Area Van Wert County (square miles) Area Van Wert City (acres)  Population Van Wert County (1910 Census) Population Van Wert City (1910 census)

405 2,080 29,119 7 117

LIBRARY SERVICE Free to all residents of Van Wert County. LIBRARY AGENCIES IN 1915 Central Library. 16 County Branch Stations. 106 County school collections District school collections - 86 Graded school collections - 15 High school collections. - 5 16 Van Wert City school collections. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1157 BORROWERS AND REGISTRATION Total number of borrowers, 62% county

population   Central Library borrowers   Borrowers using county collections	18,424 9,332 9,092
VOLUMES AND ACCESSIONS
Total volumes accessioned to January 1, 1916 Number volumes in library  Per cent volumes in library per cap population	27,749 23,809 81%
DISTRIBUTION AND USE
Volumes sent to distributing agencies. Per cent of library sent in collections. To 16 county branch stations 106 County schools 16 Van Wert grades Total number volumes loaned for home use Volumes loaned per capita county population From Central Library 16 Branch Stations 106 County school collections 16 Van Wert grades Total adult fiction circulated Total adult classed books circulated Total juvenile books circulated	14,515 61% 7,782 6,447 286 98,011 3+ 45,643 17,096 32,480 2,792 36.13% 12.12% 51 755
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
J. P. Reed, president ; C. B. Pollock, vice president; Mrs. E. I. Antrim, secretary ; Mrs. R, J. Cavette, Mrs. I. H. Malick, J. W. Nicodemus, Mrs. J. M. Craig.

LIBRARIAN Anna L. Holding. JOHN SANFORD BRUMBACK. The general truth of the statement that "an institution is but the lengthened shadow of a man," is widely acknowledged, and is very true in many specific cases. Furthermore the act or influence of an individual sometimes originates a movement which embraces and affects a number of institutions and gives a new direction to social and economic activities. Some such definite fruitage could be traced to the late John Sanford Brumback pioneers in establishing a public library, in his home community, but he was the progeni- tor of the now vigorous "County Library movement" throughout the country. On other pages of this publication are told the chief facts regarding the Brumback County Library of Van Wert County and also the general movement of which it was the primary nucleus. The following paragraphs are selected for a brief account of the life of this sterling Northwestern Ohio citizen : John Sanford Brumback was born oil a farm in Licking County, Ohio, on the 4th day of March, 1829, and his death occurred at his home in Van Wert December 11, 1897. His father descended from an old Virginia family of German extraction, the progenitor of which had come to America in early Colonial times. His mother, Frutilda Bearnes, came from Pennsylvania, whence her parents emigrated to Ohio at an early day. From her he inherited many of his sterling qualities of mind and heart. When he was four years of age his father died, leaving his mother a legacy of six young children and forty acres of undeveloped land having a log house upon it. Since there was nothing with which to rear and educate her four girls and two boys except what could be produced from the soil of this wild land, his mother, like others of that day, no whit discouraged, set bravely to work to eke out a precarious livelihood. In a few years she was called upon to mourn the death of her eldest son, and no other course remained but for her and the four daughters to make their own living, aided by young John's efforts. Because she was unable to spare her only boy from his work, except in the winter season, John's early education consisted of the crude instruction received in a country school, during the few winters, he was privileged to attend school at all. He was quick to learn, however, and acquired even in this short time the rudiments of an education that, added to and rounded out by a lifetime of close observation and keen perception, made him a man of general information and broad intelligence. Trained from childhood to battle with the world, to depend upon himself and to labor for those whom he loved, he became one of the capable, self-reliant and generous men who win the affection of those who know them and make the world better for their having lived. In telling of his capability and self-reliance, 1158 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO she trusted him, at the early age of ten, to take to market the farm produce that the family had to sell, which he disposed of with rare judgment for one of his years. He was as good a horse-trader at fifteen as David Harum himself. His mother often said she never knew what horse John would bring home. He many times laughingly related that he never got beaten in a horse trade but once, and that was when he traded a horse for a cow—and the cow died. His commercial instinct having been thus early aroused, he left the farm and opened a. general store at the age of seventeen. The only capital he had was fifty dollars that his mother had saved, which she willingly entrusted to him. With this he went to Cincinnati, where he so won the confidence of wholesale dealers by his frank and manly bearing that they sold him on credit enough goods to open a country store at Ashley, Delaware County, Ohio. This small beginning was the basis of his after success and fortune. At Ashley, on May 26, 1852, he married Ellen Perlena Purmort, who was born August 10, 1832, at Jay, New York, and who was an unfailing inspiration and helpmate to her husband until his death. When eight years old she went with her parents to Kempville, Canada, where they lived until she was fifteen. In the summer of 1847, they moved to Berlin, Delaware County, Ohio. Here she taught a term or two of school and became noted as the little teacher who could manage the rude, rough boys. Upon the death of her mother, in 1850, the care and responsibility of the large family fell upon her young shoulders, which burden she willingly and successfully assumed. As the oldest of the large family of children, she had shared all the trials and sorrows of her parents in many losses and removals, yet she kept a happy heart and was her father's comfort and reliance in those sad years. The loving and sacrificing nature of both Mr. and Mrs. Brumback was well shown when, upon her father's death shortly after her marriage, they took into their own home her five young brothers and sisters. Two of these they reared as their own children to lives of usefulness.' What this meant in the early days can hardly be appreciated in these days of labor-saving appliances and small families. They were a happy pair, and the world helped them because they helped themselves by living sober, prudent and industrious lives. Shortly after their marriage, owing to the impaired health of Mr. Brumback, they moved to a farm on the old State Road north of Worthington, Ohio, where they lived for two years. In 1858 they went to Casey, Clark County, Illinois, in which village Mr. Brumback engaged in the mercantile business with such success that when in the spring of 1862 he came with his family to Van Wert, Ohio, he brought with him $5,000 in gold. Van Wert County was then a comparatively new and thinly settled county having a population of only 10,238. Here he entered the dry-goods business, and also became interested in the stave business, a leading industry in Van Wert County and Northwestern Ohio generally; at that time, because of the thousands of acres of fine hardwood timber that covered all of this territory. In 1884 he disposed of his dry-goods business and purchased a controlling interest in the Van Wert National Bank, of which he became president. As a banker, he was careful, conservative, but with all progressive.. During his thirty-five years' residence in Van Wert he helped create and finance many enterprises of great value to the people, notably the Cincinnati, Jackson and Mackinaw Railroad (now the Cincinnati Northern, a part of the New York Central System), in which he became interested when its failure was imminent; The Central Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company, of Van Wert, Ohio, of which he was president to the time of his death ; The Farmers Bank, of Rockford, Ohio; The Union Savings Bank of Toledo, Ohio, and The Monroe Street Railway, of Toledo, which he started on the road to prosperity at a time when its future was uncertain. Mr. Brumback was a liberal supporter of the First Methodist Church, of Van Wert, having acted for a number of years as one of its trustees, and he was a charter member of the Odd Fellows Lodge in Van Wert, in whose good work he was an active participant. In later years his generous heart prompted him to build a public library for his home town and county. This was before Mr. Carnegie began his extensive library giving and the idea then of donating a public library was not so common as now. After consulting the members of his family and receiving encouragement from them, he ordered plans prepared for a building to be located in a park in Van Wert City ; but when the plans were about perfected he was taken seriously ill. Upon finding that he would not HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1159 be able, owing to his fatal illness, to carry out his ideas, he called his son Orville, a lawyer in Toledo, to his home in Van Wert, and there, after fully discussing the project with his family, he had a will drawn providing for the erection of the library by his heirs. His will contained a clause to the effect that any of the heirs could defeat the project if unwilling to join in the expense. However, not only were all willing to carry out the wishes of their father, but they constructed an even better building than he had planned. Another feature of the will is the unique idea, undoubtedly original with Mr. Brumback, of having the library owned and maintained by the county and its benefits extended to the whole county, that the country people as well as the town people might enjoy library privileges. JOSEPH W. URBANSKI is one of the leading merchants of Toledo. Still a young man, at the age of thirty-six, he has found success by hard concentrated efforts and by close attention to the varied affairs which have occupied his attention since starting out for himself. He is now proprietor of a large store at 3136-3138 LaGrange Street, and is both a prominent merchant and a popular citizen in the Polish district of Toledo. He was born March 3, 1880, in the Province of Posen, Poland, a son of Anthony and Anna (Biegala) Urbanski. He was quite young when brought to America by his parents and his father died at Toledo in 1911 and his mother still lives in that city. Further mention of