boy when he assumed practical responsibilities. In reviewing his career it is found that when but fifteen years of age he arrived in the City of Cleveland, with a cash capital of $300, and that soon afterward he began selling merchandise, a phase of business enterprise in which he has continued to direct his energies to the present time and in connection with which he has won worthy success. As a youth, with but limited capital, he opened a men's furnishing store at Cleveland. In 1892 he purchased of one of his friends, Benjamin Haskins, the latter's small clothing and men's furnishing store at Newton Falls, the stock of goods in the establishment having been valued at about $3,000. Two years later Mr. Weiss added a department devoted to men's and boys' shoes, and after the lapse of an additional four years his progressiveness was further demonstrated in his adding select stocks of dry goods, millinery, carpets, rugs, wall paper, besides which his shoe department was enlarged to include shoes for women and chilbudren. He at this time utilized but one room in the building which he had purchased, but these quarters soon proved inadequate to meet the demands of the constantly expanding business, and in 1914 he remodeled the building, took in two more store rooms, and installed a modern plate-glass front. Each successive year has shown an expansion of trade and enlargement of stock, and still larger quarters are certain to be a requirement of the near future. Constant forward movement has been the policy of this enterprising merchant, whose trade extends throughout a wide territory tributary to Newton Falls. His success has been. based on his policy of asking small margin of profit and making the volume of business justify this, and his patrons show appreciation of his efforts to please them and offer them full value received for their expenditures. Mr. Weiss is now one of the substantial men and influential and popular citizens of Newton Falls, and he is vice president of the local banking institution, of which he has been a director for several years. Within his period of service as a member of the village council the most important of the street improvements at Newton Falls were made, and he staunchly favored this and all other progressive measures. During his seven years as a member of the school board he was instrumental in helping to raise the local school to a high school of the first grade, with an effective educational system. For a number of years he was president of the Board of Trade. Mr. Weiss is a republican and is deeply interested in the Masonic fraternity and its history and teachings. He has not only served as worshipful master of the local lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, but has also represented the same in the Grand Lodge of the state.
He is most appreciative of the opportunities that have been afforded him in the land of his adoption, and is vitally loyal to American institutions. He and his wife hold active membership in Rodef Sholem Temple in Youngstown.
October 11, 1896, recorded the marriage of Mr. Weiss to Miss Jennie Goodman, of Cleveland, and they have four children: Benjamin M., who completed his academic education in the University of Pennsylvania, is now associated with his father's business ; Lena A. is, in 192o, a senior at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania ; and Verna I. and Kathryn B. are the younger members of the cheery home circle. Lena A. Weiss is the author of the town slogan which was adopted by the Board of Trade as the most appropriate among all that were submitted for the committee's approval. The wording of this slogan is as follows : "Newton Falls, the spot where opportunity calls." This slogan is now used to advertise the advantages of Newton Falls as a manufacturing center.
WILLIAM P. BARNUM, who was twice elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Mahoning County. and is member of the law firm Moore, Barnum & Hammond, is not, as his service and honors would indicate, one of the older members of the legal probufession in Youngstown, but is nevertheless one of the most gifted and successful.
Judge Barnum was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, October 15, 1879, son of William P. and Nannie (Knowlton) Barnum. The Knowltons are an old and well known Western Reserve family. The Barnums came originally from England, where in early times the name was spelled Barnham. In America the family lived for a number of years in Connecticut, and later moved to Buffalo, New York. Fred G. Barnum became a pioneer settler in Ashtabula County, Ohio. William P. Barnum, Sr., was a confectioner by trade and followed that occupation in various localities, including Youngstown. While living in Alliance, Ohio, he was elected and served as mayor.
William P. Barnum, Jr., spent a number of years of his boyhood at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, where he attended public school, and was graduated from Geneva College in the classical course in 1901. He soon afterward located at Youngstown and read law
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in the office of Frank L. Baldwin and was admitted to the bar in December, 19o2. Though he engaged in local practice he spent much of his time for several years traveling in the West, especially in Idaho and Washington, looking after some mining enterprises. Judge Barnum resumed practice in Youngstown in 1905 as a partner of D. F. and Emil J. Anderson. In 1909, at the age of thirty, he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas. His first term of seven years was so satisfactory that he was re-elected and continued in office until April 15, 1918, when he resigned to reconstruct and resume his private practice. He has since been a member of the firm Moore, Barnum & Hammond, one of the best legal organizations in Eastern Ohio.
Judge Barnum is a member of the County, State and American Bar associations. He is a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, also a Knight of Pythias, is a republican, a member of the Christian Church, and belongs to the Poland Country Club. December 21, 19o5, he married Miss Pearl Clapper, of Wooster, Ohio. They have one daughter, Dorothy.
JOHN STAMBAUGH FORD. In an all too brief lifetime John Stambaugh Ford exemplified many of the fine virtues and personal and business qualities of his family line, including the Fords, Stambaughs and Tods. Much practical and constructive work of a business nature remained to his credit. His splendid vitality, his wholesouled participation in social events and community affairs, gained him a richness of esteem that has not been lost during the quarter of a century since his untimely death.
The late Mr. Ford was a son of Gen. James H. and Arabella (Stambaugh) Ford. His paternal grandmother was Julia Tod, a sister of Governor David Tod. His maternal grandparents were John and Sarah (Bower) Stambaugh. Gen. James H. Ford was a Union soldier and officer, and subsequently gained a high position in civil life. Concerning the Tod and Stambaugh families an ample account is given on other pages of this publication.
John Stambaugh Ford was born in the City of Omaha, Nebraska, September 5, 1856, and when he was about ten years of age his parents returned to Youngstown where he was educated in public schools. He began his business career as an employe of his uncle John Stambaugh. After a thorough training he became prominent in various enterprises in which he was a principal. He promoted and was one of the owners of the Youngstown Dry Goods Company. He was also president of the Opera House Company of Youngstown, and a stockholder in the Union Iron and Steel Company and the Falcon Iron & Nail Company.
Hand in hand with his business activities went a daily public spirit and charity none the less valuable because Mr. Ford himself possessed that rare modesty which endeavored to conceal charitable purposes and actions. He was a very prominent supporter of the Young Men's Christian Association. He was a republican and an active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Youngstown.
After a brief vacation in the South with his family Mr. Ford was stricken with a fever and
died at Ormond Beach, Florida, April 8, 1893. On June 8, 1887, six years before his death he married Miss Harriet Wick. He was survived by Mrs. Ford and their only child Helen Wick, who was born July 31, 1889. The daughter was liberally educated at home and in eastern schools and also by travel in Europe. Mrs. Ford and her daughter for a number of years gave much of their time to the Youngstown Young Women's Christian Association, and the beautiful building of that association stands partly as an expression of the cherishedideals of Mrs. Ford.
Mrs. Ford was born in 1861, a daughter of Paul and Susan A. (Bull) Wick. It is hardly necessary here to refer at length to the Wick family, whose history as pioneers of the Mahoning Valley is disclosed on other pages. Mrs. Ford's father was born in Mahoning County in 1824, and was a son of Henry Wick, who came from Washington County, Pennsylvania, to Youngstown in 18ot and was one of the first settlers of the city. Mrs. Ford was educated in the schools of Youngstown, a girls' school at Cleveland, and also by extensive travel abroad.
ROBERT BENTLEY, one of the most successful, active and interesting of the men who have builded the industries of the Mahoning Valley, was born August 30, 1854, at Youngstown, Ohio, his parents being Martyn and Mary (McCurdy) Bentley, both children of early pioneers in the Western Reserve. Mr. Bentley attended the public schools, graduated from Rayen High School and then entered the First National Bank, beginning his business career with this institution in 1873.
