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David Todd Bishop acquired, through his own efforts, a liberal education. He attended the common schools, was graduated in 1893 from the Union Town High School, and in 1894 completed the course of the Louisville High School. In 1895 he entered Mount Union College and was graduated Bachelor of Science with the class of 1899. While at Mount Union he taught school during the winter term and from that source paid his college expenses. On leaving college Mr. Bishop was for one year a teacher in Jefferson County, and from 1900 to 1907 was in charge of the Greentown High School in Stark County. He came to Hartville in 1907 and was principal of the high school up to 1910. When he took charge the Hartville High School was of the third grade, and he advanced it to first grade. He left the schoolroom in 1910 to become cashier of the reorganized Hartville Banking Company. Mr. Bishop is also owner of a well-improved farm near Hartville.
Mrs. Bishop, before her marriage, was Sadie Vine. She was born in Stark County, daughter of William and Sarah (Stuckey) Vine. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop are members of the Lutheran Church, and in politics he is a republican.
HOMER VINCENT BRIGGLE. While Mr. Briggle has for fifteen years been identified with the Stark County bar, his present activities are chiefly centered in business affairs, and he represents and is manager at Canton of one of Ohio's leading industries. He comes of an old Stark County family, one that was identified with the pioneer settlement and development of this section, and like many successful men in the professions had his early training and influences from the farm.
Homer Vincent Briggle was born on a farm near the Village of East Sparta in Pike Township of Stark County February 1, 1872. His parents were the late Joseph arid Sarah Jane (Williams) Briggle, both natives of Pike Township. Joseph Briggle, the paternal grandfather, was born in Germany, came to America when quite young, lived in Pennsylvania a time, and soon after his marriage emigrated to Ohio, he and his young wife making the trip on horseback. Their first destination was Canton, and from there they proceeded down the Nimishillen Creek to the Big Sandy, and down that stream to Bear's Run, which they followed until they found a large spring, which they chose as the site of their future home. Joseph Briggle bought that land, cleared it and improved it, and before his death had a productive farm and a comfortable home. This land is still known as the Briggle Farm and is the center of many associations for the Briggle family.
Joseph Briggle, the father, saw nearly four years' service during the Civil war, having enlisted in Company D of the One Hundred and Seventh Ohio Infantry, and for three years serving with the armies in active contact with the Southern troops. After peace was restored he was detailed for garrison duty and was not mustered out and discharged until several months after the actual close of the war. Returning to Stark County, he bought a farm near Sparta, engaged in agriculture, and subsequently combined live stock dealing and farm operation with unusual success. The death of his wife in May, 1908, caused him to
PICTURE OF J. MURRAY SPANGLER
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retire from the farm into the Village of East Sparta, where he lived practically retired until his death on November 20, 1910, at the age of sixty-two. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Sarah Jane (Williams) Briggle, his wife, was born in 1858, a daughter of John Williams, who came to Pike Township from Pennsylvania as an early settler. John Williams was a Scotchman. The late President McKinley when a boy spent many days visiting at the old Williams country home. Mrs. Joseph Briggle died in 1908.
Homer V. Briggle was born and reared on his father's farm, which he now owns. His early education was from the district schools, he attended a normal school at East Sparta, and took the classical course in the Ohio Northern University at Ada. After various experiences Mr. Briggle took up the study of law in the office of Welty & Albaugh at Canton, and was admitted to the bar March 17, 1899. The first two years were spent in practice with the firm of Welty & Albaugh, and after that he was in individual practice and very active as a lawyer until July 1, 1913. At that date Mr. Briggle became associated with Ohio C. Barber, of Akron, in the manufacturing and mining business, and is now general manager of the O. C. Barber Mining & Fertilizer Company with headquarters in Canton. Mr. Briggle still retains membership in the Stark County Bar Association, and fraternally is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Mr. Briggle married Anna Calendine. She was born on a farm near Bolivar in Tuscarawas County, daughter of Jeremiah and Malinda Calendine. Her parents originally lived at Canal Dover, Ohio.
J. MURRAY SPANGLER. While there are many avenues for valuable service to the world, there is no doubt that the men who assist in lightening the burdens of humanity by mechanical invention deserve front rank among benefactors and the leaders of mankind. Canton as an industrial city has enjoyed the services of many men proficient and talented in the mechanical arts, and one who was widely known as an inventor and was long identified with local citizenship was J. Murray Spangler.
It was just a century ago that the Spangler family became identified with Stark County, and there have been three generations of useful and influential citizenship. J. Murray Spangler was born on the old Spangler homestead near the center of Plain Township in Stark County, November 20, 1848. His parents were William A. and Elizabeth (Lind) Spangler. William A. Spangler was born in Plain Township, Stark County, July 9, 1815, and was a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Koon) Spangler, both natives of Adams County, Pennsylvania. Joseph Spangler was engaged in the milling business in Pennsylvania, and in 1814 moved out to Stark County and in Plain Township found employment in an old grist mill. Three years later he moved to Summit County, Ohio, had charge of a mill there five years, and returning to Plain Township in 1822 bought a farm of one hundred and twenty acres and spent the rest of his days in the quiet vocation of agriculture. William A. Spangler after the death of his father took charge of the home farm, and lived with his widowed mother until twenty-one years of age. He then bought a farm of his
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own, and the long years of a quiet and efficient career were mainly spent as a cultivator of the soil. In 1835 William A. Spangler married Elizabeth Lind, who was born in Stark County, and her father, John Lind, was another Stark County pioneer. William A. Spangler died in 1889, and his wife passed away in 1886.
J. Murray Spangler was reared on a farm in Stark County, and the first thirty years of his life were identified with the country and rural pursuits. For about ten years while making his home on a farm he engaged in threshing, and in that business had an outlet for his natural mechanical talents. He operated the first steam threshing outfit in Plain Township. From boyhood it was a part of his character to master the details of every machine with which he had anything to do, and he made a close study of every part and the working operation of machines, and when only eighteen years of age had invented and patented a hay tedder and rake. These two devices were combined in one machine. He next took out a patent on an improvement to a grain binder. When about forty years of age Mr. Spangler invented an improvement on his combined hay tedder and rake, and established a shop for the manufacture of this valuable agricultural machine. Following this he began the manufacture of a small cycle wagon called the Spangler Patented Cycle Wagon, which is still on the market.
His latest and most important invention is a machine now manufactured and distributed by the Hoover Suction Sweeper Company of New Berlin. It was in July, 1907, that Mr. Spangler began experimenting on an electric suction sweeper and on the following Thanksgiving Day had completed a machine which did work almost as perfect as those of today. He applied for a patent, and later, on June 2, 1908, received his letters patent. On June 28, 1909, Mr. Spangler received a patent on an improvement to the sweeper and other successive patents covering improvements bearing dates of September 28, 1909; April 26, 1910 ; November 1, 1910; March 29, 1912; June 17, 1913 ; September 16, 1913; besides three applications for patents still pending. In the fall or early winter of 1907 Mr. Spangler began manufacturing his suction sweeper, on a small and restricted scale, having made financial arrangements with the Follwell Brothers for the production of the machines, in accordance with his models and patents. In August, 1908, Mr. Spangler dissolved his agreement with that company, and then formed the Hoover Suction Sweeper Company for the primary manufacture of the sweeper. That company is still in existence, and is now one of the flourishing concerns in this special field of manufacture. The first plant was at Canton, but after about a year the company erected a fine plant of its own at New Berlin. Mr. Spangler retained his interest in the company until his death, though the sweeper is now manufactured under the name Hoover Suction Sweeper, and there is a Canadian factory and office at Windsor, Ontario, and the machine is manufactured under domestic and foreign patents, and is sold both in America and abroad. Mr. Spangler before his death lived practically retired from active affairs and spent his time in Canton at his fine residence on Twelfth Street N. W.
Mr. Spangler married Elesta Holtz, who was born in Plain Town-
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ship of Stark County, daughter of. M. J. Holtz, a farmer in that vicinity and who was also born in this county. They became the parents of three children: Clarence T., who died at the age of thirty-six years; Frank G., who died at the age of twenty-four ; and Jennie M., the only one now living. Mr. Spangler was a member of the Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church, as is also his family, and in politics he was a republican, but an independent factor so far as municipal and state politics were concerned. His death occurred on the 23d of January, 1915.
WILLIAM WHITTIER CLARK. Another son of the late William W. Clark, whose prominent career as a business man and citizen has been sketched on other pages, William Whittier Clark is one of Canton's younger business men and leaders, and is now vice president and general manager of the Canton Art Metal Company.
William Whittier Clark was born in Canton at the old homestead December 17, 1880. As a boy he attended the public schools in his native city, and then entered one of the old and best known preparatory schools in the east, Phillip Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He was a student there at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, and left college, came home and volunteered for service, enlisting in Company I of the Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, known as "McKinley's Own." With that regiment he saw some active service in Cuba in 1898. Following the war Mr. Clark returned to Ohio, and entered the Law Department of the Ohio State University, where he was graduated in the class of 1902. Though trained as a lawyer, Mr. Clark's career has been chiefly identified with business affairs. In 1902 he became clerk in the offices of the Canton Steel Roofing Company, was chosen secretary of this company in 1903, and when the Canton Steel Roofing Company was succeeded by the Canton Art Metal Company in 1905 he took an executive position with that concern as vice president and general manager.
Mr. Clark is an active member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, and belongs to the Canton Club, the Congress Lake Club and the Elks Club. He married Olive Cavnah, daughter of Henry Cavnah, of Canton. Their home has been blessed with the following children: William W., III; Robert V.; Richard B.; Isabella F.; James J.; and Nathaniel C.
HIRAM CARPER. Whatever the circumstances of his start, and however lacking in capital and influence, when a man perserves and exercises so much industry and good judgment in his affairs as Hiram Carper has used he seldom fails to overcome all the obstacles in the path to success. Mr. Carper at the time of his marriage faced life as a farm renter. but now for many years has been one of the leading business men of Hartville. and his position is securely established as a man of affairs in that locality of Stark County.
The Carper family has lived in Stark County for a great many years. His grandfather, Solomon Carper, came from Pennsylvania. making the journey by team and wagon, and was one of the early settlers in this county. The wagon which conveyed the family to Stark
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County so many years ago saw a great deal of service in the Carper family. It was in use by three successive generations, and when Hiram Carper himself started upon his independent career as a farmer he made use of that vehicle until he could afford a better one. Hiram Carper was born on his father's farm about a mile and a half west of Hartville on February 6, 1861. His parents were Andrew and Susan (Kaiser) Carper. His mother was born in Summit County, Ohio, daughter of George Kaiser, who was a native of Pennsylvania. She died in 1891 at the age of fifty-two. Andrew Carper was born on a farm three miles south of Hartville, in 1842, and died in 1900. Both were members of the Dunkard Church.
Hiram Carper lived at home and assisted his father with the farm work until twenty-one years of age. In the meantime he had secured a substantial education in the local schools. After his marriage he started out as a renter on the old Christ Neitz farm in Canton Township, south of the city of that name. That was his home for about two years, when he rented the Hausel farm in the same general locality. That was the scene of another hard-working period for three years. His next occupation of a rented farm was the old Ferdinand Herbruck place, north of Canton, and he farmed there two years. He accumulated some means and being known as a thrifty manager he next bought forty acres of the Harrisburg Road, and after farming there four years traded his place for eighty acres almost adjoining. Four years later he sold his farm and engaged in the implement business at Canton. He continued to be one of Canton's merchants and dealers for five years. At the end of that time he identified himself with Hartville and with that village as his home he spent two years as traveling represen- tative of the International Harvester Company. Mr. Carper then engaged in the hardware, furniture and piano business at Hartville, but after five years sold out the hardware and furniture stock, and concentrated his attention upon the piano branch of his business. He is still the principal dealer in pianos at Hartville, but five years ago expanded the scope of his operations by establishing an agency for automobiles. Recently he organized the Hartville Motor Car Company, and opened a garage. He handles the Studebaker, Allen and Maxwell ears, and is also a director in the Quality Tire & Rubber Company of Hartville and a director in the Stark Auto Company of Cleveland.
Early in his career Mr. Carper married Maria Royer, who was born three miles south of Hartville, daughter of Abraham Royer. Their oldest child is Ellen, now the wife of Ira Eshelman of Hartville. The second daughter, Lottie, first married Elmer Stayer, who lost his life in the fire which destroyed the hardware store at Hartville; her present husband is Aaron Kinsley, a hardware merchant at Hartville. The third daughter is Emma, wife of Clay Wagner, who is associated with Mr. Carper in the automobile business. The only son is Clarence, still in school.
Mr. and Mrs. Carper are members of the Church of the Brethren.
JOHN GEORGE OBERMIER. The factory manager of the Timken Roller Bearing Company of Canton has shown by his career the high value of
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persistency and regularity of effort in acquiring a successful position in business affairs. His business life has been a long one from the fact that when he was a boy of only fifteen he started out with the company which had the benefit of his capable services in increasing measure for over thirty years. Mr. Obermier is one of the able men in that group of industrial executives who control and promote the large activities of the Canton manufacturing field.
John George Obermier was born in Cleveland, Ohio, November 13, 1862, a son of the late John L. and Margaret (Buchman) Obermier, both of whom were born and married in Switzerland. The parents in 1842 came to America, locating in Cleveland, where the father was engaged in the shoe business until his death in 1867. His widow survived and passed away at Cleveland in 1888.
John G. Obermier had all his education in the Cleveland public schools, and what he learned from books was supplemented by a rigid training in practical details of business. At the age of fifteen he was taken into the pay of the Cleveland Axle Manufacturing Company. A t that time he was one among many, but the boy helper had some qualities which soon commended him to his superiors and from one responsibility to another he was advanced until by 1886 he was superintendent of the entire works. In 1892 the company removed its plant to Canton, and Mr. Obermier came along and continued as superintendent until his term of service with the company had been prolonged to thirty-four years. In the meantime he had taken an effective part in organizing the Cleveland-Canton Spring Company, of which he was general manager at the same time as his superintendency of the Cleveland Axle Manufacturing Company.
In 1911 Mr. Obermier severed his connections with both these concerns in order to become factory manager of the Timken Roller Bearing Company. This is one of the prominent industries, and one with a large output and with great possibilities for the future, in the Canton manufacturing district. Mr. Obermier is a well known figure in Canton business and civic affairs. He belongs to the Canton Chamber of Commerce, the Canton Club, the Lakeside Country Club and the Congress Lake Club. Mr. Obermier married Mary A. Martin, of Cleveland, daughter of John and Alice Martin, both now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Obermier have one daughter, Alice.
DAVID B. DAY. In character, ability and achievement Mr. Day has proved himself able to uphold fully the prestige of a name that has been one of the most distinguished in the history of Ohio jurisprudence and one that has transcended local limitations to touch and permeate also our national history. His father, the late Judge Luther Day, was in his day and generation one of the most eminent and distinguished legists and jurists of Ohio, where he served many years on the bench of the Supreme Court of the state. Judge Luther Day was the father of Hon. William R. Day, who is now serving as associate justice of the United States Supreme Court and concerning whom specific mention is made on other pages of this work, as is also true in the case of two of his sons, who likewise have become prominent members of the Ohio
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bar. He whose name introduces this paragraph is a half-brother of Judge William R. Day, and is a son of the second marriage of Judge Luther Day, the maiden name of his mother having been Ellen J. Barnes. Further data concerning the family history appear elsewhere in this work, but in a prefatory way it may be said that David B. Day is junior member of the law firm of Lynch & Day, of Canton, which holds precedence as the oldest professional alliance of the kind in the
county and of which Justice William R. Day formerly was a member.
Though he has had no ambition for public office of any kind, even along the line of his profession, David B, Day has exemplified the same type of ability that has made the family name one of significant prominence in the annals of the Buckeye commonwealth, has not faltered in his allegiance to the republican party, which represents the family political faith, and is not only one of the leading members of the Stark County bar but is also known and honored for his civic loyalty and high ideals and for his sincerity and uprightness in all of the relations of life.
