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900 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY It was at the Fairview Township home in Tuscarawas County that Augustus and Weltha Bender welcomed, on January 3, 1862, the son who is so well known to Canton as Charles W. Bender. As a lad Charles Bender was always deeply interested in the productive and useful activities he observed about him. When still quite a young man, he had attained something of his present skill as a stone-cutter, as well as having become familiar with agriculture on his father's farm. In 1889 Mr. Bender chose Canton as his home and the scene of his life-work. Beginning work in this city as a stone-cutter, he continued in that branch of his vocation until 1903, when he established his own business. Being modest. in his earlier ambitions, he began in a small way, doing at first nothing more pretentious than the laying of sidewalks. This work he gradually expanded, adding to it related lines in similar kinds of construction and eventually making cut stone work a prominent feature of his business. Mr. Bender now has his own cement mixers and the quality of his work is so highly rated that during the season he is obliged to employ a force of from ten to fifteen men. Such indeed is his reputation that he is annually depended upon for at least ninety per cent of the stone work required in Canton, and also quite a good part of the cement work. Mr. Bender is known as a rather serious-minded though genial man, whose well-balanced life finds the interests of home, business and church sufficient for his needs. His business affiliations include his connection with other up-to-date business men in the Chamber of Commerce and the Builders' Exchange. Mr. Bender's first wife was Miss Cileda Nichols of Stark County, Ohio. The childrcn of this marriage were two sons, Ray De Vaine Bender and Courcy Bender being now well known among the youth of Canton. The present Mrs. Bendcr is a Canton lady, who before her marriage was Mrs. Winnie N. Magaw, daughter of Thomas and Mary Newton. The religious organization to which Mr. Bender belongs and gives valued support is the Christian Church. Loyal and sincere without any effort toward being conspicuous, Charles Bender personally as well as vocationally has the respect of his large acquaintance in Canton. Particularly do his efficiency, his dependability and his managing ability make him valuable among the useful citizens of Canton. EARL W. HANNA. The large industries in and about Canton have naturally drawn to that city many of the expert technical men as well as business executives, and one of these is Earl W. Hanna, mechanical engineer and head of the engineering and designing department of the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company. Mr. Hanna has been identified with the iron and steel industry in different ways since early youth, and on the strength of his own fitness and ability has risen from the position of messenger boy to one of the well paid and responsible offices. Earl W. Hanna was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 19, 1874, son of James R. and Sue W. (Lynch) Hanna. Both the Hanna and Lynch families are of old American stock and of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The Hannas were among the pioneer settlers of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where Earl W. Hanna's grandfather was horn, PICTURE OF EARL W. HANNA HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 901 and subsequently removed to Fayette County in the same state, following his vocation as a miller. The maternal grandfather Lynch was a boat builder at Port Perry, not far from Pittsburgh, and he located in that vicinity from his former home at Morgantown, West Virginia. James R. Hanna, the father, had a somewhat varied and interesting career. He was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1848, and was married at Port Perry in 1872 to Miss Lynch, who was a native of Morgantown, West Virginia. In 1861, when but thirteen years old, James R. Hanna ran away from home and at Louisville, Kentucky, on June 4th, enlisted as a bugler in the Third Regiment of Wisconsin Cavalry. He served with his command until the close of the war, and was one of the youngest enlisted men in the Union army. After the war he returned to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, took an academic course, and after teaching school for a year or two engaged in the wholesale commission business at Pittsburgh. He lost his life in a railway accident November 29, 1878. His widow died October 25, 1907, at the age of fifty-twe. Earl W. Hanna as a boy attended the public schools and later took special courses in higher mathematics, physics and chemistry, subjects directly connected with his professional and business career. On April 24, 1888, at the age of fourteen, he entered the employ of the Carnegie Steel Company at Braddock as a messenger boy. He made use of every opportunity to increase his efficiency and usefulness, and in time he was promoted to a place in the drafting department, and continucd with the Carnegie Company until 1900. In that year he went to Sydney, Cape Breton, and was chief draftsman for the Dominion Iron & Steel Company two years. In 1903, having returned to Pittsburgh, he spent two years with the Union Steel Company as superintendent of construction in the erection of the blast furnaces. He was next with the Lewis Foundry Company in charge of mechanical engineering and designing department, and in May, 1908, removed to Canton to accept his present place with the Canton branch of the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company. While his business has demanded almost his full energies, Mr. Hanna has not been neglectful of those general duties exacted from every American citizen, and in January, 1915. accepted an appointment from Mayor Stollberg as a member of the Canton City Board of Health, and in that relation has proved himself one of the most capable members of the present municipal administration. When the Canton Auxiliary of the National Mouth Hygiene Association was organized in the early part of 1915 Mr. Hanna was elected president. Through the efforts of this organization the first free dental clinic was established in the Canton public schools. Mr. Hanna is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He married Emma V. Boyle, who was horn in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, but grew up in Braddock. Her father was Andrew Jackson Boyle. To this union have been born five children : Helen Boyle, Earl Jackson, Marcus Aurelius, Fredcrick Waterman and Virginia. DALLAS KIMPTON JONES, M. D. The entire professional career of Dr. Dallas Kimpton Jones, covering a pcriod of more than thirty years. 902 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY has been passed at Canal Fulton, where he is justly accounted one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Stark County. He entered practice here with a thorough and comprehensive training and his fine talents soon attracted to him a practice that has grown steadily in volume and importance, while his participation in progressive movements has made him one of the community's most valuable and valued citizens. Doctor Jones was born at Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, June 24, 1860, being a son of Benjamin Jackson and Hannah Jane (Walter) Jones. His grandfather, the late Hon. Benjamin Jones, was a native of . Virginia, of Welsh descent, and became a pioneer of Wayne County, where during early days he kept an old-time tavern. Becoming prominent in his community as an able and progressive citizen, he was elected to the Ohio Legislature, and spent a number of years in both houses. His conscientious and capable services in the capacities of representative and senator led to his selection on the democratic ticket, in 1832, to the United States' Congress, his first term being followed by re-election in 1834, the district then consisting of Stark, Wayne and Columbiana counties. He became well acquainted with President Jackson while at Washington, an acquaintance which ripened into a close friendship, and Mr. Jones was a frequently-invited guest at the White House. His son bore the President's name. His public career completed, Benjamin Jones retired to his estate in Wayne County, which comprised a section of land lying about three miles west of Wooster, and there his death occurred when he was seventy-three years of age. Benjamin Jackson Jones was born at Wooster, Ohio, April 4, 1834, his brother, David Kimpton Jones, being the first white child born at that place. Benjamin J. Jones was educated in the Wooster public schools and Hayesville (Ohio) Academy, a pioneer Presbyterian school, and resided on the farm until reaching the age of twenty-one years, when he entered upon the study of dentistry at Wooster and subsequently practiced that calling for a half a century. He also took a prominent part in civic affairs, and for some years was a member of the Wooster City Council. His death occurred March 23, 1914. The mother of Doctor Jones was born near Wooster, on a farm, November 30, 1835, the daughter of John Walter, who was born in Wurttemburg, Germany, in 1785, and died in 1873. On first coming to the United States Mr. Walter opened a tavern at 'Wooster, which for a number of years was one of the popular houses of that place, but in later years he purchased a farm two miles southeast of the city, where he rounded out his career, being eighty-eight years old at the time of his death. Dallas Kimpton Jones was reared at Wooster, his early education being secured in the public schools. This was supplemented by attendance at Wooster University, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, in the class of 1882, and at that time took up the study of medicine in the