700 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO tion. He had splendid powers as a conversationalist, and yet those who remember him think of him as much as a good listener as a talker. He liked nothing better than to talk of his own political convictions and to get the point of view of his hearers. It is said that again and again he forgot his meal times when absorbed in explaining some point of the socialist doctrine. In religion, while not a stickler about creed, he was an active member of the Third Presbyterian Church of Toledo, and was identified with that church because his parents had been Presbyterians before him. On June 9, 1869, Doctor Reed was happily married to Miss Emma Bethiah Smythe, who was born in Columbus, Ohio, a daughter of Henry P. and Sarah K. (Harris) Smythe, her mother being a daughter of Timothy and Bethiah (Lynnel) Harris. Doctor and Mrs. Reed had five sons: Morgan Smythe, the oldest, died August 20, 1913 ; Harris Hamilton died in childhood ; Chase Campbell lives in Detroit, Michigan ; Carl Kirkley also died in childhood ; Lynnel Lecky, who resides with his mother, is a talented musician at Toledo, and a brief sketch of his career is found on other pages. JAMES KENT HAMILTON was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1862 and forthwith engaged, not in the practice of law, but in fighting the battles of the Union, where he made a gallant record as a soldier and officer until the close of the rebellion. A little more than half a century ago he began the practice of law at Toledo and has been one of the most influential figures in the life of that city ever since. He is one of the oldest members, in point of continuous practice, of the Northwest Ohio bar, and is senior in the well known firm of Hamilton, Kirby & Conn, with offices in the Ohio Building. His Scotch-Irish ancestors located in the Colony of Massachusetts about the middle of the eighteenth century, and one or more of the direct ancestors of General Hamilton served as soldiers in the War of the Revolution and one of his maternal ancestors was of Mayflower fame. The family has been identified with Northern Ohio since pioneer times. His grandfather, James Hamilton, located at Lyme, Huron County, about 1830. Thomas Hamilton, father of General Hamilton, was born in Washington County, New York, came to Ohio with his parents, and for many years was a prominent citizen and merchant of Milan, Erie County. He was a factor in the great grain trade of which that town was the center in early days. In 1861 he removed to Toledo, and helped build up that city and port as a grain center and continued in active business until his death in 1876. He was an influential figure in the whig party during its existence, and at one time represented Erie and Huron counties in the Ohio Senate. Thomas Hamilton married Sarah 0. Standart, who was also of New England ancestry and a native of New York State. At the old family home in Milan, Erie County, Ohio, James Kent Hamilton was born May 17, 1839. He received a liberal education, graduating A. B. from Kenyon College at Gambier in 1859. He taught school whil studying law and was successively under th preceptorship of Hon. R. C. Hurd at Moun Vernon, Hon. S. F. Taylor at Milan and Wil Liam Baker at Toledo. In his twenty-third year, in 1862, he was admitted to the bar and in the same year Kenyon College granted him the Master of Arts degree. His alma mater conferred upon him the degree LL.D in 1912, just half a century later. Soon after his admission to the bar he enlisted as a private in the One Hundred and Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was later promoted to captain and remained with that organization until the close of the war. At the battle of Chickamauga he served as acting assistant adjutant general and chief of staff of the brigade commanded by Gen. John G. Mitchell, and was specially complimente for gallantry in the reports of Generals Mitchell, Whitaker and Granger. " This brigade was one of the two which, under the immediate command of General Steedman, saved the army of the Cumberland under General Thomas from annihilation at Chickamauga on the afternoon of September 20, 1863." General Hamilton was also in the battle of Missionary Ridge, was in the Knoxville campaign, and in the battles of Resaca, Rome, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, and the engagements in and about Atlanta. Under General Sherman he marched to the sea, was with Sherman's command in the campaign through the Carolinas, to Goldsboro and Richmond, and was in the last battles of the army of the Cumberland at Averysboro and Bentonville. At the close of the war he participated in the grand review at Washington. A veteran soldier though still a youth in point of years, he at once took up the practice HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 701 of law at Toledo, and his success as a lawyer has been due to his ability, high standards and conscientious work. His present associates in practice are George P. Kirby and Amos L. Conn. Much of his important public service has been rendered in the line of his profession. At one time he was prosecuting attorney of the police court and later was prosecuting attorney of Lucas County four years and for the same length of time city solicitor. In association with others he was attorney for the City of Toledo in the case involving the determination of the value of the abandoned canal lands, which was decided by the Supreme Court in favor of the city. He was also connected with the important case relating to the taxation of national bank shares, in which it was held that such shares could not be taxed differently from other bank shares. He has always had more than ordinary individual influence in the life of his city and state. For twelve years he was a member of the Board of Sinking Fund Trustees of Toledo, was for seven years a member of the hoard of education, much of the time being president of the board, served as mayor of Toledo two terms, 1887-1890, and from 1896 to 1900 was judge advocate-general of the State of Ohio on the staff of Governor Asa S. Bushnell. In 1910 he was republican candidate for Congress for the Toledo District. His last and in some ways his most signal service to his home city was as member and president of the charter commission elected by the people of Toledo in November, 1913, to prepare a charter for the government of Toledo. The charter prepared by the commission was approved at the election on November 3, 1914, and Toledo is now governed by the provisions of that charter. He is a member of many important organizations. He belongs to the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and to the Anthony Wayne Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. He was one of the charter members of Forsythe Post, which was organized November 19, 1866, and of the first organization of the Grand Army of the Republic in Lucas County. He is now a member of Toledo Post, Grand Army of the Republic. At the national encampment held in Toledo in 1908 he was chairman of the local executive committee and was elected senior vice-commander in chief of the order for the United States. From July, 1914, to July, 1915, he served as department commander of the Department of Ohio, Grand Army of the Republic. Dur ing its existence he was active in the old Maumee Valley Historical and Monumental Society, and he now belongs to the Maumee Valley Pioneer and Historical Association. He has ever been a staunch friend of his army comrades and associates in the ranks of civil life. Many times he has been called upon to speak at the funeral of old comrades and friends, and his tributes contained in these addresses have often been published in Toledo papers. He is a member and vestryman of Trinity Episcopal Church, belongs to the Lucas County Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Association, and is a member of the Toledo Club, Toledo Country Club and Toledo Commerce Club. In 1876 General Hamilton married Sibyl Williams, who died in 1877. On July 27, 1898, he married Ethel Beecher Allen of Kansas City, Missouri, daughter of Edward H. and Agnes (Beecher) Allen. To their marriage has been born one son, Allen Beecher Hamilton, who was born at Toledo fifteen years ago and is a member of the class of 1918 in the Scott High School. Mrs. Hamilton is of a famous family, and has been prominent both in Toledo and in her former home state of Missouri, especially in the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is now vice president general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and before coming to Toledo was state regent of the Missouri Chapter of that order. She is a great-granddaughter of the famous Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, who served with so much distinction as president of Lane Seminary at Cincinnati. She is also a grandniece of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Her grandfather, Rev. William Henry Beecher, was a son of Dr. Lyman Beecher by his first wife, Roxanna Foote. Rev. William Henry Beecher served for some time as pastor of churches in Ohio, at Zanesville, Chillicothe and Toledo, and finally settled in Chicago, where he died June 15; 1889, in his eighty-seventh year. He married Katharine Eades of Boston. Their eldest child, Agnes Beecher, mother of Mrs. Hamilton, was born at Newport, Rhode Island, August 10, 1831, and was married July 30, 1859, to Edward Herrick Allen. He was born in Danbury, Connecticut, was reared at Zanesville, Ohio, graduated from Marietta College, was at one time principal of the schools at Chillicothe and in 1861 enlisted in the Union army. Later he studied law, moved out to Kansas City, Missouri, where he practiced several years and then 702 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO engaged in the banking business, in which he became prominent. He died in 1895. His widow, now in her eighty-fourth year, resides at Toledo. Edward Herrick Allen and wife had just one child, Mrs. Hamilton. Mrs. Hamilton was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, and holds the degree of A. B. and A. M. from the Kansas State University, where she was a member of the Phi Beta Phi and was elected a Phi Beta Kappa. The Daughters of the American Revolution appointed her organizing regent, and in that capacity she formed the Elizabeth Benton Chapter of Kansas City, Missouri, the first chapter established in the state, and she was also the first state regent of Missouri, serving in 1896-97. Since coming to Toledo she has been a member of Ursula Wolcott Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. On April 2, 1913, she began her duties as state regent of Ohio. She is also a member of the Colonial Dames, the United States Daughters of 1812 and the Society of New England Women. WILLIAM HENRICKSON MOOR. One of the longest established and best known real estate firms of Toledo is Moor Brothers, consisting of Dudley Watson Moor and his brother William H. Moor, with offices at 329 Huron Street. The firm are members of the Toledo Real Estate Board and of the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges, and they have built up an important organization for the handling of real estate, loans, insurance and rentals. Their specialty is the subdivision and development of outside property and they have put on the market some of the most important additions and subdivisions around Toledo and in the Maumee Valley. The members of the Moor family have played a varied and conspicuous part in this section of Northwest Ohio for a great many years. William Henrickson Moor, is a son of Dudley Watson Moor, Sr., and Ann (Hunt) Moor his wife. William H. Moor is at the present time developing a fine tract of land consisting of twenty-five acres and situated five miles from the city limits of Toledo on the Toledo and Indiana Electric line in Adams Township. He intends making this his permanent home and he finds much recreation in developing and tending a fine young orchard which he has started there. This tract of land is especially mentioned here because it was acquired by Mr. Moor's grandfather, Daniel Cook, nearly seventy years ago, in 1847. Mr. Moor's great-grandfather, Dr. Daniel Cook was a settler in Maumee as early as 1834. William Henrickson Moor was born at Oxford Furnace, Campbell County, Virginia, April 5, 1876. His father died at his home, "Moorhurst," in Sylvania Township, Lucas County, Ohio, February 7, 1900, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. The mother died at Maumee, where she was living at the time, March 29, 1914. On the day following her death she would have celebrated her eightieth birthday. The parents were both New England people and of colonial and revolutionary stock. Dudley W. Moor, Sr., was extensively engaged in the tobacco business at New York and Montreal during the decade of the Civil war, and had resided in both places. He also owned considerable property along the Kennebeck River in Maine. After the war he sold that property, and in the light of subsequent development that was a financial mistake, since the land greatly appreciated in value and is now worth a fortune. The severe Maine winters, however, caused him to sell his property, and in 1869 he moved to Virginia, in which state his son, William H., was born. In Virginia he conducted the Oxford Iron Furnace until the panic of 1873, when with many others all over the country, he suffered little less than financial disaster. In 1879 he sent his family back to Waterville, Maine, while he went out to the Pacific Coast and for six years managed some iron furnaces on Puget Sound in the interests of a large syndicate. In 1885 he came to Lucas County, Ohio, and in the following year his family joined him. After settling in Lucas County he took the management of several thousand acres of land west of Toledo in Sylvania Township. He developed this extensive property and managed it for its owners, devoting it especially to the raising of live stock. He continued in that work until his death. William H. Moor's grandfather was Hon. Wyman Bradbury Moor, who was at one time member of the United States Senate from Maine. Dudley W. Moor, Sr., and wife had twelve children, six sons and six daughters, and four of the sons and five of the daughters are still living: Miss Clarissa, a resident of Maumee, Ohio ; Mrs. James W. Sewell of Maine ; Mrs. William E. Page of Toledo ; Dudley Watson, Jr., associated with his brother, William H., in the firm of Moor Bros. ; Mrs. June Graham of Ashland, Oregon ; Wyman B. of Toledo ; Mrs. Clarence M. Hart of Toledo ; Dr. Daniel Cook Moor, who became assistant surgeon in the Sixth Ohio Regiment HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 703 in the Spanish-American war, and when that regiment was sent home he entered the regular service, was stationed at Santiago, Cuba, for a time, and