this interesting family is found on other pages of this publication. The second in a family of seven sons and one daughter, Joseph W. Urbanski had some schooling in his native land and after coming to Toledo he attended night school. In choosing an occupation, he determined upon the tailoring trade, and served his apprenticeship under F. L. Glowczewski, who now has a tailoring establishment in the basement of the Hotel Toledo at the corner of Jefferson and Superior streets. Mr. Urbanski as an apprentice and journeyman was employed by a number of the well known tailors of Toledo. He then went into business for himself, having worked hard and saved part of his earnings with the expectation of setting up an independent shop. After about twelve years of the tailoring trade, he and his brother Walter J. opened up a business in dry goods, notions, clothing, boots and shoes and tailoring at the corner of LaGrange Street and Central Avenue. This firm was known as Urbanski Brothers. Both were aggressive and intelligent young business men and they naturally prospered. After three years their establishment was burned out, and since then Walter J. has given his attention to other lines of business. In the meantime Joseph W. opened up a store at the corner of LaGrange and Austin streets, continuing in the same line of trade, and was there alone about a year and a half. In 1908 he built the structure at 3136-3138 LaGrange Street which he has since occupied with one of the largest stocks of dry goods, notions, shoes, men's furnishing goods and tailoring in that part of Toledo. He is a reliable merchant, knows how to please his patrons, and thus his prosperity has been a matter of course. A separate department of his store is devoted to the exclusive handling of ladies,' children's and men's shoes, and this by itself would stand as a model shoe store. The rear of the store is given over to a tailoring department, where suits are made to order and where about eight tailors are kept busy. In 1910 his brother Walter J. put up a large building next door, and he is now in business there as a hardware and furniture merchant. Thus the Urbanski brothers by these two stores are able to supply a large part of the merchandise sold in the LaGrange Street district! Joseph W. Urbanski has not only won material success but has gained a large following of warm friends. Besides his mercantile interests he is one of the directors of the Buckeye Fire Insurance Company of Toledo. He is now president of the Polish Commerce Club of Toledo, LaGrange Street district. He gives his support to the best man in home affairs. He is a member of St. Michael's Society, of the Polish Alliance of North America, the Ohio Polish National Alliance and of the Toledo branch of that order. Religiously he is a member of St. Adelbert's parish of the Polish Catholic Church. On September 1, 1902, in St. Hedwig's Polish Church, he was married to Miss Kate Grzegorek of Toledo. Mrs. Urbanski died October 27, 1910. Of her three sons, Edward J. died at the age of six months and Edwin J. and Raymond J. are now students in St. Adelbert's Parochial School at Toledo. On, February 3, 1913, Mr. Urbanski married Miss Pauline Grzegorek, a sister of his first wife. They were also married in St. Hedwig's Church. Both of his wives were born and 1160 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO educated in Toledo and are the daughters of Barney Grzegorek, a sewer contractor at Toledo. Mr. and Mrs. Urbanski have one son, Daniel Anthony, now a year old. All the children were born in Toledo. IGNATIUS W. PAWLOWSKI, undertaker and funeral director, at 3107 LaGrange Street, Toledo, is a progressive business man of that city, and is an example of the men of foreign birth who come to this country and exemplify traits of citizenship in a manner which might profitably be copied and emulated by native Americans. He was born in German Poland in the Province of Posen, Prussia, June 29, 1875, a son of Martin and Marcella (Paprocki) Pawlowski. Both his parents were natives of Posen, and in 1888 his father Martin set out for America alone. After some investigation he found conditions so agreeable and so prospectively beneficial that he determined to make America his permanent home and accordingly sent for his family. Practically ever since the family have, lived in Toledo, where the parents still reside, the father at the age of sventy-five and the mother at seventy-two. They have been industrious people, highly honored in their circles, and very worthy citizens. Martin Pawlowski had the misfortune a short time ago to suffer an infection on his wrist, followed by blood poison, and eventually his hand had to be amputated. The only two. living children are William and Ignatius, both of whom live in Toledo. Ignatius W. Pawlowski was about thirteen or fourteen years of age when he came to America, and in the meantime had gained considerable knowledge in the schools of his native land, and afterwards continued his studies in St. Hedwig's parochial school at Toledo. He was still very young when he made up his mind as to the profession he would follow, and entered upon an apprenticeship with the firm of Senn & Acker, unundertakersd embalmers at Toledo. He remained with them about two years, and for a short time had additional experience with Joseph Abele Jr. Thus well qualified, he embarked in business for himself, and being located in the Polish district among his fellow ,countrymen his reputation for skill and the splendid service rendered through his establishment have brought him a most gratifying success. In politics Mr. Pawlowski is a republican. He is a member of St. Hedwig's Polish Catholic Church, and has been one of the trustees of the parish since 1908. He is also a member of St. Michael's Society, St. Vincent's Society, St. Joseph's Society, belongs to both the Ohio and North American divisions of the Polish National Alliance, to the Modern Woodmen of America, to the Knights of Columbus and to the Polish Commerce Club of the LaGrange Street District. On October 16, 1899, Mr. Pawlowski was married in St. Hedwig's Church at Toledo to Miss Mary Wisniewska, daughter of Andrew and Sophia (Gawronska) Wisniewska, of Toledo. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Pawlowski were born' nine children, and the five now living, all natives of Toledo, are named Edward Boleslous, Theresa Hattie, Frances, Lucile B. and Collet Josephine. SIDNEY SPITZER, head of the firm of Sidney Spitzer & Company, bankers, was born near Medina in the Western Reserve of Ohio, February 15, 1875. He is the third son of Aaron B. and Anna (Collins) Spitzer. Mr. Spitzer's father and mother were both natives of New York State coming to Ohio and settling near Medina when they were children. Mr. Spitzer's father, Aaron Bovee Spitzer, who was long prominent in Northern Ohio as a banker and business man, was born near Schenectady, New York, October 8, 1823, and was the second son of Nicholas and Nancy (Bovee) Spitzer. For a number of years he was associated in the banking business with his eldest son, Celian Milo Spitzer, and Ludwig Wydman. He was considered an authoritative expert in matters of credit and value and the successful handling of financial affairs is evidently a family characteristic. He was an admirer of good horses and bred some fine specimens on his stock farm near Medina. He was a life-long republican. He retired from active affairs in 1886 and died in Medina, May 13, 1892. His first wife was Laura M. Perkins, daughter of Joseph and Harriet (Draper) Perkins, and by that union had one son, Celian Milo Spitzer. He was later married to Anna Maria Collins and by that union three sons were born to them, Frank P., Garrett E. and Sidney Spitzer. Sidney Spitzer spent his boyhood days in Medina, where he graduated from the Medina High School in 1895, after which he went to Pemberville, Ohio, where, with his brother, Frank Spitzer, he organized the Citizens Savings Bank and served as its cashier ; he is HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1161 still one of the directors and largest stockholder; he is also a director in the Guardian Trust and Savings Bank of Toledo. After resigning his position as cashier at Pemberville Mr. Spitzer removed to Toledo and associated himself with the firm of Spitzer & Company, investment bankers and bond dealers, where he remained for fourteen years as head of the buying department. In 1911 he retired from that firm and spent a year and a half in travel with Mrs. Spitzer, visiting all of the leading countries of the world. In July, 1912, Mr. Spitzer returned to Toledo and organized the present firm of Sidney Spitzer & Company, with home offices in the Spitzer Building and branch offices in New York, Chicago, Cincinnati and Los Angeles. Since engaging in the investment business Mr. Spitzer's firm has bought and sold county, city and school bonds, in various sections of the country, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. Sidney Spitzer & Company are members of the Investment Bankers' Association of America and operate extensively all over the United States and Canada. In April, 1903, Mr. Spitzer married Alice Louise Horton of Adrian, Michigan, daughter of George B. and Amanda (Bradish) Horton. Mr. Horton has long been prominent in Michigan public affairs and has been frequently spoken of by the public press as a logical candidate for governor, having served as state senator. Mrs. Spitzer was born near Adrian. She graduated from the Adrian High School and later attended the University of Michigan. She is active in Toledo's social life. They have one son, Sidney Horton Spitzer, born at Toledo, January 11, 1904. Mr. Spitzer finds his chief recreation in travel. His country home, "Horton Hall," in Perrysburg, is considered one of the most beautiful as well as historic spots in Northwestern Ohio. Mr. Spitzer is a member of the Toledo Museum of Art, the Toledo Club, Toledo Country Club, Toledo Commerce Club, Toledo Automobile Club, the Bankers' Club of New York and the Ohio Society of New York. In politics he is a republican. SIGMUND G. KAMINSKI. As a successful mercantile enterprise one of the most conspicuous concerns of Toledo is The Polonia Clothing and Shoe Company, at 3034-36 LaGrange Street. Those who are in a position to know say that the success of this store, during the three years since it was established, is largely due to the ample experience, the judgment, and the real salesmanship of its genial manager, Sigmund G. Kaminski, a young Toledo man of Polish parentage who laid the foundation of his merchandising career by employment in several of Toledo's leading stores and who has shown unusual progressiveness and executive ability in handling the affairs of The Polonia Company. He was born