offices and under the preceptorship of Drs. L. and W. W. Firestone, of Wooster. With this preparation he entered the medical department of Wooster University, then located at Cleveland, and in 1885 was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Thus excellently equipped, Doctor Jones came to Canal Fulton in September, 1885, and here has since continued in the practice of his HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 903 profession. He keeps in close touch with the medical brotherhood, being a member of the Stark County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society and the Eighth District Medical Society, and among his professional brethren is adjudged a careful, conscientious and thoroughly learned practitioner, a master of the various departments of his calling and one who rigidly respects the unwritten ethics. He has served as a member of the Canal Fulton Board of Health, and in 1915 became health officer for Lawrence Township, a capacity in which he is still acting. Doctor Jones has been successful in a material way, and is connected with several important business enterprises, including the Exchange Bank Company of Canal Fulton, of which he is a member of the board of directors, and the Pit Car Manufacturing Company. He also has other financial interests and is the owner of some valuable realty at Canal Fulton. Fraternally, Doctor Jones is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Junior Order United American Mechanics. His religious connection is with the Presbyterian Church, in which he is an elder. Doctor Jones was married October 13, 1887, to Miss Maude Kirk, who was born at Canal Fulton, daughter of William B. Kirk. One son has come to this union : Walter Charles, born March 6, 1896, who is now a student at Wooster University. EARLD H. LAMIELL. He whose name introduces this paragraph has won secure place as one of the representative business men of the younger generation in his native City of Canton and is loyally interested in and contributing to its industrial and commercial prestige through his effective association with the H. L. Hurst Manufacturing Company, of which he is secretary, treasurer and general manager. Energy and progressiveness have significantly marked the business career of Mr. Lamiell and in the metropolis and judical center of his native county he has found ample opportunities for productive enterprise along normal channels of business activity. Mr. Lamiell was born in Canton on the 2d of September, 1882, and is a son of Henry J. and Ella (Smith) Lamiell. His grandfather Jacob J. Lamiell was a native of France and was a lad at the time of the family immigration to the United States, where he was reared from the age of five years, received due educational advantages and proved a loyal and worthy citizen. As a young man he wedded a Miss Lalliment, who likewise was born in France and who was ten years of age when she came with her parents to America, the acquaintanceship of the two families having been formed after they had established their residence at Louisville, Stark County, though they had come from the same district in France. The parents of Jacob J. Lamiell finally removed from the Village of Louisville to a farm in Marlboro Township, and Jacob J. Lamiell became a prosperous agriculturist and stock-grower, the family identification with these basic lines of industrial enterprise having there continued for the long period of forty years and the last decade of his life having been passed at Oil City, Pennsylvania, where he had established himself in the mercantile business and where he died in 1907, at the age of forty-five years. The paternal grandparents of the subject of Vol. III-10 904 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY this review continued their residence in Stark County until the time of their death. The maternal great-grandfather of Mr. Lamiell was a native of Pennsylvania and was one of the sterling pioneer settlers of Stark County, where in an early day he owned a considerable portion of the land on which West Canton is now situated, his landed estate having included also the tract now constituting the beautiful West Lawn Cemetery. Joseph Smith, grandfather of Ur. Lamiell, was born in the old Keystone State and was a child at the time of the family immigration to Ohio, the residue of his long and useful life having been passed in Stark County, where his principal vocation was that of farming. Mrs. Ella (Smith) Lamiell was born and reared in this county and since the death of her husband she has maintained her home in the City of Canton. EarId H. Lamiell found the period of his boyhood compassed by the influences of his father's farm and after duly availing himself of the advantages of the excellent public schools he completed an effective course in a leading business college in the City of Canton. When sixteen years of age he here found employment in the shoe store of Charles Buskins, and later he received promotion to the position of bookkeeper in the establishment, this incumbency having been retained two years. Thereafter he was independently engaged for a time in the retail grocery business, and after his retirement from the same he was engaged in the livery business in Canton for two years. In 1904 Mr. Lamiell became a traveling salesman for the H. L. Hurst Manufacturing Company, and in the following year he assumed the principal executive charge of the company's business, in the office of secretary. Since 1910 he has been secretary, treasurer and general manager of the company, and under his able supervision the business has been expanded in scope and importance. This flourishing industrial enterprise dates its inception back to the year 1887, when Henry L. Hurst founded the same on a somewhat modest scale. In 1903 the corporate title of the H. L. Hurst Manufacturing & Supply Company was adopted, incorporation having been effected in that year, under the laws of the State of New Jersey. In 1905 this corporation was dissolved and a new incorporation was effected under the Ohio laws and under the title of the H. L. Hurst Manufacturing Company. At this time the personnel of the executive corps became as here noted : H. L. Hurst, president and treasurer; M. R. Hurst, vice-president ; and T. M. Hurst, secretary. The present officers of the company are as follows: H. L. Hurst, president, and E. H. Lamiell, secretary, treasurer and general manager. The original Canton plant of this company was erected in 1903, and since that time the demands placed upon the same have resulted in enlargement and other improving of the plant in 1909, 1911 and 1912, the aggregate floor space now utilized being 40,000 square feet. The company have the most modern facilities for the manufacturing of spraying machinery, gasoline engines and overhead irrigation equipment, and the establishment gives employment to sixty persons, including a due quota of expert mechanics. The company is incorporated with a capital stock of $40,000, and a branch plant is maintained in the City of Portland, Oregon, the business of the company extending into all sections of the HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 905 Union and contributing materially to the commercial reputation and precedence of the City of Canton. Mr. Lamiell is one of the progressive and popular young business men of Canton and is a specially influential member of the Canton Adcraft Club and of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, in which latter he is serving on the committee on membership. He is a director of the local Young Men's Christian Association and takes vital interest in all that concerns the civic and material welfare of his home city and county. Mr. Lamiell wedded Miss Maude E. Shirk, daughter of Benjamin F. Shirk, of Canton, and the three children of this union are Duane Shirk, Kathryn, and Donald D. WILLIAM L. NASH. Among the important business interests of Stark County is that of agriculture, which is carried on successfully by a number of enterprising citizens in various parts of the county. One of the most prominent farmers is William L. Nash, whose place is located in the vicinity of New Baltimore. He was born on a farm in Lexington Township, this county, in 1846, his parents being Elihu and Eliza (Broomfield) Nash. The paternal grandfather was Stephen Nash, a native of Massachusetts, who settled in Harrison County, Ohio, in pioneer days. Thence, in 1811, he removed to Lexington Township, Stark County, where he took up a tract of Government land. Elihu Nash was born in Harrison County, Ohio, in 1809, and was therefore an infant when he accompanied his parents to Stark County. Adopting agriculture as his life occupation, he became a prosperous farmer and a well known and respected citizen. He and his wife subsequently removed to Plymouth, Indiana, where they died. Mrs. Eliza Nash was born in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, in 1811, the daughter of Lewis M. Broomfield, a soldier of the War of 1812, and whose family came to Stark County from Pennsylvania in 1828. The Broomfields were Quakers, but Mrs. Nash joined the Methodist Church, to which her husband belonged, he being in fact one of the organizers of the church of that denomination in Marlboro. William L. Nash acquired the elements of knowledge in the district schools, after which his education was continued in the high school and at Mt. Union College. He began industrial life as clerk in a railroad office at Oil City, Pennsylvania, where he remained for two years. Then coming to Stark County, he began farming in the New Baltimore neighborhood, continuing at his original location until 1887. In that year he purchased his present fine farm in Marlboro Township, known formerly as the Squire John Bryan Farm, and which is an excellent piece of agricultural property. In the time that has since elapsed