400 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. farm, devoting the remainder of his life to agricultural pursuits. There he died in 1848. He was twice married, his first wife being Miss Priscilla Carter, who died leaving no children, and for his second wife he married Miss Mary Lee, a daughter of Solomon Lee, who was one of the early settlers of Richland county, his home being in Washington township. By the last marriage there were nine children, namely : Priscilla, who died in infancy; Nancy, the wife of Smith Douglas; Eleanor, the wife of Thomas Brown; Emeline, who died at the age of twelve years; Carter L., our subject ; Susan, the wife of James Force; Lois, the wife of James Reed; James, a resident of Los Angeles county, California; and Amy J., who died in 1899. Amid pioneer scenes Carter L. Cook grew to manhood, his education being obtained in the public schools of this county. His entire life has been spent upon the old homestead in Troy township, and he early became familiar with every detail of farm work, so that in the operation of the farm since his father's death he has met with excellent success. Here he has one hundred and sixty acres, and also owns another tract of forty acres, both of which places are well improved and under good cultivation. On the 2d of October, 1849, Mr. Cook was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. R. Rusk, a native of Morgan county, Ohio, and a daughter of John and Sarah (Donaldson) Rusk, who were born in Pennsylvania- and came to this state in 1824, locating in Morgan county. When Mrs. Cook was five years old they came to Richland county and settled in Washington township, where Mr. Rusk purchased a farm, making it his home until 1871, when he took up his residence in Lexington. There he died in 1873, aged seventy-seven years, and his wife departed this life in 1880, at the age of seventy-eight. In the family of this worthy couple were eight children, namely : William, a resident of Lexington; Margaret J., the wife of Elihu Mathews, of Hardin county, .Ohio; Mary A. R., the wife of our subject; Isabelle R., the wife of Samuel Moore, of Peoria county, Illinois; John D., who died at the age of ten years ; Andrew, a resident of Morrow county, Ohio; Joseph, deceased; and Sarah, the wife of Wesley Emerson, of Kansas. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cook, as follows : Emma, the wife of Albert C. Stewart, of Lexington ; Lora A., who died at the age of six years; Ella F., the wife of D. T. Barnett, of Troy township, Richland county ; Archie C., of Kansas ; Orville L., who lives on the home farm; John D., of Warren, Ohio; and Frank R., of Kansas. In his political views Mr. Cook is a stanch Republican, and has materially aided in the advancement of all social, moral and educational interests CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 401 in the community in which he lives. He and his wife are earnest and consistent members of the Congregational church, in which he has served as deacon since 1846, and has ever taken an active and prominent part in its work. JOHN P. STOBER, M. D. Dr. Stober is a skilled physician and surgeon of Lexington, Ohio, whose knowledge of the science of medicine is broad and comprehensive, and whose ability in applying its principles to the needs of suffering humanity has gained him an enviable prestige in professional circles. The Doctor was born in Milton township, Ashland county, Ohio, January 8, 1862, and was reared upon a farm, his early education being obtained in the district schools of the neighborhood. Later he attended the normal school at Ashland for three terms, and at the age of twenty years began teaching, which profession he successfully followed for three years. During the last year he took up the study of medicine, at home, and for a time was a student in the office of Dr. Baldwin, of Ashland. He then entered the Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital College, at which he was graduated in 1889, and the same year opened an office in Ashland. Two years later he came to Lexington, and has since successfully engaged in practice at this place, his skill and ability winning for him a liberal patronage. On the 1st of September, 1887, Dr. Stober was united in marriage with Miss Sadie E. Urich, of Richland county, who died January 24, 1898, leaving three children, namely : Jay, Rhea and George W. Fraternally the Doctor is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry and the Knights of Pythias, and politically he is identified with the Republican party. He is very popular socially, and has made a host of warm friends during his residence in this county. RILEY P. BRICKER. A very prominent public citizen of Shelby, Ohio, who is now the capable superintendent of the electric light plant in this place, is Riley P. Bricker, the subject of this sketch. He was born in Jackson township, Richland county, Ohio, in 1871, a son of Henry J. and Elizabeth (Shearer) Bricker, both natives of Pennsylvania, where the former was born in 1833. The grandfather of our subject came here in the early days and purchased a tract of what is known to all of the present residents as the Bricker farm, located about three miles from Shelby. The four children of the grandparents were William, Isaac, Franklin and Henry J. 402 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Henry J. Bricker had six children : John; William F., who died in Jackson township in 1887, at the age of 'twenty-seven years; Walter D., who died in 1892 ; Harry Urskin; Henrietta, who married John. W. Chamberlain and now resides in Toledo, Ohio ; and our subject. Riley P. Bricker was well taught at the primary schools and given opportunities of higher education at the Ohio State Normal University, at Ada, Ohio, leaving school in 1896. He then engaged in teaching and continued this profession for ten years. On April 2, 1900, he was elected clerk of the city of Shelby, the first Democratic clerk the city has ever had. He is also the township dell, and he has served as clerk of the sewer commission. Mr. Bricker has served as superintendent of the electric light plant since May I, 1900, this plant having been organized since 1892. The marriage of Mr. Bricker took place March 23, 1899, to Miss Mary M. Gilchrist, a daughter of William and Almira Gilchrist, who are among the oldest residents of Jackson township. One daughter has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bricker, who is named Mabel. Socially Mr. Bricker is connected with the Knights of Pythias, Uniform Rank, and the Colonial Club of Shelby, Ohio, and he is a charter member of the Board of Industry of Shelby, Ohio. His family are attendants at the services of the Lutheran church, where they are most highly appreciated. JOHN LEMLEY. John Lemley, who owns and cultivates a farm in Worthington township, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, September 16, 1836, and is of German lineage. His father, Gotlieb Lemley, was born, reared and married in Germany, Miss Mary Munse becoming his wife. He was a blacksmith by trade, and soon after his marriage crossed the Atlantic to the new world, about 182o. He there rented land until 1838, when he purchased a part of the farm now occupied by his son John, and there spent his remaining clays, his energies being devoted to farming, weaving and blacksmithing. He also dug many wells in this locality, and in his business was fairly successful, leaving a valuable farm of about one hundred and twelve acres. He started out in life empty-handed, but steadily worked his way upward, overcoming all the difficulties in his path and surmounting all the obstacles that barred his progress toward the goal of success. He was an active member of the Lutheran church, to which his wife also belonged, and was an earnest advocate of the Democracy. He died at the age of seventy-three years, and his wife passed away at the age of sixty-six. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 403 John Lemley is the fourth in order of birth in their family of twelve children. He remained on the home farm during his youth and on attaining his majority rented a tract of land. Subsequently, with the capital he had acquired through his energy and economy, he purchased a farm of eighty acres, which constitutes a part of his present home. He now owns altogether two hundred and sixteen acres of land, much of which represents his own earnings. He carries on general farming and stock raising. making a specialty of Durham cattle. The place is improved with good buildings, well-kept fences and all modern accessories and improvements, and the farm is a monument to the enterprise and thrift of the owner. Mr. Lemley married Miss Maria Gatton, of Richland county, a daughter of John Gatton. She died at the age of forty-two years, leaving five children : Mary; Clem, who conducts the home farm; John, who is in the Klondike; Milo, who is associated with his brother in the improvement of the home place; and Charles, who lives with his aunt. After the death of his first wife Mr. Lemley wedded Sarah Vohn. He is now largely living retired, his sons relieving him of the responsibility of the cultivation of his fields. He has always had a firm belief in the principles of the Democracy, yet has never sought or desired public office. He belongs to the Methodist Protestant church, in which he is holding the office of trustee. His career has been one of marked activity and usefulness, and demonstrates the possibilities of labor in America where opportunity is not hampered by caste or class. His energy has been the foundation of his success, and on it he has erected the superstructure of a comfortable competence. GEORGE W. STATLER. There are numerous members of the bar of Mansfield, Ohio, who have won distinction in their chosen profession, and in the connection particular recognition is due the able attorney whose name initiates this review. A native of Worthington township, Richland county, Ohio, George Washington Statler was born February 14, 1847, being the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Raub) Statler, the former of whom was a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1820, while the latter was a daughter of Henry Raub, of Knox county, Ohio, and a sister of Hon. William Raub, a member of the state legislature from Marion county. In both the paternal and maternal lines the ancestry of our subject traces back to stanch old German stock. Samuel Statler, Sr., the grandfather of George W., emigrated from Penn- 404 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. sylvania to Ohio in the year 1838, becoming one of the honored pioneers of the state. He was an active participant in the war of 1812, being a member of a Maryland regiment, and in recognition of his services a pension was ultimately granted to his widow, Elizabeth (Grubb) Statler. That the family is of loyal and patriotic stock is still further shown when it is recalled that the great-grandfather of our subject was a valiant soldier in the war of the Revolution. Samuel Statler, Jr., was about eighteen years of age when his parents emigrated to Ohio, and of the other children in the family we enter brief record as follows : Adam, who became a resident of Kansas ; George and Christopher, who died in Iowa ; Henry, who lived and died in Washington township, Richland county, Ohio ; Margaret and Mary, who married and went west ; Elizabeth Bowersox, residing in Ashland county, Ohio ; and Jeremiah, who settled in California in 1855. Samuel Statler, Jr., father of our subject, purchased land in Ashland county, Ohio, about the year 1880, and there he resided until his death, in 1893, at the venerable age of seventy-three years. Previously he had lived in Worthington township, Richland county, upon a aluable and finely improved farm of two hundred and forty acres, which had been the homestead of his father. He was a man of influence and prominence in the township, being strong in his intellectuality and ordering his life upon the highest plane of integrity. Samuel and Elizabeth (Raub) Statler had four children : Maranda, deceased ; Clark, who died in Nebraska ; Albert, a resident of Clay county, Nebraska ; and George W., the immediate subject of this record. George W. Statler attended the public schools and assisted in the cultivation of his father's farm until he had attained the age of seventeen, waxing strong of mind and body under the sturdy and effective discipline. His youthful patriotism was aroused to decisive action when the integrity of the nation was menaced by armed rebellion, and he gave evidence of his inherent loyalty by enlisting for service in the Union army, in March, 1864, becoming a member of Company G, Eighty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war. He served under General Sherman in the siege of Atlanta, participated in the famous march to the sea, and thence proceeded through the Carolinas to Richmond and onward to the national capital, where he participated in the Grand Review of the victorious armies, receiving an honorable discharge and returning to his home, a youthful but valiant veteran of the greatest civil war of history. Again turning his attention to the victories which peace has in store, as well as war, he resumed his educational work, entering Greentown Academy, where he prosecuted his studies during the year 1866. He soon put CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 405 his scholastic acquirements to practical test by engaging in the work of teaching school, continuing to devote his attention to pedagogic labors until 1870, in Richland county, and gaining a reputation as a thorough and discriminating worker in the educational field. Mr. Statler had, however, clearly formulated his plans for the future, having determined to prepare himself for the legal profession, and with this end in view he came to Mansfield ands began reading law in the office and under the direction of the well-known firm of May & Cowan, the latter of whom is now president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. Of the senior member of the firm, Hon. Manuel May, specific mention is made on other pages of this work. Giving close and careful application to his work, Mr. Statler made rapid progress in the acquirement of legal lore, incidentally having that practical experience which may be had in the office of a firm controlling a large and important practice, and in 1872 he was duly admitted to the bar of the state. He at once entered upon the active practice of his profession in Mansfield, and his thorough knowledge of jurisprudence, as conjoined to his skill in the handling of work in the courts, has gained to him a large and representative clientage. He is recognized as one of the leading members of the bar of the county, and is held in the highest esteem in professional and business circles. Mr. Statler has been a virogous and active advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, and has done effective service in the cause. He served as city solicitor for two terms, and on March 28, 1885, received from President Cleveland his commission as postmaster of Mansfield, giving to the office a very successful and popular administration and continuing to be the incumbent until February, t0, 1890. Since that time he has devoted his attention to the general practice of his profession and to the handling of real estate. In the centennial year, 1876, Mr. Statler was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Laird, daughter of William B. Laird, a pioneer of Madison township, now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Statler have two children : Mary, who is a graduate of the high school and is now teaching in the Mansfield public schools; and Warren Clark Statler, who is an assistant to his uncle, Jacob Laird, the city civil engineer of Mansfield. and who as a civil engineer had charge of the civil engineering in the construction of the electric railroad from Mansfield to Shelby in 1900. Our subject and his wife are members of the Methodist church. and fraternally Mr. Statler is a member of McLaughlin Post, No. 131, of the Grand Army of the Republic. 