in Toledo April 19, 1885, and is a son of Vincent and Mary Kaminski, both of whom were born in Poland and are still living in Toledo. They came to America when young and were married in St. lied-wig's Catholic Church at Toledo, of which they are still members. In the old country Vincent Kaminski learned the trade of cabinet maker, and has followed that occupation ever since coming to the United States. He has been one of the most skillful cabinet makers in the Milburn Wagon Works in Toledo for the past thirty years, and is still connected with that great local industry. A native of German Poland, he saw service in the regular army of Germany before coming to the United States. Both he and his wife are members of the Polish National Alliance of North America. They have seven living children, three sons and four daughters : Peter, the oldest is a cabinet maker and lives in Toledo; Sigmund G. is the second ; Stanley is a clerk in the H. M. and R. Shoe Company of Toledo ; Sophia is Mrs. Walter Wielinski of Toledo; Gabriella, Elsie and Eleanor, the other daughters, are still at home. All the children were born in Toledo and received their education partly in the parochial schools and partly in the public schools. Sigmund G. Kaminski was still a boy in years when he finished his schooling in St. Hedwig's Parish and in the Parkland School, and started upon his business career as clerk for the old time dry goods house of J. B. Bell & Company, then located at the corner of Summit and Jackson streets. After four years with that firm, which is now out of existence, he went to work for the Yale Hat Company on Summit Street, spent two years there, and then became connected with the clothing department of The Weber Clothing House, one of the oldest institutions in the retail district of Toledo, situated on Monroe Street. Mr. Kaminski was with The Weber Clothing House nine years. It was in recognition of his thorough experience, his ability, and judgment, that he 1162 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO was called to take charge of The Polonia Clothing and Shoe Company as general manager and buyer when that co-operative store was established in August, 1913. This is now one of the finest, cleanest, most-up-to-date and prosperous retail establishments on LaGrange Street. As already stated it is a cooperative store, with about eighty-five stock holders and nearly all the stockholders are Poles and the store is located in the Polish district and primarily serves the needs of Polish people. Mr. Kaminski is one of the stockholders as well as the general manager. Other officers of the company are : S. A. Grzezinski, president ; Carl Sitter, vice presi- dent ; A. J. Trepinski, secretary ; John G. Reiser, treasurer. The great success of the store tells the story of Mr. Kaminski's management. He is a careful buyer, allows no dead stock to accumulate, keeps everything staple and fresh, and the stockholders have been correspondingly pleased with his administration. Mr. Kaminski takes an active part in politics in his home ward, though in local affairs he gives his support to the best man. Nationally he is a republican. He is a member of St. Michael's Society, the Falcons, the Polish Commerce Club of LaGrange Street District, of St. Hedwig's Catholic Church, the Toledo Automobile Club and the Oriole Pleasure Club. He is unmarried and resides with other members of the family at 2622 LaGrange Street. CLIFFORD TAFT HANSON is one of Toledo's foremost real estate experts, and is vice president of The Irving B. Hiett Company, real estate, loans and insurance, and is one of the vice presidents of the Toledo Real Estate Board. Of distinguished New England ancestry, he was born at Woburn, Massachusetts, July 28, 1877. He graduated in 1896 from the Woburn High School, then entered Harvard University, from which he received his degree S. B. in 1901. His first experience in a business way was in the West, and for a time he was connected with the engineering department of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, with headquarters at Burlington. Mr. Hanson has been a resident of Toledo since 1903, and has been in the real estate business ever since. Since September 1, 1913, he has been connected with the Irving B. Hiett Company, one of the largest corpora tions of the kind in Northwest Ohio and is now its vice president. He has been active in the Toledo Real Estate Board, which was organized in 1910 and of which he is one of the vice presidents. His home is at Maumee, where he has taken an active interest in village affairs. He is president of the board of trustees of public affairs of the village and is a trustee of Lucas County Carnegie Library in Maumee. Politically he is a republican, is a member of the Toledo Commerce Club and the Toledo Automobile Club, and is not only a live business man but, a courteous gentleman, and is always ready to work for the best interests of his community. Mr. Hanson represents the ninth generation of the Hanson family in America. According to Watson's History of Halifax, England, the Hanson family is traced back to Roger de Rastrick, who lived before and about 1251 and was a person of considerable importance. He owned land in various places in Yorkshire, England, Rastrick being one of his estates. John de Rastrick had a son Henry, and Henry's son was named John. In those days when only christian names were in use, the two Johns de Rastrick were doubtless confused, and in order to distinguish them the younger John became Henry's son, shortened to Hen's son and Henson or Hanson as it was spelled later. As early as 1337 the name is found spelled Henson at Halifax. John Hanson of this line went to London and his son Thomas was the American emigrant. Beginning with the American line Thomas Hanson was born in England and was among the early settlers at Dover, New Hampshire. His descendants in this particular line were: Tobias Hanson ; Tobias Hanson, Jr. ; Tobias Hanson ; Aaron Hanson ; Aaron Hanson ; Joel Hanson ; James Ira Hanson, and Clifford Taft Hanson. James Ira Hanson, father of the.Toledo real estate man, was born at Belmont, Massachusetts, January 23, 1843, of revolutionary ancestry. He was educated in the public schools of Winchester, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard in 1865 A. B. and A. M. During the last year of the war he served in the 43rd Massachusetts regiment. Teaching was his profession, and he was a prominent man in educational circles in the East. For eighteen years he was principal of the Woburn High School, and the Hanson School in Woburn was named in his honor. On July 14, 1869, he married Helen Capron HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1163 Adams of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, who still resides at Uxbridge. James I. Hanson died at Woburn April 15, 1888. Besides his practical work as an educator he was also an author, having edited and published a revision of Peck's Ganoti text book on natural philosophy. In the maternal line Mr. Hanson is a member of the tenth generation of the Adams family. Henry Adams, the emigrant ancestor, was born in England, became one of the first settlers of Massachusetts Bay, at what is now the Town of Braintree, which was incorporated in 1640. He died October 6, 1646. He had a son Joseph Adams, and the latter in turn a son also named Joseph, who was born in Braintree December 24, 1654. He married Hannah Bass, who was a granddaughter of John Alden and Priscilla Mullens. Josiah Adams represented the fourth generation and his son was also named Josiah. In the sixth generation was Hon. Benjamin Adams, who was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, and was a cousin of President John Adams. Benjamin Adams was elected to Congress in 1815 and served until 1823, during the administrations of Presidents Monroe and Madison. Benjamin Adams belonged to the Bunker Hill Association which erected the Bunker Hill monument at Boston and he gave a $1,000 to that cause. The heads of the two generations following Benjamin Adams were John Adams and George Adams. George Adams was the father of Helen Capron Adams, who married James I. Hanson, and is the mother of Clifford Taft Hanson. Mrs. James I. Hanson is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and her bar pin of membership is distinguished with eleven bars, denoting that many direct ancestors who took part in the revolutionary struggle for independence. Clifford T. Hanson was married at Toledo October 6, 1903, to Miss Alice Gertrude Melvin, daughter of the late James Melvin, whose biography is found on other. pages. Mrs. Melvin now makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Hanson. The latter have a fine family of children, five in number, as follows: James Melvin Hanson, Chester Adams Hanson, Helen Hanson, Robert Taft Hanson and John Alan Hanson, the first three born in Toledo and the other two in Maumee. ELMER A. PALMER. A busy and successful career was that of the late Elmer A. Palmer of Napoleon, who at one time served the city as postmaster, and was a well known figure in law, politics, business and civic affairs. He was born in Fitchville, Huron County, Ohio, August 7, 1853, and died at his home at 837 Scott Street in Napoleon August 9, 1913, at the age of sixty years, two months and two days. His father, Nathan B. Palmer, a native of Connecticut, went to Huron County, Ohio, when a young man and was married there to Sarah Close. For a time they kept the old Fountain Hotel at Fitchville. When Elmer A. Palmer was three years old the family came to Henry County, locating in the wilds of Harrison Township, and establishing a home in a log cabin. Nathan Palmer, as a result of hard work, developed a good farm, built a new house and new barn, and spent practically half a century there before he retired and moved to Napoleon in 1905. On April 7th of that year his good wife and the mother of his children passed away at the age of seventy-five years and one month. Nathan Palmer himself died December 6, 1912. He was then past ninety years of age. Both he and his wife were for many years active members and supporters of the First Presbyterian Church, and he was a strong republican. In the early days he had been one of the conductors on the underground railway, and was one of the fearless leaders in the abolition movement. Elmer Palmer was the oldest of three sons. His younger brother is Hon. Okee M. Palmer, a prominent Henry County citizen, whose career is sketched on other pages. The third son, named Aiken, died when five months old. Elmer A. Palmer grew up on the Henry County farm, attended both the public and city schools, and was also a student in Oberlin College. In 1879 he graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and had been admitted to the bar a short time prior to his graduation. He was a very able lawyer, though he was not in the active practice of his profession many years. During the administration of Governor Foraker he was appointed to a position under the attorney-general of Ohio, but two years later resigned and returned to the old homestead. Then after two years he was appointed dairy and food inspector for the state, and filled that office two years. He devoted himself to farming and the managing of the old homestead until 1894, when he came to Napoleon and became proprietor of the Henry County Signal, a republican paper, which he successfully managed 3 ½ years. 