In 1879 he became actively interested in the iron industry through the organization of the Ohio Iron & Steel Company, in which enterprise he joined with Henry Wick, Thomas H. Wells, John C. Wick and others. Since that date he has been active in the management of the Ohio Iron & Steel Company, originally as secretary, but for many years as president, while at the same time acting in an executive or directorial capacity in many of the important enterprises in Youngstown, as well as in a number of outside corporations. At this time he is president of the Ohio Iron & Steel Company, the Carbon Limestone Company, the Interstate Limestone Company, the Ohio & Pennsylvania Belt Line Railroad Company, the Yale Land Company, the Holland Land Company, the Florence Land Company (Florence, South Carolina), vice president of the First National Bank of Youngstown, the Dollar Savings & Trust Company, the Ohio Leather Company, the Orient Coke Company, the Tidewater Coal Company, secretary of the Robert McCurdy Estate Company and the Robert McCurdy Company, director of the Crete Mining Company, the Dollar Savings & Trust Company, the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company, the Republic Rubber Company, the Tod-Stambaugh Company, the Delaware River Steel Company (Chester, Pennsylvania), the Wick Oil & Gas Company, and other corporations. He is a member of the advisory committee of the Sharon Steel Hoop Company.
Mr. Bentley has always taken great interest in public affairs, and few men have contributed so
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liberally of their time and means toward movements for the public good. His contributions to charity and to the dissemination of education and religion have been large and unostentatious, only those in close touch with his affairs knowing of the greater portion of these. At this time he is president of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, vice president of the Community Service Company, a life director of the Youngstown City Hospital Association and trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association. During the war with Germany he was extremely active in all patriotic and welfare movements, and served as a member of the executive committee of the Ma-honing War Chest Council, was actively interested in the Red Cross, and led in many other movements of similar character.
Mr. Bentley's father died at the untimely age of thirty-one years, and he, with three other children, was reared under the beneficent guidance of the mother, who was one of the most widely known and highly esteemed women of her generation in Youngstown. A characteristic of Mr. Bentley's life has been his unceasing devotion tc this mother, and he has honored her memory by the presentation to the Young Women's Christian Association of a fine dormitory in her name.
Mr. Bentley is a member of the American Iron & Steel Institute, the Youngstown, and Youngstown Country clubs, and the Pee Dee Gun, Union, Duquesne, Navy League, Upper Saranac and other clubs. His handsome home in Youngstown and his summer establishment at Upper Saranac, New York, are shrines of hospitality and social enjoyment for his friends. His wife, to whom he was married October 16, 1895, was Miss Agusta Zug, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and they have three sons, Robert Bentley, Jr.; Martin Zug Bentley and Richard McCurdy Bentley.
CHARLES W. REIHL. More and more the business men of the country are realizing the necessity for efficiency in their establishments, and recognize the fact that in no way can they better secure it than to have their accounts audited by an expert. The banking institutions in recent years adopted the plan of occasionally calling in one of these men whose capabilities have been directed toward perfecting themselves in this line of work, and many other concerns are continuing in this line of work, until no establishment of any recognized position can afford to run the risk entailed by a neglect of so important a service. One of the men who has attained to a reputation for his accuracy and reliability is Charles W. Reihl, auditor for the First National Bank and the Dollar Savings & Trust Company of Youngstown.
Mr. Reihl was born at Mauch Chunk, Carbon County, Pennsylvania, on September 1, 1867, a son of John Reihl. The latter was a native of Germany, but left his home and country because he was not in sympathy with the governmental policy, and came to the United States in the later '3os. In Germany the name is spelled Real, but after coming to this country he Americanized it and afterward always wrote it Reihl. He was a tailor by trade and followed that calling and also engaged in merchandising, building up a reputation for dependability and upright dealing that gained him the respect of all with whom he came in contact. John Reihl married Charlotte Moffly, of French ancestry, whose forebears came to America before the Revolution, some of them fighting for this country in the Colonial army. After a long and useful life John Reihl died in 1883, and his passing was regarded as a distinct loss by his community.
Charles W. Reihl was twelve years old when his parents moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and he was given the advantages offered by the excellent public schools of that city. After completing his education Mr. Reihl went into the Manufacturers National Bank of Philadelphia, and for twenty-two years maintained connections with it, and in it gained a thorough knowledge of financial matters. Later he was employed by Marwick, Mitchell & Company, chartered accountants, to travel over many of the states of the Union and Canada as bank examiner and bank systemizer. In 1916 he came to Youngstown to take charge of the duties of his present position, and has since then made the city his permanent home. He is a member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce and is interested in the proper development of civic and commercial affairs.
In 1893 Mr. Reihl was united in marriage with Miss S. Anna Topley, and they have one living daughter, Alice, the wife of Ralph O. Dulany, who was aid de camp on the staff of General Fransworth during the late war, his rank being that of a first lieutenant.
Mr. Reihl is energetic and patriotic, and during the great war served his country and the banks with which he was connected, in caring for the many Liberty Loan subscriptions placed with those banks. He is regarded by the financial institutions with which he is connected, as well as the people of Youngstown generally, as one of the sound, conservative men of this region, and his judgment and advice are relied upon because of his long and wide experience as well as natural attainments and training.
GEORGE E. MINAS. Among the strong and influential citizens of Youngstown, the record of whose lives has become an essential part of the history of this section, the gentleman whose name appears above has exerted a beneficial influence throughout the community where he resides. His chief characteristics are keenness of perception, a tireless energy, honesty of purpose and motive and every-day common sense, which have enabled him not only to advance his own interests, but also to largely contribute to the moral and material advancement of the community.
George E. McNab was born at Poland, Ohio, on September 12, 1854, and is the son of Latimer Boyd and Mary (Hahn) McNab, and a grandson of James McNab, a native of Scotland who in 1765 came to the United States, locating on a farm in Washington County, Pennsylvania, where he married Mary Latimer. In 1801 he moved to Poland, Ohio, where he devoted the remainder of his life to agriculture. He was numbered among the sturdy pioneers of that locality and bore his full share of
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the burden of developing that locality and making of it a fit place for the splendid homes and families which followed in after years. His son Latimer (generally known as Boyd McNab), learned the trade of carpenter and erected many of the earlier buildings in that locality. He was a member of the famous "Squirrel Hunters" during the Civil war, and his eldest son, Charles W., also served in that war, as a member of Company E, Twenty-Third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Latimer Boyd McNab and wife were the parents of five children, of whom but two are now living, George E. being the only resident of Mahoning County.
George E. McNab was reared under the paternal rooftree and secured his education in the public schools. He learned the trade of a garment cutter at West's Cutting Institute in New York City, and his first employer was John Boyle, the tailor, in Youngstown. Later he engaged in the tailoring business on his own account, and was so engaged for thirty years, enjoying a most excellent reputation because of his high grade work and the general satisfaction given to his customers. In 1910 Mr. McNab relinquished the tailoring business and engaged in the sale of life insurance, in which he has continued to the present time, his being one of the largest and best-known insurance agencies in Youngstown. He is the district agent of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is an active member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce and of the Life Underwriters' Association of Youngstown.
On June 9, 1880, Mr. McNab was married to Emma W. Bell, and they have become the parents f four children, namely: Clarabel; Mary, the wife of C. J. Johnson; Helen and George E., Jr. The latter volunteered in the recent World war and entered the naval service as a second-class seaman, serving until the end of the war, when he was released on inactive duty as an ensign. He is now associated with his father in the insurance business. Mrs. McNab is the youngest daughter of the late Edwin Bell, one of the old-time manufacturers of Youngstown.
Mr. and Mrs. McNab are members of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally Mr. Mc-Nab is an honored and appreciative member of the Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has attained to the highest and last degree in the order. that of an honorary thirty-third-degree member of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. At the age of twenty-one years he was made a Mason in Western Star Lodge, of which he has served as worshipful master. In the York Rite of Masonry he served as high priest of Youngstown Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and as eminent commander of St. John's Commandery of Knights Templar, while in the Scottish Rite he served ten years as the first master of the Lodge of Perfection. He is also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Earnest purpose and tireless energy, cornbined with mature judgment and every-day common sense, have been among his most prominent characteristics, and he has merited the respect and esteem which are accorded to him by all who know him.