David B. Day was born at Ravenna, Portage County, Ohio, on the 26th of November, 1863, and after availing himself of the advantages of the public schools of his native city he entered Western Reserve University, in which he continued his studies for three years and from which he withdrew at the close of his junior year. In preparation for the profession which has been signally dignified and honored by the family of which he is a member, he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1888 and from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws. In October of the same year he was admitted to the bar of his native state and shortly afterward became the youngest member of the law firm of Day, Lynch & Day, of Canton, at the head of which was his brother, Judge William R.. Day, since whose retirement from the firm the title has been Lynch & Day, the honored coadjutor of Mr. Day being Austin Lynch, who has long been one of the foremost members of the Stark County bar. Mr. Day has thus been engaged in the active practice of law for more than a quarter of a century, and within this period he has appeared in much important litigation in the courts of this section of Ohio, with unequivocal reputation as a strong and resourceful trial lawyer and as a counselor admirably fortified in the science of jurisprudence and in maturity of judgment. He is a member of the Stark County Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Association, has continued a close and appreciative student of law and has considered his profession well worthy of his undivided allegiance, so that, though a strong advocate and supporter of the principles and policies of the republican party, he has never sought or held public office of any description.
Mr. Day married Miss Mary B. Berryman, of Lexington, Kentucky, and she has been a most popular figure in connection with the representative social activities of the Stark County metropolis.
LOYD J. NOAKER. Among Canton's prominent business men who have risen to substantial positions from small beginnings, Loyd J. Noaker takes a foremost place. Coming to Canton in 1901, as the proprietor of
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a modest milk route, his foresight and discernment enabled him to recognize an opportunity, his initiative and courage to grasp it, and his organizing and executive powers to bring it to a full fruition, resulting in the founding and successful operation of the Noaker Ice Cream Company, the largest manufacturers of ice cream in Stark County.
Like others of Canton's successful business men, Mr. Noaker is a product of the farm, having been born on his father's homestead in Perry Township, Stark County, Ohio, May 31, 1876, a son of James and Emily (Hoverstock) Noaker, natives of Stark County, who are now living retired lives at New Berlin, after many years spent in farming, the father also having been a carpenter. Loyd J. Noaker attended the district and high schools of Stark County and began his career as a teacher in the country schools, but after six years decided that the educator's profession was not for him, and in 1901 came to Canton and established himself in business as the proprietor of a milk route. His present business, or the nucleus therefor, was founded by him in 1905, when he purchased the ice cream branch of the bakery and ice cream business of the Walter Andrews Baking Company. This he removed to the basement of the Schario Block, on North Market Street, now the Vicary Block, and at the start manufactured about fifty gallons daily, employing two or three lads as assistants. His business had so grown by 1906 that he was in need of further capital, and so admitted into partnership the late W. L. Rowinsky, at that time changing the name to the Noaker Ice Cream Company and removing to the old Armour Building on Fourth Street, at the railroad tracks. Mr. Rowinsky continued with the business until his death in 1910, when Mr. Noaker purchased his interests, at that time building his present large plant on Tuscarawas Street, East, and the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was ready for occupancy in 1911. In 1912 the business was incorporated with a capital of $40,000, as the Noaker Ice Cream Company, Mr. Noaker becoming president and treasurer of the concern, positions which he has continued to retain to the present time. In 1914 the company manufactured and sold nearly 400,000 quarts of ice cream, supplying Canton and the surrounding towns. A very large outside market is maintained, which handles about 60 per cent el the output of the plant, the goods being shipped by express. The growth and development of this industry must be accredited directly to the abilities, perseverance, energy and progressive methods of its president, to whose foresight and inherent business capacity it owes its being. He is well known in business circles of Canton, where he enjoys the confidence of business men generally, and is an active and enthusiastic member of the Chamber of Commerce and other organizations of a business character. He also holds membership in the Elgin (Illinois) Board of Trade.
Mr. Noaker is an all-round sportsman, and as such is identified with the Canton Kennel Club, the Crawford and Deal Gun Club, the Sippa Lake Club, the League of Ohio Sportsmen, and the Stark County Fish and Game Protective Association. He belongs also to the National Association of Ice Cream Manufacturers and the Lincoln Highway Association, and has shown his interest in the children by his membership in the Canton Park and Playground Association. Other organizations with
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which he is connected include the Ad Craft Club, the Schweizer Maennerchor, the Canton Rotary Club, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He is exceedingly popular in club, business and fraternal circles, and is actively and helptully interested in all that promises to make for a progressive and prosperous Canton.
Mr. Noaker was married to Miss Jennie M. Baughman, daughter of James Baughman, of Hartville, Ohio.
ABRAHAM P. L. PEASE, M. D. Residing in his native city of Massillon and now virtually retired from active practice, Doctor Pease stands as one of the distinguished representatives of the medical profession in Stark County and through his published records concerning his extensive and interesting travels he has gained high reputation as an author. In his sojourns in foreign lands he has traveled to a large extent "outside the beaten paths," has used his keen observative powers most effectively and has fortunately given to the world admirable record of many of his experiences and observations, especially through his compilation of a published volume entitled "Winter Wanderings." A man of scholarly attainments and marked professional ability, the doctor has done much to vitalize the higher ideals of life and both he and his wife represent these in their distinctive culture and gracious personalities.
Dr. Abraham Per Lee Pease was born at Massillon, Ohio, on the 11th of September, 1847, and is a son of Anson and Eliza (Per Lee) Pease, the former of whom was born at Aurora, Portage County, this state, on the 28th of November, 1819, and the latter of whom was born at Poughkeepsie, New York, on the 16th of January, 1818. Judge Anson Pease was long prominent as one of the representative lawyers and jurists of Ohio and both he and his wife were residents of Stark County at the time of their death, he having passed away on the 16th of December, 1896, and his widow having been summoned to eternal rest on the 3d of July, 1900, while Doctor and Mrs. Pease were returning home from abroad. The marriage of the parents was solemnized at Ravenna, Portage County, on the 6th of April, 1844, and of the three children of this union the eldest is Mary Helen, who is the wife of Charles L. McLean, of Massillon ; the doctor was next in order of birth ; and Edmond Noxon Pease likewise maintains his home in Massillon, at the family homestead, Roanoke.
Judge Anson Pease acquired his early education in his native town, his parents having been early pioneer settlers of Portage County, and after his graduation in Western Reserve College, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts he studied law under effective preceptorship, with the result that he thoroughly fortified himself for the active work of his chosen profession. He became one of the leading lawyers of Stark County, where he built up a large and representative practice, and here he served also on the bench of the Court of Common Pleas, his incumbency of this office having covered a period of ten years. He was a man of prominence and influence and commanded the unqualified esteem of the community which long represented his home and was the stage of his earnest and effective endeavors. Judge Pease was a stalwart in the camp of the republican party and was a member of the Ohio Constitutional
PICTURE OF ABRAHAM P. L. PEASE, M. D.
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Convention of 1873. In his home city of Massillon he was affiliated with Clinton Lodge, No. 47, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons.
The public schools of Massillon afforded to Doctor Pease his preliminary educational advantages and in preparation for his chosen profession he entered the medical department of Wooster University, in the City of Cleveland. In this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1871 and from the same received the degree of doctor of medicine. For one year thereafter he was associated in practice with his preceptor, Dr. Abraham Metz, of Massillon, and he then removed to the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he continued his professional endeavors from 1872 until 1875, when impaired health led him to return, in November, to Massillon, where he has since maintained his home and where he eventually built up a large and representative practice, his retirement from the active work of his profession having occurred in 1904. The doctor was one of the honored members of the Stark County Medical Society. For twenty-one years he served as a member of the hoard of United States pension examining surgeons of Stark County. Through gallant service of certain of his ancestors as soldiers in the great war for national independence, the doctor is eligible for and is affiliated with the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution; and in his home city he holds membership in Hart Post, No. 134, Grand Army of the Republic.
In 1903-4 Doctor Pease was surgeon and general medical officer to the United States commission to Ethiopia, and incidental to his service in this capacity he received from King Menelik II of Abyssinia the decoration of the Order of the Golden Star of Ethiopia of the third class. His patent is inscribed on parchment and is in the Amharic language, the marginal decorations being in the national colors of Abyssinia,—red, green and yellow, and the royal seal adding to the unique decorative effect of this interesting document.
Doctor Pease has circumnavigated the globe, his wife having accompanied him on one trip around the world, having been with him on the occasion of three different sojourns in Egypt and in several tours of Europe. In 1910 the doctor published his interesting volume entitled "Winter Wanderings." the context being a narrative record of four consecutive winter journeys abroad and the greater part of the narrative having been written for and published in the Sunday editions of the Pittsburgh Dispatch, in serial sequence. In the published volume is given most interesting account of the travels of Doctor Pease in Abssynia, Samoa, Java, Japan, the Philippine Islands, New Zealand and Australia. as well as in South America and other interesting regions of the world. In politics Doctor Pease has not deviated from the line of loyal allegiance to the cause of the republican party.
On the 18th of September, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Pease to Miss Ann Delia Gillespie, who was born at Bellevue, now a suburb of the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the date of whose nativity was March 19, 1856. Mrs. Pease is a woman of exceptional musical talent and most gracious personality, so that she is naturally prominent and popular in the representative social activities of the community and a most hospitable chatelaine of her beautiful home.
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In 1913 she was chairman of the dedication committee of the new post- office building at Massillon. Doctor and Mrs. Pease have no children.
ABRAM WILHELM AGLER. Former clerk of courts and for seventeen years a member of the Canton bar, Mr. Agler has many unusual relations aside from his position as a successful lawyer with Stark County. A fact of special interest is that he, his father and his grandfather were all born on the same farm in Sugar Creek Township, and the old homestead was one of the first to be brought from the dominion of the wilderness and is one of very few to remain unchanged in ownership through five generations.
It was William Agler, great-great-grandfather of the Canton lawyer, who established the name in the wilds of Stark County. He came from Pennsylvania, and took up Government land at Wilmot, in Sugar Creek Township, and the title to that farm has continued unbroken down to the present time, when the owners are A. W. Agler and his brother. William Agler saw active service in the American army under Gen. William Henry Harrison. The great-grandfather was Peter Agler, who was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but came much more than a century ago to Stark County. Grandfather George Agler in 1808 came as a child to the old homestead described. In 1832 he married Eve Wyandt. Her father, Henry Wyandt, acquired Government land where the Village of Wilmot now stands, and was one of several citizens who platted the village.
William H. H. Agler, the father, was born on the homestead at Wilmot December 21, 1840, and married Mary Jane Wilhelm in 1869. She is still living and was born at Wilmot, November 10, 1849, a daughter of Abraham and Rebecca (Gilbert) Wilhelm. Henry Gilbert, father of Rebecca, was an interesting character of the older generation in Stark County. Coming from Pennsylvania, he did his chief service in this county as a pioneer educator, and as an astronomer and mathematician probably had no equal in the county. With a goose-quill pen he wrote a 100-year almanac, giving all the phases of the moon, eclipses and other prognostications, all of which proved astronomically correct, from 1840 to 1900. This document is now the prized possession of Dr. O. C. Ricksecker. of Wilmot. William H. H. Agler spent his life on the farm that was his birthplace, and was a substantial and esteemed farmer and citizen. During the war he served three years in Company F of the Nineteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His death occurred July 7, 1909. The older Agler family for several generations have been members of the Church of the Disciples.
Abram Wilhelm Agler was born on the old homestead at Wilmot in Sugar Creek Township, April 13, 1873. The farm was the scene of his boyhood discipline in its duties and in the school at Wilmot, and he was also for three years a student at Mount Union College. Mr. Agler graduated from the law department of the Ohio State University in the class of 1897, and was admitted May 23d of that year. Since then his professional activities have been centered at Canton, and for ten years he gave all his attention to his general clientage. In 1908 he was elected clerk of courts of Stark County, and by re-election in 1910 served till
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the beginning of 1913. Since then his private practice has taken all his time.
An active republican, Mr. Agler was chairman of the Stark County Central Committee in 1901-03, and has been chairman of the city committee through several municipal campaigns. He is a member of the Stark County and the Ohio State Bar associations, and has fraternal affiliations with Canton Lodge No. 60, A. F. & A. M., with Lily Lodge No. 362, Knights of Pythias, and with the Loyal Order of Moose. He also belongs to the Sons of Veterans and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. Mrs. Agler was formerly Lyda M. Deal, daughter of John Deal, of an old Stark County family.
EDWARD J. HEFFELMAN, one of the prominent business men of Canton, where he is president of the Klein & Heffelman Company, jobbers and retail dealers in piancs, musical merchandise, sporting goods, furniture, etc., is a native of Stark County, Ohio, born at Canal Fulton, May 18, 1867, a son of Jacob and Leah (Kissinger) Heffelman, both deceased.
This branch of the Heffelman family was founded in America by Arnold Heffelman, the great-grandfather of Edward J., who was a surgeon in Paris, France, and came to America with General Lafayette, serving through the Revolution with that hero as staff surgeon with the rank of colonel. After the close of the war he settlcd in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where the grandparents and parents of Edward J. Heffelman were born. The parents of Mr. Heffelman came to Stark County as young people, and were married at Canal Fulton, where the father, a manufacturer of carriages, was engaged in business for a long period of years. In 1883 the family removed to Akron, Ohio, and there the parents both passed away, the mother in 1904, at the age of seventy- six years, and the father in December, 1912, when eighty-six years of age.
Edward J. Heffelman received a common and high school education at Canal Fulton, and was a youth of seventeen years when he started upon his business career, as clerk in the store of Foster Brothers, music dealers of Akron. He remained with that concern for four years, securing experience in the line of work to which he was to devote his career, and so thoroughly established himself in the confidence of his employers, that in 1888 he was sent by them to Canton to open a branch store. He continued as manager of that establishment for two years, and in 1890 entered business on his own account when he opened a store for the sale of musical instruments. Under the young man's able and energetic direction this venture proved successful, and he was encouraged, in 1896, to become one of the organizers of the Klein & Heffelman Company, of which he has been president ever since. It may be said that men who achieve success may be roughly divided into two classes. The first of these are the dashing geniuses who engineer brilliant coups and march to victory with good fortune waiting on their talents. The other class consists of the steady, persistent men, who forge more surely, if more slowly, forward, and whose accomplishments are, generally more stable and permanent. Mr. Heffelman belongs, perhaps, to the latter
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class. He has worked his way upward through patience and perseverance, and his reward has come in success of an enduring kind. Early in life he chose for himself the career which he wished to follow, and his choice has been served faithfully ever since.
An active and valued member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Heffelman belongs also to the business section of that organization as a board member. He belongs socially to the Lakeside Country Club, and is fraternally connected with the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. As a citizen he has allied himself with every movement which has meant for advancement in the civic and business life of his adopted city. With his family, he is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Heffelman married Miss Lillian Hammill, of Massillon, Ohio, and they are the parents of three children : Francis, born in 1896, who is now attending college; Charles, born in 1900, a student in the Canton schools; and Maxine, born in 1910.
WILLIAM BROOM. One of the industries which claim attention in any review of Canton's industrial resources is the Arlington Manufacturing Company, extensive manufacturers of special grades of paint. The founder and president of this company is William Broom, who like many men who drew their early training and experience from the industrial centers of the old world is a technical expert in manufacturing as well as a capable business organizer and executive.
William Broom was horn in the City of Glasgow, Scotland, March 21, 1865, and represents prominent families of that city in commercial and industrial affairs. His parents were David and Catherine (Binnie) Broom. For generations these names have been known and respected in Glasgow. Alexander Broom, grandfather of the Canton manufacturer, was a successful building contractor, and executed many commissions for the government. He was a man of wealth and influence. The maternal grandfather was both a builder and owner of ships. A brother of William Broom is Sir James Thompson Broom, K. B., an exporter and importer in the Indian trade, who was recently knighted by King George. David Broom, the father, who died in 1900, spent his business career in real estate operations in Glasgow. His wife died in 1895.