he has made a number of improvements on it and has been successful in his undertakings, being now one of the most prosperous, as he is also one of the most prominent citizens in this locality. A member of the republican party, he has served as clerk of Marlboro Township, also as township trustee, and is at the present time president of the Marlboro Home Coming Association. As a member of the New Baltimore Christian Church, he is active in both church and Sunday School work. He also belongs to the local Grange, in which he is an active worker, and to A. G. Wild- 906 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY man Post, No. 212, G. A. R., of which he is past commander. In 1915 he was president of the Regimental Reunion Organization. His war record began in 1864, when he enlisted in Company N, One Hundred and Sixty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, his subsequent service being on detached duty, especially with the Army of the Cumberland. On December 27, 1867, Mr. Nash was united in marriage with Harriet C. Bryan, daughter of John Bryan, then a resident of Marlboro Township, but now deceased. After many years of happy married life, Mrs. Nash died March 4, 1913. She had been the mother of four children: Grace, Mary, Garfield R. and Jay B., three of whom survived her. Grace, the eldest of the family, was graduated from Northern Ohio University, at Ada, Ohio, and subsequently became a teacher in the high school at Plymouth, Indiana, and afterwards for several years in the high school at Osborn, Ohio. In Osborn she was married to Carl C. Sloan. She died March 1, 1904, leaving one daughter. Mary, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Nash, married A. M. Cole, and resides with her husband in Alliance, Ohio. Garfield R. Nash married Eva Zellers, of Marlboro, and resides on the home farm. Jay B., the fourth child, married Gladys Caldwell., only daughter of Doctor Caldwell, of Oakland, California, in which city he resides, having on office under the city government, in the recreation department, as superintendent of activity. GUSTAVE A. SISTERHEN. A notable service has been rendered to the community of Bethlehem Township and particularly the Village of Navarre for fully half a century by members of the Sisterhen family. The older members of that family were German born and bred and trained cobblers, and for years they gave their methodical and competent workmanship to the people in and around that 'little village. As a family they have been characterized by honesty, industry, and thorough reliability in the performance of their obligations. Gustave A. Sisterhen, who is a native of Stark County, has likewise been in the shoe business, still runs the principal shoe store of Navarre, but his activities have also taken a wider scope both in business and public life. He was born in the Village of Navarre September 12, 1864, a son of Anthony and Sophia (Zerringer) Sisterhen, both of them old time residents of that village. Anthony Sisterhen was born in Prussia, Germany, in 1836. As a young man he learned the shoemaker's trade by the long and thorough apprenticeship prevailing in the old country, and was still young when he came to the United States with his parents, who located on a farm near the Blouch Church in Bethlehem Township. Subsequently his parents removed to Navarre, where they spent the rest of their days. They were zealous members of the Catholic Church. Soon after the family came to Bethlehem Township Anthony Sisterhen and his brother Mathias went to Bolivar, Ohio, and opened a shoe shop. From Bolivar after a time Anthony returned to Navarre, and bought out the shoe shop which for a number of years had been conducted by his uncle Peter Sisterhen. Thenceforward for approximately forty years Anthony Sisterhen was the principal shoe maker and shoe dealer in the village. Those who remember him, and nearly everyone does who was a resident in and about Navarre up to the time of his death in 1905, HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 907 recalls with pleasure his genial personality and the sturdy vigor which he gave to every obligation of life. He was a member of St. Clement's Catholic Church. Sophia Sisterhen, his wife, who is still living, was born in Baden, Germany, in 1842, daughter of Martin Zerringer, who brought his family to the United States about 1855 and located in Beth- lehem Township on a farm two miles east of Navarre. Mr. Gustave A. Sisterhen grew up in Navarre, received his early education in St. Clement's parochial school and the Navarre High School, and when only fifteen years of age began an apprenticeship at the shoemaker's trade under his father. He is thus likewise a practical workman and understands the shoe business in all its details. In 1900 he expanded his work and engaged in business on his own account as a shoe merchant. He conducted his store in Navarre until 1911, in which year he closed out, and turned his attention to the real estate business, building and selling residence property. He also took up the sand and gravel business, and began the manufacture of cement blocks. This he has since built up to a considerable industry. On March 1, 1914, Mr. Sisterhen again engaged in the shoe business, and is now proprietor of a well stocked store in that line, has a real estate office, and continues the manufacture of cement blocks. At the present writing he is preparing to enter the coal mining industry. His work as a public spirited citizen is likewise familiar in that section of the county. He served as president of the school board three years, as secretary of the board three years, and was chairman of the building committee when the addition to the high school was built. At one time lie was a member of the village council. Much credit is due him as the prime mover in the project to pave the Navarre streets connecting the Massillon and Justus paved road. Mrs. Sisterhen before her marriage was Elizabeth Altenhofer, who was born in Huntington, Indiana, daughter of Joseph Altenhofer. To their union have been born three children : Stella, Karl and Irene. STEWART S. KURTZ. One of Canton's manufacturers and capitalists, Stewart S. Kurtz has lived in that city thirty years, had previously been identified with different concerns in western states, and is one of the strong and resourceful men in local business affairs. His chicf position at the present time is as vice president and general manager of the McCaskey Register Company of Alliance. Stewart S. Kurtz was born in Pennsylvania at Blairsville October 20, 1858. His parents were John G. and Mary N. (Stewart) Kurtz, both now deceased. His father was for many years a dry goods merchant at Blairsville. Stewart S. Kurtz grew up in Pennsylvania, acquired his education there, but at the early age of sixteen, in 1874, went out to Indianapolis and found employment with the firm of Gordon-Kurtz Company, manufacturers of saddlery hardware. From Indianapolis he went to Chicago in 1880, and had a position of considerable responsibility with the Pettibone-Millikan Company, railroad supplies. When Mr. Kurtz came to Canton in 1884 he identified himself with the Gilliam Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of patent leather saddlery specialties and automobile accessories. Later he secured a con- 908 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY trolling interest in the company, and was its president and general manager until he sold out to B. T. Steiner and associates. In 1910 Mr. Kurtz, with Edward A. Langenbach and A. G. Ryley, bought the McCaskey Register Company, manufacturers of credit account registers and sales books. This is a flourishing concern and one whose products have a wide distribution, and served to increase the many associations by which Stark County is known to the outside world as a great manufacturing center. The plant of the company is located at Alliance, while the executive offices are in the Courtland Building at Canton. For the past five years Mr. Kurtz has been vice president and general manager of this concern. He is also a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce and of the Canton Club and the Congress Lake Club. WILLIAM A. HARRIS. The son and grandson of steel manufacturers, William A. Harris, manager of the Roll Machine Works of the American Sheet Tin Plate Company, of Canton, is eminently qualified by inheritance, inclination, training and practical experience to discharge the duties of the responsible position which he now holds. Mr. Harris was born at Niles. Ohio, August 16, 1871, and is a son of George and Olive P. (Allison) Harris. His father was born just outside the City of London, England, October 18, 1846, a son of James Harris, a steel manufacturer of the above location, who brought his family to the United States in 1853 and first located at St. Louis, Missouri, where he built the first sheet mill of that city. From St. Louis he moved to Youngstown, Ohio, and thence to Niles, Ohio, where he built the second sheet mill erected there, and his death occurred at. that place. Thc mother of W. A. Harris was born at Niles, Ohio, daughter of Abner Allison, who was a brother of Nancy McKinley, the mother of late President McKinley. Mrs. Harris still survives. George Harris was . identified with his father's mill interests in his youth and early manhood and later was engaged in the steel business until 1909, when he retired from active participation in business and now resides at his home at Niles. William A. Harris received his early education in the public schools of Niles, Ohio, and at Cornell University completed his training, being graduated therefrom with the class of 1893 with the degree of mechanical engineer. He began engineering work in 1894 with the Beaver Tin Plate Company, at Lisbon, Ohio, and was next identified with the Steel Motor Company of Cleveland, subsequently