HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2225 of strict integrity and determined perseverance, and when twenty-two years of age established a home of his own by marriage. He followed farming for a short time thereafter, but was destined to be interrupted in his career by the outbreak of the Civil war, which called for the services of the able bodied young men of the country, and Mr. Shafer answered the call. On January 13, 1862, he was enrolled as a private of Company E, Twenty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and from the time he went to the front under Col. W. S. Rosecrans until the close of his service saw some of the hottest fighting of the great struggle between the forces of the North and South and participated in some thrilling experiences. Mr. Shafer's lieutenant-colonel was Stanley Mathews; his major, Rutherford B. Hayes, who Was later to become president of the United States, and among his comrades-at-arms was Private McKinley, who was also to fill the chief executive's chair and to fall at the hand of an assassin, although passing safely through one of the greatest wars of all times. Private McKinley rose to the rank of major, while Major Hayes was advanced to the rank of general. George Shafer took part in every battle in which his regiment participated, some twenty in all, among them being included the bloody and important fights at South Mountain, Antietam, Buffalo Gap, Lynchburg and Winchester, the last-named under the intrepid Gen. Phil Sheridan. There he was severely wounded, a Confederate bullet raking the top of his head from front to back, and although the physician later said that it was the narrowest escape from death that he had ever seen, Mr. Shafer did not allow the wound to stop him, but with a gaping hole in his head finished the fight with his comrades. After an eminently brave and faithful service he was mustered out of the service at Cumberland, Maryland, July 26, 1865, and was honorably discharged August 2, 1865, at Cleveland, Ohio. On the following day he joined his wife in Wood County, where he has made his home, with the exception of fourteen years spent in Henry County. Mr. Shafer followed farming for a number of years in Wood County, but about 1890 went to Henry County, where he owned a good property in Damascus Township. In February, 1904, he disposed of his holdings and came to Weston, where he is now the owner of an attractive and comfortable home of seven rooms, located on Main Street. Mr. Shafer was married in 1860, in Mahoning County, to Mary J. Stacy, who was born in that county in 1841, a daughter of William and Margaret Stacy, who came to Center Township, Wood -County, in 1863, and here passed their lives in agricultural pursuits, dying when well on in years. Mrs. Shafer died at her home at Weston, January 21, 1905, the mother of these children : John, who died when a small child; Ellsworth, who is engaged in farming in the vicinity of Weston, married Mary Baird, and has no children of his own, but is rearing a niece; William H., who died as a lad of about six years ; Harry T., proprietor of a grocery at Weston, married Sadie France and has three children, Frances, Helen and Donald ; and Lillia M., who died as the wife of James Beaverson, a farmer of Wood County, and left four sons and two daughters, and one son died after her demise. Mr. Shafer is a republican and has taken some part in local governmental affairs, having served as a member of the Weston City Council for eight years. He is a genial and sympathetic man, and the grind of labor has not hardened him or rendered him less the friend of youth and happiness. As a fraternalist he belongs to Milton Lodge No. 598, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. JOHN EDWARD BICKNELL has been a factor in commercial affairs at Findlay for the past quarter of a century. He is connected with several of the large industries that have given this city a place of prominence in the industrial world, and is also president of the American National Bank. Born at Morrisville, New York, September 10, 1863, a son of J. Bennett and Hannah W. Bicknell, he started life with only such equipment as the average American youth has and has relied upon his Own spirit and industry to win himself a place in the world. He attended country schools and also the Central High School at Cleveland. His first employment was one year spent in handling a pulp machine with the Cleveland Paper Company. For the next five years he was a timekeeper with the Merriam and Morgan Parafine Company. He became superintendent of the refinery and in 1885 went to Oil City, Pennsylvania, as superintendent of the Keystone Oil Company, building a refinery for that firm. In 1889, returning to Cleveland, he took an active part in the business of the Hughes Steam Pump Company, but sold his interests in 1890. Since that year his home has been in Find- 2226 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO lay. For eight years Mr. Bicknell was superintendent of the Peerless Refining Company. He also became an oil producer and devoted a number of years to that industry until 1911, and still has interests in a number of wells. In 1910 he bought and reorganized the Findlay Electric Porcelain Company of Findlay, and is now president of what is one of the foremost manufacturing concerns of the kind in Ohio. Through that and other financial interests he touches the commercial life of Hancock County at many points. Mr. Bicknell was elected president of .the American National Bank of Findlay in 1915. He is a member of the Findlay Country Club, of the Masonic Order and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He married Miss Ida Grove, and they have one daughter, Helen G. DANIEL DILDINE, JR., for three-quarters of a century among the most widely known men of Tiffin and Seneca County, was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, on a farm, on November 12, 1808. In that county he received his early education and in 1824, with his parents, moved to Seneca County, his father, Daniel Dildine, Sr., having purchased a tract of land near to Tiffin from the. United States Government. This land is now a part of Greenlawn Cemetery, the principal burial grounds of Tiffin’s dead. As a young man the son, Daniel Dildine, Jr., engaged in teaching school, being among the first school teachers in the county. Later he took employment as a clerk in a Tiffin store and followed this occupation for some years when, with Benjamin Stevens, he started a foundry for the making of castings, the first foundry in Tiffin. Retiring from this industry in a. few years, he again entered the mercantile business as a clerk, which employment he followed during the decade of the ,50s. In the latter ,30s he was deputy county recorder and in the ,60s and early ,70s deputy county treasurer and . deputy county clerk. At different times he served as clerk, treasurer and assessor of Clinton Township, in which the City of Tiffin is located. In 1872 he was elected justice of the peace for Clinton Township and for twenty years, by successive elections, held this office. When he retired one of the local newspapers, writing of the fact, said of him : "He was one of the most efficient and trustworthy officials Clinton Township and Seneca County ever had." Mr. Dildine was married on October 8, 1843, to Miss Laura M. Perkins, whose death occurred in March of 1875. Three children were born to them : Dallas P., Isa B., and Frank. The second, Isa B., now dead, was the wife of Josiah B. Frost, for years a leading clothing merchant in Tiffin. Dallas P. is vice president of the Commercial Savings Bank and Trust Company of Toledo, and Frank is one of the editorial staff of the Tiffin Daily Tribune at Tiffin, Ohio. The death of Mr. Dildine occurred on June 9, 1399, at Tiffin, at the advanced age of ninety-one years, the exact age, within a few months, reached by his father, Daniel Dildine, Sr. HON. CHARLES M. DAVIS. On the list of agriculturists who in Northwest Ohio are rendering public spirited service to their communities is found the name of Hon. Charles M. Davis. A skilled and successful farmer, who has won success through capable management of his affairs, he is now acting in the capacity of mayor of the thriving little city of Weston, which is the home of some substantial business and financial institutions and the center of a rich farming community. Like many of the men who have won success in this part of Ohio, Mr. Davis is a native of Illinois, having been born on a farm in Stanton Township, Champaign County, Illinois, November 9, 1871,. a son of Thomas and Susan J. (Harper) Davis. Thomas Davis was born in Logan County, Ohio, in 1844, and was a young man when he .went to Illinois, first settling in Champaign County, where he met and married Miss Harper, who was a few years his junior and had been born in Fayette County, Ohio. At the time of their marriage they had nothing to start upon except their youth, industry and ambition, but with these they cheerfully faced the world and after years of hard and constant effort succeeded in the accumulation of a property of 160 acres in Stanton Township, Champaign County, where they made many improvements and rounded out their lives, the father dying in 1905, at the age of sixty-one years. He was one of the highly respected residents of his community and a man of fine moral character, a pioneer in the prohibition movement and a leader in that part in his locality, and a man whose hon- orable conduct .at all times and in all directions won and held for him the confidence of his associates and those with whom he came into contact. Mrs. Davis, who survives her husband. is hale and hearty despite her HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2227 seventy years, active in body and alert in mind, and resides at the home of her daughter, Mrs. William Duncan, of Moline, Illinois, whose husband is a, draughtsman in the John Deere Plow Company,s works at that place. Mrs. Davis was formerly a member of the United Brethren Church but is now affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal. A brother of Mayor Davis, Thomas H. Davis, lives at Milton, Wood County, Ohio, where he has a farm, is married and has two children, Georgia and Richard. A sister, Frances, is the wife of John Stephens, a farmer near Boone, Iowa, and has two children, Edith and Mollie. The public schools of his native township furnished Charles M. Davis with his educational advantages, and his early training was secured upon the farm of his father, where he was taught to do the tasks of the agriculturist in a practical way. From Champaign County, Illinois, he went to Shelby County in the same state, there carried on farming for four years, and then went to the vicinity of Frankfort in Clinton County, Indiana, which community he made his home until 1911. In that year he came to Wood County and purchased 240 acres of farming land, which he has since brought to a high state of cultivation, and on which he now raises all the standard crops in abundance. Mr. Davis is one who uses modern methods in his work, but who is practical enough to differentiate the really useful from what is merely showy. He has the best of improvements of all kinds, with a dine set of buildings. In 1914 he completed the erection of a beautiful nine-room and basement home, with velvet brick finish, located on Taylor Street, and here he has since resided amid all the latest modern conveniences and comforts. Mayor Davis was married in his native township to Josephine Thompkins, who was born there, a daughter of Leander and Julia (Treese) Thompkins, natives of Hamilton County, Ohio. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Thompkins went to Stanton Township, Champaign County, and there secured and improved land in the best section of the county, where they passed the rest of their lives, the father dying when seventy years of age and the mother when sixty-two. They were devout members of the United Brethren Church. Mayor and Mrs. Davis are the parents of four children : Charles Gleason, a graduate of Weston High School, class of 1915, and now assisting his father in the management of the home farm ; Clara Marie, who is fourteen years old and a student in the Weston High School ; Julia B., aged twelve, attending the graded schools ; and Charles M., Jr. Mayor and Mrs. Davis and their children are all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has for a number of years been interested in public matters, and has been an ardent supporter of prohibition. It was on the citizens ticket that he was elected mayor of Weston in 1915, and during his administration has shown himself capable, energetic, progressive and conscientious in the discharge of his official duties, upholding law and order and giving his best support to all that has promised to benefit the community. A man of. charitable impulses, he has always given liberally to those who needed assistance, and all in all is a man highly esteemed by those who have the honor of his acquaintance. JAMES A. SMITH is one of the young and active business men of Upper Sandusky, and early in life identified himself with a trade which has brought him increasing experience in the enlarging field of industry opened up by the use of the automobile. Mr. Smith is .now proprietor of the Reliable Automobile Accessory Store at Upper Sandusky. He was born at Dayton, Ohio, in 1883, a son of W. J. and Mary (Agen) Smith. He is of English ancestry. His grandfather, Abner Smith, better known as "Yankee" Smith, drove a wagon and team from Pennsylvania to Western Ohio, settled on a farm, cleared it up by his own labor, and reared a family there. He was born in 1806 and died in 1891, at the age of eighty-five. When James A. Smith was an infant his parents removed from Dayton to Marion, Ohio, and two years later located in Upper Sandusky when James was three years old. W. J. Smith followed mechanical trades all his active career. James A. Smith acquired a common school education and at the age of eighteen started to learn the carriage trimming trade with the Central Ohio Buggy' Company. He was with them through his apprenticeship of four years and then went to Toledo and was employed in the Pope-Toledo works as an automobile trimmer for one year. His next connection was with, the Cleveland Automobile Company of Cleveland, and after that he went about the country in different localities' following his trade, and again for four years was employed by different companies in Cleveland. He then went back to Toledo and for two 2228 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO years was with the Overland Automobile Company. In 1915 Mr. Smith returning .to Upper Sandusky, established his accessory store, and has built up a business by no means confined to the town, but extending all over the surrounding country. Mr. Smith, who is unmarried, is a republican in