William Broom was given all the advantages of a liberal education in general university courses and also in the technical arts. He attended the Glasgow Academy, the College of Science and Arts at Glasgow, the Andersonian University of Glasgow, from which he received a diploma. He pursued his technical studies in the City and Guild Technical School of London, and was granted a diploma by that institution for his work in analytical chemistry and color making. After his university career he was for six years a practical color and paint maker in Glasgow.
With this training and experience Mr. Broom came to the United States in 1889. He was superintendent of the plant of Benjamin Moore & Company, paint manufacturers, at Brooklyn, but in 1892 came out to Ohio and spent one year as superintendent of the Goheen Manufacturing Company at Zanesville, and from that position was advanced to
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 613
president of the company. In 1893 this business was removed to Canton, and Mr. Broom continued the executive head of the company until 1903. Then, having disposed of his interests in the Goheen Company, he organized the Arlington Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated with the following officers: William Broom, president; J. J. Renkert, vice president; W. J. Steele, secretary and treasurer. At the present time the officers are: Mr. Broom, president; C. J. Thomas, vice president; W. J. Ellis, secretary and treasurer. This is a business operating with a capital stock of $50,000, and extensively engaged in the manufacture of technical paints, principally for manufacturing industries, railroads and wall coatings. The plant, a three-story brick structure 150x80 feet, was erected in 1904.
While Mr. Broom has financial interests in various other enterprises, he devotes his entire energies to the Arlington Company, and deserves credit for giving Canton one of its most substantial industries. He is a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce and in the Masonic order has taken various degrees in the Scottish Rite, the Knights Templar, and is a member of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Broom married Caroline Ham- mel, who was born in London, England, a daughter of Jacob Hammel.
GEORGE WILLIAM HENRICH. Thirty-five years of successful merchandising constitute one of Mr. Henrich's distinctions in the City of Massillon. He has also helped promote various local industries in that city. His civic interests and public spirit have been on as high a plane as his work as a business man.
The Henrich family has been identified with Massillon for most of the years since the village was founded. George William Henrich was born in Massillon October 27, 1858, a son of Jacob and Catherine (Kessel) Henrich, both of whom were born in Bavaria, Germany. Jacob Henrich learned the shoemaker's trade before coming to America, and he was still a young man when he arrived in this country, and at once settled in Massillon. Though he spent several years at Clinton, Summit County, he has been actively identified with Massillon for fully six decades. His wife came to this country when a young woman and they were married in Massillon. She died in that city in 1905 at the age of seventy-four. For a number of years Jacob Henrich followed his trade in Massillon. Later lie and his son-in-law Andrew Kegler bought the old Kegler farm, and operated it as a general farm and dairy and conducted a milk route for a number of years. They finally sold the farm to the state as a site for the present state asylum for the insane. Mr. Henrich then moved back to the city, where he is now living practically retired but finds employment looking after his improved property. He has long been an honored and highly respected figure in Massillon. He possesses more than ordinary ability as a musician, and for a period of sixty-three years played in the local band and for sixty-five years without missing a single Sunday he sang in St. Mary's Catholic Church. He is now in his eighty-seventh year.
George William Henrich grew up in Massillon, attended St. Mary's parochial school, and in 1872, at. the age of fourteen, took his first regular employment with John G. Lais, a local grocer. In 1873 he became a
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clerk for Frank and John C. Albright, grocers. In 1880 he went into partnership with Frank Albright, G. F. Schwarn and W. B. Schwarn, making the firm of Albright & Company. This was one of the well known grocery establishments at Massillon for eight years. Next Mr. Henrich entered a copartnership with John V. Kohl and the name Henrich & Kohl stood in the business directory for six years, at the end of which time Mr. Hen- rich bought out his partner and continued distributing high class goods to the trade for six years more. On selling out his stock of goods he leased his store building for fifteen years. This lease expired on September 30, 1915, and he then fitted up the store for his sons Cyrial S. and Walter E., who are now factors in the mercantile circles of Massillon under the name of Henrich Brothers, and they conduct one of the best grocery houses in the city.
Mr. Henrich during the last fifteen or twenty years has had a wide scope of interests. In 1900 he was one of the organizers of the Rhodes Glass & Bottle Company, of which he is now vice president. In 1906 he engaged in the cigar manufacturing business, and conducts one of the leading factories in this revenue district. He is also president of the Union Building & Loan Company, and he has some valuable business property in the heart of the city and is one of Massillon's most prosperous and substantial citizens. He is a member of the Catholic Church, in which he was reared.
Mr. Henrich married Elizabeth Sibila, who was born in Massillon, daughter of the late Nichlous Sibila. They have a family of seven children, namely : Walter E.; Roman, deceased ; Cordelia ; Louis S., deceased; Cyrial S., Vincent, and Mildred M.
CHARLES A. KOLP. In the railroad and industrial development and the real estate development in and about Canton during the last twenty or twenty-five years no name is more frequently mentioned and has a more important significance than that of Charles A. Kolp. He is a man who has won his success on the basis of hard work and an energy and ambition that are ceaseless in their operations. His operations as a real estate man have been particularly noteworthy during recent years, during which time he has done much for the development of suburban territory contiguous to Canton, and in that direction has done probably more than any other individual for the extension and improvement of the urban limits of the city.
Charles A. Kolp is a native of Stark County and was born in the Village of Ncw Berlin in Plain Township, May 15, 1866, a son of Louis and Elizabeth (Weisz) Kolp. His father, a native of Belgium, came with two brothers to the United States when he was sixteen years of age. All three brothers located in New Berlin and there they married the three sisters Weisz. Louis Kolp was a man of exceptional learning and education and besides his native tongue spoke fluently the English, French and Latin. At New Berlin he operated a cooper shop for many years, and died at the age of seventy-two. His wife was born in New Berlin, the daughter of Martin Weisz, an old-time merchant and farmer in the locality of New Berlin. Mrs. Kolp died at the age of
PICTURE OF ELMER E. CLINE
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 615
fifty-three. To their marriage were born seven children, and four grew to maturity.
Charles A. Kolp attended the New Berlin public schools, but before he was seventeen years old left school to take up a business career. His first employer was John D. Frank, a retail shoe merchant at Canton. He accepted the services of young Kolp as a chore and general utility boy, and the wages specified were $100 the first year, $200 the second and $250 the third. Mr. Kolp was with Mr. Frank eleven years, in which time he was promoted to an executive position and established the wholesale department of the store. Following that he was a traveling salesman with J. H. Lock Shoe Company, of Wheeling, West Virginia, a number of years.
With mature powers and experience in business, Mr. Kolp became rapidly identified with a number of the more important business organizations in this section of Ohio. While still selling shoes on the road he was president of the Frantz Carriage Body Manufacturing Company at New Berlin, this plant being subsequently removed to Akron and becoming the Frantz Automobile Company, of which he was president. He was one of the original promoters of the Canton & Akron Electric Railroad, and as secretary of the company took an active part in its construction and early operation. He was also secretary of the Canton & Massillon Electric Railway and a promoter of the Canton & New Philadelphia Railroad. From transportation and manufacturing he finally turned his attention chiefly to real estate, beginning operations on a large scale. He bought up extensive tracts of suburban property, chiefly along the Canton and New Berlin highway. He has since platted some beautiful additions along this route and has put it on the market as high-grade residence property. In recent years he has handled some of the largest and most successful real estate deals at Canton and vicinity, and every one of these transactions has a vital bearing upon the growth of the central city. The history of his enterprise as a real estate man may be said to have only fairly begun, and his achievements in that line will be splendid for an interesting story in later years.
Mr. Kolp is vice president of the Ohio Mining & Railroad Company and president of the Apex Sweeper Company of Cleveland. He is active in the Canton Chamber of Commerce, belongs to the United Commercial Travelers, and is a member of St. John's Catholic Church and the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Kolp married Celestine C. Walzer, daughter of John W. Walzer, who was the first president of the Metropolitan Brick Company of Canton. Mr. and Mrs. Kolp were the parents of the following children : Dorothy M., Mary E., Margaret L. and Louis W.
ELMER E. CLINE. Holding the responsible position of general superintendent of the Stark Rolling Mill Company, Mr. Cline is known and honored as one of the pioneer representatives of iron manufacturing business in Canton and it is needless to say that his dictum is authoritative in connection with this line of industrial enterprise. He is one of the sixteen expert iron-mill workers who established the first plant in
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Canton for the manufacturing of iron products and he commands the unqualified confidence and good will of the community in which his effective services have been potent in furthering the prestige of Canton as an industrial and commercial center of importance.
Mr. Cline was born at Apollo, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, on the 21st of June, 1861, and is a son of Joseph F. and Sarah (Bair) Cline, both of whom passed their entire lives in the old Keystone State, whcre the respective families were founded in an early day. Joseph F. Cline honored his native state by his valiant service as a soldier of the Union during the Civil war, and he became a commissioned lieutenant in the Pennsylvania volunteer regiment with which he participated in many of the important campaigns and battles marking the great struggle between the states of the North and the South. In 1867 he removed with his family to Leechburg, Armstrong County, but he died at Freeport, that county, on the 10th of March of the same year, his widow having survived him by nearly a decade and having been summoned to etcrnal rest in March, 1875.
Elmer E. Cline was a lad of about six years at the time of his father's death and his boyhood days were passed at Leechburg, Pennsylvania, where he made good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools until he had attained to the age of about eleven years, when, in 1872, he assumed the practical duties of life by assuming the dignified position of scrap-boy in the iron manufactory of Rogers & Birchfield of that place. Energy and fidelity brought about his advancement, and his thorough apprenticeship enabled him to gain fully the various practical details of the industry of which lie has long been a representative. He remained with the firm noted and with its successors until he had perfected himself in his trade and his first independent work in the position of roller was thereafter achieved while he was in the employ of the firm of Jennings Brother & Company, at Leechburg, Pennsylvania.
In 1893 Mr. Cline came to Canton, Ohio, in company with one of his fellow-workmen, Wm. W. Irwin, this visit having been made in the interests of the firm by which they were employed. They naturally made a careful survey of conditions in the Stark County metropolis, and incidental to the same they found that while the various manufacturing plants in this city required and consumed a large amount of iron, there was not a pound of this necessary product manufactured in this city. They were impressed with the opportunities thus presented for the establishing of an iron-manufacturing business at this place, and after consultation with leading manufacturers and with the officials of the Canton Board of Trade, the latter progressive organization gave assurance that it would provide a tract of six acres as a site for an iron factory. Messrs. Cline and Irwin then returned to Leechburg, Pennsylvania, where they called together fourteen others of their fellow workmen in the iron mill, carefully outlined their plans and the proposition that had been made to them, with the result that they gained the cooperation of these other expert artisans and effected an organization for the purpose of constructing a modern iron plant in Canton, each of the sixteen men contributing $2,000 for this purpose and for the initiating of operations. Thus the new industrial enterprise was launched with
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 617
an aggregate capital of $32,000. Ten of these interested principals came from Pennsylvania to Canton and instituted the building of the plant, which was one of modest order, the most of the construction work having been done by these men themselves. The erection of the plant was begun in March, 1894, and that same spring the principals in the enterprise formally incorporated the business under the title of the Canton Roller Mill Company. During the first three years Mr. Cline had the general management of the enterprise, including the purchase of requisite supplics and the placing of the product of the plant on the market, the while he simultaneously did his full share of practical and arduous work as a roller in the mill. In 1897, to meet the increasing demands placed upon it. the plant was doubled in capacity, and at this juncture Mr. Cline was chosen general superintendent. In that year the facilities of the establishment were expanded by the addition of a galvanizing plant, in which was turned out the first galvanized product ever manufactured in Canton.
In 1901 the twelve surviving members of the original projectors of the business sold their interests to the American Sheet Steel Company, commonly known as the Steel Trust, and by this corporation Mr. Cline was retained in the capacity of division superintendent in charge of the local plant and also those at Canal Dover, New Philadelphia and Dresden, all in Ohio, his headquarters having been at New Philadelphia, the judicial center of Tuscarawas County. In 1902 Mr. Cline resigned this position to assume one of similar executive order with the Inland Steel Company, at Indiana Harbor, Indiana. After retaining this incumbency a comparatively bricf period he was induced. to resign the same and to accept a position with the Ashland Sheet Steel Company, at Ashland, Kentucky. He retired from this post to assume that of general superintcndent of the Newport Rolling Mill Company, at Newport, that state, where his special assignment was in the supervision of the modernizing of the plant. After completing this work with characteristic energy and ability he resigned the superintendency and accepted the position of general manager of the Canadian Sheet Steel Corporation, at Morrisburg, Province of Ontario. Upon resigning this office he assumed that of general manager of the sheet-steel department of the Portsmouth Steel Company, at Portsmouth, Ohio, where he remained until the summer of 1912, in June of which year he returned to Canton to accept the exacting and responsible position of general superintendent of the Stark Rolling Mill Company, an office in which he has since continued his able and valued services.
It was most gratifying to Mr. Cline to be able again to identify himself with the City of Canton, and here he entered once more into the progressive activities and association with the civic affairs of the com- munity. Within the previous period of his residence here, in 1897, he was elected a member of the board of education, to which position he was rc-elected in 1899, at the expiration of his first term. He is one of the active members of the Canton Chamber of Commerce and is prominently affiliated with the time honored Masonic fraternity, in which he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish
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Rite, besides holding membership in the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
In the year 1880 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Cline to Miss Ada Holesberry, and she was summoned to eternal rest in the year 1906. Concerning the children of this union the following brief data are entered : Malcolm M., who maintains his residence at Canton, is a traveling representative for the Hubbard Steel Foundry Company, of East Chicago, Indiana ; and Ralph W. is in the employ of the Stark Rolling Mill Company. In 1908 Mr. Cline contracted a second marriage, by his union with Miss Virginia Bryant, of Portsmouth, Ohio, no children having been born of this marriage.
AARON A. KURTZ. A native of Stark County and a representative of one of the old and honored families of this favored section of the Buckeye State, Aaron A. Kurtz is well upholding the prestige of the name which he bears and is one of the leading merchants and influential citizens of Hartville, where he is engaged in the grocery and meat business.
Mr. Kurtz was born on the homestead farm of his father, John Kurtz, in Lake Township, this county, three miles west of the Village of Hartville, and the date of his nativity was August 23, 1875. His father was born near Myerstown, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, on the 16th of April, 1832, and was a son of Jacob Kurtz, who likewise was a native of the old Keystone State and whose father, Henry Kurtz, a native of Germany, was the founder of the family in America, he having settled in Pennsylvania in the colonial period of our national history. Jacob Kurtz, grandfather of him whose name introduces this article, came with his family to Ohio in 1856, the entire journey from Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, having been made by means of teams and wagons. He purchased a farm in Summit County, developed and improved the same and there he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives.
