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One Hundred and Seventh Regiment followed it until it reached Cumbahe Ferry, where they razed a Baptist Church and with the lumber rebuilt a bridge over Cumbahe River which had been destroyed by the enemy. The One Hundred and Seventh was among the first troops to march into Charleston from the land side. From Charleston the regiment was ordered to Georgetown, South Carolina, and soon afterward took part in what is known as the Camden Expedition for the purpose of destroying Confederate government railroads, stores and supplies, instructions which they effectually carried out. On returning to Georgetown hostilities formally ceased between the armies of the North and South, though this regiment was not informed of that condition until the information was brought by Confederate officers under a flag of truce. For a time the One Hundred and Seventh was stationed at Charleston, and there on July 13, 1865, it was mustered out with the exception of about 150 recruits, who were then transferred to the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer infantry, also a veteran regiment, then stationed at Columbia, South Carolina. One of these transferred recruits was Alfred Garner, who became a member of Company I. Later the Twenty-fifth was ordered to Summerville near Charleston, where they embarked for the return North. They arrived at Columbus, Ohio, June 1, 1866, and were mustered out and given honorable discharge June 18, 1866. The Twenty-fifth was the last volunteer regiment of Ohio to return home. About a dozen of its soldiers were among the last of the volunteers to return to Stark County, and Alfred Garner has the distinction of being the last soldier who came home from the war to Nimishillen Township.
Even then Mr. Garner had not celebrated his twentieth birthday. For the life and hardships of the soldier he substituted the routine of the farm, and in 1869 was married and set up a home of his own on a farm in Nimishillen Township. He lived there until 1874, and since that year has been • a resident of Canton. For nearly nineteen years . Mr. Garner was in the employ of the C. Aultman & Company, five of these years as foreman in the wood department. Afterwards for seven years he was with the N. 0. T. Company at Canton.
In recent years much of his time has been devoted to church affairs, and he served as assistant to the Rev. 0. B. Milligan, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Canton. In January, 1907, he was appointed by the Board of County Commissioners as chaplain for Stark County institutions, including the county infirmary, the county workhouse and county jail, a position which he has now held for more than eight years.
In 1879 Mr. Garner became a member of Canton Post, G. A. R., and later was instrumental in the consolidation of the George D. Harter Post with the William McKinley Post. He has served three times as commander of the William McKinley Post, and is one of the best known of the surviving veterans of that great host which brought triumph to the Union cause during the dark days of the Civil war. He is also a member of the Army and Navy Union, and an honorary members of the Spanish-American War Veterans Association. Fraternally he is affiliated with Canton Lodge, No. 60, A. F. & A. M. He was a member of the
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McKinley Mounted Troop during the memorable presidential campaign of 1896.
His marriage in 1869 brought him as a wife Celinda Schlott, daughter of John Schlott, who was a pioneer in Nimishillen Township of this county.
Calvin Luther Garner, the only son of Alfred Garner, was born August 23, 1870. He was educated in the Canton city schools, graduated from Commercial College and in 1889 entered the employ of the City National Bank. The directors of this institution subsequently transferred him to the Peoples Bank, in which he was later made cashier. When that bank was sold to the City National he became teller, and with admirable efficiency and fidelity continued his work as a banking officer until his death on September 5, 1913. He married Sallie Patterson, daughter of John Patterson of Canton. To their union were born two children, Alfred Calvin, who died on New Year's Day in 1915 ; and Ruth Evaline, who is now living with her mother in Canton.
JULIUS THURIN. For many years the little City of Louisville has counted among its largest. and most important business assets the family of Thurin. The late Julius Thurin worked out a broad and successful career at Louisville, was one of the early merchants and deserves to be remembered as the founder of the firm of Julius Thurin Sons, which until his death was the chief emporium for the handling of dry goods and carpets and was known as "the pioneer store." It has since been developed under the management of his sons into the first department store of Louisville and one of the largest concerns of its kind in Stark County.
Julius Thurin was born in 1839 in what is now known as "the lost province of France," Alsace. He came to America by himself when a boy of fifteen, poor and comparatively friendless. Coming direct. to Stark County, he located among some of his French friends at Louisville, and there learned the blacksmithing trade and followed that sturdy calling until 1861.
One of the most creditable chapters of his life was his service in the Union Army. He volunteered at President Lincoln's first call for troops in the spring of 1861, and went out with the Fourth Ohio, a three months' regiment. At the expiration of that enlistment he veteranized and offered his services for three years or until the end of the war. He did all the duties required of a good soldier, and among the incidents of the many campaigns in which he participated was the wounds he received in the battle of Gettysburg.
On returning home to Stark County after the war he gave up his trade and began learning the merchandise business as clerk in a Canton store, followed by similar employment. at Alliance. The business which has now for so many years been associated with his name was started in 1876, with a small stock of dry goods. He already possessed considerable experience and had an unlimited supply of energy and commercial enterprise to promote his undertaking to a large and important success. His trade grew rapidly, and in 1900 he took in as a partner his son George A., causing a change of title to Julius Thurin
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& Son. Some years later another son, M. L. Thurin, began to assume some of the responsibilities, and at that time the change of title was made to Julius Thurin Sons, in which form it remains to the present day.
Julius Thurin came to the end of his business career and his mortal life in 1913. After his death the store was reorganized as Louisville's first department store, and it is now a credit not only to the city but to the entire county. The late Mr. Thurin was an active member of St. Louis Parish of the Catholic Church, and his name carried with it influential associations in business, church and all other affairs.
Mr. Thurin married Mary Devinnie, a native of the United States, who died in 1890. The seven children of their union were: Elizabeth, Amelia, Corinna, Charles, George A., Frances and Stella. The daughter Elizabeth is the wife of C. L. Bonnat, who is president of the Bonnat Manufacturing Company at Canton but lives in Louisville. The son Charles is married and lives at Denver, Colorado. Frances is the wife of Charles Montgomery, a Louisville merchant. The daughters Amelia and Corinna both live at Louisville, and Stella is a Catholic sister at Cleveland.
George A. Thurin, who is now the chief member of the firm Julius Thurin Sons, was born at Canton, Ohio, September 20, 1876, was educated in the parochial and high schools of Louisville, and in 1895 graduated from the Notre Dame University, at South Bend, Indiana. His business experience began as a clerk under his father, and five years later, in 1900, he acquired a partnership, and is now the active manager of the firm. He is also vice president of the United Garment Company of Louisville. In 1898 George A. Thurin served in Company L of the Eighth Ohio Regiment during the Spanish-American war, and was on duty in Cuba. He belongs to St. Louis parish of the Catholic Church, to the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. By his marriage to Rose Yeager, of Cincinnati, he has a daughter, Mary Ellen.
The late Julius Thurin married for his second wife Josephine Granage. Mrs. Thurin is still living at Louisville and is a member of the Julius Thurin Sons. There were three children by the second marriage. Marion L., who was born in Louisville, was educated in the parochial schools, and as a boy began clerking in his father's store, from which he rose to a partnership, and is now junior member of the firm. He is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, and by his marriage to Viola Maudru, of Maximo, Ohio, has a son Richard. Basil A., the second child, was formerly with the Chicago branch of the Goodrich Tire Company, but is now secretary and treasurer and a director of the United Garment Company at Louisville, and is the traveling salesman of this recently established and flourishing factory at Louisville. The youngest child, Veronica, is a Catholic sister at Cleveland.
HERBERT J. WRIGHT. There are few men more closely connected with the growth and development of a city than those who have to do with its building interests, for the extent of their business is an index of its
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 703
growth. Prominent among men of this class is Herbert J. Wright, general contractor and builder, of Canton, Ohio, who is numbered among the prosperous citizens of this thriving burg. Mr. Wright was born on a farm in Pierpont Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio, December 18, 1857, the son of Thaddeus and Lydia (Holcomb) Wright. The paternal grandfather, Ewins Wright, was a native of Connecticut and a pioneer of the old Western Reserve, settling in Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1801. Born in 1767, he died in 1831 in Pierpont Township, Ashtabula County, having removed to that location in 1811. The maiden name of his wife was Speedy Rice.
Thaddeus Wright was reared on his parents' farm in Ashtabula County, subsequently became the owner of it, and died there July 10, 1873. He was a prominent man in the community, serving as justice of the peace and tax collector. He was twice married: first to Mary Ann Fairbrothers, by whom he had two daughters, Celestia and Jane, both of whom are now deceased. On January 18, 1854, he married Mrs. Lydia (Holcomb) Colson, at Penn Line, Pennsylvania, just across the line from Pierpont Township. She was the daughter of Jabez and Nancy (Fish) Holcomb, who were born, reared and married in Hartford, Connecticut, and who came west to Penn Line, Pennsylvania, in 1820, where Mr. Holcomb was the first postmaster, serving as such for thirty years. He died February 28, 1882, at the age of eighty-two. His wife survived him a few months, passing away September 6, 1882, at the age of ninety. They were worthy, industrious people, consistent members of the Methodist Church.
Herbert J. Wright resided on his parents' farm until he was sixteen years of age, attending school at Pierpont and Garretsville, to which latter place, located in Portage County, his widowed mother then removed. Two years later, however, the mother returned to the old' farm. When twenty years of age Mr. Wright went to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed in Grand Rapids for about five years. He then took up his residence in Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio, where, in company with H. L. Havens, he was engaged. in business under the firm name of Wright & Havens, they having a mill and lumber yard. This connection lasted for about tell years, at the end of which time Mr. Wright bought out his partner's interest and carried on the business alone for two years, when he sold out. He then started a department store in Conneaut, which he sold, after operating it for four years. For about two years subsequently he was engaged in building the new shops of the Nickel Plate Railroad at Conneaut, and then, in 1906, he came to Canton, where he engaged in general contracting. He makes a specialty of building residences and is doing a large and prosperous business. He is a member of the Califon Builders' Exchange and the Canton Chamber of Commerce, while his secret society affiliations are with the Masons, in which he has advanced as far as the Commandery, the Royal Arcanum and the Scottish Rite.
Herbert J. Wright was married, in 1876, to Dalia. Baker, who was horn in Pierpont, Ashtabula County, the daughter of Newell and Harriet Baker. Her father died while serving as a soldier in the Civil war.
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Mr. and Mrs. Wright are the parents of five children, whose records in brief are as follows : Karge E., born in Hudsonville, Michigan, April 18, 1878, is now manager of the real estate department of the Leonard Real Estate Agency of Canton. He was married, June 21, 1898, to Harriet Avon Press, and they have four children, namely : Evalyn Gwendoline, born in East Conneaut, Ohio, March 14, 1900; Elwyn Press, born December 6, 1901; Frances G., born in Amboy, Ohio, November 24, 1903 ; and Jeane Lucile, born in Canton, .Ohio, June 12, 1914. Bessie Adele Wright, born at Hudsonville, Michigan, November 23, 1879, is residing at home with her parents. Fred Wendell Wright, born at Conneaut, Ohio, June 10, 1886, is engaged in the tailoring business on his own account in Canton. He was married, July 1, 1904, to Nellie Hand, of Conneaut, Ohio, and their children are : Esther Louise, born May 28, 1906 ; Dorothy Elizabeth, born April, 1908, Fred W., Jr., born in 1911, and Wendell, who died February 7, 1910, aged nine months and twenty-nine days. Esther Grace Wright, born in Conneaut, Ohio, May 11, 1890, married Wilbur F. Strock, M. D., of Warren, Ohio. Harold Julius Wright, born in Conneaut, April 15, 1893, is in the employ of the Leonard Real Estate Agency. Mr. Wright and his family are members of the First Christian Church of Canton, of winch city they are among the substantial and highly esteemed residents.
CLARENCE ANDREW FISHER. One of the well known younger members of the Stark County Bar, Clarence Andrew Fisher conies from an old and prominent family of Steubenville, has been a member of the Ohio bar for ten years and a greater part of that time has been spent in practice at Canton. Mr. Fisher is the head of the firm of Fisher & McCuskey with offices in the George D. Harter Bank Building. On January 1, 1914, Mr. Fisher took np his duties as city prosecutor of Canton, an office he still holds.
Clarence Andrew Fisher was born in Steubenville, Ohio, September 17, 1882. His father was the late Dr. Benjamin H. Fisher, a prominent physician and surgeon of Steubenville. Doctor Fisher was born near Steubenville of an old Jefferson County family, February 21, 1839, a son of John and Jane (Hart) Fisher. He received his education in the public schools and read medicine under Dr. Benjamin Tappan, a prominent member of the medical fraternity in Steubenville in the early days. In 1862 Doctor Fisher entered a medical college of Cincinnati, was graduated M. D. in 1864, and in May of that year enlisted in the Union army and was appointed assistant surgeon. His enlistment was with Company D of the Fifty-Seventh Ohio Infantry. He served until honorably discharged after the close of the war, and then took up the practice of medicine in Steubenville with Doctor Tappan, his former preceptor. Three years later Doctor Fisher engaged in individual practice, and became One of the leading and best known physicians and citizens of Steubenville. He was a member of the Jefferson County Medical Society, and the American Medical Association, was affiliated with Stanton Post of the Grand Army, and belonged to the Royal Arcanum and his church was the Methodist. Doctor Fisher died November 13, 1906. He was married November 30, 1865, to Elizabeth Rittenhouse of
PICTURE OF CLARENCE ANDREW FISHER
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 705
Hopedale, .Jefferson County. She was born June 21, 1842, and died November 21, 1906, the same month and year as her husband. Mr. Fisher of Canton has a brother and sister. The brother is Benjamin F. Fisher, who is president of the Ohio Lubricant Company at Loudonville, Ohio. The brothers are both men of literary taste and achievement, and have collaborated in literary production for some time, there having been recently published a volume of poems from their joint authorship under the title of "Life's Harmonies." The sister is Jennie, wife of Rev. William H. Hedges, a minister of the Christian Church at Petoskey, Michigan.
Clarence Andrew Fisher acquired his early education in Steubenville, attending the grammar and high schools and graduating from the latter in 1900. His collegiate work was done in the Normal College at Rochester, Indiana, after which he entered the law department of the Ohio State University, was a student there one year, and finished his course in the law department of the University of Michigan, where he graduated LL. B. in the class of 1904. In the same year he was admitted to both the Michigan and Ohio bars, and began practice at Steubenville. A short time later he removed to Canton, and for several years was in individual practice and in 1908 formed the firm of Fisher & McCuskey, which now control a large and prosperous business. Mr. Fisher is a member of the Stark County Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and fraternal affiliations are with Canton Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Canton Lodge of Elks and Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
On December 3, 1906, Mr. Fisher married Alice Rogers, daughter of Fred W. Rogers, of Owosso, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Canton..
ROSCOE G. WITTERS. Technical ability, progressive policies and steadfast integrity have been brought to bear in giving to Mr. Witters his present secure vantage-ground as one of the representative contractors and builders in the City of Canton, and he controls a large and successful business in his chosen field of endeavor, besides being known as one of the liberal and public spirited citizens of the Stark County metropolis. He is a young man of distinctive initiative and executive ability and has been unflagging in his application to business, so that he has made of success not an accident but a logical result, as pertinent to this publication his advancement being the more gratifying to note by reason of his being a native of Stark County, to which his loyalty and allegiance are unfaltering.
At Greentown, this county, Mr. Witters was born on the 21st of July, 1881, and he is a son of Samuel D. and Charlotte (Stauffer) Witters. Samuel I). Witters was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1844. and his wife was born in Stark County, Ohio, in 1846, a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of the county, where her marriage to Mr. Witters was solemnized in 1870. Samuel D. Witters was reared and educated in the old Keystone State, where also he learned the trade of shoemaker, to which he there gave his attention until 1868, when, as a young man of about twenty-four years, he came to Ohio and established his residence in Stark County, where he continued in the
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work of his trade for many years, he and his wife now maintaining their home at Uniontown, this county, where he is living virtually retired.
Roscoe G. Witters was eight years of age at the time of the family removal from his native place to Uniontown, and in the latter village he duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools, after completing the curriculum of which he fortified himself for practical responsibilities by taking a course in the Akron Business College, an excellent institution in the fine little city that is the judicial center of Summit County.