politics, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Improved Order of Red Men, and is a member of the English Lutheran Church. What success he has attained is the result of his unaided efforts, and his future now stretches before him clear and much is to be expected of his energies and abilities. WILLIAM J. DUPONT has the ability of the real salesman and has a record that puts him among the forefront of the selling agents of the Overland cars. He now has the Wyandot Overland Company Agency at Upper Sandusky. Mr. DuPont was born on a farm near East Toledo, Ohio, August 10, 1884, a son of Louis and Adeline (DuVal) DuPont, of French ancestry. His paternal grandfather, James DuPont, was a native of Belfort, France, and came to America just before the Civil war, locating near East Toledo, where by his own labors he cleared up a farm of fifty acres and lived there in contentment and prosperity until his death at the age of ninety-two. William J. DuPont grew up on a farm, had a country school training, and also the advantages of the public schools in East Toledo and the Tri-State Business College. He entered business life as a bookkeeper, and for upwards of two years was connected with the Pope-Toledo Automobile Company. After several years of office experience he returned to the home farm and conducted it four years, until failing health obliged him to give up the vocation of an agriculturist. His next resource was as a salesman for the Overland automobile. He was located at East Toledo until 1916, when his record as a salesman caused the company to give him the distributing agency for Wyandot County. He now has 'supervision of the various sub-agencies in the county and his large and completely equipped garage, stock and salesrooms are on North Sandusky street. In 1906 Mr. DuPont married Jennie Alice Newhart, daughter of W. D. and Rosemary (Sexhour) Newhart of Toledo. They have four children : Ruth Adeline. born in 1907 ; Robert Louis, born in 1909 ; William James, Jr., born in 1913; and Alice Jean, born in 1917. Mr. DuPont is one of the live members of the Upper Sandusky Chamber of Commerce. He is an independent democrat in politics and with his family worships in St. Peter,s Catholic Church. ALBERT H. KEMERLEY. Among the most substantial business interests of Carey, Ohio, are its financial institutions, some of these having been in existence for long periods and have never been in better condition than at present. Particular reference is made to the Peoples Bank, an especially well financed and officered institution, which enjoys the confidence and patronage of careful investors all over Wyandot County. Albert H. Kemerley is cashier of this bank and has been identified continuously with the Peoples Banking Company for more than a quarter of a century. Albert H. Kemerley was born on his father,s farm in Wyandot County, Ohio, March 19, 1860, and is a son of Joshua and Samantha (Spangler) Kemerley, natives of Crawford Township, Wyandot County. The paternal grandparents were born in Allenstein Baden, Germany, in 1816. When they emigrated to the United States Jacob Kernerley and family settled first in Lancaster County, Ohio, near Baltimore, but in 1832 located permanently in Wyandot County, where he cleared up a farm from the wilderness. Of his large family of children, Joshua was the second son. The grandparents died on their farm and are recalled as industrious, frugal, kind-hearted people and among the founders of the Lutheran Church in this section. The parents' of Albert H. Kemerley still reside on the old homestead in Crawford Township. Albert H. Kemerley obtained his education in the district schools in the neighborhood of his father,s farm, his attendance being limited to the winter seasons, his summers being occupied with farm work on the homestead. When eighteen years of age he worked not only on the home place but for other farmers in the vicinity until he was twenty-one years old, when he changed his activities by coming to Carey and entering the employ of the Fenstermacher & Taylor Hardware Company, remaining with this firm for the next three years. His farm experience ,had made him a pretty fair judge of stock and for several years he was engaged by D. H. Straw as a stock buyer, afterward returning to the hard- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2229 ware line and for two years was associated with B. S. Taylor, going then with the Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reaping Machine Company and traveling for a year as their expert machine repairer. After returning once more to Carey, Mr. Kemerley was connected with the dry goods firm of D. Straw & Sons for several years.as a salesman. In 1890 he entered the Peoples Bank of Carey as bookkeeper and in 1895 was elected cashier and also became one of the three partners in the concern. In 1902 the business was incorporated and Mr. Kemerley became a director and stockholder and has continued cashier. He has been and still is identified with other financial institutions here. In 1907 he was elected president of the Citizens Savings Bank, but resigned two years later, but still is a stockholder as he also is in the First National Bank of Carey, of which he is also a director. He is one of the active business men of the town and was one of the main organizers of the Carey Electric Company and is a stockholder in the same. He is universally recognized as a man of clear judgment and in all the business or other bodies with which he is connected, his advice is solicited and his decisions respected. He is interested to some extent in agriculture, owning a fine farm of 160 acres situated two miles east of Carey. Mr. Kemerley was married in 1888 to Miss Sadie Galbrower, who is a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Ulrich) Galbrower, of Carey, Ohio, and they have three children : Lawrence A., Gladys U. and Dorcas Edith. Lawrence A. Kemerley was born in 1889, and is now connected with the Ohio Banking and Savings Company, of Findlay, Ohio. He married Miss Laura Nepper, who is a daughter of Jacob Nepper, of Gilboa, Putnam County, Ohio, in 1913, and they have one daughter, Marion, who was born in 1915. The elder daughter, born in 1894, is widely known for her exceptional talent in music. She is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and at present is music director in the public schools of Upper Sandusky. The youngest of the family, Dorcas Edith, resides with her parents. Mr. Kemerley and family are members of the English Lutheran Church. In politics he is a republican. He has long been identified with the leading fraternities, is a Knight of Pythias and an Odd Fellow, and a Knight Templar Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge at Carey and to the Commandery at Tiffin, Ohio. He is in every way Vol. III-57 one of the representative men of Wyandot County. ARTHUR W. OVERMYER. In 1914 the Thirteenth Ohio District chose as representative to Congress a brilliant young lawyer of Fremont, Arthur W. Overmyer, whose name and capabilities had become familiar to the people of the district not only through his excellent work as a lawyer but his decided qualities of public leadership and advanced views. His service in the Sixty-fourth Congress was highly gratifying to those who had predicted so much for him during his Congressional campaign, and in 1916 the people of the same district showed their unqualified approval of his previous term by re-electing him a member of the Sixty-fifth Congress which, to a greater degree than any Congress which has preceded it, holds the destiny of the nation in its hands. Mr. Overmyer is both an orator and debater, but even more is a student and original thinker. He has a large grasp on public affairs and much more than many older men comprehends the significance and relationship of the complicated factors now involved in American national life and its economic and political problems. Mr. Overmyer also knows the people of Northwest Ohio, since he is one of them and has lived in close touch with that sturdy and substantial middle class which is most truly representative of the American people. He was born on a farm near Lindsey in Washington Township of Sandusky County May 31, 1879. His parents were Barnhart B. and Mary Malinda (Walborn) Overmyer. Five generations back his ancestor John George Overmyer came from his native Baden, Germany, to Pennsylvania, in the year 1751, and became identified with the farming interests of the Province of Pennsylvania. He served with credit and with the distinction that comes down to his descendants as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Congressman Overmyer,s great-grandfather and grandfather were early settlers in Sandusky County, Ohio. Barnhart B. Overmyer was born in Sandusky County and has been successfully identified with its farming life. He also served two terms as county commissioner and at one time was president of the County Agricultural Society. He and his wife and family now live on a small suburban place adjoining Fremont. Congressman Overmyer,s mother was a daughter of William 2230 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO and Lydia Walborn, who in 1860 came from Berks County, Pennsylvania, to Sandusky County. Arthur W. Overmyer was the youngest of his parents' children. His brother John C. has long been active in Sandusky County, having twice served as county treasurer and as secretary of the County Agricultural Society. Congressman Overmyer was educated in the Washington Township public schools until the winter of 1894-95. He then entered the high school at Lindsey, where his brother John was serving as principal. In the spring of 1896, before his sixteenth birthday, he passed the county teachers, examination and during the following winter he taught a school. School teaching was his regular vocation during the winters for the next seven years. Like many American boys he secured his higher education and his professional advantages in intervals of self supporting work. For several terms he was a student in Lima College. After 1898 his higher studies were pursued in the Ohio Northern University, from which he was graduated in the law department in 1902. In December of that year he was admitted to the bar at Columbus, and has since been in active practice at Fremont. He became associated with E. C. Sayles in practice in 1904, and this partnership was dissolved when Captain Sayles became county prosecutor in 1909. While Congressman Overmyer thoroughly represents his constituency in the Thirteenth District, he has also deserved much of his party. While he was attending Lima College he was prominent in debating societies and acquired the freedom and ease of the public speaker which has since distinguished him. In 1897, at the age of eighteen, he was a boy advocate of the election of Horace L. Chapman, then democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio. There has not been a campaign since that date in which he has not participated in some way. More and more his ability and influence as a speaker has brought his services into demand, and he has been heard' not only from the political stump but also from the platform on many other occasions and celebrations. It is said that during the past ten years he has delivered more addresses and speeches than any man in Sandusky County. Mr. Overmyer is exceptionally well informed on sociological and economic subjects. His interest in that line has brought him a generous knowledge of the history of his home county and his home state. For seven years up to 1909 he served as secretary of the Sandusky County Agricultural Society and has always been in close touch with the agricultural element. He was secretary of the Ohio Fair Managers Association in .1908 and has been president of the Ohio Boys Fair Association. From 1906 to 1909 he was clerk of the horse and speed department of the State Fair. Mr. Overmyer was twice elected city solicitor of Fremont, serving Sour years, from 1910 to 1914. In 1913 he was secretary of the Croghan Centennial Commission, which was organized to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the brilliant defense by Lieutenant Croghan of Fort Stephenson. The Thirteenth Ohio District comprises the counties of Wood, Seneca, Sandusky, Huron and Erie. Mr. Overmyer entered the race before the democratic primaries of August, 1914, and won the nomination by a large plurality over three opponents. He was elected and served through the epoch making, Congress from 1915 to 1917 and is now serving in the special session of the sixty-fifth congress, called by President Wilson to take consideration of the critical problems involved in this country,s foreign relations. Mr. Overmyer is a past exalted ruler of Lodge No. 169, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and was representative to the Grand Lodge at Atlantic City in 1911 and at Portland, Oregon, in 1912. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Lutheran Church. On June 17, 1903, at Ada, Ohio, he married Nina Zelden Preston, daughter of Robert L. and Elizabeth A. (Branstetter) Preston. Mr. and Mrs. Overmyer have one child, Richard Preston Overmyer, born December 14, 1904. EDWARD DURFEE, secretary of the Marion Building, Savings and Loan Company and for many years secretary of the Huber Manu- facturing Company, is one of the oldest living native born citizens of Marion, Ohio. He is descended from Thomas Durfee, who was a native of England, came to America in 1660 and settled in the Massachusetts Bay. Colony. The family located in this section of Northwest Ohio over eighty years ago. Mr. Durfee's principal activities through his long career have been in banking. He was the first and only secretary the Marion Loan Company has ever had, and has handled much of its business throughout the twenty-nine years of its successful history. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2231 This is one of the strongest building and loan associations in the State of Ohio. According to a report at the close of its twenty-ninth consecutive year of business its total assets were approximately $1,600,000. In nearly every year since it organized there has been a substantial increase in assets, and the prosperity of the company and the service it renders have been steadily growing. The officers of the company are : J. E. Waddell, president ; Frank A. Huber, vice president ; Edward Durfee, secretary ; and L. B. McNeal, attorney. Mr. Durfee was born at Marion, Ohio, September 14, 1836. He is a son of Gardner and Mary (Sweetser) Durfee. His father was born in Tiverton, Rhode Island, February 14, 1807, and died October 21, 1844. The mother, also deceased, was born August 17, 1813, in Fort Miller, Saratoga County, New York. They were married at Delaware, Ohio. The paternal grandfather, Gardner Durfee, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and late in life came to Washington County, Ohio. He followed farming as his active career. The maternal grandfather Sweetser died young in Massachusetts and his widow subsequently married a Mr. Huff. Gardner and Mary Sweetser Durfee had four children. Only two are now living, Edward and Eveline. Eve-line, who now lives at Topeka, Kansas, is the widow of Justin H. Bunker, who died during the Civil war. Gardner Durfee was a whig in politics. He was one of the pioneer settlers of Marion, where he followed his trade as a cabinetmaker until his death. He served for some time as a member of the village council. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Church. Edward Durfee grew up in Marion, attended the high school and learned the trade of cabinetmaker. His experience in this mechanical trade was brief, since his talents were better expressed in financial and practical business. He was clerk in a hardware store at Plymouth, Ohio, for a time and then returned to Marion and became connected with the Bank of Marion, which he served continuously for twenty-eight years, at first as teller and afterwards as assistant cashier. From the bank he went with the Marion Building, Savings & Loan Company and has grown old in the service of that splendid institution. In June, 1861, Mr. Durfee married Mary A. Short. She was a native of Massachusetts, a daughter of Daniel Short, and she was fif teen years of age when she accompanied her parents to Ohio. She died in October, 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Durfee had three daughters, Grace Pettingill Durfee, Florence Sweetser Durfee, and Margaret I., who was born September 4, 1875, and died in October, 1889. Grace and Florence were both educated in the local high school and also in the Lasell Seminary near Boston, Massachusetts. Grace graduated from the seminary. Florence is now assistant secretary of the Building and Loan Association. Mr. Durfee attends the Trinity Baptist Church, with which his daughters are identified as members of that church. Mr. Durfee is a republican in politics. He served one term as clerk of the city council. W. G. BRAYTON, M. D. After a long career of service as a physician and surgeon Doctor Brayton is still active in his profession and in business affairs at Carey. His name has been identified with the practice of medicine in Northwest Ohio for fully forty-four years. Doctor Brayton represents a pioneer Ohio family and colonial New England stock. He was born on a farm three miles northeast of Carey April 23, 1849, a son of William and Margaret (Carr) Brayton. His paternal an cestry goes back to the Colony of Rhode Island and the first name that appears in American annals was that of Francis Brayton, who was born in England in 1612 and came. across the ocean in 1643, settling at Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Several times he was honored with the position of deputy to the General Court and was a man of no mean distinction. Doctor Brayton's grandfather, Elijah Brayton, was the founder of the family in Ohio. In. 1813, while the second war with Great Britain was still in progress, he migrated from St. Albans, Vermont, driving horses and wagon over the intervening stretch of wilderness until he arrived in the vicinity of Norwalk, Ohio. There he took up land and cleared it. In 1821 he moved to a farm four miles east of Carey, in what was then Crawford but is now Wyandot County. This was one of the earliest recorded settlements in the county. In 1825 his enterprise prompted him to erect a grist and sawmill, and that was one of the pioneer institutions. In 1831 he sold out there and moved to Springville in Seneca County, which was his home until 1861. His wife had died in the meantime and he spent his declining years with his. children at Carey, where he passed away in 1866. He was the father of eight children, 2232 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO four sons and four daughters, William being the oldest. One of the sons, Matthew Brayton, at the age of seven, while on a hunt for stray cattle, became separated from his brothers and was lost in the, woods and was never again heard from: William Brayton, father of Doctor Brayton, was for long years one of the substantial citizens of Wyandot County. On the home farm Dr. W. G. Brayton grew up in Crawford Township, helped his father in the summer seasons until he was sixteen and attended the common schools. On leaving home he pursued higher studies in Ohio Wesleyan at Delaware for one term, worked on a farm until 1868, then had another term in Wittenberg College at Springfield, taught school in Peppermint Valley of Wyandot County four months, and in March, 1869, went west to Northwestern Missouri, where he' remained until November, 1869. Doctor Brayton on returning to Ohio rode all the way on horseback. He slept wherever night overtook him, using his saddle for a pillow and covered himself with his blanket. Back in Ohio he again worked on a farm for a time, and then came to Carey, where he took up the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. Asa Brayton, a pioneer physician of that community. In October, 1870,. he entered the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, remained and studied there two years, then went to Cincinnati, where he studied physical diagnosis in the Cincinnati Hospital and attended lectures in the Miami Medical College. In March, 1873, he graduated from the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati, and has thus been qualified for the work of his profession forty-four years. In 1881 he attended lectures at Belleview Medical College in New York. City. After graduating in medicine Doctor Brayton married Susan Zuck, daughter of Charles W. and Susan (Grindle) Zuck, of Carey. It was her father who cleared the timber from the land where the site of Carey now stands. After his marriage Doctor Brayton moved to Arcadia and. steadily practiced medicine there for eighteen years. For the next fourteen years he was located at Fostoria, with a growing patronage and reputation as a most capable physician and surgeon. In 1904 he came back to his old home town of Carey and bought the drug business which for many years had been conducted by his uncle, Dr. Asa Brayton. This business he has continued together with a general practice of medicine. His services as a physician have been in demand all over Wyandot County, and he is still active, not yet being content to retire. Doctor and Mrs. Brayton had two children. Charles W., the older, born July 14, 1876, married in 1908 Gertrude Hart, daughter of Silas and Elizabeth (Healy) Hart, of Nevada, Ohio. Charles W. Brayton and wife have one daughter, Margaret, born on New Year's Day, January 1, 1912. The second child of Doctor Brayton is Genevre, barn September 19, 1883. She is now Mrs. F. D. Hurd, of Carey. Doctor Brayton is a member in good standing of the Ohio State and Northwest Ohio Medical societies. GEORGE ELTWEED POMEROY, JR., has for his ancestry one of the most distinguished lineages in Northwest Ohio. His father, George E. Pomeroy, was the founder of "Pomeroy's Letter Express," which was the original of the express business of the country. His American ancestry were among the earliest members of the Plymouth Rock Colony. His English ancestry leads back through a long line of distinguished warriors and, statesmen to the Norsemen. Sir Radulphus De Pomeraie of St. Sauveur de la Pomerai in Normandy, chief of staff of William the Conqueror, was the English progenitor. He took a prominent part in the famous Battle of Hastings in 1066. This head of a long line afterwards anglicized his name to Ralph de Pomeroy. The name Pomeroy has long been a noted one in the southwestern counties of England. They have been people of consequence there from the 'time of the Norman Conquest. After the Conquest immense estates in Devonshire were granted to the founder of the family, and his descendants maintained their feudal position through centuries of strife. In 1912 a "History and Genealogy of the Pomeroy Family," compiled by Col. Albert A. Pomeroy, was issued in two magnificent volumes, which includes a complete list of all the descendants of Eltweed Pomeroy, now in the eleventh generation. Of the Pomeroy Family Association, George Eltweed Pomeroy, Jr., is the treasurer and a member of the executive committee. The founder of the American branch of the family was Eltweed Pomeroy, who emigrated to America in the seventeenth century. Before coming to America he had become skilled in the manufacture of guns. To the New World he brought his knowledge and the tools of his craft. Settling first at Dorchester, HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2233 Massachusetts, he was offered a grant of 1,000 acres of land by the Massachusetts Bay Colony if he would establish a gun factory in the colony. Accepting this offer, a large plant for that day was established and seven generations of the family followed the craft which their ancestor established and in which he was so proficient. One of the original anvils is still in the possession of the family. George Eltweed Pomeroy, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born September 16, 1807, in Northampton, Massachusetts, and was married to Miss Helen E. Robinson, also of Puritan descent, in 1833. He came west in 1835 and settled first in Palmyra, Michigan, where he engaged in milling. Returning to Albany he inaugurated the original express service of the United States. In 1841 the route extended from Albany to Buffalo and Mr. Pomeroy himself made the first trip as the pioneer express messenger in June, 1841. The trips were made weekly at first by railway and stage, parcels being carried in a carpet bag and a small trunk. The round trip consumed eighty-four hours. The business grew rapidly in favor among bankers, for it was much quicker than the mail service and was deemed safer. Mr. Pomeroy is in possession of a strong letter of commendation from some very important bankers who were his patrons which he esteems very highly. The route was afterwards extended to New York and other cities, and Thaddeus Pomeroy, a brother, was admitted under the firm named Pomeroy & Co. Daily trips were inaugurated in 1842. A stamp was devised for the patrons similar in size and form to those afterwards used in the postal service, which was the first postage stamp used in the United States. Two five-cent stamps in black and blue, respectively, and vermilion ten-cent stamps were issued. The vignette was a handsome steel portrait of a woman, surrounded by the words "Pomeroy's Letter Express," and above were the words, "Free Stamp," and below, "20 for $1.00." The firm was soon seriously embarrassed by law suits brought by the Government, but the decisions of the courts were in favor of the Pomeroy Company. In July, 1844, the following announcement appeared in the Toledo Blade : "New Post Office, Post Reduced. Pomeroy's Daily Letter Express, having been extended to this place, is now prepared to carry letters at the following rates : From Toledo to Detroit and all lake points, Buffalo included, 6 1/4 cents ; to Batavia, Albany, and New York, 12 ½ cents; to New Eng land points and Philadelphia, 18 3/4 cents." The office was in a drug store at the corner of Summit and Monroe streets. A flourishing business was done for several years because the rates were lower than those of the Government at that time. Disposing of the business to his brother, Mr.. Pomeroy again went west, settling at Clinton, Michigan, and established the Detroit Tribune. In 1863 he engaged in the real estate business in Toledo, where he was very successful. He and his wife lived to celebrate their golden wedding, in 1883. The husband passed to his eternal rest January 12, 1886, and Mrs. Pomeroy lived with her children until her death, May 25, 1895. Her charity was broad and she was instrumental in building churches in Palmyra, Clinton and Toledo. George Eltweed Pomeroy, Jr., was born November 28, 1848, in Clinton, Michigan. His youth was spent on his father's large farm near there, and in 1895 he accompanied his mother to Toledo, where the father was already established in business. He attended the public schools in Clinton and also in Buffalo, New York. Entering his father's real estate office, he quickly became a valuable assistant. He was active in systematizing his father's rapidly increasing real estate business, and was admitted as a member of the firm under the title Geo. E. Pomeroy & Son, which name was continued until his father's death. With this thorough training he was well prepared to take up the business and push it to still greater success as the city developed. His business acquaintances grew to be very large until he is known in all the large cities of the United States, and has had a personal acquaintance with many of the leading bankers of London, Petrograd, Vienna, the City of Mexico, and also Halifax, Nova Scotia. For a quarter of a century he was president of the First National Bank of Bellevue, Ohio, during which time the bank grew from a small institution until its assets exceeded $1,000,000. He is a stockholder in the Second National Bank of Toledo, and also a number of large manufacturing concerns. He is still the president of the Geo. E. Pomeroy Co., the largest and the oldest real estate firm in Toledo. Mr. Pomeroy has long given attention to public affairs, believing that every citizen qualified to do so should give one-third of his time to the service of the state or the municipality. He has been especially interested in the subject of taxation and was the first chair- 2231 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO man of the National Tax Association and also served in that capacity at the tenth annual meeting of that body. The work of this association has been of great benefit to all the states of the Union in working out their taxation problems. He has been appointed by the governors of Ohio to represent the state at many conferences called for important business consideration. One of these, that of the trade relations between the United States and Canada, and which failed in practical results, has now by the advent of war become possible of accomplishment. For several years he was president of the Board of Sinking Fund Trustees, and has also served as tax commissioner. In this work he made a thorough study of systems of taxation and rendered extremely valuable service on that commission. He is actively interested in the several patriotic societies of which he is a member. He has served as governor of the Society of Colonial Wars of Ohio, and is also a member of the New York society. He has been state president of the Sons of the American Revolution of Ohio, and is also a member of chapters of this society in Massachusetts and New York City. He is a member of the .Toledo Club and Toledo Commerce Club, the Middle Bass Club, and the Castalia Trout Club and the Ohio Society in New York City. He has been president of the Ohio State Board of Commerce for ten years, and