is now a physician and surgeon at Havana; and William H. Moor, the youngest of the living children. Doctor Moor and William H. were both born in Virginia, while the others are natives of Waterville, on the Kennebec River, in the State of Maine. William H. Moor grew up and attended the public schools of Sylvania and Toledo, being in the high school at both places, and he had his first practical business experience away from home when he served as a Columbian Guard during the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893. For several years he followed with profit to himself and to others a somewhat unique business, involving the exhibition at county and state fairs of a herd of Shetland ponies. These ponies were a specialty of the large estate in Sylvania Township of which his father was manager and young Moor would take some fifteen or twenty of the ponies and beginning with the Toledo Fair would follow the circuit of county fairs all over Ohio. One source of profit from the exhibition of these ponies came from their use about the fair grounds to furnish rides for children at five cents a ride. The ponies were all thoroughbred, and a large number of them were sold at the fairs, the price brought being from $150 to $200 apiece. Mr. Moor kept this up for about four seasons and found it very profitable. Later he engaged in the real estate business, and finally became associated with his brother, Dudley Watson, under the firm name of Moor Brothers. They have, been associated in this business for about twenty-two years. Among the important enterprises promoted and managed by the company should be mentioned the platting of Woodward Heights, Fairview, Moor Brothers' First Addition, Royal Oaks, W. A. Hodge Addition, Eaton & Moor Addition, Extension of Fairview Addition, Oak Grove, Oak Grove Gardens, Sibley Place, and the firm is now working on and is acting as agent for the Whitney Hills Addition. Four new additions are to be brought out by the firm during 1916. and they also have platted and control the sale of two hundred lots in the City of Maumee. The company also has extensive farm lands in Lucas County. Mr. Moor is an independent in politics, is a member of Sanford L. Collins Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, Toledo Lodge, Inde pendent Order Odd Fellows, Toledo Yacht Club, Toledo Commerce Club, and Toledo Automobile Club. For 1916 he is president of the Toledo Real Estate Board. He is a member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, and his company has contributed liberally to the Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association of Toledo. On July 30, 1896, Mr. Moor married Miss Helen Sharp of Omaha, Nebraska. She was born in Burlington, Iowa, and is a graduate of the public schools of Omaha. Mrs. Moor was for a time secretary of the board of education at Omaha, and was filling that office up to the time of her marriage. She is active in the work of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, and is a member of the Young Women's Christian Association. Of their four children all were born in Toledo except their son John, who is a native of Missouri. These children are named Helen Sterling, William H., Jr., John Hunt and Jane Elizabeth. By virtue of his ancestry Mr. Moor is an active member of Anthony Wayne Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, was its secretary for two years and has also been registrar. JUDGE CHARLES PRATT. For nearly half a century the late Charles Pratt filled a place of unusual attainments and distinction in Toledo and Northwestern Ohio. His death at his Toledo home, March 15, 1900, removed a prominent judge, an able lawyer, a pioneer citizen, and a Christian gentleman. He was born near Rochester, New York, January 15, 1828, and was seventy-two years of age at his death. In both the maternal and paternal lines he was descended from ancestors who were very long lived, most of them attaining more than fourscore and some of them reaching almost a century of years. His father, Alpheus Pratt, was born in Massachusetts, and in 1819 removed to New York and became an early settler in the western part of that state. In 1833 he went still further west, joining in the great exodus from the western counties of New York to the new country of Southern Michigan. He established a home in what was known as the "Bean Creek country" at what is now Hudson, and is included within the Maumee Valley. He died at Hudson in March, 1884, at the age of ninety-one. His widow also attained advanced years and died at the home of her son, Judge Charles Pratt, at Toledo. Judge Pratt was only five years of age when his parents removed to Michigan. He 704 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO grew up in a pioneer community, where there were few neighbors and where in the early years the greater part of the population consisted of Pottawatomie Indians. In fact, these Indians had a campground very near the Pratt farm. Until he, was sixteen he received only such advantages as were given by the early schools, and afterwards he attended a select school at Adrian, Michigan, and a seminary at Albion, which later became Albion College. In 1850 he entered the office of Hill & Perigo and read law until his admission to the bar in 1852, when he became a member of the firm, and it was afterward known as Hill, Perigo & Pratt. Later, however, Mr. Perigo withdrew, and the firm of Hill & Pratt continued the business until 1870, when the firm of Pratt & Wilson was formed, which continued until 1895. Judge Pratt was well grounded in the law, had good business judgment, and was very successful in the handling of a large general practice. He always identified himself closely with Toledo's best interests, and filled a number of positions with credit. He was a member of the city council and also acted as president of that body. In politics he was first a whig, and afterwards a. republican. He was a trus tee of Westminster Presbyterian Church organization and for many years president of the board. At one time he also served as president of the Toledo Young Men's Christian Association, and was very active in promoting temperance and Sunday school work. On the last day of February, 1900, Judge Pratt left his office as judge of the Common Pleas Bench, having given five years to that responsible service. On leaving the bench, though in ill health, he formed a partnership to practice with his son Judge John S. Pratt and William K. Terry. A little later he was caught in a heavy snow storm, from which the grippe resulted, and not long afterward he was called from the scene of his mortal endeavors. Judge Charles Pratt married Catherine Sherring. She survived her husband and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Sidney Lathrop, at Portland, Oregon, March 27, 1910, at the age of 'seventy-six. She was laid to rest in Toledo. There were seven children of this union, three, sons and four daughters, five of them still living: Mrs. Thomas Dunlap, Jr., whose home was in St. Paul, Minnesota, is now deceased. Dr. Henry S. Pratt is professor of Biology in Haverford College at Haverford, 'Pennsylvania. Mrs. Olive Pratt Young is now librarian of John Jermain Memorial Library at Sag Harbor, Long Island. Mrs. O. S. Wilcox of Toledo died in that city in 1912. Charles A. Pratt is an electrical engineer at Chicago. Mrs. Sidney G. Lathrop lives in Portland, Oregon. Judge John S. Pratt is mentioned in succeeding paragraphs. There are also thirteen grandchildren of the late Charles Pratt. The old est, now about thirty-three, is Maurice Pratt Dunlap, who is United States consul at Stavanger, Norway. Another grandson, about twenty-three year of age, is Charles O. Young who is junior chemist in the Department of Agriculture at Washington. Miss Jeanette. Dunlap is a teacher of physical culture in a ladies' seminary at Kansas City, Missouri. JOHN, SHERRING PRATT. While for upwards of twenty years Mr. Pratt has been an active member of the Toledo bar in which his father, the late Charles Pratt, also held a distinguished position for nearly half a century, the son is perhaps' best known for his varied public service, chiefly in the line of his own profession. For a number of years now he has been assistant United State's' attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. He was born in Toledo June 5, 1875, son of the late Charles and Catherine (Sherring) Pratt, both now deceased. The Pratt anc tors came from England and settled Massachusetts during colonial days, while mother was of English birth. Educated in the Toledo public school graduating from high school in 1893, Jo Sherring Pratt then entered the University of Michigan where he pursued courses both the literary and law departments u June, 1897. At that date he was admitted to the bar and at once returned to Toledo for active practice. Until 1899 he was associated with the well known law firm of Swayne, Hayes & Tyler. He then became junior member of the firm of Pratt, Terry & Pratt, the two older members being his father, Charles Pratt, and William K. Terry. He left that firm in 1901 when Judge F. J. Wing of the United States District Court appointed him United States commissioner. In April, 1904, the city council of Toledo appointed Mr. Pratt judge of the City Court to fill a vacancy and in the following November he was elected to that position for a term of three years. When his regular term was about to expire he declined to become a Candidate for a second nomination, since he hoped HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 705 and planned at that time to devote all his attention to his private practice, which had been rapidly accumulating. As a lawyer he practiced alone until March 15, 1908, when he was appointed assistant United States district attorney by Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte, who was at that time attorney-general of the United States. On January 1, 1909, Mr. Pratt became associated in practice with Judge Doyle in the firm of Doyle & Lewis. This connection was closed April 1, 1915. On June 9, 1906, Mr. Pratt married Miss Genevieve Doyle, daughter of Judge John H. and Alice F. Doyle. They have one daughter, Alice Doyle Pratt, who was born in Toledo and is now attending Miss Smead's School for Girls. Mrs. Pratt died January 6, 1912. She was a native of Toledo, acquired part of her education in Miss Smead's School for Girls at Toledo and finished at Mount Vernon Seminary at Washington, D. C. She was very prominent socially and an active worker in the Thalian Society. Her accidental death was widely mourned. She was standing by a grate fire and her clothing caught from the flame of the gas log and death resulted from the severe injuries sustained. Judge Pratt is a member of the Toledo Club, the Toledo Commerce Club, the Toledo Country Club, Sanford L. Collins Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Toledo Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and of the Lucas County Bar Association. For many years he has taken much interest in music. He has sung in the different choirs of the Toledo churches until .within the last two years. lie was baptized in Trinity Episcopal Church of Toledo. He is a member of the Congregational Society. JOHNSON THURSTON. With an assured prominence as a lawyer, gained by more than thirty years of active practice in Toledo, Johnson Thurston is perhaps more widely known in that city for his decided leadership in civic affairs. As a civic leader he is equally removed from the visionary theorist and the practical opportunist. In fact he might be regarded as a modern type of the old idealist in political thought. He has a clearer and deeper insight than most politicians of the later day, and looks below and beyond practical expedients and methods to the ultimate aim and purpose for which all political machinery has been established. In few Ameri can cities has the movement for a more wholesome condition in municipal affairs gained more headway than in Toledo, and among those who have given impetus to this movement and have helped create a new civic atmosphere, Johnson Thurston is easily among the foremost. A native Ohioan, he was born in Peru Township of Morrow County July 20, 1858, and is descended from old American ancestry. He is a representative of the eighth generation of the Thurston family in this country. His immigrant ancestor was Daniel Thurston, who came from Gloucestershire, England, and located at Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1635. Moses Thurston, the great-grandson of Daniel, and great-great-grandfather of Johnson Thurston, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He first enlisted June 19, 1775, two days after the Battle of Bunker Hill, in Capt. Reuben Dow's company. On the expiration of his term of enlistment he joined Capt. Daniel Emerson's company, which was raised for the defense of Fort Ticonderoga. Elihu Thurston, father of the Toledo lawyer, was born in Granville, Licking County, Ohio, December 4, 1824. Throughout an exceedingly active career he devoted his attention to the breeding of and dealing in live stock, and had a large farm. June 21, 1849, Elihu Thurston married Miss Martha Cow-gill, who was born October 25, 1826, at Delaware, Ohio. After their marriage they located in Peru Township of Morrow County, but removed from there in April, 1874, to Kalida, Putnam County, where Elihu Thurston died as the result of an accident on June 1, 1891. His widow died of pneumonia March 14, 1913, at Kalida, aged eighty-six years five months, and both were buried at Centerburg, Knox County, Ohio. Johnson Thurston had the experiences and environment of a typical pioneer Ohio farmer boy. In 1872 his father purchased 320 acres of wild timbered land in Putnam County, Ohio. Young Thurston with his father and mother, until past nineteen, was engaged in clearing, fencing, draining and building upon this land. After the education supplied by the public schools of a new country, he entered Baldwin University at Berea, Ohio, where he was graduated with the class of 1883, A. B. In the meantime the vexatious question to every young man, of what his vocation in life should be, he determined in this way.: He sought to observe the uncon- 706 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO scious opinions of others, unwittingly expressed. In matters of business affairs and difficult questions they seemed to have confidence in his judgment and opinions. He knew he could be industrious.; he knew he could be honest. These he could control. He concluded someone would want the service of these qualities, and that the practice of the law would open the widest door to their exercise. He resolved to be a lawyer and in the fall of 1883 entered the law department of the University of Michigan. At the end of the first year in June, 1884, he was admitted to practice in the courts of