In 1900 Mr. Witters assumed a position in the wholesale department of the Canton Hardware Company, but in September of that year he severed this association and entered the employ of the Bechtel Lumber Company. Thereafter he was for a time in the employ of Cyrus Bostic and John Kreitzer, both successful contractors and builders in Canton, and finally he re-entered the service of the Bechtel Lumber Company, his incidental experience in these various connections having given him excellent knowledge of the lumber and building enterprises. In the autumn of 1906 Mr. Witters went to the City of Spokane, Washington, to assume charge of the business of the firm of Montgomery & DeLong, contractors and builders. There he remained until the 1st of June of the following year, when he returned to Canton, the impelling motive having been that here he was to assume at this time connubial responsibilities. It was his intention to return to Spokane as soon as possible after his marriage, and he was there to have become one of the interested principals of the firm by which he had previously been employed. However, the panic of that year brought much business depression to Spokane, in common with other sections of the Union, and the firm by Which he had been employed advised him to delay his plans, under which conditions he found it expedient to remain in Canton, a decision that he has since had no cause to regret. Here he soon engaged in contracting in an independent way, his first work in this line having been in the erection of a house for his father, this property having been sold as soon as the building was completed. From this initiation Mr. Witters has found his well ordered endeavors as a contractor attended with cumulative success and prestige, and he has developed a substantial and successful enterprise, in connection with which he has effectively handled many important contracts, his business at the present time being more extensive and representative than that of any other one independent contractor in Canton. Among the noteworthy buildings that have been erected by Mr. Witters may be mentioned the Ford Garage, on South Market Street, completed in the spring of 1915; the Lippert Building, on West Tuscarawas Street; the Holliwell Block, on South Market Street ; the Holliwell apartment building on North Cleveland Avenue ; the business block of the National Engraving Company ; the Baptist parsonage, on West Tuscarawas Street; the United Evangelical Church on Navarre Avenue; and at least 150 other excellent modern buildings in the Stark County metropolis, the month of April, 1915, having found him actively engaged in the erection of nine different buildings, including a large
brick block for Doctor Crane. Mr. Witters has given special attention
to the erection of modern bungalows, a number of which have largely
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been designed by him, and in this special field he has achieved high reputation. He was contractor in the erection of the fine Holliwell bungalows on the New Berlin Road, near Canton ; the bungalow residence of Judge Bond, at Homewood, one of the attractive suburbs of Canton ; and many other specimens of this effective type of architecture stand in evidence of his skill and effective interposition. Mr. Witters is a member of the Canton Builders' Exchange and the local Contractors' Association, is held in high esteem as one of the progressive business men of his native county and takes a lively interest in all that tends to advance the civic and material prosperity of his home city. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church of Canton.
On the 20th of June, 1907, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Witters to Miss Laura L. Bowman, who was born on the homestead farm of her father, a short distance east of the Village of Waco, this county, and who is a daughter of Charles C. and Margaret (Troutner) Bowman, both likewise natives of Stark County, where the respective families were founded in the pioneer days. Mr. and Mrs. Witters have one child, Dorothy J., who was born on the 13th of July, 1912.
JAMES FRAUNFELTER, M. D. In his qualifications and attainments Doctor Fraunfelter stands in the front rank of Stark County physicians and surgeons. He has been identified with the medical profession of Stark County forty-three years, with thirty-five years of practice in the City of Canton. Judged by every recognized standard, he is an eminently successful physician. He has frequently been honored by the organizations of his fellow practitioners, and his services deserve special mention in connection with the Aultman Hospital at Canton, with which he has been officially and professionally identified since its organization. Doctor Fraunfelter is also a Canton banker and both in and out of his profession has made himself a factor in affairs of general benefit to the community.
James Fraunfelter was born June 6, 1846, in Ashland County, then a part of Richland County, Ohio, a son of John and Elizabeth (Reaser) Fraunfelter. The family originated in Switzerland, and the City of Frownfeld in that republic was named after his ancestors. The doctor's paternal grandfather came from Switzerland to America and settled in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. John Fraunfelter, his father, moved to Ohio from Pennsylvania in 1846, only a few months before the birth of his son. He bought a farm located midway between Ashland, the present county seat of Ashland County, and Rowsburg, though at that time Richland County included both Ashland and Rowsburg. The farm was located alongside of one of the main traveled roads, now Lincoln Highway, and had upon it a building long used as a tavern. On buying the farm he had no intention of continuing the operation of the public house. but owing to the insistent demands of the traveling public who had so long found accommodations there he decided it was advisable to keep up the inn and did so for a number of years. His death came in 1870, when he was killed by a falling tree. At that time he was in his seventy- first year, and his wife had passed away in 1865 in her sixty-eighth year.
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To their union were born eleven children, eight of them in Pennsylvania and three in Ohio, and five are still alive, one of the daughters being now in her eighty-sixth year.
Doctor Fraunfelter grew up in Ashland County, lived on the farm, and some of his earliest memories are associated with the old tavern kept by his father on the now Lincoln Highway. He attended the district schools until eighteen, and then secured a certificate and taught school during the winters in order to earn money for his higher education. During the summer vacations of his work as a teacher he attended the Vermillion Institute of Hayesville, Ohio, and the Savannah Academy at Savannah in this state. For three years he carried on his reading of medicine in the office of an Ashland physician, spent one year in the Cincinnati Medical and Surgical College, and from that entered the Long Island College Hospital at Brooklyn, where he was graduated M. D. in 1871. He received a similar degree in the year 1872 from the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia.
In 1872 Doctor Fraunfelter began practicing medicine at Canal Fulton in Stark County. From 1876 to 1881 he was associated in practice with Dr. A. B. Campbell, now of Orrville, Ohio, and besides looking after their private practice they also conducted a drug store in Canal Fulton. During a part of that time Doctor Fraunfelter was local surgeon for the Tuscarawas Valley Railway. Since 1881 Doctor Fraunfelter has had his home and office in Canton and is now one of the oldest as well as the most prominent medical men of the city.
Doctor Fraunfelter was a member of the first board of trustees of Aultman Hospital, and has held the chair of consulting gynecologist to that institution since it was organized, and in many other ways has been closely identified with its service as one of the important institutions of Stark County. His colleagues in medicine have always recognized his high standing and have given him frequent honors. He has served as president of the Canton Medical Society and of the Stark County Medical Society, is a member of the Ohio State Medical Association, of the American Medical Association, etc., and is an ex-president of the Union Medical Society of the Sixth District of Ohio. As a citizen his influence has always been steadily directed toward local improvement and betterment, and particularly along the lines of public health. He is a member and has been identified with the practical work of the board of trade since its organization, and also with the Business Men's Association, and is one of the most active workers of the Chamber of Commerce of which he is a trustee and director. Doctor Fraunfelter is a charter member of the Congress Lake Club, and was active in securing the purchase of the club grounds from the Government. He was one of the organizers of the Commercial & Savings Bank of Canton, has been a member of its board of directors since organization, and in 1913 was elected president of the bank. He is also a director in the Canton Sheet Steel Company, and has interests in other Canton industries.
In June, 1872. Doctor Fraunfelter married Kate R. Roseberry, of Ashland, Ohio, who belongs to an old English family, one conspicuous member of which is Earl Roseberry, a former premier of England.
Clare E. Fraunfelter, M. D., the only son and child of Dr. James
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Fraunfelter, is a prominent physician and is associated with his father in the profession. He was born in Canal Fulton, was educated in the public schools, spent two years in the Preparatory School at East Hampton, Massachusetts, from which he entered Harvard University and was graduated and given the degree of Bachelor of Arts with the Class of 1900. His preparatory work in medicine was done at the University of Chicago, from which he was given the degree of Bachelor of Science, and he finished in the affiliated Rush Medical College with the degree Doctor of Medicine. He later took special work in the New York City Children's Hospital, and has largely specialized in diseases of children and obstetrics. He is now visiting physician in diseases of children to the Aultman Hospital, and belongs to the various medical societies, is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Congress Lake Club, and the Masonic Order. Dr. Clare Fraunfelter married Julia A. Hurxthall, daughter of Frederick Hurxthall of Canton. Their two sons are named John Frederick and John Hurxthall Fraunfelter.
HENRY H. TIMKEN. As president of the Timken Roller Bearing Company, of Canton, Ohio, and vice president of the Timken-Detroit Axle Company, Detroit, Michigan, Henry H. Timken, one of the enterprising manufacturers of Canton, is connected with industries whose products are distributed over many states in the Union.
Henry H. Timken was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1868, son of the late Henry Timken, who made a name and reputation not less than national as an inventor and manufacturer.
Henry H. Timken grew up in St. Louis and finished his literary education at the Washington University in St. Louis, and then took a legal course in the law department of the University of California. After practicing law for a year or two, he turned his attention to the manufacturing business and has been so engaged ever since, in connection with his brother W. R. Timken.
Henry H. Timken is the owner of the Canton Daily News and a member of various clubs in Canton, New York City, Detroit and San Diego, California.
ISAIAH J. BAYLOR. Among the comparative newcomers in the community of Louisville, Isaiah. T. Baylor has made himself a factor in local affairs for more than five years as proprietor of the Louisville Marble and Granite Works. Mr. Baylor is an experienced man in this business, and besides conducting a substantial industry he is usually found as a willing factor in all public-spirited movements. He is a native son of Northern Ohio, and has excellent family stock behind him.
Isaiah J. Baylor was born July 8, 1870, a son of Noah and Abby (Leiby) Baylor. The Baylor family has lived for several generations in Pennsylvania, where the name is chiefly associated with the limestone industry. Noah Baylor was born in Pennsylvania in 1836, and after his youth was spent and his education acquired he moved to Norton Township, in Summit County. Ohio, where he became a practical farmer and lived in close touch with the soil until his death in
Vol. II -21
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1900. He was the father of five children, all sons, named Norman, Milton, John, Isaiah and Harvey, all of them still living except one.
Isaiah Baylor's birthplace was the old homestead in Norton Township in Summit County. While a boy he attended district schools, and developed his physique by labor to the limits of his ability on the farm. He continued to assist his father in farming until the age of twenty- three, and then went to Akron and served a thorough apprenticeship in the marble and granite cutting trade. He worked as an apprentice and journeyman in this business for seven years. At the age of thirty he started a marble shop of his own at Ravenna and was in business at that point until 1907. In 1909 he came to Louisville and established the Louisville Marble and Granite Works, and has built up a flourishing concern, employing a number of men, representing considerable capital invested, and with a patronage which comes from several counties.
Mr. Baylor married Miss Eugenia Koppelberger in 1899. She is a daughter of William and Elmina Koppelberger, her father a contractor and builder. Mr. Baylor's family attends the Disciples Church, while he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in politics is an independent voter.
ADAM W. OBERLIN. In 1914 Mr. Oberlin completed his second consecutive term of efficient service in the office of sheriff of Stark County, and further evidence of the popular appreciation of his ability, integrity and civic loyalty was given when, in the republican primaries of the same year he was made nominee for representative of Stark County in the State Legislature, to which he was elected in November, 1914, by a gratifying majority. Few of the native sons of this county are better known within its borders than Mr. Oberlin, and none has more secure place in popular confidence and esteem.
Mr. Oberlin was born on a farm in Plain Township, this county, on the 13th of May, 1859, and is a son of John and Nancy (Wenger) Oberlin, both of whom were born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania,— a section that has given a most numerous and valuable contribution to the population of Stark County, Ohio. The original representative of the Oberlin family in America immigrated from Germany to this country prior to the War of the Revolution and established his residence in Pennsylvania. His son Michael, great-grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1751, and his patriotism and loyalty were significantly manifested by his service as a soldier in the Continental Line in the War tof the Revolution, in which he had the distinction of being a member of the body guard of General Washington. John Oberlin, son of Michael, well upheld the patriotic prestige of the family name, by serving as a valiant soldier in the War of 1812, he likewise having been a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in which state he passed his entire life. His son John, father of Adam W., came from Pennsylvania to Stark County, Ohio, in 1836, in company with one of his brothers, and they made the entire overland journey on foot, as did they also the return trip to their native state. In 1839 John Oberlin again came to this county. and by
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 711
this time his journey having been less arduous, as he was enabled to avail himself of the transportation advantages of the old canal, which had been completed in the interim. He finally returned to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the primary object of his visit may be understood when it is stated that soon afterward his marriage to Miss Nancy Wenger was there solemnized. In 1852 he came with his wife to Stark County and established his home on a farm in Plain Township. He was one of the pioneer settlers of that township and there reclaimed a productive farm from a virtual wilderness. He was one of the sturdy, upright and ambitious agriculturists and honored citizens of the county, and he continued to reside on his fine old homestead place until his death, in 1889, at the age of seventy-six years. His widow long survived him and was eighty-three years of age when she was summoned to the life eternal, in 1902.
Adam W. Oberlin was reared to maturity under the conditions and influences of the home farm, which is still in the possession of the family and in which he himself retains an interest, and after availing himself duly of the advantages of the district schools he continued his studies in the Avery Academy, at Canton, an institution that is now extinct, and in the select school then conducted by Professor Worley. Later he completed an effective course in the Spencerian Business College in the City of Cleveland.
After his marriage Mr. Oberlin engaged in independent operations as a farmer and stock-grower in Plain Township, and finally he removed to the State of Texas, where he followed the same basic lines of industrial enterprise for six years. He then returned to his native county and resumed his farming operations in Plain Township. There he served as a member of the school board and also in the office of township trustee. In January, 1906, Mr. Oberlin received appointment to the position of deputy sheriff of the county, and in this capacity he served five years. In 1910 he was elected county sheriff, and his zealous and able administration resulted in his re-election in 1912. During his two terms he was indefatigable in his efforts to protect the interests of the people of the county and to conserve law and order within its borders, his admirable record having given him a commendatory popularity that had marked bearing in bringing to him the nomination for representative of his native county in the State Legislature, to which he was elected in the fall of 1914 and in which he is sure to give excellent account of himself. Mr. Oberlin has been a stalwart in local camp of the republican party and has not been deflected from his allegiance by the political defections of recent years. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and he and his wife are zealous communicants of the Trinity Reformed Church of Canton, Ohio.
The year 1878 recorded the marriage of Mr. Oberlin to Miss Marietta Gans, who was born in Lake Township, this county, and whose father, Benjamin Gans, was the first male white child horn in Stark County. He was a son of John Gans, a Brethren preacher who came to Ohio in the pioneer days, from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and who settled near Harrisburg. Stark County. the site of the present City of Canton, having been at that time virtually marked by the untrammeled wilder-
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ness. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Oberlin.
John Frederick, who was graduated in both the academic and law departments of Western Reserve University, is now engaged in practice as a patent attorney in the City of Cleveland. Gertrude is the wife of Elwyn C. Roberts and they reside in the City of Akron, Summit County. Harold Vincent was graduated in the Western Reserve University and is now holding a responsible position in the City of Akron. Benjamin Gans is a member of the Class of 1915 in the Western Reserve University, and Edith is a student in the Canton High School.
EDMUND HERRMANN. As one of the leading architects in Northeastern Ohio, Edmund Herrman' experience in the practical activities of his profession began in Germany, where he was educated in one of the technical schools, and for a number of years he was an architect in the employ of the Imperial Government and also the municipal authorities of the City of Berlin. In those positions he worked under some of the most eminent representatives of this profession, and also had opportunity to show his own originality and creative talent. Since coming to America he has practiced his profession in Cleveland, Massillon and Canton, Ohio, now having his chief office in the latter city, and his substantial reputation has brought him a large business in this part of the state.
Edmund Herrmann was born in the City of Berlin, Germany, September 7, 1869, son of Louis and Theresa (Berthold) Herrmann. His father was a general contractor in Berlin, and the grandfather was likewise a carpenter and contractor in the same city. His father died in Berlin in 1907 and his mother in the same city in 1904.