John Kurtz was reared and educated in Pennsylvania and was about twenty-four years of age when he accompanied his parents on their immigration to Ohio. The ambitious young man soon assumed connubial . responsibilities and dignities, for on Christmas Day of the year 1858 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Mary Bollinger, of Louisville, Stark County, she being a daughter of Daniel Bollinger, who was one of the old and honored citizens of Nimishillen Township, this county. For ten years thereafter John Kurtz continued his operations as a farmer in Summit County and in 1865 he came with his family to Stark County and purchased the old Daniel Kirshbaum farm in Lake Township. He was long numbered among the substantial citizens and representative agriculturists of Lake Township and continued to reside on his fine homestead place until his death, which occurred on the 16th of March, 1901. His widow still resides in this township, her birth having occurred on the 6th of October, 1835, and she being a zealous member of the Church of the Brethren, as was also her husband. They became the parents of twelve children, concerning whom brief record is made in the following paragraph :
Whiella first wedded Watson Tousley and after his death became
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 619
the wife of John Easterday, their home being established in the State of Michigan. Elizabeth likewise has been twice married, her first husband having been Israel Eby and she being now the wife of Henry Eshelman, of Hartville, this county. Amanda is the wife of John Culler, of Hartville. Catherine became the wife of Cyrus Brumbaugh and is now deceased. Mary is the wife of Allen Young and they maintain their home in Summit County. Uriah and Josiah were twins and the latter is deceased ; Uriah holds a position in the store of his brother Aaron A., of this review, and is the owner of a well-improved farm contiguous to Hartville. John is the manager of .a leading mercantilo establishment in the City of Billings, Montana. Emma is the wife of Justin Brumbaugh, of Hartville, and her husband is a son of that well- known citizen, Isaac Brumbaugh, of whom special mention is made on other pages of this volume. Aaron A., to whom this sketch is dedicated, was the next in order of birth. Jacob owns and resides upon the old homestead farm of his father. Daniel A., the youngest of the children, completed a course in the Hartville High School and thereafter was graduated in Mount Union College, from which he took a scholarship in Juniatta, College, where he won a scholarship in Yale University. In the last mentioned and historic institution he made an equally high record and won a scholarship with the incidental conferment of $500 in gold. He then went to Berlin, Germany, where he took effective postgraduate work, besides which he traveled somewhat extensively through Europe. Prior to this trip abroad he had entered the ministry of the Brethren Church, and upon his return to the United States he assumed a pastoral charge of a church in the City of Philadelphia. There he remained four years, at the expiration of which, and that without his solicitation or knowledge, he was elected to the presidency of McPherson College, at McPherson, Kansas, of which position he has since continued the able and honored incumbent. He worked his way through college through such incidental work as would give him the necessary financial reinforcement, and it is interesting to record that when he returned from Europe he had more cash capital than he did when he left Juniatta College. All other members of the family take justifiable pride in the distinguished achievement of this youngest of the children of a sterling and honored family in Stark County.
Aaron A. Kurtz was reared to adult age on the old home farm which was the place of his birth and after making good use of the advantages of the district schools he took a course in the Hartville High School. Thereafter he continued to be actively identified with the great basic industries of agriculture and stockgrowing until the autumn of 1910, when he purchased a general store and meat market at Middlebranch. After conducting this enterprise three years he sold the business and immediately purchased his present well-equipped grocery and meat market in Hartville, where he has control of a substantial and profitable business, the same being based on fair and honorable dealings and effective service. Mr. Kurtz is a stockholder in the Quality Tire and Rubber Company, representing the most important manufacturing industry at Hartville, and is serving as a member of the Board of Education of Lake Township. He takes deep interest in all that concerns his home
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village and native county and is a progressive and public-spirited citizen whose friends are in number as his acquaintances.
On the 4th of February, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kurtz to Miss Lucinda Bowser, who was born on a farm near Smithville, Wayne County, this state, and who is a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Himebaugh) Bowser, her father having died when she was a child, and her mother still surviving. Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz are members of the Church of the Brethren and their home is brightened by the presence of their three children—Ada Pearl, Samuel B. and Ruth Marie. The elder daughter is now, 1915, a student in the Hartville High School.
CLARENCE A. WEIRICH. Of the men connected with the manufacture of iron and steel and allied interests at Canton, few have been the architects of their own fortunes in greater degree than has Clarence A. Weirich, secretary and treasurer of the Canton Metal Ceiling Company. Commencing in a humble position, he mastered the industry's many details, and has continued in the business until he has at length attained a commanding position among the manufacturers of Canton, and has been able to hold it amid the strong competition which increasing capital and trade have brought to the city. His success has been due alone to his enterprising character and business capacity, for he began life without pecuniary assistance or the aid of family or other favoring influences.
Clarence A. Weirich was born in the Village of Osnaburg, Stark County, Ohio, February 11, 1877, and is a son of David W. and Sarah (Werner) Weirich, the father born in Wayne County, Ohio, and the mother in Stark County. The family removed to Louisville, this county, in 1890, and to Canton in 1895, and the parents are still living here, the father being a director in the Canton Metal Ceiling Company. Clarence A. Weirich attended the Louisville High School and Mount Union College, and, on coming to Canton with his parents, took a course at the old Canton Business College. He began his career as an office boy for the old firm of Kanneberg Roofing and Ceiling Company, then located on the present site of the Canton Light, Heat and Power Company, subsequently working his way upward through various positions until in 1904, when Mr. Kanneberg's health failed, he took charge of the business and conducted it until 1907. Mr. Weirich reorganized the Canton Engineering & Electric Company, and continued as its president for some time. He also organized the Canton Motor Car Company. In that year, together with a few friends, he purchased the business and as manager conducted it successfully until 1912. In association with Harry S. Renkert, David W. Weirich, James D. Barry of Canton, and Samuel Shanker of New York City, Mr. Weirich organized the Canton Metal Ceiling Company, of which Mr. Renkert became president, Mr. Shanker vice president. and Mr. Weirich secretary, treasurer and general manager, with the other named gentlemen as directors, which is the official roster of the company at the present time. The company's brick and concrete plant, 300 by 50 feet, was completed and in operation in October, 1912, and now employs thirty-five shop- men, manufacturing sheet-metal products, the principal items being
PICTURE OF CLARENCE A. WEIRICH
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 621
metal ceilings, metal shingles, metal roofing and metal siding. The market of the concern is the United States, with some export trade. The warehouse, 30 by 40 feet, is of concrete and brick and the handsome separate office building is of the same material. Mr. Weirich's opinions upon matters connected with the trade are influential with the associated dealers, who regard him as thoroughly informed and have confidence in the soundness of his judgment, and his sagacity is often appealed to as a guide to their operations on occasions of doubt and uncertainty. Mr. Weirich is an active member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, and is fraternally affiliated with the Elks.
Mr. Weirich married Miss Lydia Graybill, who was born at Massillon, Ohio, daughter of Frank Graybill, and three children have been born to this union : Ethel, Bernice and Robert.
WILLIAM W. CLARK. For many years one of the foremost and most honored citizens of Canton, the late William W. Clark left a deep and worthy impress upon the civic and industrial history of Stark County, and his life was guided and governed by those lofty principles that ever beget for their exemplar the fullest measure of popular confidence and approbation. For more than thirty-five years Mr. Clark stood as one of Canton's representative men of affairs and as a citizen whose civic loyalty was of the highest type, so that this publication exercises a consistent function when it enters brief tribute to his memory.
Mr. Clark was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, on the 2d of March, 1832, and was a son of James and Abbie (Bell) Clark, both of whom were born and reared in Ireland, where their marriage was solemnized. About the close of the second decade of the nineteenth century they immigrated to America and settled in Columbiana County, Ohio, whcnce, in 1833, they removed to a farm in the vicinity of Palmyra, Portage County, and where they passed the remainder of their lives, being numbered among the honored pioneers of that section of the state. Reared to adult age under the sturdy discipline of the home farm, William W. Clark made good use of the advantages offered in the common schools of Portage County, and as a youth he began reading law in the office of Alphonso Hart, of Ravenna, who was at the time one of the leading members of the Portage County bar. Soon after being admitted to practice as a lawyer Mr. Clark came to Canton, where he engaged in the general practice of his profession, of which he became one of the prominent and successful representatives in this county. His initiative and administrative ability soon found effective play through his connection with industrial enterprises of important order. In 1871 he became secretary and treasurer of the John Ball Plow Works, of which position he continued the incumbent two years. In 1877 he assisted in organizing the Deibold Safe & Lock Company, and while he was president of this corporation from the time of its organization he did not become active in the administration of its affairs until January, 1883. He continued the executive head of the company until January, 1904, and wielded much influence in the development not only of the large and important industrial enterprise of this company but also in the furtherance of other of the leading industrial
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concerns that have given Canton marked commercial prestige. He was a man of fine business ability and was connected at different times with various large enterprises, in an active or advisory capacity. Among the important corporations of Canton that profited largely through his interposition was the Hampden Watch Company, of which he was treasurer two years, 1891-92. From 1895 to 1902 he was president of the J. H. McLain Company ; from 1897 to 1905 he was president of the Canton Steel Roofing Company ; and in 1888 he was elected president of the City National Bank of Canton, in the directing of the affairs of which he continued to be active until a short time prior to his death. He was a director of this institution until the close of his life.
Mr. Clark took the deepest interest in all that tended to advancc the civic and material progress and prosperity of his home city and county and this interest was one of action and productiveness, as he was always ready to lend his influence and tangible co-operation in the furtherance of measures and enterprises advanced for the general good of the community. He was an earnest advocate of the cause of education and took pride especially in the development of the admirable public-school system of Canton. He was one of the organizers of the Canton Public Library, and served as president of its board of trustces from its inception until 1900. His liberality as a citizen was significantly manifested in this connection, as he gave to the city the land on which was erected the present fine library in Canton. Mr. Clark early became president of the Stark County Humane Society, and he held this position until the time of his death, the while he was earnest and active in the supporting of charitable and benevolent enterprises, with a high sense of personal stewardship and with an abiding human sympathy that found exemplification in kindly words and kindly deeds. In politics Mr. Clark accorded unswerving allegiance to the republican party, but he consented to fill only one elective office, that of mayor of Canton, in 1868. He was active in political affairs but had no ambition for official preferment. He was a man who had commanding place in the esteem of the city and county in which he long maintained his home, and the entire community manifested a sense of personal loss and bereavement when he passed to the life eternal, on the 26th of December, 1905.
On the 26th of April, 1868, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Clark to Miss Eunice Bierce, who survives him, and of their six children two, who were twins, died in early infancy ; Fannie A., who was born February 1, 1870, died at the age of fifteen years ; Mary D. is the wife of John S. Shanks, of Canton ; Alexander B. is individually mentioned on othcr pages of this publication ; and William W., Jr., likewise continues a. resident of his native City of Canton.
ALEXANDER B. CLARK. In his native City of Canton Mr. Clark is a prominent and influential figure in financial and industrial circles and though he is a member of the bar of Ohio he has not engaged in the active practice of his profession, as his time and attention have been enlisted in the furthcrance of business enterprises of broad scope and importance. Like his honored father, the late William W. Clark, to
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 623
whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work, he stands exponent of the utmost civic loyalty and progressiveness, with an abiding appreciation of the manifold attractions and advantages of his native city and county. He is well upholding the prestige of a name that has been one of significant prominence and influence in connection with the history of Canton, where his father was a citizen of commanding and benignant influence for many years, as indicated in the review of his career that appears in this publication.
Alexander Bierce Clark was born in Canton on the 23d of March, 1874, and is a son of William- W. and Eunice (Bierce) Clark. To the public schools of Canton he is indebted for his early educational discipline, and at Wooster, this state, he completed his collegiate preparatory course. He then entered historic old Yale University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1897 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. For one year thereafter he read law under effective private preceptorship, at Canton, and then was matriculated in the law department of the University of Ohio, in which he was graduated in 1899, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws and with concomitant admission to the Ohio bar. In the same year Mr. Clark assumed a clerical position in the offices of the Canton Steel Roofing Company, and of this corporation he became secretary in 1901. In 1905 a reorganization of the company was effected, and the title of the same was changed to the Canton Art Metal Company. Of this corporation Mr. Clark became president and of this office he has continued the incumbent to the present time, with excellent reputation as a progressive and able executive. He is a member of the directorate of the City National Bank of Canton, and a director also of the Canton Stamping & Enameling Company and the Arctic Ice Machine Company.
Mr. Clark takes a lively interest in civic affairs and is at the present time a valued member of the Canton Board of Education, to which office he was elected in July, 1914. He is rendcring to the city admirable service in behalf of thc cause of education and is giving freely of his time and attention to the work of the board of education. He is president of the board of trustees of the Canton Public Library, and is an active member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce. In a social way he is identified with the Canton Club and the Lakeside Country Club. His political allegiance is given to the republican party.
On the 26th of December, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Clark to Miss Faith Fogle, daughter of the late Henry C: Fogle of Canton, and the six children of this union are : Alexander Bierce, Jr., Henry Fogle, Roger Conant, Faith, Marian, and Marcia.
FRANCIS J. HINKEL. One of the busy farming men of Marchand is Francis J. Hinkel, all his life a resident of this section of the county. He was horn on March 11, 1884, and is a son of William C. and Flora (Marchand) Hinkel. The Hinkel home was just west of Marchand Station, and its proprietor was the son of Jacob Hinkel, a native of Germany. The father of Flora Marchand Hinkel was Joseph Marchand. who with his family were natives of France. They came to the United States in an early period of its independence, and located in Ohio, where
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the American founder of the family died in advanced life. The Hinkel family settled in Baltimore when they came to America, and there William Hinkel, father of the subject was born. When he was eight years old he lost his parents by death and he was reared in the home of a family of the name of Weaver. As a young man he came to Stark County, and when he was twenty-five years old married the daughter of the Marchands. He followed railroading for some years and filially took to farming. In 1890 he bought the Marchand farm of twenty-two acres, and that was the family home until 1910. when they moved to Berlin, and there Mr. Hinkel is engaged as foreman of the electric linc.
Five children were born to William and Flora Hinkel. Mary, the eldest daughter, married W. L. Snyder of Marchand. Katherine is the wife of Ed Demuesy. Rose is now Mrs. 'Whitman. Blanche married Emerson Foltz. The first born was Francis J. of this review.
Francis J. Hinkel as a. boy attended the Jackson -Valley School and when he was twelve years old entered the New Berlin High School, from which he was duly graduated. He then completed a course of training in the Canton Actual Busincss College. When he was twenty years old young Hinkel became local agent for the International Harvester Company, and he held that position for three years. He was twenty-four years old when he married Ellen Meagher and moved on the Marchand homestead, where he remained for five years, and then bought his fathcr's old home farm. He now lives there and is making a pleasing success of farm life. Mr. Hinkel has always been more or less devoted to politics, and has held various town offices in his township. He served as township trustee for two years, as inspector of roads two years, and is now engaged in the automobile business at. New Berlin, Ohio, as manager of the Hinkel-Whitman Motor Car Company.
Mrs. Hinkel was a daughter of Patrick and Elizabeth Meagher of Mineral City, where Mr. Meagher is a superintendent of coal mines near that place.
Four children have been born to the Hinkels. Mary. born in 1908: Lewis, born in 1909: Myrtle, in 1912 and Dorothea in 1914. The family is of the Roman Catholic faith, and Mr. Hinkel is a live politician.
JOHN SCHUBACH. One of the prosperous enterprises of Canton which has grown from modest beginnings to large proportions in a comparatively short space of time is the Sanitary Milk Company. Much of the credit for this concern's success must be given to its energetic secretary, treasurer and general manager, John Schubach, who has been identified with the industry since 1903, and has held his present offices since the reorganization of the company in 1912.
Mr. Schubach was born on his father's farm in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, January 30, 1877, and is a son of Joseph and Mary (Welty) Schubach, natives of Switzerland. His paternal grandparents died in that country when Joseph Schubach was a small boy, and the latter was early apprenticed to the trades of coopering and cheesemaking. He was about twenty-two years of age when he emigrated to the United States, and for a number of years was engaged in making cheese, but eventually turned his attention to farming, in which he continued to be
PICTURE OF JOHN SCHUBACH
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occupied until his death on the farm in Tuscarawas County, May 11, 1899, when he was fifty-four years of age. He was a member of the Reformed Church. The mother of John Schubach came to the United States with her mother, her father having died in Switzerland, and she still survives and makes her home at Canton.
John Schubach was reared on the home farm in Tuscarawas County, and received his early education in the public schools of his native neighborhood. Subsequently he went to the normal school at New Philadelphia, and then took a coursc in dairying at the Ohio State University. He had early learned cheesemaking with his father, but up to the time of his university course had followed farming on the homestead. Following his graduation from the University of Ohio, in 1903, after a full course of two years, he came to Canton, to accept the position of superintendent of the Sanitary Milk Company. He continued in this capacity until 1912, when the original owners sold out, Mr. Schubach at that time becoming a heavy stockholder in the firm and being made treasurer and general manager.