1164 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO He was also associated for a few years with the Napoleon Loan Association, and in 1904 was appointed postmaster by President. Roosevelt, an office which he filled with credit for 4 ½ years. After that he retired to private life, and looked after his varied interests both in Henry County and in the South and West. Mr. Palmer was a very successful business man, and his counsel was highly esteemed by his business associates and friends. He was a vigorous republican, and was quite active in party councils. While not a member of any church, he exemplified the best principles of Christianity. In Liberty Township of Henry County, he married Miss Mary E. Elarton, who was born in Liberty Township, and for seven years prior to her marriage was a successful teacher. Her parents were Samuel R. and Margaret (Andslow) Elarton, the former a native of Crawford County, Ohio, and the latter of Pennsylvania. Their first child, Eliza J., was born in Crawford County, Ohio, and is now the wife of Thomas J. Howell, living in Michigan. Soon after her birth in 1852 the Elarton family moved to Liberty Township in Henry County, cutting their way through the woods to reach their home, where they built a log cabin in the midst of the woods. In Henry County three sons and three daughters were, born to Mr. and Mrs. Elarton, and two of the sons and two of the daughters are still living. Samuel Elarton enlisted in 1862 in the One Hundredth Regiment of Ohio Infantry, and was a corporal. He went South and in 1864 was captured at Limestone Station in Tennessee and soon afterward was thrown into Libby prison. Near the close of the war when he was already anticipating release from this notorious prison pen, he died in April, 1865, when only about forty years of age. His widow a number of years later married Rev. James Fink, a minister of the United Brethren Church. She died at the age of seventy-one. She was reared a Methodist, but after her second marriage became a United Brethren. Mrs. Palmer, who still keeps her home in Napoleon, is an active member of the First Presbyterian Church. She was also a member of the first literary society of the city, knoWn as the Ladies' Literary Society, and has held all the offices from president down, and is also active in the Ladies' Aid Society of the Presbyterian Church. ELMER D. GILSON. Om of the best known carpenter contractors in Henry County is Elmer D. Gilson, who has been in the business for fully forty years. His home has been at 1117 Scott Street in Napoleon for the past thirty years, and it was in Napoleon that he learned his trade. Mr. Gilson was born in Henry County September 4, 1854'. He began learning the carpenter trade when a youth, developed a high degree of skill and proficiency, and his services have been constantly in demand for many years as a carpenter contractor and builder. He has filled many contracts. at different points in Northwest Ohio, and has erected many of the better residences, the larger barns and also some of the school houses in this section of the state. His parents were Richard and Sophia (Cline) Gilson, both of whom were born in Holmes County, Ohio, and were married at Millersburg in that county. While they lived in Holmes County two sons were born, William and Thomas. About 1844 the family came to Henry County, locating on a farm on Bryan Pike in Napoleon Township. There Richard Gilson followed farming and also operated a threshing outfit. He died at the age of sixty-two, his widow surviving and being about eighty-four when she died. Both were members of the Christian Church and politically he was a Jackson democrat and held some township offices. The children born to them after they came to Henry County were named David, Boston, Rees, Frank, Elmer, .Sophia and Eliza A. Both the daughters are now deceased, Sophia having left one son, William S. The sons are all married and all had children. David, Thomas, Boston, Rees and Frank all saw active service in the Union army. William was a commissioned officer in the Sixty-eighth Regiment of Ohio Infantry and near Jonesboro, Tennessee, on August 31, 1864, was shot through the body, the ball passing through his chest and coming out near the spinal 'column. The surgeon passed a silk handkerchief entirely through the wound. Despite this injury he lived to be seventy-two years of age, was married and left children. All the other brothers escaped injury or capture during the war, and of these brothers David and Thomas are now deceased. Elmer D. Gilson, the youngest of these children, began learning the carpenter 's trade on April 15, 1873, and has thus been continuously identified with that profession and HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1165 pursuit for more than forty years. In Henry County he married Barbara Hoffman. She was born near Auburn, DeKalb County, Indiana, March 16, 1856, and was reared and educated there. Her parents were Pennsylvania people and were early settlers in DeKalb County, Indiana, where they spent the rest of their days as farmers. Her father served as county recorder for some years and was one of the leading republicans of that section. Mr. and Mrs. Gilson have four children. Minnie is the wife of F. G. Fraley, a carpenter and contractor at Napoleon, and their two children are Raynett and Robert. N. Leroy is in the grocery business on Perry Street as a member of the firm of Gilson & Tanner, and is married and has a son Richard. Bertha graduated from the City High School and is now a teacher at Hamler, Ohio.. Robert Lee, the youngest child, aged eighteen, is clerking in the grocery house of Gilson & Tanner. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. Gilson and his sons are democrats in national politics. He is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum and is an officer in the local organization. ELIAS B. COREY. An interesting distinction belongs to Elias B. Corey of Napoleon. He has been a resident in Henry County for the past sixteen years and came here to promote, as a pioneer manager, the development of the sugar beet industry. The growing of sugar beets is now one of the most valuable branches of agriculture in Northwest Ohio. Mr. Corey was for ten years a district superintendent representing some of the larger sugar beet organizations, and more than any other one man he came into close touch with the actual growers and encouraged the raising of sugar beets from the start. He came into Northwest Ohio representing the Mount Clemens Sugar Company. of Michigan. In Henry County he introduced the culture of the sugar beet in a district from Naomi to Hamler, a distance of twenty miles, and the first year, 1902, .by his influence, 350 acres were planted in the crop. This crop produced fourteen and a half tons to the acre, and that was the highest tonnage per acre ever grown in the state. During subsequent years he developed the sugar beet culture over many parts of Northwest Ohio, and at the present time the annual crop in this section of the state averages about thirty-five thousand acres with an average production of about ten tons per acre. The raw products are manufactured by the plant of the Toledo Sugar Company and the three plants of the Continental Sugar Company at Fremont, Findlay and Paulding. No one in Northwest Ohio possesses a more authoritative knowledge of the sugar beet culture than Mr. Corey, and it has been his fortune to witness the growth of the industry from a precarious experiment until it is now permanently established. Mr. Corey actively represented different sugar beet interests for ten years, but since 1912 has been retired and has had his home in Napoleon. He now gives his chief concern as an interested partner in the business conducted by his sons under the firm name of Corey Brothers. This business was established February 24, 1911, and is now the most complete automobile garage service and sales organization in Henry County. During the first two years the firm sold and placed seventy-five cars. They then acquired the agency of the Oakland car and sold fifteen of those during the first year. Since then they have specialized in the Studebaker, and at the end of eighteen months they have sold seventy-five cars of different types and models manufactured by this well known firm. Their agency extends over six townships in Henry County. Every one in Henry County knows the headquarters of the firm of Corey Brothers on Perry Street. With a 94-foot frontage and a depth of 110 feet, the building is a complete automobile service, garage and display headquarters. They have a complete repair shop and the brothers have developed an invention of their own for battery charging, and this is the best equipment of the kind in the state. The multiple process the main feature of this charging station, has been developed by the Corey brothers. They also have a patent process for removing carbon from cylinders. Their large machine shop is operated entirely by electrical power and there is no garage in this section of Northwest Ohio with more complete equipment and service. They carry, an extensive line of automobile accessories, including tires. The Automobile, Blue Book gives them the official station for Henry County. Elias B. Corey, who has filled his life with useful and interesting work and service, is a native of Michigan, born in Macomb County September 23, 1848. His parents were Elisha and Mary (Estes) Corey, the father a native 1166 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO of Wayne County, New York, and the mother of Pennsylvania. Both the Estes and Corey families came to Michigan in pioneer days and from Detroit they went out over the old Gratiot military road in the year 1836, before Michigan was admitted to the Union and established themselves on the frontier in Macomb County. There their first homes were in the midst of the forest, surrounded with wild game and with still wilder Indians. The grandparents lived and died in that locality and were worthily honored as pioneers and home builders. Elisha Corey and Mary Estes met and married in Macomb County, and spent their active careers