Edmund Herrmann was educated in the thorough German fashion. After attending the city schools of Berlin he entered the Polytechnic College at Charlottenburg, and there pursued a thorough course, specializing in architecture, and remaining in that school for four years from 1888 to 1892. Owing to his presence in one of the royal schools and the nature of his education only one year of service in the army was required of him. In 1893 he was made an architect in the government service and continued in that relation for six years, working on many public buildings including churches. After that he was employed as architect by the Berlin Municipal Government, but left Germany in 1905 and located at Cleveland, Ohio. In that city he was associated with another architect for about a year and a half, and then continued his profession with Charles F. Schweinforth, one of the prominent architects of Cleveland. Their relationship was maintained for four years. During that time Mr. Herrmann was supervising architect during the construction of the city hospital at Massillon, and after completing that work opened an office and took up practice in Massillon. In 1910 he removed his principal office to Canton, but still maintains a branch in Massillon. Mr. Hermann does general architectural work, the greater part of his business being with high class and the larger contracts.
He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was a member of the old Business Men 's Association of Canton and is
PICTURE OF EDMUND HERRMANN
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a charter member of the new Canton Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Herrmann married Marie Gaus of Germany. She was born in Brunswick. All their four children were born to them in Germany, namely : Theodore, who died in Cleveland, Ohio ; Edmund ; Charlotte ; and Walter.
PHIL J. BERNOWER. A Canton business that has been recognized as a factor in local commerce for many years, and has behind it the capital and enterprise of a vigorous and public-spirited citizen is the Phil J. Bernower Lumber Company, Incorporated. Mr. Bernower is a business man whose success has been won by concentration of- effort beginning when a boy, and for upwards of thirty years he has been identified with the lumber trade in Canton.
A native of Stark County he was born at Canal Fulton, July 31, 1857. his parents were Godfrey and Margaret (Houk) Bernower, both natives of Germany and both horn there in the same year, 1819. Godfrey Bernower came to the United States in 1837, locating at Canal Fulton. Miss Houk came to this country when she was a girl with her parents, who also settled in Stark County. Godfrey Bernower was well educated in the German schools, learned bookkeeping and was employed as such in the old country and followed the same occupation after locating at Canal Fulton. He was a man of quiet habits, industrious, useful in every relation of life, and enjoyed considerable prominence in Canal Fulton. He died there February 22, 1862, while his widow passed away at Canton October 8, 1887.
Phil J. Bernower, who was left fatherless at the age of five years, had to work for his education as well as everything else in life that came to him. At the age of twelve he began earning his own living as clerk in a grocery store at Canal Fulton. At sixteen his fidelity and ability had promoted him to active charge of a retail grocery store in that town. Coining to Canton in 1877, he was employed by a wholesale notion house as traveling salesman. In 1888 Mr. Bernower engaged in the lumber business as a member of the firm of D. Holwick & Company. In 1893 he established a business of his own under his name, and in 1909 incorporated it as the Phil J. Bernower Lumber Company, of which he is president and treasurer.
His well known ability as a business man has commended him to the confidence of his fellow citizens, who on several occasions have honored him with public position. He is an active member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, and as a member of St. John's Catholic Church is also affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. Mr. Bernower married Mary E. Julien, daughter of Augustus S. and Sarah (Gillespie) Julien, of Findlay, Ohio.
ENOS HOLL, One of the residents of Stark County who have spent their years usefully and profitably in the vocation of farming, and are now able to live retired enjoying the fruits of a well spent career, is Enos Holl, who is a native son of Stark County and now resides in Painoff.
Enos Holl was born November 1, 1856, a son of Manasseh and Sarah (Reemsnyder) Holl. Both parents were born in Lancaster County.
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Pennsylvania, where the grandparents were substantial farming people. Manasseh Ho11 was brought to Stark County when eight years of age, and settled with his parents on a farm on the Berlin and Massillon Road. There he grew up, attended the district schools, and as a young man followed blacksmithing, after which he bought the old homestead and continued to live there usefully and honored until his death. Enos Ho11 was one of eleven children : Isaac, Alonzo, Ada, Enos, Eli, Alvin, Kate, Samuel J., Peter, Anna and Elta.
A part. of the training which made Mr. Holl a useful citizen came from the district schools near his birthplace, and he finished his education in the Smithville College. Returning home, he assisted his father on the farm for a year, and then took his first important independent step in life by his marriage to Miss Harriet Alice Comp, a daughter of Christian Comp. The Comp family were leading farmers of Wayne County.
After his marriage Mr. and Mrs. Holl removed to Summit County, and spent eight years on a rented farm. They had exercised thrift and industry and were thus able to buy a half interest in the farm, following which for sixteen years Mr. Holl was engaged in developing and improving his land, and finally sold out and brought considerable means back to Stark County, representing years of industry and care- full management. He spent one year in Canton, and then came into Plain Township and bought the old Stoner farm of eighty-three acres. There for ten years he continued his work as a general farmer, and sold his beautiful place in the fall of 1914. He is now enjoying the quiet of retirement and he and his good wife are surrounded with ample comfort for all their future needs.
Mr. and Mrs. Hon are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Greentown. He is an independent voter in politics, and is a member of the Grange.
There are two children. The daughter, Amanda, married Charles Ashburn. Clarence, the only son, is already one of the coming farmers of Stark County. He has charge of the Sheets farm and has gained a considerable reputation by his success in breeding Holstein cattle. He has been a. farmer for the past five years and what he has accomplished is ample promise of continued years of productive and useful activity. Clarence Holl married Miss Grace Sheets, daughter of John Sheets, and they have a son Neven }Toll, aged three years.
WARREN E. SLENTZ, who is well known in manufacturing circles of Canton as superintendent of the Canton Foundry and Machine Company, is a native son of this city, and with the exception of ten years has spent his entire career here. He was born December 27, 1870, and is a son of the late Albertus 0. Slentz.
The name of Slentz has been well known in Stark County since pioneer times, the first of the family to come here being Jacob Slentz, of Pennsylvania, who settled in early times in Columbiana County, but near the Stark County line, and subsequently became one of the early merchants of New Franklin, where for a period of twenty-one years he served as justice of the peace. His son, James Slentz, was born near Gettys-
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 715
burg, Pennsylvania, accompanied the family to Ohio, followed his trade as a wagon maker and wheelwright, and succeeded his father as justice of the peace, also holding that office for twenty-one years. Albertus O. Slentz, son of James, was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, May 18, 1845, and in 1864, when nineteen years of age, enlisted in the Nineteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the Civil war. His military career finished, he learned the carpenter's trade, in the following of which he came to Canton and was employed in the erection of the buildings of the plant of C. Russell & Company. afterwards the Peerless Reaper Company and now occupied by the Bonnot Company. Mr. Slentz next became an employe of the Peerless Reaper Company, and step by step rose to the superintendency of the company. His next venture was in the manufacture of stoves, and still later he was architect for the Canton Board of Education for seven or eight years. Finally, in association with H. A. Cavnaugh, W. J. Poyser, William P. Hall and Jacob Weidman, he participated in the consolidation of the Canton Iron Foundry and the Universal Machine Company, out of which grew the Canton Foundry and Machine Company, of which Mr. Slentz was vice president and general manager for a number of years, holding those positions at the time of his death, January 11, 1915. He was for many years a member of the Canton Board of Education, being at one time president of that body, and also served on the Canton City Council. He was well known in Masonic circles of the city. Mr. Slentz married Lorena Shoof, who was born at Canton, a daughter of the late Henry and Catherine Shoof, natives of Germany, and she still survives in her seventieth year. Three children were born to this union : one who died in infancy: Warren E.: and Nettie, who is the wife of Frank Tyson, of Canton.
Warren E. Slentz was graduated from the Canton High School in the class of 1888 and subsequently took a course at the Canton Business College, his business career starting as assistant bookkeeper of the Canton Hardware Company, a firm with which he was identified for two years. He then became office manager for W. R. Harrison and Co., manufacturers of agricultural implements, of Massillon, Ohio, a position which he held for more than ten years, resigning in January, 1903, to engage in the insurance business, and in January, 1911, became connected with The Canton Foundry and Machine Co., of which he is now superintendent. He is justly accounted one of the city's energetic business men and useful and progressive citizens.
Mr. Slentz is past master of William McKinley Lodge, F. & A. M., vice president of the Masonic Club and a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce.
THOMAS D. CASSELMAN. Another Canton citizen of prominence is Thomas D. Casselman, contractor, who has to his credit many handsome and substantial buildings of this city. The ten years during which he has lived in Canton have been marked by a rapid growth of business on his part, as well as by notable improvements in the various localities that his hand has touched.
Mr. Casselman is a member of a Stark County family. His father
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was George D. Casselman of that community and his mother a Pennsylvanian known before her marriage as Miss Catherine Syme. George Casselman followed the carpenter's useful trade during the active years of his life and now lives in peaceful and comfortable retirement in Chardon, Geauga County, Ohio. His worthy wife also still lives to share with him the quiet restfulness of the sunset years.
While East Rochester in Stark County was the home of George Casselman and his wife, the son was born to them whose life forms the subject of our present sketch. Thomas D. Casselman first saw the light of day on October 12, 1875. The scene of his early boyhood was Alliance. Ohio, where he attended the public schools until thirteen years of age. At that time he turned his attention to practical things and with his father as his instructor he began to attain skill in building.
New Waterford, Columbiana County, became Thomas Casselman's home in 1906. It was at that time that he enjoyed for two years the free and healthful life in the open air which was possible to him as a land-owner conducting the activities of his own farm. Mr. Casselman still owns the beautiful farm at New Waterford, where orchards of 1,500 or more trees add materially to his otherwise plentiful income. After spending two years in close oversight of the work at his farm, our subject returned to city life, locating this time in the prosperous City of Canton. For two years he worked on buildings supervised by others, but at the end of that time he entered upon contracting of his own. Among the buildings whose construction he has directed are the following: The home of G. B. French, of the Lincoln Brick Company ; the residence of Prof. H. W. Shutt; that of M. F. Sheply, of Massillon ; Miss Josephine Derr's home in Stark County ; the C. C. Upham house in Canton; the Dueber Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church ; besides numerous other attractive, well-built edifices, both in Canton and other localities.
As Mr. Casselman is one who appreciates the value of both commercial and social organizations, he is prominent and active in the following societies: the Builders Exchange ; the Chamber of Commerce; the An cient, Free and Accepted Masons; and the Masonic Club.
The Casselman residence is located at 231 Dueber Avenue. Mrs. Casselman is a native of Columbiana County, where she was well known in her girlhood as Miss Leila Phillips. Her father, Mr. J. W. Phillips, is a prominent and successful fruit grower of that locality.
JOHN MARTIG. That Louisville is now the recognized and actual center of the cheese making industry in Stark County is due mainly to the enterprise and organizing ability of John Martig, who has made that village his headquarters for the past ten years. Mr. Martig ranks as the largest manufacturer and wholesale dealer in cheese in this section of Ohio. He comes from a country, Switzerland, where that industry is indigenous, and the apprenticeship he served in the business there was fortified by a long experience and practical training in this country before he took up cheese manufacturing on an independent basis.
John Martig was born in Switzerland January 21. 1877, a son of
PICTURE OF JOHN W. A. STAUDT
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 717
Christian and Catherine (Muller) Martig. His father died in the old country in 1882 and the mother in 1901. Mr. Martig pursued the common school course regularly required of boys in Switzerland, and at an early age began learning the details of cheese manufacture. He was about seventeen years of age when he came to the United States in 1894, and his first employment was in a cheese factory at Alliance, Ohio. He also worked at Greentown in Stark County. An employment of greater importance and significance so far as his future career was concerned was begun in 1895 when he entered the service of John Matti, a farmer and cheese maker at Marlboro, whose daughter and Mr. Martig afterwards married. Two years later Mr. Martig moved to Hudson, Ohio, and there in the spring of 1898 engaged in making cheese on his own account„ establishing a small factory, which may be considered the nucleus of the large industry which he has since built up around his name. He continued to live at Hudson until 1903, and while continuing as owner of the Hudson plant he was for two years in business as a milk buyer and wholesale dealer in cheese.
It was in 1905 that Mr. Martig located at Louisville. At that time the extent of his enterprise was measured by the ownership and operation of factories at Hudson, Marlboro and Paris. His business has grown many fold in the past ten years, and his chain of factories in 1915 comprise the following: Kilbruck, Brink Haven, North Benton, Adair, Freeburg, Maximo, Harrisburg, two factories near Marlboro, and three between Alliance and Sebring. The amount of cheese annually handled and manufactured in the various plants owned and controlled by Mr. Martig now aggregate between 1,200,000 and 1,500,000 pounds.
Mr. Martig is a stockholder and director in the First National Bank of Louisville. Since established business position has come to him through his well directed and earnest efforts he has frequently visited his native country, and while in Switzerland during the winter of 191314 he bought two valuable tracts of farm land in his old home neighborhood as a matter of speculation and also of sentiment.
On April 15, 1905, Mr. Martig married Mary, the daughter of John and Louise Matti. Both her parents were born in Switzerland, but were married after corning to this country at Canton. Her father was for many years a large farmer and cheese maker at Marlboro, but is now living retired. Into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Martig was born a son May 23, 1908, whom they have named John Albert. Mr. and Mrs. Martig are members of the Reformed Church, while in politics he is a republican.
JOHN W. A. STAUDT. In the field of life insurance in Ohio, few firms enjoy greater prestige than that of Staudt Brothers, of Canton, state agents for the Royal Union Mutual Life Insurance Company. This concern has built up and developed under the direction and supervision of John W. A. Staudt, whose experience in this field of endeavor covers a period of a quarter of a century, and whose natural abilities and aptitude for this calling have been happily combined with straightforward
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and honorable methods of doing business, so that his name is one universally respected in insurance circles.
Mr. Staudt was born at Miltonsburg, Monroe County, Ohio, August 17, 1866, a son of Frank J. Staudt, born June 21, 1841, in the same village, the latter being a son of Nicholas and Eva (Steinbach) Staudt, natives of Bavaria, Germany. Nicholas Staudt was a factor in the Bavarian Revolution, and his participation in that struggle caused him to leave his native land and come for refuge to the United States. Soon after landing he was married at Baltimore, Maryland, and with his young bride made his way to Ohio and settled on the farm in Monroe County. He was a stone mason by trade and worked at that vocation all his life, although he also carried on agricultural pursuits at the same time. He passed away on his farm, which he had developed into a valuable property, in 1881, at the age of seventy-two years, while Mrs. Staudt died in 1897, aged eighty-three years. They were the parents of three sons, namely : Frank J. ; and Jacob and John H., who are both deceased.
The mother of John W. A. Staudt was Mary O. Yunkes, who was born in Missouri, October 8, 1844, the daughter of Philip and Maria (Oblinger) Yunkes, the former a native of Strassburg, Germany, born in 1814, and died in 1852, and the latter born near that city, in 1816, and died in 1907. They were born at a time when Strassburg was included within French Territory, but were not acquainted in their native land, meeting and being married in the United States. After marriage they settled at Miltonsburg, Monroe County, Ohio, but later moved to Missouri and purchased a farm on which they carried on operations for a number of years. Filially, however, Mr. Yunkes disposed of his Missouri holdings and returned to Miltonsburg, where he left his family. He had contracted the "gold fever'' which claimed so many for its victims at that time, and started on the overland route for the gold fields of California, but on the way was stricken with cholera and died. The great-grandparents of John W. A. Staudt, Adam Oblinger and his wife, also came to the United States.
Frank J. Staudt learned the trade of blacksmith in his youth, but when he embarked upon his independent career engaged in farming, a vocation which he followed during the period of his active life. In 1905 he retired and removed to Canton, where he still resides, aged seventy- four years. In 1862 he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served three years with that organization during the great Civil war, being present at the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox and still retaining a piece of the apple tree under which the surrender was made. He served under Gen. Phil. Sheridan and other noted officers of the Army of the Potomac, and participated in fifteen hard-fought battles without being wounded or captured, save being struck by a spent ball, which caused him to carry his arm in a sling for a time. Both Mr. Staudt and his wife are members of the Roman Catholic Church. They have been the parents of twelve children, as follows: John W. A.; Nicholas T., who resides at Woodsfield, Monroe County, Ohio; Benjamin F., of Canton : Mary J.. who is the wife of Jacob Herbst, mayor of McKees Rocks, Ohio; Otto,
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 719
who died at the age of six weeks from an attack of whooping cough ; Ida E., who died in 1913, as the wife of Sylvester Haren ; Gustavus A., who is engaged in farming in Iowa; Clement L., a member of the firm of Staudt Brothers, of Canton; Raymond Z., who is connected with the same firm; Rosa A., who resides with her parents; Elmer R., with the firm of Staudt Brothers; and Roman, who died at the age of six months.