going with that company to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to which city the plant was removed and where he was made assistant manager, a position which he held until resigning to become assistant chief engineer of the American Tin Plate Company, of Pittsburgh. Mr. Harris next became secretary and chief engineer of the Lewis Foundry and Machine Company of Pittsburgh, and in 1906 came to Canton as manager of the Roll Machine Works of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company. This plant was established at Canton in 1899 by John Carnahan and his associates as the Canton Roll and Machine Company, and at that time the plant had one air furnace and one cupola, an additional furnace being added later. In PICTURE OF WILLIAM A. HARRIS HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 909 1906, when the plant was taken over by the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, an additional furnace was put in and the plant has since been enlargcd all the way through and now has five furnaces and two cupolas and is one of the largest and finest roll plants in the country. The mill employs from 225 to 250 men. Mr. Harris is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Greek letter fraternity. The best commentary upon his enterprise and perseverance is afforded by the prominent position he has attained and by the record for business ability and commercial integrity which he has built up in the trade. He is a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce and the Canton and Congress Lake clubs, and his religious connection is with the First Presbyterian Church of Canton. Mr. Harris was married to Miss Josephine M. Warner, who was born in Indiana, daughter of J. B. Warner, and to this union there have been born three children, namely : Jonathan W., William A., Jr., and Mary W. HERBERT ARTHUR SHAFER, D. D. S. The name and services of Doctor Shafer are particularly appreciated in the community of Navarre as the postmaster of that city, but he has for more than fifteen years been the only dental practitioner in the city and has been closely identified with its public life and affairs throughout that time. A native of Stark County and a member of one of the older families, he was born at Greentown, August 1, 1873, a son of Martin W. and Elizabeth (Rudy) Shafer. His father was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, November 5, 1838, and when three years of age was brought to Stark County by his father Jacob Shafer, who was likewise a native of Lancaster County. The family located near Zion Church in Lake Township, where Jacob Shafer spent the rest of his days as a practical agriculturist. Doctor Shafer's mother was born in Jackson Township of Stark County, daughter of Jacob Rudy, who was also a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and had come as a pioneer to Jackson Township. Mrs. Shafer is still living, now in her seventy- fourth year, with her home at Greentown. Martin W. Shafer was a tailor by trade, having learned that vocation in Canton, and for a number of years kept a tailor shop in Greentown. Subsequently he bought a farm three miles east of Canal Fulton, and lived there until his death in 1908. It was on the farm east of Canal Fulton that Doctor Shafer spent most of his early youth. He was graduated from the high school at Canal Fulton in 1892, and then took up the work of preparing for the dental profession, graduating in 1896 with the degree D. D. S. from the Dental College of Cincinnati. After one year of practice at Clinton in Summit County he removed in 1898 to Navarre, and has since been continuously engaged in the work of his profession, at the same time looking after his various official duties. His professional ability and personal popularity have been such that in all the time since he located at Navarre there has been no other dentist to compete with him for the local practice. 910 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY November 14, 1900, Doctor Shafer received his first important official promotion in his election as justice of the peace, for a term of three years. In 1903 he was elected mayor of Navarre and re-elected in 1905. In 1908 came his appointment as postmaster under Roosevelt and he has held that office ever since, at the same time carrying on his dental work. He was re-appointed postmaster by President Taft and his present term expires in 1916. It is his distinction to have been the youngest mayor and postmaster the City of Navarre has ever had. He is prominent as a republican, and for five years was a member of the Central Committee of Stark County. Doctor Shafer married Amelia Stoner, who is a native of Stark County, daughter of John Stoner. To their marriage have been born three children: John Stoner Shafer, born November 1902; Hilary Arthur, born May 14, 1907 ; and Ruth Agatha, born June 8, 1913. Doctor Shafer is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias Order. PETER GRABER. Among the well known and highly esteemed families in Stark County, Peter Graber, prominent farmer and horseman living in Canton, has a leading place. The family has been established in this county for more than sixty years, and has been closely identified with its growth and progress through that time. Mr. Graber was born near Alsace-Lorraine in Switzerland, on August 1, 1843, and is a son of another Peter, a farmer of Switzerland. The family, including the subject, came to America from Switzerland in 1852, settling in Stark County. There were eight of them in all, including the parents, four daughters and two sons. They located in what is now Harrisburg and engaged in farming. Peter Graber, the son, remained at home and did what he could to advance the family fortunes until he married. He had a brother, John Graber, now living at Middlebranch, and his sisters are married. Barbara became the wife of Michael Miller and lives near Freeberg. Mary married Jonas Baker, and they live near Maximo. Katherina, who married Andrew Baker, also lives near Maximo. Magdalana became the wife of Christ Kiabille and lives near Middlebranch. Old Peter Graber lived to be sixty-four years old, and he died near Paris, Ohio. The mother reached the age of seventy-seven, and her last days were spent near Maximo. Peter Graber, of this review, married Mary Baker, daughter of Andrew Bakcr, who lived on a farm near Minerva. After his marriage he and his brother united in the purchase of the home farm near Paris, and there they did general farming for 6 1/2 years. He then disposed of his interest to his brother and came to Plain Township where he bought the Andy Pontious farm. He carried on general farming here with good success, and in about 1880 he began to deal in horses, buying and selling, and since then has continued in that business. He has made many big purchases of horses in Ohio, Illinois, Kansas and Iowa, disposing of them in the Boston and New York City markets. At one time he had a considerable contract with the Penn Coal operators. In the thirty-five years of his horse dealings Mr. Graber has handled many hundreds of carloads of livestock. In the past few months he HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 911 has carried on a bigger business than ever before, due to the activity in foreign markets, but he is now at the point where he is ready to retire and spend the remainder of his life in comparative ease. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Graber. Emma, the first born, lives at home. Mary is the wife of Joseph Combs and lives on Cleveland Avenue, Canton, Ohio. They have one daughter, Mabel. Kate Graber married Bert Reed, now in Detroit, Michigan, and they have a daughter, Hazel. Sam, the fourth child, is deceased. Eli lives at home. John married Mabel Guntz and lives on the home farm. Their two children are Walter and Austin. Alice lives at home with her parents. Eldora is the wife of Roy Best of Canton. Mr. Graber owns 185 acres of fine land in Stark County, and fine buildings mark his property, all built by himself. The family are members of the Mennonite Church, and Mr. Graber has no political affiliations, preferring to vote in accordance with his best judgment when the time comes for action. JOHN EMERY DINE. Few men in Canton have given a longer and more valuable public service than John E. Dine, now superintendent of streets, who has been identified with municipal operations in Canton more or less for thirty years. Mr. Dine began working for one of Canton's leading industries nearly half a century ago, and his life has been one of labor, continued advancement and high integrity of purpose. John Emery Dine was born in Pike Township, Stark County, April 27, 1853. His parents were Jacob and Hannah (Miller) Dine. His father was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the son of an Irishman who subsequently became an early settler in Sandy Township of Stark County. The mother was born in Pike Township of Stark County, and her father was a native of Pennsylvania of Scotch descent and one of the old settlers of Pike Township in Stark County. Jacob Dine, the father, was a wagon maker and carpenter by trade and in 1866 moved from Sparta in Pike Township to Canton and lived in that city until his death. He was killed by a railroad accident. His widow is still living in Canton. John Emery Dine was reared in Sparta until about thirteen years of age, attended the common schools, but early became self supporting. Removing to Canton in 1867, he soon afterward began work for C. Aultman & Company, at first in the wood-working department and later in the engine department. Experience and natural mechanical talent made him an expert in engine construction and operation, and he went all over the country representing the Aultman plant in the erection and installing of engines. In December, 1885, after nearly twenty