as substantial farmers. Elias B. was the oldest of a family of five sons and three daughters, all of whom grew up, all married except one, and six of the children are still living. It was on a farm that Elias B. Corey spent his youth and acquired his first discipline and training for life. About the time he reached his majority and while President Grant was still in the White House, he took up a homestead in the wilds of Sanilac County, Michigan, and there he followed the example of his worthy ancestors and developed a first-class home. Later he returned to his native township and county and followed farming actively until 1902. He had had some experience in the sugar beet industry and in that year he was appointed by the Mount Clemens Sugar Company as district superintendent to develop and encourage sugar beet growing in Northwest Ohio, where his valuable work has already been described. About three years ago he gave up his position on account of advancing years and has since found his chief pleasure and occupation advising his enterprising young sons in their business. Elias B. Corey was married in Sanilac County, Michigan, to Miss Charlotte A. Doering. She was born in Prussia, Germany, not many hours ride from Berlin on April 7, 1846, and when twelve years of age she was brought to this country by her parents William and Charlotte (Schmidt) Doering. As was customary in those days the family embarked on a sailing vessel, and from Canada, where they landed, they moved across the boundary into Michigan and became pioneers in Sanilac County, where her parents secured 160 acres under, the homestead act. Her mother died on the old homestead in Sanilac County at the age of sixty-eight, while her father later moved to Spring Arbor, Michi gan, and died there at the age of eight-seven. He was laid to rest beside his wife in Sanilac County. Mr. and Mrs. Doering were reared, as Lutherans, but after coming to Michigan they affiliated with the Methodist Church. It was on the old home farm in Sanilac County that Mrs. Corey grew up, and her education came from the local schools. Mrs. Corey was one of three sons and five daughters, and they all grew to maturity except one, and all married but two. Mr. and Mrs. Corey have a fine family of children, who do them special honor. The oldest child is Anna, who married William Rano, a draft moulder of Detroit. William E., the oldest son, is engaged in the sugar beet industry at Stoney Ridge, Troy Township, Wood County, Ohio; by his marriage to Belle McKinsey, he has three sons. Bert is a member of the firm of Corey Brothers, automobile dealers at Napoleon ; he married Maude Finley, and their children are Lyle and Mabel. The daughter Bertha, now deceased, by her first husband left a son Fred. Marshall, also deceased, left a son Floyd, who lives with grandfather Corey. Charles, whose home is at Manistee, Michigan, has charge of the Manistee branch of the Gravis Motor Sales Company, he married Maud Bellow, and has a son and daughter. Chester B. for the past five years has been a member of the firm of Corey Brothers at Napoleon ; he married Elizabeth Donner of Detroit. Jay L. is also a member of the firm of Corey Brothers; he married Grace Chase of Michigan and they have a daughter Geraldine. Olive F. is the wife of Alphonso F. Freppel, who is connected with the Ford Company at Detroit; they have a daughter named Helen. Mr. Corey and his son Jay L. are both members of the Masonic Order, Mr. Corey having taken the Chapter degrees. The son Chester B. is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the son William is a Woodman. The father and all the sons are republicans in politics. SAMUEL M. JONES. Many things in American lifende accepted now in practice atnd belief that a few years ago were regarded as utopian and unassimilable. It is really a better way to measure progress by this gradual readjustment to new principles of social justice than by mechanical inventions and colossal aggregations of material power. A towering factory, a railroad system, is something of. a testimonial to the creative HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1167 power of the individual mind and energy, but it is less significant in the long view of centuries than the establishment of some principal or rule in human conduct that abolishes forever an age old injustice. It was as a pioneer in giving practical vitality and practice to ancient truth that Samuel Al. Jones will have his place in history. He brought no new philosophy ; he merely practiced what had been preached so long as to have lost its real meaning. He was known as Toledo's Golden Rule Mayor. Strangely enough, in carrying the golden rule into business and politics, he made himself a singular and picturesque figure in American life and in regulating his life by a standard upheld by church and moralists for centuries, he found himself exposed to as much ridicule and denunciation as though he were the originator of the rule. What he actually accomplished as an administrator of a successful business concern and of the municipal government of Toledo gives him a. high place in the history of that city, but altogether that is less important than the influence from his life and character that were introduced as a practical and definite fruitage into a wide and national if not international campaign for a revision of our social ideas and industrial methods which have gradually gathered increasing momentum since his death. Samuel M. Jones was born August 3, 1846, and died July 12, 1904. Beyond this brief introduction it is not the purpose of this article to interpret his career but merely set forth the significant and essential points of his biography. This can best be done by quoting appropriate passages from his autobiography, which appears in his book, "The New Right," and' written by Mr. Jones in 1899 while he was mayor of Toledo. He remained Toledo's Golden Rule mayor for five years after the book was published, and really died at his post. But the vital experiences of his life and the formulation of that political philosophy which he exemplified are contained in his autobiography. With only such changes therefore as the necessity for abbreviation requires, the following paragraphs are quoted in his own language : "I was born on August 3, 1846, in a small stone house still standing known as Ty Mawr (Big House) about three miles from the peaceful village of Bedd Gelert, Caernarvon-shire, North Wales. Three years ago I had the privilege and pleasure of visiting the rude house where I was born, the floor of which was composed of rough flag stones. I am glad that I left the place at such an early age that I cannot recall any of the hard experiences that my parents must have had there. "When I was three years of age they emigrated to America. As I understand the situation, and as the story has been told to me, they were what would now be classed as `assisted' emigrants, who are today denied the right to land. The passage across the Atlantic was made in the steerage of a sailing vessel and the voyage completed in the unusually fast time of thirty days. From New York passage was taken in a canal boat up the Hudson River through the Erie Canal to Utica, whence they went by wagon forty-five miles to the northward and settled in the vicinity of Collinsville, Lewis County. In Wales my father had worked in the slate quarries, and so he naturally drifted into the stone quarries and stone mason work in this country; soon afterward he became a renter of tenant farms, with the result that he usually succeeded in getting a tolerable livelihood for himself and family, but that was about all. "I went to the village school as soon as I was old enough and I recall that it was during those early years of my life the schools were made free in New York State. From my earliest recollection I had a strong dislike to farm work; and this disliking was called by another name by my family and the neighbors ; they called it 'laziness,' but I now assert that I have not now and never had a lazy hair in my head ; it was simply the rebellion of a free soul against the injustice of the kind and quality of labor so sought to be imposed upon me. "At ten years of age I worked by the month for a farmer who used to get me out of bed at four o'clock in the morning. It was true that my work was not of the heaviest kind—that is I was not required to carry things I could not lift—but I was dragged out of bed at an unearthly hour when a growing boy should be sleeping, and started off after the cows, and my day's work was not ended until sundown ; and for this service I received the munificent salary of $3 per month. I went to the schools in the winter, more or less, and there got my start for an education that I am still acquiring. I have not yet graduated and never expect to graduate ; I am far more of a student today than I ever was at any earlier period of my life. As nearly as I can remem- 1168 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO ber I went to school all told about thirty months ; during that time I did not get beyond fractions in arithmetic, and I have never studied grammar in or out of school an hour in my life. The education I have acquired has been gained under the severe handicap of a lack of technical training in the fundamental rules. "When I was fourteen years of age I worked in a sawmill twelve hours a day, sawing barrel heading, and one day I brought the little finger of my right hand in contact with the saw. I still bear the marks of the wound as a memento. Shortly after this I secured a boon I had longed for for years ; that was a job on the steamer L. R. Lyon, running on the Black River between Lyon's Falls and Carthage. I had a mechanical turn of mind, and was very ambitious and hopeful that some day I might rise to the exalted position (as it seemed to me) of a steamboat engineer. The getting of this job, which was that of 'wiper and greaser,’ seemed like the beginning of the realization of the hopes of future happiness. I spent the greater part of three summers on this boat and gained some little knowledge of mechanical engineering that proved useful to me in after life ; indeed, it was the advice of a steamboat engineer who had spent the winter of 1864-65 in the oil regions of Pennsylvania that in all probability was instrumental in changing the course of my life ; for it was he who said to me one day, ' Sammy, you are a fool to spend your time on these steamboats ; you should go to the oil regions; you can get four dollars a day there.' A little conversation with him soon led me to determine that his advice was worth considering, and a few days later I landed at Titusville, Pennsylvania, the headquarters and gateway practically of the oil regions, with fifteen cents in my pocket