John W. A. Staudt secured his education in the country and parochial schools and at the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio. He was but seventeen years of age when he secured a certificate and entered upon his career as a teacher, following that vocation for a period of eleven years and becoming known as one of the efficient and popular educators of his locality. In 1886 he secured an appointment as cadet at the West Point. Military Academy, but an attack of pneumonia compelled him to give up the idea of attending that institution. While still teaching school, in 1891, Mr. Staudt entered the life insurance field, with the New York Life Insurance Company, and after three years his interests in that direction had grown to such an extent that he decided to devote his entire attention thereto. Accordingly, in 1894, he came to Canton, where he was subsequently with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company for a year, and for a like period with the Connecticut Mutual. In 1897 Mr. Staudt joined the forces of the Royal Union Mutual Life Insurance Company, and two years later had so demonstrated his ability and energy that he was appointed state agent for Ohio, a position which he has since retained. Few men have a wider acquaintance or a greater reputation in insurance circles, and in his line he is known as one of the best salesmen in the state. Mr. Staudt was one of the organizers of the Commercial and Savings Bank of Canton, and at the present time is a member of the board of directors of that financial institution. He and his family belong to Saint Joseph's Catholic Church. Mr. Staudt is well known in club and fraternal life, and holds membership in the Knights of Columbus, the Elks, the Adcraft Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Catholic Club.
Mr. Staudt was married to Miss May B. Watters, who was born at Sardis, Monroe County, Ohio, on the Ohio River, daughter of Clement A. and Amanda J. (Cline) Watters, the former a native of Belmont County, Ohio, and the latter of Washington County, this state. They are now residents of Canton, the father being eighty-two years of age, while the mother is seventy-nine. Mr. and-Mrs. Staudt are the parents of the following children : Pearl R.., a student at Trinity College; Francis Thurman, who is in bnsiness with his father, and secretary of the Young Men's Business Club of Canton ; Albert Raymond, a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy, to which he was appointed in June. 1915; Josephine E., who died in infancy ; and Richard M., Joseph Edward. Donald A., Victor P. and John T., who reside at home. Mr. Staudt is a member of the democratic party and takes an active interest in party affairs.
MILO SWINHART. Thirty-one years in his present position entitle Milo Swinhart to the prestige of being the oldest operator and station agent, in point of service, in the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail-
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road, and make him probably the best known citizen of his native Village of Uniontown, Ohio. Aside from his official duties, Mr. Swinhart has found the leisure and inclination to devote to various business ventures and at this time is proprietor of the Uniontown Coal Company, and of an automobile, carriage and agricultural implement business, as well as the owner of fifty acres of good Stark County land.
Milo Swinhart was born at Uniontown, Stark County, Ohio, June 7, 1863, and is a son of William and Sarah (Raber) Swinhart. His grandfather, Samuel Swinhart, a native of Pennsylvania, believing that there was a better future for him farther to the West, migrated to Stark County, Ohio, as a young man, and here met and married a Miss Greece. They settled on a farm near Uniontown, and there the grandfather continued to be engaged in farming and stockraising operations during the remainder of his life, reaching advanced years and accumulating a handsome and well-cultivated property. William Swinhart was born on the farm settled by his father, and during his boyhood and youth assisted the elder man in its operation, in the meantime securing his education in the district school. At the time of his marriage he purchased a farm just west of Uniontown, which is now included in the corporate limits of the village, and is covered with residences. William Swinhart was a man of business ability, judgment and foresight, made the most of his opportunities and was successful in his various ventures. He took an active interest in the affairs of his community, and was generally regarded as a man of worth and substance and an important factor in his locality's advancement. He and his wife were the parents of four children, namely: Elihu, who is manager for the Tri-County Telephone Company, at Uniontown; Hiram, who is a resident of Springfield Lake, Ohio; Emma, who is now Mrs. Breckenridge and a resident of Mogadore, Ohio; and Milo, of this notice.
Milo Swinhart has been a resident of his present locality all of his life. His education was attained in the graded and high schools of Uniontown, during which time he assisted his parents in the cultivation of the home farm, and at the age of twenty-one years began to learn telegraphy at the Baltimore & Ohio Station here. He remained under the instruction of Garnett Elliott, and made such rapid progress that at the end of one year he was appointed operator and station agent at Uniontown, a position which he has filled continuously for more than thirty-one years. In addition to his railroad work, he has ventured into various business enterprises, one of his accomplishments being the development of the Uniontown Coal Company, which he has built up from a modest beginning to one of the important business concerns of the village, with a trade extending out into the county in all directions. He has also been the proprietor for a number of years of an automobile, buggy and agricultural implement business which under his able direction has assumed large proportions. In 1912 Mr. Swinhart contributed to the upbuilding of Uniontown by the erection of his handsome modern residence, located on the site of the old home in which he was born. This is ideally situated, being just four blocks west of the square, half brick and half pine lumber, fitted with electric lights and all other modern conveniences. Mr. Swinhart's fifty acre farm, located in the limits
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 721
of Uniontown, has been put under a high state of cultivation and is a valuable and well improved property.
Mr. Swinhart was married to Miss Emma Wise, a daughter of Aaron Wise, of Lake Township, one of the prosperous and highly respected citizens of Stark County, and to this union there have been born two children : a daughter, Miss Dawn, born May 25, 1894, who is a graduate of the Uniontown High School, and now a member of the sophomore class at Idleberry College, at Tiffin, Ohio; and a son, Pardy, who died when only eleven months old.
Mr. Swinhart is a member of the Order of Railway Telegraphers, and is very popular with his fellow "knights of the key.'' He is a democrat in politics, and although not a politician takes an interest in the success of his party, as well as in civic affairs. With the members of his family he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church and has been a liberal contributor to its various movements.
GEORGE M. LETHERMAN. Business ability of a high order is recognized in George M. Letherman, popular head of the firm of The Letherman-Gehman Company, and also president of the Holmes-Letherman Company. The former business house is well known for the high grade of its manufactures and all goods which it handles—including feed, grain, flour, lime and cement, poultry supplies and field seeds; the latter company also does a flourishing business as a seed house.
Mr. Letherman is a man of the type known as "self-made," the processes of his development being nevertheless of a high order. An education above the average and a breadth of experience not accorded to every young man have added their quota of value to his inherent qualities of intelligence and enterprise.
Though now a loyal Ohioan and a patriotic citizen of Canton, Mr. Letherman is by birth a son of the Hoosier State. His parents, Benjamin Franklin and Hettie A. (Lehman) Letherman, were residents of Elkhart County, Indiana, when on September 23, 1877, the son was born to them whom they named George Monroe. The free and healthful rural life which was the privilege of his boyhood years held for him good educational advantages of an elementary sort. to which were added more advanced study in the public schools. Being ever of an inquiring mind and one gifted in the storing of practical knowledge, it was not strange that George Letherman should look to the teacher's profession as a temporary means of applying his knowledge and an avenue to acquiring broader experience. He pursued the subjects taught in the scientific course at Valparaiso Normal University, in Valparaiso, Indiana. beginning his course before his first pedagogical experiment, and completing the work later. With credit to himself and benefit to his public, Mr. Letherman made of his teaching an intermediary step to his business life. Presently, responding to the call of the Northwest, which has appealed to so many ambitious young men, he accepted a position with the Milwaukee Harvester Company. at Fargo, North Dakota, remaining there for two years. In 1902 Mr. Letherman located in Canton, where he has proved himself a worthy citizen of his adopted city, thoroughly identifying himself with her interests.
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The first commercial venture that Mr. Letherman made in Canton was the opening of a feed store at the old Patton Warehouse on South Market Street, which business he still continues. In 1911 he organized the present firm of Letherman, Gehman and Company. In 1912 the company entered the fine new brick plant they had erected on East Tuscarawas Street. Here they conduct a steady business which is said to be the largest of its kind in the city.
Having so well established his major share in the Letherman and Gehman firm, Mr. Letherman presently turned his attention to the organization of another business house of a similar nature. With Mr. Harry L. Holmes of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the seed house on North Cleveland Avenue was opened, purveying flower and garden seeds of superior quality. In all lines of his commercial activity, Mr. Letherman is signally successful and his association with any venture is an indication of its high grade of merit.
Mrs. George M. Letherman is a daughter of Canton. She was Miss Minnie Ebersole, a daughter of George Ebersole, well known to Canton citizens. It is pleasant to record that this marriage was the culmination of a college romance, Miss Ebersole and Mr. Letherman both being students at Valparaiso University at the same time. Mr. and Mrs. Letherman reside at 2215 Cleveland Avenue, Northwest, and are among the most highly esteemed members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Letherman is a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce and both he and his wife have a wide circle of social acquaintance.
PETER NEFF. A consulting engineer and specialist in refrigeration, with offices in Canton, Peter Nett is a scientist as well as a practical engineer, and his own attainments are only part of the contrrbutions made by the Neff family in the field of science and industry. The name has been one of distinction in scholarship and industrial inventions in Ohio for more than half a century.
Peter Neff was born in Gambier, Knox County, Ohio, March 15, 1863, a son of the late Peter and Sarah A. (Biggs) Neff. His father, distinguished both as inventor and scientist, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 13, 1827, a son of William and Elizabeth C. (Wayne) Neff, and a grandson of Peter and Rebecca (Scout) Neff, and a great-grandson of Rudolph Neff, who was born in Switzerland September 26, 1727. This young Swiss emigrant landed at Philadelphia in 1849, and settled at Frankfort, Pennsylvania. During the War of the American Revolution he held a captain's commission and was active on the colonial side. His death occurred at Frankfort at an advanced age February 14, 1809.
Peter Neff, the first of the family to be born in America, came into the world at Frankfort, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1764, and died August 14, 1804. He married Rebecca Scout, and their son William, the grandfather of the Canton engineer, was born at Frankfort February 7, 1792, and married Elizabeth Clifford Wayne.
In 1813 William Neff left Pennsylvania and removed to Savannah, Georgia, where he was engaged in the commission business. He was also married in that city. In 1825 he located at Cincinnati, Ohio, and continued his career as a merchant until his death November 25, 1856.
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Peter Neff, a son of William, was born at Cincinnati April 13, 1827. The development of his great natural ability was favored by a very liberal education. He attended the old Woodward High School at Cincinnati; next entered the Swinburne Academy at White Plains, New York; was a student of Yale College; and with the class of 1849 graduated from Kenyon College of Ohio. He studied theology, and graduated from Bexley Hall Theological Seminary at Gambier in 1854.
The greatest interest attaches to his career as a scientist and inventor. In 1853-54, while still at Gambier, he became associated with Prof. Hamilton L. Smith in experimenting upon a process for taking pictures on iron plates, the result of which was the familiar tintype of later days. They perfected a process by which collodion positives were made upon thin plates of black or chocolate enameled iron instead of glass, which had hitherto been the base material of photography. The coated plate was exposed in the camera and then developed in the ordinary way. Mr. Neff called his pictures "Melanotypes ;" Hunt gave them the name "Ferrotype." Professor Smith procured a patent on this invention in 1855, and assigned it to William Neff and Peter Neff, Jr. This process was successfully developed commercially by the Neffs. In 1856 the American Institute awarded Peter Neff a bronze medal for the best Melanotype, a positive collodion picture made upon blank enameled iron plate. In 1864 Peter Neff commenced the study of the oil fields in Western Pennsylvania, this investigation being subsequently extended into the southern and eastern counties of Ohio. He struck gas in Coshocton County, Ohio, in June, 1865. In 1866 he discovered that the lampblack obtained from the natural gas was of very superior quality, and he invented machinery for the manufacture of gasblack. In 1878 he published a description of the territory, with an analysis of his Diamond Black from natural gas in the London Chemical News and in the third volume of the Geological Survey of Ohio. In 1888 Peter Neff removed to Cleveland, Ohio, and became librarian of the Western Reserve Historical Society. For his scientific achievements he was recognized by practically the entire world of science. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an original Fellow of the Geological Society of America, a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, the Masonic Fraternity, and the Maryland Society of Colonial Wars. Peter Neff was married in Cincinnati February 27, 1850, to Sarah A. Biggs, daughter of Rev. Thomas J. Biggs, D. D. Of this union there were five children. Peter Neff, Sr., died in Cleveland May 11, 1903, and his widow passed away August 30, 1912, in her ninety-second year. The living children are : Elizabeth Clifford, who lives at Canton and is a genealogist by profession; Rebecca, unmarried and living in Canton; and Peter.
Peter Neff, a son of the eminent scholar and inventor above named, was graduated from Adelbert College at Western Reserve University in the class of 1884, with the degree of B. L., and subsequently obtained the Master of Arts degree from the same institution. During 1884-85 he was a Fellow in Physics in Western Reserve University. In 1886 he diverted his scientific studies to mastering the practical processes of
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refrigeration in the shops at Cleveland. During 1889-90 his work was as an instructor in the Case School of Applied Science at Cleveland.
In 1900 Mr. Neff brought the Arctic Ice Machine Manufacturing Company to Canton, and was president and manager of the company until its reorganization in 1906. He then served as its chief engineer until he resigned in 1912. Mr. Neff's present line of work is largely that of advisory engineer in all matters pertaining to refrigeration, and his profession calls him to all parts of the country. In his capacity as consulting engineer he is employed by many plants in various parts of the United States
In the distinctive department of his profession he is undoubtedly one of the leading engineers in this country or abroad. In 1913 he served as president of the American Society of Refrigerating Engineers, and is a member of the American Association of Refrigeration and chairman of its Commission on Industrial Refrigeration ; he is a member of the International Association of Refrigeration of Paris, France, and president of Section B, Diversified Industries, in that body ; he is a member of the Cold Storage and lee Association of Great Britain ; a member by inheritance of the military order of the Loyal Legion ; and is identified with the Canton Chamber of Commerce and the Lakeside Country Club.
Mr. Neff was first married October 16, 1895, to Miss Susan Elizabeth Williams, who died September 27, 1904, leaving two daughters: Susan Catherine, born September 28, 1896 ; and Elizabeth Mary, born April 12, 1903. On August 8, 1906, Mr. Neff married Miss Helen A. Buttles of Gambier, Ohio.
OLIVER BRUMBAUGH. As president and manager of the Louisville Brick and Tile Company, Mr. Brumbaugh is at the head of one of the largest factories in Stark County engaged in utilizing the clay resources of this section of Ohio. Mr. Brumbaugh is a manufacturer whose interests extend to several other concerns here and elsewhere, and also might properly be classified as a farmer, since that has been his business for the greater part of his life.
The Louisville Brick & Tile Company was established in 1892. The plant is located in Nimishillen Township, just three miles east of the City of Louisville. Its output under modern conditions comprises building blocks, cap and sills, drain tile, silo blocks, and several grades of building brick. The men who were behind the original enterprise were John Keim, August Bonnat and Lewis Turnox. The industry was successful from the start, and two years after its founding Mr. Oliver Brumbaugh bought the stock of Bonnat and Turnox. From time to time many improvements have been introduced and the invested capital is now ten times as large as that represented in the first plant. At first there were five kilns, while now the company operates sixteen, and it is proposed that in the near future four more kilns will he added. It is known, in the technical language of the industry as a "double plant" and nearly all its machinery is of the latest pattern and design. From the brick manufactured on the grounds several large and substantial buildings have been erected during the past fifteen years. The factory is in continuous operation, and about 100 men are on the payroll, from which item alone
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it is easy to understand how vital a part this industry has in the general prosperity of the Louisville vicinity. Brick and tile from the plant are shipped in carload lots all over the middle states, and three regular salesmen are on the road as representatives of the manufacturers. When the business started the clay was mined entirely from leased lands. With the coming of Mr. Brumbaugh into the active management two years later a new policy was inaugurated of buying up additional lands, and the company now owns 243 acres in addition to the property they lease. The raw material is secured by drift mining, and the principal level is nearly sixty feet below the surface, from which entrance tunnels branch out in all directions following the veins of clay. The company also works a vein of coal, and thus secures the two most important materials required in the industry from the same entrance. They produce coal to supply about 75 per cent of the fuel used in the plant. The yearly production of the Louisville Brick & Tile Company is valued in round numbers at $100,000.