The Sanitary Milk Company was organized in 1901, the business at that time being a small one, with five milk wagons and one ice cream wagon. Today it operates eighteen milk wagons and four ice cream Wagons. In 1901 the company was purchasing 4,000 pounds of milk daily, while at this time the daily purchase amounts to 30,000 pounds. The entire plant, which is of the most modern character in all particulars, is under one cover, 106x200 ft., constructed of brick, with the most up-to-date machinery. The trade of the concern covers a wide area and is daily increasing, owing to the excellence of the product and its absoplute purity. Mr. Schubach is one of the best known men in the business in this part of the state and is thoroughly familiar with every detail of the line to which he has devoted his career. He is a member of the board of directors of the Canton City Bottling Works, is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and has various business connections. He also holds membership in Buckeye Lodge No. 11, Knights of Pythias, and in the Young Men's Christian Association of Canton.
Mr. Schubach married Miss Pearl M. Catcott, who was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, daughter of James Catcott, and to this union there have been born four children : Helen, born in 1904 ; Catherine, born in 1905 ; Joseph, born in 1910; and John R., born June 20, 1915. Mr. Schubach and the members of his family are connected with the First Reformed Church of Canton.
ERVIN JACOB KURTZ. Of the men who are maintaining the high agricultural standards which have characterized country life in Stark County in recent years, one who has distinguished himself by his energy and progressive spirit is Ervin Jacob Kurtz, who is living on the old Kurtz homestead, situated in Lake Township, two and one-half miles southwest of Hartville. Mr. Kurtz has passed his entire life in this community, having been born on the farm which he now occupies, November 26, 1877, a son of John Kurtz, and a member of an old and honored Stark County family, a review of which will be found in the sketch of A. A. Kurtz, elsewhere in this work.
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Ervin Jacob Kurtz was reared on the homestead and secured a good education in the public schools, remaining at home as his father's assistant until he was nineteen years of age. At that time he left the parental roof and began working for different farmers of the vicinity of his home, but when twenty years of age embarked in a threshing machine business with his brother, Aaron A. Kurtz, buying a complete threshing outfit and continuing to engage in this line of work with satisfying success for four years. In the meantime he had continued his farming operations, and at the time of his marriage, in 1899, moved to one of his father's home farms, where he carried on successful operations for two years. Mr. Kurtz next became the purchaser of the old Albright farm, one of the well-known and valuable properties of Lake Township, where he resided for eight. years, and in 1910 bought the homestead farm of 104 acres, to which he moved, although he still owns the Albright farm of sixty-six acres, which he rents, with the exception of two acres. Each year while living on the latter property he made a specialty of growing green celery, and still continues that enterprise on the two acres which he retains for his own use. In 1915 he rented all except two acres of the home farm, reserving that small tract for trucking purposes and growing fruit.
At the time of his retirement from extensive farming operations, in 1915, Mr. Kurtz erected his present handsome home, a modern structure of eleven rooms, with cellar under all, including up-to-date improvements and conveniences of every description, a modern heating apparatus and acetylene lighting system. His former improvements were of the best character, adding materially to the value of his properties, as well as to the upbuilding and development of the community. A progressive, energetic agriculturist, fully alive to every opportunity of his calling, Mr. Kurtz has done much to encourage the elevation of agricultural standards.
On September 17, 1899, Mr. Kurtz was united in marriage with Miss Ellen Young, who was born on the Young family farm, southwest of Suffield, Portage County, Ohio, daughter of Henry B. and Emma (Schrantz) Young, the former born in Portage and the latter in Stark County. Mrs. Young died February 7, 1913, at the age of forty-nine years, nine months, while the father still survives and is actively engaged in agricultural operations in Portage County, near Suffield. To the parents of Mrs. Kurtz there were born four daughters and four sons, all of whom are living: Mrs. Kurtz ; Harvey, who resides at Mishler Station, Ohio ; Della, who is the wife of Milton Kurtz and lives south of Springfield, Summit County ; Bessie, who is the wife of Frederick Huff and lives near Kenmore, Summit County ; Lotta, who is the wife of Lomar Dullabaugher, and lives near Baltimore, Portage County ; and Melvin, Clayton and Homer, all of whom reside on the home farm in Portage County and are engaged in assisting their father.
Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz, as follows: Bertha Lucinda, born March 26, 1901 ; Florence Viola, born May 2, 1902 ; Mary Ellen, born June 28, 1906 ; Lilian Marie, born August 9, 1911, who died August 25, 1913 ; and Martha Grace, born December 1, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz are members of the Brethren Church and
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have taken an active part in its work. Mr. Kurtz is interested in the affairs that affect the welfare of his community, and as a friend of education has served as a member of the board of school directors.
NILES A. SPONSELLER. From a very early period in its interesting history Stark County has maintained a bar of exceptional ability and worthiness, and at the present time it is gratifying to note that among the representative attorneys and counselors of law in the county is to be found a goodly percentage of earnest and successful barristers who can claim the county as the place of their nativity and who pay to it a tribute of both loyalty and affection. These conditions apply in the case of Niles Abraham Sponseller, who is engaged in the successful general practice of his profession in Canton, the metropolis and judicial center of his native county and whose character and achievement entitle him to recognition in this history.
About three miles southwest of Canton is situated the old homestead farm on which Niles A. Sponseller was born, the date of his nativity having been October 13, 1879. He is a son of John H. and Emma J. (Smith) Sponseller, and in the agnatic line he is a scion of a family whose name has been prominently identified with the history of Stark County for nearly a century, his great-grandfather, John Sponseller, having immigrated to this county in 1816, from Adams County, Pennsylvania, which was the place of his birth and in which he was a representative of one of the fine old German families early cstablished in the Keystone State. John Sponseller acquired a tract of Government land in the forest wilds of Canton Township and set himself vigorously to the task of reclaiming a farm from the wilderness. He developed one of the best farms of Canton Township, manifesting characteristic German thrift and good judgment, and on the ancient homestead that showed forth the results of his earnest toil and endeavor he continued to reside until his death, at the venerable age of eighty-four years. His widow, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Herbster, was born in the State of Maryland, and was nearly ninety-two years of age when she passed to the lifc eternal.
Abraham Sponseller, son of John and Elizabeth (Herbster) Sponseller and grandfather of him whose name introduces this review, was horn on the ancestral farmstead in Canton Township, on the 8th of October, 1820, and he likewise, by the very conditions of time and place, had his full quota of pioneer experienccs and responsibilities. He married Miss Elizabeth Stoner, and thercafter devoted his attention to farming in Canton Township until the close of his life. Prior to his marriage he had been a successful teacher in the pioneer schools, and his forceful individuality, excellent judgment and impregnable integrity of purpose made him a man of prominence and influence in his community. He died on his fine old homestead farm, on the 27th of August, 1899, his wife having passed away on the 7th of June, 1897, at the age of seventy-three years, and both having commanded the reverent affection of all who had come within the compass of their generous and kindly influence.
John H. Sponseller, son of Abraham, was born on the old homestead
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in Canton Township, on the 27th of June, 1851, and in addition to availing himself of the advantages of the district schools he was afforded also those of the public schools at Canton, including the high school. Thereafter he completed a three years' course at Alliance College, this county, and for a full decade he was an able and popular representative of thc pedagogic profession in his native county, his work as a teacher having been initiated in 1870. He served five years as deputy judge of the probate court and four years as deputy county auditor. While an attache of the probate court he gave close attention to the study of law, under the preceptorship of John C. Welty, and in 1887 he was admitted to the Ohio bar, upon examination before the supreme court of the state. In 1892 Mr. Sponseller engaged in the practice of law at Canton, and he became known as one of the resourceful and representative members of the Stark County bar, with a record of large and worthy achievement both as a trial lawyer and as a well fortified counselor. He continued in the active work of his profession until his death, on the 25th of February, 1913, and in all of the relations of life he fully upheld the prestige of a family name that has been significantly honored in the history of Stark County. There were few citizens of the county whom he did not know in a. personal way, and his strong and upright character gave to him the confidence and good will of all.
On the 10th of October, 1872, was solemnized the marriage of John H. Sponseller to Miss Emma J. Smith, who was born in Perry Township, this county, a daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Berger) Smith. Mrs. Sponscller survives her honored husband and still resides in Canton. She is a devoted member of the Reformed Church, as was also Mr. Sponseller, and the latter was a stalwart and effective advocate of the principles and policies of the democratic party. Of the two children the younger is Niles A., whose name introduces this article, and the elder is Cennora E., who is the wife of Horace E. Deuble, of Canton.
Niles A. Sponseller was graduated in the Canton High School in 1898, and he was signally favored in the advantages that were his in preparing for his exacting profession. He entered the law department of Western Reserve University, in the City of Cleveland, in which he completed the prescribed curriculum and was graduated as a member of the class of 1902. He received the degree of Bachelor of Laws and was forthwith admitted to the bar of his native state. He at once became associated in practice with his father, under the firm name of Sponseller & Sponseller, and this most grateful and effective alliance continued until the death of the honored father, in February, 1913, since which time Mr. Sponseller has continued in control of the large and representative law business, with the original office headquarters of the firm, in the Eagle Block, in the City of Canton. Earnest conviction led Mr. Sponseller to abandon the paternal political faith and allegiance, and he is known as one of the prominent and influential representatives
of the republican party in Stark County. He has been specially active in the councils of the party in a local way and has shown much finesse and discrimination in the maneuvering of political forces, as he has served as chairman of the republican county committee of Stark County since 1912, besides being a member of the county election board. Mr.
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Sponseller is an appreciative and valued member of the Stark County Bar Association, and in his home city he is affiliated with the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias.
On the 27th of June, 1903, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sponseller to Miss Kathryn A. .McKeon, of Cleveland, this state, and they have one son, John E. Sponseller, born February 20, 1905, and one daughter, Mary Jane, who was born November 29, 1913.
MILTON JONAS BRAUCHER. For the past seventeen years Mr. Braucher has been an active member of the Stark County bar, and his interests in this county are also due to being a descendant of two of the county 's pioneer families. The qualities of a fine mind, the endowment of leadership, and a steady and preserving industry have brought Mr. Braucher well to the top of his profession, and he is well. known both as a lawyer and man of affairs.
Milton Jonas Braucher was born June 11, 1862, on the old Braucher farm in Jackson Township, a farm that was taken up as government land by his grandfather in 1821. His parents were Samuel and Mary Ann (Lichtenwalter) Braucher. Samuel Braucher was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 1817, a son of Daniel Braucher, a native of the same county, who in 1823 brought his family to Stark County. The first American of the name was John Braucher, who came over from Germany in 1733, landing at Philadelphia. When Daniel Braucher came to Stark County in 1821 he made the journey with a four-horse team hitched to one of the old-fashioned Concord covered wagons, loaded with household goods and farm implements. For a portion of the way through both the states of Pennsylvania and Ohio it was necessary to cut roads through the virgin forest. Arriving in Stark County Grandfather Braucher took up a section of government land, and after a career which marked him as one of the leaders among the pioneer settlers owned more than 800 of Stark County 's fine acres. Samuel Braucher, who was four years of age when the family moved to Stark County, inherited a quarter section of his father's original land, and his own career was that of a substantial agriculturist and tiller of the soil, acquiring success in that business and becoming one of the influential citizens of Jackson Township, where he held various local offices, including township trustee and member of the school board. His death occurred in 1899. His wife Mary Ann Lichtenwalter, was born in Canton Township and died July 17. 1879. Her father was Solomon Lichtenwalter, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Stark County with his father, Abraham Lichtenwalter, and family in 1813, settling east of the City of Canton in Canton Township, where he died the following year, leaving a family of ten children. This Lichtenwalter family became identified with Stark County more than a century ago, while the Brauchers have had their residence here for more than ninety years.
Milton J. Braucher spent his boyhood and youth on the home farm, was educated in district schools, also attended the Canal Fulton High School and the Ohio Northern University at Ada, Ohio. His early career alternated between teaching school in winter and farm work in
vol. II - 6
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summer, and in 1896 he moved to Canton and took up the study of law in the offices of Pomerene & Miller, and was admitted to the bar in 1898. Since beginning his general practice at Canton Mr. Braucher has proved his ability in many hard fought legal contests, and now enjoys all the relations of the successful attorney. In 1900 he formed a partnership with the late James Sterling, which continued until the death of Mr. Sterling in 1909. Mr. Braucher is now senior member of the firm of Braucher & Sterling, the junior member of which is Edward R.. Sterling, a son of his former partner.
Mr. Braucher is a member, and for the last four years has been treasurer of the Stark County Bar Association. During -his residence in Jackson Township he served as township clerk and justice of the peace, and has been quite active in democratic politics in the county. Mrs. Braucher before her marriage was Adda. L. Smith, who was born on August 30, 1869, in Canton Township, daughter of Louis S. Smith, a native of the same township, and a son of Samuel Smith, who came from his native State of Pennsylvania and joined the pioneer settlers of Canton Township. Mrs. Braucher spent. her early life chiefly in Jackson Township. They are the parents of three daughters: Verla R., born July 27, 1894; Cleo M., born April 12, 1899; and Wilma S., born February 9, 1901.
CLAYTON C. SCHONER. By an active business career of fifteen years Mr. Schoner is one of the men who have laid the solid foundation for the commercial prosperity of Hartville, which in that time has developed as a small city of banks, stores, factories, schools and churches, and possesses a group of as liberal and enterprising citizenship as can be found in any community of Stark County. Mr. Schoner is postmaster and president of the Hartville Banking Company.
Nearly all his life has been spent in the Hartville community and he was born on a farm about a mile southwest of the village, August 30, 1873, a son of Philip and Catherine (Brumbaugh) Schoner. His father was born in Germany, but when six years of age was brought to the United States by his parents, who located in Lake Township of Stark County, on a farm about one mile northeast of Uniontown. Catherine (Brumbaugh) Schoner was born in Lake Township, daughter of William Brumbaugh. Philip and Catherine (Schoner) spent their active lives as farmcrs and lived on the old homestead until 1904, when they removed to Hartville, and the father is now living retired, though still owning the old farm. He is now in his seventy- fourth year, while his wife is about sixty-nine years old. Both are members of the Lutheran Church.
Clayton C. Schoner grew up on the farm, and completed his education in the Hartville High School. He did some successful work as a teacher preceding his efforts as a business man. For more than two years he was a teacher in the country, and for two years was connected with the Hartville schools. In 1900 he became identified with the general merchandise business at Hartville in partnership with George W. Keiser under the name Keiser & Schoner. That firm prospered for three years, at the end of which time C. W. Bair bought out the
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Keiser interests and for eight years Schoner & Bair conducted a very profitable enterprise, finally selling their store to Neff Brothers.
Mr. Schoner first became connected with the local postoffice in 1911 as assistant postmaster, and after one year, in 1912, was commissioned Postmaster under the civil service rules. Another important business with which he is connected is the Hartville Motor Car Company, which he and Henry F. Schoner established in 1912. Mr. Schoner took an active part in the reorganization of the Hartville Banking Company in the spring of 1910, and the directors chose him to the office of president, and he has since been the executive manager of that important institution.
On December 22, 1895, he married Effa D. Wise. She was born in Greentown, Stark County, daughter of Calvin and Amanda (Baughman) Wise. Both her parents are living. Mr. and Mrs. Schoner have two sons : Paul Wise and Atte Jennings. Mr. Schoner and family are members of the Lutheran Church.
WILLIAM HOWARD WEAVER, M. D. A Canton physician whose experience and abilities have brought him to a recognized position of prominence is William Howard Weaver, who enjoys a large private practice in that city and is also one of the staff of the Aultman Hospital.