has been most active in the affairs of this important organization of business men. In politics he has always. classed himself a republican and in local affairs he has been independent in his action.. He is an active member of the First-Westminster Presbyterian Church, in whose welfare he has been much interested. For a score of years he has been president of the board of trustees. Mr. Pomeroy was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Mathilda Worthington, daughter of John T. Worthington, a native of Maryland, who came to Toledo in 1876. She was educated at St. Mary's Hall at Burlington, New Jersey, an Episcopalian institution. Her father was for many years prominently identified with large business interests in Bellevue. She is a member of the Colonial Dames and the Daughters of the Revolution. Their home is at 806 Huron Street, which is a treasure house of old and most interesting books and paintings which have been handed down for generations in the Pomeroy and. Worthington families. EARL BENJAMIN MAXWELL, M. D., whose work as a physician and surgeon has been accorded increasing patronage and praise since he located at Findlay, Ohio, has the attainments and training of the thoroughly qualified professional man. He was born on a farm near Cornwallis, West Virginia, February 22, 1887. He is of Scotch and English stock. His people have been in America for many generations and the family tradition is that one of the ancestors came to this country with William Penn. There is also a family connection with the noted Robert Morris, the financier of the revolution. Doctor Maxwell is a son of John B. and Elma A. (Vernon) Maxwell, who when he was one year old removed from West Virginia to Findlay, Ohio. His father is a retired farmer still living at Findlay and the mother died in that city in 1912. Doctor Maxwell was educated at Findlay, graduating from high school in 1905. He then spent one year in the Ohio State University in the engineering course and he left college to face the serious responsibilities of life without sufficient training to qualify him for any settled profession. After a time he began reporting for the Findlay Morning Republican, and after two years worked for the Tribune at South Bend, Indiana, where he was on the staff of that paper two years. After this experience in newspaper work Doctor Maxwell entered the Pulte Medical College at Cleveland, where he pursued the course two years, and from there entered th Boston University Medical School, from which he was graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1915. He also had two years of interne experience in the Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital at Boston. Doctor Maxwell began practice at Van Buren, Ohio, July 20, 1915, and located in Findlay in the fall of 1917 where he is giving his time and energies to his general practice. He had to work hard in order to fit himself for his profession and could not depend upon the family for help through school. He was one of fourteen children and eleven of them are still living. Doctor Maxwell, who is unmarried, is a member of the Pi Upsilon. Rho medical fraternity and belongs to the Elks Lodge at Findlay. Politically he is a republican. O. J. KISHLER has been in business at Tiffin for many years, where, taking theservices of HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2235 his father, the name Kishler has been identified with the undertaking business for about sixty years. Mr. Kishler was born at Somerset in Perry County, Ohio, August 11, 1855. The family have been mechanics as a rule, though at the same time very competent business men. Grandfather Frederick Kishler was born at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio in an early day. He was a carpenter by trade. The maternal grandfather, Jacob Wilcox, a native of Maryland, came in early life to Ohio and was a wagon maker. He not only made wagons but also did much repairing on the old fashioned stage coaches that went over the highways in pioneer times. Frederick D. Kishler, father of O. J., was born at Tiffin and at the time of his death was the oldest native son of that city. He was born February 10, 1829, and died October 16, 1912, in his eighty-fourth year. His wife, Catherine Wilcox, was born in Fredericktown, Maryland, August 16, 1830, and died November 6, 1912. They were married at Tiffin and of their two children O. J. is the only survivor. The parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Frederick Kishler was a Knight of Pythias and in politics usually voted independently. He was elected on the democratic ticket as chief of the fire department and member of the council. By trade he was a cabinet maker and gradually developed a furniture business, and many articles of hand made furniture came from his shop and were used in the homes all around Tiffin. For over fifty-five years he was actively engaged in the undertaking business and in time he became a well-to-do citizen. He always took much interest in church affairs. O. J. Kishler was educated in the Tiffin High School, and his first employment was as a stationary engineer. He also learned electrical engineering. In 1900 he gave up his trade and entered the same business in which his father had been so long engaged and has been continuously located at the same old stand. In 1882 Mr. Kishler married Matilda Kinzer, a native of Seneca County and a daughter of Gottlieb Kinzer, a native of Germany. Mr. Kinzer was a farmer in Seneca County. Mr. and Mrs. Kishler have two children. Aleta is the wife of W. J. Warner, now superintendent in the woodworking department of the State Reformatory at Mansfield. Mr. and Mrs. Warner have one child,. William. Fred C., the only son, is in the electrical department of the Ohio Light and Power Company. He married Leota Edwards, and they have one child, Helen May. Mr. and Mrs. Kishler are members of the Methodist Protestant Church. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Maccabees, the Knights of Pythias and the Owls. In national affairs he votes the democratic ticket, but supports the man rather than' the party on local issues. EDWARD HAMMOND CADY. Thirty years ago Edward H. Cady was a bank clerk in Cleveland. There has been a steady progress in his destiny and one heavy responsibility has succeeded another upon his shoulders, until now, among other positions, he is president of The Guardian Trust & Savings Bank of Toledo, and a director and officer in half a dozen other large corporations. The Guardian Trust & Savings Bank of Toledo is one of the most solid financial institutions of Northern Ohio and has a capital and surplus of $400,000. It has a savings department, paying 4 per cent interest, has a general banking department offering facilities to the business public found in every first class banking house in the country, and it also has a trust department, with facilities for the management and administration of estates and trust funds. A special trust com mittee co-operates with the board of directors in control of all estate trusts, and the trust funds are surrounded with every feature of security, maximum income consistent with safety, and regularity of benefit and service. Edward Hammond Cady was born at Cleveland, November 23, 1866. His father, Seth Minard Cady, was a son of George Cady of Pomfret, Connecticut. Seth M. Cady, now deceased, was for nearly forty years engaged in business at Cleveland, and followed different lines of activity there. The maiden name of his wife was Amelia L. Read, daughter of George Read of Cairo, New York. It was in the City of Cleveland that Edward H. Cady spent his early youth and received his education. His schooling carne from the public institutions of Cleveland, and when still very young he started out to earn his way on his own responsibility. In 1881, at the age of fifteen, he was clerk in the 'Motive Power Department of the C. C. C. & St. L. Railway at Cleveland. A few years of this 2236 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO experience and he became identified with banking, a business which he has never abandoned. It was in 1885 that Mr. Cady became a clerk in the Ohio National Bank of Cleveland. In 1889 his services went to the Union National Bank of that city. In 1900 he was made assistant cashier of the Union National Bank, and in 1906 he was promoted to cashier of the Ohio Savings Bank & Trust Company of Toledo.. Thus for ten years Mr. Cady has been identified with Toledo banking, and has reached his eminent position through his associations with this city. In 1912 he was made vice president of the Ohio Savings Bank & Trust Company, and in 1914 he became president of The Guardian Trust & Savings Bank. In addition to this post of responsibility, Mr. Cady is president of the Louisville Home Telephone Company. of Louisville, Kentucky, is vice president of the Continental Sugar Company of Toledo, is treasurer of the Toledo Factories Company, and is secretary of the Fifty Association Company. He was formerly president of the old Toledo Chamber of Commerce, now the Toledo Commerce Club. He is a member of the Toledo Club, the Toledo Automobile Club, the Country Club, the Hermit Club of Cleveland, and belongs to the Unitarian Church. On September 28, 1899, at New. York City Mr. Cady married Emma Page Watson, daughter of Albert Watson. They have two children : Watson Chichester Cady and Suzanne Morgan Cady. HON. CHARLES F: CLOSE, present judge of the Common Pleas Court at Upper Sandusky, was born at Nevada, Ohio, in 1882, thirty-five years ago, a son of James T. and Loraine S. Close. Judge Close is a graduate of the public schools of Upper Sandusky, and subsequently became a legal reporter and followed that occupation all over the state. In the meantime he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1906, and at once established himself in the practice at Upper Sandusky. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Wyandot County on the democratic ticket in 1910 and served two terms. He was formerly chairman of the Democratic County Executive Committee. January 1, 1915, Judge Close became Common Pleas judge for the regular six year term, having been elected thereto the preceding November. In 1911 he married Helen Hare, a daughter of Cyrus D. and Mary M. Hare of Upper Sandusky. They have one son, Daniel B. Close. HON. BRAND WHITLOCK. Northwest Ohio has produced some very eminent citizens. It is in no disparagement of their careers and their work to say that none has proved a more conspicuous force and figure in modern life and times than Brand Whitlock, newspaper reporter, author, lawyer and four times mayor of Toledo, for his services as United States ambassador to Belgium. The history of Northwest Ohio would be open to serious criticism did it not contain a sketch of his career. But to write a satisfactory sketch is an impossibility, partly because he is only forty-seven years old and is right now making history as rapidly as any individual American, and partly also because he has written, in a style already familiar to hundreds of thousand of readers, the entertaining story of his life and time in his book "Forty Years of It" published in 1914, shortly after he went to Belgium. A few words should be said of his ancestry. The Whitlocks came to America from England in the early part of the seventeenth century, their first home being in Massachusetts, but in subsequent generations they lived in New Jersey and in various states of the South. On the maternal side he is descended from the Brands of Kentucky and Talbots of Virginia. The Brands came from Scotland where for generations they lived in Forfarshire, not far from the City of Dundee. The emigrant was a Jacobite exile and located in Virginia. Mr. Whitlock's maternal grandfather Major Joseph G. Brand was a Kentucky slave holder who emancipated his slaves, and on moving to Ohio became one of the early abolitionist leaders. His connection with the last fugitive-slave case, the rescue of the negro Ad White, is set forth in "Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio," in Volume I and is also mentioned by William Dean Howells in his "Stories of Ohio." The parents of Mr. Whitlock were Rev. Dr. Elias D. and Mallie (Brand) Whitlock. His father was a minister of the Methodist Church, and in the book already referred to Mr. Whitlock has much to say of his early home life and of some of the incidents which left their strongest impressions upon his youthful char- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2237 acter. When he' was fifteen, in 1884, his father removed to Toledo. He gained his early education in the public schools and by private tuition, and in 1887, at the age of eighteen, began his work as a newspaper reporter at Toledo. In 1890 he went to Chicago, where he worked as a reporter and political writer for the Chicago Herald, with frequent assignments to report party conventions and the proceedings of the Illinois Legislature. In Chicago he became closely associated with the notable group of newspaper men, including Finley Peter Dunne (Mr. Dooley), Opie Read, Alfred Henry Lewis, Frederick Upham Adams, George Ade, Ben King, Wallace Rice, John T. McCutcheon, Arthur Henry and others. In 1893 he was appointed to a position in the office of the Secretary of State, at Springfield, under the administration of Gov. John P. Altgeld, and he remained at the Illinois capital until 1897. As Mr. Whitlock says in "Forty Years of It" his experiences at Chicago and in Springfield enabled him to realize, at first hand, the glaring faults of the old social, industrial and political regime, and, undoubtedly formulated in him those views of the new democracy which he so faithfully exemplified in his later political career. In the meantime he had applied himself to the study of law, and at Springfield completed his studies under the late Senator John M. Palmer. On June 14, 1894, he was admitted to the bar and early in June, 1897, returned to Toledo, where he was admitted to the Ohio bar and engaged actively in practice until his appointment as United States Minister to Belgium. As a lawyer he was the senior member of the well known firm of Whitlock, Burtsfield & Milroy, Mr. Milroy being now mayor of Toledo. Before his admission to the bar Mr. Whitlock was a frequent contributor of short stories to magazines, and for many years the reading public has been familiar with his stories, poems and essays. A great host of readers knew him as an author who were perhaps entirely unfamiliar with his identity as a lawyer and leading figure in the political life of Toledo. His first book, "The Thirteenth District," which made its appearance in 1902, was pronounced by former President Grover Cleveland to be the best political novel ever published. This was followed in the Spring of 1904 by "Here Infinite Variety," and in the fall of the same year he published "The Happy Average." All three novels were widely