LEWIS W. MORGAN. The late Lewis W. Morgan was one of the representative men of Ohio, whose
Vol. III-24
excellent characteristics won him the confidence and respect of his neighbors. He was a pioneer of Trumbull County, developing there a homestead in the vicinity of Weathersfield, and his death occurred in the latter community on April 28, 1909, when he was ninety-one years of age. He was born on January I, 1818, at Cym-Fellyn, Glamorganshire, South Wales. His experiences were many and varied, going far beyond those of the ordinary individual. During his youth and early manhood he worked in the mines of his native country, where he became inured to hard work, and where, in addition to inheritance, he built up a rugged constitution. At thirty years of age he sailed for America, and upon his arrival in this country came direct to Ohio and established a home at Tallmadge, Summit County, where he found employment in the coal mines operated by William Harris. The glowing reports of the discovery of gold on the Pacific Coast created in him a "desire to seek his fortune in that then far distant country. In May, 1852, he made his start from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The great plains of the West then teemed with buffalo, and while on a hunt on the North Platte River the horses were stolen by the Indians. Later the party was attacked by Pawnee Indians in Western Nebraska, but in spite of these setbacks the emigrants pursued their way and reached Placerville, California, on September 29, 1852. Mr. Morgan remained in California until 1854, and was reasonably successful and felt justified in returning home by way of the Isthmus of Panama. After his arrival home he was married to Elinor Owens, of Tallmadge, and buying a farm in its vicinity was there engaged in agricultural pursuits until in April, 1857, when he moved to a farm near Weathersfield, which was for many years the family home. Seven children were born to him and his wife. namely: Emma, who is deceased, David L., Benjamin, Owen, Evan L., Walter L. and Daniel L. They also had an adopted daughter, who became Mrs. Mary A. First. Mr. Morgan was a man of marked characteristics. He possessed a clear, clean mind, and to the last, a remarkable memory. When in a reminiscent mood he would entertain his children by recalling incidents of his varied experiences. Among other events he distinctly recalled the coronation of Queen Victoria. He was a member of a stock company which opened coal mines at Soddy, Tennessee, in the early '7os. In 1856 he voted for John C. Fremont, and ever afterward was a stanch republican, casting his last presidential ballot for William Howard Taft. Intellectually he never grew old or stagnated, and while the infirmities of age left an impress upon him physically, his reasoning faculties were unimpaired. He lived a strict, upright life and was a fitting example of the younger generations, passing away honored and respected for his neighborliness and his numerous sterling qualities.
Evan L. Morgan, son of Lewis W. Morgan, and one of the substantial men of Youngstown, is vice president and treasurer of the George L. Fordyce Company, one of the leading mercantile houses of the city. Mr. Morgan was born on his father's farm in Trumbull County, Ohio, on October 16, 1866. His mother was a daughter of Reverend Owens, a pioneer Baptist clergyman, and she was a lady of great
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strength of character and many Christian virtues. She was born in Wales, but was brought to the United States by her parents in the '40s, and after they had landed at New Orleans, Louisiana, they came up the Ohio River to Pittsburg, Ohio, and thence by canal to Youngstown. She and her husband were married at Tallmadge, Summit County, Ohio, which was then the center of the mining activities of the state.
Evan L. Morgan was reared at Weathersfield and completed his educational training, begun in the public schools of that place, in a commercial college of Pittsburg, Ohio. For the subsequent four years he was a bookkeeper, and then for two years looked after his father's mining interests in Tennessee. Going West, he spent two years in Colorado, but returned to Ohio and located permanently in Youngstown in October, 1891. Here he associated himself with his present house, first as a member of its selling force, and later became one of the stockholders and officials. For some years he has been an active member of the Chamber of Commerce, and has always been a booster for Youngstown. He belongs to the Youngstown Country Club and at present is chairman of the Merchants Retail Board.
In 1903 Mr. Morgan was united in marriage with Anne O'Connor, and they have an adopted son, Joseph. Mr. Morgan is active in the affairs of Youngstown, planning and executing, and is regarded as a worthy son of a most worthy father.
BERNARD HIRSHBERG. Fealty to facts in the analyzation of the character of a citizen of the type of Bernard Hirshberg, a well known business man of Youngstown, is all that is required to make a biographical sketch interesting to those who have at heart the good name of the community, because it is the honorable reputation of the man of standing and affairs more than any other consideration that gives character and stability to the body politic. In the broad light which things of good report ever invite, the name and character of Mr. Hirshberg stand revealed and secure and, though of modest demeanor, with no ambition to distinguish himself in public position or as a leader of men, his career has been signally honorable and it may be studied with profit by the youth entering upon his life work.
Bernard Hirshberg was born in Hanover, Germany, on June 9, 1850, and is a son of Jonas and Elsie (Steinfeld) Hirshberg, the former of whom was a tradesman in his native community. His two oldest sons having come to the United States in order to escape compulsory military service and not wishing to live longer under a monarchical form of government, and having reported favorably on conditions in the United States, the parents and the other members of the family came to this country in 1862 and located in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. In that city the subject of this sketch received his education in the public schools, but in 1869 he came to Youngstown and entered the employ of D. Theobald & Company, with whom he remained until 1875. In that year, in partnership with Isaac Strouss, he bought a mercantile business. This business had been founded by A. Walbrun & Company, who were succeeded by D. Theobald & Company, and they by
Messrs. Strouss and Hirshberg, who are now incorporated as the Strouss-Hirshberg Company. Mr. Hirshberg has been identified with this business continuously since his first connection and has seen the business grow to extensive proportions. He is also connected with various other important enterprises, being a stockholder in the Trumbull Iron Works of Warren, Ohio, an original stockholder in the Dollar Savings and Trust Company, and is now a stockholder in that and the First National Bank.
In local movements of public interest he has been active and influential in his support. For a number of years he has been treasurer of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society; is a trustee of the Reuben McMillan Public Library; was formerly a trustee of the Associated Charities, and is an active member of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce. Fraternally he is a member of Hillman Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is the senior past master, having presided over the lodge in 1883-4.
In 1880 Mr. Hirshberg was married to Sabine Bar-bier, and they have a daughter, Elsie, who is the wife of Dr. S. M. Hartzell and the mother of two children, Bernard and Babette. Mr. Hirshberg is liberal in his benefactions and stands ever ready to support with his influence and means all measures for the material and moral welfare of the community in which he has so long resided. Among those who know him best he bears a reputation of a man who exercises sound judgment and who has pronounced views, keeping himself well informed on all matters pertaining to the public weal or woe and always exercising the duties of citizenship in a conscientious manner.
CHARLES B. WELLS, one of the executors and trustees of the estate of his uncle, Thomas H. Wells, is one of the substantial and highly respected men of Youngstown. He was born at Brooklyn, New York, January I, 1862, a son of Lindsay J. and Eleanor (Bridges) Wells, natives of Dublin, Ireland, and England, respectively. They were married after coming to the United States. Lindsay J. Wells was a civil engineer and architect, and for nearly fifty years was chief engineer of Greenwood Cemetery of. Brooklyn. His death occurred in September, 1898, and that of his wife in February, 1877.
Charles B. Wells was reared at Brooklyn and in New Jersey, and attended an academy of Newark, New Jersey. Coming to Ohio, for a time he was an accountant in the coal offices of Tod, Wells & Company of Mineral Ridge. Later he became manager of the mines, and held that position until the coal supply of the mines was exhausted, at which time he entered the employ of Henry Wick as accountant for the mines controlled by Mr. Wick. When the Ohio Steel Company was organized Mr. Wells became its cashier, and for fourteen years held that responsible position, and when it became the Ohio Works of the Carnegie Steel Company he was made auditor and still later chief clerk. In 1905 Mr. Wells assumed the duties and responsibilities attendant upon his being an executor and trustee of his uncle's estate, and his time has since been occupied with them.
On October 26, 1887, Mr. Wells was united in marriage with Miss Ella I. Jones, of Mineral Ridge,.
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Ohio, a daughter of David P. Jones and his wife Sophia (Holford) Jones. Mrs. Wells died January 21, 1919. Mr. and Mrs. Wells maintained their home at Niles, Ohio, but after her death he came to Youngstown. The work devolving upon Mr. Wells is of such a character as to demand the services of a careful, accurate and capable man of wide experience, and it would have been difficult to have found anyone better fitted for it than he.