years of service, Mr. Dine left the Aultman company, and in 1886 was elected superintendent of streets of the City of Canton. He filled that office up to 1890 and then for two years was superintendent of sewers. Leaving the public service Mr. Dine became engaged in contracting, and did a large aggregate of work and at times employed large forces of men. In 1907 Mr. Dine returned to the city service and has since been superintendent of streets, having been reappointed under different administrations to the present time. 912 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY Fraternally Mr. Dine is affiliated with the Order of Reindeers. His first wife was Elizabeth Apple, who was born in Pennsylvania, daughter of Christian Apple. She died in 1890, leaving two children : Esther Almeda and Hattie Lucretia. Mr. Dine after the death of his first wife married Libbie Hamilton, who was born in Canton, daughter of Richard Hamilton. By the second marriage there are also two children : Wilbur, who died in 1908; and Raymond, who is attending the public schools. JOHN A. MERLEY. Mr. Merley's prominence as a Canton manufacturer is indicated by his holding the offices of vice president and general manager of the Diebold Safe & Box Company, and also that of general manager of the National Fire Proofing Company. His business career began in Stark County many years ago in association with his father, who was a pioneer manufacturer of brick and tile, and from one step to another he has made progress until he is now one of the men who practically control the industrial life of the county. John A. Merley was born in Stark County at Alliance, March 17, 1862, a son of the ]ate Nicholas and Mary Ann (Metzger) Merley. Nicholas Merley was born in 1841 in Alsace, the unfortunate province which has been the subject for so much contention between the nations of Germany and France, and which at the time of his birth was a possession of France, and until the present war is concluded belongs to Germany. When he was a boy of eight years in 1849 his mother brought him on a sailing vessel to America.. Sixty-two days were required to make the passage. In the same year they located in Alliance where Nicholas enjoyed limited educational advantages but learned the trade of brick maker. From Alliance lie subsequently removed to Louisville in Stark County, was a brick maker there, and finally established a plant in the same industry at Canton. Nicholas Merley has the distinction of having built and owned the plant where were manufactured the first Shale brick and the first hollow brick made in Stark County, and was thus the pioneer in those departments of the industry. The plant he formerly owned is now a part of the Metropolitan Brick Company's works. Nicholas Merley died at Canton in 1913. His wife was born in Louisville, Ohio, the daughter of John Metzger, a Stark County pioneer. John A. Merley accompanied the family to Louisville when he was a child and subsequently came to Canton, getting his education in the public schools of these two cities. He was associated with his father in his enterprises as a brick manufacturer until February, 1892, and has an expert knowledge of the technical processcs of brick manufacture as well as the commercial side of the business. In February, 1892, he went into business on his own account, building the plant of what is now the Canton and Osnaburg Brick & Mill Company at Osnaburg. This business he sold in 1902 to the National Fireproofing Company, with which corporation he became general manager. Its output comprises all kinds of plain and ornamental building blocks, fire bricks, fire proofing, fire clay, conduits, silo blocks, etc., and the executive offices are in the City National Bank Building in Canton. In 1907 Mr. Merley became a director in the Diebold Safe & Lock Company, and in .1908 was made also general manager of that company, HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 913 constituting one of the large and valuable industries at Canton. The safes and locks bearing the name of Diebold are found probably in every large town and city in the United States. Mr. Merley is a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, the Lakeside Country Club, the Commercial Travelers Association and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His wife was formerly Miss Pearl Warner of Toledo, Ohio. ELMER EDSON CARRIER, B. C. S., one of the well known and distinguished educators of Ohio, and superintendent of the public schools of Navarre, Stark County, was born at Brimfield, Portage County, Ohio, November 24, 1869. He is descended from good old New England stock and his immediate ancestors were pioneer settlers of the Western Reserve of Ohio. Joseph L. Carrier was born November 24, 1845, just twenty-four years to the day before the birth of his son, Elmer Edson, in the same house in Portage County. He was a son of Lucius Carrier, who was a native of Brimfield, Connecticut, for which community the Ohio town was named, and a pioneer settler of the Western Reserve. Prior to coming to Ohio, Lucius Carrier had served as judge of the Circuit Court at New Haven, Connecticut, and in Ohio he became a man of influence and prominence. The mother of Elmer E. Carrier was born at Brimfield, Ohio, her father having been born in Vermont and a pioneer of the Western Reserve. In early life a school teacher, Joseph L. Carrier later became a farmer and for a quarter of a century was a justice of the peace in Portage .County, where he died October 9, 1897, Mrs. Carrier surviving until September 1, 1901. Elmer Edson Carrier was reared in the little community of Brimfield, where he attended the common schools, was graduated from the Kent (Ohio) High School in 1885, and from Mount Union (Ohio) College in 1889, and subsequently took post-graduate work at Wooster (Ohio) University. He began his career as a teacher at Brimfield, his native town, when he was a youth of sixteen years, and had charge of classes in the district and high schools until he was made principal of the Kent High School in 1889. Mr. Carrier continued continuously in that capacity until 1913, when he resigned to become United States deputy collector of revenue, but in the fall of 1914 left that office to accept the appointment as superintendent of the public schools of Navarre. The capable and energetic manner in which he has directed the work of the public schools has done much to elevate educational standards and to improve the school System, and he is justly accounted one of the leading educators of this part of the state. Mr. Carrier is a member of the Northeastern Ohio Teachers Association and of the National Educational Association. He is deputy grand master of the Ohio Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows, and holds membership in the University Club. A man of scholarly tastes, he is a deep student of literature, and his pleasant home at Navarre is a center of culture and refinement. Mrs. Carrier was formerly Miss Jennie Koon, a native of Brimfield, Ohio, and a daughter of Charles Koon, who came of one of New England 's old families. Mr. and Mrs. Carrier are 914 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY the parents of one daughter : Miss Edna, who is a graduate of Kent High School, class of 1915, and now a student at Kent State Normal School. CHARLES E. POORMAN. A well known and deservedly popular citizen of his native county, Mr. Poorman is now serving his fourth consecutive term as city treasurer of Canton, where his administration has been so careful, discriminative and competent as to fully deserve the confidence manifested in his fellow citizens in his repeated election. He was born on the old homestead of his father in Tuscarawas Township, of Stark County, November 17, 1862, a son of John and Caroline (Kelker) Poorman. His parents were both. representatives of early pioneer families of this county. Born in Pennsylvania, they removed when mere children from their native state with their parents, who came to Stark County by wagon route and located in Tuscarawas Township in 1828. John Poorman was reared to manhood with the sturdy discipline of an early farm. On reaching manhood and taking up his independent career he became an especially progressive and successful farmer and stock grower of that locality, where he developed a fine farm. He was also a citizen of more than local prominence and influence, and had a high place in the confidence and regard of the community in which practically all his life was spent. He was called to serve in such offices as township clerk, trustee and treasurer, and for a number of terms was a member of the board of county commissioners, in which responsible position he proved himself an efficient conservator of the best interests of the county. As a man he was sincere, resolute, well informed, and politically he was always loyal to his convictions as a democrat. Caroline (Kelker) Poorman was reared in Stark County, where her father, Henry Kelker, settled in pioneer times. She died when her son, Charles E., was a boy of six. Charles E. Poorman has always been grateful that his childhood and early youth were spent under the influence of a farm and wholesome country environment. As a boy he gave his aid to the farm work, and thus learned to appreciate the dignity and value of honest toil. From the public school at Stanwood he acquired his early education and after reaching manhood he followed farming in his native township up to the age of twenty-four years, when he moved to the Julius Whiting Farm in Plain Township, where he remained for two years. In 1889 he established his home in the City of Canton, and after several years of work in teaming in 1892 he entered the employ of the Canton Hardware Company, with which representative concern he continued for seventeen years, being entrusted with positions of responsibility and showing a faithfulness of performance which was a valuable part of his record when he became a candidate for public office. In 1909 he was chosen as democratic candidate for city treasurer of Canton, and was elected by a handsome majority. In 1911 he was re-elected, receiving the largest vote of any man on the ticket. In 1912 he was a candidate for treasurer of Stark County, but was defeated by a margin of 135 votes, although in 1913 he was elected to a third term as city treasurer. In 1914 he was again the choice of his party for county PICTURE OF CHARLES E. POORMAN HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 915 treasurer, but was defeated along with every other democrat in the republican land slide of that year. But so well had Mr. Poorman conducted the office of city treasurer and so well were the people satisfied with his work that he was again re-elected in 1915 for the fourth consecutive time, receiving more votes than he had received at any previous election, he being the only democrat elected to a city office at that election. Mr. Poorman has distinctive musical talent, both creative and appreciative, and has found time to interest himself in the development of music and musical organizations in his home city. He has been a member of the choir of Trinity Reformed Church for more than twenty years. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and with the Reindeer fraternity. On February 24, 1887, Mr. Poorman was married to Miss Kate Flickinger, daughter of the late Jacob and Elizabeth Flickinger of Massillon. Mr. and Mrs. Poorman have an adopted daughter, Myrtle, who is now assistant in the city treasurer's office. Their place of residence is 534 Third Street N. W., Canton. HIRAM DISSINGER, M. D. While he has maintained his residence at Canal Fulton since 1879, Dr. Hiram Dissinger's practice; extending throughout Summit, Wayne and Stark counties, entitles him to distinction as one of the foremost medical men of Northern Ohio, and particularly as a surgeon, a field in which his reputation extends all over this part of the state. In connection with his professional work, he has been an active factor in civic affairs; indeed, from the time of his arrival he has taken a helpful participation in the movements which have led to advancement along municipal, educational and moral lines. Doctor Dissinger was born on the old Dissinger homestead place, near Manchester, in Franklin Township, Summit County, Ohio, March 17, 1854, and is a son of John and Mary (Wagoner) Dissinger. John Dissinger, the paternal grandfather of Doctor Dissinger, brought his family from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to Summit County, Ohio, about the year 1820, here took up land from the United States Government, and continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits during the remaining years of his life. His wife, also a native of the Keystone State, bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Fetter. The maternal grandfather of Doctor Dissinger, John Wagoner, brought his family to Ohio from Bedford, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, some time between the years 1825 and 1830, settling on a farm near Barberton, Summit County, where he continued as a tiller of the soil during the remaining years of his career. John Dissinger, father of Hiram Dissinger, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1805, was still a youth when he came to Ohio, and in Summit County met and married Mary Wagoner. He succeeded his father in the ownership of the old Dissinger homestead, which he operated until about 1864, when he built a home in the Village of Manchester, retired from active pursuits, and lived quietly until his death in 1888. Mrs. Dissinger survived him until 1898, and was eighty-one years old at the time of her death. They were consistent members of the 916 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY Reformed Church, and werc the parents of six children, of whom two survive. Hiram Dissinger was ten years of agc when the family removed to the Village of Manchester, and there he completed his primary education from the Manchester High School. Next he attended the University of Cincinnati for a time, and read medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Darius Rowe, of Manchester, and was graduated from the Medical College of Ohio, with the class of 1878 and the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1879 Doctor Dissinger entcred the Long Island Hospital Medical College, at Brooklyn, and in 1879 received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from that institution. Following this, he entered upon a period of training and practical experience which was to prove of great value to him in later years. He first served as interne at the Good Samaritan Hospital, Cincinnati. and later became ambulance surgeon for the Long Island Hospital Medical College, Brooklyn, and in these connections came into contact with experiences which he would have encountered in no other way. Doctor Dissinger camc to Canal Fulton in 1879 and opened an office, and here has continued to be engaged actively in practice to the present time. While his professional business is broad and general, he has specialized to some extent and has gained widespread reputation, as already stated, in the field of surgery. To his superior and steady- handed skill are entrusted the greater number of the major surgical operations at the hospitals of Massillon and Barberton and some of these have been of a nature to attract widespread interest and attention and to stamp Doctor Dissinger as one of the masters of the scalpel in Ohio. Always a close investigator and student, he is intensely interested in the work of the various organizations of his calling, and is a valued member of the Stark County Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. For a number of years he was a member of the Board of United States Pension Examiners, and in civic affairs has served twelve years as a member of the Canal Fulton School Board and four years as a member of the village council. He has reached a prominent place in Masonry, belonging to the various bodies up to the Knights Templar, and being connected with Massillon Commandery No. 4. Doctor Dissinger was married to Miss Lila Davidson, who was born near Orrville, Wayne County, Ohio, but reared in Stark County. One son has been born to Dr. and Mrs. Dissinger : Earl, a graduate of the Case School of Applied Sciences, of Cleveland, as a mining engineer, taught in the University of Kentucky, at Lexington, and now assistant superintendent of the Freeport Sulphur Company, of Freeport, Texas. Prior to taking up teaching at the University of Kentucky, he was sent into old Mexico by a mining syndicate, where he was visited by his father, who resided with him there for some time in 1907. ARTHUR J. MASKREY. The large industries of Canton have brought to that community men of ability from all parts of the world. Representing various national types, and with experience and training in many of the world's greatest industrial centers, these men have fused their HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 917 diversified ideals and fortunes into a common citizenship and work which has been one of the most important factors in Canton's upbuilding. While many of these men possess the genius of manufacturers and organizers and business builders, it is noteworthy that mere capital has been less important in the general result than the personal ability of those who now direct Canton 's destiny as an industrial city. One of the men to be named in this class is Arthur J. Maskrey, now general superintendent of the Carnahan Sheet & Tin Plate Manufacturing Company. Mr. Maskrey is one of the pioneers in the making of tin plate in America, had gained distinction as a manufacturer and industrial executive in the British Empire, and is hardly less well known as an inventor and originator in the field of iron and steel manufacturing than as a business executive. In some sense his professional and business career has been a matter of inheritance, since for several generations at least the Maskrey family has been identified with the iron working industries of England. Mr. Maskrey was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, one of the central counties in the iron working district of England, a son of John H. Maskrey, who, as was his father before him, was identified with the industry of tin plate making. When Arthur Maskrey was about ten years of age the family removed to Scotland, where his father became one of the partners and also manager of the Coatbridge Sheet and Tin Plate Company. During his youth in Scotland Mr. Maskrey attended the Gortsherrie Academy, a school endowed by the Bairds, the great iron masters of Gortsherrie. The preparation for his career was unusually thorough. He studied chemistry at Anderson's College in Glasgow, and studied the science of metallurgy as related to the iron and steel- industry at the City and Guilds of London Institute for the advancement of technical education. He was an honor student there in the first class. After receiving, in addition to this technical training, a thorough practical experience in the iron and steel trade in various mills and forges, he became assistant manager in the plant under his father. Later he was with I. and W. Bairdmore, one of the first firms to take up the making of Sieman's steel process. He had charge of some of the mills of that plant. His next employment was with P. S. Phillips, who was at that time the largest maker of tin plate in the world. The Phillips industries were largely located in South Wales, where Mr. Maskrey designed and erected the sheet mills for supplying bars to the different plants operated by the Phillips Company. After the passage of the McKinley Tariff Law in America