In July, 1914, the Louisville Brick & Tile Company filed new incorporation papers calling for a capitalization of $150,000. The stockholders and principal officers are: Oliver Brumbaugh, president; Arthur L. Keim, secretary and treasurer; Sophia Keim, Tamzon Brumbaugh and Mary Z. Brumbaugh.
Mr. Oliver Brumbaugh is a native of Stark County, and was born September 7, 1862, a son of Daniel H. and Anna (Yoder) Brumbaugh. It is an old established family, and came originally from Pennsylvania, having been established here by grandfather George Brumbaugh, whose homestead was one mile northeast of Harrisburg. George Brumbaugh had the following children: Henry K., John Isaac, Elizabeth Katie, Lydia, Christina Hannah, Daniel and Eliza.
Daniel Brumbaugh grew up in the vicinity of Louisville and while attending the district schools employed his youthful strength in assisting his father. After his marriage he removed to Lake Township, between Middlebranch and Hartville, where he bought a farm of eighty acres and operated it for about nine years. He then acquired and took possession of the old Christ Yoder homestead, four miles east of Louisville. This farm was originally taken up from the Government by Christ Klopfenstein, who was the father of Mrs. Christ Yoder, who in turn was the mother of Mrs. Daniel H. Brumbaugh, and she is the mother of Oliver Brumbaugh. By this succession the old title deed from the Government to the land has likewise descended to its present owner, Oliver Brumbaugh.
Oliver Brumbaugh, who is the only child of his parents, was born on the Lake Township farm, and when a child went with his parents to Louisville. Mr. Brumbaugh married Miss Tamzon Houston, a daughter of John and Katie (Smith) Houston of New Franklin. To their marriage were born two children: Mary, who is now eighteen years of age and is a graduate of the Louisville High School; and John D., aged fifteen, a student in the high school. The family are members of the Reformed Church and in politics Mr. Brumbaugh is a republican.
While it is appropriate that Mr. Brumbaugh's position as a brick and tile manufacturer should be given most conspicuous notice, atten-
Vol., II-22
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tion has already been called to the fact that the vocation to which he has given the longest time is farming, and he is now in his thirty-ninth year as a practical and successful agriculturist. He owns 116 acres of farming land, but resides in a beautiful home in Louisville, and is the owner of five dwelling houses in Alliance. He is a stockholder in the Louisville Machine Company ; in the Imperishable Silo Company of Huntington, Indiana ; in the Central Novelty Company of Louisville ; in the National Peat Refining Company of Cleveland; and in the Quality Rubber Company of Hartville, Ohio.
LLOYD ALONZO REAM. The name of Canton's popular contractor, Lloyd A. Ream, is one that carries with it considerable distinction, because of the high quality of his building, the force of his personality and the character of his family connections. Although he has been a citizen of Canton but five years, his progenitors have been well known in this vicinity for three or four generations.
In his paternal line, it is Mr. Ream's good fortune to be a descendant of that fine old celebrity, the Rev. Abraham Ream. "Sky pilots" indeed were the circuit riders who under such privations ministered to the spiritual needs of Ohio's pioneer population. An interesting book well might be compiled from the experiences of this faithful servant of the Methodist Episcopal Church, long since laid to rest. The Canton Fair Ground was long the scene of his camp-meeting services and his name is still frequently spoken here with reverence and affection. His wife, nee Hannah Moore, aided him in the rearing of what may well be called one of Ohio's old families. Stark County was the scene of their labors, their joys and their sorrows. One of their sons was Frank William Ream, the father of our subject. In his marriage the Ream line was united with the Shanafelt family. This line of L. A. Ream's ancestry also counts back to the fourth generation in Stark County, John Shanafelt, his maternal grandfather having been born near Harrisburg, in Stark County. John Shanafelt's wife was Lydia Fitch, a native of Portage County, Ohio. It was their daughter Martha who married Frank William Ream, son of Reverend Mr. Ream and a native of Greentown, establishing the home into which our subject was born.
Greentown was the home of the Reams for many years. William Ream was a grocer by vocation and served his native town in that capacity for a score of years before he established a similar business in Canton, continuing it for four years, but eventually accepting a position with the Northern Ohio Traction Company.
The date of Alonzo Ream's nativity was July 28, 1882. He was reared in Greentown and in Canton, where he made good use of the educational advantages of the public schools. At the age of twenty-three he began his activities in the vocation of carpenter. His work was at first that of a journeyman, in the employ of John Van Kirk. It was not long, however, before he began contracting on his own responsibility, beginning his independent business at Greentown, to which place he removed from Canton. As time passed and his business assumed gratifying proportions, the old associations of family and friends drew him back to Canton. Here he definitely established himself in 1910 and as time
PICTURE OF CHARLES A. IRWIN
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passed has gradually made himself more and more indispensable to the material upbuilding of Canton.
As this is an age of specialists, Mr. Ream has sought and obtained most excellent results by specializing in the construction of residences. He may with pride claim the credit for particularly attractive and substantial building on the following residences : the home of George Spangle on Twelfth Street Northwest ; of Edward Kirkland, Eleventh Street Northwest ; of Peter Miller, at Mount Marie, Ohio; of Dr. M. M. Lower, Third Street Northwest ; of C. C. Foster, at New Berlin; of Homer C. Parks, Park Avenue Southwest ; of Samuel Hanna, Seventeenth Street Southwest ; of W. F. Ream, Greenfield Avenue Southwest ; and of A. J. Shanabruck, of Edgefield, Ohio. Always alert in the conduct of his business and intelligent in his grasp of local affairs in his line, he is an interested member of the Builders' Exchange of Canton.
L. A. Ream is one of that admirable class of men who find their chief relaxation in home life. In his marriage he allied himself with another well-known and highly respected Stark County family. His father-in- law, Zenos L. Fry, is prominent among the agricultural citizens of the vicinity of Cairo and is, by the way, a nephew of John H. Lehman, an editor of this work. Mr. Fry, though himself a native of Pennsylvania, married Miss Mandana Miller, a native of Cairo. Their charming daughter, Mary Fry, became the wife of Lloyd Alonzo Ream.
Mrs. Ream, who possesses an enviable reputation as a wife and mother, is also a faithful and efficient member of the Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church. She and her husband are the parents of two children, Lowell Fry Ream, who was born October 20, 1903, and little Martha. Mandana, who came to share the pleasures of the Ream home circle on January 1, 1910. The residence of the family is an unusually attractive house, built in 1914 on their beautiful lot facing Sixth Street and measuring 100 feet in length. It is needless to add that this edifice not only represents the personality of its occupants but also the skill and taste of Mr. Ream as a builder in the front ranks of Canton's professional contractors.
CHARLES A. IRWIN. Among the men whose labors and abilities have contributed materially to the development of the iron and steel industry at Canton, while at the same time gaining them individual prestige and fortune, one of the best known is Charles A. Irwin, secretary and treasurer of the Canton Sheet Steel Company. He has been connected with this industry for nearly twenty years, and during this period has been identified with a number of enterprises, all of which have had an important part in the history of iron and steel development in Ohio.
Mr. Irwin was born at Leechburg, Pennsylvania, April 20, 1873, a son of Thomas S. and Margaret (Caldwell) Irwin, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of just east of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Thomas S. Irwin was for many years a contractor and builder and now resides at Canton, retired, in his eighty-first year. Charles A. Irwin attended the graded and high schools of Leechburg, and supplemented this training with a full course at a Pittsburg Business College. He began his business career as a dry goods merchant, being engaged in business at Leechburg from 1893 until 1896, but in the latter year became identified
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with the industry in which he has since been occupied when he became secretary of the Dennison (Ohio) Rolling Mill Company. This business was sold to the American Sheet Steel Company in 1900, but Mr. Irwin continued as secretary for another year and in 1901 came to Canton to become secretary of the Stark Rolling Mill Company, of which company, together with the Berger Manufacturing Company, he later became general superintendent. He thus continued until 1909, when, associated with his brother, William W., he organized the Canton Sheet Steel Company, of which he became secretary, treasurer and general manager, positions which he still holds. Mr. Irwin is also president of the Fulton Drop Forge Company of Canal Fulton, Ohio, of which he was one of the original organizers, and vice president of the H. M. Horton Shoe Company of Canton. He is widely and favorably known in the iron and steel trade, among the members of which he bears a high reputation as a thorough expert in all its departments. Mr. Irwin is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Shriner and an Elk, and belongs also to the Canton Chamber of Commerce and the Canton, Congress Lake and Lakeside Country Clubs.
Mr. Irwin married Miss Cora Mae Converse, of Urichsville, Ohio, daughter of James Converse, and they have three children: Jay T., Charles H. and Elizabeth Mae.
WILLIAM H. SNYDER. Widely known as a successful and progressive merchant of Harrisburg, William H. Snyder is also recognized as one of the men to whom this progressive and thriving little City of Stark County is indebted for many of its improvements. Always a friend of education and good roads, which he deems important factors in the development of any live and enterprising community, he has found the time to spare from his business responsibilities to donate of his abilities to the furtherance of movements which have played a vital part in the growth of the locality.
Mr. Snyder was born on the farm of his father, in Osnaburg Township, Stark County, Ohio, August 11, 1856, and is a son of Samuel Snyder. The latter was born on the same farm, in 1832, a son of Peter Snyder, a native of Pennsylvania, and a son of John Snyder, who was born in Germany. John Snyder was an early emigrant to the United States, first taking up his residence in Pennsylvania, from which state he came as a pioneer to Stark County, Ohio, and here secured from the Government the farm in Osnaburg Township. This passed on down to his son, Peter, his grandson, Samuel. and his great-grandson, William H., who disposed of it in the fall of 1904. All passed their lives on this property and were men of industry, integrity and fidelity, and won success in their agricultural operations. The mother of William H. Snyder was Lucinda Prouse, who was born in 1834 in Sandy Township, Stark County, daughter of William Prouse, a native of Pennsylvania and a pioneer of Sandy Township.
Samuel Snyder and Lucinda Prouse were married in a little log house in Osnaburg Township, a structure which still stands as a landmark of pioneer times. The father was engaged in agricultural pursuits throughout his career, and was one of the well known and influential
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men of the township, serving as assessor and land appraiser. He met_ an accidental death at the East Tuscarawas Street crossing of the Pennsylvania Railroad, at Canton, in 1865, while the mother survived until 1892, and died in the faith of the Disciples Church, of which Mr. Snyder had also been a member.
William H. Snyder was reared in the rural community in which he was born, his education being secured in the district schools. He remained on the old home place until he was thirty-six years of age, and during this time had come into possession of the property, but in 1892 bought an adjoining farm, located in Canton Township, and moved to the new property. There he resided for twelve years, when he sold out and moved to the Coller Farm, 31/2 miles north of Louisville, on the Harrisburg turnpike, which he subsequently purchased. This farm he sold in the spring of 1915, to purchase. the stock and good will of the general merchandise establishment formerly owned by Charles J. Gulling, at Harrisburg. This he has since conducted with a full measure of success, being now known as one of the substantial business men of Harrisburg. He has a full line of all kinds of general merchandise, and his honorable dealing has gained him a very satisfying patronage.
In 1882 Mr. Snyder was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Kintigh, who was born in Sandy Township, Stark County, Ohio, daughter of David Kintigh, a native of Western Pennsylvania, and a pioneer of Sandy Township. He was married in his native state to Ann Hissem, and both are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have been the parents of six children, as follows: Lucy, who is the wife of Garfield Mottice, a farmer of Sandy Township, and has three children, Homer, Mildred and Stanley ; Clark, deceased, who passed away at the age of twenty- two years, April 15, 1908; and Grace, Lee Roy, Valettie and Goldie, who reside with their parents. While a resident of Canton Township, Mr. Snyder served eight years as a member of the school board, and in Nirnishillen Township served four years in a like capacity. He is now serving his fourth year as a member of the board of township trustees, a position in which he has been able to do much for conditions in his community. He was one of the stanchest supporters of the high school project for Harrisburg, and to him the people owe a debt of gratitude for the carrying through of this proposition to a successful issue. He was also one of the public-spirited men who succeeded in securing the brick road known as the Canton and Alliance turnpike. In politics a democrat, he is considered one of the substantial and influential members of his party at Harrisburg. With the members of his family he belongs to the Christian Church.
WILLIAM H. SCHNEIDER. Of the men of Canton whose ability, industry and forethought have added to the character, wealth and business prestige of this prosperous Ohio city, none are better known in the lumber trade than William H. Schneider. Although he has been engaged in business here only since 1911 he has already established himself favorably in the confidence of the business men with whom he has been associated, and has shown a commendable desire to aid in the community's welfare.
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Mr. Schneider was born on his father's farm in Jackson Township, Stark County, Ohio, July 7, 1871, and is a son of Louis A. and Elizabeth (Donnernwirth) Schneider. This branch of the family was founded in Stark County by Leonard Schneider, a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, who emigrated to the United States in 1840 Wand took up his residence in Stark County in that year. He secured a farm in Perry Township, on which he commenced operations, and there continued to make his home until his death in 1870 or thereabouts. The maternal grandfather of William H. Schneider, John Donnernwirth, was a native of Alsace, Germany, and came to this country some time during the late '30s, locating at Canal Fulton, Ohio, where he passed the remaining years of his life. Louis A. Schneider, the father of William H. Schneider, was born in Perry Township, Stark County, July 23, 1842, and married Elizabeth Donnernwirth, who was born at Canal Fulton, Ohio, July 19, 1843, and died March 1, 1903. The father was reared to agricultural pursuits and followed farming until 1913, when he retired from active pursuits, disposed of his land and stock and moved to the Canton and New Berlin Road, near Canton, where he is now living quietly in his pleasant home. The family are members of the Lutheran Church.
William H. Schneider was reared on the home farm in Plain Township and there secured his early education in the district schools. Later he pursued a course in a business college at Canton, and at the age of seventeen years began to learn the trade of carpenter, which he followed for five years as an employe of his uncle. Subsequently he became a foreman for a contractor and continued thus for four years, at the end of which period he began contracting on his own account. In connection with his contracting operations, Mr. Schneider established a lumber yard on the home farm, and continued to conduct this until 1911, in which year lie came to Canton and purchased his present business. Since coming to this city he has confined his interests to the operation of his lumber yard and has developed his business into one of the leaders in its line in the city. Mr. Schneider is a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, and with his family attends the Martin Luther Church.
Mr. Schneider married Miss Emma N. Haag, who was horn in Marlborough Township, Stark County, daughter of Mathias Haag, who is now engaged in farming in Plain Township, this county. One son has come to this union : Merlin R., born February 16, 1900, and now a student at the Canton High School.
RICHARD H. YANCEY, vice president, assistant general manager and director of the Berger Manufacturing Company, of Canton, was born in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, January 9, 1867, and is descended from the old and prominent Yancey family of the South, and a son of Robert L. and Amanda J. (Brock) Yancey, his father being a wealthy planter of Virginia.
Mr. Yancey was educated in the public schools of Virginia, and in 1884 began his business career as bookkeeper of a concern at Harrisonburg, Virginia, but two years later developed a strong desire to come West and from what he had learned of Canton and its opportunities decided on this city as his destination. He reached Canton October 16,
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1886, and soon found a position with J. H. Ellert & Company, manufacturers, as manager of sales. In 1891 he became identified with the Berger Manufacturing Company, in charge of correspondence, and later was made a department manager. In 1910 he was chosen vice president of the company and a director, and the same year was made a member of the executive board, this being followed, in 1911, by his appointment to the position of assistant manager. Mr. Yancey has been with the Berger Manufacturing Company for nearly twenty-four years, and this period covers practically the growing era of this vast concern. He has been a potent factor in the development of his department, as much of its growth has been along lines original with himself.