LLOYD BOOTH, president of the Falcon Steel Company at Niles, is a son of Charles H. Booth and a grandson of the pioneer Lloyd Booth. The story of his grandfather and other members of the family is an appropriate record found on other pages of this publication.
Born November 3o, 1888, and named in honor of his grandfather, Lloyd Booth grew up in his native city of Youngstown. He attended the Yale private school in Youngstown, later the Hackley School at Tarrytown, New York, and in 1908 entered Harvard University, where he pursued the classical course and graduated A. B. in 1912. A young man of liberal education and undoubted talents, he quickly found his place in the industrial affairs of the Mahoning Valley and in September, 1912, entered the service of the Trumbull Steel Company at Warren. He was in the operating department of that plant until 1914, and subsequently became assistant treasurer and treasurer of the Trumbull Steel Company, an office from which he resigned in June, 1919. In that month he helped organize the Falcon Steel Company at Niles, and has since given his energies to the executive duties of president. He is also a director of the Mahoning National Bank of Youngstown, the Second National Bank of Warren and the Niles Trust Company.
Mr. Booth had an interesting war experience. His first duties were in a civilian capacity attached to the aviation section of the Signal Corps. August 8, 1918, at Buffalo, he was commissioned second lieutenant, and remained in that city in charge of the Churchill Street Plant of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation until his discharge February 5, 1919. His official work was as army approvals officer at the plant.
Mr. Booth is a member of the Youngstown Club and the Youngstown Country Club, the Harvard Club of New York, the Harvard Club of Boston and the Bankers Club of America at New York. He is also a member of the American Iron & Steel Institute and an associate member of the American Mining & Metallurgical Engineers of New York City. April 22, 1915, he married Lauretta Ingraham Thomas, daughter of W. A. Thomas of Youngstown. Mr. and Mrs. Booth are members of the First Presbyterian Church. They have two children: Lloyd, born November t, 1916, at Warren; and Mary Bentley, born February 26, 1918, at Youngstown. The family home is at 1350 Fifth Avenue, Youngstown.
OSCAR E. DISER is one of the members of the legal profession at Youngstown who soon found recognition as an able, trustworthy attorney, one in whom clients could place implicit confidence and whom courts from highest to lowest would hear, and to whom they gave full weight of consideration, respect and accord, and he has never lost any of this prestige, but has added to it as the years have brought him other honors. He has been chosen upon several occasions to discharge the duties of important office, and in this has displayed the same thoroughgoing course he has always followed in his practice.
Oscar E. Diser was born in the southern part of Mahoning County, Ohio, August 21, 1886, and was there reared and primarily educated. He is a son of Darwin S. and Sarah (Smith) Diser, also natives of Mahoning County, and grandson of Daniel Diser. Daniel Diser was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and was a carpenter by trade. At about the age of eighteen years he came to the United States and for a few years lived at Baltimore, Maryland. Later he came to Mahoning County and located in Springfield, where he passed the remainder of his life. Darwin S. Diser became a general contractor and erected buildings at Canton and Youngstown. He died in 191o, and is survived by his widow. They were the parents of one son and two daughters, namely : Oscar, whose name heads this review ; Sylvia, who married Edgar Peters, a farmer of Ma-honing County; and Ruth, who married C. A. Rukenbrod, present manager of the Crystal Ice Company of Youngstown.
Oscar E. Diser prepared for college at the Northeastern Ohio Normal College, which then had its home in the old courthouse of Mahoning County at Canfield. For two years he took a literary course at Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio, and then, entering the law department of the Ohio Northern University at Ada, Ohio, took the full legal course. In order to defray his expenses Mr. Diser taught school for three terms, the last one as principal of the Springfield Township School. In December, 1907, Mr. Diser was admitted to the bar, and has the distinction of being the youngest man to be so admitted by the State of Ohio. Immediately there- after Mr. Diser located at Youngstown and began a general practice. In 1914 he took A. W. Craver into partnership with him, and this association is still maintained. Mr. Diser has been very active in the republican party, and in 1912 was elected to represent his district in the State Assembly, -but after' serving his term refused the nomination for a second term. During the time he was a member of the Legislature he served on the judiciary committee. During 1915 and 1916 he was city Solicitor of East Youngstown, and it was while he was in office that the riots occurred, in which he aided in restoring order where lawlessness had reigned, and otherwise brought decency and a higher and cleaner civilization in the city's affairs, which remain to this day.
On September 20, 191o, Mr. Diser was united in marriage with Miss Mabel L. Peters, a daughter of Obediah Peters, who was a justice of the peace in Springfield Township for thirty-five years, a United States gauger for some time, a county infirmary director for two terms, and was otherwise a man of prominence in Mahoning County. Mr. and Mrs. Diser have two children, Ross Edwin and Saxon Carolyn. Mr. Diser belongs to the Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Pythias and the Poland Country Club. He owns two farms, comprising 276 acres of land, and is much
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interested in fruit growing and looking after his rural interests, in which he finds relaxation from the exacting demands of his legal practice. Mr. Diser has always wielded a strong influence, and is regarded as a builder of character, so that he commands the profound respect and admiration of all with whom he comes in contact.
EARL M. MCBRIDE. The growth and development of any community are largely dependent upon the exertions of those men who devote themselves to the exploitations of real estate. Without their energy, vim and progressive ideas no locality will move out of the conventional rut, outside money will not be attracted to it, and property will be worth a little less, year by year. With the advent of an enterprising, experienced man well versed in the realty business, comes a growth that is a veritable miracle. Many years have passed, of course, since the initial work was done in this line at Youngstown, hut the needs of the great metropolis of the Mahoning Valley have made necessary the constant expansion of the outlying territory, while a maintenance of property already built is extremely important, especially during the last couple of years when the shortage of building materials and men has brought about the positive necessity for conservation of the structures on hand. So -it is that the work of the realty dealer is counted as being among the important factors in the life of Youngstown. One of the men whose name is associated with development along this line in no small degree is Earl M. McBride, who is also a fully accredited attorney-at-law, and so especially fitted to deal with the oftentimes complicated problems in which a legal knowledge is imperative.
Earl M. McBride was born at Alliance, Ohio, on April 20, i886, a son of William and Jennie (O'Rellia) (Burnett). McBride, and grandson of James Madison McBride. The latter came from the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Alliance, Ohio, and died when his son William was a small child. Growing up at Alliance, William- McBride early learned to be self-supporting, entering the mills of Sharon, Pennsylvania. In 1901 he came to Youngstown as a heater in the employ of the Republic Iron & Steel Company, and is still residing at Youngstown. As he was born in December, 1865, he is now fifty-five years of age. For many years he has been a consistent member of the Baptist Church.
Earl M. McBride is the only child of his parents, and he was reared at Sharon, to which place his parents moved when he was one year old. There he attended the public schools, and later became a student of the Ohio Northern University, where he took the legal course and was admitted to the bar in December, 1909, although he did not study law with any idea of practicing it, but only as an aid to other lines of endeavor. For four years prior to his studying law he was an employe of the Youngstown Ice Company and the Carnegie Steel Company, and then, in May, 1910, he embarked in his present business, which he has built up to very gratifying proportions. He belongs to the Youngstown Club, the Poland' Country Club and the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce.
On April 29, 1911, Mr. McBride was united in marriage with Miss Gertrude Wagstaff, a daughter of James W. Wagstaff, who has been connected with the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company since it was organized, and is one of its valued men. Both Mr. and Mrs. McBride are popular in a congenial circle of young married people, and their future is bright before them.
ROBERT W. FORCIER, member of the stock brokerage firm of Dudley, Forcier, Taylor Company, is one of the alert and aggressive young business men of Youngstown, and one who is specially fitted for the work he is accomplishing. He was born at Birmingham, Connecticut, on July 15, 1878, a -son of Eugene W. and Mary (Cunningham) Forcier, the latter being deceased, and grandson of John Cunningham, a veteran of the war between the states. The Forcier family is of French lineage, but for generations has been established in the United States.
