450 - HISTORY OF OHIO is active in the Baptist Church, is a republican and a member of the Masonic and various fraternities. Dr. William Jacob Shepard is the older of two children, his sister, Miss Carrie, living with him and being his office assistant. He attended public schools in Richland Township of Belmont County, was also a student in the Bellaire High School, and as a boy exhibited marked talent as a musician. He became a finished player on the violin and cornet, and in his career as a busy physician has found music a fine source of recreation. Doctor Shepard graduated from the Starling Medical College, the medical department of Ohio State University at Columbus, in 1913. During his senior year he was an interne in the Protestant, now the White Cross, Hospital at Columbus, and from July 1, 1913, to January 1, 1917, remained at Columbus, at first as resident house physician at Mount Carmel Hospital and then in private practice. While in Columbus he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the medical department of the Ohio National Guard, and served with the Second Ambulance and also with the Second Field Hospital Corps. On January 1, 1917, Doctor Shepard moved to Bellaire, and while he is engaged in general practice, nearly all his work is in gynecology, a field in which he has been particularly successful. In addition to his private practice he is city health commissioner of Bellaire, and is a member of the Belmont County, the Ohio State and American Medical associations. Doctor Shepard enjoys hunting, and his hunting trips are either in the northern woods or in the South. He was one of the organizers and was elected president of the Ohio Valley Sportsmen's Club and he also organized the Bellaire Chapter of the National Rifle Association. He is affiliated with York Lodge No. 563, Free and Accepted Masons, at Columbus and is also a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason in Scioto Consistory and a member of Aladdin Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Columbus. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a republican in national politics and a member of the Christian Church. Doctor Shepard married in June, 1917, at Cambridge, Ohio, Miss Edna Hart. She was born in Bellaire, but her father, William H. Hart, for many years has been engaged in the coal business both in Belmont and in Guernsey counties, and is now a hardware merchant at Cambridge. Mrs. Shepard is active in church, social and club life at Bellaire. They have one daughter, Helen Jane. JOHN BRUCE FROSTICK. What at the time may seem a veritable calamity often proves to be a blessing in disguise. There is no way of looking forward into the future and discerning the coming workings of fate or whatever force governs events. If there were life would be robbed of much of its savor. In this connection, had it not been for a strike which occurred in May, 1910, in Missouri, John Bruce Frostick might still have been a railroad man instead of being the president and owner of the Independent Transfer Company of Portsmouth, Ohio, the leading concern of its kind in its section of the state. Mr. Frostick 's career is an interesting one, as briefly outlined within the confines of this review. John B. Frostick was born October 6, 1882, in Bedford County, Virginia, and is a son of Samuel Oscar and Charlotte Elizabeth (Geer) Frostick, the former of whom died in 1912, while the latter is still living on the old homestead in North Carolina. Both the Bruce and Geer families are old and honorable ones, dating back many generations in Europe. On the paternal side Mr. Frostick is a grandson of Alfred and Mary Louise Frostick, of England, and on the maternal side of Charles Edmund and Elizabeth Geer, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Samuel Oscar Frostick was born in England, and was about twenty-one years of age, in 1859, when he immigrated to America, settling first in Canada. Thence he came to the United States and spent some years in Virginia, but later moved to North Carolina, where he followed lumbering, owning timber lands and operating sawmills. He was a man of high principles, and an active member of the Baptist Church, in which he was an official, as he was also of the Sunday school, as superintendent. He and his worthy wife reared a family of five sons and two daughters, of whom John Bruce is the next to the youngest in order of birth. John Bruce Frostick attended the public schools of Virginia until reaching the age of ten years, at which time the family moved to Virginia, where he furthered his education by six years of public school study. After one year of high school he entered his father's sawmill and remained under the elder man until he was nineteen years of age, in the meantime gaining a pretty fair knowledge of machinery, for which he had a natural bent. When he left the parental guidance he went to Richmond, Virginia, and secured employment in the shops of the railroad company. After serving an apprenticeship of three years he was put on an engine, as fireman, a post which he held for sixteen months, then being given employment in the shops as a journeyman machinist. Mr. Frostick held this position for eleven months and then gave it up and went to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he spent six years in the shops of the Rock Island Railroad, and September 13, 1907, first came to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he was identified with the shops of the Norfolk & Western Railroad until 1908. From this point he went to Indianapolis, Indiana, where for four months he worked for the Big Four Railroad, then going to Shawnee, Oklahoma, for the Rock Island, and from thcre to Sherman, Texas, for the Santa Fe. Returning to Portsmouth, Mr. Frostick was married and soon thereafter returned to Sherman, Texas, with his bride, but after a short period went to Nevada, Missouri, and was connected with the Missouri Pacific Railroad until the strike of May, 1910. Out of employment, Mr. Frostick turned his attention to Portsmouth, his wife 's home city, and hither they came, Mr. Frostick finding no difficulty in securing employment as a mechanic with the WhitakerGlessner Steel Company. However, he had all along cherished an ambition to be at the head of a business of his own, and after fourteen months he resigned and invested his savings in the purchase of a small restaurant located near the Norfolk & Western depot. On the following day he received word of the death of his father, and he at oncc went to North Carolina, where he remained during the funeral and the settlement of his father 's affairs. On his return he found that Mrs. Frostick. had risen to the occasion with good business judgment and enterprise and had the restaurant operating in an excellent manner. During the three years that Mr. and Mrs. Frostick conducted this establishment they made it a splendid success, and finally when they sold out, realized handsomely on their investment. Having made his plans beforehand, Mr. Frostick purchased two Ford town cars and started a business known as the Independent Transfer Company, a business to which he has devoted himself uninterruptedly to the present time. This has grown into the largest business of its kind in this section and is doing a HISTORY OF OHIO - 451 voluminous trade in the way of transfer and long-distance trucking. He now maintains a regularly scheduled truck line to Cincinnati and intermediate points, as well as to other cities in Ohio, and special business is accepted in the way of trucking as far as Chicago and other distant communities. When he found the need of more capital to swing his business, Mr. Frostick incorporated the company, and for a time others held some of the stock, but at this time he had regained all of the stock and is now the sole owner of the business. Its growth and development are indications of Mr. Frostick's business ability and industry. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and his religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal Church. On October 5, 1909, at Portsmouth, Ohio, Mr. Frostick was united in marriage with Miss Preston Anna Darragh, daughter of James E. and Georgia (Parker) Darragh, both of Kentucky, where Mr. Darragh was in the United States Government service as a gauger. On coming to Portsmouth, Mr. Darragh was first in the hotel business, but later entered the grocery business, and became one of the sound and substantial men of, the city. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and is fraternally affiliated with the Masonic Blue Lodge. He and his wife have been the parents of four sons and four daughters. To Mr. and Mrs. Frostick there have been born four children: James Alfred, who is deceased, James Bruce, Charlotte Louise and Bettie Louise. ELZEY G. BURKAM has gained in the City of Dayton, the vital metropolis and judicial center of Montgomery County, a secure vantage place as one of the representative newspaper men of the Buckeye State. Here he is the publisher of the Dayton Herald, a daily afternoon paper, and the Dayton Journal, a morning daily. Both of these papers are maintained at metropolitan standard in their issues and in the equipment of the modern newspaper plant in which they are published. The success that has attended the publication of these representative newspapers is shown distinctly in the work that is now (summer of 1924) in progress in the construction of a newspaper building, which in erection and equipment will represent an approximate expenditure of $1,000,000. Elzey G. Burkam was born at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, on the 7th of December, 1872, and after having there profited by the advantages of the public schools he was a student in the Howe Military Academy, which was then established at Lima, Ohio, but which now is located at Howe, Indiana. Later Mr.. Burkam was graduated from the Hopkins Grammar School at New Haven, Connecticut, and his higher academic studies were pursued in historic old Yale University, in which he was a member of the class of 1894. While still a college student Mr. Burkam became specially interested in practical journalism, and after his graduation from Yale University, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, he became a member of the reportorial staff of the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. Later he there served in a similar way with the Cincinnati Times-Star, and finally he identified himself with the Wheeling Intelligencer, at Wheeling, West Virginia. He became editor-in-chief of this paper and also president of the company by which it was published. After disposing of his interest in this newspaper business he became managing editor of the Columbus Dispatch, in the capital city of Ohio. Mr. Burkam has been a resident of Dayton since 1911, in which year he purchased the plant and business of the Dayton Journal. Two years later he acquired also the Dayton Herald, and of these paper he has since continued the publisher, his progressive policies having brought them up to a high standard and the enterprise having been unequivocally successful under his able management. Mr. Burkam is a trustee of Miami University, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, is an active and liberal member of the Dayton Young Men's Christian Association, and is a member of the Lotos Club in New York City. Mr. Burkam wedded Miss Blanche Thompson, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the children of this union are four in number, namely : Anna Constance, Lucy Lloyd, Elizabeth Rogers and Elzey G., Jr. JOSEPH A. SLOAN, of Napoleon, has for many years been an expert engineer in the oil and gas industry, and has been the man primarily responsiblc for the development of one of the important public utilities of Northwest Ohio, the Ohio Gas Light and Coke Company. Mr. Sloan was born in New York State, in 1880, his father a native of Ireland, while he was born in America. He was educated in the public schools at Baldwinsville, New York, and subsequently by practical experience acquired a thorough knowledge of the petroleum industry. For several years he was a contractor in the building of pipe lines and derricks. For about ten years he was general manager and engineer for W. E. Moss & Company at Detroit, and for that firm handled a number of contracts involving the installation and operation of public utilities, including artificial gas plants. Later he bought the gas and electric plant at Defiance, Ohio, operating it about a year and a half, and in 1914 he and his associates combined their interests in several gas and lighting companies in Northwest Ohio, under the corporation name of the Ohio Gas Light and Coke Company, which now has facilities for supplying gas for seven towns and also owns the electric light plant at Delta. The main offices of the company are at Napoleon, and Mr. Sloan is one of the large stockholders in the business. He is a member of the National Commercial Gas Association and the Michigan Gas Association. Mr. Sloan married at Fulton, New York, Miss Anna E. Hartigan, who finished her education in the State Normal School of New York. Her parents, David and Margaret (Burke) Hartigan, were of Irish stock, her father a native of Canada and her mother of New York State. David Hartigan and Joseph A. Sloan became associated in the gas and coke business in 1911, and became one of the original members of the Ohio Gas Light and Coke Company. Mr. and Mrs. Sloan have one daughter, Margaret Mary, born September 29, 1913. He is a democrat in politics, is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and Knights of Columbus, and he and his family are communicants of the Catholic Church at Napoleon. HENRIETTA PUTHOFF-MILLER, M. D. In her native City of Hamilton, Doctor Puthoff-Miller began her career as a physician and surgeon, and has since returned to that community, where she conducts an extensive practice. She was one of the earlier women of Ohio to qualify for this profession, and her abilities have brought her notable success in a field so long monopolized by the other sex. Doctor Puthoff-Miller was born in Hamilton, daughter of Francis H. and Elizabeth (Stenver) Puthoff. Her father was a successful druggist at Cincinnati when he died in 1902. Doctor Puthoff-Miller is a niece of Frederick Puthoff, who for many years served as mayor of the City of Hamilton. 