Mr. Maskrey came to this country and became manager of the sheet and tin plate mills of J. Reeves at Canal Dover, Ohio. In a few years the sheet and tin plate mills were gathered together in the great trust, and Mr. Maskrey continued as one of the technical managers, being transferred to the Laughlin plant at Martins Ferry, Ohio, one of the largest tin plate plants in the United States. Subsequently he was transferred to Chester, West Virginia, and also had charge of the Crescent Works at Cleveland, Ohio, the Falcon Works at Niles, Ohio, the Struthers Steel Works at Struthers, West Virginia, and the Chester Works at Chester, 918 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY all these various plants being included in one district which was under his personal supervision. In September, 1911, Mr. Maskrey came to Canton to become general superintendent of the Carnahan mills. As his record indicates, he is a pioneer in the tin plate manufacturing industry in the United States. In an industry which has been his life work his creative mind has worked out a large number of improvements and mechanical devices that have been applied to the various departments f sheet and tin plate manufacturing. Many patents have been taken out in his name in this country in connection with the making of tin plate, and all of these patents he has sold to the trust. While many of his business associates know him only as a hardheaded and practical expert in the sheet and tin plate industry, his closer friends are aware of his varied attainments and interests which he has pursued for many years and which indicate the versatility of his character. For many years one of his chief enthusiasms has been the making of violins and bows. He has a little workshop, fitted up with all the delicate instruments and equipment required for his work, and has turned out a number of instruments which competent critics and musicians have pronounced perfect in every detail of workmanship and of rare volume and beauty of tone. This hobby Mr. Maskrey took up when still a boy. In earlier years he was also a rioted athlete both in England and Scotland. At one time he was a member of the athletic team of Monmouth County, England, and later in Scotland as a member of the Drumpler Cricket Club he met all the great players of England, Scotland and Australia. Fraternally Mr. Maskrey is affiliated with the Masonic Order. He has been happily married for many years, and has a family of sons and daughters who do him credit. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah Bennett, whose father was a noted steel manufacturer at Glasgow, Scotland, and at one time owned the Carntyne Rolling Mills at Parkhead in Glasgow. Of their marriage there are six children : Arthur J., Jr., is associated with his father in the mills at Canton ; Percy is a dentist at Martins Ferry, Ohio ; Frank was graduated from the Canton High School in 1914. The daughter Edith is the wife of Dr. R. H. Wilson of Martins Ferry, Ohio. Mary is the wife of W. G. Cramer, now city editor of the Wheeling Register at Wheeling, West Virginia. Minnie is the wife of George McClusky, a civil engineer by profession. NICHOLAS MILLER. At the age of twenty-one Nicholas Miller left his native land of Germany and came to America. The stages in his career have rapidly succeeded each other since then, and from a common workman and apprentice in the stone mason's trade he has gradually developed a business as a general contractor, and has had charge of some of the finest jobs in stone work executed in Stark County. His business headquarters and his home are at Massillon. Born in Prussia, Germany, July 12, 1870, he is a son of Nicholas and Magdalena (Gerten) Miller. His father was also a stone cutter by trade, but in addition operated a Stone quarry. Both parents are now deceased, having spent all their lives in Germany. The literary education of Nicholas Miller was acquired in the schools of HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 919 the old country, and while there he learned in part the stone cutting trade according to the thorough and exact methods in vogue in Germany. In 1891 he came to America. The first four weeks he spent in Columbia, Tennessee, and next went to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he completed his apprenticeship as a stone cutter and worked as a journeyman for some time. Some of his first regular employment in the trade was in the Vanderbilt mansion at Biltimore, North Carolina. On coming north he located at Gallipolis, Ohio, was at Columbus, at Mansfield, then went east and was employed at Philadelphia, and on his return to Ohio was first at Portsmouth and then in Bowling Green. In August, 1896, he came to Massillon, and has now been a resident of that city nearly twenty years. For about five years he was foreman for different firms and contractors, and about 1905 set up as an independent stone contractor. In 1915 he expanded the scope of his business and now does general contracting. Many illustrations of his work in and around Massillon might be secured. He performed the stone work on the Mercy Hospital at Canton, on the St. Paul 's Catholic Church at New Berlin, and set the stone for the towers on St. Mary's Catholic Church at Massillon. His services have been in demand for exceptionally fine work, requiring the greatest of nicety and skill in stone masonry. He also had the general contract for the towers of St. Mary 's Catholic Church, and at the present writing is carrying out the general contract for the construction of the home of the First Building & Loan Company of Massillon, this being one of the finest banking houses in Stark County. Mr. Miller and family are members of St. Mary 's parish of the Catholic Church at Massillon. In St. Peter's Catholic Church at Philadelphia he and Miss Anna Schneider were united in marriage. She was born in Prussia, only half an hour's distance from the birthplace of her husband. To their marriage have bcen born nine children, five living: Aloysius W., who is now with the Northern Engraving Company at Canton ; William J., employed by his father ; Emma Elizabeth ; Appolonia Marie ; and Hilda Catherine. JOSEPH SPANGLER. The business of farming has been dignified by the long and purposeful life of Joseph Spangler, one of the oldest residents of Plain Township. Mr. Spangler has lived on one farm in that section for more than half a century and has spent nearly all his life in Stark County. As a young man he gave his services to the Union during the Civil war, and his subsequent career has been ordered upon the same high plane of citizenship which brought about this expression of his loyalty. Joseph Spangler was born May 21, 1837, just northeast of what is called the Plain Center Mills, a son of William A. and Liza (Lind) Spangler. The Spangler family came to Stark County from Pennsylvania in the times of early settlement and pioneer conditions, and as farmers at least three generations have participated in general improvement and progress. The paternal grandfather was Joseph Spangler. William Spangler and wife had ten children : Joseph, John, Elizabeth, Hiram, George, Charles, Emma, J. Murray, Harvey and one that died in infancy. Vol. III -1 920 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY As a boy Joseph Spangler attended the district schools south of the Worstler Church, and with school attendance, home duties, and general farm work he lived a normal life until after reaching his majority. On August 2, 1862, he enlisted in Company B of the 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and saw seven months of active service. He participated in scveral skirmishes and in one was wounded and sent north and given an honorable discharge. On Thanksgiving day of 1863 Mr. Spangler married Miss Barbara Anne Williman, daughter of Jonas and Barbara Williman. Almost immediately after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Spangler moved to what was known as the Henry Worstlcr farm of 150 acres in Plain Township. That has been home in all its associations and meanings to Mr. Spangler for the past fifty-two years. There his children came into the world, and were reared and trained for lives of usefulness and at the old homestead Mrs. Spangler passed away January 22, 1906, at the age of sixty-eight years. seven months and twenty-five days. The five children born to their marriage were : Coredith, who was born April 9, 1867, and died December 24, 1869; Jacob, who died in infancy; William Melvin, horn January 27, 1871, and by his marriage to Miss Anna Hoover of Plain Township has four children: Harvey Norman, born October 28, 1872, died March 30, 1903; and Joseph Robert, who was born August 19, 1876, and married Miss Jessie Ball of Canton, their three children being named Helen, Eldora and Mildred. For more than half a century Mr. Spangler has conducted the business of general farming, and has also performed a valuable service for his community as a thresherman. By strict adherence to those lines and by the exercise of good judgment he long since acquired a substantial position in the community, and is now well able to enjoy the leisure which his advanccd years deserve. The Spangler family has for generations been identified with the Methodist Church, and in politics Mr. Spangler is republican. JAMES M. CORL. Along with an active business service James M. Corl has stood for a great many years as a strong factor in the civic life of this section of Stark County and is one of the best known citizens of Navarre. Navarre was his birthplace, and he first saw the light of day November 27, 1846. His parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Corl, were among the early settlers of Stark County. His father was of Scotch and his mother of German parentage, and both were born in Pennsylvania. After gaining his education in the common schools