Mr. Yancey is a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce and has taken an active part in various civic movements which have contributed to Canton's welfare. He is widely known in social circles, and belongs to the Canton Club, the Lakeside Country Club and the Congress Lake Club.
Mr. Yancey was married to Miss Kate Hay, the daughter of John A. Hay, of Canton, and they have one daughter, Rebecca Lovette, born November 30, 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Yancey are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Canton.
JOSIAH L. COY, who has supplied the data for the history of Louisville in this publication, is now serving as mayor of that village, and has for nearly forty years been intimately identified with Stark County, particularly as an educator.
He was born January 30, 1854, near the Village of Woodbury in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. His parents were John and Magdalena (Pence) Coy, the former a native of Washington County, Maryland, and the latter of Franklin County, Pennsylvania. When Josiah L. Coy was a child his parents came to Stark County and he received his early education in the rural schools of Nimshillen Township and at Mount Union College. He never completed his collegiate course, since he left school prior to graduation in order to begin his work as a teacher.
For fifteen years Mr. Coy was actively engaged in his work as a teacher in the rural schools and in the Village of Louisville. In 1891 he became supervisor of music in the rural and village schools, and he continued to make that work his regular profession for twenty years. It is especially fitting that a permanent record should be made of his work as a music supervisor, since he was the first to introduce the study of music as a special study in the rural schools of this county.
Supplementing his profession as a teacher Mr. Coy has employed his many vacations and summer months in his trade as a cabinet maker and joiner. He is a careful and methodical workman of the old school, and takes especial delight in a finished piece of craftsmanship. At different times somc of the specimens of his skill as a joiner have been placed on exhibition.
He has also given his due share of service to the. public. He served three terms as clerk of Nimshillen Township, from 1879 to 1882, and has also held the position of justice of the peace for twenty years. He is now in his first term as mayor of Louisville. In politics he has always
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been a democrat of the Jeffersonian type. He is a member of the Reformed Church of Louisville.
On February 22, 1877, at Louisville he married Miss Clara A. Wilson, daughter of Solomon P. and Eliza (Freet) Wilson. Her father's ancestors came from Nova Scotia, while the Freets came from Virginia and were early settlers in Wyandotte County, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Coy are the parents of five children : J. Frederick Coy ; Lena Coy ; Robert E. Coy, who married Miss Dora Rich and lives in Alliance; Flora, now Mrs. C. M. Fenton of Northfield, Ohio ; and Mary A., Mrs. A. E. Miller of Cleveland.
JULIUS GEORGE BERDEL, one of the leading builders and real estate dealers of Canton, is a
native son of Stark County, Ohio, having been born on his father's farm in Perry Township, about one mile east of Massillon, on the Fort Wayne Railroad, August 30, 1875. His father, John Berdel, was born on the same farm, as above located, in 1854, the son of John Berdel, a native of Alsace, France. The grandfather was married in his native land and came to the United States when he was about twenty-eight years of age, with his wife and one child, who had been born in the old country. His first location was at East Liverpool, Ohio, but later he moved to the City of Canton, at that time a mere village with a handful of houses. Subsequently Mr. Berdel purchased land one mile east of Massillon, on the Fort Wayne Railroad, where he established a home, but in the evening of life moved into the Town of Massillon and took up his residence near the corner of Sipps and Lincoln avenues, where his death occurred. For probably forty years Mr. Berdel was one of the most trusted and esteemed employes of the Russell Company. His widow survived him about eight years and died on the farm of her son, John.
John Berdel, the father of Julius George Berdel, was reared on the old Berdel home farm, and from the age of fourteen years until he reached the age of fifty, was in the employ of the Russell Company, at Massillon. In 1876 he bought a farm two miles northwest of Reed Urban, on the road known as the old Fulton Road, and there he resided while rearing his family, and there continues to maintain his residence, having been engaged in farming during the past eleven years. The mother of Julius G. Berdel was Miss Rose Beaux, who was born in Alsace, France, but was reared from her fourteenth year in the City of Paris. She was born in 1853 and came to the United States when she was about eighteen years of age, she being married to Mr. Berdel at Massillon. She died February 12, 1909. The children born to John and Rose Berdel were four in number, as follows: Louis E., who resides at Canton and is engaged in work as a carpenter; Julius George ; Frank J., who is a contractor and builder of Canton ; and Clara, who married Clyde Hill and resides at Canton.
Julius George Berdel was reared on the home farm until he was eighteen years of age and received his education in the district schools of Perry Township. When he gave up his studies he began to learn the trade of carpenter, which he completed in all its details at Massillon, and in the year 1900 went to Cleveland, where he worked as a foreman and also engaged in contracting. In 1902 Mr. Berdel came to Canton,
PICTURE OF GUSTAVUS ELBEL
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 733
and. until November of that year was employed as a foreman for a contractor, then engaged in business on his own account, doing contract work exclusively until 1910, when he started in the building business, selling his residences on easy payments. During his business career at Canton,
Mr. Berdel has erected 300 homes, fifty of which were built on the easy payment plan, and in addition has handled 600 repair jobs. He has been very successful for himself and has contributed his full share toward the upbuilding and development of Canton and in making it a city of beantiful and substantial homes. Mr. Berdel has a capital of $100,000, and his extensive operations in his particular line of endeavor have gained for him the title of "the home builder." He is also interested as a stockholder in various industrial concerns at Canton, among which may be mentioned the Catholic Publishing Company, of which he is president. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Catholic Brotherhood of America, the Union of Saint Joseph, and various other Catholic societies, and has taken an active and helpful participation in church work.
Mr. Berdel married Miss Emma E. Swinehart, of Canton, the daughter of Amos K. Swinehart, and to this union there have been born six children, as follows: Lester C., born August 26, 1903 ; Lucille M., born September 17, 1904; Gertrude E., born August 19, 1906; Dorothy M., born December 15, 1909 ; Mary, born July 28, 1911; and John P., born October 31, 1913.
HENRY C. ELBEL. A business that has had a continuous relation with Canton's manufacturing interests for thirty-five years and is the chief concern of its kind in Northeastern Ohio is the Elbel Company, manufacturers of saddlery hardware. Henry C. Elbel is president of the company, having succeeded his late father in that position, and has been identified with the business in some capacity or other almost since it was established in Canton.
Henry C. Elbel was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1864, son of Gustavus and Elizabeth (Anderegg) Elbel. Gustavus Elbel was born in Saxony, Germany, June 24, 1835, son of Henry and Sophia (Bowers) Elbel. In 1849 the entire family took passage on a vessel bound for the United States and were landed in the City of Baltimore, Maryland. Grandfather Henry Elbel was a tanner by trade, and after several weeks of search for employment in Baltimore was unable to secure work and then removed to Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, where he bought a farm and there spent the rest of his life. His death occurred in 1874 and his widow passed away in 1884. Gustavus Elbel, though a boy of fourteen, found some employment at Baltimore which kept him there after his parents went on to Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, and he did not rejoin them for ten months. He soon afterwards moved out to Pittsburg, and found work under an uncle, who was a scale manufacturer. After a few years of this employment and of work in a stove factory, he began an apprenticeship at pattern making. In 1868 he entered the employ of the firm of Olnhausen, Crawford & Company, manufacturers of saddlery hardware in Pittsburg. Thus through father and son the Elbels have been identified with this line of manufactur-
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ing nearly half a century. The business was afterwards reorganized as the John Crawford & Company, and Mr. Elbel was a member of the firm from 1869. In 1880 occurred another organization, under the title Crawford Company. About that time, during 1880-81, the plant was removed to Canton, and here became the Elbel, Gilliam & Company. On the death of Mr. Gilliam another change was made to Elbel & Company, and in 1908 the business was incorporated as the Elbel Company, with Gustavus Elbel as president, a position he held until 1910. In that year he retired as president and was succeeded by his son, Henry. Gustavus Elbel died January 4, 1911. He made a striking success in life, in spite of early deficiencies in the way of education, found his own opportunities, was known among his associations as a hard-headed and shrewd business man and demanded as much of himself as he did of his subordinates. His wife died in 1895.
Henry C. Elbel came to Canton in 1881, and for about a year continued his education in the local public schools. In 1882 he left school to begin an apprenticeship at pattern making under his father. He also learned molding and core making and all other branches of the business, and from the factory went into the business offices, and for a number of years has been master of every detail. In October, 1893, he was made foreman of the molding department and has held that responsibility ever since, although he is also president of the entire business.
Mr. Elbel is affiliated with the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Maccabees, the Junior Order of American Mechanics, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Reindeers and other fraternal organizations, and is a man of genial social temperament and has hosts of friends both in the ranks of independent business men and laboring classes. He married Miss Nancy Groves, who was born in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, daughter of Robert and Mary Groves. Their one son, Henry C., Jr., was born January 17, 1899.
J. CHRISTOPHER FELDHEIMER. For practically forty-five years Mr. Feldheimer has been identified with one industry, having begun with the Elbel Company back in Pennsylvania when it was conducted under another name, and at the present time is vice president of that concern, one of the large and flourishing industries of Canton, manufacturing saddlery hardware. Few men in the industrial life of the city have been longer identified with one business, and in that time he has risen from the ranks of a general utility boy to an executive office.
J. Christopher Feldheimer was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. April 9, 1857, son of John P. and Magdalena Agatha (Muehlish) Feldheimer. His parents were both natives of Germany, came to the United States when quite young, and met and married in Pittsburg. John P. Feldheimer learned the trade of tanner in the old country, and was employed in that occupation at Pittsburg until his retirement. He removed to Canton in 1887 and died there in 1890 at the age of seventy- five, but was laid to rest beside his wife in Pittsburg. She had died in 1875.
J. Christopher Feldheimer un to the age of twelve years attended the Reformed Church schools at Allegheny City. He then began his voca-
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 735
tional training and at the same time helped support himself by work in different stores, and in 1870 took up an apprenticeship with the firm of John Crawford & Company, manufacturers of saddlery hardware at Pittsburg. In January, 1881, he came with the business when it was transferred to Canton, under the name Elbel, Gilliam & Company. At that time Mr. Feldheimer was a pattern maker. In 1900 he was made foreman of the pattern department, succeeding in that position the late Gustavus Elbel. About 1909 Mr. Feldheimer became a director in the company, but continued as foreman of the pattern department, and in 1910 was made vice president, his present position.
Mr. Feldheimer is a member of the First Reformed Church, of which he is an elder, and is also identified with the Canton Chamber of Commerce and the Washington Council of the Junior Order of American Mechanics, having been treasurer of the local council since 1888.
On October 30, 1883, Mr. Feldheimer married Miss Louise M. Elbel, daughter of the late Gustavus Elbel, former president of the Elbel Company. Their four children are: Eleanor Amanda; Flora Elsie, wife of August Feller of Canton; Ruth Irene; and J. Gustavus, who is now a clerk in the stock department of the Knight Tire & Rubber Company of Canton.
MARTIN WEILER. Among the general contracting builders who have contributed much to the past of the City of Canton, Ohio, and who, because of their superior ability and equipment and progressive ideas, may be depended upon to share in the future development of the city, extended mention is due Martin Weiler, a resident of the city for thirty- three years. Mr. Weiler was born in Baden, Germany, February 3, 1856, and is a son of Andrew and Elizabeth Weiler, natives of Baden, the former of whom died in Germany, while the latter accompanied her son to the United States and died at Canton in 1909.
Martin Weiler received his education in the public schools of his native land, and while growing to manhood learned the trade of brick and stone mason, at which he worked until 1882. In that year he boarded a vessel hound for the United States, and on his arrival in this country, in May of that year, joined his brother-in-law, Fred Schumacher, also a brick and stone mason, who had come to Canton in 1868 and was engaged in business. A partnership was formed between the two, which continued something more than two years, but in 1885 Mr. Weiler engaged in contracting on his own account, and has since continued with well-merited success. His business is not confined to one particular line, for he accepts contracts in all kinds of work in brick and stone, as well as in excavating, and in each department of his business is equally at home. Among the work which has placed Mr. Weiler among the leaders in his vocation may be mentioned the following: The George D. Harter Bank, Canton ; the stone work for Saint John's Catholic Parochial School ; the stone work for the Bell Telephone Building; the brick and stone work for the Aultman Hospital; the Gill business block on West Fifth Street; the Seeholtz business block on West Third Street; the Neimiller Company's factory buildings; the city fire house on Navarre Road ; factory additions for the Gilliam Manufacturing Company; stone
736 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
work for the remodeled First Reformed Church ; stone work on the church at Cleveland Avenue and Third Street ; the Salvation Army Barracks; the Tony Wilson business block ; two stone residences for Judge C. C. Bow ; remodeling of the Auction Syndicate Building ; remodeling of the Victory Block ; stone work on the Dannemiller Grocery Company's warehouse; brick and stone work for Stewart S. Kurtz residence; the factory for the McClain Manufacturing Company ; two buildings for the Stark-Tuscarawas Breweries Company, on Cherry Street, North; brick and stone work on the H. R. Jones residence; stone work on the Cohlbach residence; and stone work on Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic Church on Tuscarawas Street, West. At the present time he has the contract for a brick residence for Walter Jones.
Mr. Weiler is a master of business singularly adapted to his abilities, while as an employer of labor he is considerate and appreciative and has the faculty of securing from his men the best work of which they are capable. He belongs to the Canton Builders Exchange, and probably no man in the business is better known or more highly respected. A further business connection is with the Collateral Loan Company, in which he is a director. In politics Mr. Weiler is a republican, and with his family he is a member of the First Reformed Church.
Before leaving Germany, Mr. Weiler was married to Miss Caroline Weiler, and to this union there have been born three children : William, who married Martha Gross; Adolph, who is his father's associate in business; and Miss Elizabeth, who resides with her parents.
J. WALTER MCCLYMONDS. Distinguished as a soldier, business man and citizen, J. Walter McClymonds, who passed away at his beautiful home, "Five Oaks," on October 5, 1912, was throughout a long and prosperous career one of the best friends and benefactors of the City of Massillon. His career was remarkable not only in the splendid success he attained, but in the fact that it was guided throughout by an integrity of purpose, by an unerring judgment, an unfailing energy and an indomitable will which always kept his undertakings up to the highest. standard of honorable and useful relations with the world. Above all he acquired the supreme attribute of character—the vital force that underlies all worthy accomplishment, that commands honor and affection, that is the basis of enduring greatness and that endures and lives after the man himself has passed away.
The late J. Walter McClymonds was born at New Lisbon, now Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio, September 18, 1842, and was therefore a little past seventy years when taken by death. He was of Scotch-Irish extraction. His grandfather, John McClymonds, a resident of Pennsylvania, was a soldier in the War of 1812 with the rank of captain, and for many years was postmaster at Darlington, Pennsylvania. John McClymonds, Jr.,. father of the Massillon business man, moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio, locating in New Lisbon, where for many years he conducted a mercantile and banking business. In 1860 he came to Massillon, for nine years was identified with banking, and in 1869 became one of the organizers of the Ohio National Bank at Cleveland, of which he was president until he retired a few years before his death. He died
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 737
in 1894 in the eighty-sixth year of his life. Outside of banking he was also prominent in organizing and establishing the Cleveland Rubber Company at Cleveland and the Chicago Rubber Works at Chicago, in both of which concerns he was a director. He was married at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, to Elizabeth Kincaid, whose father, Thomas Kincaid, came from Hagerstown, Maryland, where she was born and reared.
J. Walter McClymonds was graduated from the New Lisbon High School at the age of eighteen. A few months later, in April, 1861, he entered the service of the Government by enlisting as a private in Company E of the Nineteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for the term of three months. The regiment was assigned to the Army of West Virginia under McClellan and Rosecrans. For gallantry in the battle of Rich Mountain young McClymonds was complimented by General McClellan. When this brief term of enlistment expired he continued in the army as a member of Company A of the same regiment, and a little later was promoted to sergeant major, in which capacity he remained with his regiment until the summer of 1862. The Nineteenth Ohio was attached to the Eleventh Brigade, Second Division, Army of Ohio, under Gen. Carlos Buell, during the campaign in Kentucky and Tennessee in the fall and winter of 1861 and the spring of 1862. This campaign terminated with the battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing on April 6 and 7, 1862, and in the advance upon and siege of Corinth and the campaign about Iuka in Mississippi. Sergeant Major McClymonds was honorably discharged in July, 1862, to accept promotion and was commissioned adjutant of the One Hundred and Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was active in organizing that regiment at Camp Massillon, Ohio.