Robert W. Forcier was taken by his parents to Meriden, Connecticut, when still a small lad, and there he was reared and educated in its public schools. At the, age of nineteen years he came to Youngstown to take the position of choirmaster of Saint John's Episcopal Church, he having received special training in music. When George W. Dudley founded his stock brokerage business Mr. Forcier became one of his salesmen, and in time acquired an interest in it, the concern now being conducted under the name of the Dudley, Forcier, Taylor Company, and a large amount of important transactions are negotiated.
In 1904 Mr. Forcier was united in marriage with Miss Alice Trigg, of Youngstown, and they have one son, Robert W., Jr. Mr. Forcier belongs to the Youngstown Club and the Youngstown Country Club. The Episcopal Church has in him an earnest member and vestryman. In politics he is a republican, although as yet he has not cared to enter public life, contenting himself in giving a hearty support to those movements which he deems will work out for the betterment of his community. Mr. Forcier is a living contradiction of the idea that a musician cannot be practical. While he has talents bordering on genius for everything of a musical character, at the same time he is one of the most successful of stock brokers, and can handle deals involving large amounts of money as efficiently as anyone in this line of endeavor. Both he and Mrs. Forcier are very popular socially, and their delightful home is often the scene of pleasant gatherings of congenial people who appreciate the cordial hospitality, offered them, and the high class musical treat always in store for the guests.
JOHN BRENNER. One of of the oldest and best known mercantile organizations in the City of Youngstown is the John Brenner Jewelry Company, which was established in 1877 and for the past thirteen years has been conducted under that corporate title.
The Brenners came to Youngstown in 1867. At that time the head of the family was Frederick Brenner, who had emigrated from Germany with his wife, Magdalene, and their children. Frederick Brenner was a gardener and was also a nail maker, being practiced in the art of making nails by hand measure
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before the first machines were invented for that purpose. He followed nail making and gardening in Ohio.
John Brenner was one of the eight children of Frederick and Magdalene. He was born in Baden, Germany, fourteen years before his parents came to Youngstown. He acquired only a common school education, and in 1870, at the age of seventeen, began learning the jeweler's trade with John Bakody. He remained with Mr. Bakody until 1875, when he took charge of the store on Phelps Street owned by an uncle, John Brenner, after whom he was named. Then in 1877 he opened a repair shop for jewelry in a shoe store conducted by Thomas B. Jones. When Mr. Jones was elected a county commissioner, he retired from the shoe business, and John Brenner then took over all the space of the store at 123 West Federal Street. In June, 1877, his brother Conrad began an apprenticeship as a jeweler, and was therefore ready to take an active share in the business when it was enlarged upon the retirement of Mr. Jones, who has been actively interested with the Brenner interests to the present time, being vice president of the John Brenner Jewelry Company. John Brenner has been in the jewelry business for forty-three years. The John Brenner jewelry business was organized under the laws of Ohio with a $2o,000 capital stock on February 4, 1904. John Brenner has been the first and only president, and the secretary and treasurer was Carl Brenner.
Carl Brenner was born at Duehren, Baden, Germany, May 25, 1866, being the youngest of the eight children of Frederick and Magdalene Brenner, and was one year old when brought to the United States. He was educated in the public schools of Youngstown and graduated in 1887 from the New York. School of Pharmacy. At Youngstown he was employed as a pharmacist by Max Averbeck at 14 West Federal Street and later by Wick C. Gans at 9 West Federal Street. Subsequently he became a partner in the firm of Gans & Brenner. The firm was dissolved in 1896 when Carl Brenner opened a store of his own at Oak Hill and Duquesne. His store contained the first sub-postoffice in the city. Carl Brenner sold out his business in 1902 and joined the jewelry interests of his brothers and was secretary and treasurer of the John Brenner Jewelry Company from 1904 until his death on January 17, 1915.
February 4, 1892, at Youngstown, he married Anna Louisa Truog, daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Truog, the former a pioneer meat dealer of Youngstown. They had four children: C. Raymond, E. Alberta, M. Dorothy and Howard T. Brenner.
Carl Brenner was succeeded by his son C. Raymond as secretary and treasurer of the John Brenner Jewelry Company. During the past fifteen years this business has had a splendid growth, resulting in the establishment of the firm in its present beautifully equipped and attractive quarters at 117 West Federal Street.
Mr. John Brenner was one of the prime movers in the building of the Masonic Temple at Youngstown. He and his active associates accomplished this achievement against many adverse conditions. Mr. Brenner had the honor of being the first president of the Masonic Temple Company, and held that posi tion a number of years. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and affiliated with Al Koran Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Cleveland, and is also. affiliated with Western Star Lodge. He has long been active on the various committees of the Chamber- of Commerce, and for many years has been an elder in the First Reformed Church.
In 1879, John Brenner married Mary Wellendorf, of New Castle, Pennsylvania. They have one daughter, Irma, wife of B. Frank Thomas and the mother of two children, Margaret Louise and John Howard Thomas.
WILLIAM SCOTT BONNELL. Probably no other industrial institution had a bigger part in the Youngstown of former years than the well known Brown-Bonnell plant. It was one of the pioneer iron and steel mills, and many prominent steel men here and elsewhere received much of their training in that industry. William Scott Bonnell is the son of one of the men who comprised the original company of Brown, Bonnell & Company. While he has long been interested in iron and steel, he has also had many other commercial interests and is one of the men who have supplied much of the enterprise to Youngstown in its modern epoch.
His father, William Bonnell, was born in Yorkshire, England, June 1o, 181o, son of John and Elizabeth (Gomersal) Bonnell. His people were in modest circumstances, and as a youth he began an apprenticeship at the trade of wool dyer. Early in his career, on September 18, 5834, he married Sarah A. Scott, daughter of George and Sarah Scott of England. Three children were born to their marriage in England. William Bonnell, finding his income inadequate for his family, came to America to share in some of the opportunities which had been so glowingly described. After actually arriving in the country it was several years before he.realized any of the good fortune he had been taught to expect. He located at Cincinnati early in 5841. Finding no work at his trade, he determined to become an iron worker, and in 1845 moved to New Castle, Pennsylvania. He had that ability which easily adapts itself, to new lines, and quickly became interested in all the details of iron making. He was promoted: to bookkeeper of the company, and soon had the confidence of men of money. During the winter of 1854-55 he with Joseph, Thomas and Richard Brown, all practical iron men, bought a small and unsuccessful plant at Youngstown which had been constructed in 1843; on the branch of the canal. That plant was the first property of the new company of Brown, Bonnell & Company. The total capacity at the beginning was only seven tons a day, but in later years it became one of the largest iron manufacturing plants in the country. The business was incorporated in 1875, with Joseph Brown, president; Henry 0. Bonnell as treasurer, and William Scott Bonnell, secretary. William Bonnell had lived to see the business built up far beyond the utmost bounds of his expectations, and for twenty years he held an honored place in Youngstown's industrial circles. He died May 25, 1875. He was an earnest member and elder of the First Presbyterian Church at Youngstown. His wife,
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who survived him until 1898, became the mother of eight children: Sarah Jane, who married G. H. McElevey; Eliza A., who married J. H. Bushnell; Henry 0., who died January 16, 1893; William Scott; Caroline H., who became the wife of John C. Wick; Mary, who died at the age of three years ; Elizabeth, who married Myron C. Wick; and Martyn.
William Scott Bonnell, the first of the children born in America, was born at Cincinnati, July 12, 1842, and was about three years of age when the family moved to New Castle, Pennsylvania. He also spent part of his youth at New Haven, Pennsylvania, and was twelve years of age when he came to Youngstown. He finished his education in the public schools and at the age of fourteen began clerking in the store of H. B. Wick & Company. He first became identified with Brown, Bonnell & Company as timekeeper in the iron mill, and enjoyed successive promotions until at the time of his father's death and the incorporation of the business he became secretary. After the Brown-Bonnell plant was sold in 5879 Mr. Bonnell and other associates bought the Valley Mill and he was secretary of that corporation for several years. For ten years he served as president of the Mahoning National Bank, and is still its vice president. Mr. Bonnell was for a long time interested as a stockholder and director in a number of local industrial concerns.