William Howard Weaver was born in Rose Township of Carroll County, Ohio, July 15, 1874, a son of David and Sarah A. (Keinright) Weaver. His father was born in Germany in 1836, and was brought to America by his parents in 1840. The family located in Sandy Township of Tuscarawas County, and in that locality David Weaver grew to manhood. His wife was born in Sandy Township of Stark County in 1844 but after her marriage she and her husband removed to Rose Township in Carroll County. There David Wcaver followed farming actively until about 1901, when he retired and passed away December 25, 1903. His widow is now living at Magnolia in Rose Township of Carroll County.
It was in Rose Township of Carroll County that Doctor Weaver spent his early youth, with an education in the district schools. In 1894 he completed the course in the Mineral City High School, and after that was a teacher for several years, attending Scio College during the intervals of that occupation. Doctor Weaver spent one year in the district schools of Carroll County and three years in Tuscarawas County, and his work as a teacher defrayed some of his expenses for a higher education. In 1902 he was graduated M. D. from the Ohio Medical University, now the medical department of the Ohio State University. In later years he took post-graduate work at the New York Polyclinic and the New York Post-Graduate College.
Doctor Weaver began the practice of medicine in Tuscarawas County in 1902, but in the following year removed to Canton, where he now has a splendid private practice and is recognized as a physician of special skill and also of the highest character professionally and personally. Doctor Weaver is pediatrician to the Aultman Hospital. He is a member of the Stark County Medical Society, the Canton Medical
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Society, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
Doctor Weaver married Louemma M. Laffer, who was born in Sandy- vine, Ohio, daughter of H. B. Laffer. Doctor Weaver and wife have one son, Wilbur L. They are members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Canton.
G. O. FRENCH. The clay products industry in Stark County in recent years has reached large proportions, and practically every form of manufactured clay products is produced in this vicinity, including all kinds of building bricks, paving brick, ornamental and common tile. Canton is the home office for two of the largest paving brick companies operating in Northern Ohio, the Lincoln Paving Block Company and the Big Four Clay Company. Mr. G. 0. French is president of the former and secretary, treasurer and general manager of the latter. Mr. French has been interested in the clay products industry for the past fifteen years, and his energy and foresight have been chiefly responsible for the development of these two thriving industries.
G. 0. French was born on a farm in Hancock County, Ohio, September 30, 1862. His family has been identified with this state for a century or more. His parents were George and Nancy (Russell) French, both of whom were natives of Hancock County. The paternal grandfather was Grovery 0. French, an old Scotch Covenanter who came from Scotland and settled first near Richmond, Virginia, and later came to Ohio, settling in Eagle Township of Hancock County, where the rest of his life was spent. The maternal grandfather was Robert Russell, a native of Ireland, who first located near Cambridge in Guernsey County, Ohio, and subsequently moved to Hancock County. After their marriage the parents of Mr. French settled on a farm in Union Township of Hancock County, where his father combined the vocation of tilling the soil with his duties as a minister of the United Brethren Church for many years. His death occurred in Hancock County in 1905 at the age of eighty-three, while the mother passed away in 1900 in her seventy-sixth-year.
G. O. French grew up on the old homestead in Hancock County, and has always been glad of the fact that his early life was thus spent in wholesome rural environment. He attended the country schools, and for a time was a student in the Fostoria Academy, where he took the classical course and was graduated in 1883. His active career covers a little more than thirty years. The earlier part was devoted to teaching. He was an instructor in the high school at Leipsic, Ohio, and for four years was superintendent of schools in Putnam County.
After varied business experience, Mr. French came to Malvern, Stark County, in 1902 to establish the Big Four Clay Company. He had previously bought 150 acres of clay land, undeveloped, and it was under his immediate direction that the development of this land was accomplished. The company was incorporated in 1902. It has a twenty-kiln plant, with a daily capacity of 75,000 bricks. It is recognized as one of the finest brick plants in the state. The industry is confined exclusively to the manufacture of paving brick, and the market for that product is
PICTURE OF G. O. FRENCH
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 633
state-wide and shipments are being increasingly made to other parts of the country, chiefly to Pennsylvania, Indiana and Michigan. The Big Four Clay Company is capitalized at $200,000, and officers in 1915 are : W. A. White, president ; G. B. French, vice president ; G. O. French, secretary, treasurer and general manager. The plant is located at Malvern, with the executive offices in Canton.
In 1914 Mr. French extended his enterprise as a brick manufacturer to the organization of the Lincoln Paving Brick Company, which was incorporated in the same year with a capitalization of $200,000, and the following officers : G. O. French, president and general manager ; G. B. French, vice president and treasurer ; and F. 13. Mulford, secretary. The plant of this company is located at Corning, Perry County, Ohio, where they have one continuous kiln 460 feet long, with a daily capacity of 75,000 brick. This plant, too, is exclusively devoted to paving brick, and is equipped with the most modern machinery to be found anywhere.
His success in organizing and developing these two companies has naturally given Mr. French much prominence in clay products circles in Ohio. He is now president of the Ohio Paving Brick Manufacturers' Association, which is composed of practically all the paving brick manufacturers in the state. The association was organized in 1915. Mr. French is also a member of the Masonic Order, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Canton Chamber of Commerce, the Presbyterian Church, and is a member and stockholder in the Congress Lake Country Club.
Mrs. French, before her marriage, was Clara Adrain, who was born in Putnam County, Ohio, daughter of Garnet B. Adrain, M. D. To their marriage have been born two children : Garnet B., vice president of the Lincoln Paving Brick Company ; and Gale AI., a high school student.
JACOB G. LAWRENCE, M. D. A successful member of the medical fraternity of Canton is Dr. Jacob G. Lawrence, who has had many years of experience as a physician and surgeon, who is a man of liberal education, and prior to taking up his work as a doctor was a teacher for several years. His home and office are at 730 Mahoning Road, N. E.
Doctor Lawrence is a native of Stark County and represents an old and substantial family in Lawrence Township where he was born on the old farm, which lies along the line between Stark and Wayne counties. His grandfather, Philip Lawrence, was a pioneer in Lawrence Township and the village was named in his honor. Philip Lawrence was a native of Prussia, Germany, where the family name was spelled Laurenze. He was married in the old country to Catherine Hartz, and they emigrated to America in 1844, settling in Lawrence Township. There they spent the rest of their useful lives on the farm. John P. Lawrence, father of Doctor Lawrence, was born in Germany in 1834 and was brought to this country when a boy of ten years, his education, begun in Germany, being completed after arriving in Stark County. His life career was spent as a farmer and he was a man of influence in his locality, serving as clerk of the board of education of Lawrence Township and as township trustee three terms. He married in 1861 Elina Gesaman, daughter of Jacob and Barbara (Reichard) Gesaman.
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The parents were pioneers of Lawrence Township. John P. Lawrence died in 1895, and his wife passed away in 1889.
Doctor Lawrence grew up on the old farm in Stark County, attended the district schools, and afterwards was a student in the Canal Fulton High School and in Mount Union College. Four years of his early career were spent as a teacher in district schools. His earnings as a teacher were invested in further schooling, and in 1897 he graduated M. D. from the medical department of the Western Reserve University. Doctor Lawrence began practice in 1897 at Dodgville in Ashtabula County. In the spring of 1901 he removed to North Lawrence, where he practiced until 1905, and since that year has practiced in a larger field and with growing prestige at Canton.
Doctor Lawrence is a member of the Stark County Medical Society, the Canton Medical Society, of which he was for three years secretary and in 1915 a member of the executive committee, and of the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. His fraternal relations are with the Knights of the Maccabees, and the Order of Reindeers. Doctor Lawrence married Miss Nellie D. Prater, who was born in Canal Fulton, Ohio, daughter of Josiah Prater. They have one son, Leslie, now fourteen years of age.
FRANK B. NIESZ Only a few men in Stark County can point to a longer continuous identification with one industry than Frank B. Niesz, well known manufacturer, now head of the Bucher & Gibbs Plow Company, an industry that has had his services in a progressive relation of responsibility for the past thirty-five years.
Mr. Niesz, who was born on the old homestead farm in Canton Township, three miles west of the city, August 1, 1854, can claim membership in one of Stark County's very earliest pioneer families. A 110 years have passed since the name was established in this wilderness community, and through four generations it has represented sturdy industry and relations of value and influence in the locality. His great- grandfather was George Niesz, a native of Snyder County, Pennsylvania, where he married Mary Weaver, by whom he became the father of nine children. It was in the year 1805 that George Niesz came to Stark County and entered land in Canton Township, while three years later he brought his family to share with him the inhospitable conditions of the wildcrness. His family then consisted of his wife and six children. Seldom did a pioneer work more strenuously to provide for those dependent upon him. The daylight hours were spent in working the fields, which by arduous toil he had cleared from the woods, while for several hours every night he did the blacksmithing for the neighborhood. This heavy toil and the responsibilities connected with his position as the father of a large family, three other children having been born aftcr they came to Stark County, finally broke down the health of the pioneer and he died in 1822, survived by his widow until 1825.
One of the sons of George Niesz the pioneer was Rev. John Niesz. He was born in Snyder County, Pennsylvania, in 1799, and was less than ten years of age when brought to Stark County. He too experienced many of the exceeding hardships of pioneer life, secured only a
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limited education, so far as textbooks were concerned, but developed his native powers of intellect until he became noted as a man of learning and in his attainments was one of the conspicuous men of his generation. At an early day he became active in the United Brethren Church, and subsequently was made a minister of the denomination. He also taught school in Canton Township, and after passing middle age studied privately the science of homeopathic medicine and secured a license and practiced his profession in Canton for a number of years. Rev. John Niesz married Mary Young, who was the mother of nine children. His death occurred in 1872.
William Niesz, a grandson of George the pioneer and son of Rev. John, and father of the Canton manufacturer above named, was born on the old homestead in Canton Township in 1821, and died in March, 1913, having lived to be more than ninety years of age. The work of his active life was farming, and he was prosperous above the avcrage and always had an influential place' in local citizenship. He married Eliza Niesz, who died in 1864.
Frank B. Niesz is one of the children of the late William Niesz. His early life was spent on the old farm in Canton Township, and while there he secured instruction from the district schools. He afterwards completed his education at Purdue University at Lafayette, Indiana, and for several years followed the example set for him by both his grandfather and father in working the farm during the summer and teaching school in the winter. In January, 1880, Mr. Niesz left the farm and entered the employ of the Bucher & Gibbs Plow Company at Canton as a general utility man. He has since been continuously identified with that company, a period of thirty-five years. His first promotion was to head of the shipping department ; next to bookkeeper and in charge of collections, and in 1895 he rose to treasurer of the company. In 1903, twenty-three years after his beginning work with the company, he was made its president and general manager, and since then has wisely directed the general business policy of a concern which is regarded as one of the most important industrial assets of Canton.
Mr. Niesz married Miss Ada Z. Faust, who was born on the Faust farm northeast of Canton. Mr. and Mrs. Niesz are members of the United Evangelical Church.
T. CLARKE MILLER, M. D. A veteran of the Civil war, for a great many years engaged in practice as a physician and surgeon, Doctor Miller is one of the best known citizens of Massillon and in many ways has made his influence and work count for good in the seventy odd years of his life.
Born at Butler, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1842, he is a son of James and Margaret (Garvin) Miller. His grandfather, Samuel Miller, was born in Ireland but came to America with his family about the beginning of the nineteenth century. James Miller, the father, was born in Ireland in 1796, was brought to this country in early childhood, was a farmer by occupation, had only an ordinary English education, was a member of the Methodist Church, a Whig and republican in politics,
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but never engaged in public office or in military service. His wife was a distant relative and was born in Scotland.
Dr. T. Clarke Miller had an academic education before the beginning of the Civil war, and served for three years as a private and noncommissioned officer in Company F of the Ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Reserve Corps. He gained his medical education after the war, and for a number of years practiced in Cleveland, where he was professor of obstetrics in the Charity Hospital Medical College of that city from 1875 to 1882. He also served as coroner of Cuyahoga County from 1874 to 1876. While in Cleveland he was a pension examiner and held the same office at Massillon, his services in that capacity continuing for about twenty-five years. At Massillon Doctor Miller is now health officer and register of vital statistics. In politics he is a republican, and has long been regularly identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church and is a worker in that denomination at Massillon.
In 1879, at Blairsville, Pennsylvania, he married Mary Agnes Culbertson, a daughter of Isaac and Mary (McChesney) Culbertson. Mrs. Miller is a graduate of Blairsville Ladies' Seminary. To their marriage were born five children : Clarke Culbertson Miller, born at Cleveland in 1870 ; Charles Rush Miller, born at Cleveland in 1872 ; Tom Culbertson Miller, born at Cleveland in 1874; Clara Miller, born at Massillon in 1876 ; Mary Garvin Miller, born at Massillon in 1882.
THOMAS HENRY LEAHY. Among the younger members of the Canton bar, one who is rapidly gaining prominence because of his connection with important cases in which he has represented the successful interests is Thomas Henry Leahy. While he has been engaged in practice only four years, it has already been his fortune to make his name known in legal circles of the city, and he is receiving the best kind of patronage that can fall to the lot of the young practitioner.
Mr. Leahy has spent his entire career in the vicinity of Canton, having been born on North Cleveland Avenue Extension, just outside of the city limits, July 1, 1886, a son of Thomas W. and Julia C. (Cook) Leahy. As his name would suggest, he is of Irish descent, being a grandson of Thomas A. Leahy, a pioneer of Stark County, Ohio, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, and became the progenitor of the family in the United States. The grandfather was a young man when he came to this country, and settled in Stark County, where he took up the vocation of coal mining and followed it some years. Here he was married to Miss Leonard, and both passed away at Massillon, Ohio. The maternal grandfather of Thomas H. Leahy was Henry Cook, who was born in the River Rhine Valley, Germany, and as a young man emigrated to the United States, his first settlement being in Sullivan County, New York. Some time during the period of the Civil war he came West to Stark County,. Ohio, and on the New Berlin Road opened a. tavern known as "The Good Intent," which became a landmark of this locality. He married Barbara Janson, who was also a native of Germany, and both died in the tavern where they made their home for many years.
Thomas W. Leahy was born in Perry Township, Stark County, and in his youth adopted his father's vocation of coal mining. Through
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industry and faithful performance of duty he won promotion with the concern with which he was identified and was finally made manager of a mine near Massillon, a position which he held for some years. In 1885 he came to Canton, and since that time has been engaged in the real estate business, being now a well known figure in realty circles. Mrs. Leahy, who also survives, was born at Jeffersonville,. Sullivan County, New York.
Thomas Henry Leahy secured the foundation for his education in the public schools of Canton, and after some further preparation entered the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in 1908. He completed his course with the class of 1912, and was admitted to the bar at the January (1912) term of court, and in that same year entered practice at Canton in association with Hon. J. B. Snyder, with whom he is still engaged in the practice of law. During 1913 and 1914 he served as prosecuting attorney's assistant of Stark County. He is a member of the Stark County Bar Association and of the Loyal Order of Moose, and is well known in professional circles of the city.
HON. JACOB B. SNYDER. Stark County had one of its ablest representatives in the Ohio Legislature in the person of Jacob B. Snyder, who served for two terms from 1898 to 1902. Locally Mr. Snyder has been for more than twenty years identified with the practice of law in this county, and is one of the leaders of the Canton bar. Mr. Snyder has been a hardworking and ambitious lawyer, has had a broad experience and a thorough ability, and is a citizen of large public spirit and thorough devotion to the general welfare.
Comparatively few families have been identified with Stark County for a longer time than the Snyders. The old home farm is located near Osnaburg, where Jacob B. Snyder was born July 2, 1866. His parents were Jacob B. and Mary (Bolinger) Snyder. Grandfather Jacob Snyder was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, where the family had located before the Revolutionary war. He came out to Stark County in the pioneer days, took up a tract of timber land in Nimishillen Township, and made a home in the midst of the wilderness. Jacob B. Snyder, Sr., was born on that farm in 1826, and in 1863 married Mollie (Mary) Bolinger who was born in Pennsylvania, daughter of Daniel Bolinger, who likewise identified himself with Stark County in the early days. Jacob B. Snyder and wife after their marriage located on a farm near the Village of Osnaburg and spent the rest of their days there, the father dying October 25, 1891, and the mother January 1, 1897.