406 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. BARNABAS BURNS. Among the well known and highly respected citizens of Richland county who bore an important part in the development of the state was Barnabas Burns, of Mansfield. There are few men whose lives are crowned with the honor and respect which is universally accorded him, and through long connection with this portion of the state his has been an unblemished character. With him success in life was reached by his sterling qualities of mind and heart, true to every manly principle. He has never deviated from what his judgment indicated to be right and honorable between his fellow men and himself. He has never swerved from the path of duty, and along many substantial lines of progress he labored for the welfare of the people among whom he resided. Barnabas Burns was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, June 29, 1817, the youngest child of Andrew and Sarah (Caldwell) Burns. The father was a native of Donegal, Ireland, and left that country in 1798, at the age of eighteen years. He came to America on account of political troubles of the period and here he married Sarah Caldwell, an orphan who had come with her uncle, Stephen Caldwell, from county Donegal at an early age, residing in Philadelphia until her marriage. The children of the family were Andrew, who became a prominent minister of the Christian church; Hugh, who was one of the early dry-goods merchants of Ashland county and was the first county auditor ; and Barnabas. When the last named was three years of age he was brought by his parents to Richland county, where his childhood and youth were spent upon a farm which has since become the hamlet known as Paradise Hill, near Olivesburg. His education was obtained in a rude log schoolhouse, such as was familiar to the pioneer, and in the academies of Ashland and Mansfield. After completing his academic course he engaged in teaching a number of terms of school, and in 1840 he was chosen for the position of deputy county clerk, in which capacity he served acceptably until 1846. While performing the duties of that position he employed his leisure hours in the study of law in the office of Bartley & Kirkwood. In 1846 he was elected to represent the counties of Richland and Crawford in the Ohio state senate. He had not yet attained his thirtieth year when he was elected to this office. He served for two terms and was a member of the following committees : On finance, privileges and elections and on benevolent institutions, of which last he was the chairman. Mr. Burns married Miss Writh Gore, a native of Maryland, who CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 407 removed from that state to Mansfield in her nineteenth year. On her father's side she was descended from an old colonial family that for many generations had resided in Maryland. On her mother's side she was of Quaker ancestry, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, the family dating in that locality from the settlement of William Penn. Mrs. Burns was devoted to her husband, home and family. She died in 1887, at the age of seventy years. and the description of the "good woman" in Proverbs would prove a very fitting epitaph for her monument. Through a long period Barnabas Burns occupied a prominent position at the bar of Richland county. From 1850 until 1855 he was associated in the practice of law with his former preceptor, Hon. S. J. Kirkwood, who afterward removed to Iowa City, Iowa, and became prominent in that state as governor and United States senator, while later he was a member of President Garfield's cabinet. At the bar Mr. Burns won distinction by reason of his comprehensive knowledge of the law, his close application, the logic of his deductions and the correctness of his conclusions. His reputation as a lawyer was indeed enviable, for he ranked among the most prominent of the state and was an intimate friend of many distinguished members of the Ohio bar, including Durbin Ward and A. G. Thurman. Few men have done more to promote the progress and improvement of Ohio along various lines than did Barnabas Burns. He was the first president of the Mansfield Savings Bank and aided in organizing the institution. He was also director for many years of the Richland Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and in the days of the volunteer fire department he was a member of the old Company No. 2. He was a trustee of the Orphans' Home at Xenia for a number of years, being first appointed to that position in 1869. He served as a member of the board of education and of the city council and took an active interest in both before they became political offices, doing everything in his power to advance the interests of the schools and of Mansfield along the lines of reform and progress. He was one of the founders of the Mansfield Lyceum and Library Association, became its first president and acted in that capacity for a number of terms. In 1873 he was chosen a member of the constitutional convention by both political parties, and was recognized as one of the most capable members of the organization, taking an active part in framing the organic law of the state. That instrument bears the impress of his individuality in many instances and indicates his loyalty to the welfare of its commonwealth. In 1876 he was appointed by Governor R. B. Hayes as one of the centennial commissioners 408 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. from Ohio at Philadelphia. The last office he held was that of inspector of the Northern Pacific Railroad. In politics Mr. Burns was a war Democrat when the country was engaged in hostilities, but previous to that time had advocated the principles of Jefferson and after the war adhered to the old-school Democracy. When the question of slavery in the south and its extension into northern states became the paramount issue he was known as a stalwart advocate of the Union, delivered many addresses in its support, aided largely in raising recruits and was tendered the colonelcy of the Eighty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry by Governor Tod in recognition of his services during the three-months campaign in 1862. He was then appointed for a three-years term, but could not serve on account of chronic bronchial trouble, from which he was for many years a sufferer. He was at the front, however, for about six months, being appointed judge advocate upon the important military trial which was held at Cumberland, Maryland. He had been a delegate to the Baltimore convention which nominated Stephen A. Douglas, and also went as a delegate to the convention which nominated Horatio Seymour for the presidency in 1868. Mr. Burns was often called upon to preside at public meetings and acted as president of the clay at the dedication of the soldiers' monument, also made one of the addresses at the unveiling of the Vasbinder Fountain, July 4, 1881. Mr. Burns had the following named children : Mary, now the wife of Dr. George Mitchell ; John Caldwell, Jere Humphrey, Catherine and Barnabas Gore. At his death his children and five grandchildren were at his bedside. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church from early manhood, long served as one of its trustees and was very active and influential in building the present edifice. Of the Odd Fellows society he was a very enthusiastic member, and in his life exemplified the beneficent spirit of the fraternity. He was the president of the Richland County Bible Society and indeed took a very deep interest in everything pertaining to progress and advancement along lines of public good. SILAS CHAUNCEYPARKER. No preliminary paragraph is necessary to introduce the well known lawyer and citizen whose name appears above to the citizens of Mansfield, Ohio, among whom he has gone in and out as a fellow citizen for more than fifteen years, and to many of whom he has been known as a pioneer in Ohio and as a soldier of the Civil war for a much longer period. Mr. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 409 Parker was born in Holmes county, Ohio, in 1831, a son of Cephas Parker, a native of Oneida county, New York, who settled on a farm in Holmes county in 1816. William Parker, the father of Cephas, a pioneer in the hop-growing district of Oneida county, New York, was a first cousin of the Rev. Theodore Parker, D. D., the famous New England divine. The Parkers came to New England in the Mayflower, and the family has since produced many sons who have proven themselves worthy of their Puritan ancestry. Captain John Parker, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, led the minute men at Lexington. Mr. Parker's mother, Sarah Priest, was also of a distinguished English family. She was a daughter of James Loudon Priest, Jr., who was born in Massachusetts January 1, 1771, a son of James Loudon Priest, a native of England, whose mother was a Loudon of the same family as the one made famous in the annals of Virginia. James Loudon Priest, Jr., a civil engineer, about 1805 took his family to French Creek, Pennsylvania, from Onondaga county, New York, and from French Creek he removed, in 1807 or '08 to Sandusky county, Ohio. In the spring of that year William Priest, the eldest son, aged thirteen years, with a fifteen-year-old boy as his only companion, drove from French Creek, Pennsylvania, over the mountains and through the wilderness to Sandusky county and cleared and planted a patch of corn, so that the family might have provisions upon their arrival. The family consisted of the father and mother and fifteen children and the aged grandfather, who came of a family of large land-holders in England imbued with the idea that the farmer was the important man in the community. James Loudon Priest, Jr., by removing from Sandusky county in 1808 showed his good judgment of land when he located on one thousand acres where Loudonville, Ashland county, Ohio, now stands. It was on this journey that the mother of our subject was born, as described in some verses composed by him. Mr. Priest laid out the town and named it after his grandmother Loudon. He was the first justice of the peace in Lake township and filled the office eleven years. He also laid out all the roads leading from Loudonville.. He died in 1823, aged fifty-two years, and was buried there. Ten of his children grew to manhood or womanhood. In 1790 he married Polina Chauncey, of Long Island, a first cousin of Captain Isaac Chauncey, chairman of the naval committee at Washington in 1885. They were descendants of Charles Chauncey, who was born in England in 1695 and came to America in 1720, and later became 'the president of Harvard College. Polina (Chauncey) Priest died in 1859, at the age of eighty-six, and there were at that time eighty of her grand and great-grandchildren living. 410 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Silas Chauncey Parker received his education in the public schools of Holmes county, the academy at Loudonville, and for one year, in 1850-51, at the Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio. He returned to Holmes county and taught school until 1854, and then drove from Loudonville across the plains to California, where he remained four years. Of all his eventful life this overland trip is referred to by him as entailing the greatest hardships and calling for the greatest nerve. He was farming and teaching in Ashland county, 1858-62. In the year last mentioned he enlisted from Holmes county in the Thirty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which organization he was in active service until the end of the Civil war. He was commissary sergeant and after the siege of Atlanta was promoted to be color-bearer for gallant conduct. He was in the following and other hard-contested battles, sieges and important military movements,—Fort Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill (where he was wounded), all the fighting about Vicksburg, in the Meridian: expedition under Sherman (in which he was again wounded), Peach Tree Creek, all the battles about Atlanta and at the surrender of Johnston near Raleigh, and participated in the grand review at Washington in 1865, and was discharged from the service at Louisville, Kentucky. From 1865 to 1868 Mr. Parker was engaged in mercantile business in Holmes county. He then located at Perryville and in 1876 was admitted to the bar of Ashland county. For nine years he was a justice of the peace at Perrysville and for two years superintendent of schools. After having lived at Perrysville for several years he located at Mansfield in 1885, and has since lived there in the enjoyment of .a successful law practice. In all that pertains to the welfare of Mansfield he takes great interest. He has seen his children grow to manhood or womanhood there and start in life for themselves with every promise of useful and successful careers, and he has devoted a good deal of time and labor to Grand Army matters. He has prepared a roster of McLaughlin Post and biographical sketches of many of its four hundred members, and hopes yet to complete this work and present it to the citizens of Mansfield, through their public library, as a memorial of the brave men who went to the front from that vicinity. He is an honored past commander of the post and has been a delegate to the national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic and .a member of the council of administration, department of Ohio. He is a Freemason also, affiliating with the lodge at Loudonville. Politically he is a strong Democrat. He has made an exhaustive study of monetary questions and has written somewhat extensively in exposition of his views. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 411 In 1860 Mr. Parker married Miss Cristie N. Gibbons, a daughter of Tobias and Ursula (Newkirk) Gibbons, of Wayne county, Ohio. Mr. Gibbons is a farmer and justice of the peace, a citizen held in high respect, whose judgment carries weight in the community,—a positive man of Welsh descent who is utterly fearless in expressing and living up to his convictions. The following items concerning the children of Silas Chauncey and Cristie N. (Gibbons), Parker will be found interesting in this connection : Sallie L., the first born, is dead. Essie May also is dead. Edith Jane is the stenographer and bookkeeper for Brown's Mills, Mansfield, and is one of the trustees of that concern. Amasa Cephas Parker is the local manager for the Prudential Life Insurance Company, Cincinnati. Frank Alonzo Parker, formerly assistant editor of the Pittsburg Dispatch, is located at New Orleans, in charge of the southern bureau of the Scripps-McRae League. His prose and poetry have found place in the best periodicals. Libbie Colter Parker is a member of her father's household. Kary Gibbon Parker is a student at a leading medical college at Cincinnati. It seems pertinent to add something concerning Mr. Parker's brothers and sisters. Alonzo Priest Parker is a farmer of Stark, Kansas. Calvin Parker, also a farmer, lives at Ashland, Ohio. William Priest Parker is a merchant at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Laura is dead. Other sisters are Mrs. George Smith, deceased; Mrs. Harrison Fisher, of Union City, Pennsylvania; and Mrs. Wilson Morris, of Loudonville, Ohio, who is an artist of ability. James Loudon Parker is a resident of southern California, and Rev. Isaac Dillon Parker, of Chicago, is a lecturer on Bible studies in several colleges. Mr. Parker's aunt, Edith Parker, attended school in New York and was so well educated that, though she was only ten years old when the family came to Ohio, she immediately after their arrival became the first teacher in Newkirk settlement. In 1897 Mr. Parker wrote and published an excellent work, entitled A Treatise on Such Postal Laws and Regulations of the United States of America as Relates to Thefts and Counterfeiting of Postage Stamps, Stamped Envelopes and Postal Cards, and to Other Wrongs Against the Postal Service, with Suggestions as to How These Wrongs may be Reduced to the Minimum. Mention has been made of a poem written by Mr. Parker, descriptive of events, some of which were peculiar even in those pioneer days and all of which were important in connection with his family history. The author has named these verses "Chain Links, or Links of Gold," and has introduced them as follows : "These lines were suggested by links now in possession of the writer, taken from an old ox chain used by James Loudon 412 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Priest, founder of Loudonville, Ohio, in moving to this part of Ohio in 1808, when he settled on the farm on the Lake fork of the Mohican, now owned by the Schauweker heirs, the same being located in Holmes county, Ohio, on the line of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, three and a half miles east