read, but a still more important work was " The Turn of the Balance," published in March, 1907, which created a sensation. This book deals with the methods of treating criminals in the United States, and is an indictment of the entire legal procedure of American courts in the punishment of crime. Some who have read it do not hesitate to declare that it marked the beginning of a revolution in dealing with the criminal classes. In January, 1909, Mr. Whitlock's "Life of Abraham Lincoln" appeared as one of the Beacon Biography Series. Still later books are : " The Gold Brick," 1910; "On the Enforcement of Law in Cities," a monograph, issued in book form in 1913, and previously published in 1910; "The Fall Guy," 1912; and "Forty Years of It," already mentioned, 1914. It should also be mentioned that Mr. Whitlock had begun another novel, the scene of which was laid in his native state of Ohio and the story breaks off in the middle of chapter eight. Mr. Whitlock became minister to Belgium partly to be relieved of political and professional duties at home and also to have the leisure for finishing his book. Every one knows why he did not find the leisure to write a book after he reached Belgium. In Toledo politics Mr. Whitlock identified himself largely with the municipal and social policies of " Golden Rule " Jones, and he became the logical successor to Mayor Jones as a leader of the independent and reform movement in municipal affairs. In 1905 he was elected mayor of Toledo on an independent ticket against four other candidates, and was re-elected under similar conditions in 1907, 1909 and 1911. He declined a nomination for a fifth term. Of his administration little can be said that is not already known. His was the course of a fearless and independent executive, guided by an ideal, that ideal being repre sented by the whole welfare of the city and its people regardless of partisanship, cliques and class influences. On December 2, 1913, President Wilson appointed Brand Whitlock as minister to Belgium. Two years later he returned to America' for a brief and Much needed rest. Probably no 'local citizen ever had such a greeting and demonstration of affection and' admiration as were paid to Mr. Whitlock when he arrived in Toledo after a long motor trip from Washington. Ever since the outbreak of the great European war Minister Whitlock has been the foremost American on the continent. Needless to say, it would be impossible now 2238 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO to describe his work in unhappy Belgium. In all the news dispatches and editorials in American and foreign newspapers, there has been remarkable unanimity in the praise of his steadfast courage, his fidelity, self-imposed, to the people of Belgium, and his undeviating _stand for humanity and justice. When the seat of Belgium's government was removed to Havre he chose to remain in Brussels in order to give his direct assistance to the stream of American tourists who were struggling to get out of the war-ridden country. In the meantime the envoys of France, Great Britain and Russia departed, and he was directed by Washington to take over their diplomatic affairs. Thus he became acting minister for three other countries besides his own, and in a short time even the German envoy withdrew and left the Imperial legation in charge of his colleague from Toledo. Of the hundreds of tributes that have appeared in the press, ,perhaps the one that may most appropriately be quoted here is that which appeared in the Philadelphia North American, from which a few paragraphs may be quoted : "The young minister forgot his literary work, forgot his health, forgot everything but the misery and terror that surged around him and the opportunity he had to make the message of the flag that waved over the legation a reality. His tireless energy and common sense reduced the relief work to an efficient system, and the commissioners who finally took charge had only to develop his plans. His unfailing courtesy and cheerfulness inspired all with whom he came in contact. His steady counsel alloyed alike the agitation of panic and the impulses of outraged patriotism. “Belgium public men came to rely upon his judgment almost as implicitly as the despairing refugees upon his gentleness and solicitude. It was in response to his urging that the municipal authorities abandoned the idea of defending the city and so saved Brussels from the horrors of a bombardment. Before the invaders entered his intervention saved scores of Germans from the menace of public hostility ; and after the occupation he was as energetic in persuading the citizens against defying military law." The editorial then quotes the words of the secretary of the Belgium Legation in Washington : "There are two great men in Belgium today—King Albert and Brand Whitlock. All over Belgium I heard glorifying words of tribute. He is 'hailed throughout our land as the saviour of the people. He opened a way for their relief when such a way seemed impossible, and he did it while preserving the strictest neutrality. It was a feat in diplomacy. It was a greater act of humanity." "The explanation of Whitlock's triumph," continues the North American, "is simple enough. He is a man of intelligence and force ; he has honesty, wisdom, strength, courage and indomitable sense of justice and a deep unswerving passion for humanity. He is a democrat by instinct, by education, by conviction. The brotherhood of man is to him more than a phrase ; it is a creed ; and he lives up to it every day of his life. He was in Brussels exactly what he is in Toledo. Politicians have sneered at him as `another Golden Rule mayor' ; but a nation pays him tribute as a Golden Rule diplomat, and the world will hold him in honor when the names of great soldiers are forgotten. " One other thing stands out clearly from his record. Just as his Americanism never faltered, so his regard for justice and for humanity never compromised or surrendered., Undeviatingly neutral in his official course, he never aspired. to be 'neutral in thought' upon the issues of human rights and the appeal of human suffering." While living in Springfield, Illinois, Mr. Whitlock married, June 8, 1895, Miss Ella Brainerd, -a niece of Senator John M. Palmer. For more than twenty years Mrs. Whitlock has been her husband's chief aid and counselor, not only at home, but in the complex duties and responsibilities which have engaged him during that time. She was with him constantly in Brussels, and no small share of the enthusiasm from the great assemblage in Toledo in December, 1915, was designed for Mrs. Whitlock. Mr. Whitlock is a member of many literary and other organizations, including the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the Poetry Society of America, the Authors League of America and is a member of the Toledo, the Toledo Country and the Inverness clubs at Toledo and of other similar organizations in other cities. LESTER V. MCKESSON. A soldier whose courage and fidelity were tested through more than seventy battles of the Civil war, a manufacturer and business man for half a century, a leader in temperance and other civic welfare movements, Lester V. McKesson enjoys a distinctive place among the citizens of HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2239 Toledo, where he has had his home for the past twenty years. A native of Ohio, he was born at Enterprise near Milan in Erie County, July 20, 1842, and has recently rounded out three-quarters of a century of useful and honored existence. His parents were Isaac and Zorada J. (Hunt) McKesson. While his father's life was spent in the quiet vocation of farming, he was a man of splendid capacity for public leadership. At one time he filled the office of county commissioner in Erie County and in that capacity had charge of much public work.. He was colonel of militia during the Civil war and rendered important services in the raising of troops in the county. He was a thoroughly loyal American, and the same may be said of his good wife and their daughters, who assisted and kept the home farm going while the father and son were engaged in public affairs or away in the army. The father lived to the advanced age of ninety-two and always retained good health. Lester V. McKesson grew up in a home of ideals but received a limited education. He was a student in Baldwin University at. Berea in the spring of 1861 when the greatest crisis in the country's history arose. On April 21, 1861, a week after the fall of Fort Sumter, he left college to enlist in Company E, Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 'at Sandusky. His service as a soldier was continuous throughout the entire war. He was promoted to second lieutenant and in the battle of the Wilderness was shot through the right shoulder. Some years ago a handsome medal was presented to him as a small tribute from a grateful people to his good work as a soldier, and the inscription on this Medal reads as follows : "Token of Honor from the citizens of Sandusky, Ohio, for three years distinguished service in the United States Army from 1861 to 1864. Winchester, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and sixty-five other engagements." After the war Mr. McKesson purchased and operated the Union Bending Works and sawmill at Collins in Huron County. Later he was in the same business at Clarksville, Tennessee. In 1898 he removed to Toledo and has since been in the real estate business, being now president of the McKesson-Cone Real Estate Company. This is one of the largest firms in Toledo real estate circles. Mr. McKesson also bought a controlling interest in the Standard Steel Tube Company, but sold his holdings to George B. Storer, who is now owner and operator of the plant. Mr. McKesson owns considerable valuable real estate in Toledo. While in Huron County he filled the office of township treasurer of Townsend Township and also as postmaster at Collins. While these were comparatively unimportant offices, yet they indicate the esteem in which a man is held by his neighbors and fellow citizens. Politically he has generally supported the republican party and candidates, but five years ago he followed Roosevelt in the progressive movement because of the broad program for human welfare adopted by that party, and he has always been proud of this variation in his political allegiance. Reference has been made above to his leadership in the temperance cause. That work has received his active support since early manhood. He has steadfastly labored for all laws and movements looking to a restriction and prohibition of the liquor traffic, and for many years has been treasurer of and an active worker in the Toledo District of the Anti-Saloon League—in fact one of the mainstays of that organization. From early manhood his affiliations have been with the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is now an official member of the Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church at Toledo, being very active in and a liberal contributor to the new church. Often he has filled Methodist pulpits as a lay preacher. He is director and treasurer of the Toledo Young Men's Christian Association and has been very helpful in forwarding the work of that splendid institution. Mr. McKesson is a member of the Toledo Commerce Club. These few outstanding points in his long career indicate Mr. McKesson's complete sympathy with and active leadership in all movements looking toward the upbuilding of the city both materially and from the moral standpoint. In such enterprises he was- always one of the first men solicited, and has in proportion to his time and means given generously. At Sandusky, Ohio, in April, 1866, Mr. McKesson married Harriet A. Fisher, daughter of Benjamin S. Fisher of Sandusky. Mrs. McKesson died at Clarksville, Tennessee. For his second wife he married Mary W. Lockwood, widow of James C. Lockwood, a wealthy vessel owner and banker of Milan, Ohio. Mrs. McKesson died in Toledo January 21, 1914, leaving an only son, Jay C. Lockwood. In 2240 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO March, 1915, Mr. McKesson married Mrs. Agnes C. Wilcox. Mr. McKesson's children are three in number : Jennie E., Carrie M. and George L. Jennie E. lives at home with her father and is principal of one of Toledo's schools. Carrie is the wife of Dr. John W. Brandau, a leading physician of Clarksville, Tennessee. The son George L. was for ten years business director of Toledo public schools and is now vice president of the Haughton Elevator Company of Toledo. While connected with the school system he had control' of millions of public funds and always handled them subject to the strictest tests of counting and had the entire confidence of the school board and public, receiving many compliments for his work. George L. McKesson married. Fannie Kapp, daughter of George J. Kapp, a prominent Toledo business man. J. M. ZEIGLER is a miller and grain man at Bucyrus, and with that industry he has been identified since early manhood, his father having been a miller before him. G. K. Zeigler was vice president and a member of the board of directors of the Second National Bank of Bucyrus, Ohio, and a member of the firm of Zeigler & Company, proprietors of the Main Street Mills. He was one of the older business men of this city, where he' remained active in the milling industry with which he has been long associated. He was born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, December 4, 1834, and was a son of Abraham and Rachel (Krouse) Zeigler. He died in 1913. G. K. Zeigler had few educational opportunities in youth and the whole period of his school attendance was covered by a part of one winter session. When he was nineteen years of age he left the farm and became an apprentice in a mill at Perkiomien, Pennsylvania, where he proved so apt in' learning details and methods that within a year he was made foreman,. and in two years he made a grinding record, 42,000 bushels of grain having been passed by him through his hopper. In the summer of 1855 he came to Bloomville, Ohio, and Was in the employ of Simon Koller, a well known miller there, for six months, when he went back to Pennsylvania. There he was induced to embark in the dry goods business, but as he was entirely without experience in that line, he lost his entire investment. He took a practical view of the matter and knowing that he could succeed at mill work, he returned to Crawford County, Ohio, and secured work in a mill at New Washington. Fifteen months later he came to Bucyrus, where he was employed by a Mr. McClain for more than two years, and for the next two years had charge of the Honey Creek Mills, and then returned to Mr. Koller, where he remained for three years. By this time Mr. Zeigler had established a reputation as a very competent miller and he was anxious to go into business for himself, this resulting in a partnership with Mr. Koller