Hon. Jacob B. Snyder received his education in the community about Osnaburg, and at the age of eighteen qualified and took up active work as a teacher. In 1889 came an appointment to the office of postmaster of Osnaburg but he resigned after two years to enter the Cincinnati Law College and was graduated LL. B. with the class of 1892 and admitted to the bar in the same year. For one year Mr. Snyder had his office at Osnaburg, and then established his practice in Canton in 1893, though his home was in Osnaburg until 1899.
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Mr. Snyder in 1898 was elected to the Ohio Legislature, and re-elected in 1900, and during his second term was honored as speaker pro tern of the house. At Osnaburg in 1896-98 he served in the office of mayor. He is a member of the Stark County Bar Association, is a Knight Templar Mason, and also affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On November 27, 1894, Mr. Snyder married Alice Steinmetz, daughter of George Steinmetz of Pike Township in Stark County. They have two children : Bernice, born in 1897; and Huber, born in 1899.
ARTHUR N. KALEY. Occasionally in a democratic community, where the rewards and honors of office are often bestowed so strangely, an office seeks and is accepted by a man of real influence, leadership and ability. An illustration of this occurred when Massillon elected Arthur N. Kaley to the office of mayor in 1911. Mr. Kaley is professionally a lawyer, and for fifteen years has successfully practiced his profession in Massillon. However, his name and career will be longest appreciated probably by what he has done as mayor. He has been called "a mayor who is a real city father." Too often the administration of such an office in American communities is a matter of routine performance. The office is as isolated from the individual wants and needs of the citizens as that of any private corporation. In the case of Mr. Kaley, he has been mayor not only at the city hall, but all over the city. He has brought to his office certain distinctive qualities of public service, a keen and kindly sympathy with all classes of people, a ready efficiency and energy which have often caused him to go beyond the lines of precedent and to make the city government a really cooperating factor with the other institutions and the various individual units which comprise the city's life.
Arthur N. Kaley is a native son of Massillon and represents some of the old family stocks in that city. He was born December 1, 1-867, and on his mother's side is connected with such New England families as the Warrens, Hoidens, Carpenters and Browns, all of whom were colonial families in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and had representatives in the Revolutionary war.
Mr. Kaley is a member of the Ohio Society Sons of the Revolution, through his Shirley, Massachusetts ancestor, Sawtell Holden, who was one of the volunteers from Shirley to answer the alarm of April 19, 1775, at Lexington. Sawtell Holdcn was born at Shirley, Massachusetts, May 13, 1752.
Mayor Kaley was educated in the city schools of Massillon, graduating in 1886, and was a student of the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware until ill health compelled him to abandon his studies. In 1899 Mr. Kaley was graduated from the law department of the Western Reserve College at Cleveland, and then spent somc time in travel abroad, through England, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Germany, a student of public institutions and governmental methods, all of which has been valuable to him in the law and particularly so in his management of the city administration of Massillon.
After a brief practice in Cleveland Mr. Kaley located in his native city, and has enjoyed a splendid practice in the Stark County bar. He
PICTURE OF ARTHUR N. KALEY
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 639
is a man of social instinct and besides a large individual acquaintance has identified himself actively with a number of fraternal and benevoplent organizations. He is past exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; past worthy president and treasurer of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, which he represented in convention at Seattle; has served as treasurer of the Massillon Protected Home Circle; as a member of the board of managers of the Modern Woodmen of America; as chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and is affiliated with Clinton Lodge No. 47, A. F. & A. M., and is past worthy patron of the Eastern Star.
Mr. Kaley first became identified with public affairs in Massillon when elected, in November, 1904, as justice of the peace of his township. He was reelected in 1907 and remained in office until elected mayor in 1911. Of his services and ideals in the office of mayor a writer in Leslie's Illustrated Weekly of about two years ago said : "Besides looking after the civic needs of Massillon, Mayor Kaley finds time to keep an cye on the humane phase of its people. He believes it to be a mayor's duty to play guardian angel to the inhabitants of his city as well as to see that the streets are kept clean, the treasury guarded and ordinances enforced. To this end he has established a free employment bureau. He keeps in touch with manufacturers in Massillon by means of an employer's information blank, which he keeps on file, with notations of vacancies existing. Then he has information blanks for employes. Applicants fill them out, special attention being paid as to whether or not the man uses cigarettes or drinks intoxicating liquors."
It has been Mr. Kaley's proud claim that there has seldom been an able bodied man in Massillon idle because he could not find work. The problem of unemployment is now regarded as one of the gravest among America's unsolved economic questions. Few men have approached the situation with more effectiveness and sympathetic understanding than Mayor Kaley, and while undoubtedly the solution so far as the nation is concerned must depend upon a broad plan and the cooperation of many individuals and communities, it is just such work as Mr. Kaley has done in Massillon that will reach the core of the difficulty in the quickest and most effectual manner.
Besides his great work in the establishment of a free municipal employment bureau at Massillon, Mr. Kaley has exercised his official powers for a general regulation and cleaning up of the city from a moral standpoint. He has exercised the powers of the city courts to correct and reform individuals rather than to punish them for their misdemeanors, and has many times turned petty criminals into the walks of sober and self-supporting manhood. Among other things he converted the city reservoir into a free bathing beach, has wholesome amusements for the people. and altogether is not only one of the busiest men but one of the most valuable citizens of Stark County.
JOHN G. ROMMEL. An industry which is by no means among the least of those which gives prestige to Canton as a manufacturing center is The Stark-Tuscarawas Breweries Company, of which the president and general manager is John G. Rommel. This business is one of long
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standing, its output has a recognized standard of excellence over a large part of Ohio, and it represents a large industrial capital and helps materially to swell the volume of Canton 's great commerce.
John G. Rommel is a native of Ohio, and for a man of less than forty has already gone far towards the attainments of business success. He was born at Franklin in Butler County April 26, 1876, son of William and Philipina (Schaefer) Rommel. Both parents were natives of Germany. William Rommel came to America in 1869, first locating at Dayton, Ohio, and subsequently removing to Middletown, where he was engaged in the hotel business until 1887. That year he came to Canton and bought the Otto Giessen Brewery. In 1905 that brewery was merged with other interests making The Stark-Tuscarawas Breweries Company, and in the same year William Rommel retired from active management and has since lived in his beautiful country home at Mount Marie, between Canton and Massillon. His wife died in 1899.
John G. Rommel spent most of his early youth in Canton, was educated in the public schools, and most of his business life has been spent in association with his father. In 1906 he assumed the presidency and general management of The Stark-Tuscarawas Breweries Company, and in addition to the responsibilities of this office he has other commercial and manufacturing interests at Canton.
FRANK L. COLE. The Cole family has been identified with Stark County more than seventy years, and several of its members have been prominent in business affairs. Frank L. Cole, who began his career as a teacher, has for the last twenty years been active in the insurance and later in the real estate business at Canton, and his success in that field has been exceptional and has indicated unusual qualifications for this particular branch of commerce.
Frank L. Cole was born at New Baltimore, Stark County, April 27, 1870, and is the youngest child of the late William T. and Catherine (Strouse) Cole. Mrs. Cole was a daughter of Charlcs Strouse, born in Pennsylvania and who was an early settler of Eastern Ohio, near Youngstown. William T. Cole, who was born in England in 1827, and was brought to America by his parents in 1843, at that time settled in Massillon, Ohio. As a youth he was employed in driving a mule along the towpath of the old canal. Later he learned the trade of molder, and worked at it in different places. About 1860 he bought a small plow shop at New Baltimore and for about thirty-five years operated the business with success. He was an expert plow maker, and also a skillful farmer, and combined these two vocations. His death occurred in New Baltimore in 1904, while his wife had passed away in 1889. Their family of ten children, four sons and six daughters, are mentioned briefly as follows: Charles, now deceased, who bought the business of his father and carried it on for about ten years; A. W. Cole, who lives near Hartville, Ohio, and who is an extensive celery and onion grower ; John M., also deceased, who in early life was a school teacher, finally bought the fire insurance business of J. T. Kirkwood of Canton, and was for years one of the leading men in that line ; Frank L. ; Mrs. Charlotte Chain, who now occupies the old family home in New Balti-
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more ; Mary, wife of David B. Smith of Canton ; Alice R., wife of Elisha Wittlesey, with home near Atwater, Ohio; Samantha, who married John L. pickle of Canton ; Nellie, wife of Owen P. Thompson of Atwater, Ohio; Lillie, unmarried and living at New Baltimore.
Frank L. Cole, the youngest of the children, spent his youth at New Baltimore, and was educated both in the common schools and the high school. For six years he was a teacher, and while successful and popular in that vocation did not find it a ready road to substantial prosperity. In 1896 he came to Canton and bought a third interest in the fire insurance agency of which he is now sole owner. This agency, originally started by J. T. Kirkwood, was acquired, as already stated, by John M. Cole, who later sold the same to Frank L. Cole and H. F. Dailey. At that time John M. Cole retired from the agency, and with John W. A. Staudt took the state agency for the Royal Union Mutual Life Insurance Company. Frank L. Cole and Mr. Dailey continued as partners three years, and then divided their business, Mr. Cole taking the nonunion companies, while Mr. Dailey assumed the business of the union companies. Since then Mr. Cole has been in business for himself and now represents fifteen of the most important insurance companies, and his agency is one of the largest in the city, the aggregate of business in premiums paid cach year through this medium amounting to a total of about $25,000. In 1910 Mr. Cole extended his enterprise to real estate, as a dealer and broker, and in the past five years this branch of his business has grown to a value far beyond that of his fire insurance agency. He is himself the owner of considerable valuable property both in Canton and Cleveland. Though he possessed very limited means when he came to Canton in 1896, he is now recognized as one of the substantial business men of the city.
Mr. Cole is a member of the Real Estate Board, of the Chamber of Commerce, and affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Lakeside Country Club and the Congress Lake Club, two of the leading social organizations of Canton. In 1892 Mr. Cole was married at Marlboro in Stark County to Miss Myrtle Pearl Maxwell, daughter of Lewis Maxwell. Mr. Cole is the happy father of a family of six children : Olive Catherine, aged twenty-two ; Cyril Howard, who died at the age of eighteen ; Charlotte Irene, aged twenty, wife of Russell Hague, formerly of Canton, but now residing at Winifred, Montana ; Frank Maxwell, who died at the age of six months; Mary Lucile, who is twelve years of age ; and Alice Gwendolyn, aged nine.
HARRY C. HAIGHT. A Canton factory that has becn going steadily ahead increasing its capital and output during a period otherwise characterized by subnormal business conditions is the Wright Wrench & Forging Company. This is an industry which has grown and developed at Canton, and its record is an integral part of local industrial history.
In a very small way the manufacture of wrenches was begun in Canton in 1908. In 1909 Mr. Harry C. Haight and associates bought the original concern, which at that time was making wrenches in the old Aultman plant. In 1910 the present plant was built, including
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a drop forge department. In March, 1913, the company installed a 600 ton press, and began the manufacture of heavy pressed and hammered forgings. The forging end of the business gradually outran the light tool department, which was the primary object of manufacture at the beginning. At the present time the output is almost entirely drop forgings and heavy drawn forgings, chrome vanadium and other alloy steels being largely used in these forgings. The size of forgings run all the way from a piece of metal weighing a few ounces up to ten and fifteen ton pieces. This is a model plant, with complete electrical equipment, and all the heavy forgings are handled by electric cranes. The market for the material turned out by the Wright Wrench & Forging Company is found in all parts of the United States. The machine shops are in a building 50 by 150 feet ; the drop forge shop is 50 by 150 feet; the pressed forging shop is 50 by 150 feet. The machine shop is of brick construction, while all the others are steel frames. This business is a big item in Canton's industrial resources, as is indicated by the fact that the pay roll in August, 1915, contained 100 employes, all of them skilled workmen. In August, 1909, the company was incorporated with a capital stock of $150,000 and under the name of Wright Wrench & Forging Company. The incorporators were : William Rommel, president; Thomas F. Turner, secretary ; M. C. Barber, vice president ; H. C. Haight, treasurer and general manager, all of these being business men of Canton; and W. B. Albright, of New York City, the additional director.
Harry C. Haight, who is treasurer and general manager of the company, was originally a Cleveland man, and has been identified with manufacturing enterprises in one form or another ever since boyhood. He was born in Cleveland, May 6, 1868, son of J. M. and Adelaide C. Haight. Reared in Cleveland and gaining his education in the grammar and high schools of that city he began, when only a boy, with the Cleveland Axle Manufacturing Company. This company removed its plant to Canton in 1893 and Mr. Haight went along, being at that time advanced as far as bookkeeper and cashier of the company. In 1901, he left the axle company, and during the next five years was in New York City and Boston. Returning to Canton in 1906, he became manager of the Cleveland-Canton Spring Company, and held that office about a year and a half. He then took the leading part in organizing the Wright Wrench & Forging Company, and his technical skill and experience have been the chief factor in the growth and upbuilding of this prominent concern. While living in the East Mr. Haight was manager of the New England division of the Sherwin-Williams Paint Company of Cleveland.
Mr. Haight is a member of the Canton Club, the Congress Lake Club and the Lakeside Country Club. In Masonry he is a Knight Templar and a member of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Haight married Mrs. William H. Laughlin of Canton. They attend the Christian Science Church.
LAWRENCE PAUMIER. One of the best known properties in the northern part of Stark County is that bearing the name of Brookside Dairy and Stock Farm, which has become noted for its pure-bred registered
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Holstein cattle. The proprietor of this farm is Lawrence Paumier, one of the prominent and popular agriculturists of Nimishillen Township, who has spent his entire life in this locality and still resides on the homestead on which he was born. From the time of his first modest entrance into business life, his interests have grown and prospered, and while he has been largely engrossed with his private affairs, the interests of the community have not suffered because of neglect at his hands.
Mr. Paumier was born on his present farm, just north of Louisville, in Stark County, October 22, 1873, and is a son of Joseph and Catherine (Vauthier) Paumier, and grandson of Xavier Paumier, the pioneer of this family in the United States. Xavier Paumier was a native of France, and came to Amcrica in young manhood, locating in Osnaburg Township, just across the Nimishillen Township line. About one year after his arrival he was united in marriage with Mary Faiver, who was also born in Francc, the daughter of Joseph Faiver. Xavier Paumier first worked for Joseph Faiver, with whom he had come to America, but subsequently accumulated enough capital to become a landholder on his own account, his first farm being located just east of Belfort, in Osnaburg Township, this being across the township line from the Faiver farm. In 1854 he bought the farm now located in the corporate limits of Louisville, and now owned and occupied by his son, Frank X. Paumier, a sketch of whose career will be found elsewhere in this work. Xavier Paumier continued to reside in this locality throughout the remaining years of his life, and became one of the most prominent and influential men of his community. At the time of his death he was the owner of the old farm, the F. X. Paumier farm and the Lawrence Paumier farm, and was accounted one of Nimishillen Township's well- to-do men. He was a communicant of St. Louis Roman Catholic Church, to which the members of his family also belonged.
Joseph Paumier, the father of Lawrence Paumier, moved to what is now Brookside Farm in 1871, in which year he purchased it. He carried on general farming operations and also engaged more or less in dairying, and had a good trade for the cheese which he manufactured in connection with the latter department. Inheriting his father's excellent business abilities, honesty, perseverance and integrity, he became a successful farmer and was honored as a business man and a citizen. He died October 25, 1898, at the age of sixty years, eleven months. Mrs. Paumier, who survives him, resides with her daughter, Mrs. Charles Pousiot, of Canton, Ohio.