Politically he has given his vote to the republican party, is ,a member of the Youngstown Country Club, the Youngstown Club, the Poland Country Club and the Presbyterian Church. September 12, 1867. he married Lucretia H. Wick, daughter of Hugh Bryson and Lucretia (Winchell) Wick. Emily Cree, the oldest of their three children, is the wife of Perry Burnham Owen. The second child, Bessie, died in childhood. William Wick Bonnell, who died July 27, 1916, married Julia Ford Garlick and left one daughter, Sarah Cree.
JOHN MEEK BONNELL. Of all the industries of the Youngstown district perhaps none has had greater personal associations with a larger number of prominent iron and steel men than the Brown-Bonnell plant. The original mill was built on the banks of the canal in 1843, and for a number of years its operation was attended with no degree of success. About 1855 the mill became the property of William Bonnell, Thomas Brown and another practical iron worker, their partnership resulting in the firm of Brown, Bonnell & Company.
Thus more than sixty years ago the name Bonnell became prominent in the industrial life of Youngstown. A number of successful men of that name have contributed their energies to this city. One of them was the late John Meek Bonnell, a nephew of William Bonnell. For nearly thirty years he was closely connected with the iron and coal interests of Mahoning County. He was born November 12, 1848, at Bradford, Yorkshire, England, son of Joseph Fearnley and Alice Elizabeth (Duffill) Bonnell. As their oldest son he was in line for an inherited position and proprietorship of the saddlery and harness industry which for three centuries had been conducted by the Bonnell family successively from father to son at Bradford, England. Joseph Fearnley Bon nell was the active head of the business until his death on December r, 1875. However, all of his three sons sought their business opportunities in the new world. These sons besides John Meek were Harry, long a prominent factor in the iron industr at Youngstown, and William F., an iron man at Cleveland.
John Meek Bonnell was well educated in England and in 1865 came to America and joined his uncle, William Bonnell, at Youngstown. While living with his uncle he worked as shipping clerk in the rolling mill of the Brown, Bonnell & Company. Later he was traveling representative for Cleveland, Brown & Company at Cleveland, and in 1875 became a member of the firm Bonnell, Botsford & Company. From 1878 to 1883 he conducted a branch office of the business in Chicago. Then returning to Youngstown he became associated with the Mahoning Valley Iron Company, but died about a year later, on November 2, 1884. His life was largely devoted to business. He was an agreeable man, well liked by his associates, was a keen lover of sports, particularly hunting, was active in Masonic circles and had attained the order of Christian Knighthood. At one time he was a member of the Youngstown City Council.
August 26, 1875, he married Emily Wick, a daughter of Hugh B. and Lucretia E. (Winchell) Wick, of the prominent family of that name in Mahoning County. Mr. and Mrs. Bonnell had three children: Joseph Fearnley, Hugh Wick and Caroline.
Joseph Fearnley Bonnell, who was named for his grandfather, was born at Youngstown November 21, 1876. He was liberally educated, preparing for college in the Phillips Exeter Academy and graduating from Yale University with the Ph. B. degree in 1897. For over twenty years he has devoted himself to the steel industry of the Mahoning Valley. He is a director of the Ohio Iron and Steel Company, the Northeast Ohio Real Estate Company, is vice president and treasurer of the H. B. Wick Land Company, and a director of the First National Bank and the Dollar Savings and Loan. Company. Politically Mr. Bonnell is a republican and is a member of the First Presbyterian Church.
November 14, 1900, he married Anna Pollock, daughter of John S. Pollock. They have one daughter, Caroline.
CHARLES W. DANFORTH, a chemist and metallurgist by profession, and a member of the well known firm of C. W. Danforth Company, has been in the service of a number of steel and other industrial plants throughout the country for the past twenty years.
Mr. Danforth was born at Tyngsborough, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, August 12, 1878, son of George D. and Ella (Teague) Danforth. His father spent his active career as a lumber dealer and box manufacturer at Tyngsborough, and was very active in local affairs. He died at the age of seventy-two. There were three sons in the family. Joseph D., the oldest, was a graduate of Tufts College and has been a teacher in the Beverly High School of Massachusetts. The son Ellon T. enlisted in the United States Regular Army at the time of the Spanish-American war, and while in the Philippines contracted an illness that caused his death.
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Charles W. Danforth spent his school days in Tyngsborough, graduated from the Lowell High School in Massachusetts, attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Boston, and graduated with the S. B. degree from Tufts College in 1902. Throughout the greater part of his college career he had specialized in chemistry and metallurgy.
His first regular work in his profession was as chemist with the Pacific Cotton Mills at Lawrence, Massachusetts. Following that he was chemist at the Cleveland plant of the American Wire and Steel Company, was assistant chemist in the Carnegie mills at New Castle, Pennsylvania, chemist at Sharon with the Sharon Steel Hoop Company, was assistant chief chemist in the Steel Works at Gary, Indiana, was chemist for Charles C. Kawiwn & Company at Toronto, and for a time was with the Standard Chemical Company at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, as assistant superintendent and then as superintendent of the radium plant.
Mr. Danforth came to Youngstown as assistant chemist at the Sheet and Tube Plant. He is one of a number of thoroughly equipped technical men in the industrial affairs of the Mahoning Valley. The junior member of the firm of C. W. Danforth Company is William P. Samuels, a native of New Castle, Pennsylvania, where he attended the common schools. His education was supplemented by a course at Scio College, later at Tufts College, and in 1912 he formed a partnership with Mr. Danforth.
In July, 1904, Mr. Danforth married Eliza Bow-ditch. They have a family of three sons and one daughter, Warren B., William D., George J. and Delisca. They are affiliated with the Unitarian Church. Mr. Danforth has his Masonic membership at Sharon, Pennsylvania.
JAMES M. McKAY. In almost all American communities there may be found quiet, retiring men, who never ask public favors, but who, nevertheless, become prominent in public affairs, exert a widely-felt influence in the community in which they live and help to construct and uphold the proper foundation upon which the social and political world is built. Such men do an incalculable amount of good by their efforts to ameliorate the condition of the human race in any way possible. They strive to eliminate evil in its many forms and leave to posterity a heritage of peace and plenty. Among the well known and honored citizens of Youngstown who by their consistent and constant support of only the best influences in their community have been instrumental in maintaining a high standard of citizenship and living and who have aided in a very definite degree in the advancement and prosperity of the community, the subject of this sketch occupies a conspicuous place.
James M. McKay was born on his father's farm in Trumbull County, about ten miles north of Youngstown, Ohio, on September 24, 1859. He is a son of Wyatt and Eliza (Montgomery) McKay, the former a- native of Middlesex, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, and the- latter a daugther of Robert Montgomery, who was a member of the second white family to locate in Brookfield Township, Trumbull County, in 1804. This old homestead is now owned by a member of the McKay family. The subject -of this sketch received his elementary education in the local public schools of his home community and then became a student in the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, where he was graduated in 188o, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Having determined upon the practice of law as his life work, Mr. McKay then applied himself to the reading of law in the office of a cousin, James H. Miller, in Toulon, Illinois, and later with Jones Murray at Youngstown, Ohio. In December, 1884, he was admitted to the bar and in March of the following year entered upon the practice of his profession in Youngstown. He took rank as a careful, painstaking and thoroughly reliable lawyer and became connected with many of the most important business interests. Eventually he became attorney for the Home Savings and Loan Company, with which he became very closely allied, and as the requirements of this position became more and more exacting, making constant and steady demands on his time and attention, he gradually withdrew from general practice and confined his attention entirely to the needs of that company, which is one of the strongest and most reliable institutions in its line in the United States. Mr. McKay is also a director of the Commercial National Bank,
Recently when the Home Savings & Loan Company moved into its handsome building a Youngstown newspaper paid Mr. McKay a well deserved tribute in the following words: "Too modest to acknowledge that a major portion of the credit for building a business institution even more imposing than the splendid temple in which it will be housed, McKay, nevertheless, is accorded full meed of honor and recognition by his business confreres and the entire community, to whom the new building seems as much a tangible monument to his energy and foresight as it is possible for one man's work to symbolize. For McKay's has been unquestionably the guiding hand that has directed the institution from its infancy until it now stands a giant among those of its kind in the world. He has had the aid of strong men and sagacious men, but it was because he chose first of all to surround himself with that type of business associates. The story of his life is written largely in the history of the Home Savings and Loan Company. There is another side, the intimate human side, which only his closest friends truly appreciate but which is revealed to the public only in a life of strict integrity and a devotion to the highest ideals of Christian citizenshp.