452 - HISTORY OF OHIO After finishing her high school course at Hamilton she taught school for six years in the Hamilton public schools. In 1894 she completed the medical course in the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, and in 1895 received her degree from the Woman's Medical College of Cincinnati. Subsequently she took special work in the Illinois School of Electro-Therapeutics. After graduating Doctor Puthoff-Miller practiced for two years in Hamilton, and then for twenty-two years was one of the leading woman surgeons of the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota. While there she acted as assistant surgeon at the Minnesota State School for Feeble Minded. Returning to Hamilton in 1919, she has since conducted a general practice and is also examining physician for the Woman's Business Association and the Indianapolis Life Insurance Company. She is a member of the Butler County, Ohio State and American Medical associations. Doctor Puthoff-Miller belongs to the Woman's City Club of Hamilton, the Woman's Business Association and is a member of the Eastern Star and White Shrine of the Masonic Order. She was married in 1898, at Minneapolis, to Charles S. Miller, a prominent attorney of that city. WILLIAM R. POULSON, present postmaster of Holgate in Henry County, is one of the younger citizens of Northwest Ohio, has been active in local affairs, and was in service during the World war. He was born at New Bavaria, near Holgate, April 3, 1893, son of George and Tillie (Klear) Poulson, his father born at Holgate and his mother at Bavaria. They were educated in the public schools, and are members of the Catholic Church, and republicans in politics. Their two children are William R. and George, the latter attending high school at Holgate. William R. Poulson was one year old when his parents moved to Holgate, and he grew up there, attending the grammar and high schools. For two years he was in school at Chicago, and from there went as an enlisted man in the Army Medical Corps and spent eight months in service in France, until the armistice. He was mustered out at Chicago, and then moved to Toledo, where he was a worker in the shipyards and later in a tobacco factory. Returning to Holgate, Mr. Poulson, on March 24, 1922, was appointed postmaster, and is giving a splendid administration to that office. Mr. Poulson, who is unmarried, is a member of the Catholic Church, votes as a republican, and has acquired some invested interests in the oil fields of Northern Texas, and also in a rubber company at Wichita Falls, Texas. CLARENCE H. WOOD is district superintendent of the branch office at Steubenville for the Ohio Inspection Bureau, a bureau maintained by the insurance companies doing business in the state. Mr. Wood is a graduate engineer, and his technical training is an important part of the qualifications for his work in the insurance profession. Mr. Wood was born at Hatboro, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, November 17, 1887, son of Newton E. and Elizabeth R. (Reeder) Wood, and grandson of Comly and Geraldine (Shoemaker) Wood, the former of English and the latter of German descent, while his maternal grandparents were East-burn and Ellen Reeder. Newton E. Wood has followed an agricultural career and is one of the respected men of his community, having served one term as county road commissioner. He is a member of the Society of Friends. Mr. and Mrs. Newton Wood have two children: Eastburn R. and Clarence H. Eastburn married Mabel Wilson, of State College, Pennsylvania. Their two children are William and Thomas. Clarence H. Wood attended the public schools of Hatboro, graduating from high school with the class of 1904. He pursued his technical training as a mechanical engineer in the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1908. He spent four years in the service of the United Gas Improvement Company, beginning as a clerk and was fitter foreman of one of the districts when he resigned. For several months he was employed in the drafting department of the Victor Talking Machine Company, and in 1913 entered the service of the Ohio Inspection Bureau, which is the rate adjusting and fixing body for the fire insurance companies doing business in the state. From 1913 to 1921 Mr. Wood was located at Youngstown, and in the latter year was transferred to the Steubenville office as superintendent of the district including Jefferson, Carroll, Harrison, Belmont and portions of Columbiana and Tuscarawas counties. Mr. Wood is a member of the Society of Friends and is a Royal Arch Mason. He married, January 8, 1918, at New Florence, Pennsylvania, Miss Mary Wallace Liggett, daughter of William and Elizabeth Liggett, both now deceased. Her father was a farmer, and both were members of the United Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Wood was the oldest of four children, the others being: Alvar, who by his marriage to Hazel Graff has a son, William; Elizabeth, who is the wife of David Harris, their three children being Wesley, Clarence and Marjorie; and Lettie, who married Frank Clawson, and has two children, Thomas and Frank. E. L. MCCLAIN, of Greenfield, has a notable place among Ohio manufacturers, first for building up a business whose products are sent to nearly every portion of the civilized world, and also for using his wealth for distinctive service in behalf of educational and religious enrichment of his community. Edward Lee McClain was born at Greenfield, May 30, 1861, son of William Page and Margaret Ann (Parkinson) McClain. On the paternal side his earliest ancestor in the United States was Andrew McClain, who, according to family traditions, was killed in the battle of the Brandywine. On the maternal side his earliest ancestor in this country was Oliver Ross, who established the Town of New Market, Highland County, Ohio, and whose daughter, Rebecca Ross, is said to have been the first white woman in Highland County, and married George Washington Parkinson, who was a soldier in the War of 1812. E. L. McClain's early education was confined to the public schools of Greenfield. On November 1, 1881, at the age of twenty, having made and patented an improvement in horse collar pads, he began their manufacture in a small way. The business was incorporated as The American Pad and Textile Company on July 1, 1903. Through a steady development this has become a large enterprise, giving employment to several hundred people, with a branch at Chillicothe, Ohio, and another at Chatham, Ontario, Canada. The use of horse collar pads has grown from year to year until the annual requirement now is something like six hundred thousand dozen. In 1903-05, on several hundred acres of land purchased by him in Bartow County, near Cartersville, Georgia, Mr. McClain built a cotton mill and established a village (now known as Atco) for the manufacture of the fabrics used in the horse collar pads. This business was incorporated in 1910 as The American Textile Company, and also gives employment to several hundred people. HISTORY OF OHIO - 453 At Louisville, Kentucky, after having conducted a similar enterprise at Greenfield, Mr. McClain established a business for the manufacture of show cases and office interior finish, known as The Crescent Manufacturing Company. This was carried on for several years very successfully, until it was sold during the World war. Several other enterprises in different parts of the country were established on the initiative or with the support of Mr. McClain. This indicates the somewhat unusual scope of his business activities. While his philanthropic purposes and impulses have been expressed in several directions, none has been quite so noticeable as that in behalf of a new Methodist Church for Greenfield, and more lately in providing a complete high school plant for the community. This high school plant has been supplemented by another school building, in which the vocational departments are conducted. That this was a notable achievement in public school progress in America has been recognized by a number of educational authorities. An architect and school specialist writing in the American City Magazine said: "Among the several small cities that have changed their building and educational policy so that all the children may enjoy equal educational advantages is Greenfield, Ohio, a small city. -Several years ago Mr. E. L. McClain presented a practical gift to the city, a high school on a centrally located site, and though it is a medium sized school, it is unusually fine in efficiency of plan, richness of facilities, beauty and substantial construction. " The Greenfield plan of concentrating its educational machinery in a central location, the foresight in the selection of an adequate site, and the planning of a plant where the principles of democracy can actually be set in motion through practice, and not merely taught, is undoubtedly a distinct departure in school buildings for most American small cities." Mr. McClain married, December 17, 1885, Lulu Thcodosia Johnson, daughter of the late Joseph and Theodosia (Schofield) Johnson. To this union were born four children, the three surviving being Edward Lce, Jr., Hclen St. Clair and Donald Schofield McClain. The two sons were in service during the World war. Edward now lives in California, and Donald is with the above mentioned cotton mills in Georgia. Mr. McClain is still active in business, confining his attention principally to The American Pad and Textilc Company and The American Textile Company, of both of which companies he is a member of the Executive Committee. A number of large private investments also require his attention. His only diversion, which has become a habit, as it were, is his activity in behalf of the public schools of Greenfield. THOMAS GARFIELD SYLER. As a young man Thomas Garfield Syler found his work in the field of education, and for over twenty years has been identified with teaching and school administration, holding many posts of responsibilities. He is now superintendent of schools at Sugar Creek. Mr. Syler was born on a farm near Strasburg, in Tuscarawas County, June 22, 1881, fifth among the eight children of Harvey D. and Josephine (Luke) Syler, and a grandson of Thomas and Hosannah (Leader) Syler, natives of Pennsylvania and early settlers in Clark Township, Holmes County, Ohio. Harvey D. Syler was born on a farm in Holmes County, and is still living in that locality at the age of seventy-four. He was a farmer after his marriage, lived for .several years in Geauga County, and for many years carried on the business of live- stock dealer. His has been an activc and useful life, and one that has connected him influentially with many community affairs. He is a staunch republican. Thomas Garfield Syler grew up on his father 's farm, and was educated in rural districts, then in the schools at Berlin and Walnut Creek, and later he graduated from the North Canton High School. He was also a student in Wooster University. Mr. Syler at the age of twcnty began teaching, and his experience in rural schools aggregated nine years. For two years he was superintendent of schools at Fresno, Ohio, and for four years was district superintendent of schools in Coshocton County. In 1918 he came to Sugar Creek as superintendent of the Sugar Creek-Shaneville public schools, and under his direction this has become one of the best organized and most efficient units in the public school systems of Tuscarawas County. Mr. Syler is a member of the Reformed Church, and is affiliated with the Masonic lodge and Knights of Pythias. He is a republican in politics. He married in 1908 Miss Elma Fleishman. Their three children are Virginia, Katherine and Thomas. CHARLES A. POINDEXTER, M. D. Throughout his career of nearly forty years as a physician and surgeon Doctor Poindexter has been identified with Meigs County. For over twenty years he has practiced at Middleport, and his professional reputation has been enhanced by his progressive record in good citizenship. Doctor Poindexter was born in Addison, Gallia County, Ohio, December 2, 1872, son of D. A. and Mary C. (Watson) Poindexter. His parents live at Addison, his father being a retired miller. D. A. Poindexter saw Government service in the Civil war as a marine on the Tenessee