Lawrence Paumier was reared on the home farm and secured his education in the public and parochial schools of his native community. In 1893 he began his independent career by renting his father's farm, and following the death of the elder man purchased it from the other heirs. He has been engaged in the dairy business since 1893, increasing his business from year to year until he now milks seventy-five Holstein cows daily, shipping his product to Canton. He owns two full-blooded registered Holstein bulls, regarded as the peer of any in the state, and is an extensive breeder of that stock, also handling other cattle as well. In addition to the home farm of eighty-eight
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acres, he owns another handsome property of eighty-two acres, separated from the home farm by one property only. The improvements on these tracts, and especially on the homestead, are of the most commodious and modern character, including a large and comfortable residence.
Mr. Paumier married Miss Josephine Monnie, who was born in Nimishillen Township, Stark County, of French parents, who were both killed in a railroad accident about the year 1905. Seven children have been born to this union : Clarence, in 1899 ; Alfred, in 1901 ; Jeanette, who is deceased ; Margaret, born in 1902 ; Francis, born in 1903 ; Mildrcd, born in 1907 ; and Marcella, born in 1908. Mr. Paumier is a member of St. Louis Roman Catholic Church, to which the members of his family also belong. He also holds membership in the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, the Michigan Mutual Insurance Company and the Holstein-Friesian Association.
HARRY M. HORTON. The career of Harry M. Horton, president, treasurer and manager of the H. M. Horton Shoe Company, of Canton, is one which is remarkable for its demonstration of American energy, ability, integrity and superior skill. Mr. Horton was a lad of sixteen years of age when he joined the army of the world's workers, and from a humble position he has worked his way steadily upward, until today he is at the head of the largest enterprise of its kind at Canton, and is accounted one of the most progressive and successful business men of his adopted city.
Harry M. Horton was born at Alliance, Ohio, October 8, 1878, and is a son of William N. and Eliza Jane (Myers) Horton, the former born in the East and the latter in Stark County. From Alliance, where the fathcr had been engaged in business, the family moved to Mansfield, in 1884, and thence to Canton, in 1885, and here the mother passed away in 1898, the father being now a resident of Painsville, Ohio. Harry M. Horton was reared at Canton and educated in the public schools, where he showed himself an apt and industrious scholar. He began his active career as a boy, carrying bundles for W. R. Zollinger, a Canton merchant, and when he was sixteen years old became a delivery boy at the old Bockins Shoe Store, there receiving his introduction to the business in which he was to gain such success later. After three years with this concern he went with J. J. Santry, a shoe merchant, in whose employ he remained a like period, and then accepted a position as salesman for the Hanan Shoe Company of Cleveland. Returning to Canton after three years, Mr. Horton was employed by the W. R. Zollinger Department Store to open its shoe department, of which he remained in charge as manager for two years, and then for a short period was identified in a like capacity with the Kenny Brothers Department Store, finally being employed by Wagner & Marsh, of Akron, to open a branch for them at Canton, which was this city's first real up-to-date shoe store.
After two years in charge of this branch, Mr. Horton decided he was ready to enter business on his own account, and accordingly established himself as a merchant by buying out the old Bockins Shoe Store. the same in which he had worked as a boy. His business grew and
PICTURE OF WILLIAM W. IRWIN
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developed rapidly under his capable and energetic management, and in 1913 he leased the Mousher Block, at 209-211 Market Street, North, where he opened his present establishment, which is by far the largest and leading store in this line in the city. The storeroom is 25 by 135 feet, with a basement the same size, and is handsome in its appointments and equipment. Mr. Horton handles nothing but the "Horton" shoe, made especially for him after his own requirements, and with which he has built up his present high reputation and success. In 1906 the H. M. Horton Shoe Company was organized, with Mr. Horton as president, treasurer and manager ; Harry S. Renkert, vice president, and Charles A. Irwin, secretary, and these gentlemen form the present official roster of the company. Mr. Horton is a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, and is also connected with The Lakeside Country Club, the Canton Masons, Canton Lodge, No. 60, and the local lodge of the Elks. With his family, he attends and is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church of Canton.
Mr. Horton was married to Miss E. Delphine Sanor, daughter of Dr. J. H. Sanor, one of Canton's oldest physicians, and they have one daughter : Jane, aged thirteen years.
WILLIAM W. IRWIN. In the mind of every citizen of Canton the name of Irwin at once suggests the proud position which the city has attained among the centers of the iron and steel industries of the country, owing to the intimate connection of William W. Irwin, alike with the inception and the development of this important department of manufactures and commerce in the Middle West. Mr. Irwin may justifiably be called the pioneer iron manufacturer of Canton, as it was through his efforts and by him and his associates that the first iron manufactory was established in this city.
Mr. Irwin was born on a farm in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1861, a son of Thomas S. and Margaret (Caldwell) Irwin, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of just east of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The father was for many years a contractor and builder and now resides at Canton. retired, in his eighty-first year. William W. Irwin began his career in the iron business with Jennings, Beal & Company, at Leechburg, Pennsylvania, first in the office and later in the mill, a department in which he rapidly developed into an expert. In 1892 his firm sent him to Canton to make an adjustment of a shipment of iron which had been sold to the Canton Steel Roofing Company (now the Canton Art Metal Company), and after completing the business which had brought him to this city he was induced to look the ground over with a view as to the possible locating of a mill here. He met the different heads of the plants here, and finally was offered by the Board of Trade a donation of a six-acre factory site in the southwest end of the city. Upon his return to Leechburg, Mr. Irwin brought the project before his associate workers in the mill, and so successful was he that fifteen of his fellow-workmen determined to return with him to Canton and investigate. The result of this investigation was that the sixteen men dccided to build the mill. This committee was composed of the following: M. F. Taylor, Samuel Anderson, Elmer E.
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Cline, Daniel Townsend, John Kisler, Frank Kreitzer, George Wilson, Edward Birchfield, John Trew, Charles Truby, Edward Sobers, Elmer P. Hicks, Richard Jones, Alexander Wilson, J. C. Blair, and Mr. Irwin. They organized the company, built the first plant, and worked the mill as equal partners. The plant was first a two-sheet mill and later a five- sheet mill, and was known as the Canton Rolling Mill Company, of which Mr. Irwin was president for the first two years.
At the end of that period Mr. Irwin sold his interests and went to Dennison, Ohio, where, in company with Edward Langenbach, of Canton, and others, he built the Dennison Rolling Mill, Mr. Irwin being president of the company from 1897 until 1900. In the latter year the plant was sold to the steel trust and Mr. Irwin returned to Canton and took an interest in the Berger Manufacturing Company, buying out John Berger. In 1901 the Berger Manufacturing Company built the Stark Rolling Mill, of which Mr. Irwin became general superintendent, and during this period he was also instrumental in building the plants of the United Steel Company and the Carnahan Stamping and Enameling Company. In 1908 Mr. Irwin sold out his interests in the Berger Manufacturing Company and the Stark Rolling Mill, and, in company with his brother, Charles A. Irwin, and other associates, organized the Canton Sheet Steel Company, and built the large plant at the southwest end of the city, where they now employ upwards of 500 men. Mr. Irwin is president of the company. In 1903 there was not a sheet of iron made in Canton ; in 1914 there were made 175,000 tons of sheet and tin plate, an output which will be exceeeded in 1915. Mr. Irwin, from the commencement of his connection with the iron and steel industry, has kept in close touch with every branch of the enterprises of whose perfection his own establishment has been so high an exponent. His opinion is accepted by his associates in the trade as that of an expert, and the high esteem in which he is universally held has been frequently attested in conventions of the tradc, in which his far-seeing judgment and shrewd perceptions always command respect.
Mr. Irwin is also president of the Belden Brick Company, of Canton, and vice president of the Commercial Savings Bank. He is a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, of the Canton Club, of the Masons, and of the Elks.
CHARLES J. GULLING. Various occupations, farming, merchandising and the creamery business, have occupied the attention and activities of Charles J. Gulling since he entered upon his independent career. In each venture, his fine abilities and untiring industry have won him a full measure of success. For a number of years he was accounted one of the leading merchants of Harrisburg, until an accident caused him to dispose of his store; as the proprietor of a creamery, he has placed himself in an enviable position among the business men of this locality, while as a farmer he has always been acknowledged as a leader, at one time being the largest onion grower in this part of the state.
Mr. Gulling was born on his father's farm, three miles east of Harrisburg, in Nimishillen Township, Stark County, Ohio, April 4, 1867,
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this property having been taken up from the United States Government in 1832 by his grandfather, Adam Gulling, who was a native of Alsace, France. The grandfather, on coming to this country, was met at Cleveland, Ohio, by Judge Seraphim Meyers, of Canton, who was at that time a boy. The father of Charles J. Gulling was Morris Gulling, who was nine years old when he came to Stark County with his parents. He farmed on the old homestead, which he subsequently purchased, and continued to hold and cultivate it until his death, about 1900, after which the homestead was sold by his heirs. Morris Gulling married Johanna Kunneman, who was born in Alsace, France, and came to Canton, Ohio, with her parents when she was nineteen years old. She died in 1896, in the faith of the Catholic Church, of which Mr. Gulling was also a member.
Charles J. Gulling remained on the home farm until he was twenty- four years old, at which time he was married. He had commenced working as a carpenter when he was twenty-one years of age, and after his marriage taught school for two years, following which he purchased a farm which he operated for a like period. In the fall of 1894 he moved to the Village of Harrisburg and engaged in general merchandising and at the same time carried on farming, specializing in the growing of onions, a department in which he became one of the leading farmers in the state, in one year growing a crop that netted him $2,000. In 1912 Mr. Gulling purchased the Harrisburg Creamery, now known as the Gulling Creamery, which he still operates, handling about 6,000 pounds of milk daily, although he has handled as much as 12,000 pcunds, his product being shipped to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. On November 12, 1914, Mr. Gulling was so unfortunate as to be in a railroad accident at Louisville, in which he received injuries that impaired his memory and eyesight to such an extent that he decided to sell his store. After disposing of this enterprise, which under his capable management had grown to large proportions, lre bought a farm of eighty-one acres, in Nimishillen Township, and subsequently added to his holdings by buying another property of sixty-one acres, in the same township. He now gives his entire attention to the operation of his creamery and farms. In 1915 Mr. Gulling remodeled his residence, which is now one of the finest in the community, a two-story brick structure, with fourteen rooms, modern in every particular, with all the latest improvements, including bath, etc. His creamery buildings are commodious and substantial, built to accord with sanitary regulations, and equipped with the most up-to- date appliances.
While Mr. Gulling has been busily engaged with his own interests, he has found time to devote to civic matters, and to his efforts may be traced in large degree the many improvements in roads and schools in his locality. Always a friend of education, for eighteen years he has been a member of the school board, of which during this time he has been president for six years and clerk three years. With William Snyder, he advocated the erection of the new Harrisburg High School, fighting the project through to a successful issue in the courts, and the community has these two gentlemen to thank for the acquisition
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of this handsome structure. They were also the ones who pushed through the project for the building of the brick highway from Canton to Alliance.
In 1891 Mr. Gulling was married to Miss Rosa Monter, who was born in Nimishillen Township, Stark County, Ohio, daughter of Louis and Louisa (Moulin) Monter, the former of whom served four years as a Union soldier during the Civil war. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gulling : Morris, who is associated with his fathcr in the operation of the creamery business ; Florence, who resides at home and is engaged in teaching school; Albert, also a school teacher ; Marvin, who is likewise engaged in educational work ; Agnes, who is preparing to become a teacher ; and Paul and Vincent, who are attending the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Gulling also have an adopted daughter, Esther.
Mr. Gulling is a member of the St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Harrisburg, of which he has been for years councilman and treasurer. He and his three eldest sons are members of Louisville branch of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association.
WILLIAM DAVID CALDWELL. An honor fitly bestowed, and in promotion of a private citizen to a public office where his broad experience as a business man furnishes every assurance of efficient and competent service, was the naming of William D. Caldwell to the office of postmaster at Canton in 1914. Mr. Caldwell is a Canton merchant who by sheer force of ability, industrious attention to detail which began when he was a boy and a splendid integrity, has built up and for many years conducted one of the most important department stores in that city.
Born at Canton, January 20, 1863, he is a son of Matthew and Mary (Browne) Caldwell. Both his parents were born in Ireland. His father, who was born in Dublin in 1826 and learned the trades of shoemaker and tailor there, came to the United States in 1849, along with that great wave of immigration which brought so many sterling citizens of Erin to the New World. After one year in Troy, New York, he came to Canton, and worked as a journeyman at his trade until 1872. He then engaged in business for himself, and with a custom derived from the best people of the city continued to prosper for many years. He is now living retired, but his old shop on Court Avenue South is one of the interesting landmarks in the business district. His wife died a number of years ago, and of their six children the three now living are Katie, William D., and Anna, the last Mrs. Louis French of Los Angeles, California.
When William David Caldwell was about ten years of age the family removed to Cleveland, which city was their home for about fourteen months. It was during that period that young Caldwell, who in the meantime had learned the fundamentals of school work, began his real business career. He was employed as a cash boy in the old dry goods store of Taylor & Kilpatrick, now the William Taylor Son & Company. After the family returned to Canton he made his Cleveland experience the basis of recommendation for a similar position with John B. Ink, a prominent dry goods merchant. Subsequently he became identified with
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 649
the dry goods house of Goldberg Brothers, and continued with that one firm for a period of seventeen years. He rose from one grade of responsibility to another, and finally, when Goldberg Brothers moved their business to the City of Detroit, Mr. Caldwell went along, and remained one year with the firm in Detroit. Returning to Canton, in 1893, he opened up a department store on South Market Street, just south of the Isaac Harter & Sons Bank. The name of the business was W. D. Caldwell & Company. In 1895 he removed his store to the Dannemiller Block, at the corner of North Market and Second streets. There for twenty years the Caldwell store has stood as one of the most popular trading centers and one of the largest department stores in Stark County. Into the making of this store the personal experience, ability and integrity of Mr. Caldwell has entered so intimately that its success can be properly regarded as a monument to his industry and business judgment.
It was in 1914 that Mr. Caldwell was commissioned postmaster at Canton under the Wilson administration. He has always been a democrat, and has combined with party support a strong influence as a citizen working steadily for the benefit of his home community. Mr. Caldwell is a member of St. John's Catholic Church, belongs to the Knights of Columbus, the Lakeside Country Club and the Canton Chamber of Commerce.
July 27, 1886, he married Miss Olivia Ellison. She was born at Webster, Taylor County, West Virginia, a daughter of the late Robert S. and Sarah H. (Cool) Ellison, and her parents were born at Phillippi, which at that time was in the State of Virginia, now West Virginia. Mr. Ellison subsequently brought his family to Atwater, Ohio, after the Civil war, and finally to Canton. Mrs. Caldwell is of old American stock, and is a charter member of Commodore Perry Chapter of the National Society U. S. D., 1812.
EMIL J. KAUFFMANN. A resident of his native City of Canton, Mr. Kauffmann is here conducting a substantial and representative general insurance business, is known as a progressive and public-spirited citizen, and is chief deputy for the Stark County board of deputy state supervisors and inspectors of elections, an incumbency that indicates his lively interest in political affairs and in the conserving of correct governmental policies.
Emil Joseph Kauffmann was born in Canton on the 13th of November, 1875, and is a son of Joseph and Margaret (Hadorn) Kauffmann, the former of whom was born in the now divested Province of Alsace, Germany, which was at that time still a part of the French territory, and his wife having been born in Switzerland. Joseph Kauffmann was reared and educated in his native land and came to the United States in 1871, his wife having come the preceding year and their marriage having been solemnized in the City of Canton, Ohio, where Mr. Kauffmann first established his residence. He soon came to Canton, and here he was for many years a prosperous and representative merchant. Both he and his wife still reside in Canton, and he has retired from active business. Mrs. Kauffmann is a daughter of the late Jacob Hadorn, who