and they conducted a mill for five years,• afterward purchasing and operating the Honey Creek Mills. Mr. Zeigler's next move was to go into business with Mr. Koller at Napoleon, Ohio, where they not only conducted mills but also built an elevator at a cost of $10,000. In April, 1876, Mr. Zeigler returned to Bucyrus and became proprietor of the Main 'Street Mills, where the capacity is 150 barrels of flour per day, and since 1877 these raffle have been continuously operated by Zeigler & Company and the enterprise is one of large importance in this section. Mr. Zeigler was married in 1857 to Miss Ann M. Koller, who was born in Seneca County, Ohio, and three children were born to them. Mr..Zeigler had never been active in politics but was a democrat in his political convictions, and his vote as an honest and well-meaning, law-abiding citizen was always to be counted on. He could recall many changes in the methods of milling, his memory going back to the old water-wheel mill race mill, until the time of his death, when he could show interested visitors his own plant where the latest improved complicated mill machinery was more easily governed, working like clock-work under steam power. This mill is now operated by gas engine power. J. M. Zeigler, son of Garrett K. and Ann N. (Koller) Zeigler, was born in Bucyrus, July 2, 1880, and graduated from the Bucyrus High School in 1898. He then took a business course in a business college at Toledo and returned to Bucyrus to assist his father in the mill. He was employed in the mill from 1900 to 1904, when he acquired a third interest in a mill at Nevada, Ohio, and the next four years he went back and forth to Bucyrus every day to look after the Nevada mill. In 1909 he became a partner in the Bucyrus mill, and since his father's death has given his chief attention to this business. He also owns an elevator at Nevada, the old mill there having been dismantled. The Zeigler mills are noted HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2241 for their high class products, and the flour is shipped from here to supply the trade over a radius of a hundred miles. Mr. Zeigler, who is unmarried and lives at home, is a member of the English Lutheran Church and in politics a democrat. JAMES ANDREW KNAPP has been one of the live and enterprising business factors at Marion for many years. He is a native of that city, and represents an old and tried and true family of this section of Northwest Ohio. He was born at Marion January 19, 1853, a son of John R. and Lydia (Lybarger) Knapp. His grandfather, William Knapp, served in the Revolutionary war from the Province of New York. Jacob Knapp, brother of William, was a member of that gallant company under Ethan Allen which made the historic capture of Ticonderoga. Jacob ,and five of his sons were soldiers in that struggle for independence. In the maternal line Mr. Knapp is a grandson of Andrew Lybarger, who was born in Pennsylvania and took his family to Coschocton County, Ohio, in 1807, his being the fifth family of white people in the county. He was a tanner by trade, conducted a tannery at Coshocton, and subsequently conducted. a similar business in Knox County, Ohio, which was first operated by him and later by his son. Andrew Lybarger married Naomi Thompson, daughter of James Thompson, who was born in the North of Ireland, came to America, settled in New Jersey, at Morristown, Morris County. James Thompson enlisted as a private, Captain James Maxwell,s Company, Colonel Israel. Shreve,s Second Regiment, New Jersey Continental Line, February 1, 1777; taken prisoner May 26, 1780; received pension of five dollars per month beginning April 10, 1783, for disability (loss of an eye) received while serving in the Second. Regiment, New Jersey Continental Line. Received from the United States land warrant No. 8776, dated June 2, 1797. John R. Knapp, father of James A., was born in Canandaigua, New York, July 27, 1787, and died March 8, 1864. His wife was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, May 21, 1807, and died January 23, 1896. They were married in Knox County, Ohio. John R. Knapp came to Ohio in 1835 and followed his trade as blacksmith at Big Island and about 1840 moved to Marion. For a number of years he held the office of postmaster and justice of the peace at Marion. He was postmaster there when Marion was connected with the outside world only by stage coaches. He had seen active service during his early youth in the War of 1812, with a company of New York state troops commanded by Captain Noble. In matters of religion he was a Hard Shell Baptist, was a Mason and a democratic voter. His wife was a Methodist. They had ten children, three daughters and seven sons. Two of the sons, Jacob and William, were Union soldiers, Jacob being major of artillery and William captain of cavalry. One of the sons, John R. Knapp Jr., established the Mirror newspaper at Marion and also the Crawford County Forum, the latter still retaining the name given by its founder. The name of the Mirror was subsequently changed to the Tribune. This John R. Knapp was also clerk of courts, was a leading democrat, had served in the Civil war in Company H of the Fourth Ohio Infantry as assistant quartermaster, and he died at Washington while 'an employee in the pension department. Another son, Russell, was long an active newspaper man. James Andrew Knapp, the only surviving child of his parents, grew up and received his early education in the public schools of Marion. While attending school he also carried the weekly newspaper issued in the town and spent several summers working on a farm. His parents were not wealthy people and he began life on his own responsibility at an early age. He was only eleven years old when his father died. As he looks back over his experiences he finds the hardest work he ever did was one summer spent in a brickyard, where there was no modern machinery or equipment and nearly everything was done by hard manual toil. During that summer’s work he carried 3,000 brick every day. After that he learned the harness making trade and worked at it sixteen years in the shop of Thomas Jefferson McGruder. Another ten years he was employed by William Fies in the undertaking business, and from that he engaged in business for himself as an insurance man with M. and J. Waddell under the firm name of Waddell & Knapp. In 1907 he bought out the interest of Mr. John E. Waddell and in 1911 bought the interest of the other partner, and his office is now under the firm name of .James A. Knapp & Sons. They handle all the departments of insurance, including life, accident, fire liability; automobile, bonding, etc. It is 2242 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO one of the leading general insurance agencies in Marion County. In 1876 Mr. Knapp married Rosetta Tavenner. She was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, a daughter of George and Elizabeth Tavenner, who on coming to Ohio settled first in Hardin County and afterwards in Knox County, where her father was a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Knapp have a family of seven children, very capable young people, all of them rising in the world. The daughter Mary, the oldest child, is the wife of Frank C. Hughs, a clothing merchant at Marion, and they have one daughter, Mary. James William, the oldest son, is in the furniture business at Zanesville, Ohio, and by his marriage to Anna Lincoln, has three children named James Lincoln, William Andrew and Elizabeth Ann. George B., business partner with his father, but now at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio, holds commission of Captain of Battalion of the. 330th Regiment of Infantry. He married Edna DeWolf and has a daughter, Virginia. Frank M., also in business with his father, married Bessey Peavey. Rosetta is the wife of Frank Elliott, a draftsman at Barberton, Ohio. Lydia Elizabeth is the wife of Walter S. Guthrie, a bookkeeper for the firm of Knapp & Sons. Their two children are Mary Elizabeth and John Andrew. Wallace Leroy, the youngest child, is employed by a firm of contractors for the building of elevated railways in Brooklyn, New York. He married June Wagner. The mother of these children died in September, 1903. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Knapp is prominent in Masonry, his affiliations being with Marion Lodge No. 70, Free and Accepted Masons, Marion Chapter No. 62, Royal Arch Masons, Marion Council No. 22, Royal and Select Masters, Marion Commandery No. 36, Knights Templars, with Scioto Consistory of the Scottish Rite and with Aladdin Temple of the Mystic Shrine and Achbar Grotto No. 31. He is past master, past high priest, past thrice illustrious master and past commander in the different Masonic bodies at Marion. Politically Mr. Knapp is a stanch republican. For a number of years he was actively connected with the Marion Fire Department, part of the time as assistant chief and afterwards as chief, and for two years was director of safety 'of the city. Many years of hard work have brought him a most desirable degree of business prosperity., He has employed some of his means to indulge his fancy for travel, and has been all over the United States, having spent several winters in California, Florida and Cuba, and part of one summer in the Canadian Northwest. WILLIAM SHAFER, proprietor of the Studebaker Salesrooms and Garage at Upper Sandusky, has made the automobile business his work and profession since early youth. He knows it in every detail, as a mechanical expert as well as a salesman, and is doing well in his present establishment at Upper Sandusky. Mr. Shafer was born near Upper Sandusky in 1896, son of Clinton and Mary (Courtad) Shafer. Mechanical ability has always been a strong characteristic in the Shafer family, though his parents lived on a farm for some years. When William was eight years old they came to Upper Sandusky and he grew up in this city acquiring his education in the public schools. He had one year of instruction in the high .school when at the age of fifteen he left to go to work for H. H. Christ-well to learn the automobile business. He spent two years with him and then for a year and a half was employed by an automobile sales company in Toledo. Having practically mastered- most of the details of the business he then returned to Upper Sandusky and spent two years with the J. C. McBeth Garage.. His next employment was at Detroit for the Studebaker corporation. This company sent him on the road. as "trouble man" and in that capacity he traveled all over the East for a year and a half. All this time Mr. Shafer was looking steadily ahead, saving his money, and in 1917 he returned to his home city and bought a garage on Wyandot Street. He already has a good business and is handling the county agency for the Studebaker cars and the local agency for the Maxwell car. He also does all kinds of repairing and is able to furnish an expert service in this line because he is personally familiar with all the details of automobile construction. In March, 1917, Mr. Shafer married Gladys Heilman, daughter of George and Gertrude (Corrigan) Heilman, .a family of farming people at Berwick, Seneca County. Mr. and Mrs. Shafer are members of St. Peter,s Catholic Church. He is a democrat in politics. FRAY A. ROBERTSON of Tontogany has that enviable ability which has enabled him to handle many affairs and each one well and HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2243 with profit to himself and service to the community. Mr. Robertson has built up his prosperity largely as a successful manager of agricultural enterprise, but is also a banker. Since 1913 he has been with Dr. H. J. Johnston as partner and they are proprietors of the leading automobile agency and garage at Tontogany. They have a large and well equipped plant, including machine shop, garage, and storage and warehouse. The main building is 40 by 160 feet, with an addition 40 by 40 feet on another street. This firm handles the agency for the Ford, Dodge and Hupmobile cars and has sold hundreds of these makes over an extensive territory. Mr. Robertson is of an old and prominent family of Wood County. He was born in Middleton Township September 21, 1865. His father and grandfather were natives of the Highlands of Scotland. His grandfather was a wealthy Scotchman and came to the United States for the purpose of buying Jersey Island off the coast of New York. Alput that time an English bank In which he had $90,000 deposited failed completely and left him nearly stranded in America. He pulled himself together, came out to Haskins in Wood County, reared a family, lived well and died one of the most respected citizens of that community. He had the distinction of building one of the first log cabins on Hull’s Prairie near Haskins, where he cleared up a home from the wilderness. Amealius Robertson, father of Fray A., was a young man when he accompanied his parents to Wood County. He had a brother Dr. James Robertson who was one of the pioneer physicians of Wood County. During an epidemic of cholera he and Doctor Peck of Perrysburg devoted themselves to the many victims of the disease and Doctor Robertson himself was stricken with the scourge and died when in the prime of life. Amealius Robertson married Marjorie W. Frazer, who was also a native of Scotland and came with her parents to the United States, the Frazers also locating on Hull's Prairie in Wood County where they spent the rest of their lives. Amealius Robertson after his marriage took up a tract of new land and developed a good home and farm and spent his last years in Middleton Township where he died in 1888 at the age of sixty-six. His wife died about four years later and was of the same age. They were Scotch Presbyterians. He was a republican, being called upon to fill the offices 'of justice of the peace and township trustee. Fray A. Robertson grew up at his father,s home and besides the public schools he graduated in 1887 from the Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York. Since then, a period of thirty years, he has found constantly growing interests to occupy his time and attention. As a farmer he owns and controls five different farms, aggregating 490 acres in Washington and Middleton townships. He has been a very successful stockman; and has specialized in the breeding and raising of Percheron horses, Shorthorn cattle and Shropshire sheep. Mr. Robertson was one, of the organizers of the Haskins Elevator Company, of which he is president, an office he has filled most of the time since it was organized. He has for the past three years been a director of the Farmers Savings Bank of Haskins. Mr. Robertson married in Washington Township of Wood County Miss Ida May Miller. She was reared and educated in Wood County, where her parents were early settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Robertson have one child living, 'Merlyn J., who is a