of Loudonville." CHAIN LINKS, OR LINKS OF GOLD. These chain links, one hundred years old, Though of from, are links of gold; They are rich in family lore, Recalling deeds of days of yore. Links taken from an old ox-chain That over hill, through wood, o'er plain, Drew precious freight of living weight To Lake Fork hills at slow ox-gait. The oxen were named Buck and Bright : They trudged by day and grazed by night, Always faithful and always strong, Trundling covered wagon along. The wagon, containing seed-corn and plow, Followed by the faithful family cow, With pigs and sheep and calf and colt as well, Was filled with things too numerous to tell. Then, from beneath the wagon's white cover, Peeped forth children, sister and brother ; And there was also our clear grandmother, Snugly tucked beneath warm bed cover. For, as I've been told and am proud to say, A daughter—my mother—was born on the way. Though this to the load added just one more, The oxen trudged on the same as before,— Taking no part in the mirth of the day Caused by the baby born on the way. Then there came on foot six sons, strong and brave Father, with grandfather, from over the wave, And daughters aback, sixteen in all, Moving west to carve with ax and maul From Mohican's hills homes for one and all. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 413 Of the sixteen that came by slow ox-train, Not one is living now : none now remain. Link by link each family chain is broken : Death, with golden links, hinds earth and heaven. This is why I say these links so old That, though of iron, they are links of gold. SILAS CHAUNCEY PARKER. GEORGE AND HANNAH COX. Mr. George Cox and his noble wife, whose maiden name was Hannah Funk, are one of the most highly respected and venerable couples of Richland county, he being ninety years of age and she eighty-five. They are living a retired life on their small farm in section 20, Sharon township, Richland county, Ohio, their postoffice being Shelby. Mr. Cox was born in Brooke county, Virginia, February 25, 1810, and came to Ohio in 1827, driving through with a team of horses, thirty sheep and two cows. He came with his father, stepmother and six other children. His father was Joseph Cox, whose first wife, though named Jane Cox before her marriage as well as afterward, was not a relative. She died in Virginia, leaving one daughter, who later was married in that state. Joseph Cox was afterward married twice, and has three other children. He managed his father's farm, that father being George Cox, who was a spy in the war against the Indians, and received from the government one hundred and sixty acres of land, by what was known as the "tomahawk right,"—wild land, upon which he settled. George Cox, the subject of this sketch, received a fair common-school education, but in what was then known as a subscription school, conducted in a log schoolhouse. Ftom his early youth he was for many years the main stay of the family. His father bought one-half a section of land of a Mr. McGuire's administrator, who made entry of the land and soon afterward died. Joseph Cox settled on his farm when there were but three houses and an old horse-mill in Shelby. This farm was just south of where the subject of this sketch now lives, and on the east side of the road. All his life the subject of this sketch has been a great worker, having not only chopped and logged all his own timber but has also used the sickle in the wheat, before such an implement as a reaper was known, or even a cradle for cutting the grain, working many a day in the harvest field for half a dollar per day. He was married September 8. 1836. to Hannah Funk, who was born in Pennsylvania July 3. 1815, and who is a granddaughter of the Rev. William 414 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. John Webber, whose funeral she attended when but ten clays old, being carried thereto on horseback in her mother's arms. Rev. Mr. Webber was a Hollander by birth, and was the first minister of the gospel to preach in Pittsburg, riding a circuit of fifty miles in extent, carrying his saddlebags on his horse. But he began life in that then new country as a teacher of youth, finishing his life work as a teacher of men. David Funk, the father of Mrs. Cox, was a man of unusual intelligence. He married Catherine Webber, who was born in Pennsylvania April 12, 1795. David and Catherine Funk were the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters, one of the sons dying in infancy. William Webber, the father of Catherine Webber, was born in Holland in 1735, was a preacher of the gospel until he was about eighty years old and died at the age of ninety. A book of psalms and hymns in the German language bearing the date of 1807 is one of the precious possessions of the family. David Funk died in Shelby February 17, 1868, and his widow died August 15, 1874, in her eightieth year, he being seventy-seven at the time of his death. Of their children three are still living, Mrs. Cox being the oldest of the three. Upon her marriage to Mr. Cox they settled at once in the woods, occupying a hewed-log house, 18x20 feet in size, she doing her cooking over a fire in a huge fireplace, using a large crane from which to suspend her pots and kettles. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are the parents of eight children—three sons and five daughters, as follows : Joseph O., who was a member of the Fourth Ohio Cavalry and died of disease during the late war of the Rebellion, at the age of twenty-five; he never married and was a great student and fine scholar ; Catherine M., born in 1839, and now the wife of Dr. Kochenderfer, of Galion; she is the mother of two sons; the third child died in infancy; Margaret, who died at the age of five months; David, who was born in 1845, and who served as a soldier in the Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the years 1864 and 1865, and who was an epileptic for many years, dying at the age of thirty-three years and ten months; Charles M., born in 1847, who was twice married and died at the age of fifty, leaving seven children : Elizabeth, who was born June 19, 1850, and has remained at home; and Narcissa, born March 12, 1852, and now the wife of William R. Crall, a fanner living in the immediate neighborhood. Mrs. Cox has one brother, David W. Funk, living in Los Angeles, aged seventy-eight, and one sister, Elizabeth, the widow Rayl, living in San Diego, California, who was born December 2, 1824. She was married, in April, 1849, to Henry Rayl, at Bucyrus, Ohio, he dying December 3, 1853, at CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 415 the age of thirty-one. Mr. Rayl was a farmer, and his widow is one of the best preserved women of her age, both physically and mentally. Both Mrs. Cox and Mrs. Rayl have excellent memories and much more than ordinary intelligence. Mrs. Cox, though somewhat feeble and bowed down with her four-score years and five, yet is still bright intellectually and her faculties remain sound and strong. Death has no terrors for this noble old lady, and she awaits the summons from the grim reaper with a sublime faith that enables her to approach the grave like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams. WILLIAM LEPPO. The descendants of pioneers in Ohio are among the leading citizens of to-day in every walk of life, and this is especially true of the sons of farmers, themselves pioneers in all but actual proprietorship of the land, who helped to clear primitive farms and put them under profitable cultivation, and who, coming to the state in boyhood, or even younger, have witnessed the whole process of development from the day of small but significant things to the things of fruition which characterize the state as one of the foremost in the Union at this time. Such a citizen is William Leppo, of Springfield township, Richland county, some account of whose interesting antecedents and worthy achievements it will be attempted now to give. Mr. Leppo was born at Hagerstown, Maryland, October 14, 1821, a son of John and Sarah (Pheasant) Leppo, and the youngest of their ten children and the only one of them now living.. In 1833 his father brought his family and portable belongings to Richland county, Ohio, making the journey with a five-horse team hitched to a heavy wagon, in which the mother and smaller. children rode and in which the family lived and slept by the way, except such of them as camped out by the wayside from time to time as locality and the weather offered opportunity. They located on one hundred and twenty acres of land, which is a part of the present farm of the subject of this sketch. At that time young Leppo was twelve years old. The first school he attended in Ohio was kept in a small log schoolhouse, with a stick chimney and benches of hewn slabs which were supported by hewn legs driven into auger-holes bored in the under side of the slabs to receive them. He was brought up to the hard and ceaseless round of farm work and instructed in all that makes for successful farming, and in 1846, at the age of twenty-five, took the management of the homestead and conducted its affairs in conjunction with his father until the death of the latter. 