River, and was a participant at the battle of Shiloh. There are four children: James, a farmer at Gallipolis; Lillian, who died when a school girl; Miss Nellie, an employe in the offices of the New York Central Lines ; and Dr. Charles A. Dr. Charles A. Poindexter acquired his early education in the village schools at Addison, and he achieved his ambition for a medical education by paying his own expenses, earning the money by teaching rural district schools in Gallia and Meigs counties. He graduated from Ohio Medical University at Columbus in 1895, and since then has done post-graduate work in the Chicago Polyclinic. Doctor Poindexter first located at Dexter, in Meigs County, and in 1903 moved to Middleport. He has had a very heavy general practice, and for six years was county coroner of Meigs County. He was a member of the County and State Medical societies. Doctor Poindexter is a republican, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and in Masonry is a member of the Scottish Rite Consistory and Aladdin Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Columbus. He and his family are Presbyterians. Doctor Poindexter married in 1912 Miss Kathryn Daniels, a daughter of Thomas Daniels, of Pomeroy. Mrs. Poindexter is a dentist by profession. J. CARL BELL is a prominent and successful representative of the chicken hatchery industry in his native City of Youngstown, and in the conducting of his large and modern chicken hatchery, situated on the Oak Street extension, he has an efficient assistant and associate in the person of his youngest son, Harold, who has been his coadjutor in the upbuilding of this prosperous business enterprise. Mr. Beil was born in Youngstown on the 24th of December, 1879, and in this city his parents_ 454 - HISTORY OF OHIO Jacob and Caroline (Schmidt) Beil, still maintain their home, the former having been born in Germany and the latter at Hubbard, Trumbull County, Ohio. Jacob Beil was little more than a boy whcn he became a resident of Youngstown, and here he learned the, trade of patternmaker, as a workman at which he was long employed in connection with leading industrial establishments in this city. Both he and his wife are zealous members of the Catholic Church. J. Carl Beil attended the parochial school of St. Joseph 's Catholic Church, this being a German parish in Youngstown, and upon leaving school, at the age of fourteen years, he entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of patternmaker. Like his father, he became a skilled workman at this trade, and to the same he gave his attention until 1903, when he became superintendent of the establishment of the Scholl, Semple, Jordan Company, with which he continued to be thus associated seven years. He then purchased a half interest in the upholstering business of the E. E. Beil Company, and later he acquired full control of this business, which he conducts in connection with the chicken hatchery on the extension of Oak Street. In 1922 he and his son Harold established their present chicken hatchery business. Mr. Beil is a republican in politics, is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and he and his wife are active communicants of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. In November, 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Beil and Miss Margaret Schmidt, who was born and reared in Youngstown and who is a daughter of Frank and Margaret (Hoffman) Schmidt. Mr. and Mrs. Beil have three sons, Earl C., Lynn and Harold A., and all still remain at the parental home at the time of this writing, in the summer of 1924. HARVEY J. BACHTEL has earned an important degree of success in the practice of law, and is also a member of the veteran real estate organization of Akron known as J. I. Bachtel and Company, founded and conductcd for many years by his father. Harvey J. Bachtel was born at Akron, April 2, 1880, second of the four childrcn of Jacob I. and Althea (Triplett) Bachtel. His father for over thirty-five years has been in the insurance, real estate and loan business, being head of J. I. Bachtel and Company. He has done much development work in South Akron, putting on the market several allotments there, and Bachtel Avenue was named in his honor. His name has been associated with various civic and public causes, and he is a very earnest member of the Disciples Church. Harvey J. Bachtel as a boy started upon a career as an attorney. He attended the grammar and high schools of Akron, and received his Bachelor of Laws degree from Ohio Northern University in 1902. He was active in the oratorical and literary societies in the university, and has distinguished himself as a lawyer of unusual ability. He has specialized in real estate law, and has handled all the legal business of J. I. Bachtel and Company. He is a republican, a member of the Akron City Club and University Club, the Akron Real Estate Board and the Summit County and Ohio State Bar associations. Mr. Bachtel married Miss Harriet Merriman, daughter of the late Wells Merriman, a financier. The Merriman family were identified with Summit County in pioneer days, and Merriman Road, one of the county 's thoroughfares, was named in honor of Mrs. Bachtel's grandfather. Mrs. Bachtel is active in church work, in the Woman 's City Club, the Parent-Teachers' Association and other organizations. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Bachtel are Elizabeth and Clayton J. FRED DENNIS BIRD, M. D., has practiced medicine in Ohio for over twenty years. He and his family have prominent social connections at Port Washington, and both he and his wife represent old and honored families in Ohio and in America. Doctor Bird was born on a farm in Buffalo Township, Noble County, Ohio, October 4, 1877, son of Absalom and Ellenor (Moore) Bird. His father was born on the same farm as Doctor Bird, son of Joseph and Anna (Roberts) Bird. Joseph Bird and his wife came from their native State of Pennsylvania, settling on the farm in Buffalo Township of Noble County that is still in the family. The father of Joseph Bird was George Bird, a native of England. He was one of the soldiers recruited for the service of King George III, and brought overseas to fight against the rebellious colonists at the time of the American Revolution. He was one of the Hessians captured at the battle of Trenton, New Jersey, by General Washington's forces. Subsequently, being a mercenary soldier without any special allegiance to England, he joined the colonists and fought on their side in the closing events of the Revolution. Subsequently he settled in Pennsylvania, and from that state his son and other descendants came as pioneers to Ohio. Doctor Bird is eligible for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. The mother of Doctor Bird, Ellenor Moore, was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, where her parents, James and Nancy (Nelson) Moore, were pioneer settlers on coming from Pennsylvania. James Moore was a son of Joseph Moore, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The father of Doctor Bird, Absalom Bird, always lived on a farm, but was a carpenter by trade. He was a soldier in the Civil war and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He and his wife reared seven children, three daughters and four sons. One of these children, Frcd Dennis Bird, spent the years of his childhood and early youth on a farm. His education was supplied by the country schools, by the Pleasant City High School, and after some varied occupations and experiences he entered Starling Medical College at Columbus, where he was graduated in 1903. Doctor Bird for four years practiced at Ruraldale in Muskingum County, was for fifteen years engaged in practice at Ava in Noble County, and since May, 1922, has enjoyed an increasing practice and reputation as a physician and surgeon at Port Washington in Tuscarawas County. He is a member of the Noble County and Ohio State Medical associations. In politics he is a republican, and is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and Mrs. Bird are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which faith they were reared. Doctor Bird married, September 9, 1903, Miss Nellie Grant Clark. She was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, January 18, 1877, daughter of Lawrence Samuel and Mahala (Moor) Clark. She is a member of the Eastern Star and Daughters of Veterans, her father being a veteran of the Civil war, and member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Her paternal grandparents were Andrew W. and Sarah (Lawrence) Clark, while her maternal grandparents were Isaac and Elizabeth (Hickle) Moor, who came to Ohio from Virginia. The father of Andrew W. Clark was born in Ireland. The Clarks, Moors and Lawrences are all of Scotch-Irish lineage. Mrs. Bird was the only child of her parents. Her father was formerly married to Mary Jane Sheplar, and by that union there were three children. The one child and son of Doctor and Mrs HISTORY OF OHIO - 455 Bird is Kenneth Clark Bird, born at Ruraldale, Ohio, November 2, 1905. CHARLES O. BRICKWEDE is president of the Brickwede Brothers Company, formerly the Marietta Mantel Company. This company has contributed to Marietta's reputation as a center for the manufacture of high class wood work. The company specializes in mantels and more recently in dining-room furniture. Charles O. Brickwede and his brother, Fred M., with three employes started the business in 1903 in an old building formerly occupied by the Crystal Ice Company. At that time they manufactured mantels. The making of mantels of artistic design and finished workmanship has continued through all the years. Both brothers are expert cabinet makers and carvers. The brothers were born at Marietta, Charles O. on August 18, 1878, and Fred M. April 9, 1881. Their parents, Charles and Rachael (Ludtman) Brickwede, were born in Germany, the mother having been six years of age when her parents brought her to the United States. Charles Brickwede came to Marietta from Germany at the age of twenty-three. He was an expert boot and shoemaker, conducted a shop of his own at Marietta, and made footwear not only for the farmer but the collegc man as well. He made boots out of the finest and best material, for prices ranging from $3.50 to $3.75 per pair. He was not only an expert worker, but had high ideals of citizenship, and reared his family with thrifty and industrious habits. Charlcs Brickwede died in 1892, and the widowed mother is now seventy-three years of age, dividing her time between Marietta and Cleveland. There were five children: Charles 0.; Fred M.; Nellie, wife of S. W. McCoy, a real estate man; Lydia and John I., twins, Lydia being the wife of Jacob Ludwig, a landscape gardener, while John L., a graduate of Marietta College and of the medical department of Western Reserve University, is now practicing medicine at Akron. Charles O. Brickwede was fourteen years of age when his father died, and as the oldest son he had to become the head of the family and the bread winner. He acquired his education in the common schools, and when his father died was working for 50 cents a day sandpapering in the chair factory. After his father died in addition to spending the day at the chair factory, he put in several night hours in the shoe shop in order to keep that business going as a means of supporting his mother and the other children. Mr. Brickwede learned the various branches of cabinet maker, and became specially skilled in wood carving, a craft which his brother Fred also took up. From the chair plant he went with the Stevens Organ and Piano Company, being placed in charge of a department. Then twenty years ago the brothers organized the Marietta Mantel Company. Their mantels have been sold and distributed all over the United States. In 1917 they started the manufacture of dining-room furniture, and they now operate two plants at Marietta, employing about one hundred and seventy-five people. The Brickwede brothers are experts themselves in all branches of their business, and have proved able executives and have a perfect organization. Very recently the company took the new name of Brickwede Brothers Company', Charles 0. being president and sales director, and Fred M. secretary, treasurer and general manager. In November, 1906, Mr. Charles O. Brickwede married Miss Bertha Pierce, of Washington County, Ohio. She is the only woman member of the Marietta School Board. They have one daughter, Naomi Ruth. The parents of Mr. Brickwede were Baptists, but he and his family belong to the Gilman Avenue Methodist Church, and his brother Fred is superintendent of the Sunday school and has been on the City Council two terms. Charles O. Brickwede is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Kiwanis Club, is a republican, and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and United Commercial Travelers. RAYMOND A. YOUNGER is one of the representative younger members of the bar in his native City of Celina, judicial center of Mercer County, his birth having here occurred on the 19th of December, 1898, and his parents being still residents of this attractive little city. Mr. Younger is a son of Judge C. S. and Emma (Andrews) Younger. The father gave seven years of service as judge of the Probate Court of Mercer County, and also served as assistant state superintendent