With the One Hundred and Fourth Regiment he saw service in the defense of Cincinnati against Kirby Smith, in the engagement at Fort Mitchell September, 1862, and in the pursuit of Morgan in Kentucky in the winter of 1862. In the spring of 1863 his regiment and brigade were with Burnside in the East Tennessee campaign and in the operations about Cumberland Gap, in the Knoxville campaign and siege of Knoxville, terminating in the spring of 1864. From Eastern Tennessee his regiment was assigned to General Cox's Division of the Twenty-third Corps of Sherman's army, and was in that terrific struggle which began at Dalton in May, 1864, and continued with hardly a day of interruption in the advance upon Atlanta and the final siege and fall of that city. Mr. McClymonds was with his brigade and corps in all its marches and skirmishes and battles during that campaign, including Resaca, Cartersville, Dallas. Kenesaw Mountain, Lost Mountain, Peachtree Creek, Atlanta, Eutaw Creek, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station. His command was then detached from the main army to go in pursuit of General Hood into Alabama. and on that service was engaged until October, 1864.
After that his regiment became part of the First Brigade, Third Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, Army of Ohio, under General Schofield, and participated in the Nashville campaign of November and December, 1864. He was in the battles around Pulaski, Columbia and Columbia Ford, Spring Hill, and in the culminating struggle at Frank-
738 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
lin on November 30th and at Nashville on December 15th-16th. These battles brought the Confederate resistance in the West practically to an end, and at the close of the campaign Mr. McClymonds' regiment was transferred to North Carolina and participated in the operations against the forces of General Hoke about Fort Fisher and Fort Anderson and in the battles of Town Creek, Wilmington and Goldsboro. After the surrender of Johnston 's army the regiment was mustered out in the spring of 1865, and Mr. McClymonds received his honorable discharge.
On June 27, 1864, he had been commissioned captain, and served as assistant adjutant general of the brigade on the staff of General Reilly from August, 1863, to April, 1865. At the close of the war Captain McClymonds received a commission in the regular army as first lieutenant of the Fourteenth Regular Infantry, but after holding this commission a few months resigned, preferring a business to a military career. During the summer, fall and winter of 1865 he was stationed at Washington as secretary in the office of General Poe, chief engineer on General Sherman's staff.
In the spring of 1866 Mr. McClymonds located in Massillon, and for about three years was engaged first as clerk in the manufacturing establishment of Russell & Company and subsequently as teller in the Union National Bank. Going to Cleveland in the spring of 1869, the following three years were spent as assistant cashier of the Ohio National Bank of that city, of which his father was then president. Mr. McClymonds returned to Massillon in the spring of 1872, became bookkeeper with the Russell & Company, and in January, 1876, was advanced to a partnership in the industry, and took charge of the financial management of the business. In January, 1878, the firm was incorporated as Russell & Company, with Mr. McClymonds as secretary and treasurer, positions he held until 1888. In that year Nahum S. Russell, who for a long time had been president of the company, retired, and Mr. McClymonds was made his successor, an office he held until his death. In 1900 he reorganized the firm of Russell & Company, separating the stationary engine business and organizing it as a separate corporation under the title of the Russell Engine Company. A separate plant was also built for this branch of the industry. The old firm of Russell & Company was reincorporated under the title of The Russell & Company, and Mr. McClymonds was at the head of both concerns as president. As is told on other pages of this history of Stark County the firm of Russell & Company was established in 1842, as an inconspicuous shop for the manufacture of threshing machinery. Its power was supplied by one blind horse, and the total capital was $1,500. That was the beginning of an industry which has now for many years been one of the large central plants in the industrial district of Massillon.
Mr. McClymonds in 1890 organized the Merchants National Bank of Massillon, and established the institution in the building at the southeast corner of Main and Erie streets. This bank at once won a liberal patronage, and its prosperous growth has never been interrupted. When the bank outgrew its original quarters Mr. McClymonds erected the McClymonds Building, one of the finest structures of its kind in the
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 739
state. The first floor of the building was occupied by the bank of which he was president until his death.
While his forte was business, and in that way he contributed most enduringly to the development of Stark County, Mr. McClymonds was also a close observer and as opportunity permitted a participant in public affairs. Politically he was always an ardent republican and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln while in the army. Though repeatedly urged to accept political honors, he steadfastly refused. In 1884 he served as president of the Ohio Commission at the New Orleans Exposition, having been appointed by Governor Hoadley. He was one of the presidential electors in 1888, and cast his vote for Benjamin Harrison. Governor McKinley tendered him the position of director general of the Board of Ohio Commissioners to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, but his business engagements prevented him from accepting the honor. There was never an important movement during his lifetime for the public good which he did not support, and there was no citizen of Massillon more liberal in benefactions to charitable organizations. Mr. McClymonds was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and of Hart Post, G. A. R.
On November 9, 1870, Mr. McClymonds married Flora A. Russell, daughter of the late Nahum S. Russell. They were the parents of two children : Edna, Mrs. Leslie M. Maitland, of Chicago, and Ruth, who is Mrs. Arvine Wales, of Massillon. Mrs. McClymonds completed her education at Brook Hall, a well known seminary for girls at Media, Pennsylvania. She died suddenly while visiting in Chicago on December 8, 1912, having survived her husband less than two months. Mrs. McClymonds was a woman whose generosity equalled her means, and she was an efficient companion to her husband in utilizing to the best advantages the large resources which they had at their command. Mrs. McClymonds and her sister, Mrs. Louis K. McClymonds, of New York, in 1897 gave as a memorial to their parents, the late Nahum S. and Esther Russell, the Nahum S. Russell residence on Prospect Street for a library building. J. Walter McClymonds supplemented this gift with an endowment of $20,000. The McClymonds Public Library Association was then formed, and Mr. McClymonds was president of the board at the time of his death.
Many of the influences and results of such a life as that of Mr. McClymonds are traced through permanent institutions in Stark County, and it would be impossible to describe his life work to its ultimate accomplishment. As a summary of what he stood for and did and as a character sketch one of the best comments upon his career was published in the Massillon Independent at the time of his death. This editorial is quoted as follows:
"By the death of J. W. McClymonds Massillon has lost a generous, public spirited, high minded and patriotic citizen and the people of Massillon have lost a friend and a neighbor whose love for the town, His home, his comrades, his business associates—for all those with whom he came in personal contact—was a leading characteristic. Over the fireplace in the reception hall of his beautiful home in Prospect street are carved these words :
740 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
`Draw near, more near, forever dear;
Where'er I rest or roam,
Or in the city's crowded streets,
Or by the blown sea foam,
The thought of thee is home.'
and it was this home in Massillon around which centered his warmest affections and to which he gave generously of all he had, his material wealth, and his enlightened thought, to which he turned in sickness or in health, for cheer and comfort. To trace in detail the story of his life is a task which does not belong to these paragraphs. It finely illustrates the possibilities in the line of accomplishment for the sturdy qualities of the best sort of American citizenship in such a city as ours.
"The Civil war gave Mr. McClymonds a chance to show his patriotism as well as his charming, companionable characteristics which led to a distinction both in the affairs of the city and county and in the business world in which he played so large and important a part. Mr. McClymonds' gifts to the city were many. Some of them are known. Some will never be known. His endowment of the public library which occupies the fine old residence formerly the home of Mrs. McClymonds and her sister, who gave it to the city, has made that institution the intellectual center of Massillon, and it will be preserved by the city with jealous care. It has attracted to Massillon people of scholarly inclination and has developed among us a high standard of thought, and silently but forcibly contributed in many ways to the upbuilding of- the town.
"Mr. McClymonds' business enterprise resulted in the development of the big manufacturing plants in Massillon which bear the name of Russell, the founding of a banking institution of high standing and the erection of a magnificent business block. He gave large sums to every enterprise proposed for the public welfare and his generous interest in every detail of the city's development was what frequently made it possible to carry proposed plans forward to completion.
"The enduring, grateful memories of hundreds of friends and neighbors will not lose sight of these things. A half century of warm friendship taught Massillon to know Mr. McClymonds in a close and personal way. In the city at large as well as in the home where he was so greatly loved and honored, he leaves a great and deplorable emptiness."
AMBROSE B. WINGATE. Now serving as deputy recorder of Stark County, Ambrose B. Wingate has for many years been well known not only in this county but all over Eastern Ohio, and chiefly as an educator. His work as a school man has enabled him to influence for good thousands of the younger generation, and it can be said with perfect propriety that Mr. Wingate has brought energy, faithfulness, and ability to every undertaking in the course of his life.
His years have been passed in several counties of Eastern Ohio. He was born at New Cumberland, Tuscarawas County, November 21, 1862, and is a son of the late William and Mary Margaret (Shuster) Wingate,
PICTURE OF AMBROSE B. WINGATE
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 741
both also natives of Ohio. His paternal grandfather was Elihu Wingate, who was born in Wales and came over and settled near Canal Dover in Tuscarawas County. His settlement there occurred during the pioneer era, and as a farmer he was unusually successful. However, his death occurred only a few years after his arrival in this country, and his wife passed away about the same time. The maternal greatgrandfather of Mr. Wingate was Samuel Shuster, who was born in Germany. He and his wife had the same family name. They sailed on the same vessel and worked their way across. They had never met until they were on the ocean. As soon as they landed they married and then worked hard to secure means to take them West as far as Tuscarawas County, in which district they came as pioneers.
William Wingate, father of the Stark County educator and public official, died at Bowerston, Ohio, on November 5, 1895, at the age of seventy-four. His wife passed away at the old homestead March 5, 1890, at the age of sixty-six. They were the parents of ten children, five of whom died in childhood, while the others, except Samuel, who died about 1905, are still living.
It was on the old home farm near New Cumberland that Ambrose B. Wingate grew to manhood. He had the usual circumstances and environment of a country boy, and attended the common schools up to the age of sixteen. At that time he taught his first school, and for seven years was employed during most of the year in country school districts, using the earnings thus acquired to continue his education through the higher branches. For seven years Mr. Wingate was principal of the Bowerston public schools and for six years was county examiner in Harrison County, discharging the duties of both positions at the same time. For ten years he was superintendent of the Beach City public schools.
While teaching and during vacations he acquired a liberal education. He attended Scio College and spent four terms at the Chautauqua Normal Training School. In June, 1909, he left the schoolroom as a teacher and superintendent, and for six years was a very capable representative for the Royal Mutual Life Insurance Company. On September 6, 1915, he took his first office as deputy recorder of Stark County.
Mr. Wingate, on account of his widely recognized qualities as an educator, was elected a member of the first County Board of Education of Stark County in 1914 and is still a member. He had much to do with the organization and early work of the board, since his experience and ability made him a natural leader in the work. In 1907 he was a candidate at the primaries for state representative, and was defeated by a margin of only seven votes. He was secretary of the Stark County Sunday School Association for three years and at Akron at the last annual conference' of the Northeast Ohio Conference of the Methodist Church, on the first ballot, he was chosen a delegate to the National Conference which convenes at Saratoga, New York, in May, 1916. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Wingate married Frances M. Justus of Worthington, Indiana. Mrs. Wingate was also a teacher and taught in the primary rooms in schools of which Mr. Wingate was for seven years superintendent.
Vol. II -23
742 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
IRVING A. ELSON, M. D., one of the representative physicians and surgeons and popular citizens of Stark County, where he has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Canton since 1911, Doctor Elson is a native of the Buckeye State and a scion of an honored pioneer family of this favored commonwealth. He controls a large and representative general practice and gives special attention to the treatment of the diseases of the ear, nose and throat.
Doctor Elson was born at Wooster, the judicial center of Wayne County, Ohio, on the 11th of August, 1863, and is a son of George W. and Matilda (Shearer) Elson, both of whom were born in Osnaburg Township, Stark County, where both the paternal and maternal grandfathers of Doctor Elson established their residence in the pioneer days. George W. Elson was born in the year 1834 and was a son of Thomas W. Elson, who was born in Virginia, of Irish ancestry, and who settled in Wayne County, Ohio, in an early day. He later established his home in Osnaburg Township, Stark County, where he followed farming until the time of his death, in 1875. At Wooster he had followed the trade of shoemaker and later he there served as a foreman on the line of the Pittsburg & Fort Wayne Railroad. The maternal grandfather of Doctor Elson was Jonathan Shearer, who was born in Pennsylvania and who was about seventeen years of age when he became an early settler of Osnaburg Township, Stark County, Ohio, where he became a prosperous farmer and where he passed the residue of his life. The father of Doctor Elson is deceased, but the mother is living.
After duly profiting by the advantages afforded by the public schools, Doctor Elson attended the Northeastern Ohio Normal School, and thereafter, in preparation for the work of his chosen profession, he entered the medical department of Western Reserve University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1891 and from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Later he completed effective postgraduate courses in the New York Post Graduate Medical College and the New York Polyclinic, and his initial professional work was done at Smithville, Wayne County, whence he finally removed to the City of Cleveland, which was the stage of his professional activities during the ensuing period of seven years. For 21A years he there had charge of the ear, nose and throat dispensary of Lakeside Hospital. From Cleveland he removed to Lorain, in the county of the same name, and there he continued in active general practice for three years, at the expiration of which, in 1911, he established his residence in Canton. He holds no brief for aught of apathy in the work and study of his profession but insistently keeps in touch with the advances made in medical and surgical science, of the best standard and periodical literature of which he constantly avails himself. He is a republican in his political allegiance, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the American Yeomen, and both he and his wife. hold membership in the Christian Church.
In the year 1891 was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Elson to Miss Florence E. Ake, who was born and reared in Stark County and who is a daughter of Francis Ake and a twin sister of Judge Harvey F. Ake, a detailed record concerning this old and honored family being given
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 743
on other pages of this publication. Doctor and Mrs. Elson have one daughter, Ethel A.
CHARLES A. BRAUCHLER. One of the big business establishments that have given character to the industrial life of Canton is the Canton Drop Forging and Manufacturing Company. A couple of hundred families, upward of 1,000 individuals, find this the central institution around which revolve their daily lives and sustenance. The president and general manager of this prosperous plant, Charles A. Brauchler, has been in the manufacturing business in all the grades and service for many years, and is well fitted both by experience and native ability to control and direct this large local factory.
The Canton Drop Forging and Manufacturing Company was organ- ized and incorporated in 1903, with an original capital of $25,000. The first officers were: J. B. Weida, president ; James T. Anderson, vice president ; Charles A. Schlabach, treasurer ; J. L. Stern, secretary ; and P. A. Miller, director. In April, 1913, the capital was increased to $150,000, with $100,000 preferred and $50,000 common stock. A number of changes have taken place in the personnel of the officers, and in 1915 the officers and directors are as follows: Charles A. Brauchler, president and general manager; W. F. Klotz, vice president ; K. S. Goodin, secretary and treasurer; W. W. Bordner and F. W. Brauchler, directors. The original company began active operations in 1904, in that year completing the plant on lots 6399 and 6400, which was leased ground. Since then the company has added to the plant by the purchase of the original lots and other lots and the erection of new buildings, until the factory now covers lots 6394 to 6403 inclusive. The output of the plant includes all kinds of drop forging, and-the product is shipped all over the country. From 175 to 200 men are on the payroll, and from this brief description it is easy to understand that the Drop Forging Company is one of Canton's live and important enterprises.
Charles A. Brauchler, president and general manager, is a native of Stark County, born at Navarre, October 1, 1867. His parents were Frederick and Margaret (Miller) Brauchler, both natives of German y,, the father born in 1825 and the mother in 1830. They came to the United States when young people, and were married at Navarre. Frederick Brauchler enlisted at Massillon as a musican in Company B of the Nineteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served through two years of the Civil war. He was a fine type of citizen and a substantial provider for his family. In 1870 the family removed to Canton, and the father died in that city in 1880, while the mother passed away in 1895.