splendid specimen of physical manhood, standing six feet one inch tall and weighing 170 pounds and is an all round athlete. He is now a member of the class of 1918 in the Tontogany High School. Mr. and Mrs. Robertson are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which their son is also affiliated, and in politics Mr. Robertson is an active republican. EDWARD S. BRONSON. Effective leadership is often the one vital factor in the progress of any community. The citizens may be public spirited and harmonious, willing to cooperate, but lacking a personal leader their efforts never seem to get anywhere. It is the one quality of enthusiastic and efficient leadership which more than any other has distinguished the work of Edward S. Bronson as Mayor of Defiance and in his capacity as a business man and private citizen. When he was elected. Mayor in the fall of 1915 there was one thought uppermost with him and that was to make the best of an opportunity to serve the community, surrounding himself by appointments of men of his sane type and character. He is a man who has no political ambitions, had no debts to pay in office, and with no forethought as to a second term he has not concerned himself with the building up of a personal political organization and has kept his hands free to carry out a disinterested plan of public benefit. His election came 2244 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO after a municipal campaign which will long be remembered. It was perhaps the most keenly fought contest the City of Defiance has ever had. Mr. Bronson's opponent was one of the strongest and ablest men in the county. The campaign was fought on the individual merits of the candidates, and Mr. Bronson won by a handsome majority. Only a few of the big things which have been accomplished and are in process of accomplishment during his term of Mayor can be mentioned. The first is the expenditure of more than $600,000 by the Baltimore & Ohio Railway in permanent improvements at. Defiance, including the elimination of dangerous grade crossing with subway, and the New Passenger Station and Freight Terminals. Bonds to. the amount of $300,000 were levied for the New Public School building. The Waterworks plant has been acquired by the municipality at an expense of $125,000, and the problem. of the purification of the water supply is being worked out. A large amount of permanent street paving has been made, the Fire Department has been thoroughly reorganized and modernized, the Police Department has been set on a plane of efficiency, and splendid possibilities of good have been put in a way to realization by a systematic plan of cementing the interests of the City with those of the surrounding rural district. Never in history has Defiance witnessed such substantial development as it has enjoyed during Mayor Bronson's administration. Its industrial growth has attracted nation-wide, attention. The present Mayor is a native of Defiance, born May 23, 1873, a son of, Charles E. and Mary A. (Thacker) Bronson. His mother is a daughter of Dr. Isaac N. Thacker, who was one of the pioneer physicians of Northwest Ohio. She was born near Cincinnati, and four of her brothers became successful physicians. Charles E. Bronson was born in Defiance, spent most of his boyhood in Chautauqua County, New York, and then returned to Defiance to take up the study of law. He was admitted to the bar, served three consecutive terms as prosecuting attorney of Defiance County, and today is the oldest man in point of continuous service in the real estate business in the county, being head of the Bronson Real Estate Exchange. Politically he is a democrat. There were three sons, one of whom died in infancy. Mayor Bronson's brother is I. Newt, who is now clerk of courts of Defiance County. Edward S. Bronson has spent all his life in Defiance, attended the common schools, and when still a boy became associated with his father in the real estate business, and has made his chief success in that line. He was also owner and manager of the Citizens' Opera House of Defiance for a number of years. This institution he made the medium of much benefit to his home city. With his brother. he became interested in traveling amusement companies, and these companies covered the entire United States. In that business his brother was road manager, while Mayor Bronson had the general management of the enterprise and their opera house at Defiance was the headquarters. A desire to see people happy, and with opportunities for innocent and wholesome amusement, has been the inspiring cause of 'Mr. Bronson's activities in amusement circles and likewise to a Considerable degree has colored his influence and effort in behalf of municipal improvement. He has been well called the original booster of Defiance. More than any other individual he has advertised the city, and he leaves nothing undone which will give De- fiance a fair and just fame among Ohio cities. Mr. Bronson brought about the organization of the Defiance Poultry and Pet Stock Association, one of the largest associations of its kind in the state, serving as its Secretary and President at various times. Always interested as a poultry fancier, and a life member of the American Poultry Association, his exhibits have been seen at many annual shows. He is also the originator and President of the Defiance County Automobile Club,. and has been a leader in the annual fall festivals, and Farmers' Institutes, and took the initial steps in organizing the Defiance COunty Red Cross. One plan in behalf of which he is especially enthusiastic and to which he is thoroughly committed is the task of preserving the old Fort Defiance. He has submitted' a plan for making promenade parks in commemoration of General Wayne and the building of a retaining wall from the Maumee River bridge to the Auglaize River bridge, with boat landings at each street intersection and with bronze tablets installed at proper points and with appropriate inscriptions. His plan provides that the requisite land fronting on these historical rivers should be acquired by popular subscription, while the retaining wall would be built at Government expense. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2245 Mr. Bronson is an active member of the Defiance County Humane Society, is a member of the Zion English Lutheran Church, has served his church officially and also as director of the choir. He was organizer and drum major of the Sixth Regiment of Ohio Band. Fraternally he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the National Union. Following the flood of 1913 Mr. Bronson issued at his personal expense panoramic souvenirs of Defiance, and these photographs went to every state of the Union and to many foreign countries. At Toledo in 1895 he married Miss Etta R. Haase, a native of Defiance County and a daughter of John W. Haase, a well known farmer of this county. They have one child, Mollie W., who has already distinguished herself as a young lady of great talent in music and as a pianist. VIRGIL SQUIRE. The First National Bank of Defiance is an institution with a history. It is one of the very oldest banks in Northwest Ohio, having been established as a private banking house in 1859. An interesting part of the record is that the present cashier, Virgil Squire, is a grandson of one of the founders of the old private banking house, and is a nephew of the late Everett Squire, who was president of the institution until his death on April 22, 1916. This bank has a capital stock of $100,000 and surplus of $50,000, and through all the . years since it was established, through hard times and good, has enjoyed an unbroken record of prosperity and financial integrity. The present officials are : Herman B. Tenzer, president ; August A. W. Martin, vice president; Virgil Squire, cashier ; and Frederick Moss, assistant cashier. The founder of the Squire family in Ohio was Joab Squire, a native of Danbury, Connecticut. He came to the Western Reserve when the fire lands were open to settlement and was very prominent in the early days. Virgil Squire, was a son of this Joab and was born in the Sr.,Western Reserve of Ohio. He spent his early life around Florence, Berlin Heights and Milan, Ohio, in 1857 went to Ottawa, and in the same year came to Defiance. Here he opened a stock of general merchandise, and formed a partnership with Ahira Cobb. In 1859 the partners opened a private bank, and the firm became Cobb & Squire, merchants and bankers. Vol. III-58 Out of this private bank was organized in 1861 the Defiance CoUnty Bank. In 1871 came the next change when the county bank took out a national charter and became the Defiance National Bank. About 1869 Everett Squire, a son of Virgil, became cashier and he continued to hold that post until 1891, when another reorganization occurred and the First National Bank was brought into existence. At that time Everett Squire became president and was at the head of the bank for twenty-five years until his death. His nephew, Mr. Virgil Squire became cashier in 1902. ARTHUR M. HARRISON, M. D. There is no better known physician and surgeon in Wood County than Dr. Arthur M. Harrison. Besides his service rendered as a private practitioner he has for a number of years been connected with the National Guard of Ohio and for the past three years has held a commission as assistant surgeon with the rank of captain in the Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Only recently he returned with his command from the Mexican border and at this writing is subject to call at any moment into the national army now being mobilized for the war with Germany. He was appointed major July 1, 1917, and is in command of the Medical Corps of the Fifth Infantry Ohio National Guards with headquarters at Cleveland and is there awaiting the order into mobilization camp at Montgomery, Alabama. Doctor Harrison comes by his attainments almost naturally. He is a member of a prominent family of physicians. His father was the late Dr. E. B. Harrison of Napoleon, who was himself the son of a physician and the grandson of an Episcopal clergyman of England. Doctor Harrison's brothers Frank and Charles are prominent physicians of Napoleon. Further reference to this remarkable family of physicians will be found on other pages of this publication. Dr. Arthur M. Harrison has been located at Bowling Green for the past twelve years. While a general practitioner, his work has been more and more in the field of surgery and he has been successful in the handling of many major cases of surgery. Doctor Harrison is still a comparatively young man, only forty-three, and was born at his father,s home in Napoleon. He was educated in the public schools, afterwards attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and from there entered the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, where he was graduated Doctor of 2246 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Medicine in 1896. Following his undergraduate course he was a hospital interne and house physician in St. Joseph's Hospital of Philadelphia. For a time he was demonstrator of anatomy and his opportunities for observation and study were widened by experience in a hospital for nervous diseases under the famous author and physician S. Weir Mitchell of Philadelphia. In 1898, when the war with Spain broke out Doctor Harrison was appointed recruiting surgeon for the Government and was in that service one year. Later he served in Philadelphia as physician for the Orthopedic Hospital. From the east he went to the far southwest, and became physician and surgeon for several mining companies at Castle Hot Spring, Arizona. He had exceptional opportunities while there in the handling of pulmonary diseases. He continued for some time his work in connection with various mining companies hospitals in the .far Southwest. Thus. when he returned to Ohio and located at Bowling Green he brought with him qualifications and a training such as few physicians in Northwest Ohio could excel: In 1916 he accepted the appointment from Governor Willis to go as assistant surgeon with the rank of captain to the Mexican border with the Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was on the border for nine months, much of the time under the "command of the late Gen. Fred Funston. The soldiers of that regiment have sung the praises of Doctor Harrison for the splendid work he- did in keeping the regiment practically free from disease while in the hot and trying climate of the Southwest. Doctor Harrison has also served with the State Militia at various times in the past, particularly during the Dayton flood. When he accepted the call to duty on the Mexican border Doctor Harrison was serving as president of the Wood County Medical Society. He also belongs to the State Society and the American Medical Association and has numerous professional and social connections. He is president of the Wood County Automobile Association and fraternally is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Doctor Harrison was married at Napoleon to Miss Hera J. Cuff, a native of that city .where she spent her early life and young womanhood. She is a daughter of Judge John V. Cuff, of a prominent family elsewhere referred to. Doctor and Mrs. Harrison have two children : Arthur M., Jr., aged nine and Mary J., three years old. Mrs. Harrison finished her education in Harcourt Place Seminary. She is an active member of the Episcopal Church. PAUL T. MOSER is one of the active and energetic young business men of Upper Sandusky. Mr. Moser was 'born October 12, 1892, on a farm 4 ½ miles north of Upper Sandusky, a son of Simon and Eliza Ann (Walton) Moser. He is of Swiss-English ancestry, and as far back as the record goes the Mosers have been substantial farmers. The late Simon Moser was one of the leading agriculturists of Wyandot County and at the time of his death owned over 625 acres. This land is still undivided, the estate being in process of settlement. Paul T. Moser secured his education in the country schools, graduated from the Upper :Sandusky High School in 1911, and in the following year entered the state university, taking the agricultural course for two years. His father died then and he left school and began work for the United States Cereal Company as a general helper and overseer. He was with that corporation until 1915. He then purchased the United Stated Taxi Company, which he sold. August 15, 1917, since which time he is employed by the Ford agency at Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Mr. Moser, who is unmarried, is affiliated with the Masonic order and also Lodge No 83 of the Elks. He attends the First Methodist Church and in politics is a democrat. WILLIAM H. PHIPPS, for many years a member of the bar at Paulding, rendered a notable service to the American Government during his administration of the office of Auditor General of the Philippine Islands, under