and without the benefit of the acquaintance of a single individual in the city." Then followed several days of disheartening search for work. At only one place did he receive consideration and kindly advice, and that was an experience that Mr. Jones always remembered and he said that he had made it a point, no matter how busy he was, to try to find time at least for a kindly word for the man out of a job, and when he had a factory of his own the walls were never defaced by any sign "no help wanted." On the following day he started for Pithole, then one of the noted boom centers of the oil industry. There his recommendation secured him work as an engineer at $4 a day. In his autobiography Mr. Jones describes the mushroom growth of that city and its equally rapid decline. After some months of steady work he found one day the offices of the company closed and the following winter he spent in the ranks of those "out of work." "From 1865 to 1870 I had a varied experience, working as driller, pumper, tool dresser, pipe liner, in fact, doing all kinds of work in the oil regions and for about six months working as a tool sharpener on a 'rock job' in the construction of a new railroad in Northern New York. Returning to Pleasantville, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1868 I was fortunate enough to strike a steady job, that boon which the toilers of earth so much crave and which they are so often denied. In the two years that followed I saved a few hundred dollars and 'started in for myself,' moving about from place to place as new oil fields were discovered—from Pleasantville to Parker's Landing, and from there to Turkey City, Clarion county, where I lived for six years and where I secured quite an important part of my literary education in the meetings of the Turkey City Literary Club, of which I was a member and part of the time president. It was while I lived there that I married, October 20, 1875, the wife of my youth, Alma Bernice Curtiss of Pleasantville, as sweet-spirited and helpful a soul as ever inhabited this world of ours, with whom I lived for ten years. She bore to me three children : Percy, born at Turkey City in February, 1878 ; Eva Belle, born at Duke Centre, August, 1879 ; Paul, born at the same place, May, 1884. Our little girl, Midgie we called her, died shortly after she was two years of age, and her mother's death followed in December, 1885. "The separation from these two souls Was the greatest trial and severest shock of my life. The little girl in the first place had somehow gotten nearer to my heart than any other creature, and the cloud that obscured the sunshine from my sky had scarcely cleared away during the four years that followed her death, when the greater trial came in the death of the wife of my youth. I think now that my suffering was greatly intensified by the confused notions I then held regarding life and its purposes. I now no longer think of them, or of any of the many friends who are gone, as dead, as I then thought of death. " Taking a backward glance over the twenty-four years that have passed since my first marriage I do not recall any happier years than were the first three which we spent HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1169 in a small cottage, our first home, on the Shoup farm about one half mile outside of Turkey City, where I had a small interest in an oil lease. I pumped an oil well, cultivated a small garden and assisted my wife with the washing, which we used to do jointly at the boiler house, where I had steam and hot water convenient for the purpose. She repaid me by watching the engine while I was gone to town on necessary errands and together we dug a part of our living out of the small garden; in addition to this, my wife taught music to two girl friends and presided at the organ in the Sunday school that was held in the hall of the literary club. We lived quite a natural life, comparatively free from the care and burden of 'things' and being so, we were at liberty to contribute our share to the common welfare of the community, and we had the best kind of times in so doing. I merely make mention of this because I want to impress the thought upon the minds of young people that the simpler the life the better it is, and the greater its possibilities in an artistic sense. Jesus made no mistake when he said that 'life does not consist in things.' "From Duke Centre in the Bradford oil fields, McKean county, to which we had moved in 1878, and where we lived for six -years, I moved after the death of my wife to Bradford, and one year later in 1886 to Lima, Ohio, being induced to do so mainly by my friends, who thought that a change of scene would serve to divert my mind from the great sorrow that had come upon me in the separation referred to. I at once engaged in the oil business in Lima, leasing lands, and drilled what was known as the 'first large oil well' in Ohio ; it was known as the Tunget well, located about three miles east of Lima, and it started at about six hundred barrels a day. The Standard Oil Company was the only buyer of Lima oil at that time, and was paying forty cents a barrel for it, but on the day after the Tunget well was struck the price declined to thirty-seven and one-half cents and a few days later to thirty-five cents. "When I arrived at Lima there were but twenty oil wells in the State of Ohio. The development of oil in the Ohio field marked an epoch in the history of our greatest oil trust, the Standard Oil Company. Prior to 1886 this company had never been a producer of petroleum—merely a buyer, manufacturer and shipper—but soon after the clrill had demonstrated that Ohio and Indiana contained vast areas of prolific oil territory, it entered the field as a producer. And right here I want to say that I have been familiar with the development and growth of this company from the beginning, and that while there has always been vigorous and pronounced opposition to it and to its methods, much of this opposition has seemed to me to be a 'waste of powder,' for I have always observed that as soon as those who were most pronounced in their antagonism to the Standard Oil Company and its methods were taken into the fold and made to share in the profits of the concern, their complaints suddenly ceased. From an intimate knowledge of the methods of the Standard Oil Company, covering twenty-five years, and the methods of business generally, I feel that as a socialist, as a man who believes in brotherhood, simple justice requires me to say that the ethics of that corporation are simply a reflex of the ethics prevailing in the business world and that guide and control the business men of today. "My experience as an oil operator in the Ohio and Indiana fields has been that of hundreds of others. I have simply taken advantage of opportunities offered by an unfair social system and gained what the world calls success—that is I have accumulated some property. I was one of the original incorporators of the Ohio Oil Company, now the producing department of the Standard Oil Company, and in proof of what I have just said I will say that in its early history the Ohio Oil Company had the opportunity before it practically to capture the Ohio oil field. It was composed of experienced oil producers, men who knew every detail of that business, but who lacked the ability to go forward and carry the thing through to the success that has been realized by the Standard Oil Company. We did not understand the art of competition, and so we surrendered (sold out) to the Standard. "In 1892 I married my present wife, Helen L. Beach, of Toledo, who has been to me a helpmeet and to my children everything that their own mother could have been except that she did not bear them." On October 3, 1897, a son was horn to them, Mason Beach Jones, who is attending the Toledo High School, class of 1917. "At that time 1892 I moved from Ulna, where I had made my home for six years, to this city (Toledo). During 1892 and 1893 I spent a great deal of my time in the oil fields among the wells and invented 1170 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO some simple but valuable improvements in oil well appliances and in 1894 I began the manufacture of these and other oil well appliances at 600 Segur Avenue, where the work was carried on under the name of the Acme Sucker Rod Company (now known as the S. M. Jones Company). "Prior to this time I knew little about `labor conditions.' As a rule, labor in the oil fields had enjoyed fair wages compared to similar work outside, and having passed most of my life in small towns I had seen little real suffering among the working people. I think the first real shock to my social conscience came when the swarms of men swooped down upon us begging for work, soon after signs of life began to be manifest around the abandoned factory which we rented for our new enterprise. I began to think about the thing called wages, and as I learned that men were employed at common labor at a dollar a day and even less, the whole hideous wrong of the wage system began to reveal itself to me. I saw at once that it was a purely arbitrary arrangement, in which the man who had nothing but his labor to sell had no choice ; he must accept what his employer offers, the alternative being usually starvation for himself and his children. I resolved that the 'going wages' rule should not reign supreme in the Acme Sucker Rod Company, but rather, I said, we would try to recognize the rule that every man is entitled to such a share of the product of his toil as will enable him to live decently, in a way that he and his children may be fit to be citizens of a free republic of equals ; and since that time, as best I know how, I have tried to be true to this principle. "I soon discovered that I was making the acquaintance of a new kind of man. Always a believer in the equality of the Declaration of Independence, I now for the first time came into contact with working men who. seemed to have a sense of social inferiority, wholly incapable of any conception of equality, and this feeling I believed it was my duty to destroy. Without any organized plan, and hardly knowing what I was doing, I determined that this groveling conception must be overcome ; so we began to take steps to break down this feeling of class distinction and social inequality. The first year we began to `get together' with little excursions down the bay, we invited our workmen and their families and also some other people who live in big houses and who do not work with their hands or anything else for the matter of that ; we sought to mix them, to let them understand that we are all people—' just people,' you know. As our business increased we took in new men, we made no special effort at selection ; there were always plenty