Michigan, and in the same month entered the office of Judge I. P. Pugsley in Toledo for the summer. In the fall of 1884 he returned to the University of Michigan, and in June, 1885, was graduated LL. B. Returning to Toledo he was admitted to the Ohio bar in the fall of 1885, and immediately began practice. January 1, 1886, he formed a partnership with W. H. Harris, under the firm name of Harris & Thurston. This association was one of mutual profit and advantage and was continued until July, 1898. The dissolution was amicable. These well known Toledo lawyers first had their offices in an office addition to the old Gardner residence at the corner of Superior and Madison streets. Later they removed to 317 Superior Street, where they were located on the second floor of a residence building. Still later they obtained quarters in the new Gardner Building, which was built on the site of the old Gardner residence. Since July 1, 1896, until recently when his son joined him, Mr. Thurston practiced alone, at first with offices on the third floor of the Gardner Building, but is now in suite No. 844 of the Spitzer Building. His practice is of a general nature and his success and high standing as a lawyer are due in the first place to a good endowment of ability, a thorough preparation, and also to the painstaking care with which he has handled all matters entrusted to him. The law with Mr. Thurston has been a profession, not a trade or occupation, and through it he has found those opportunities for public service which come to every true and able man of the law. Hence he has never been a politician in the usually accepted sense of that word or an office seeker. He never held a position of public nature until June 10, 1909, when he was appointed by Brand Whitlock a member of the board of sinking fund trustees, an office he still holds and without compensation. However, Mr. Thurston has for years been a close student of political and economic questions, but his opinions on those matters are not the. result of an arm chair study and philosophy, but from close practical investigation and experience. Reared in a republican household, he recognized that party as his own until 1904, in which year he became one of the organizers of the Independent Voters Movement of Toledo. He was one of the most active in carrying out the purposes of that organization, and has become wholly independent in both local and national politics. It will be a matter of interest to set forth some of the activities and some of the cardinal beliefs and principles that have actuated Mr. Thurston in recent years. On July 12, 1904, Mayor Samuel M. Jones died. He had for several years been opposing successfully the granting of a new franchise to the Street Railway Company. The politicians had a strong hold on the city council. With Mayor Jones out of th way the Traction Company could see its way clear. In June the sickness of Jones became more serious and the success of the Tractio Company more assured. To see the rights of the public go uncle fended, deeply stirred the democratic spirits of Elisha B. Southard, Johnson Thurston, W. Morgan and a few others who thereupon organized the Independent Voters Movemen This Movement was in great popular demand, grew rapidly in adherents, and put up an Independent Voters Municipal Ticket for th coming November election. On October 24th it was apparent the council intended to give a new franchise to the Traction Company. A vote of the people was then not required Council had the power. The people were furious, but were without, a leader. That council must be checked mediately was imperative. To assemble a large number of men deeply stirred, though good citizens, might result in violence and disorder. Talk of violence was frequent. Johnson Thurston came forward with the statement that under the Constitution of th United States and of the State of Ohio the people had a right to petition and instruct-their representatives assembled. The demand must be direct, positive and strong. A meeting was called at Independent headquarters. 211 Superior Street, for Monday evening, October 24, 1904. Hundreds of determined men assembled. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 707 Mr. Thurston submitted his plan which was: 1. To instruct those present as to their rights, what to do and how to do it, in order to act as one body and avoid riot. 2. To send a viligance committee of twelve into the council chamber with bottles of hydrogen sulphide to be broken if necessary to overcome the alleged corruption of council. 3. To march those present four abreast to St.. Clair Street in front of the council chamber. 4. To read the provisions of the State and National Constitutions to the council through opened windows. 5. For the people assembled to repeat in unison in slow, measured, thundering tones, —"This—is—call num-ber-one! Let—franchise alone"!! These were repeated three times and then in like united voice—"We go to our hall but will return tonight if necessary." The program of which the above were salient features was carried out to the letter with Mr. Thurston as leader. It was orderly, determined and effective. The council without taking up the franchise left the council chamber under police protection. Minister Brand Whitlock in his book entitled, "Forty Years of It," on page 178 graphically describes Mr. Thurston and this occasion. These determined men with Mr. Thurston as leader repeated the demand on the following Monday night. Election came on November 8th. The Independents won. Thus by the "Petition in Boots" as it was called and the election, the rights of the people were preserved. By a strange fatality, nearly all of the original leaders of the Independent Movement, within ten years, died. But Mr. Thurston, with new adherents, never ceased to advocate the principles of the Independent Movement, which remained in power until January 1, 1914. In subsequent campaigns he was usually introduced as the leader of the "Petition in Boots" arid sometimes as the father of the Independent Movement, but he always insisted that this honor belonged to Elisha B. Southard. Mr. Thurston was an active, fearless and vigorous campaigner. He always fought for what he thought were sound principles in government and for the equal benefit of all. He contends that the highest efforts men can engage in is to teach the masses better things—how to have better conditions and better government. That you cannot have the highest result in free government and a low citizenry. In the campaign of 1911 the opponents of the Independent Movement raised the issue that Brand Whitlock's administration had not been a business administration and had not boosted the city. In answer Mr. Thurston designed and issued a great many small beautiful flags on watered silk paper having thereon Brand Whitlock's picture set in a field of small city flags and the words "To truly Boost a City—Boost its People, its Business, its Civic Spirit." The Independents won. He is wholly independent and nonpartisan in his politics. He believes in a representative government that tends to democracy ; that government through parties results in government by a party, in the interest of a party and particularly in the interest of a few in control of the party. That when questions of government arise the order of inquiry is —What is there in it for us, is it a good thing for the party and will the people stand for it, when the only question should be, is it a good thing for the people as a whole. That party government brings on a strife for party power, office and emoluments rather than for good government. That the people, party trained and party ridden stand by and see without protest, undeniably good measures for good government opposed and defeated by one party on the ground that their passage would be a credit to the party proposing them. That this defeat of good measures on the ground of party benefit or party injury is recreant to good government, is directly injurious to the people and ought to be made a species of treason. He believes that to better political conditions we should not try to keep everything out of politics, but that enough should be put into politics so electors cannot afford to neglect the primaries and the election of good officials. He therefore believes in municipal ownership of public utilities. In 1910 with no hope or desire of being elected he allowed the independent voters to nominate him for circuit judge and with Brand Whitlock and others made a vigorous campaign through eight counties on the platform that the judiciary should be separated from party politics. The movement was successful in getting the next legislature to enact that all judges must be elected on a separate 708 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO nonpartisan ballot. He now contends that the boards of elections should be composed of men of high character who are nonactive in party politics. That partisan and party bosses should not be allowed to conduct elections and decide our political rights any more than they should sit on the bench and conduct our trials and decide our property and personal rights. Most people become discouraged if they do not rapidly succeed in reforms, but politics and reforms with Mr. Thurston are matters of principle and when he contemplates that it has taken all the time of the past to bring civilization to where it is and that the independent movement in 1904 was founded on three propositions, the first " That municipal affairs should be separated from the independent of state and national politics, and that cities should have the fullest measure of home rule," the third "That no franchise for any public utility shall ever be granted or extended except by a direct vote of the people," and which he has lived to see conceded and put into operation, he feels confident that truth and principle will prevail. It has been with these wholesome ideals as guiding principles that Mr. Thurston has worked for civic improvement in Toledo during recent years, and his course of activity is so well known to the present generation that further comment is unnecessary, except to say that in recognition of his unselfish efforts in behalf of the independent movement, his firm stand in favor of a non-partisan judiciary, and of his especial fitness for the office, on August 10, 1910, when the independent convention conferred upon him the nomination for judge of the Sixth Ohio Circuit. Brand Whitlock, now United States minister to Belgium, in a message to the convention said: "I would consider it an honor to vote for the nomination of Johnson Thurston, the noblest independent of them all." Mr. Thurston is a member and president and treasurer of the commission appointed by the present Mayor Milroy, to perfect a plan of settlement between the city and the Toledo Railways and Light Company. He is a member of the Lucas County Bar Association, but is not a member of any club or social order. He believes that such associations would tend to lessen his sympathy for the masses. In 1904 he became a member and trustee of the Old Adams Street City Mission. He has served as vice president of this organization many years, and much of his time has been given up to this noble philahthropy. On December 15, 1887, Mr. Thurston married Miss Kate Rice Thrift, daughter of Dr. Robert W. Thrift of Lima, Ohio. To their marriage have been born three children: Edwin R., Flora M. and Norman T., all natives of Toledo. Edwin R., who graduated from the Toledo High School in 1908, entered the literary department of the University of Michigan, where he was graduated A. B. with the class of 1913, and in 1915 was graduated from the law department of the same university with the honorary degree, Juris Doctor. Admitted to the Ohio bar in June, 1915, he at once began the practice of law with his father in Toledo. Flora, who took her preparatory course in the Harcourt Place School at Gambier, Ohio, graduated from Columbia University in the department of household arts with the class of 1914, and has since been a teacher in the household arts department at Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee. The son Norman, who graduated from the Toledo High School in 1913, entered the University of Michigan in the same fall, and is now a junior in the engineering department. MORRIS J. RIGGS. The Toledo plant of the American Bridge Company, of which Mr. Riggs is manager and with which he has been identified for more than a quarter of a century, is one of the largest local industries of the city. The plant covers thirteen acres of ground and an average of 400 men find employment there, all of them under the direction of Mr. Riggs. The plant is located on the east side on East Broadway, along the main line of the New York Central Railway line. The American Bridge Company it may be explained is a subsidiary corporation of the United States Steel Corporation, and taking the various plants in the aggregate it is the largest concern in the world for the manufacture and fabrication of structural and bridge steel work. Some idea of the business done by the Toledo plant can be obtained from the fact that it uses annually 30,000 tons of iron to be worked up in the various products that go out from the plant. Mr. Riggs is one of the most capable men in the manufacturing end of the steel business today. He was born at Horton, Bremer County, Iowa, January 14, 1862. His parents William and Sophronia (Hopkins) Riggs were both born at Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, where they were married. In HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 709 1857 they moved out to Iowa where they became pioneers, and lived there until their death. William Riggs was a prosperous farmer of that state and at the time of his death left a fine place of 240 acres in Bremer County. Of the five children, four are still living : Sarah M., the oldest, was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1894 and is now head of the department of history in the State Normal School at Cedar Falls, Iowa. Morris J. is the second in age. Marvin L. lives on the old homestead in Iowa. Miss Laura S. lives in Toledo. Morris J. Riggs spent his early youth in Iowa, attended the high school at Waverly, and for four winters was a teacher in district schools. He then entered the engineering department of the Iowa State College, and was graduated with the degree Civil Engineer in 1883. With these qualifications for professional work he went to Minneapolis and entered the office of what was then the Smith Bridge Company of Toledo, a concern that had a branch at Minneapolis. Finally in 1887 he was called from Minneapolis to the home plant at Toledo. At that time R. W. Smith was president of the company and W. S. Daly general manager. In 1890 there was a reorganization, and the business was continued under the name Toledo Bridge