"McKay has never sought nor held public office. His life work, the development of the savings and loan idea, has led him to become an enthusiast on the subject of the more equal distribution of wealth, and he regards this slogan as the key of his institution's remarkable success, since all depositors share equally in the profits and there are no preferred stockholders."
While closely associated with the financial interests of Youngstown, Mr. McKay and family since 1910 have lived out in the country in Boardman Township, where he gets relaxation from business cares by operating the Cook's Corners farm. He has become deeply interested in agriculture and farming prob-
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lems, and largely through him the Mahoning. County Farm Bureau was organized in 1913, with Mr. McKay as first president. He had filled that office for seven years. He was also instrumental in organizing the Mahoning Supply Company, all of whose members are farmers. The company operates a flour and feed mill at North Jackson<
On January 29, 1885, Mr. ,McKay married Alice Rayl, of Wooster, Ohio. Of the three children born to them two survive. James R., a graduate of the Harvard Law School, where he was an honor student, having previously earned the same distinction in high school and college, is now practicing law at Youngstown and in recent years has relieved his father of the duties of official attorney for the Home Savings & Loan Company. The other son, Raymond C., is now completing his studies in medicine and is an interne in the City Hospital of Cleveland.
Mr. McKay is a member of the First Baptist Church and of the local Clan Macdonald Society. The latter affiliation is entirely consistent, from the historical fact that Mr. McKay's ancestors were adherents of "Bonnie Prince Charlie," and after the great battle in which the Prince lost all hope of attaining the crown, and through Flora Macdonald escaped, the McKays had to flee from their native land, many of them coming to America and establishing their homes. Because of his earnest life, high attainments, well rounded character and large influence, Mr. McKay enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him.
THOMAS WILLIAM WOODWARD. The active business life of Thomas William Woodward, secretary and assistant manager of the Block Gas Mantle Company of Youngstown, has been connected with an important phase in the development of this city, and is linked with the founding of important industries which have aided in stimulating the growth of the community, and been the base of some of its prestige as a manufacturing center. His is a career worthy of emulation, for he has risen through the practice of economy, combined with an effective industry, has seen his arduous efforts bear fruit, and has profited in proportion.
Thomas William Woodward was born at Youngstown July 16, 1878, a son of Jacob and Rachel Woodward, natives of England, who came at an early day to Youngstown and there spent the remainder of their lives. After being graduated from the Rayen High School of Youngstown Thomas W. Woodward entered at once upon a business career and in 19o3 organized the Youngstown Transfer Company, of which he was manager and Ralph Cornelius, president. After he disposed of his interest in this concern. Mr. Woodward in 1909 entered the employ of the Block Gas Mantle Company as bookkeeper, and became so conversant with all its details and proved so useful in the conduct of its affairs that in 1915 he was made its secretary and assistant manager, and has continued to hold these positions ever since.
In 1901 Mr. Woodward was united in marriage with Louise Lung, of Canton, Ohio, and they became the parents of four children, as follows: Thomas J., who was born in 1903; Louise, who was born in 19o5; Harold, who was born in 1907; and Alfred, who was born in 191o. In political matters Mr. Woodward is a republican. Mrs. Woodward is active in Catholic Church circles. Mr. Woodward has never sought distinction outside of what he regarded was his legitimate sphere of action, only desiring that which resulted from a successful and honorable conduct of his business enterprises. His distinguishing characteristics may be said to be painstaking attention to detail, indomitable energy and faithfulness to duty, potent agencies for the advancement of business concerns and civic affairs.
GEORGE F. CARSON claims Mahoning County as the place of his nativity, is now numbered among the progressive and successful exponents of farm industry in Newton Township, Trumbull County, and his high standing in the community is indicated by the fact that he is serving as township trustee at the time of this writing, in 1920.
Mr. Carson was born in Milton Township, this county, then Mahoning County, July 6, 1861, and the old farm which figured as the place of his nativity is now partly covered by the beautiful Lake Milton, an artificial body of water. He is a son of Leonidas and Rebecca E. (Weasner) Carson, and of the Weasner family ample record is made on other pages of this work. Leonidas Carson was born in Berlin Township, Mahoning County, October 20, 1835, a son of John and Lucy (Gross) Carson, well known members of sterling pioneer families of the county. John Carson was born and reared in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and was a young man when he came with his father, John Carson, Sr., to Ma-honing -County, the father having rode the intervening distance and the son having made practically the entire trip on foot. The father took a tract of unimproved land along the banks of the Mahoning River, there improved a productive farm and there passed the remainder of his life, he having died at an advanced age. There also his wife died, and they had become the parents of seven sons and two daughters. John, Jr., settled in Berlin Township, and there became one of the substantial farmers of the county, he having been eighty-five years of age at the time of his death, and his wife, whose maiden name was Lucy Gross, having likewise passed the age of eighty years. Leonidas and his brother John were for two or three years associated in the work and management of a farm which their father gave them on the Mahoning River, and Leonidas then purchased his brother's interest in the property and assumed full control. A number of years later he purchased a farm of his brother George W., whose son, George W., is engaged in the piano business at Youngstown. About 1885 Leonidas Carson sold this second farm and removed with his family to Kansas, where he remained sixteen years as a resident of Harper County. There his wife died on the 19th of March, 1900, their marriage having been solemnized November 19, 1856, and within a short time after having thus lost his devoted companion he returned to Trumbull County, where he passed the ensuing six years in the home of his son, George F., of this review. He then married Mrs. Elizabeth Monensmith, who still survives him, and he passed the closing years of his life at Newton Falls, where
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he died November 15, 1908. In Kansas he had served as superintendent of the Harper County poor farm, and had also been very successful as an apiarist, with an average of more than mo colonies of bees. He was a republican in politics and was a member of the Christian Church, as was also his first wife and is likewise his second wife. No children were born of the second marriage. Leonidas and Rebecca E. (Weasner) Carson became the parents of six children: Lucy, the wife of Joseph Osborn, of Milton Township, died February 8, 1907, aged forty-nine years; Hannah S. is the wife of Henry M. Morris, of Anthony, Kansas ; George F., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Mary L. is the wife of John Myers, of Berlin Township, Ma-honing County ; Ellen S. is the wife of Leonard Asper, of Anthony, Kansas; and Jessie C. is the wife of John Heck, likewise of Anthony, Kansas.
George F. Carson was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and gained his youthful education in the public schools of his native county. He continued to be here associated with his father in farm enterprise until the latter's removal to Kansas, and about the same time, October 29, 1885, he was united in marriage to Miss Lulu M. Lynn, daughter of Levi Lynn, of North Jackson, Mahoning County, and a sister of the late Herman H. Lynn, a justice of the peace, who died December to, 1919. Mrs. Carson was born in Jackson Township, this county, September 8, 1864. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Carson spent a few months in Kansas, but the Sunflower state had no appeal that could permanently cause them to sever allegiance to Mahoning County, and after their return to this county they located on the old home farm of Mrs. Carson's widowed mother near North Jackson. After conducting operations on this farm for ten years, Mr. and Mrs. Carson removed to Trumbull County, and in 1889 established their home on their present fine farm, which comprises io8 acres and which is situated On the road betwee'n Lake Milton and Newton Falls. The farm is well improved, and by the installing of tile drainage system Mr. Carson has brought the place up to a high standard of productiveness. He brings to bear approved modern methods in all details of farm operations and in the livestock field he keeps the best type of Jersey cows.