416 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Mr. Leppo's career as a farmer and man of affairs has been so successful that at this time he is the owner of four .hundred and forty-two acres of land, which he devotes to the purposes of general farming and stock-raising. In politics he is a Democrat, and he is a member and trustee of the Lutheran church. John Leppo died April 19, 1869, in the eighty-ninth year of his age, and is held in grateful memory by the older residents of the township for patriotic service in the war of 1812 and for his long and active labors in behalf of the German Reformed church. November 28, 1854, William Leppo married Miss Margaret W. Barr, a daughter of Alexander Barr, and she died December 21, 1889, after having borne him five children,. named as follows in the order of their nativity : John A., who is dead ; Sarah J., the wife of Frank Davidson, of Richland county ; Harriet E., the wife of J. E. Ferguson, a resident of Kansas; William H., of Richland county; and Marion F., who is a member of Mr. Leppo's household. ISAAC HESS. Among the prominent and influential business men of Butler is Isaac Hess, the president of the Richland County Bank and the proprietor of a weil appointed undertaking- establishment. Success is not a matter of genius, as held by some, nor does it result from fortunate circumstances, but comes as a logical result of well directed effort, guided by sound business judgment. It is thus that Mr. Hess has attained his position among the leading representatives of the financial interests of Richland county. He was born in Ankenytown, Knox county, Ohio, just across the Richland county line, July 2, 1845, a son of Henry Hess, who was a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. The latter was a son of David Hess, also a native of Westmoreland county. About 1840 he left the Keystone state and emigrated to Knox county, Ohio. He took up his abode on a farm, where he is still living-, at the age of seventy-seven years, in the enjoyment of good health. He votes with the Democracy and holds membership in the Dunkard church. His business interests have been attended with a fair degree of success and he is now comfortably situated in life. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Frederick, was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and died in 1876, at the age of fifty-two years. She, too, was a member of the Dunkard church and an earnest, consistent Christian woman. Her parents were natives of Bedford county, Pennsylvania. By CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 417 her marriage she became the mother of six children, namely : Isaac; Amanda, who became the wife of John Cocanower, and died in 1881, at the age of thirty-two years ; Eli, who died when about forty-three years of age ; Jacob, who is a traveling salesman, representing a Chicago house ; Martha, the wife of Jackson Bechtol, of Knox county ; and Alice, the wife of William Brubaker. Upon the home farm Isaac Hess remained until he was twenty-four years of age and the labors of the field and meadow early became familiar to him through practical experience. When he started out in life for himself he rented land for a few years and then purchased a farm in Knox county, upon which he remained until 1880, when he sold that property and came to Butler, working at the carpenter's trade for two years. Since that time he has engaged in the furniture and undertaking business and has built up an extensive trade. He now has a well equipped store, fitted with a large stock calculated to meet the wants of a general trade. His business methods are straightforward, his prices reasonable and his courtesy to his patrons unfailing, and these qualities have enabled him to command a liberal patronage. A man, of resourceful business ability, his efforts have not been confined to one line and his counsel and aid have proven important factors in the successful establishment of the Richland County Bank, of Butler, of which he was one of the organizers and is the president and treasurer. He was also one of the founders and is the treasurer of the Butler Steel Furniture Company. In addition to his furniture business he sells monuments and is widely recognized as one of the leading and enterprising business men of the city in which he is located. On the 30th of December, 1869, Mr. Hess was united in marriage to Miss Sarah E. Grubb, a daughter of Samuel Grubb, of Knox county, Ohio. They have an adopted daughter, Blanche. The Democracy finds in Mr. Hess a stanch advocate who does all in his power to promote the growth and secure the success of the party. He served as the township treasurer for eight years, has been the treasurer of Butler for a similar period, was the treasurer of the school board for twelve years, a member of the school board for nine years and of the city council three years. His honesty is proverbial, a fact which is indicated by the many kinds of financial interests that have been entrusted to him. He has ever conducted himself in such a manner and performed his duties with such promptness and fidelity as to win the high commendation of all concerned. He and his wife are members of the Brethren church and he withholds his support from no movement or measure which is calculated to advance the general welfare along 418 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. social, moral, material or intellectual lines. His unassailable reputation in business and his worth as a man and a citizen well entitle him to be classed among the leading men of Richland county. CALVIN ROBINSON. Of the great department of agriculture which forms so important an element in our national prosperity, Air. Robinson is a representative, being successfully engaged in farming and stock-raising in Jefferson township. He was born in this township January 25, 1837, and, like so many residents of this section of the state, comes of a family that was founded in Ohio by emigrants from Pennsylvania. His grandfather, John Robinson, was born in Ireland and when five years of age became a resident of America. He was reared in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and became a farmer, following that business throughout an active business career. He took up his abode in Richland county, Ohio, in 1814, and from the government entered one hundred and sixty acres of timber land in Jefferson township. This tract he cleared and transformed into richly cultivated fields. He served in the war of 1812 and in return was given a land warrant. Of the United Presbyterian church he was an active member and died in that faith about 1864, at the age of eighty-three years. William Robinson, the father of our subject, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1807, and when five years of age was brought to this county, where he was reared amid the wild scenes of the frontier, experiencing all the hardships and trials of pioneer life. When a young man he entered a farm in Marion county, Ohio, but remained there only for a short time, and in 1840 purchased from a Mr. Durbin the farm upon which his son Calvin now resides. This he cleared and improved, making it his home until his death, which occurred when he had attained the age of seventy-five and a half years. His early political support was given the Democracy, but