Company, with Mr. Riggs as chief engineer. At that time he also acquired some stock in the company. It was during 1900-01 that the present large plant at Toledo was built, and soon after it was completed the company was merged into the United States Steel Corporation as one of the individual plants of the American Bridge Company, the main offices of which are in the Frick Building at Pittsburg. Since then Mr. Riggs has been general manager of the Toledo plant. In the line of his profession he is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a national organization with a membership of more than five thousand. He also belongs to the Toledo Commerce Club, and he and his wife are members of the Ashland Avenue Baptist Church. On October 11, 1893, he married Miss Alma M. Fassett, daughter of the late Elias Fassett, to whom reference is made on other pages. Mrs. Riggs was born in Toledo, graduated from high school and for one year was a student in Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Mr. Riggs is now president of the Young Men's Christian Association and for a num- Vol. II-4 ber of years has been very active in church and Sunday school work. CHARLES W. MECK has been one of the active members of the Toledo bar for more than twenty years. Thoroughly equipped by literary and professional training, he entered the profession with qualifications of the best, and has always enjoyed profitable connections and high standing in the local bar. He was born in Bucyrus, Crawford County, Ohio, January 14, 1867, a son of John Frederick and Christina (Schiefer) Meck; both of whom were natives of Wurternberg, Germany. Christina Schiefer was fifteen months of age when she came with her parents to the United States, and the family were early settlers in Crawford County, Ohio. John F. Meck grew up in his native land, and was thirty years of age when he came to this country, accompanied by his parents, and they all settled in Crawford County. He spent his active career as a farmer, owned a place of 100 acres in Lykens Township of Crawford County, and he died there in April, 1899, when past eighty-three years of age. His widow then left the farm, which was sold, and lived in Chatfield, Crawford County, until her death in May, 1915, when past eighty-five years of age. They were married in Crawford County in 1850 and lacked only a year of completing a half century of married companionship. They were people of most worthy character, and have been honored by their children, of whom there were eleven, eight sons and three daughters, all of whom were born in Crawford County and received their first advantages in schools there. Six of the sons and two of the daughters are still living. Susan died at the age of fifty-seven as Mrs. Daniel Brenkmann ; Frederick C. is a retired farmer at Bucyrus; Polena is Mrs. Charles Adler of Toledo; John A. died at Bucyrus at the age of fifty-four ; Benjamin is a well known attorney at Bucyrus; Sarah is Mrs. Harmon Hesche of Bucyrus ; David C. is principal of one of the high schools, at Cleveland; William H. is superintendent of the Steel Manual Training School at Dayton ; the next in age is Charles W. of Toledo ; Noah is a rural mail carrier at Chatfield, Crawford County; Emanuel died when fifteen years of age. Of the sons, Benjamin, David, William and Charles all graduated from the Northern Ohio University at Ada, winning the degre A. M., and David and Wil- 710 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO iiam afterwards graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. Like many men who have become successful in the professions, Charles W. Meek spent his early youth in the wholesome environment of a farm. He lived with his parents until seventeen and after his preparatory training at Ada, where he finished the classical course with the degree A. M., he moved to Toledo in 1890, and took up the study of law, in the office of Pratt & Wilson. Later he entered the law department of the Ohio State University at Columbus, and was graduated LL. B. in 1894. Admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court of Columbus in March, 1894, Mr. Meek on the following August first began his practice at Toledo. He has never had a partner, preferring the independence of individual practice. While he and Henry Stautzenbach share the same suite in the Spitzer Building they are not partners. Mr. Meek has always handled a general practice. When he started practice it was in the old Law Building, which stood on the site of the present Ohio Building. Later he had offices in the Valentine Building, but since 1904 has been in the Spitzer Building. Always active in republican politics, his official career has been mainly in the line of his profession. In 1898 he was elected judge of the City Court of Toledo and gave a careful administration of that office for five years. He was elected for the regular three-year term and was re-elected in 1901, but in 1902 resigned in order to become assistant city solicitor of Toledo under U. G. Denman, then city solicitor and afterwards attorney-general of Ohio. After about two years Mr. Meek resigned his place as assistant city solicitor and in March, 1905, resumed active practice, and since then, while quite influential in a political way he has desired no office. While assistant city solicitor he looked after the prosecutions in the police courts. He is a member of the Lucas County Bar Association, the Toledo Commerce Club, the Knights of Pythias and the Loyal Order of Moose, the National Union, the Knights of the Maccabees, and of Toledo Den No. 200 of the Loyal Order of Lions. On October 13, 1895, Mr. Meek married Della Coons, a daughter of Daniel and Caroline (Wilt) Coons of Upper Sandusky. Her parents were early settlers near Upper Sandusky in Wyandotte County, where her father died in 1899, and her mother has since lived in TolMeckon City Park avenue. Mrs. Meek was born and educated in Wyandotte County. She is a member of Martha Washington Temple of the Pythian SiMecks at Toledo. Mr. and Mrs. Meek reside at 1816 Lawrence Avenue. HON. SAMUEL M. HELLER. Success in business and public spirit have gone hand in hand in the career of Samuel M. Heller, one of the very prominent and old time citizens in Northwest Ohio. He is living retired at Napoleon, where he prosecuted his activities in a business way for about half a century. In many ways he is a remarkable man. He has now reached the venerable age of eighty-four and on May 13, 1916, he and his faithful wife celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary. His business career began as a boy about the year 1849 as manager of his father's general store at McComb in Hancock County, Ohio. His father also conducted a similar store at Van Buren, and the son managed that for a time. In 1860 he came from Van Buren to Napoleon, and for many years was the leading dry goods merchant in Henry County. In 1862 he established his store on Perry Street next to what is now the First National Bank Building and in the heart of the business center. He purchased the land and put up a large three-story brick building and basement, and that building is still standing as a venerable landmark of the city, and is still conducted as a dry goods emporium. This was the first brick business block in the city, built on a ground foundation 26 by 110 feet. It is interesting to recall the fact that Mr. Heller mixed every pound of mortar that seals the bricks together. The building was completed for occupancy in 1864, and in the meantime he had carried on his store at the corner of Washington and Perry streets. In the new block he continued business successfully until owing to failing health due to con-. finement he sold out in 1888 to his nephews, the Shoemaker Brothers, one of whom, Frank, is still in the business. In 1887 with Frederick Aller, Mr. Heller established the greatest industry Napoleon has ever had, the great Heller-Aller Windmill and Pump and Tank factory. They manufacture the Baker pattern of windmills, but invented and manufactured their own double-acting pump, and this was the chief factor in the success of this widely known concern. The partners worked hard and Mr. Heller HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 711 traveled early and late all over Indiana, Michigan and Southern Canada to introduce his goods. Doubtless the chief element of success in Mr. Heller's career was his indomitable industry and his courage in the face of obstacles. He knew no such thing as failure and at one time it is said that his concern went in debt to the extent of $18,000 and with rather gloomy prospects ahead. It only served to redouble his determination and pushing on he was finally able to relieve the firm of its obligations, and in a few years divided profits of over $40,000. Some years ago Mr. Heller sold his half interest for $100,000, and has since lived retired. While in no sense a practical politician, Mr. Heller has given his time and energies and interest in unqualified measure to the welfare of his home locality. In 1865 he was elected by the democratic party as a member of the State Legislature and served two terms with much credit. However, he would never accept any city or county office. He has a Masonic record, being past master of the lodge and past high priest of the chapter at Napoleon, a member of Defiance Commandery of the Knights Templar and belongs to the Consistory of the Scottish Rite in the Valley of Toledo, and Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Toledo. Samuel M. Heller was born in Jeromeville, Wayne County, Ohio, April 4, 1832, and was reared and received his early education in Hancock County, where he began his business career in the store of his father. It was in Hancock County fifty-eight years ago Mr. Heller married Anna L. Showman, and since then they have traveled life's highway together and their lives have shed happiness upon many by the wayside. Mrs. Heller was born in Ohio February 21, 1841, and grew up and received her schooling at Van Buren in Hancock County. Their first child, Charles M., died at the age of sixteen months, while the first daughter was Lillie B. A second daughter, Ella May, died in her seventeenth year while a student in Vassar College. Margaret L. died four years after her marriage to Henry C. Vortieve, who was editor of the German Express at Toledo. Lillie Belle is the wife of Judge Julian Howard Tyler of Toledo, a prominent attorney. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler had one child that died in infancy. Thus Mr. and Mrs. Heller have no grandchildren. Mr. and Mrs. Heller are members of the Presbyterian Church, in which he served on the official board for a number of years and politically he is a democrat. His home is one of the conspicuous landmarks in the residential district, a beautiful place at the corner of Clinton and Scott streets, surrounded by ample grounds, the lot on which the building stands being 133 by 165 feet. This home was erected in 1869, and by the terms of his will the home will go to the City of Napoleon to be used as a free public hospital and to be known as the Samuel M. Heller Memorial Hospital. The announcement of this splendid gift to Napoleon attracted much attention over Henry County and it is appropriate that a part of one of the articles which appeared in one of Napoleon's leading newspapers at the time should be quoted. The Napoleon Northwest News in February, 1.916, said : "By will our fellow townsman, Hon. S. M. Heller, has bequeathed outright to Napoleon the old Heller homestead property on the southeast corner of Clinton and Scott streets for hospital purposes, the only requirement being that the property is to be forever used for hospital purposes and is to be kept in proper repair and under the supervision of the lawful authorities and to be known as the S. M. Heller Memorial Hospital. “This is a noble and commendable deed of our fellow citizen, and it will be a fitting memorial for posterity to the memory of Mr. Heller, who has always stood in the fore-ranks of those who had the welfare and good of the community at heart and who invariably backed up his belief and deeds with an open pocketbook. "For years it has been the intention of Mr. Keller to give this property to Napoleon as a memorial, to be used in some public way. Some years ago, when the necessity of a public library was evident to many of our citizens and the question was first agitated, Mr. Heller provided in his will a clause bequeathing his homestead property to the corporation for library purposes, but the fact was not made public. So when Mr. Andrew Carnegie offered a library building to Napoleon and the proposition was accepted by our citizens, Mr. Heller's wish was forestalled and it was then that he commenced to look around and see to what other use the property could be put for the benefit of the community in general. At that time there was more or less agitation of the matter of the necessity of a public hospital, and he at once resolved 712 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO to change his will and provide that his homestead be devoted to hospital purposes, and he immediately had the change made in his will, though the fact was not made public. "But now that the question of a hospital has been and is being seriously considered by the corporation authorities and by the county commissioners as well, Mr. Heller has made his wishes and intent known, so that these authorities may govern themselves accordingly. "Mr. Heller fully understands the great need of a public hospital in his home town, as he has had some experience and can speak from personal knowledge on the good work that is done humanity through the hospital properly conducted, as he was one of the trustees of the Toledo State Hospital for eleven years. "The property thus bequeathed is centrally located, composed of a substantial brick house with three floors and basement, equipped with necessary outbuildings of brick and with modern heat, light and water connections throughout, all surrounded by beautiful grounds, an ideal spot for a .public institution of the nature proposed. At a low estimate the property so bequeathed is valued at about fifteen thousand dollars, but costing much more than that, as Mr. Heller in making his improvements always kept the property up to date and of the very best materials. "The gift is a befitting close to a long, useful and strenuous life, which has been drawn out far beyond the alloted time of man." EDWARD GEORGE KIRBY is secretary and trust officer of The Guardian Trust & Savings Bank of Toledo. No institution in Northwest Ohio has a higher standing than The Guardian Trust & Savings Bank, whose officers and directors are men of striking prominence in business and financial affairs, while in point of material resources a recent statement showing assets of $3,000,000 is an impressive indication