Ready and liberal in his support of all progressive community enterprises, Mr. Carson has been- a staunch champion of the good roads movement, and in this connection has been able to render excellent promotive service in his official capacity of township trustee, in which office he is serving his fifth consecutive term. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, he and his wife are active members of the Christian Church, and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Maccabees and the local grange of the Patrons of. Husbandry. His wife is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. They have one son, Paul L., who was born April 2, 1900. He was graduated from the high school and he is now attending historic old Hiram College. The attractive home of Mr. Carson is known for its cordial hospitality.
WILLARD C. ANDREWS was a native son of Trumbull County, which represented his home during virtually his entire life, though for a few years he conducted a drug store at Edinboro, Pennsylvania. In i88o he engaged in the drug business at Cortland, Trumbull County, and here he continued as one of the representative business men and influential and honored citizens of the village until his death, which occurred December 2, 1915.
William Crandall Andrews was born in Fowler Township, Trumbull County, in July, 1854, a son of Asa Andrews, who eventually became one of the leading merchants in the City of Warren, this county, where he continued to reside until his death, at the patriarchal age of eighty-nine years. The subject of this memoir acquired his early education in the public schools at Warren, and there as a youth he learned the druggist's trade and became a reliable pharmacist. Finally he removed to Edinboro, Pennsylvania, where he continued in the retail drug business until 188o, when he returned to his native county and established himself in the same line of business at Cortland. His professional ability and honorable dealings enabled him to build up a substantial and representative trade, and he was one of the best known business men of the village at the time of his death, with a wide circle of friends in his native county. He gave close attention to business and was found actively engaged in supervising his well equipped store even on the day preceding his death, his sudden demise having been a shock to the community. His political opinions caused him to give allegiance to the republican party, and his civic loyalty was distinctly shown in his effective service as a member of the village council. Both he and his wife were zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Cortland, and he served for a number of years as a member of its official board. He was actively affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in the local lodge of which he passed the official chairs, he having been treasurer of the lodge many years and having been the incumbent of this position at the time of his death.
As a young man Mr. Andrews married Miss Lucy Taylor, of Warren, this county, and she survived him by about three years, her death having occurred September I, 1918. Through inheritance Mrs. Andrews came into possession of a most interesting historical relic a bureau that had been owned by the great New England leader of the colonial days, Rev. Jonathan Edwards, who was one of her ancestors, and with signal liberality and good judgment, she provided in her will that this ancient piece of furniture should be given to the Smithsonian Institution in the City of Washington, where it is now preserved.
Mr. and Mrs. Andrews became the parents of five children, of whom four attained to adult age : Willard Crandall, Jr., the eldest of the children, is engaged in the drug business at Erie, Pennsylvania. Miss Louise Taylor Andrews, a skilled stenographer and bookkeeper, holds a responsible office position in the City of Warren. Rollin C., who succeeded to the ownership of his father's drug business, is more specifically mentioned in succeeding paragraphs. George died in 1905, at the age of fourteen years.
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Rollin Cobb Andrews was born at Cortland, October 8, 1895, and after receiving the discipline of the public schools he pursued a course in the department of pharmacy of the University of Ohio, besides which he supplemented this by further study in the Cleveland College of Pharmacy. As a boy he began to assist in the work of his father's store, and thus he had gained much practical knowledge of the drug business even before he completed his professional course. His entire active career has been in connection with the business established by his father, and as the owner of the same he is well upholding the prestige of the family name.
Mr. Andrews married Miss Nina Corfman, who was born at Sycamore, Wyandot County, and whose father, Martin Corfman, is now engaged in the mercantile business at Cortland. Mr. and Mrs. Andrews have one child, Katherine Louise.
WILLIAM T. EVANS. While it is without store or postoffice, a little group of homes, ten or a dozen, in Weathersfield Township, a mile and a half south of Niles, has acquired the name Evansville, in honor of its chief resident, William T. Evans, who has had his home in that one locality for more than seventy years. Mr. Evans has always been a useful member of his community and in former years was rather actively associated with coal production and other industrial affairs of the valley.
Just across the road from his present home he was born January 25, 1849, a son of John Lester and Hannah (Ludwick) Evans. His parents had both been previously married, his father by his first marriage having four children: Susanna, who married Nathan King and moved to Guilford, Columbiana County; Mrs. Minerva Abrams, who lived in Virginia; Hannah, who became the wife of George Swiggin, of Niles; and George, who died in early life. Hannah Ludwig's first husband was a Mr. Hocker, and her three daughters were : Mary, who married Barton Fulk and both died at Girard; Jane, who married Samuel Bellard and died in Mahoning County ; and Betty, who married John Crum and both died at Mineral Ridge. John L. Evans by his marriage to Mrs. Hocker had six children: John L., who was a railroad man, but lived on part of the old homestead and died at the age of seventy-five; Austin, who was an old-time furnace worker and also lived in the home community; Ellen, who married Luverne Eckman, of Mahoning County; while the three living children are William T.; Martha, Mrs. James Allen, of Youngstown; and Thomas, a resident of McKinley Heights.
John Lester Evans, always known by his friends as Lester, was an engineer by trade and a good friend of Joseph E. Butler, Chauncey Andrews, ex-Governor Tod. His services as an engineer made him a useful worker in coal mines and furnaces, and he was an exceedingly reliable mechanic. He was identified with some of the early industries of Mineral Ridge. Some of his old friends remember him in early life as a fighting man, always ready to take part in some of the rough and tumble elections that characterized his political campaigns. Later his character became more settled and he was an active member of the Disciples Church. He, died in his eightieth year, while his wife passed away at the age of fifty-one. Their son John L. was a member of the Sixth Ohio Cavalry, and while scouting was captured and held a prisoner at Libby and Andersonville for nineteen months and thirteen days. In later years he frequently entertained his hearers recounting the sufferings of those southern prisons. He told how the prisoners captured a dog that had followed a party of visitors into the stockade, and cooked it and from their famine relished dog meat as a delicacy.
William T. Evans was reared and educated in the old home locality and as a youth dug coal out of the banks and also in the old Weathersfield shaft, where for three years he helped load twenty-five flat cars a day. For ten or twelve years he was a railroad man, a year or so as a conductor. In company with his brother Thomas as partner he did his contracting business loading ore at the Tod and. Wells shaft. Mr. Evans for twenty-four years has been sexton of the Kerr or Meander Cemetery, a popular burying ground owned by the township.
September I, 1869, Mr. Evans married Charlotte Lewis, daughter of William and Margaret (Lewis) Lewis. Her father died rather young and her mother in old age at Girard. Charlotte was born in Wales and was an infant when her parents came to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Evans reared a family of eight children : Anna, who married William Davis, a furnace man at Youngstown; Margaret, wife of Thomas Welsh, a Baltimore & Ohio engineer living at Evanston; Daniel and Frederick, mill workers living at the old home; John, a farmer in Nebraska; Jennie, wife of Walter Verry, an employe of the Cleveland Plain Dealer ; Minerva, wife of Harry Bowman, a street car man at Hagerstown, Maryland; and Benjamin, now living at home, a blacksmith by trade, who served for fifteen months in France.
PERRY B. OWEN, secretary and manager of the Union Safe Deposit Company at Youngstown, is one of the native born citizens of this community who have found success in the place of their birth. For more than twenty years his working interests were at Girard, but since 1908 he has been identified with his present company at Youngstown, arid it has been here that his abilities have been recognized and that he has found his greatest measure of prestige and prosperity.
John Meredith Owen, his father, one of Youngs-town's best known citizens from the time of his location in the city in 1864 until his death in 1899, was born in Newcastle-in-Emlyn, Wales, in 1826. When he was about ten years of age his parents moved to England, where he lived until he came to America. He was sent when fourteen to Shrewsbury, near his 'home in Pontesbury, to serve an apprenticeship of three years with his uncle, Lewis Meredith, a merchant of that historic old town. After his apprenticeship, with the exception of a year or two with his father, he was in his uncle's employ until he came to America, either traveling for the firm throughout England and Wales or having charge of one of the branch stores.
It was at the age of twenty-six that John M.