President Taft. He resigned this office after nearly three years of service in 1914, and was therefrom appointed Financial Advisor to the Philippine Government. His headquarters were at Manila, and during his term of office he was the chief financial adviser of the Island and brought about many important reforms in the fiscal affairs of the country. He introduced systematic accounting into the administration of many offices and when he surrendered his office the financial condition of the Philippines was better than it ever had been before. While there he published three large volumes of annual reports which are a complete ex- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2247 position of the fiscal affairs of the Philippines and have proved a valuable basis from which subsequent administrative measures have been projected. Mr. Phipps was born in Caldwell, Ohio, August 15, 1864, a son of Samuel and Mary (Miller) Phipps. His father, Samuel Hall Phipps, was born in Pennsylvania February 19, 1826, and died at the close of a long and useful career February 3, 1911, at the age of eighty-four years, eleven months, fourteen days. He spent his early life near Pittsburg and from there his parents removed to Rootstown in Portage County, Ohio, and a few years later to the vicinity of Caldwell, Ohio. He also spent some of his earlier years as captain of an Ohio Riverboat, and the greater part of his life was given to farming and in time he acquired a large amount of real estate in Morgan County. He was an abolitionist and subsequently actively engaged in organizing the republican party in the state. He was candidate for sheriff in 1856 on the first republican ticket placed. in the field in Noble County, Ohio. He was one of the leading champions of the Grange movement in Ohio, and was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. At Caldwell, August 25, 1853, he married Mary Miller, who was born in Ohio and died August 22, 1901. They were the parents of. seven daughters and one son. Mary Frances died March 26, 1884, and all the others are still living, named Anne, Eva May, Emma C., William .Hall, Margaret Elizabeth, Laura Olivia, and Minerva Jane. One who had known this strong and sturdy citizen for many years wrote of him as follows : "The loss which this community feels in the death of Samuel Hall Phipps is immeasurable and very closely related to that which they of the immediate family have sustained. That the deceased was in a remarkable degree wise and strong, was universally felt and owned wherever he was known. He loved to promote the elevation and happiness of man. The service he rendered his neighbors made everyone his debtor in kindness. In the future those intimate with him will love to discuss that large, generous, magnanimous, open, forgiving heart of his. Passion was not allowed to pervert his judgment. Selfishness did not sway him into courses which promoted his interests at the expense or the welfare or the happiness of his neighbors. People will remember his rare gifts of deep insight, keen discrimination, clear statements, his plain, convincing, logical mind. The deceased was 'a well informed, broadminded man, possessing rare native ability and a comprehensive knowledge of history that marked him as an authority in the community in which he lived and died. He was not only a man ,having clear conceptions of matters in his own mind, but he would give them forth in clear expressions. His rigid demand cn himself in common conversation was to give no utterance to half-formed thoughts and no half utterance to thoughts full formed. That there is no one without the infirmities of character and the faults and sins of life is a fact undeniable, but that the deceased was ardently beloved, highly venerated and entirely confided in by those 'who constituted his family circle and those who shared his closest friendship, is equally as well known. With a manner that in general society and common intercourse sometimes conveyed an impression of coldness, it is nevertheless true that he was eminently beloved within the sphere of home and of chosen friendships and the private relations of life, and this is the best testimonial. As one who has long been intimate with the deceased, we never in our life heard an impure thought or a profane expression come from his lips. His sterling integrity was one of his most prominent characteristics."  It was in the home of such a worthy character that William H. Phipps grew up and had his own character trained and molded. He lived at home until nineteen and in the meantime acquired a common school education and was also . a student of the Ohio Northern University. He studied law at Caldwell, and in 1889 took up active practice at Paulding. From a large and growing practice he was called to his duties in the Philippines by the appointment of President Taft. From March 1, 1911, to October 1, 1913, he was auditor general of the Philippine Islands, and in 1913-14 was financial advisor to the Philippine Government, resigning in 1914. As financial advisor to the Philippine Government Mr. Phipps wrote and forced the passage of the bill prohibiting slavery in the Philippine Islands. This accomplishment alone was sufficient to make his service in the Far East a notable one. For fifteen years, ever since the American Government had taken charge of the situation, attempts had been made to abolish slavery on the Islands, but until November, 1913, there was no law in effect generally 2248 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO throughout the Philippines prohibiting slavery. While serving as auditor general Mr. Phipps was requested to make a report upon slavery. After a thorough investigation he made his report to the secretary of war in 1913. When this report was published the existence of slavery was denied by the delegates from the Philippine Government to Washington and by local Filipino papers, but little effort was made to controvert the evidence that had been accumulated by Mr. Phipps and Secretary Worcester. In the course of his investigations Mr. Phipps found many cases of slavery and also a system of 'peonage practiced in every province. He found nearly 100 cases of slavery in one locality on the Island of Cuba, and in the Bicol provinces found about 3,0004 slaves. Mr. Phipps personally wrote the law which the Philippine National Assembly passed prohibiting slavery in the Islands. This measure reaffirms the old Spanish practice against slavery and incorporates the American law. As a result of this law slavery in the Far East is a thing of the past, though many authorities, including Mr. Phipps, have regarded it as very possible if not probable, in case the Philippine people were given independence that the practice of slavery would be revived. Reference has already been made to Mr. Phipps' work as auditor general of the Islands. The system of business management which he introduced is still in force. He established an accounting system by which the accounts of the entire government are balanced at the end of each month and examination made of the accounts of every officer .having in his charge money or property of the government. Mr. Phipps has many reasons to feel proud of his achievements while in the Philippines and there are several letters sent to him or regarding his work which it will not be out of place to include in this connection. The first is from President William H. Taft under date of January 1, 1911, in which writing to Mr. Phipps he says : "I have yours of November 22d, and I am very glad to learn that you have settled down and that you find your work enjoyable. I have heard from a number of sources that what you are doing is very satisfactory to those who ought to be able to judge. Your description of the river in the case of the Island of Palawan, which I never visited, is most interesting. I hope you may go again." Another is a cablegram directed to Governor General Forbes at Manila from secretary of war, reading as follows : "Tell William H. Phipps pleased with his letter to me December 4th and with knowledge that you and he are in entire accord. Congratulate him on his good work. —Edwards. " The third is a letter written to Mr. Phipps by W. Cameron Forbes, Governor General of the Islands, on August 30, 1913. "Before severing my connection with the Philippine Government I am glad to be able to express to you my appreciation of your recent accomplishments, particularly in the matter of settling up many old accounts and straightening out of Government balances. We have thus been able to show the true condition of our accounts, which in view of unfavorable conditions is a very satisfactory one. I also am pleased to note the promptness with which the present financial statement has come out, which indicates real progress toward good accounting." Since returning to this country in 1914 Mr. Phipps has resumed his private practice at Paulding and is now one of the leading lawyers of Northwest Ohio. Mr. Phipps was city solicitor of Paulding from 1892 to 1894, -and in 1908 was appointed state oil inspector, serving two years until 1910. He has been president of the Paulding County Bar Association fifteen years, and for a similar period served as a member of the Republican State Central Committee. He has become identified with many of the business organizations of Paulding County. Mr. Phipps is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and is a member of the Buckeye Republican Club of Columbus, Tippecanoe Republican Club of Cleveland, National League of Republican Clubs; Commercial Club of Paulding, and belongs to the Elks and Sons of Veterans. August 14, 1890, he married Miss Nora Cooper. They have one child, Estella Helen, at home. WILLIAM E. MARTIN, who has just completed two terms of efficient service for Wyandot County as county surveyor, has made much of the years and opportunities that have been vouchsafed to him. In whatever capacity of relationship he has performed his duties well, and Is a man of broad experience and exceptional ability. Most of his life has been spent in Wyandot County. He was born at Upper Sandusky September HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 2249 25, 1881, a son of John and Lydia Elizabeth (Brobst) Martin. He is of Irish and German stock. His father, born in. Ireland, came to this country alone at the age of seventeen and arrived in Ohio in 1861. For a time he worked on the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway at Chicago Junction. Like many other enthusiastic young Irishmen he soon volunteered for service in the Union army as a member of Company D of the One Hundred and Forty-fifth Ohio Infantry. He was in the army until mustered out in 1865. Returning to Upper Sandusky he continued railroading until his death on September 30, 1906. His wife passed away in February, 1904. He was honored as an old soldier and as a substantial and public spirited citizen. William E. Martin received his education in Upper Sandusky and at the age of seventeen started out to make his own way in the world. He became a railway telegrapher for. the Hocking Valley Railroad Company, and rapidly mastered his duties until he was promoted to train dispatcher at Columbus, where he remained in the service from 1904 to 1909. On resigning he returned to Upper Sandusky and entered the courthouse as assistant county surveyor. He filled that position about four years and in 1912 was elected county surveyor on the democratic. ticket and re-elected in 1914. His present term of office expires September 1, 1917. Mr. Martin married in 1904 Miss Nellie Trautwein, daughter of John and Henrietta Elizabeth (Young) Trautwein of Upper Sandusky. They are the parents. of three children : Pauline, born in 1905; Maurice, born in 1907 ; and Henrietta, born in 1914. Mr. Martin enjoys a large acquaintance and the esteem of the best people of Wyandot County. His life has been one of hard work and of proficiency in everything he has undertaken. He is a member of the Upper Sandusky Chamber of Commerce, is affiliated with Walpole Lodge of Masons and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a democrat in politics and with his wife is a member of the English Lutheran Church. AUGUSTE RHU, M. D., F. A. C. S. One of Ohio's oldest and most distinguished physicians and surgeons is Dr. Auguste Rhu, still in active practice with his son, H. S. Rhu, at Marion. Dr. Auguste Rhu was born in Seneca County, Ohio, April 5, 1849. He attended the Franklin High School at Dayton and the Notre Dame University at South Bend, Indiana. He began the study of medicine at Marion under Dr. Robert L. Sweney, later studied under Dr. Jefferson Wilson at Beaver, Pennsylvania, and finished his medical training at. the Western Reserve University at Cleveland, and graduated: February 25, 1885. He also received a diploma September 25, 1887, from the Chicago Ophthalmic College and has done post-graduate work in both Chicago and New York. He is a member of the American College of Surgeons, 1913. Doctor Rhu began practice at Marion. February 26, 1885. In 1883 he was elected professor of surgical pathology in the Ohio Medical University at Columbus. Besides a large practice, particularly in surgery, he has been surgeon for several railroad companies, for the Marion Steam Shovel Company, and at one time was president of the United States Pension Board. His attainments have become widely recognized and he is one of the leading members of the various medical societies and associations. In 1892-93 he was assistant secretary of the Ohio State Medical Society, and is a member of the Mississippi Valley Medical Society. He was president of the Marion County Medical Society in three different years and has long been active in the American Association of Railway Surgeons. Among the profession he is probably most widely known through his contributions to medical literature. His paper .on Tubercular Laryngitis was read before the Marion County Medical Society in 1885. The Western Medical Reporter awarded him its $100. prize for the best surgical report published. December 5, 1888, by Doctor Rhu under the title "Strangulated Umbilical Hernia, Laparotomy Recovery." In the American Gynecological Journal of February, 1892, will be found his article on "The Inflammatory Troubles of the Right Iliac Fossa ;" "Treatment of Surgical Shock," in Fort Wayne Journal of Medical Science April, 1887; Treatment of 'Acute Oedema of Larynx in the Philadelphia International Medical Magazine, in 1892; the after treatment of amputated wounds, in Transactions of the Ohio State Medical Society in 1893; Rupture of the Urinary Bladder, with fracture of the Symphysis Pubes, in International Surgical Journal of 1892; the Surgical Treatment of Rectal Abscess, read before the Crawford County Medical Society of Ohio in 1895. Doctor Rhu performed the first successful laparotomy in Marion County April 19, 1888, and up to the present writing (1917) has per-