of the bank's strength and power. While this bank was organized April 1, 1913, its deposits have mounted probably more rapidly than in any other similar institution in Ohio, and on May 1, 1916, aggregated $2,500,000, while its growth in deposits for the two years last preceding was at the rate of $1,000,000 a year. The Guardian Trust & Savings Bank is qualified as a trust company under the Ohio laws and acts as executor, administrator, testamentary trustee, assignee, receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, fiscal agent, registrar and transfer agent of corporate stock issues, trustee under mortgage and deeds of trust, etc. Mr. Kirby's duties in the administration of such services therefore keep him in close touch with the practice of law and the legal profession. He is in fact a lawyer, and was in active practice until called to his present position. Mr. Kirby was born at East Toledo May 15, 1886, and represents an old and prominent family. His grandfather was Edward Kirby, who died at East Toledo about thirty-two years ago. His father is John J. Kirby, who for twenty-seven years was connected with the Ann Arbor Railroad Company, for about fifteen years of that time as general passenger agent, but since June, 1914, has given his time to the Toledo Ice Delivery Company, of which he is secretary. He has been a resident of Toledo for fifty-two years, having moved to that city with his parents from Dayton when only four years old. Edward G. Kirby's mother was Josephine Alice Scheets. Her father, Capt. George Scheets, is one of Toledo's highly respected citizens. Mr. Kirby's mother was born in Maumee during the absence of her father, Captain Scheets, from home engaged in service with the Twenty-first Ohio Regiment in the Civil war. After the war Captain Scheets located with his family in East Toledo, and engaged in the general merchandise business until 1900, when he retired. He was also a prominent political figure in Toledo, serving as police commissioner, alderman and mayor, and at this writing (1916) is deputy treasurer of Lucas County. Mrs. John J. Kirby died in Toledo April 6, 1913, aged fifty years. Edward George Kirby, after graduating from the Toledo Central High School in June, 1905, entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in the fall of that year, spending two years in the literary department and three years in the law department. He was graduated LL. B. in June, 1910, and was admitted to the Ohio bar the same month. August 15, 1910, he engaged in the practice of law with Smith & Beckwith, in the Produce Exchange Building. He remained with that firm until August 1, 1914, and then resigned to become trust officer of The Guardian Trust & Savings Bank. In September, 1915, he was also appointed secretary, and is now tooth secretary and trust officer. HISTORY OF NORTH WEST OHIO - 713 Besides these responsible positions, Mr. Kirby is a director of The Toledo Wagon Company, secretary of The John L. Gorny Realty Company, secretary of The Earl V. Sala_ Patents Company, and president of the Earl V. Sala Sales Company. Outside of his profession he has interested himself largely in real estate. Mr. Kirby served three years as a member of Troop D, Cavalry Squadron, Ohio National Guard. Politically he is a democrat in national and state politics, but nonpartisan in municipal affairs. He is a member of the Toledo Commerce Club, the University of Michigan Club of Toledo, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Toledo Bar Association, and the Sigma Nu National College Fraternity. He is a member of the Cathedral parish Catholic Diocese of Toledo. On September 5, 1914, at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, he married Sarah Barlow Sawyer, daughter of Charles H. Sawyer of Toledo. Mrs. Kirby was born and reared in Toledo, and her father at one time owned extensive stone quarries in different sections of Northwest Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Kirby have one child, Edward George Kirby, Jr. MELCHIOR J. SCHAAL. Toledo has much by which to remember the late Melchior J. Schaal, who was a pioneer building contractor in that city for a great many years. But he was more than a successful business man. Energy, integrity, and brotherly kindliness were dominant traits of his character and there was a wide circle of individuals and local institutions which were the better for his having lived. His death at his home in Toledo February 1, 1913, marked the passing of one of the city's best and kindliest citizens. His greatest period of activity as a building contractor was during the last thirty years of the century. Practically all of the older school buildings of Toledo were erected by his organization or under his supervision. He also did by contract the brick work on the Toledo Public Library, the interior of the old postoffice building, and he was brick contractor for the St. Vincent's Hospital, the old Toledo Club Building, a part of the Toledo State Hospital Building, the Blade Building, the Milner and the Coghlin Building, and many other of the older downtown structures. He also built the plant of the National Milling Company and the Gendron Wheel Company. Old Liberty Hall on Cherry Street is another of the buildings he constructed. He was a resident of Toledo more than half a century, and was active in his business until about seven years before his death. He was the youngest in a family of ten children, and large families have been the rule in his own generation and in other branches of the family. Melchior J. Schaal was born in Wurttemberg, Germany, February 6, 1846, and came to Toledo when a boy of seventeen. He learned the trade of brick mason and from the age of twenty-five was a building contractor. He was a member of the German Pioneer Society of Toledo and one of the finest representatives of German born citizenship in Northwest Ohio. He was also for half a century a member of St. Mary 's Catholic Church, and was affiliated with all its parish and benevolent organizations, being one of the founders of St. Martin's branch of the Catholic Knights of America. He was a great believer in education and he gave his own children every advantage that they desired, and all of them might have attended college if such had been their desire. His parents were John and Ursula Schaal, who spent their lives in the old country. His father was in the government service and for a number of years was a forester, having charge of a public forest some four or five miles square in Wurttemberg. He remained in the government service all his life, and as is customary there such positions are handed down in one family from father to son. After the parents became old, their son Melchior of Toledo did much to provide for their comfort during their declining years. Melchior Schaal returned only once to the old country, and that was in 1884. The only members of the family to come to the United States were Melchior and his sister Mary, who died several years before her brother. She became the wife of Joseph Abele, who was a pioneer Toledo undertaker and is now living retired at the age of ninety-two. Melchior J. Schaal was married in St. Mary's Catholic Church on Cherry Street in Toledo in 1869 to Miss Veronica Lemle, a daughter of Peter Lemle and wife of Baden, Germany. Mrs.. Schaal came to the United States with her parents when fourteen years of age. Nearly all the vessels bearing German immigrants at that time landed at Baltimore, and after about four months in that 714 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO city the Lemle family came west to Richfield Center, Lucas County, Ohio, where Peter Lemle located in 1866, and where he bought a farm and became a farmer. Peter Lemle was a man of considerable means for the time, having brought with him his savings acquired in Germany. He was also accompanied by his wife and eleven children. His death occurred on the old farm in Lucas County in 1879, while his widow died at the home of her daughter Mrs. Schaal in Toledo in 1904. Mrs. Schaal was one of seventeen children, and she herself was a remarkable woman in many ways. She died at her home in Toledo January 19, 1911, at the age of fifty-nine. Though she was rather small in physique, she had remarkable endurance, was always busy and active, was a wonderful mother in her home, but her sphere of influence extended over an entire community, and she was one of the finest types of the old fashioned house mothers whose memory is so much venerated by the present generation. She reared a large family of children, but in spite of the duties of the household she and her husband both took a very prominent part in the activities of St. Mary's Catholic Church. She also belonged to the various German societies. She never wore spectacles, and her hands were never idle, and when not otherwise employed she always had a piece of knitting or crocheting as a task. Seldom did a call come for her assistance to the sick and needy to which she did not instantly respond. She was as active as her daughters until almost the end, and was sick only four days before her death. She literally wore herself out working for others, and it is not strange that her sons and daughters rise up to praise her name. Of her fourteen children all are living. All were born in Toledo, and received their early training in St. Mary's Parochial School and in business colleges and other institutions. The daughter Emma is the wife of Theodore Bauer of Toledo ; Theresa is the wife of Stephen Fronath of Detroit ; Frederick C., a well known Toledo attorney is mentioned on other pages; Christina is the wife of Edwin Ullrich of Tiffin, Ohio ; Pauline is the wife of John C. Jacoby of Toledo; Joseph M. is an abstractor and is associated with the Title Guarantee & Trust Company of Toledo ; Ursula is the wife of William Niemiller of Toledo ; Frances is the wife of Oswald Burkhart, a druggist at 1502 Cherry Street, Toledo; Emalia is the wife of Joseph Thomas of Toledo; Peter J. is a brick contractor, having followed the line of his father's occupation, and is now head of the firm of Schaal & Tatersall of Toledo ; Stephen is a brick mason at Toledo ; Arnold and Alphonse are residents of Detroit; Genevieve is the wife of James Rodgers of Detroit. FREDERICK C. SCHAAL. A young Toledo attorney with a growing sphere of activity and success in the law, Frederick C. Schaal is junior member of the well known firm of Fell & Schaal, in the Nicholas Building. This firm has made its special mark and success in the handling of probate and real estate practice. The firm also represents the Diocese of Toledo as legal adviser for Bishop Schrembs. In a very important degree Mr. Schaal is a business lawyer, and has acquired extensive and important relations with a number of companies. He is attorney and director in The Corn City Savings Association, attorney for The Market Savings Bank of Toledo ; secretary, director and attorney of The Percentum Company ; president and director in The Residence Realty Company ; secretary, director and attorney of The Clover Leaf Dairy Company, which operates the second largest dairy establishment in Toledo. A son of the late Melchoir J. and Veronica Schaal of Toledo, whose interesting careers are set forth on other pages, Frederick C. Schaal was born at Toledo June 21, 1874. He attended St. Mary's parochial school until the eighth grade, and completed his education at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. where he was graduated B. A. in 1894. He began the study of law in the office of James E. Pilliard and William P. Tyler, and in 1897 was admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court at Columbus. In 1899 Mr. Schaal began practice alone, but since 1906 has been associated with George N. Fell under the firm name of Fell & Schaal. Mr. Schaal gives all his attention to the law and business affairs, and while a democrat has not participated in politics. He is a charter member of the Knights of Columbus at Toledo, a member of Toledo Lodge No. 53 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and a member of the Lucas County Bar Association. He also belongs to the Toledo Commerce Club and the Inverness Club and is an enthusiastic golfer. He belongs to St. Mary's Catholic Church. June 29, 1899, he married Agnes Cecilia HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 715 Neuhausel. Her father is George Neuhausel of Neuhausel Bros., who have one of the largest dry goods and carpet establishments in the downtown business district of Toledo. The Neuhausels are a very old family at Toledo. Mrs. Schaal passed away May 16, 1906. She is survived by two children : James Eugene Schaal and Mary Louise Schaal, both of whom are now attending school. CHARLES FREDERICK SMITH iS the man who built the first line of street railway in 'Findlay. For the past thirty years he has been actively identified with street and interurban railway lines in Northwestern Ohio and is a man of great energy, an organizer, and has the ability to make his ideals and his plans come true. The capital behind him has always shown remarkable faith in his judgment, and it is only just to add that he has seldom if ever failed to justify his enthusiasm and foresight. Mr. Smith still resides at Findlay and is general manager of the Toledo, Bowling Green and Southern Traction Company. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 6, 1863, a son of John Christian and Matilda (Scheible) Smith. His father was a native of Wuertemberg, Germany, was brought to America in early childhood, became a mechanic, and afterwards was a successful lumber merchant of Cincinnati. He served with an Ohio regiment during the Civil war, and died at Cincinnati in 1893 at the age of fifty-three. The mother died in 1903. Charles F. Smith was educated in the grammar schools of Cincinnati and attended high school one year. At the age of fourteen he found work as an office boy with the Mount Adams and Eden Park Inclined Plane Railway Company. He was with that firm continuously from 1876 until 1887. Faithful to his duties and in a line of activity which was 'extremely congenial, he gradually took on increased responsibilities, and eventually was assistant superintendent of the company. The men of capital for whom he had thus been employed sent him in 1887 to Findlay, where he superintended and built the first street railway line. The company started with a single track eight miles in length, but the city railway system has since been developed and extended several times that distance. Mr. Smith was entrusted with the entire management of the Findlay Street Railway Company for a number of years. In 1892 he induced his company to build the Hancock County Light and Power Company, furnishing light and power to local citizens and industries, and was president of this company for three years and was vice president from 1895 until 1899, when the plant was absorbed by the Findlay Street Railway Company. In 1900 Mr. Smith extended the street railway company to Mortimer in Hancock County, and in doing that he looked forward to the future and wisely visualized the increasing importance of electric traction. In 1902 he secured a franchise for his company to install the "Yaryan" heating system in Findlay, furnishing heat to private residences and factories. In 1901 his company purchased the Toledo, Bowling Green and Fremont Railway Company. This purchase was made on Mr. Smith's advice. There still remained a gap of sixty-five miles between the Findlay Street Railway lines and the southern terminus of the newly purchased company. Under the leadership of Mr. Smith the rails were rapidly extended between Mortimer. and Trombley, and thus Findlay was brought into connection by electric line with Toledo. In 1905 Mr. Smith built the Toledo and Interurban Railway Company, and with the consolidation of all these lines there resulted the Toledo, Bowling Green and Southern Traction Company of which Mr. Smith is general manager. It has been well said that Mr. Smith is a man of ideals and of sentiment, though he is in no wise a sentimentalist. On the other hand he is an extremely practical business man, and reason and logic are as a guide for all his actions. One example of his sentiment might be noted. When he built the Findlay Street Railway Company the power was mules. The last pair of mules which hauled the street cars before the lines were electrified were kept on Mr. Smith's farm outside of Findlay until they died in an honorable and peaceful old age. Politically Mr. Smith is a republican. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and is especially active in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He served as exalted ruler in 1907, and has been a trustee of the order for twenty years, and for seven years was an esquire. He is now on the building committee for the construction of the handsome $100,000 Elks Club at Findlay, a building which he advocated for many years. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has been a member of the Knights of Pythias since 1884. The Findlay Country 716 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Club also acknowledges him one of its honored members. In 1885 Mr. Smith married Miss Elizabeth McFarland, daughter of John and Eliza McFarland of Cincinnati. The only living child of the union is Harry C. Smith. Harry married Faith Parker, and their one son is named Charles. Charles, now six years of age, is the pride and delight of his grandfather and Mr. Smith never neglects an opportunity to spend time with his favorite companion and grandson. THOMAS BIDDLE FOGG, who is receiver for the Toledo Stone and Glass Sand Company, and is closely identified with several other industries whose headquarters are in Toledo and elsewhere, has had a very interesting career of accomplishment and is a veteran railroad man. He was born in Hancock Village, Salem County, New Jersey, January 1, 1861, a son of Charles H. and Barbara P. (Carl) Fogg. Both his parents were natives of America, were born in the same neighborhood, and his father was a farmer and late in life a farmer broker. Both parents died at Salem, New Jersey. Their children besides Thomas B. were four sons and one daughter, one .of whom is Warren H. Fogg, district passenger agent of the Central of Georgia Railway. It is evident that neither in boyhood nor in later manhood did Thomas B. Fogg await opportunity to come to him, but went out to seek it. He secured his early education at intervals of work for. his own livelihood. For a time he attended a country school at Salem, afterwards the public schools at Camden, New Jersey, and in a night school took up branches in penmanship and bookkeeping. During this period of his early life he sold newspapers and worked in a provision store to earn board and clothes. For a time he was employed by Thomas Lewis in a meat provisions store at 3944 Aspen Street, West Philadelphia. While working there he took special instructions in stenography under Naylor C. Davis, spending a portion of every evening in learning that art. His practical experience as a railroad man came when he entered the service of the P. W. and B. Railroad in its offices on Washington Avenue in Philadelphia as a bill clerk. In 1884 Mr. Fogg went west from Philadelphia to Wichita, Kansas; and became connected with the St. L. F. S. & W. Railway as bill clerk, subsequently was promoted to cashier, did work around the agent's office such as selling tickets, was in the various branches of freight service, and was employed in that way for three years. Resigning he became general clerk to the district freight and passenger agent of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. His duties in that capacity included soliciting freight and passenger business for the company, and later he was freight and traveling passenger agent for the Santa Fe in the State of Kansas with headquarters at Wichita. After three years he resigned from the Santa Fe and became general clerk to District Freight Agent C. S. Jennings of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, with headquarters at Wichita. There he was employed in quoting freight rates and in contracting for freight shipment. After about two years the company sent him to Coffeyville, Kansas, as freight and passenger agent, and his duties also included the handling of the terminals of the Iron Mountain and Missouri Pacific and other traffic and transportation responsibilities. Finally the Missouri Pacific sent him to St. Louis, and for two years until 1904 be was industrial and immigration agent for the Gould Southwestern System. Since his resignation from the Missouri Pacific Railway in 1904 Mr. Fogg has been a resident of Toledo. Here he identified himself with the Toledo Railway and Terminal Company, filling the positions of vice president and general manager of that company through its reorganized period until 1914. On resigning he was appointed receiver of The Toledo Stone and Glass Sand Company, with headquarters at Toledo, and is still filling that office. He is also president of the Rocky Ridge Lime and Stone Company, with general offices at Toledo, is president of the Harbor Improvement Company of Toledo, is president of the Alexander Limited, whose principal offices are in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and he promoted the H. & E. Railway, a line under construction between Halifax and Guysboro, Nova Scotia. At Wichita, Kansas, November 30, 1887, Mr. Fogg married 011ie Lillian Botts, who was born at Bloomington, Illinois, a. daughter of Samuel and Minerva (Hedger) Botts. Mr. and Mrs. Fogg have three children. The oldest, Miriam Fogg was born in Wichita, Kansas, attended the public schools of Coffeyville, Kansas, and St. Louis, Missouri, graduated from the Toledo High School, completed a course of art and design at Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, New York, and in 1915 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 717 married Daniel Kees of Beatrice, Nebraska, where they now reside. Florence Carl, the second daughter, was born at Coffeyville, Kansas, received her early education in the public schools of that place and at St. Louis, Missouri, graduated from the Toledo High School in 1914 and in 1916 completed the course of the Normal College at Bowling Green, Ohio. Russel Harding Fogg, the only son, was born at Coffeyville, Kansas, attended public school at St. Louis, Missouri, and graduated from Toledo High School in 1916 and had planned to enter the University of Wisconsin to specialize in scientific agriculture and engineering, but about the time of his graduation from high school he enlisted in the state guard in the cavalry department and is now subject to call and active service on the Mexican border. Mr. Fogg is well known in social circles of Toledo, being a member of the Toledo Automobile Club, the Toledo Transportation Club and the Toledo Commerce Club. He was raised a Mason in the Blue Lodge at Coffeyville, Kansas, was made a Knight Templar at Independence, Kansas, and is affiliated with Zenobia Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Toledo. Mr. Fogg is essentially a business man. His has been a very practical career as the above outline indicates, and his success is due to perseverance and hard and faithful work. Outside of home and business all other interests are secondary. He has never sought the honors of politics but is known as a loyal supporter of his friends and on national issues is a republican, while in local affairs he votes for the best man. EZRA E. KIRK. The active business career of Mr. Kirk covers a period of nearly forty years, and while the greater part of his commercial activities have been outside of Toledo he has always had his home in that city, where recently he established a local business as a manufacturers' distributor with offices at 719-725 Jefferson Avenue. He is a son of Albert and Hannah (Worts) Kirk, now deceased, whose connection with the early history of Toledo has been described on other pages. Ezra E. Kirk was born July 9, 1861, in a dwelling that occupied the site where the La Salle & Koch Company's garage now stands on Huron Street in Toledo. Educated in the public schools and graduating from the old high school with the class of 1878, he had already at the age of seven- teen formulated an earnest ambition as to his future calling. This ambition was to become a drummer or traveling salesman, and soon after leaving high school he accepted employment from A. M. Woolson, then in the grocery business and afterward of the Woolson Spice Company. After two months of hard and conscientious work Mr. Woolson gave the lad twenty dollars. Young Kirk believed that hardly enough money for the length of time he had worked, and consequently left the job. He then planned to teach school in a hard district near Toledo, but did not get the position. If the honor had been given him it would have been of a doubtful character, since the school would probably have opened with a general housecleaning in which either the young teacher or the older boys would have come out victorious. After a brief employment in the general insurance office of the late A. C. Osborne, he took work with the R. G. Dun & Company agency at Toledo, and this experience proved invaluable to him in after years. Subsequently for six years he was with Weed, Colburn & Company, wholesale hatters, and the company finally sent him on the road and before he was twenty years of age he had a regular territory as a salesman in Indiana and Illinois. Thus his early ambition was realized, and during the next thirty or thirty-five years he spent much of his time as a traveling man. Later Mr. Kirk became connected with his father as a salesman with the firm of Worts, Kirk & Biglow, manufacturers of bakery and confectionery goods. This company is now owned by the National Biscuit Company. After leaving his father's concern in 1891 he became associated with his brother Edward A. Kirk and Mr. Whitaker in organizing The Whitaker-Kirk Hardware Company, both wholesale and retail, located at 210 Summit Street. He sold his interest in that business in 1895 and began the manufacture of bicycles as The Kirk Manufacturing Company, a business which was continued until 1904. In that year the Kirk Manufacturing Company and the Snell Cycle Fittings Company were merged together as the Consolidated Manufacturing Company, and. in 1905 Mr. Kirk retired from the firm. In that year he went to Buffalo, New York, as vice president and general sales manager for the E. R. Thomas Motor Company, of Buffalo, and remained with them until 1907 when he returned to 718 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Toledo. For a number of years he was not engaged in any one line of business until September, 1915, when he established his offices with the United Garage Company on Jackson Avenue as a manufacturers' distributor. He represents some of the best concerns outside of Toledo in accessory lines for automobiles, and carries a number of the standard high grade products of nationally known companies. Mr. Kirk is also the owner of some valuable Toledo real estate, including a fourteen-flat building in Toledo on Kirkwood Lane, a street which he made and paved himself with very. little aid from the city. In national politics he is a republican, but in local affairs supports the best men regardless of party ties. He is a member and director of the Toledo Travelers' Life Insurance Company, and he assisted in organizing this prosperous concern and its growth has been one of the most satisfactory phases of his business career. The offices of the company are in the Second National Bank Building. Fraternally Mr. Kirk is affiliated with all the York bodies of Masonry at Toledo, including Sanford L. Collins Lodge No. 396, Free and Accepted Masons, Toledo Commandery of the Knights' Templar, Toledo Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is a trustee of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church and his father before him held a similar office. He belongs to the Inverness Club, the Toledo Commerce Club and Toledo Automobile Club and finds his favorite recreation in automobiling, swimming and country life in general. On October 27, 1891, Mr. Kirk married Miss Anna K. Mounts of Morrow, Ohio. They were married at Mount Washington, a suburb of Cincinnati. Mrs. Kirk is a daughter of Marshall and Samantha. A. (Roach) Mounts who were early settlers in Warren County, Ohio, and the small town of Roachester was named for Mrs. Kirk's grandfather. Mrs. Kirk was born at Morrow, Ohio, and was well educated, though she attended public schools very little and completed her education at the Miss Armstrong School for Girls 'at Cincinnati. Mrs. Kirk is very active in church affairs, and is a member of Sorosis and 1896 Club, and is also a member of the board of Y. Mission, one of the old charity organizations at Toledo, with headquarters at 227 Lucas Street. Mr. and Mrs. Kirk have two children : Kathryn E. and James E., the former a junior and the latter a freshman in the high school and both natives of Toledo. HENRY JACOB POOL, M. D. With a reputation as a skillful physician and surgeon firmly established in Port Clinton, where he has been in practice for the past thirteen years, Doctor Pool has also given to that city some valuable facilities which are now considered almost in the light of a public institution through the Pool Hospital, which he established some years ago. This is now conducted with the best of equipment and system, and provides sixteen beds and a staff of trained assistants. Born in the city of Toledo, Doctor Pool is a native of Northwest Ohio. His birth occurred August 4, 1875, and his parents were Jacob and Mary (Machen) Pool, his