of insurance, under appointment by Governor Davis. He is now special insurance attorney in the department of the attorney-gencral of Ohio, and has charge of all legal matters of insurance order that come up for consideration in this department. Raymond A. Youngcr was graduated from the Celina High School as a member of the class of 1916, and during the ensuing scholastic year he was a student in the University of Michigan, and he then transferred to Ohio State University, in which he was graduated in 1920, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Thereafter he continued his studies in the law department of this university until 1922, in which year he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He forthwith was admitted to the bar of his native state, and has since given his close attention to the practice of his profession at Celina, where he has already made a record that gives evidence of his skill and resourcefulness as a trial lawyer and careful and conservative counselor. Mr. Young is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha and Phi Alpha Delta college fraternities. In thc Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, besides being also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He has active membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church in his native city. In connection with his professional activities Mr. Younger is local attorney for the Cincinnati Northern Railroad and also for the Federal Land Bank at Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Younger is a loyal and zealous advocate of the principles and policies for which the republican party stands sponsor, and has no little of leadership in its councils and campaign activities in Mercer County, besides which he is becoming a prominent factor in the Ohio state organization of his party. At the time of this writing, in the spring of 1924, he is a candidate for delegate from Mercer County to the Ohio State Republican Convention of this year, and is expecting also to make the race for the office of prosecuting attorney of Mercer County. In his candidacy for mayor of Celina, in 1923, he was defeated by a very small majority. WILLIAM GETTMAN. Three miles north of the Village of Columbus Grove, Putnam County, is situated the attractive and well improved farm which is the stage of the successful agricultural and livestock enterprise of Mr. Gettman, his rural home receiving service on one of the rural mail routes from Ottawa, the county seat. Mr. Gettman was born at Somerset, Perry County, Ohio, March 9, 1856, and is a son of Adam and Agnes (Smith) Gettman. Adam Gettman was born in Baden, Germany, and there in his youth he learned the shoemaker 's trade. Like other German youths, 456 - HISTORY OF OHIO he was called into military service in Germany, and after three years in the army he and many others became concerned in a rebellion and were made prisoners by the government. After 112 days in prison he with several comrades escaped through a sewcr, and after swimming across a canal he returned to the parental home, he having been eighteen years old at the time. His father, who held an official position under the government, refused to receive him at the home, but his mother provided him with a suit of clothes and the equivalent of $7.50 in American money. The young fugitive made his way by night to a seaport 180 miles distant, his principal subsistence en route having been berries which he found by the way side. On arriving at the seaport he found favor with the captain of a vessel, and embarked for the United States. His financial resources were reduced to fifty cents at the time of his arrival in the port of New York City, and finally he made his way to Ohio. At Somerset, Perry County, he found employment at his trade, to which he there gave his attention until he went forth as a loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil war. He was made sergeant in his company, and with his regiment of Ohio volunteer infantry he continued in active service until the close of the war. His marriage had occurred prior to his entering this military service, and after his return home he resumed the work of his trade in Perry County. Finally he came with his family to Putnam County, and here he purchased 120 acres of land three miles north of Columbus Grove. He cleared the land, provided it with adequate drainage ditches, and developed one of the excellent farms of this county, both he and his wife having continued to rcside on this homestead until their death. Mrs. Gettman likewise was born in Germany, and she was young when the family came to the United States and established a home in Ohio. Mr. Gettman was one of the substantial and honored citizens of Putnam County, was a republican in politics, served as trustee of Pleasant Township, and was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. and Mrs. Gettman became the parents of eight children, all of whom are living (1923) : Mary is the wife of Jacob Kisle; William, of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Elizabeth is the wife of George Pope; Gcorge resides at Columbus Grove; Clara is the wife of John Emmons; Maggie is the wife of Albert Cherry; Samuel is a resident of Lima, this state; and Louise is the wife of Edward Core. William Gettman was rearcd on the old home farm and received the advantages of the local schools. He has continued his active association with farm enterprise in Pleasant Township from his youth to the present time, and his energy and good management have gained to him substantial success. He has served as trustee of Pleasant Township, is a republican in political allegiance, and he and his wife hold membership in the United Brethren Church. ARCH F. UNCKRICH is the present county surveyor and county engineer of Crawford County. He received his technical education for civil engineering, and has been prominent in the profession. Mr. Unckrich represents an old and well known family of Galion, but was born at Kalamazoo, Michigan, November 8, 1889, son of F. and Minnie (Hasselbach) Unckrich. His mother was born in Germany and his father at Sandusky, Ohio. His father was a wheelwright by trade. His parents after their marriage in Ohio movcd to Michigan, later to Terre Haute, Indiana, and finally to Galion, Ohio, where F. Unckrich is president of a Steel Engraving Company. There are three children: Clarence, a graduate of the Rose Polytechnic Institute of Terre Haute, Indiana, a mechanical engineer and superintendent of his father 's factory ; Edna, a graduate of the Galion High School, now the wife of Dr. C. R. Noble, of Sandusky; and Arch F. Arch F. Unckrich was still a boy when the family moved to Galion, where he graduated from high school and took his civil engineering course and degree in the Ohio Northern University at Ada. After graduating he was assistant city engineer, with two years at Galion, and then entered the Government service and spent two years in the Philippines as a second lieutenant in the Philippine Constabulary. Mr. Unckrich was director of public service at Galion five years, and was then elected and in September, 1919, began his duties as county surveyor and engineer. While his offices are at the courthouse in Bucyrus, he still keeps his residence at Galion. Mr. Unckrich married Miss Ruth Mitchell, and they have one son, Ferdinand, born in 1916. They are members of the First Reformed Church. Mr. Unckrich is a democrat, is a member of Galion Lodge of Masons, is a thirty-second dcgree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and is a past exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. WILLIAM S. HANNA, a member of the Cleveland bar and president of the Reserve Mortgage & Investment Company of that city, lived in Holmes County before moving to Cleveland, and was at one time judge of the Common Pleas Court there. He has earned many distinctions in his profession and in business and public life. His grandfather, James Hanna, a native of Summerset County, Pennsylvania, represented the Scotch-Irish Hannas so prominent in the early history of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. The frontier Village of Hannastown in Pennsylvania, named for this family, was destroyed by hostile Indians during the Colonial period. From Pennsylvania several branches of the family moved to Eastern Ohio, settling in Columbiana County, including James Hanna, who located in that section of Ohio in 1819. The late Mark Hanna, of Cleveland, was descended from one of these pioneer Hannas in Columbiana County. The Hannas for the most part, until the last generation or two, were Quakers in religion. However, William S. Hanna is a native of Holmes County, born on a farm near Holmesville January 14, 1860. His father, Milton Hanna, was born in Columbiana County in 1824, and was about tcn years of age when his parents moved to Wayne County, Ohio, and two years later to Holmes County. James Hanna, father of Milton Hanna, was for many years postmaster of Holmesville; was a county commissioner and a splendid citizen at all times. Milton Hanna, though influential in the democratic party, never sought any public office, his life being lived as a simple and industrious farmer. He died in 1903. Milton Hanna married Elizabeth A. Stuffier, a native of Holmes County, daughter of John Stuffier, whose Holland Dutch ancestry came to America in Colonial times, settling near Philadelphia, later generations moving into Western Pennsylvania and thence into Ohio. They settled in and around Benton and in Holmes County. John Stuffier was an early day blacksmith in Holmes County, and had the distinction of opening the first coal mine in that county, mining coal to use in his blacksmith shop. Mrs. Milton Hanna died in 1895, mother of six children: William S.; John C., a practicing physician at Kenmore, Ohio; Andrew J., who occupies the old homestead in Holmes County; Charles N., who bccame a physician and died in 1918; Phoebe, who married John HISTORY OF OHIO - 457 Mitchell; Lucy, who became the wifc of Harvey Kauffman, of Wooster. Reared on his father 's farm in Holmes County, William S. Hanna was educated in district schools, the Millersburg Normal School, Mount Union College, and made use of his sound intelligence, enterprise and industry to fit himself for a career of usefulness and honor. He taught school several years, and at the same time studied law under the dircction of D. S. Uhl, a noted trial lawyer in Holmes .County. In 1884 he went out to Iowa and taught school in that state for a time. On his return to Holmes County he taught school, was county school examiner, and later county surveyor. He was also admitted to the bar and practiced law, and was clected and served two terms of three years each as prosecuting attorney of Holmes County. He was elected judge of the Common Pleas Court of the Third Subdivision of the Sixth Judicial District, comprising Holmes, Cochocton and Wayne counties, in 1912. Judge Hanna was on the bench a full term of six years. In 1919, soon after leaving the bench, he located in Cleveland and resumed the private practice of law, though most of his time has been given to business and finance. In 1920 he became president of the Reserve Mortgage & Investment Company, and is also president of the Knickerbocker Mortgage Company of Cleveland. His activity in politics has been in behalf of the democratic party, though his personal aspirations have been limited to public positions within the line of his profession. During the World war, under appointment from Governor Cox, he served as chairman of the Legal Advisory Board of Holmes County. Judge Hanna is known as an authority on local history, and has been a keen student of economic and social conditions, having been a contributor to the ncwspapers for many years. He wrote and published a number of historical sketches on Holmes County, some of the more prominent titles being "Early Civil Jurisprudence of Holmes County," "The Indian Boundary," "A History of the Newspapers of Holmes County," "The Indians of the Kilbuck" and "Colonel Crawford." In September, 1887, Judge Hanna married Miss Nevada B. Ewing, who was born at Holmesville, daughter of Thomas Ewing, who came to Ohio from Western Pennsylvania. The five children born to Judge and Mrs. Hanna were: Fern, Hazel, William E., Milton A. and Veda V. Veda died in 1920. Fern, a graduate of Bethany College in West Virginia, married Joseph M. Wells, assistant manager of the Homer Laughlin Pottery Company of Newell, West Virginia, and their children are Virginia R. and Joseph M. Jr. Hazel Hanna, also a graduate of Bethany M., was married to George S. Getz, a hardware merchant at Kent, Ohio, and has two children, William Hanna and Jean Getz. William E. Hanna graduated from Bethany College and studied law in the Ohio State University and the University of Michigan. He graduated from Western Reserve University Law School, and since his admission to the bar in 1923 has practiced in Cleveland with the firm of Johnson & Johnson. The other son of Judge Hanna, Milton A. Hanna, is a graduate of Bethany College and the Western Reserve Law School. ORIE T. DAVIS has not found it necessary or expedient to leave either his native county or the old home farm in order to find opportunity for productive achievement, and the farm which stages his successful operations as an agriculturist and stock-growcr is that on which he was born, in Van Buren Township, Putnam County, six miles east of Leipsic. Here his birth occurred April 14, 1872, and he is a son of N. D. and Emma E. (Van Gilder) Davis, both natives of the old Buckeye State. N. D. Davis was born in Blanchard Township, Hancock County, this state, October 5, 1845, and the year 1923 finds him still associated with farm industry in Putnam County, where he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Putnam County Fair Association and where he has done well his part in advancing farm standards. He is a republican in political allegiance, and is an active church member, as was also his wife, who died May 22, 1923. Of the four children three survive the loved mother, the eldest being Mrs. Cora A. Dukes, of Findlay, Ohio; Orie T., of this sketch, is the next younger ; and Dr. Merle C. is engaged in the practice of medicine in the City of Cleveland. Reared on the farm which is now his place of residence, Orie T. Davis early gained practical experience that has proved of distinct value in his later years of independent farm enterprise, his educational advantages in the meanwhile having been those of the public schools. His well improved farm of 160 acres is situated in section 36, Van Buren Township, and he is known as one of the progressive exponents of agricultural and live-stock industry in his native county. He is a stockholder in the farmers' cooperative grain elevator at Shaw-town, Hancock County, a place not far distant from his farm. He is loyally aligned in the local ranks of the republican party, and he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Protestant Church, in which he is serving as treasurer and as a teacher in the Sunday school. November 22, 1909, recorded the marriage of Mr. Davis. and Miss Blanche Niebel, who presides graciously over the social and domestic affairs of their attractive rural home. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have no children. CARL V. WEYGANDT. A significant tribute to the real and proved ability in the judicial election at Cleveland during the general election of 1924 was the majority of 11,500 given to the democratic candidate for judge of the Common Pleas Court of Cuyahoga County, Carl V. Weygandt. Judge Weygandt has been a practicing member of the Cleveland bar since 1918. He is the second Weygandt in Ohio to serve on the Common Pleas bench, his father having been formerly a judge of that court in Wayne County. Judge Weygandt was born on a farm in Baughman Township, Wayne County, June 14, 1888, descended alike from Colonial ancestors and early Ohio settlers. This family is of German-French origin of the Rhine Provinces, and during the World war furnished soldiers to both the German and French armies. General Weygandt was chief-of-staff to Marshal Foch. The American ancestors came over in Colonial days and settled in New York and Pennsylvania, and from that state later generations came to Ohio. The great-grandparents of this generation were William and Catherine (Frase) Weygandt, the grandparents being Jacob K. and Mary (Downer) Weygandt and the parents being Judge William E. and Cora (Mock) Weygandt, still living. Upon coming to Ohio the family settled in Baughman Township, Wayne County, in which section members of it have been successful farmers and honored citizens. His father, who was born in the old homestead in Wayne County, June 1, 1864, graduated from the Ohio Northern University with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1885, studied law at Wooster, was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1894, and for over thirty years has been a member of the Wooster bar. He was prosecuting attorney of Wayne County from 1898 to 1904, and his service as judge of the Common Pleas Court of Wayne County extended from 1909 458 - HISTORY OF OHIO to 1915. Since leaving the bench he has resumed a successful practice at Wooster. His wife, Cora Mock, was born in Baughman Township, Wayne County, August 6, 1865, daughter of Samuel and Lydia (Shisler) Mock. The three children of William E. Weygandt and wife are: Carl V., Ross S. and Ola. Carl Victor Weygandt, after graduating from the Wooster High School in 1906, taught in the elementary schools for two years and then took the regular course in the Wooster University, graduating Bachelor of Philosophy in 1912. From 1912 to 1915 he was an instructor in the Wooster High School and Wooster College and then entered the Western Reserve University Law School, graduating and taking his law degree in 1918, and being admitted to the bar in June of the same year. In Cleveland he was associated with the law firm of Thompson, Hine & Flory. In December, 1923, he became chief counsel for the Cleveland Automobile Club, but on April 5, 1924, Governor Donahey appointed him to fill a vacancy on the Common Pleas Court bench. Governor Donahey selected him from among the three Cleveland attorneys recommended for the vacancy by the Cleveland Bar Association. His standing as a lawyer and the service he rendered on the bench during 1924 fully earned the support manifested for his candidacy in the election in the fall of that year. In 1920 Judge Weygandt was elected on the democratic ticket a member of the Ohio General Assembly, and during the regular session of 1921-22 was a member of the house committees on judiciary, codes, cities, military affairs, elections, reorganization and taxation and also a member of the house special committee to investigate the State Highway Department. He introduced house bill No. 239 amending the Dower law of Ohio, so as to give in fee simple to a widow or widower one-third of the real estate which either the wife or husband who died possessed. In sipte of its sound, economic and moral principle this bill failed to pass in that session. He introduced house bill No. 393, amending that section of the general code relative to the power of judges of Common Pleas Courts, a measure enacted in the law. He gave particular attention and study to the bill providing a minimum wage for women. While a member of the very small minority of that session of the General Assembly Mr. Weygandt attracted attention among the members, irrespective of parties, as one of the able and hard working legislators, eloquent, fearless, always a hard but fair fighter, which qualities, together with his broad grasp of facts and principles, brought him the confidence and respect of the entire legislative body. During the World war Judge Weygandt served in every bond and Red Cross campaign and in all of the drives for the community funds. He is a member of the Cleveland, Ohio State and American Bar associations; a member of the Board of Trustees of the East End Chamber of Commerce; is on the Official Board of the First Glenville Methodist Episcopal Church; a member of the City Club, the Singers, the Cleveland Council of Sociology, the Delta Tau Delta and the Delta Theta Phi college fraternities, and Ebenezer Lodge No. 33 Free and Accepted Masons, the Council, Royal Arch Chapter, Knights Templal Commandery, Elkhorn Shrine and Lake Erie Consistory of the Scottish Rite Masons, and also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Judge Weygandt married, June 14, 1915, Miss Jessie May Silver, who was born at Wooster, Ohio, daughter of Jerome R. and Jennie (Cassidy) Silver. Their two sons are Richard S., born March 3, 1918, and Clark W., born March 6, 1923. ELMER L. PORTER. Except for the time he was overseas as a war worker Elmer L. Porter has devoted his life since boyhood to education. He has been a successful teacher and school administrator, and is now superintendent of the public schools of Ironton in Lawrence County. He was born at Mowrystown, in Highland County, Ohio, April 24, 1881, son of John William and Emily Louise (Druhot) Porter, both natives of Ohio and still living. The paternal grandparents were John and Susan Porter, the Porters being of New England stock. The maternal grandparents were Fred and Margaret Druhot. The Druhot name is of French ancestry. John W. Porter has spent his active career as a farmer, is a member of the Methodist Church and is a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner. In the family are four children, Lovie J., Elmer L., Flora Margaret (wife of Charles Ferguson) and Lola. Elmer L. Porter was reared at Mowrystown, attended public schools there, and did his preparatory work at Westerville, Ohio, and subsequently took the classical course at Otterbein College of Westerville, from which he was graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1907. In the meantime he had taught three years in district schools, and after graduating was principal of the high school at Pleasantville, Ohio, in 1907-08, and remained there as superintendent of schools in 1908-09. From 1909 to 1914 Mr. Porter was superintendent of schools at West Jefferson, and from 1914 to 1918 was city school superintendent at Upper Sandusky. During the World war he joined the War Council of the Young Men's Christian Association, and as one of the war secretaries went overseas with the Eighty-ninth Division. He was an athletic director, but most of his work was in the commissary. He was on the front line along the Meuse-Argonne sector from August 6 to September 12, 1918, and was then in the St. Mihiel sector until the armistice. As educational director of the Eighty-ninth Division he accompanied that force into Germany and returned with the division to America in June, 1919. He was one of the valuable men among the Y workers overseas, and his work was given generous recognition. The commanding officer of the Eighty-ninth Division paid him a special compliment in a letter. After returning home Mr. Porter resumed his educational work, and from 1919 to 1923 was superintendent of schools at Greenfield. On August 1, 1923, he took up his duties as school superintendent of Ironton. He is a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. June 25, 1908, at Mowrystown, Ohio, Mr. Porter married Miss Nora Ethel Wills. Her father, William Wills, was a Union soldier in the Civil war. Mrs. Porter represents an old American family of Revolutionary stock, and on the record of one of her ancestors is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her father was a farmer and a member of the United Brethren Church. Mrs. Porter graduated Bachelor of Arts from Otterbein College in 1906 and taught school. She is the youngest of three children, her sisters being Flora and Cora. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Porter are : Willard Wills and Letha Jean Porter. CHARLES I. WADDLE, who is giving specially loyal and effective service as a member of the Board of County Commissioners of Jefferson County, with official headquarters in the City of Steubenville, the county seat, and with residence at Brilliant, one of the progressive and attractive minor cities of the county, was born on the parental homestead farm in Wells Township, this county, and the date of his HISTORY OF OHIO - 459 nativity was March 5, 1861. He is the younger of the two children of Thomas and Elizabeth (Oliver) Waddle, and the elder son is Oliver M., who married Mattie Heinaman, their children having been four in number, namely: Olivc (wife of Rev. Mr. Dudy and the mother of two children) ; Ethel, who is a popular teacher in the public schools of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Edith, who likewise is a successful teacher; and Raymond, who is deceased. Thomas Waddle long held place as one of the successful farmers and substantial citizens of Jefferson County, and he and his wife were specially zealous members of the Christian Church, in which he served as an elder and a trustee. He was a son of Isaac and Elizabeth Waddle, and the original American representatives of the Waddle family came from Ireland. Mrs. Thomas Waddle was a daughter of Charles Oliver, and the family name of her mother was Flood, Four Oliver brothers came from Ireland to the United States, and one of the number settled in New York, another at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, while a third became the founder of the family in Jefferson County, Ohio. The sturdy discipline of the farm was a valuable part of the early experience of Charles I. Waddle, and after profiting by the advantages of the district schools he advanced his education by attending a normal school at Hopedale. As a young man he became associated with his only brother in the ownership and operation of the ferry across the Ohio River at Wellsburg, and they continued their alliance in this enterprise thirty-five years. Mr. Waddle has found many opportunities for manifesting constructive loyalty in connection with his native county, and is known as a liberal and progressive citizen. He gave about fifteen years of service as a member of the Municipal Council of his home Village of Brilliant, and was for many years a member of its Board of Education. He was one of the very first in Jefferson County to urge the construction of good roads, and has been a leader in this laudable movement, the subject of good roads being one to which he has given close study, the while his investigations have been broad and varied. In his service as county commissioner he has been a potent force in furthering this work and in advancing other improvements that make for the general prosperity and progress of his home county. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and he has given zealous and prolonged service as an elder of the Christian Church, of which his wife likewise is an earnest member. He is a member of the Steubenville Chamber of Commerce and the Steubenville Automobile Club, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In October, 1883, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Waddle and Miss Belle Wiggins, daughter of the late John and Isabel Wiggins, whose home was in Brooke County, West Virginia, where Mr. Wiggins was a prosperous farmer, both he and his wife having been active members of the Baptist Church. Of the Wiggins children, John is survived by one child; George is married and is the father of two children; Mary is the wife of Moses Patton, and they have three children; Belle is the wife of the subject of this sketch ; Jennie is the wife of William Miller, and they had two children; and two other daughters died young. Mr. and Mrs. Waddle have two children: George A., whose first, and deceased, wife bore the family name of Dunbar, is the father of two children by this marriage, and he and his present wife, whose family name was Rooks, have no children. Llda remains at the parental home, and, like her parents, is an active member of the Christian Church. MAJOR JOHN L. TATE, vice president and treasurer of the Defiance Dairy Products Company, was associated with large business affairs for many years, and held a number of important executive responsibilities. His death occurred on the 30th of January, 1924. Major Tate was a native of Defiance County, Ohio, born in Highland Township, October 27, 1861, son of John W. and Eliza (Stiles) Tate. His father was born at Natural Bridge, Virginia, in 1820, and his mother at Xenia, Ohio, in 1819. John W. Tate came to Ohio as a young man, and was married here and engaged in farming and the operation of a saw mill. He organized a company and took it to the front for service in the Union army, but the company was transferred to the command of a regular captain. He was a Presbyterian and his wife a Baptist, and in politics he was a republican. John L. Tate, only son of his parents, grew up on the home farm in Defiance County. He graduated from the Defiance High School in 1881, and soon after he established and operated the first telephone exchange in Defiance. Leaving that, he went with the United States Express Company at Chicago, was made cashier in the offices there and later promoted to general auditor of the company, and for twenty-two years had his business headquarters in New York City. When war came on he was made assistant general manager of the Eddystone Rifle Plant at Eddystone, Pennsylvania, and was also treasurer and director of the Eddystone Munition Company. These plants manufactured two million rifles within fifteen months time and twenty million shells. Mr. Tate was commissioned major with a view to putting him in charge of a tank factory, and he was started for France when the armistice was signed. Soon after the close of the war Major Tate returned to Defiance, Ohio, and for a time was general manager of the Defiance Machine Works. He resigned from this to organize the Defiance Dairy Products Company, with a capital of $300,000. This has been a very successful business from the start. Major Tate was also a director of the Defiance Box Company and the Defiance Motor Truck Company. He married Miss Helen Josephine Smith. They had four children: Lawrence, who graduated from the high school at Jersey City, New Jersey ; Charles E., who is a graduate of the Stephens Institute of Technology at Hoboken, New Jersey; Gertrude D. and Erma J., both high school graduates and now married. Major Tate was a member of the Baptist Church, as is also his family. He was affiliated with Manhattan Lodge of Masons No. 62, was a republican in politics, and was president of the City Council and acting mayor of Defiance. HORACE ENSIGN GROOM, M. D. In Akron medical circles Doctor Groom is known as an accomplished authority in a special field of practice, and his skill is being recognized over a rapidly broadening field in Ohio. He comes of a family of professional men and was born at Britt, Hancock County, Iowa, August 2, 1886. His grandfather moved out to Iowa in pioneer times from Ohio, and was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Dr. William Simpson Groom, father of the Akron physician, was born in Ohio, in 1860, and went to Iowa when a small boy. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa and of the Keokuk Medical College, and has practiced at Prairie City, Hartley, Britt and since 1913 at Conway, Iowa, where he has a general country practice. He is active in school matters and the Methodist Church. He married Harriet A. Doolittle. 460 - HISTORY OF OHIO Their son, Horace Ensign Groom, acquired his early education in the Britt High School, and in 1907 graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree from Morningside College at Sioux City, Iowa. During 1908 he taught in the Hawarden High School and in 1909 in the Lake Crystal High School, and in the latter year moved out to Kennewick, Washington, where for six years he was high school principal. After this successful experience as an educator he returned East and entering Rush Medical College at Chicago was graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1919. He had some unusual opportunities in his professional training being resident physician at the Presbyterian Hospital of Chicago and a student of the eminent specialist Dr. B. W. Sippy at. Chicago. While in medical college during 1918-19 he was also enrolled as a member of the Medical Reserve Officers' Corps. Doctor Groom came to Akron in 1919 as house physician of the People's Hospital, and since 1920 has engaged in private practice. He is a licentiate of the National Board of Medical Examiners. He specializes in gastro-enterology, being the only medical man in Akron to confine his attention to this specialty. He is a member of the medical staff of the People 's Hospital and of the Akron City Hospital. In 1924 he was commissioned a captain in the Ohio National Guard, medical department. Doctor Groom is a member of the Methodist Church, and belongs to the Summit County, Sixth District, Ohio State and American Medical Association. His hobby is a kennel for the breeding of police dogs. Doctor Groom married at Chicago, April 6, 1918, Miss Elsie Smith a native of Sioux City, Iowa. Her father, John Smith, was a furniture merchant at Sioux City and died in January, 1924, at the age of sixty-two. The two children of Doctor and Mrs. Groom are Horace Ensign Junior, and Betty Louise. JOHN H. FELTMAN is a native of Darke County, has lived there practically all his life, and those familiar with his successful business career admire him the more because of the early struggles and the remarkable degree of enterprise manifested in pushing himself along the road to success. Mr. Feltman, whose home is at Ansonia, was born in Mississinewa Township, Darke County, June 6, 1866. He was born at the death of his father, William Feltman. His father was born in Hamburg, Germany, and shortly after coming to America and settling in Darke County he entered the Union army as a Soldier in the Civil war, and died at Camp Chase, near Columbus, at the end of that struggle. His widow survived him only a short time, and John H. Feltman was thus left an orphan at the age of six months. He grew up in the home of Joseph Zerby, attended school at Beamsville, and had more or less regular duties in helping Mr. Zerby in the store, a training that gave him a fundamental knowledge of business. As a youth he drove a huckster wagon, bought poultry, later engaged in live stock buying, and after two years on a farm resumed the buying and shipping of live stock. His home has been at Ansonia since 1900. Mr. Feltman in 1901 built an elevator at St. Henry, Ohio, but sold it eight months later and then acquired a feed and elevator business at Ansonia. In 1908 he also established an implement business, and continued these varied lines until 1920, when he retired from the grain business. For a number of years in connection with his business affairs Mr. Feltman has shown his interest and ability in public life. He was a candidate for county commissioner and once defeated, but in 1922 was elected, serving on the board until 1926. He was township treasurer of Brown Township four years, for four years a member of the County Central Democratic Committee, and spent four years on the Ansonia Town Council. He is affiliated with the Lodge and Encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife are both Rebekahs. They are members of the Christian Church. He married, October 18, 1923, Miss Alera B. Rahn, a daughter of .George W. and Pauline (Bailey) Rahn. Mr. and Mrs. Feltman have three children. Lucille L., who graduated from the Ansonia High School in 1912, is the wife of Mr. E. F. Howard, of Ansonia. The son George R. is a graduate of the Ansonia High School and of the Ohio State University in 1921, is a druggist at Union City, Indiana, and by his marriage to Ruth Richeson has a daughter, Ada Bell Feltman. The youngest child is Charlcs E. Feltman, editor and part owner of the local paper, the Ansonian. WILLIAM ROY KELLER, M. D. As an incident to his busy career as a physician and surgeon Doctor Keller was a medical officer of the World war period. For nearly ten years he has practiced at Dover, and is one of the well known members of his profession in Tuscarawas County. A native of Pennsylvania, he was born at New Brighton, in Beaver County, October 22, 1887, son of John J. and Luella (Shaffer) Keller. In that locality he grew up, graduating from high school, and soon afterwards entered Hahnemann Medical College at Philadelphia. He was graduated in 1910, and for a year and a half remained in practice at Philadelphia. On coming West he was a professional man in the city of Janesville, Wisconsin, for several years, until August 1, 1916, when he located at Dover. Doctor Keller is a prominent representative of homeopathy, being secretary of the Ohio State Homeopathic Medical Society and president of the Northeastern Ohio Homeopathic Medical Society, while he is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy and the International Hahnemannian Association. As a volunteer in the Army Medical Corps, Doctor Keller was commissioned a first lieutenant, and was on active duty from August, 1918, to March, 1919, at first at the Medical Officers Training School at Camp Greenleaf, Georgia, and then in General Hospital No. 14 at Fort Oglethorpe, and finally in General Hospital No. 10 at Boston, where he was assistant chief of the medical staff. Doctor Keller is a charter member of the American Legion Post at Dover, and was honored with election as its first commander. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a member of the Kiwanis Club, the Moravian Church and is a republican in politics. Doctor Keller married, in 1910, Alice J. Hobaugh. They have one son, William R., Jr. HON. FRANKLIN P. RIEGLE. In the various activities that make up the daily life of Bowling Green few citizens are taking a more prominent part than Hon. Franklin P. Riegle. As a lawyer he has gained merited distinction in his profession, as president of the Commercial Bank he wields a healthy influence in financial circles, and as president of the local school board has promulgated and carried through a number of constructive movements. Mr. Riegle was born at Covert, Van Buren County, Michigan, May 14, 1870, and is a son of Jefferson and Sarah M. (Gilmer) Riegle, the former of Pennsylvania-Dutch origin and the latter of Scotch ancestry. On both sides of the family Mr. Riegle is descended from Revolutionary stock, there having been at Valley Forge a Gilmer, as there was also Solomon Riegel, the father of Philip, the latter the HISTORY OF OHIO - 461 father of Philip, and the last the father of Jefferson Riegle, who was born in Fairfield County, Ohio. Philip Riegle, the great-grandfather of Franklin P., came from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, to Ohio and settled at Ncw Riegle, Seneca County, the town being named in his honor. His son Philip was a shoemaker and farmer in Seneca County, where he was the owner of some valuable property. Jefferson Riegle, who was born in 1832, qualified as a sharpshooter during the Civil war, in which he fought as a member of the Twenty-first Ohio Infantry, being with Sherman throughout the struggle. At the time of the birth of his son he had mill interests in Michigan, which was then a temporary home for the family, and when Franklin P. was still an infant, moved to Hancock County, Ohio, and later to Wood County, where he lived in Jackson Township for a number of years, and for a time was a railroad contractor. Mr. Riegle was never in debt over night, making it a strict and unswerving policy never to purchase anything for which he did not have the cash money. He was a democrat in politics, but for ycars the male members of this family have been about evenly divided as to politics, thrce of Jefferson's brothers being democrats and four republicans. Philip, the grandfather, was a Whig, and one of his brothers, a democrat. In religion the Riegles are Presbyterians