of `out of work' willing and waiting to rent themselves out to us, that is, to allow us to use them to add to our wealth and incidentally to get an existence for themselves. We asked no questions as to their habits, their morals or their religion ; we ignored the sacred rules of business that go so far in some cases as even to submit the men to physical examinations in order to ,avoid the risk of responsibility incurred through physical weakness. In fact we were going along in a free and easy way, occasionally giving the boys a word of caution, perhaps printed on a pay envelope, or a little letter expressing good will and fellowship and a word of friendly advice. "It was the distress of mind occasioned by seeing a string of rules a yard long in another factory, at the tail of every one of which was a threat of dismissal, that led me to say to my wife, `I am. going to have a rule for our shop ; I am going to have the Golden Rule printed on a piece of tin and nail it up as the rule that governs the place.' It was not any belief in my own goodness of heart or my ability to reach the lofty ideal of doing to others as I would be done by, but it was the reaction that came from the contemplation of the outrageous injustice that was practiced upon my fellowmen by the ironclad rules to which they are made abject slaves in order to gain the right to a bare living, that led to the setting up of the Golden Rule on our wall. At that time I did not realize the limitations that are placed upon our better natures by the economic conditions that surround us. I did not know that the competitive system of industry was calculated to bring out everything that is bad and to suppress all that is good in us, as I now know that it is. The putting up of the Golden Rule was the first radical move that was made at the Acme Sucker Rod Factory. There were several things about that that may properly be called radical. In the first place, it was acknowledging a basis of equality for all about the premises ; next, it was ignoring the time honored precedent, 'doing as other people do ; ' finally it was an assumption at least that this fundamental rule of conduct, given HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1171 us by the founder of Christianity, was a livable and practical thing. "Perhaps the most helpful thing of all has been the opening of the Golden Rule Park and Playground. This is a lot of ground only 150 feet square adjoining the factory at the corner of Segur and Field avenues. Some fine old forest trees made it possible to convert this into a little park for the people and playground for the children, and it has been used and enjoyed to the utmost. The Sunday afternoon meetings for the people have been most delightful experiences. Brotherhood and Golden Rule. and Golden Rule and Brotherhood have been the popular themes we have been preaching from its platform. We have now supplemented the Golden Rule Park with the Golden Rule Hall, which was opened last Thanksgiving Day, where we hope to join in the teaching and study of this idea of brotherhood that is yet to save the world that Jesus died to redeem. We wish to have it distinctly understood that we do not lay claim to have done anything for which we either desire or deserve any credit. No man wants or deserves credit for having done what was simply his duty and we cannot lay claim to having done more ; in fact we do not feel that we have lived up to our convictions. We started out by joining in the universal admission that 'something was wrong.' The wronged men and women and children have been and are so constantly before us, whether asleep or awake, that we have been impelled by an irresistible power to do what we have done in the hope that we might uncover something that would correct the wrong. In following this impulse we have uncovered something; we have found the source, the evil, that we believe to be the cause of all the misery, wretchedness, want, poverty and crime that afflict this fair earth today. The cause of all this horrid category of evils is found in social injustice, springing out of a denial of brotherhood ; from this social injustice proceed the causes which produce and perpetuate all the miseries that I have enumerated." After becoming established as a successful manufacturer Mr. Jones broadened his experience by a number of journeys both in this country and in Europe, and everywhere he used his keen observation to learn more about the problems of social justice which had so long perplexed him. Continuing he says: "The revelations of truth that came pouring in upon me as a consequence of my ex- perience with the swarms of hungry men looking for work about the Acme Sucker Rod factory brought me more and more every day to a realization of the truth that I have talked so much about, the truth of brotherhood and the equal right of every man to a place upon the earth, as well as an equal right to live an entire human life. It was the result of these revelations and reflections and my seeking some way of escape from the guilt of the dreadful system in which we are all caught that led me, in the conduct of the work of our own business, to take such steps looking toward a mitigation of these evils as I have already outlined. The social gatherings, wherein we made an attempt to break down the absurd notions of social distinction between employer and employed ; the shortening of the time of labor to a fifty hour week ; the practicing of a little profit sharing at Christmas time and during the last year the giving a week's vacation with full pay, are measures we have employed in the hope of moralizing the system of industry in our plant. I now see that all these measures, while they are steps in the right direction, are insufficient. Fundamentally and scientifically, as well as according to all Christian conception, it is plain that every man is entitled to all the fruit of his toil. It follows therefore that neither I nor any other man has a right to take profit from his fellows, nor shall we want to in a just social order. "It was the application of these principles at the Acme Sucker Rod factory that brought my name with some degree of prominence before the Toledo public. In the spring of 1897 the Republican convention, to which r had been chosen a delegate, assembled in the city for the purpose of nominating a city ticket. There were three candidates for the office of mayor. After four ballots there was no choice and two of the candidates looked about for a man upon whom they could combine their forces to defeat the third, who was likely to be the winner on the next ballot. In this. emergency my name was placed before the convention, and I was nominated on the fifth ballot. I had been a resident of the city a little more than four years, had never been in a convention before, was not a member of a single club or fraternal society, and as my time had been largely spent outside the city in the oil fields I had of course but a limited acquaintance. The politicians and the wise men who fancied that they knew how it was all going to turn 1172 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO out were simply astounded ; they could not by any possibility account for such a strange performance, that an entire stranger, who had never done anything for the party, a comparatively unknown man, should walk in and capture a plum so longed for and so highly prized; should jump, as it were, right over the heads of faithful party workers who had toiled long and patiently during many weary years to serve the party. "And yet it was all due to a little effort put forth to deal justly with our fellowmen, and the workingmen, the toilers who produce all and have so little, were quick to realize, keen to appreciate and anxious to place the seal of their approval upon even this small effort in behalf of the right. "Being unacquainted with the city I decided at once that the wise course for me to pursue was not to attempt the organization of a political machine, but to start out at once to tell some of the truths that had been crowding in upon me, speak my mind, make a plea for a better social order, for fair play, for a Golden Rule deal all around. In live with this policy I entered upon the work of the campaign, and though unused to public speaking made many speeches in various parts of the city, in parks, factories and little halls over saloons where I could assemble men together. On one occasion I addressed a Democratic club, advocating non-partisan municipal politics. (I have gone only a step further now that I am advocating absolute non-partisan politics under all circumstances, the absolute destruction of partisan politics as the necessary first step to the realization of free government.) Though vigorously opposed by the forces of individualism, and particularly by the saloon-keepers, who feared on account of the fact I was known to be a member of a church, that a drastic policy would follow my election, I was elected by a majority of 534." During his first administration Mayor Jones says that he made no effort to serve the Republican party or to serve. any other party, sect, clique or clan. He advocated some measures looking toward social justice in the management of the affairs and work of the city ; he strongly advocated the shorter work day, and at least two important departments are now operating under it, the police department and the waterworks department. He advocated, and the police commissioners adopted, the merit system instead of the spoil system that had for years kept the police department a wrangling, fighting, jarring collection of men, hating one another instead of loving one another. Many things that he did and the measures he advocated were called "radical," but on the whole the administration was well received by the people of the city and that portion of the country outside that knew anything about it. In his second annual message Mr. Jones advocated a large program of measures, favoring the establishment or control by the municipality of such public utilities as a fuel gas plant, electric lighting plant, civil service rule in all departments, the granting of no franchises without popular approval, the abandonment of the contract system of public works, and the improvement and extension of the park system, the schools, bathing beaches, etc. Some weeks after he sent in this message Mr. Jones received a letter from William Dean Howells who wrote: "I know of no public paper in these times of greater value than your annual message, of which some unknown friend sent me a copy. It is full of good sense S springing from the humanity which is the source of all good sense. With yourself and Governor Pingree in official life we cannot quite lose courage, even when the republic is trying to turn itself