later he joined the ranks of the Republican party and was ever afterward one of its stanch advocates. He held various offices, discharging his duties in a prompt and faithful manner. Of the United Presbyterian church he, too, was a member. In December, 1835, he married Miss Maria Lafferty, who was born in Harrison county, Ohio, in 1817, and came to Richland county with her parents. Here father, John Lafferty, was one of the representative agriculturists of his community and died here, when about sixty-five years of age. Mr. Robinson's grandfather, Thomas Leadom, was one of the heroes of the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Robin- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 419 son survived her husband about ten years and was called to her final rest at the age of seventy-five. She was a consistent Christian woman, her church relations being with the United Presbyterian. Calvin Robinson, her only child. remained at home with his parents through the period of childhood and youth. and the public schools afforded him his educational privileges. During the Civil war he responded to hiS country's call for aid, enlisting on the 2(1 of May, 1864. as a member of Company D, One Hundred and Sixty-third Ohio Infantry, serving near Washington, D. C., for a time and afterward in the vicinity of Petersburg and at Fort Pocahontas on the James river. He was discharged at Camp Chase September 10, 1864, and then returned to his home. The following year Mr. Robinson was married to Miss Elizabeth Leedy. The marriage occurred January 19, 1865. and their union has been blessed with six children : William G., now in South Dakota Margaret, at home; Mary, wife of. Levi Fry ; John C.. a farmer of Jefferson township; and Fred A. and George L., both at home. At the time of his marriage Mr. Robinson purchased a farm in Jefferson township and continued to cultivate that land until his father's death, when he inherited the old homestead, upon which he has since resided. He here owns one hundred and sixty acres of land and also has a small farm of forty-eight acres. He carries on general farming and the breeding of sheep, and conducts both branches of his business in a profitable manner. He has never been an active politician in the sense of office-seeking. yet for three years served as township trustee in a most capable manner and then resigned. He voted with the Republican party until 1884, since which time he has been a Prohibitionist, and he holds membership in Moody Post, G. A. R., of Bellville. He and his wife belong to the Presbyterian church, in which he is serving as an elder. He has a nice home, a family which does credit to his name, and his personal career has been an honorable one, commending him to the confidence of all. ABRAHAM BENEDICT. Well known in Richland county, Mr. Benedict is a worthy representative of its farming interests and is a man whose sterling traits of character have gained for him the high regard of those with whom business or social relations have brought him in contact. A native of the Keystone state, he was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the 11th of August, 1834, and is a son of Joshua and Margaret (Ickes) Benedict. The father 420 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. also was born in Franklin county and was there reared upon a farm. Having arrived at years of maturity he married Miss Margaret Ickes, and some time afterward came into possession of the old homestead, residing thereon until 1844, when he sold the property and removed to Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, purchasing there a farm near Shippensburg, where he spent the succeeding three years of his life. On the expiration of that period he again sold out and came to Richland county, Ohio, where he bought a farm of forty acres in Blooming Grove township and continued its management for ten years, when he removed to Williams county. Several years later he went to Hillsdale county, Michigan, where his last days were passed. His study of political questions and interests led him to give his support to the Whig party in early life, and after the organization of the Republican party he became one of its stanch supporters, but was never an office-seeker. From early manhood a member of the Church of God, he was highly esteemed through the long years of an active and honorable life. His wife was born in Maryland in 1806, and during her early girlhood accompanied her parents on their removal to Franklin county, Pennsylvania, where they lived and died. Mrs. Benedict passed away in Angola on the 3d of July, 1900, at the very advanced age of ninety-four years, one month and twenty-one days. By her marriage she became the mother of five children, all of whom are yet living, namely: William, a resident of Angola, Indiana ; Abraham, of this review; Barbara, now the wife of Frank Taft, of Oklahoma ; Margaret, the wife of Orlando Bennet, of Arkansas City; and Jacob, of Williams county. Abraham Benedict was educated in the common schools and reared on the home farm, taking his place in the fields almost as soon as he was old enough to hold the plow handles. He thus received the practical training Which fitted him for successfully carrying on active business on his own account. In the spring of 1858 he removed with. his wife and his parents to Williams county, where he remained for eighteen months, then returned to Richland county and for twelve years devoted his energies to the operation of his father-in-law's farm. In 1871 he became a resident of Ashland county, where he cultivated a tract of rented land for some years. Again coming to Richland county he purchased eighty acres of the farm upon which he now resides and to which he has since added thirty-four acres, so that the place now comprises one hundred and fourteen acres. In 1878 he erected thereon a substantial residence and in 1882 built a barn. The place is now splendidly improved and the well-tilled fields yield to him a good return for the care and cultivation given to them. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 421 In 1857 Mr. Benedict was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Stoner, a native of Blooming Grove township, Richland county, and to them have been born four children, all yet living, as follows : Norris, who is conducting the home farm; Sarah A., the wife of Shannon Weaver, of Blooming Grove township; Almira, the wife of Wilber Curtis, of Blooming Grove township; and Albert, who is a teacher in the public schools of Marshall county, Illinois. The mother passed away November 11, 1898. For fifteen years she had been an invalid and for eight years was entirely helpless. In politics Mr. Benedict is a stanch Republican, but has never been an aspirant for public office, the duties of the farm claiming his entire attention. A strong purpose and indefatigable energy have been the salient features of his career and have gained for him the prosperity which he now enjoys. JOHN HENRY TODD. The insurance interests represented at Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, involve the investment of vast capital, which stands for the protection of property-owners and the security of families dependent upon life-insurance investments for their inheritance in case of the death of husbands and fathers unable to provide for them otherwise. One of the leading insurance men of this city is John Henry Todd, a native of Mansfield, who was born January 9, 1850. His father, Dr. John J. Todd, located here in 1842 and practiced his profession with success until his death, which occurred in January, 186. He was a native of Ashland county, then a part of Richland county, where his father was a pioneer settler, and was graduated in medicine at the Cleveland Medical College in 1847 and was accounted a careful and skillful physician. He married Naomi Hedges, a daughter of Ellzey Hedges and a sister of Hon. Henry C. Hedges, a biographical sketch of whom appears in this work. It is worthy of note that Mrs. Todd was born at the old Hedges homestead on Diamond street, next to the Odd Fellows' hall, Mansfield ; her son, John Henry Todd. was born there, and the latter's eldest son was also born there, and died there, in infancy. Mr. Todd's brothers, Ellzey