and the Gilmers, Methodists. The great-grandfather of Mrs. Sarah Riegle, William Gilmer, was a Revolutionary soldier, and she was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in 1834. Her death occurred in 1899 and that of her husband in 1902, both in Poinsett County, Arkansas, where Mr. Riegle was managing his extensive saw milling interests. Three sons and three daughters were born to this worthy couple, of whom the sons were: John Philip, now retired and living at Bowling Green; William J., deceased, who was a farmer ; and Franklin P. The daughters are all deceased. The education of Franklin P. Riegle, extending over a period of years, was acquired in the common schools, Findlay College, Ohio Northern University, and the Ohio State University, where he received his law regree in 1897. In the meantime, while gaining his education, he had been engaged in teaching. He was a precocious lad, and when only fourteen years had secured a teacher 's certificate, which, because of his extreme youth, was markcd void. He began teaching, however, when he was sixteen years old, and three years later was teaching mathematics at Findlay College. After practicing law at Bowling Green for two years Mr. Riegle was elected to the State Legislature in 1899 and reelected in 1901 and 1903. Feeling that training schools for teachers should be instituted, he was the author of the bill establishing and locating the five state normal colleges. When he retired from the Legislature he resumed his practice, with James L. Troup as partner, and this association continued until Mr. Troup's death in 1909, Mr. Riegle 's prcsent partncr being Mr. Avery, the prosecuting attorney. His son and son-in-law, now attending the State University, will be his partners in the future. Mr. Riegle has been prominent otherwise in public life. He has been a member for twenty years of the school board, of which he is now president. In 1916 he was defeated for Congress by twenty-one votes in the elections that carried President Wilson to a reelection because of his war policy. A stanch republican, Mr. Riegle has been a delegate to numerous conventions, and was a delegate to the National Republican Convention at Cleveland. In rcligion he is a Methodist, and during the twenty-five years that he has been superintendent of the Sunday Schools has never missed a Sunday's service. He may be said to have scveral hobbies, one bcing the national pastime of baseball. During his college career he played first base for the college team, and still is capable of putting up a good game. Another one of his favorite occupations is farming, and at present he is the owner of much desirable acreage in Wood and joining counties, where he makes a specialty of breeding registered hogs and cattle, while his sheep carried away the blue ribbon at Chicago and St. Louis and a gold medal at Paris. Prior tc the advent of the automobile Mr. Riegle raised man) draft horses. He has been identified with banking for a quarter of a century, and is vice president of the Pemberville Bank, as well as president of the Board of Directors thereof ; attorney for the Hoyts ville Bank and a director and attorney for the Uni versal Machine Company and the Dye and Tool Com pang. Mr. Riegle married Miss Maggie Dunn, a member of a family of educators and the daughter of a teacher and farmer of Jackson Township, Wood County. She was educated at the Ohio Northern University, and was a teacher in several of the schools of which Mr Riegle was superintendent. Five children were borr to this union: Vivian, a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan now doing research work at the Ohio State University Marguerite, the wife of George A. Chaney, a lay student at the university, where he is doing specia work; Horace Dunn, a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan and a law student at the State University; Florence who is attending Ohio Wesleyan; and Robert Gilmer a senior at the local high school. G. A. Chaney am Horace D. Riegle attended the Student Army Train ing Camp at Ohio Wesleyan, where they received com missions. While Mr. Riegle has numerous interests to attract and hold his attention, he is fond of the companionship of his fellows, and is interested in fraternal matters He has filled the chairs in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belongs to the Knights of Pythias ant is a life member of the Elks, in addition to which he holds membership in the Commercial and Kiwanis clubs. He is vice president of Group 3, Ohio Bankers’ Association. HON. JOHN J. LENTZ is one of Ohio's native sons. He was born in Belmont County, January 27, 1856. His parents were Simon and Anna (Myer) Lentz, and early in life he acquired a working acquaintance with the thin soil of a hilly country. His maternal grandfather was a soldier under Napoleon in the Russian expedition of 1812. He attended the district school in winter and worked on the farm in summer, and later walked ten miles daily to attend the St. Clairsville High School. At the age of seventeen, before completing his high school course, he accepted an opportunity to teach a district school at $30 a month—a very good salary in those days. In this day and age it is difficult to understand how any man could save money out of a salary of $30 a month, but Mr. Lentz did it. For three years the little red schoolhouse held him in its grip, two in Belmont County and one at Sligo in Clinton County. With a thirst for greater knowledge he betook himself to the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, where he received a diploma in 1877. In the autumn of the same year he became superintendent of the grade schools at Maineville, Ohio. We hear of him next at Wooster, Ohio, attending Wooster University. He was there just one year, but that was long enough for him to capture a prize in an oratorical contest and rank first in mathematics. After one year at Wooster he transferred to the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, from which he graduated in 1882 with the Bachelor of Arts degree. He next attended the Law School of Columbia University in New York, and completed the two-year course in a 462 - HISTORY OF OHIO single year, graduating in 1883 with the Bachelor of Laws degree. Mr. Lentz was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1883, and immediately began the practice of law at Columbus, Ohio. In April, 1887, Judge George K. Nash, who had just retired from the Supreme Court of Ohio, proposed a law partnership of Nash and Lentz. This partnership was formed immediately and continued until Judge Nash's death on October 28, 1904. During the life of this partnership Judge Nash servcd four years as Governor of the State of Ohio and Mr. Lentz four years in Congress, although they had agreed to stay out of politics. In 1907 the law firm of Lentz and Karns was formed, which continued until Mr. Lentz as national president of the American Insurance Union and Judge John D. Karns as its national counselor found it necessary to devote their entire time to the American Insurance Union. Early in his career Mr. Lentz dcveloped an interest in public affairs. For five years he was a member of the Board of Examiners of Teachers in the Columbus public schools. In 1896 he became the democratic nominee for Congrcss in the Capital District of Ohio, this being the famous McKinley-Bryan Campaign. One of the most exciting contests in Ohio that year was waged in the Twelfth Congressional District. Mr. Lentz was then in the early prime of his life, a giant both physically and mentally, and in every public address he left a profound impression. He was fortunate in persuading his republican opponent to enter a joint debate, and in this way had an opportunity to present his side, with the result that he won by the narrow margin of 47 votes out of 49,000 votes in a district which Mr. Bryan lost by nearly three hundred. In 1898 he was renominated and reelected. He served two terms in Congress, the Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth, from 1897 to 1901. For both terms he was appointed by Speaker Thomas B. Reed a member of the committee on military affairs, which rose to the rank of major importance by reason of the Spanish-American war in 1898. While in Congress he introduced the resolution demanding a Congressional investigation of the martial law and Idaho 'Bull Pen" outrages, incidents of the well remembered labor war in the Coeur d'Alene District, and was the most active member of the committee that made the investigation resulting in the withdrawal of Federal troops from that state. During the Spanish-American war he took a stand against the canteen in the army posts, and in that way provoked the liquor interests against him. The abolition of the army canteen as advocated by Mr. Lentz was the first step which led eventually to national prohibition. This was the main cause of his defeat, by the 546 saloons in his district, in the election of 1900 by 18 votes out of 54,000 votes cast in his district which went 749 republican for the head of the ticket. At that time he became thoroughly convinced that the American saloon had grown to be a controlling factor in politics and a real menace to the American pcople, and from that time forward he joined the anti-saloon forces and gavc that cause a month of his time each year without pay, and was in the midst of the fray in every wet and dry fight waged in Ohio and the nation until the death knell of the liquor interests was sounded by law. His defeat for Congress by the liquor interests focussed his attention upon the evil political methods of that organization. The methods used bordered upon the criminal. We give in Mr. Lentz's own words a statement of how those methods were brought into play: "In 1912 the liquor league, who then owned a majority of the legislators, offered me the senator- ship on condition that I would agree to stand for a licensed saloon and against woman suffrage; they also offered to pay me $10,000 and expenses for ten addresses in different parts of the country, or $1,000 each for those ten and $1,000 each for any additional addresses which I might make. They required that, if elected, I should vote throughout my term in favor of a licensed saloon and against woman suffrage, although upon all other questions I was privileged to vote as I deemed best. But I told them I would rather be out of the Senate and have the saloon out of Ohio than to be in the Senate and havc the saloon in Ohio; that I would rather be out of the Senate and have my mother given the right to vote than to be in the Senate and have my mother denied the right to vote." Here we have a peep behind the scenes of the political stage that is most enlightening. We have, also, absolute proof that Eugene V. Debs, the notcd socialist, three times candidate for the presidency of the United States, and famous political prisoner of the World war, was right when he exclaimed dramatically in 1923 that "John Lentz was too honest to succeed in politics." While in Congress, with voice and vote, he helped to incorporate into our Federal code of laws the postal savings, the parcel post, and the one-cent pound rate for newspapers and magazines. He advocated the income tax amendment and the election of senators by direct vote of the people amendment and years before the woman suffrage movement was popular he was an ardent worker for that cause. Let us now go back and follow another trail that has been made by Mr. Lentz. In an obscure corner of the Fraternal Monitor of December, 1894, may be found a very brief news item stating that the American Insurance Union had recently been organized at Columbus, Ohio, and that it would furnish life, health and accident insurance under the fraternal laws of that state. This little news item, in itself, gave no indication of being of any special significance. Nevertheless, it recorded one of the greatest events of the history of fraternal insurance societies. The new society thus simply and briefly introduced to the fraternal world was intimately connected with the central figure of this biography, who was its founder. At the time the American Insurance Union was launched Mr. Lentz was a mcmber of the busiest and most prominent law firm in the Buckeye capital. As far back as 1890 he had been laying plans to organize a stock life insurance company which should operate upon the step-rate plan. He desired, above all, to get a plan that would furnish life insurance at the lowest possible cost consistent with safety. Then, just as now, his heart was set upon assisting his fellow-man. He saw the great need of the poor wage earner for ample protection at the lowest possible cost, for his dependents in case of death. Mr. Lentz said: "What God charges for life insurance costs but little ; what man charges makes it so expensive as to place it beyond the reach of those who need it most., His modified step-rate plan has remained the cornerstone of the American Insurance Union, which was organized at Columbus in 1894, and which has now completed thirty years of growth and prosperity. Another provision which Mr. Lentz insisted upon in the new society was that protection should be furnished for every member of the family, regardless of sex or age. He said: "Let us reduce the number of homeless and helpless by making known to our friends and neighbors the