into an empire." In March, 1899, came the Republican convention for the nomination of a candidate for mayor. The interesting account Mr. Jones gives of this convention is too long to he quoted, and it must suffice to state that as a result of familiar manipulation and after three ballots had been taken another nominee was named, this constituting practically a repudiation of the preceding mayor's administration. Immediately following the convention Mr. Jones announced himself as a candidate for the office of mayor on an independent ticket. A part of the letter making this announcement is as follows: "The principles which have guided me and upon which I shall go before the people as an independent candidate are : Equal opportunities for all and special privileges to none. Public ownership of all public utilities. No grant of new or extension of existing franchises. The abolition of the private contract system of doing city work. A minimum wage of one dollar and a half per day of eight hours for common labor ; organized labor to be employed on all public work. "As no criticism has been entered against the administration of the mayor's office, it HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1173 follows that my defeat for renomination in the convention today is a repudiation of these principles. The methods employed to accomplish my defeat were so notoriously corrupt as to excite the indignation of all classes of the entire community, irrespective of party. The unqualified promise of support from these is a comforting assurance that government by the people has not yet perished from the earth. * * * The movement to defeat me found its chief inspiration in my well known opposition to the extension of the franchises of the street railway company and those sought for by the Water street railway, as the plans of men of eminent respectability will be seriously interfered with if these schemes are blocked." In the campaign that followed Mr. Jones had to deal not only with the determined opposition of the "interests" but also with the ministers of the various churches in the city, who found fault with him because he had not closed or would not promise to close the saloons and gambling houses of the city. In his reply to the ministers he said in part : "The records of the police court in this city reveal the fact that there have been many attempts in the past to enforce various phases of the saloon laws with the practically uniform result of a failure to make a case and the saddling of the costs on the city. This simply, proves a well known truth that, no matter what law is on the books, the only law that can be enforced is the law that the public sentiment of the community will up. hold. On this point I shall be explicit. I have enforced and shall continue to enforce all the laws according to the standard of existing public sentiment." Another spectacular feature of the campaign was a revival meeting led by the famous evangelist Sam P. Jones, who made some very violent attacks upon Mr. Jones' personal character and his conduct of both business and municipal affairs. The labor vote was almost unanimously in support of Mr. Jones, and in spite of many predictions that he could not be elected the counting of the ballots showed that out of a total vote of over 24,000, Jones, the independent, received fully 70 per cent, carrying every precinct but one in the city. The funeral services of Samuel M. Jones were conducted at the family residence, and on the day that he was to be laid to rest friends began congregating in the morning, many bringing with them their lunches, and Vol. II-33 thousands paid their last respects to the man they had so dearly loved and honored. The streets were thronged with friends from the house to the cemetery. Services were conducted by Rev. Marion Hyde, Rev. Allan A. Tanner and Brand Whitlock. Never in the history of Toledo was there ever such a gathering of sorrowing friends, and too much could not be said of the love the people held for this grand good man. SELAH REEVE MACLAREN. A splendid Career of good deeds and good influence, replete with experience and achievements, and the persistent honor paid to a character of rigid integrity and honesty, was that of the late Selah Reeve Maclaren, who died at his home on Madison Avenue in Toledo January 29, 1905. For almost forty years he had been identified with Toledo. He was an able and successful merchant and succeeded in building up a large industry from humble beginnings. He was also prominent as a church worker. He was born in New York City June 11, 1846. His father, a Presbyterian minister, moved to Fall River, Massachusetts, when the late Mr. Maclaren was eight years of age, and in that city he remained during his youth and received his early education. On April 14, 1865, the day President Lincoln was assassinated, he arrived in Toledo. One of his first acts was to identify himself with the First Presbyterian Church. Later he became one of the first members of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, and still later took his letter to the Collingwood Avenue Church. He also became very active in the Young Men's Christian Association, and was officially identified with that organization in Toledo. In a business way his first experience in Toledo was as an employe of N. Reeve & Company, lumber dealers. Their yards were located at the corner of Adams and Water streets. There for six years the young man showed unflagging interest and constant industry in the service of his employers, saved some money of his own, and mastered all the details of the lumber business. In 1871, at the age of twenty-five, he formed a partnership with the late Heman C. Sprague, under the firm name of Maclaren & Sprague. At the start the firm had little capital, some good will, and only a promise of becoming a future competitor with the larger concerns surrounding them. Mr. Maclaren himself assisted in handling the lumber and driving 1174 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO the wagons, while Mr. Sprague solicited the orders. Later the partnership was merged into a corporation, with Mr. Maclaren as president, and the business has long been known as one of the largest concerns of its kind in Toledo. There was at least, one other large enterprise of Toledo with which Mr. Maclaren was closely identified. This was The Franklin Printing and Engraving Company. It was started in a small way by Charles N. Bellman at the latter's home, but almost from the start Mr. Maclaren supplied the capital, and to him is attributed much of its splendid prosperity and success. He was president of the company at the time of his death. This is now one of the largest concerns of its kind around the Great Lakes, and has an immense plant on Superior Street. Mr. Maclaren was president of the Holcomb National Bank at the time of his death, and had been re-elected president only a short time prior to his demise. A beautiful memorial was drawn up and adopted by the board of directors of that institution. He had served a number of years as its vice president and was first elected president in 1897. This institution after Mr. Maclaren's death was merged with the National Bank of Commerce. Apart from business and his church and home, Mr. Maclaren found time for good fellowship of the wholesome nature. In Masonry he attained thirty-two degrees of the Scottish Rite, was a member of all the Scottish Rite bodies in Toledo and was also affiliated with Sanford L. Collins Lodge No. 396, Free and Accepted Masons, Fort Meigs Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Toledo Council, Royal and Select Masters, and Toledo Commandery, Knights Templar. In 1874 Mr. Maclaren married Miss Margaret Moore of St. Clair, Michigan. To that union were born two daughters : Elizabeth, widow of Joseph R. Bailey of Fairmont, West Virginia ; and Helen, who first married Edward B. Yaryan, and second Frank E. Duhme. In 1888 Mr. Maclaren married Anna C. Beach, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. William A. Beach, an old Toledo family mentioned on other pages. By his second marriage Mr. Maclaren had one daughter, Christine, who died in 1901. Mrs. Maclaren is a sister of Mrs. S. M. Jones, widow of the late Samuel M. Jones, and the two sisters now live together at the Jones residence on Monroe Street, adjoining the Toledo Museum of Art. WILLIAM A. BEACH. In the death of William A. Beach at his home in Toledo December 13, 1892, was ended a useful career and a life of quiet effectiveness, marked by a record of many duties well done and many responsibilities faithfully fulfilled. Mr. Beach was one of the old time telegraphers, a veteran at the key, and it was well said that few men in the city had for so long a time served his company or the community so efficiently and yet with so little ostentation as Mr. Beach. An expert in the technique of his profession, a man of incorruptible integrity and of utmost faithfulness to duty, his character and activity would have been valuable assets to any city. He was born in East Bloomfield, New York, April 17, 1822, and was therefore past seventy when he died. He reached his manhood about the time the telegraph was first put into commercial use, was attracted to the service and mastered every detail of what was then a very complicated art. He was taken into the employ of the old Western Union Telegraph Company, and there his industry and faithfulness attracted the attention of his superiors and he was among the first to handle a telegraph key in Toledo. An opportunity for promotion came when the company determined to open a city office in Toledo. Mr. Beach was placed in charge of that office in 1855, and he remained faithful to his post until his death. In the meantime the business of that office, first very small, increased with the growth of population and business, and he showed a remarkable capacity for all the increasing responsibilities and an adaptability to every modification and change in his own work and in the outside business world. The success of a telegraph office, like all other businesses where competition is a factor, depends upon the skill of individual management and the faithfulness with which all commissions are carried out. These were characteristics peculiar to the nature of Mr. Beach, and patrons soon found that all trusts and secrets which passed through that office were safe. They had also an assurance that the work would be performed with dispatch and accuracy. It is not strange therefore that Mr. Beach's fidelity to duty gave the Western Union Company an enormous volume of business in Toledo. He made the interests of his company his own interests, and in fact, he took a personal pride in the efficiency of the entire office organization, and the Toledo office