father having been a merchant. Reared in Toledo, where he attended public schools and also had in structions from a private tutor, he was give liberal opportunities to prepare for his chosen profession. He attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Cleveland, where h was graduated M. D. in 1902. He began practice in Port Clinton in 1902 and in a few years had established and in operation the Pool Hospital. This institu tion has cared for a great number of patien in the past year and is a great asset to the town. Doctor Pool, while in general practice makes somewhat of a specialty of general sur gery. He is a member of the Ottawa County and Ohio State Medical Societies, the Amen can Medical Association and the Tri-State Medical Association. He is also a Mason an Knight of Pythias. On February 6, 1907, at Cleveland, he married Miss Lulu Dedreaux. Their three chip dren are Lucile Cornelia, Mary Adelaide and Elizabeth Henrietta. JAMES C. KRIDLER. In the August primaries of 1916 the democratic party of Auglaize County nominated and elected to the office of probate judge James C. Kridler, who for some years has been deputy probate judge, and is a man who by experience, natural ability and character is well fitted for the discharge of official responsibilities. He was born in Shawnee Township of Allen County, Ohio, July 31, 1867, a son of Henry and Margaret (Hermon) Kridler. The Kridler family has been identified with Ohio since the early part of the last century. Henry Kridler was born in this state in Feb- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 719 ruary, 1811, and died in August, 1878. His wife was born in Ohio in 1834, and died in 1904. They were married in Allen County. Henry Kridler was one of the pioneers of Allen Minty, and secured land from the Government during President Martin Van Buren's time. He spent all his life as a farmer, and though in early years combated the difficulties and hardships of pioneering, he left a good estate and farm at the time of his death. He was a democrat, and his wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of their three children the only one now living is James C. Kridler. Mr. Kridler was born and reared on a farm, and his education came from country schools. On leaving the farm he secured a position as clerk in a store,, and for eleven years sold goods over the counter and proved an efficient and capable employe. For the past twelve years or more he has been connected with the courthouse at Wapakoneta, for three years being in the auditor's office, and for eight years deputy in the office of probate judge. At the same time he has built up a considerable business as agent for several fire insurance companies. In 1892 he married Miss Anna 0. Montague, who was born in Missouri. They are the parents of four children : Lloyd M., now twenty-one years of age ; Clark C., aged seventeen ; Samuel Henry, aged nine; and Harold M., aged seven. Mrs. Kridler is a member of the Baptist Church. Fraternally Mr. Kridler is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and as a democrat has long been active in local politics. EDWARD S. LUSK.. In the uncongested districts of America, apart from the large cities, the honors and dignities of public office are usually bestowed upon men who possess the fundamentals of character as well as competence for the particular duties to which they are chosen. For this reason election to a county office is an enviable distinction, and one that confers honor upon its possessor and shows the confidence felt by his fellow citizens in his judgment and integrity. In 1915 the people of Auglaize County chose as county clerk Mr. Edward S. Lusk, who has been an active figure in that county for more than thirty years, and is known to many hundreds of the people by his long service as a teacher in the public schools. When elected county clerk and for some years before Mr. Lusk had been a practical farmer, and he still owns the old place where he was born and spent his early years. He was born in Auglaize County, June 14, 1865, a son of William and Sarah Ann' (Bennett) Lusk. His paternal grandfather, William Lusk was one of the pioneers of Auglaize County and spent his last years there. The maternal grandfather, Amos Bennett, also came to this county from Pennsylvania. Mr. Lusk's parents were both born in Pennsylvania, his father in 1824 and his mother in 1827. They came to Ohio when young and were reared on farms and were married in this county. The father died in October, 1876, at the age of fifty-two and the mother in 1899. William Lusk began his career a poor man. He went into the woods and hewed out a home in the wilderness, and at the time of his death possessed a good estate of 125 acres. He was a well read and well posted man and stood high in his community. He was elected justice of the peace, assessor and some other local offices, was a democrat, a member of the Masonic Order, and both 'he and his wife were active in the Methodist Episcopal Church. To their marriage was born twelve children, and the five now living are : Mary D., wife of Daniel Runkel, president of the bank at Anna, Ohio ; Sarah E., widow of A. W. McCally and living near Bellefontaine, Ohio; Alice, wife of J. M. Copeland, a prominent farmer in the eastern part of Auglaize County ; Ida M., wife of R. D. Van Tress, a carpenter at Cleveland ; and Edward S. Edward S. Lusk grew up in a home of modest comforts and though his opportunities were somewhat restricted he had encouragement to make the best of his abilities and had the usual opportunities of the Ohio farm boy. From the district schools he continued his studies in the Ohio Northern University at Ada, and in 1884 taught his first term of school. He continued teaching for twenty-four years, and in the intervals of that occupation was a practical farmer. Some years ago he bought out the interests of his sisters in the old homestead, and has been its owner and successful manager to the present time. For a number of years he has taken much interest in politics and in public affairs, and is a worker in the democratic ranks. For four years he was township clerk and for five years township assessor. In 1915 he was elected county clerk, and is now candidate for re-election. In 1886 Mr. Lusk married Miss Ina Mertz. 720 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO She was born in Auglaize County, Ohio, a daughter of Arch Mertz, one of the early settlers here. Mr. and Mrs. Lusk have six chil- dren : Ava, wife of B. R. Rausbottom, a railroad man at Bellefontaine ; Edna, wife of Arlie Burden, who is employed at the wheel shops. at Wapakoneta ; Emmett D., deputy county clerk under his father and a well-educated young man, having attended the high school and also ;he schools at Defiance ; Ralph, who lives on the homestead farm ; Edward Clay, also on the farm ; and Don Copeland, who lives with his parents in Wapakoneta and graduated from high school in 1916. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Mr. Lusk is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective 'Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World. He has held all the chairs three different times in his lodge of Odd Fellowship. J. T. KOENIG. From a growing and successful law practice at St. Marys, Mr. Koenig was called to the duties and responsibilities of the office of probate judge of Auglaize County by appointment from Governor Harmon. He was subsequently elected for the regular term, and has . since handled with delicate precision and with absolute impartiality the many trusts and problems that come before the office of probate judge. Judge Koenig was born in Auglaize County, Ohio, June 10, 1880, and is one of the youngest probte judges in the state. His parents were Jacob and Barbara (Hoppel) Koenig. His mother was born near Dayton in 1844. His father, who was born near Stuttgart, Germany, in 1843, was brought to this country by his parents at the age of nine. He has spent his active career as a farmer, and since his marriage at St. Marys he and his wife have lived in that community, highly respected people. They are members of the German Reform Church and in politics Jacob Koenig is a democrat. There were four children : John H., an attorney at St. Marys ; Rose R. wife of G. F. Heap, a farmer north of St. R., ; Laura, wife of Willis Armstrong, a farmer at St. Marys ; and Judge Koenig. Reared in the country, Judge Koenig early had a vision of broader achievements than would be possible in the restricted sphere of the agriculturist, and he directed his educa tion accordingly. He attended the St. Marys High School, from which he was graduated in 1899, and then pursued the study of law until 1901, when he pursued a course of study in the Ohio State University at Columbus. Later he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and was admitted to the bar in 1903. For 7% years Judge Koenig worked industriously as a lawyer at St. Marys and was already known as one of the leading lawyers of the Auglaize County bar when Governor Harman appointed him in January, 1911, probate judge. He was elected in 1912 and served six years and one month, his term of office having expired February 9, 1917. He then took up the practice of law in Wapakoneta, with offices in the Brown Theater Building, specializing in probate law. Judge Koenig has been an active figure in democratic politics in his county. He is past master of Mercer Lodge No. 121 Free and Accepted Masons, at St. Marys, and is also a Royal Arch Mason and attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church. In 1906 he married Irma Pepper, who was born at Sidney, Ohio. They are the parents of five children : Rudolph, Robert, Harriet, Rosemary and Marshall. J. H. MEYER. That enterprise which enables a man to make the best of his opportunities and push himself ahead as one of the •useful workers of the world has been abundantly present in the career of Mr. J. H. Meyer of Wapakoneta. Mr. Meyer is a civil engineer of wide experience and of large practice and official connection, and is also one of the leading business men of Wapakoneta, though still not yet thirty years of age. He was born at Wapakoneta May 9, 1889, a son of William H. and Minnie L. (Schmidt) Meyer. His grandfather William Meyer was .born in Germany, learned the trade of miller, and on settling at Spencerville, Ohio, owned the first mill in that part of Allen County. The maternal grandfather Henry Schmidt was born in Auglaize County and is still living, having followed the trade of shoemaker during his active career. William H. Meyer, father of J. H. Meyer, was born at New Bremen, Auglaize County, in 1851, and he and his wife are still living in Wapakoneta. His wife was born in 1854. They are members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church and he is a democrat who has been a HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 721 prominent figure in county affairs for a number of years. For two terms he served as county auditor. He began his career as clerk in a shoe store, afterwards was in the shoe business for himself for seven years at Wapakoneta, and then entered the county auditor's office as deputy. After eleven years of experience in that office, chiring which time he assumed many of the more important responsibilities and details, he was elected auditor and remained in the office two terms. He is now keeping himself active by employment under his son J. H. Meyer as inspector of sewers. William H. Meyer and wife had three children : J. H. Meyer ; Clarence J., who is bookkeeper for the Wheel Company at Wapakoneta ; and Elizabeth, a music teacher living with her parents. Mr. J. H. Meyer attended the parochial schools through the eighth grade and in 1907 graduated from the city high school. From there he entered the Ohio State University to take the civil engineering course, but bcfore graduating he left school in 1910 to become candidate for the office of county surveyor. lie was elected and began his duties when only twenty-one years of age. He served from September, 1911, to September, 1915, when he retired from the office and accepted the responsibilities of city. engineer and architect of Wapakoneta. Besides his official work he has also carried on an extensive private practice in his profession. Mr. Meyer is president and general manager of the B. H. M. Cement Products Company, doing a general cement business and building construction. In the line of his profession he has compiled an atlas of Auglaize County, published in 1910, and is now preparing another one for 1916. He worked his way through school, and his independence and self reliance have been chief factors in his successful position. Mr. Meyer is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Improved Order of Red Men, and is grand knight of the Knights of Columbus. He also belongs to the Kappa Sigma college fraternity, and politically is a democrat. In June, 1911, he married Miss Leo Blair of Lima. They have two daughters, Mary Ellen and Catherine. WILLIAM B. MOREY has been a practical worker in the field of journalism since early youth. Probably no other profession offers greater opportunities for successful participation in outside affairs than newspaper work. In the intervals of his activity as a reporter, correspondent and editor, Mr. Morey has been called to other responsibilities, was for a number of years postmaster at Wapakoneta, and since leaving that office has been editor and proprietor of The Auglaize Republican. He was born in Wapakoneta November 17, 1871, a son of Andrew J. and Sophia (McMurray) Morey. Both parents were born in Ohio, and both families have been long and prominently identified with the. state. The paternal grandparents came from Vermont and were pioneer settlers in Licking County, Ohio. Mr. Morey's maternal great-grandfather Robert McMurray came from Scotland and was one of the very early settlers in Dayton, Ohio, where for a number of years he was well known as a hotel proprietor. He afterwards moved to Auglaize. County, bought a farm, and his place being on one of the toll roads through the county he was keeper of a toll gate. Outside of 'his business activities he was a man of no little prominence in the different communities where he lived. He was made a Mason before coming to this country. His son, Robert McMurray, grandfather of Mr. Morey, was born in Auglaize County and at one time held the office of postmaster at Wapakoneta. Andrew J. Morey was born in Licking County, Ohio, February 12, 1837, and died January 25, 1909. His wife was born in Putnam County, Ohio, in 1840 and died .July 4, 1878. They were married in Auglaize County. Andrew Morey was a blacksmith by trade, and followed that business in Wapakoneta for a number of years. He was also a gallant soldier of the Union army during the Civil war. He enlisted in Company K of the Ninety-ninth Ohio Infantry, and was in service for three years. At the battle of Stone River he was wounded and captured, and he experienced the hardships and sufferings of confinement in Libby Prison for three months. Some years after the war he was appointed to a position in the treasury department at Washington, and was there twelve years. He was taken ill in Washington, and died a few days after his return to Wapakoneta. He was a republican, active in behalf of the party though not for himself, and was a well-read and highly-intelligent gentleman. In church affiliation he was a member of the Christian Church and still later was a member of the 722 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Lutheran denomination. He and his wife' had five children : Minnie, wife of A. M. Getz, a railroad man living at Wapakoneta ; Nettie, wife of Charles S. Whiteman, who is in the newspaper business at Wapakoneta; Miss Jennie ; Katherine L., .wife of F. A. Klipfel, now mayor of Wapakoneta; and William B.,. who is fourth in age and older than his sister Katherine. The early life of William. B. Morey was spent in Wapakoneta, where he attended the public schools, graduating from high school in 1888. Much of his leisure time as a youth was spent in printing offices, and he mastered the trade. At the age of nineteen he went to Chicago and was taken on the staff of reporters of the Chicago Inter Ocean, where he remained two years and gained that experience and training such as only comes to a newspaper man in a large city. On returning to Auglaize County he resumed news- paper work, and with all his other avocations has been steadily in the profession since then. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war he enlisted and was assigned to duty as chief clerk in the adjutant-general's office, remaining there until the close of hostilities. He has been one of the leaders of the republican party in Auglaize County for a number of years, and for six years filled the office of chairman of the republican executive committee. For two years' he was a member of the State Central Committee until he resigned. He resigned upon his appointment as postmaster of Wapakoneta; He was appointed in July, 1908, but before his appointment was confirmed in the senate General Dick filed objections and held up the commission for some time. Mr. Morey was finally called to Washington and had a personal interview with President Roosevelt, who took the matter in hand in his characteristically energetic -fashion and issued a commission allowing him to assume the office of postmaster during a recess in Congress. He continued in the office for two years, until an agreement was reached by which his appointment was confirmed. He remained as postmaster two terms, being succeeded in December, 1914, by Mr. A. E. Schaffer. On leaving the office of postmaster Mr. Morey bought the Auglaize County Republican and is now giving all his time to that excellent weekly paper which has a circulation over Auglaize and surrounding counties of 1,650. A large job business is also done in the printing department. On September 1, 1910, Mr. Morey married Mrs. Lillie M. Piper. She was born in Celina, Ohio, a daughter of Michael Feltheiser. Her father was a prominent and well-to-do citizen of Mercer County. Mr. and Mrs. Morey have one son, Robert Emil, born in August, 1911. Mrs. Morey is a member of the Presbyterian Church while he is identified with the English Lutheran denomination. Active in fraternal matters, he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and also belongs to the Blue Lodge and the Royal Arch Chapter and the Mystic Shrine. For ten years he was secretary of his lodge. He is also a member of the Woodmen of the World and- the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. J. H. MUSSER. Hardly was his high school course finished at Wapakoneta when J. H. Musser definitely determined upon the law as his future vocation. He had the natural talent' which is a prerequisite to success in the law, and ample training and a liberalizing experience have brought him to a foremost place in professional circles in Auglaize County. He is a native of Allen County, Ohio, where he was born March 19, 1880. His parents were John F. and Mary E.. (Ames) Musser. His grandfather, Christian Musser, was born in Germany, came to America and was a California pioneer. After some experience in the western mines he returned to the Middle West and was a farmer in Nebraska. He also took part as a soldier in the war with Mexico. John F. Musser was born in California .in 1849, and died in September, 1914. His wife was born in Hornellsville, New York, in 1853, and died in January, 1916. They married in Allen County, Ohio. John F. Musser was a machinist by trade, followed that for a number of years, and was a splendid type of man and citizen. He had considerable military experience, being for two years a volunteer soldier in the Civil war and afterwards being, connected with the regular army and engaged in several Indian campaigns in the West. He and his wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and fraternally he was affiliated with the Maccabees. There were two children, J. H. and his sister Katherine B. Katherine is the wife of C. E. Wade, who is connected with the National Bank Book & Supply Company at Akron, Ohio. J. H. Musser grew up in Wapakoneta, attended the public schools and in 1897 gradu- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 723 ated from the Wapakoneta High School. From there he entered the law offices of Goeke & Hoskins, and later the Ohio Northern University at Ada, where he diligently pursued his law studies, and was admitted to the bar in 1901. For the first eighteen months after his admission he practiced with the firm of Goeke & Hoskins, largely for the experience, and then for five years was associated with Mr. A. L. Comb. Following that for two years he was in individual practice, and then joined the firm of Goeke & Anderson, making a change of name to Goeke, Anderson & Musser. In 1913 Mr. Musser again established an individual practice, and has now reached a place in his profession where he can practically choose his business and his clientage. He is also filling one of the most important count! offices, having been elected prosecuting attorney of Auglaize County, in November, 1914. His first term has been administered with so much satisfaction to the people of the county that he is now a candidate without opposition for re-election. Mr. Musser has taken an active part in democratic politics, and was manager of the successful campaign made by B. F. Welty for election to Congress. For nine years Mr. Musser was a member of the board of election, and while in politics for the good of his community his heart and mind are always absorbed in his profession. In 1903 he married Lillian A. Taylor. Mrs. Musser was born at Uniopolis in Auglaize County. There are two children : Edward A. and Madge E. Mr. Musser is a Knight of Pythias and a Woodman of the World and also a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. J. A. LONG is one of the veterans of the oil industry, with which he has been connected in all its phases and details, from work in the fields to employment in general offices and executive positions, since 1876. In 1889 Mr. Long became connected with the Ohio Oil Company and since the 16th of November of that year has lived at St. Marys. He is superintendent for the company of the field in and around St. Marys, and during his long employment at this post has shown the ability to handle every question and problem as they arose. While he gives the best of his time and energies to this business he also owns a good farm in Auglaize County. For a man who started out to make his way in the world at the age of seventeen, without money or influential friends, Mr. Long has done exceedingly well. He was born in Belfast, New York, September 8, 1859, a son of Patrick and Mary (Greer) Long. Both parents were natives of Ireland. Patrick Long, a son of Patrick who spent his life in Ireland, was born in the City of Cork in 1814, and came. to America and located in New York State at the age of seventeen. He spent his active career largely as a laboring man. One special part of his record which will always be cherished by his descendants was his four years' service in the Civil war. He was wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness, and spent several months in the hospital, and at one time was captured, but made his escape. He was a Catholic, a democrat, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. His death occurred at Duke Center, Pennsylvania, in 1893. He was married at Rochester, New York, to Miss Mary Greer, who was born at Belfast, Ireland, in 1807, and came to America at the age of twenty. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and her death occurred at Bluffton, Indiana, in 1899. There were four children, only two now living. William is a retired horseman at Brad-fad, Pennsylvania. J. A. Long got all his education at Rockville in Allegany County, New York, and was paying his own way by hard work at the age of seventeen. His early experiences were in, the tanning industry, but he soon found employment in the oil fields, and has been at that work steadily since 1876. On March 9, 1882, he married Miss Mary I. Dibble, who was born at Scio, Allegany County, New York, and died May 30, 1913. She was the mother of one daughter, Lucy Pearl, now the wife of Wesley Milton Stoker, a bookkeeper at St. Marys. Mr. and Mrs. Stoker have two children : Milton K., born September 30, 1912, and Mary Frances, born September 10, 1914. On May 15, 1915, Mr. Long married Mrs. Harriet Thomas, who was born at St. Marys. She is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while his first wife was a Presbyterian. Mr. Long is affiliated with the various branches of Masonry, including the Lodge, the Royal Arch Chapter, the degrees of the Scottish Rite and the Mystic Shrine at Dayton. Politically he is a republican. HENRY DETJEN, who was born in Washington Township of Auglaize County, April 19, 724 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO 1873, has compressed an immense amount of hard work and sound business sense in the years following his boyhood. Starting out with a district .school education, he was a farm worker, for five years helped to operate a threshing outfit, then he operated a sawmill for about five years. His experience brought him into direct relations with the grain business, and now for a number of years he has been a successful merchant at Moulton, Auglaize County, and a grain trader whose operations are widely known over Auglaize County. He has one. of the principal general stores at Wapakoneta, also an elevator there, and is president of the Detjen Grain Company at New Knoxville. The possessor of an independent business, he is still as hard working as ever, and is one of the substantial citizens of his home county. In matters of politics he is an independent republican. His parents were Peter and Sophia (Wieryule) Detjen. They and the grandparents were all born in Germany and while both the grandfathers died in their native land the paternal grandmother came with some of her children to America. Peter Detjen was born in 1843 and died in February, 1911. He came to the United. States at the age of twenty, worked for daily wages at Cincinnati for a time, and afterwards came to Auglaize County, where he married. In time he bought eighty acres of timbered land and proceeded to clear it up and make a home and farm. Before his death he became well known in Washington Township, was a republican in politics and a member of the German Lutheran Church. Of his three children, two are now living. Mr. Henry Detjen was married July 25, .1895, to Louisa Fledderjohn, daughter of the late Henry Fledderjohn. Her father was a very successful farmer., and sawmill man in Auglaize County, where he came at an early day, and he lived to be eighty-eight years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Detjen, who are active members of the Lutheran Church, have four children, Ferdinand, Emma, Alvina and Leona, all of whom are still in the home circle. JAMES WILSON, JR. Death took away in the person of James Wilson, Jr., one of the finest types of business success and personal integrity that Auglaize County ever knew. Though he died May 3, 1913, the sense of loss is still strong with his many associates and friends. Death came to him early, and yet not before he had brought' his years to a full fruition of accomplishment and influence. His was a life well lived, with well-ordered pur-. pose, with stanch integrity and with a character that still seems to remain and impress itself upon the community where he spent nearly all his years. He was born at St. Marys, Ohio, September 21, 1847, a son of James and Clara (McKee) Wilson. His paternal grandparents were natives of Ireland. His father was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, January 1, 1810, moved to Ohio when three years of age, and was a pioneer settler at St. Marys. A blacksmith by trade; he followed that occupation at ..Piqua and at St. Marys, and afterwards was elected county auditor of Auglaize County and removed to Wapakoneta, where he lived until his death. He was married in 1846 to Clara McKee, who was born July 12, 1825, and died October 10, 1854. Their three children, all now deceased were James, William and Belle. As a biography and an appreciation of the late Mr. Wilson's career, no better words can be chosen than those which appeared in a local paper at the time of his death. This article is quoted in part as follows. “While his father was a blacksmith, James Wilson, Jr., was apprenticed to the printer's trade and served ten months in the usual duties of a printer's devil. Stronger attraction came then with the roll of drums and other military pomp and carried him off as a recruit to the army. After ten months of this occupation as a private in Company C of the One Hundred and Eighty-second Regiment Ohio Infantry, during which he fought at the battle of Nashville, being then only seventeen years of age, Mr. Wilson returned to his native county. He entered the office of his father, who was then county auditor, and remained there for six years. In 1871 he relinquished that position and entered the Farmers. Bank, owned and organized by Samuel Bitler, serving as cashier for fourteen years. Then he became a lumberman, why or how is not exactly known, but a man who is born to be a lumberman will find his way into the business somehow. He learned it under J. M. Leiter, who afterward became identified with the Bridal Veil Lumber Company of Bridal Veil, Oregon. "In 1884 Mr. Wilson took entire charge of the lumber .business and in 1895 purchased Mr. Leiter's interest.. His business ability, the high esteem in which he was held by the