and William, died young. His sister, Addie T. Todd, married the late James J. Hedges, a son of W. C. Hedges, of Tiffin, Ohio, and a grandson of the founder of that town. Another sister, Harriet Hedges Todd, married Hon. M. R. Dickey. a prominent lawyer of Cleveland, Ohio, formerly the judge of common pleas of Richland county. John Henry Todd was educated in the schools of Mansfield and entered the employment of Sturges, Wood & Witter, with whom he remained seven 422 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. years in the capacity of clerk. In 1876 he became associated with the Richland Insurance Company, with which he has been identified from that time to the present. He served two terms as a member of the board of education of the city of Mansfield. He is a prominent Odd Fellow and has passed all the chairs in all three branches of the order and has filled other important and responsible positions in that order. Mr. Todd married Miss Elza Pirritte, a daughter of the Rev. William Pirritte, of the Methodist Episcopal church, who came to Richland county, Ohio, from Canada and built the present Methodist church at Mansfield while stationed in that city. She died in 1884, leaving one child, Henry Hedges Todd, of Mansfield. Mr. Todd's present wife was Miss Catherine Bishop, a daughter of Coleman E. Bishop, of Jamestown, New York, whose father founded that city. They have six children,—Bryant B., John Henry, Coleman E., Lawrence Meredith, David Kenneth and Naomi Katherine. The family are attendants upon the services of the Methodist Episcopal church, of the varied interests of which Mr. Todd is a liberal supporter. Mr. Todd is widely known in insurance circles as a well informed underwriter, and his services in behalf of the company with which he is connected have been valuable and are well appreciated. He is a man of much public spirit who takes a deep interest in everything affecting the growth and prosperity of Mansfield. HENRY P. METZ. Henry P. Metz, a farmer of section 18, Sharon township, Richland county, Ohio, whose postoffice is Shelby; was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1857, and is a son of Alexander Metz, born in the same county February 23, 1829, and died in Pennsylvania in 1897. The mother of our subject, Elizabeth Jane Shibeley, was born in Perry county in 1831, and was married in November, 1855. She and her husband lived forty-five years on their forty-acre farm in the valley, he working most of the time at his blacksmith forge. They were the parents of six children,—four sons and two daughters,—as follows : Henry P., the subject of this sketch; Oscar Jerome, a farmer of Cass township, Richland county, Ohio, who is married and has five children; Ida V., the wife of Stephen Worcester, of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and who has a family of one son and one daughter ; Allen I. ; John, living on the old farm in Perry county, Pennsylvania, upon which the father settled forty-seven years ago, and has a family of four children ; and Annie, living with her mother, who is still an active woman, in Perry county, Pennsylvania. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 423 Henry P. Metz was given a good common-school education, left home when twenty years of age, locating in Sharon township, Richland county, Ohio, and working by the month for a farmer during the years 1878 and 1879. He was married, November 25, 1879, to Elnora Castor, who was born in 1853, in Plymouth township, and who is a daughter of Thompson and Rachel Castor, the former of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Metz have one child, Charles Clarence, now in his twentieth year and living at home. Mr. Metz purchased his present eighty-acre farm in February, 1895. It is a fertile farm with much choice fruit upon it. He keeps two horses, and from twelve to seventeen head of cattle. Mr. Metz is an Odd Fellow, is a Patron of Husbandry, and in politics a Republican. In every way he has been and is a model citizen of the republic, and is highly esteemed by all. JERRY NEEDHAM. The subject of this personal narrative is one of the most progressive and successful agriculturists, as well as one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Troy township, Richland county, Ohio. He was born on the 30th of January, 1848, on the farm where he still resides, and belongs to one of the honored pioneer families of this state. His paternal grandfather, Jesse Needham, was one of the early settlers of Guernsey county, and from there removed to Morrow county, where his death occurred. John W. Needham, our subject's father, was born in Guernsey county March 30, 1821, and was reared in much the usual manner of farmer boys in his day. In 1844 he came to Richland county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of heavily timbered land in Troy township. After erecting a log cabin of one room, into which the family moved, he commenced to clear and break his land. He now has a well improved and highly cultivated farm, upon which. he is still living at the ripe old age of eighty years. He enjoys good health and his memory seems unimpaired. In past years he took quite an active and prominent part in the work of the Grange, and since the organization of the Republican party has been one of its stanch supporters. For twenty years he efficiently served as a trustee of Troy township, and has always been numbered among its most valued and useful citizens—one willing to give his support to any enterprise for the public good. In early manhood John W. Needham wedded Miss Mary A. Shauck, who died April 1, 1891. By this union were born eight children, namely : 424 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Henry L. and Elah, both deceased; Jerry (correctly put, the name is Jeriel), our subject; Joanna, the wife of John H. Buck, of Portland, Oregon; Albert and Frank P., deceased; John Oliver, a resident of Cripple Creek, Colorado; and Virginia, deceased. During his boyhood and youth Jerry Needham attended the district schools near his home, and for three years was also a student at Lexington Seminary. Having thus acquired a good education he returned home, and has since engaged in farming in connection with his father. He owns one hundred and sixty acres of fine farming land in Troy township, two miles southwest of Lexington, and is successfully engaged in its cultivation. He also gives considerable attention to the raising of stock. On the 19th of December, 1876, Jerry Needham was united in marriage with Miss Edith E. Dwyer, of Morrow county, Ohio, a daughter of Captain William M. Dwyer, who commanded a company in the Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war. Two children bless this union,—Earl D.. and Guy W. The elder is now in the United States railway mail service and the younger is in school. His fellow citizens, recognizing his worth and ability, have called upon Mr. Needham to serve in several responsible positions, the duties of which he has ever faithfully discharged. He filled the office of township trustee four years, and for seven consecutive years served as the president of the Richland County Fair Association, of which he has also been a director for several years. In his political affiliations he is. a Republican. He is a past master of his local Grange, and is now serving his second year as the master of the county Grange. He is also an active and prominent member of the United Brethren church, in which he is serving as a trustee and chorister, having had charge of the music in the church for the past twenty-five years. He possesses considerable talent in that line, and is engaged in teaching vocal music. Genial and pleasant in manner, Ile is one of the most popular citizens of his community. CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER AU. As a man travels on in the journey of life and passes the prime of manhood his strength and energy are somewhat lessened by age, which is an indication that it is intended that his last years should be at least to some extent a period of rest. Not all who pass the meridian of life are permitted to put aside business cares, for through the lack of business ability or mismanagement they have not acquired capital sufficient to supply their needs in