Charles A. Brauchler acquired his early education in the Canton public schools, which city has been his home since he was three years of age. Opportunity and inclination directed him to the machinist's trade, and he served his apprenticeship with the Canton Steel Company, and continued in the employ of that concern for seventeen years. After the company was bought by the Crucible Steel Company of America, he continued with the new concern for a time. Mr. Brauchler was only financially interested at first in the Canton Drop Forging and Manu-
744 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
facturing Company when it was organized in 1903, but on the opening of the plant went into the shop as a general workman. He was soon given a place on the board of directors, and was promoted to managing director. In 1905 he was made treasurer of the company, and in 1906 was made first treasurer and superintendent and then treasurer and general manager. Since 1907 he has held the responsibilities of president and general manager.
Mr. Branchler married Viola Lichtenwalter, daughter of Michael Lichtenwalter of Canton. They are the parents of the following children: Gertrude; Carl, who died at the age of three years and one day ; Lavia ; Chandis ; and Labern. Mr. Brauchler is a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce and he and his family worship in St. John's Catholic Church.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER MCDOUGALL. A splendid record in building up the relations of a large life insurance company with the territory in and around Canton has been made by William Alexander McDougall, manager of the Manufacturers Life Insurance Company for Northeastern Ohio, with offices in the Renkert Building at Canton. Four years ago when he took charge at Canton the Manufacturers Life was practically unknown locally so far as written insurance was concerned, but his aggressive individuality and skillful direction of the work of others have made the premium receipts at the Canton office among the largest paid at any one point in the territory covered by the Manufacturers Life agents.
An indomitable, hard working and persistent Scotchman is Mr. McDougall, who was born in Glasgow- September 10, 1872. He has lived in America about fifteen years. His parents were John and Elizabeth (Nimmo) McDougall, his father a native of Islay, in the Scotch Highlands, and for many years superintendent of one of the largest ship building yards on the Clyde. The mother was born in Glasgow, and both parents are now deceased.
Educated in the public schools of Glasgow, Mr. McDougall early conceived an ambition for the India service, and prepared toward that end in the Athenaeum College. Parental objections overcame his plans for that service, and instead he was employed in clerical work at Glasgow until 1898. In that year he made his first visit to America, where an uncle lived. He traveled over many of the states, went out to the Pacific Coast, was at Honolulu and other points, and finally returned to Glasgow. So favorable had been his impressions of the United States that in the following year he returned to this country, and at that time took up the insurance business at Port Huron and Detroit, with residence in the former city. For eight years Mr. McDougall was district agent for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York.
It was in 1911 that he left the Mutual Life to become district manager for Northeastern Ohio, with headquarters at Canton, for the Manufacturers Life. As an evidence of his success since coming to Canton it may be stated that when he joined the Manufacturers Life that company had not a single Canton policy on its books. Today the business has
PICTURE OF WILLIAM ALEXANDER MCDOUGALL
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 745
grown until the Canton office has a yearly premium income representing more than $2,000,000 of insurance. Mr. McDougall is not only a manager but an exceedingly energetic insurance salesman himself, and his individual success is indicated by the fact of his membership in the Hundred Thousand Dollar Club of the Manufacturers Life, while for the past three years he has been president of that organization. His associate in the life insurance business is Richard Harter, son of Isaac Harter, the well known banker of Canton.
Mr. McDougall since coming to Canton has identified himself actively with local affairs. He is a trustee of the First Congregational Church of Canton, in Masonry has attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite, is a member of the Shriners Club, the Adcraft Club, the Lakeside Country Club and the Canton Chamber of Commerce. His wife was formerly Christina Ramsay, daughter of John Ramsay, a prominent silk manufacturer of Pennsylvania.
PETER SAILER. The possibilities of human achievements and service are well illustrated in the career of the late Peter Sailer of Massillon. At one time he had a humble place among local citizens, but his own native business ability, stimulated by the effective co-operation of an equally energetic and capable wife, brought him to a position which was maintained for many years as one of the successful business men and loyal and public spirited citizens.
Peter Sailer was born near Heidelberg, Baden, Germany, October 13, 1839. While growing up in his native country and after the education usually given to German boys, he learned the trade of tailor. He also served the regular term in the German army. In May, 1866, he emigrated to America, and at Baltimore, on June 24, 1866, married Eva Louisa Anwiler. She had arrived in America on the same ship as Mr. Sailer. Their acquaintance had begun while they were children in Germany, and by their marriage in Baltimore was cemented into lasting ties which continued until broken by the death of Mr. Sailer more than thirty years later. Mrs. Sailer had learned the trade of cigar maker in the old country.
It was in September, 1866, that Mr. and Mrs. Sailer came to Massillon. There he worked at his trade for a short time, but later with the assistance of his wife established a small retail tobacco store, Mrs. Sailer making the cigars and subsequently teaching her husband the same trade. They both exemplified the old fashioned German thoroughness in their work, showed an eagerness to serve their patrons, and gave a high quality of goods for the money. In consequence the business grew rapidly from the start and as the responsibilities and prospects increased Mr. Sailer felt the need of a more technical education in order to handle -the enterprise. Leaving his wife in charge, he then took a course in a business college near Chicago. This training was only necessary to acquaint him with business forms and practices, since he really possessed a splendid natural talent for business, reinforced by the shrewdness and efficiency of his wife. After that the business, which had started in only a modest way, grew by leaps and bounds until in the early '80s the Continental Cigar Factory, as their concern was
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known, was the largest in this federal district, and at times employed about 250 people, with a capacity of about 38,000 cigars per day. This product under different brands was shipped all over the United States and there was a large consumption of it on the Pacific coast.
In 1891, owing to the increased demands of the labor unions, and in spite of the fact that Mr. Sailer had always maintained the kindest personal relations with his employes, he retired from the cigar manufacturing business and transformed the large factory building which he had erected for the purpose into the Sailer Hotel. He gave his active management to the hotel for two years, but from that time until the complete failure of his health devoted his time to his private interests, which had become extensive.
Peter Sailer died March 8, 1897, survived by his widow and four children. There were six children, but two of them died young. Those living are : Amelia, wife of C. Oscar Olson, living at Cleveland. Ohio, and they are the parents of one daughter, Edna R.; Gustave J., who married Maude Gaddis, and has a daughter, Miriam L., Gustave being proprietor of the Sailer Hotel at Massillon ; Arthur G., who married Clara Kiester of Canton, lives at Massillon and is engaged in the manufacturing business Miss Freda R., is unmarried and lives with her mother in their home at 620 South Erie Street. She is a graduate of a local business college, is a business woman, and also active in social affairs.
The late Peter Sailer with his honesty, energy and stability possessed the qualifications of true citizenship, and his worth being readily recognized by his fellowmen he was for years honored with public responsibilities, especially as the representative of his ward in the city council. He was first nominated and elected for that position while abroad on a business trip and without his knowledge. At one time he served as a member of the board of health and on the park commission. In 1886 he was chosen president of the city council, and when he retired from that body his services were recognized in the presentation by his colleagues of a beautiful silver service. Mr. Sailer was an almost constant reader, possessed wide information on literary, political and other topics, and was especially well informed on biblical history. The honorable character which he exemplified in his business relations was carried into his home, and was devoted to the interests of those about his own hearthstone, and to his children and descendants he left not only a large material property but the more valued heritage of a good name. His widow, Mrs. Sailer, has to a peculiar degree shared in all the achievements and honors paid to her husband. She is a kind and devoted mother, and much of her husband's business success is attributed to her industry, thrift and excellent judgment.
At the time of the death of Mr. Sailer the Massillon Independent said . editorially : "The death of Mr. Sailer on Monday morning has removed from the community a man whose energy, integrity and perseverance have won for himself a noted place among citizens of Massillon. With the assistance and cooperation of a clever and far-sighted wife, he arose from the modest position of a tailor to one of large interests and responsibilities, and when he came to occupy a position of more prosperous and responsible citizenship he was found ready and fitted for the place."
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 747
JAMES L. AMERMAN, attorney of Canton, and member of the law firm of Bow, Amerman & Mills, was born at Alliance, Ohio, March 23, 1882, a son of the late James Amerman, a well known lawyer of Alliance. Mr. Amerman attended the Alliance public schools and Mount Union College and was graduated from the law department of Western Reserve University, class of 1906, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, being admitted to the bar and beginning practice at Alliance during the same year.
In the fall of 1908 Mr. Amerman located at Canton, and six months later became a member of the firm of Ake, Day & Amerman, the other members of the concern having been Judge Harvey Ake, now of the Stark County Common Pleas Bench, and Luther M. Day, now of Cleveland, Ohio. Upon the election of Judge Ake to the bench, the firm became that of Day & Amerman, which style continued until Mr. Day removed to Cleveland, Mr. Amerman then becoming a member of the firm of Quinn & Amerman. At the expiration of the term of Judge C. C. Bow as judge of probate of Stark County, Mr. Amerman became a member of the combination of Bow, Amerman & Mills, which has continued in existence to the present time.
Mr. Amerman is a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, the Canton Club, the Lakeside Country Club and the Knights of Pythias. He married Miss Mary Gabrella Milborn, daughter of M. S. Milborn, a prominent banker and manufacturer of Alliance, Ohio.
The late James Amerman, father of James L. Amerman, was born at Genesee, Michigan, August 20, 1848, the son of John and Mary A. (Duns) Laidler, the former born in the Highlands of Scotland, in 1812, and the latter in 1814. They were married in Wollan Parish, Northumberland, and came to America in 1842, locating in Michigan. They had six children, and upon the death of the mother, in 1850, James Laidler was adopted by Daniel and Mary Amerman, of Thornville, Lapeer County, Michigan, and with his foster parents came to Alliance, Ohio, in 1858. In April. 1862, he enlisted in Company B, Eighty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with his regiment until the close of the Civil war. He was slightly wounded in the side at the second battle of Bull Run, and at Gettysburg was taken prisoner by the Confederates and subsequently confined on Belle Island for three months, after which he was paroled, returned to his regiment, and finally exchanged. During a part of his service he was detailed for duty in the office of the adjutant-general of the Army of the Potomac. He was mustered out of the service with an excellent war record, in June, 1865.
Returning to Alliance, Mr. Amerman soon commenced the study of law with A. L. Jones, and was admitted to the bar in April. 1867. He was for a. short time associated as partner with Mr. Jones, but all the balance of his professional career he was alone. He (lied in 1884, after a brilliant and successful career, with a reputation which extended all over Ohio. Mr. Amerman was at different times associated in the trial of noted cases with some of the most noted lawyers of the state, and among these may he mentioned the Boyle murder trial, in 1877, in which he assisted the prosecution in securing a penitentiary sentence of eight-
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een years; the noted case of Teeters vs. Brainard, involving the ownership of Alliance College, Mr. Amerman being attorney for the plaintiff, who secured a verdict in both the Common Pleas and District courts. In these cases were retained ex-Chief Justices Ranney and Day, and Judges Ambler, Underhill and Raff. Another case was the celebrated title ease of Fowler vs, Hester, in which the damages were laid at $25,000, and in which case he was associated with Judge Ambler. He was the attorney for the defendant against McSweeny and others for the prosecution, which resulted in a verdict for the defendant. Another in which Mr. Amerman participated was the ease of Ohio vs. Ohr, charged with murder in the first degree, as well as the State vs. Sarnet, with a like charge, in both of which cases Mr. Amerman appeared for the defendant.
For two years Mr. Amerman was attorney for the Lake Erie & Alliance Railroad Company. He served as city solicitor of Alliance, and when only twenty-two years of age was defeated for the office of mayor of Alliance, his youth working against him in the election. His entire life, public and private, was characterized by a strict integrity and a conscientious performance of every duty devolving upon him.
Mr. Amerman was married November 7, 1870, to Miss Rachel Teeters, daughter of the late Elisha Teeters, and to them four children were born : Maude M.; Allen E.; Rosa Vivian, who died May 7, 1879, aged 21/.-, years; and James L.
Elisha Teeters, the maternal grandfather of James L. Amerman, was the real founder of the City of Alliance. He was born in what is now Mahoning County, Ohio, January 11, 1814, the son of John and Mary (Cook) Teeters. His grandfather, Elisha Teeters, emigrated from Germany to this country at about the time of the War of the Revolution and settled in Eastern Pennsylvania in 1796, later becoming a pioneer of Columbiana (now Mahoning) County, Ohio. John Teeters, the father of Elisha Teeters, served as a colonel under Gen. William Henry Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe and afterwards president of the United States, in the War of 1812. Colonel Teeters was a warm advocate of education and moral reform, was a Friend in religion, a democrat up to the beginning of the Civil war and then a republican, and up to his death an influential and prominent citizen. He died July 25, 1866, in his eighty-fifth year.
Elisha Teeters was the oldest son of a family of ten children. He was reared amid pioneer surroundings and received such educational advantages as were offered by the primitive schools of his day and locality, and in his youth showed himself an industrious and ambitious lad. He was married July 16, 1835, to Miss Eliza Webb, daughter of Richard Webb, a pioneer of Columbiana County, Ohio, and in August of that same year the young couple came to Lexington, Stark County. Ohio, settling on land which Mr. Teeters had purchased from his father. There he engaged in agricultural pursuits until the year 1846, when he purchased land adjoining the limits of Alliance on the north. He made the original plat of Alliance in 1851. From his original farm north of the city Mr. Teeters later removed to the city proper, and there his death occurred June 17, 1899.
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In early years Mr. Teeters was engaged in mercantile lines as a dry goods and produce merchant at Alliance, hut subsequently turned his attention to private banking, his interests extending into various lines of endeavor, in all of which he won marked success. He was for a time treasurer of the Lake Erie, Alliance and Wheeling Railroad Company, was engaged for some years in a manufacturing business, and still later was identified with the First National Bank of Alliance and various other enterprises. As a citizen Mr. Teeters at all times held the confidence and respect of his fellow-men, and his activities were varied and at all times helpful. For six years he served as county commissioner of Stark County, and for a long period was one of the trustees of Fairmount Children's Home. An ardent friend and supporter of the cause of education, he was for many years the owner of Alliance College and Boarding Hall. Mrs. Teeters preceded him to the grave, in January, 1866.
EDWARD E. BENDER. For a number of years Edward E. Bender has been well known in business affairs at Canton. He is a man of thorough experience and high standing in the civic community.
A native son of this county, he was born on East Tuscarawas Street at Canton, March 19, 1871. His parents were James K. P. and Elizabeth (Spuhler) Bender. His grandfather, Everhard Bender, was born at Pyrmaseus in Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, and came to the United States when a young man, settling in New York City, where he married Henrietta Werne. A great many years ago they moved to Ohio, settling first at Bolivar, and later removing to Canton. James K. P. Bender was born on Staten Island, New York, November 9, 1844. and was still a boy when he accompanied the family to Canton. He married Elizabeth Spuhler, a native of Switzerland, and resided in Canton until the time of his death, in 1888.
As a boy Edward E. Bender attended the public schools at Canton, and also took a course in the Ohio Northern University at Ada. His wife before her marriage was Anna M. Behm, a daughter of George Beim, who has long lived in Canton and is a veteran of the Civil war.
ST. PAUL'S CATHOLIC CHURCH. One of the oldest and most flourishing Catholic parishes in Stark County is St. Paul's in New Berlin, which is the religious center for more than 100 Catholic families in that part of the county, and services of this denomination have been conducted there practically continuous for seventy years. Between 1845 and 1848 it was attended as a station from St. John's Church of Canton. On May 20, 1845, the lot containing 1 1/2 acres was bought, and two years later a church built of brick and costing $2,000 was completed. Its cornerstone was laid by Rev. J. II. Luhr of Canton, in August, 1845.
Nearly a generation later, in 1872, the church was enlarged, making its length fifty-four feet and width forty feet. Between 1848 and 1850 New Berlin was attended monthly from St. Vincent's Church of Akron, by the Rev. C. Mouret ; between 1851 and 1854 from Harrisburg, and between 1854 and 1856 from St. Peter's of Canton, and from St. John's of Canton from 1856 to 1875. A priest from St. Peter's of Canton