financial, moral and social advantages of membership in the American Insurance Union." The history of the American Insurance Union has demonstrated the foresight and wisdom of Mr. Lentz HISTORY OF OHIO - 463 in founding the pioneer step-rate whole family insurance society. From the beginning in 1894 Mr. Lentz has remained continuously its executive head and leader. The founding and building of the American Insurance Union is the crowning achievement in the career of one of Ohio 's eminent sons. His technical genius in perfecting a unique plan of fraternal insurance, and the qualities of personal character which he has applied to all the problems and responsibilities of his very purposeful and busy life, have well. justified his friend, the Hon. James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor, in calling him "America's Greatest Fraternalist." At the 1919 session of the National Congress of the American Insurance Union it celebrated its silver jubilee. This celebration was conducted upon a truly magnificent scale. A great silver loving cup was presented to Mr. Lentz, and upon this cup were engraved the following words: "John J. Lentz, President and Founder, American Insurance Union, Silver Jubilee, September 21, 1919. Presented by his fellow-workers." The National Congress of the society in 1919 and 1921 showed beyond question the gratitude existing in the hearts of his fellow-workers by creating for him the office of president emeritus for the term of his natural life when he decides to retire from the active presidency. At his death the office is to become automatically abolished. As president emeritus he will continue as an advisory member of the National Board of Directors, the National Cabinet and the National Congress, and continue to draw the same salary he does when he resigns the active presidency. Standing at the beginning of 1925 we do not know, we cannot see, what great work is still to be performed by John J. Lentz. We only know that his apparently limitless energy, his indomitable power of will, his wide vision and keen foresight will always continue in behalf of the welfare of humanity. As to the American Insurance Union which he founded and has led to its present high achievements, no one can foretell the greatness of its future. We do know that it has grown from one small room in the old Columbus Board of Trade Building until now it demands a building larger than any in the City of Columbus, and as fine as any in America, covering the square bounded by Broad, Front, Lynn and Wall streets, overlooking the Civic Center and fronting on the Old National Road, the greatest thoroughfare of America, it is rising to a height of thirty stories, symbolizing the first thirty years' progress of this society. In an ordinary biography it would seem now that the climax had been reached and that nothing remained except the writing of a few closing sentences, but not so in the biography of this extraordinary character. Briefly let us follow still another line of fraternal activity in which Mr. Lentz has engaged very prominently and effectively. For many years he has been a staunch supporter and one of the right hand men of Hon. James J. Davis in building up the Loyal Order of Moose. The word "Mooseheart" is the child of Mr. Lentz's brain. Mooseheart is especially designed to represent the united and collective heart of all the members of the Loyal Order of Moose. With that basic idea in mind Mr. Lentz coined the name that now represents one of the most unique and remarkable institutions, and which Albert Bushnell Hart of Harvard calls the greatest of its kind in the world. Hon. James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor, had taken charge of the Moose in 1906 when it was a decrepit, broken-down organization with a small membership. Under his leadership the order took a new lease on life and grew by leaps and bounds until today it has over 600,000 members. At the 1910 Baltimore Convention of the Moose Mr. Lentz introduced the first resolution and made the first speech in favor of founding this vocational and academic home for the care, training and education of the dependent boys and girls of deceased members. The general plan of Mooseheart is to provide a home for 5,000 children on 5,000 acres of ground. An acre of ground to each child is the basis of computation. The institution now has more than 1,023 acres and furnishes a home for over 1,200 children. It is located about thirty-five miles due west of Chicago. A high school education and a trade are given to each boy and girl. Mooseheart is not an orphanage. It is " The School That Trains for Life." From the beginning Mr. Lentz has been a member of the Board of Governors. He has been instrumental in getting some of America 's ablest welfare workers upon that board. He is a militant crusader in behalf of the children of America and of the world. Had Mr. Lentz never done another thing in all his life the world should shower him with blessings because of his share in the founding of Moose-heart. Another worthy enterprise of the Loyal Order of Moose in which Mr. Lentz has played a conspicuous part is the founding of Moosehaven, a home in the State of Florida for aged members of the order. To fully realize the very important part Mr. Lentz has taken in the great and noble work of the Loyal Order of Moose one must bear in mind the striking remark of Arthur H. Jones, Supreme Dictator of the order, who said: "Mr. Lentz raised our ideals from a ten-acre academy to a thousand-acre university." In January, February, March, April and May, 1918, as president of the American Insurance Union and as a member of the Moose War Relief Commission, Mr. Lentz visited the American, British, French and Italian war fronts from Ypres to Venice of the great World war. On more than one occasion he was under fire on an active front, and several times his own party drew the fire of the enemy. On April 7, 1918, the first anniversary of America's entrance into the World war, at the invitation of the Italian government he delivered a masterly and ennobling address upon the subject: " A Free Man in a Free Nation in a Free World." This address was delivered in the old Roman Coliseum. After his return from abroad Mr. Lentz delivered this famous address at the request of the United States Government before many civic, religious, fraternal and commercial organizations. Mr. Lentz has been an advocate of many reforms both in and out of Congress, and an advanced thinker on many issues that have come before the American public. He advocated the principle of an income tax long before the income tax amendment to the Federal Constitution was adopted. He cooperated in promoting and incorporating the Boy Scout movement. In short, he is now, has been and always will be a leader of men and a staunch supporter of every progressive movement that promises health, happiness and equality for all the people of his country. He has always championed the cause of the intermediate classes, and because of this stand he is always found stemming the stream instead of floating with the current. In recent years he has given the full influence of his personal prestige to the movement to abolish child labor. Under Mr. Lentz's leadership the American Insurance Union sent to Washington the largest single petition in favor of the Child Labor Amendment to the Constitution. He believes and advocates that every boy and every girl should have a high school education and a trade, and that they should be fully grown men and women mentally as well as 464 - HISTORY OF OHIO physically before they are permitted to enter into the struggles and trials of competition in the many lines of human endeavor. Mr. Lentz asserts that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people needs an educated electorate. Mr. Lentz was elected honorary vice president from Ohio by the delegation to the Democratic National Convention at Denver in 1908, and was chosen to second the nomination of both Bryan and Kern. He served as president of "Fraternal Day " at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. Some years ago Mr. Lentz delivered an address before the Roycrofters at East Aurora. His subject was " Thomas Jefferson, the Radical." Elbert Hubbard thought so highly of it that he published it in book form. This striking approval determined the rank and character of that address beyond doubt. It was another masterpiece. Mr. Lentz was invited to deliver this address at William and Mary College at Williamsburg, Virginia, on the 13th of April, 1924. It was a fitting celebration of the birthday anniversary of Jefferson, who was a graduate of this old seat of learning. Another of Mr. Lentz 's masterpieces is his address, "Babies and Their Vested Rights." It has been published in many journals and delivered upon many occasions. Well may he be called a national orator. In November and December, 1924, Mr. Lentz, upon invitation of Hon. James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor under Presidents Harding and Coolidge, accompanied the secretary and his party on an immigration commission through several countries of South America. The problem of immigration is a gigantic one with the United States at this time, and Secretary Davis no doubt chose Mr. Lentz as being one of the most capable men in the nation who could assist him on this very important commission. Mr. Lentz resides at 1114 East Broad Street. Columbus, Ohio. He has one son, John J. Lentz, Jr. His home is one of the large, handsome residences on Broad Street, the most beautiful residence street of Columbus. A most notable feature of his home is his private library, which contains many thousands of volumes and is frequently spoken of as the finest private library in the state, from the study of which through all the years since he began his law practice Mr. Lentz has enriched that exceptional range of practical contact with men and affairs. His home stands just three doors west of the governor's mansion. Mr. Lentz is a great orator. He says great and original things in a great way, and by many is considered the equal to and by some the superior of any speaker in America. Among the well known epigrams coined by Mr. Lentz, we insert as examples the following: "God help the children of the rich; the poor can work." "Envy is a sure sign of inferiority, envy is a disease which neither the physician's medicine nor the surgeon's knife can cure; envy rots the heart and brain of all who are guilty of it ; envy finds fault but never praises; envy tears down but never builds ; envy is never happy except in making others unhappy, and you may envy everybody until nobody envies you." " The best way to live is to help others to live." "An honest man is the noblest work of God and an honest government is the noblest work of man." "We are not here alone to make a living but to make a life worth living." "The mean habit of saying mean things about othcrs is a sure sign of a mean mind and a mean heart; the good habit of saying good things about others is a sure sign of a good mind and a good heart." "It is more important to know how to hold your tongue than it is to know how to hold your knife and fork. Be very sure you know both." "A statesman is a man who lies awake nights thinking and planning how he may do something for everybody. A politician is a man who lies awake nights thinking and planning how he may do everybody for something." " There is no worse fault than the fault of fault finding, and the finest of the fine arts is the fine art of being agreeable." "I pledge myself not to vote for nor promote any principle or public policy unless it is calculated to improve the character, the habits and the practices of the entire citizenship of the United States." Mr. Lentz has a very simple religion. He says that all of the religions of the world, and the ten commandments of all the religions of the world, may be summarized in the following eight words: "He Loves God Most Who Serves Man Best." This life motto has been quoted hundreds of times by speakers and writers, and was adopted in 1923 by the Texas Fraternal Congress as its permanent motto. General Nelson A. Miles, promoted from the ranks to a Major General by Abraham Lincoln, spoke in Chicago in 1925 upon the anniversary of Lincoln's birthday, and in a conversation with Judge Karns upon that occasion, he said of Mr. Lentz : "He is one of the ablest men in the country ; he has more backbone than any forty men in Congress today, and I wish that he were there now." The final estimate of Mr. Lentz 's life work will not be written for many, many years. He is as vigorous physically and mentally as any of his associates twenty years younger, and every day sees him at his desk planning, pushing and operating the interests of the American Insurance Union. "I feel I ought to live to be a hundred," he says. In closing we select from the scores of tributes paid Mr. Lentz by his many friends and admirers, one from the pen of Willard J. Hull of Connecticut, saying "My estimate of Mr. Lentz 's work in the American Insurance Union and the Loyal Order of Moose, ranks it with the very highest service a man can render his fellowmen. It places him high on the calendar of those who do the Master 's will and demonstrates that he has lived up to his life motto : " 'He Loves God Most Who Serves Man Best., "