of his native village, Mr. Corl took up the trade and business of milling and it was through many years of association with that industry that he gave his most important service in a business way. From 1869 until 1902 he owned and operated the Navarre City Flouring Mill. In that time, a period of thirty-three years, he changed and remodeled his plant several times and made of it a real institution in that part of the county. He finally retired from the milling business on account of failing health and now gives his time chiefly to private interests. Mr. Coe has also made a record as a soldier during the Civil war, PICTURE OF FRANK M. SHELTON HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 921 and served three years in Company A of the One Hundred and Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He has long been an active member of Miller Post No. 270, Grand Army of the Republic. In politics he is a republican, and at the present time is serving on the board of public affairs. He is also a member of the United Brethren Church at Navarre. On May 16, 1867, at Navarre Mr. Corl married Almira Wolfe, daughter of David and Hester Wolfe, a grand-daughter of Phillip Siffert, who came to Stark County in 1806, and entered land in Pike Township when this county was very wild and the woods were full of bears and deer. The Indians frequently visited his home. Eight children were born into their home and household: Harvey E., who married Ida Boughman; Elizabeth, who married J. W. Settle; Eva, who married 0. J. Van Dorsten ; Harriett, wife of C. V. Beazell ; Grace, who became the wife of Fred Shoff; Oello, wife of C. E. Neff ; Lethe Curl, unmarried, and Walter Dacosta Corl, who died January 16, 1896, was the youngest of the children. FRANK M. SHELTON. The really successful modern educator docs not confine his work to the immcdiate duties of the schoolroom, but in seeking to correlate the school with the real life of the community must necessarily broaden the scope of his own activities and work hand in hand with all the progressive forces of the city. A type of this kind of educator in Stark County is Frank M. Shelton, principal of the Central High School of Canton. Mr. Shelton is one f the hardest working and most influential young citizens of that community, with an active influence both in and out of the school over which he has charge. Frank M. Shelton was born at Salem, Ohio, June 2, 1877, a son of David B. and Elizabeth (Atterholt) Shelton. The Shelton family originated in Northern England. The first American ancestors settled in the State of Maryland ; from there branches of the family removed to New England, others to Ohio and still others followed down the Ohio Valley into Missouri in the vicinity of St. Louis. Mr. Shelton's grandfather was Samuel Shelton, who was born at Teagarden, near Salem, Ohio, and that was also the birthplace of D. B. Shelton. In 1884 the latter removed his family to a place close to Salem, and later to west of Lisbon, where he died in 1911 at the age of sixty-nine. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Shelton was John Atterholt, who was born at Dungannon, in Columbiana County, where his father was a pioneer. Dungannon was also the birthplace of Elizabeth (Atterholt) Shelton. It is through the Atterholt family that Mr. Shelton inherits an inclination for teaching. His mother was one of the best known teachers in Columbiana County, and both her mother and grandmother had followed the same vocation, and several brothers and sisters were likewise employed. Frank M. Shelton attended the district schools of Columbiana County, graduated from the high school at Lisbon in 1895, and after teaching district school in the winter of 1895-96, in the following spring entered Mount Union College at Alliance. He remained during the spring, summer and fall terms, and this program, with teaching in the winter, he followed until graduating from Mount Union with the class of 1899 and the degree Bachelor of Science. During 1899-1900 he taught in the 922 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY grammar schools at Louisville in Stark County, and in 1900-01 in the graded schools of Fostoria. From 1902 to 1904 his work was in the Central High School at Canton as an instructor, and from 1904 to May 1, 1911, was one of the instructors in the Central High School at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His position as principal of the Canton Central High School has been continuous since 1911. During the long vacations of his career as a teacher Mr. Shelton has been likewise busy either as a teacher or student. For two terms he taught in the summer at Mount Union College, and at other times did post-graduate work at Harvard, Cornell and Columbia universities, and won his degree Master of Arts from Columbia University in 1911. Mr. Shelton is a member of the Northeastern Ohio Teachers Association, of the National Educational Association, the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, the National Vocational Guidance Association, the National Geographic Society and the National Religious Educational Association. His active relations with these various parties indicate his progressiveness in modern educational affairs. As a citizen of Canton he has been equally active and progressive. Much of his work has been done through the medium of the Chamber of Commerce, in which he was chairman of the special committee which drew up the plans for the reorganization of that body, and was secretary of the City Charter Commission of Canton, and in 1913-15 was president of the Canton Parks and Playgrounds Association. He is a Rotarian. Mr. Shelton is also affiliated with the Masonic Order. He married Gertrude Packard, daughter of A. C. Packard, formerly of Oberlin, but now a resident of Canton. THOMAS F. TURNER. Standing as a representative member of the signally able bar of the City of Canton, Mr. Turner is one of the few lawyers of Stark County who can claim England as the place of his nativity. He was born in the City of Barrow-in-Furness, England, on the 3d of December, 1864, and is a son of Henry C. and Isabella (Fleming) Turner, both represcntatives of ancient and honored families in England. Mr. Turner's mother was born at Ambleside, known as "Poets' Corner," and situated near the northern extremity of Lake Windermere, one of the finest of the English lakes, and at the time of her marriage to Henry C. Turner was living at the home of her sister, who was then occupying "Dove Cottage," at the head of Windermere Lake, in Somersetshire, this cottage being celebrated in history for having been the home of the loved English poet, Wordsworth. Reared and educated in his native land, Henry C. Turner there learned the trade of cabinetmaker, and in 1867 he came with his family to the United States and established his home at Lodi, Medina County, Ohio, where for a number of years he carried on a successful contracting business, later serving for eight years as postmaster at Lodi, where his death occurred in February, 1914, his widow still maintaining her home at that place. Thomas F. Turner was nearing the age of four years at the time of the family immigration to the United States, the voyage having been HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 923 made on the old City of Boston, a vessel that was lost at sea on the return voyage to England, not even a trace of the wreckage of the lost boat having ever been found. Mr. Turner continued his education in the public schools at Lodi until he had completed a high school course and thereafter he was graduated in Lodi Academy. In pursuance of his ambition and well matured plans' he began reading law under the preceptorship of Judge George W. Lewis, of Medina, but when, a few months later, Judge Lewis was elected to the bench of the Common Pleas Court, Mr. Turner found it necessary to find another preceptor. He accordingly continued his legal studies in the office of Jcseph Andrews, who was then the prosecuting attorney of Medina County. Mr. Turner was admitted to the Ohio bar, at Medina, in May, 1886, and early in the following year he established his residence at Canton, where he has been engaged in the practice of his profession during the long intervening period of nearly thirty years—a period marked by large and worthy achievement on his part. In 1893 Mr. Turner formed a law partnership with Mr. H. B. Webber, who likewise came from Medina County, and this effective alliance has since continued. From 1895 to 1900 Messrs. Turner and Webber were associated in practice with Judge Thayer, under the firm name of Thayer, Webber & Turner. The present firm of Webber & Turner has long controlled a substantial and representative general practice, but for a number of years past its members have specialized in corporation law, in which field of practice they are recognized as constituting one of the strong law firms of the State of Ohio. In 1900 Mr. Turner was appointed a special commissioner by the United States Government to visit the Pacific Coast and investigate the operations of the Chinese exclusion laws, and to this service he devoted eight months, his investigation having been such that he was able to render an important and valuable report to the Government. Mr. Turner has been prominent and influential in political affairs in Ohio for a number of years, and his services have been much in demand in state and national campaigns, for he has proved distinctively resourceful as an organizer and as a campaign orator. He has always given unequivocal allegiance to the republican party and has served as chairman of the Stark County Republican Committee. From 1888 to 1901 Mr. Turner served as city attorney of Canton and he takes a vital interest in all that concerns' the welfare of Stark County and its beautiful metropolis. He is a member of the Lakeside Country Club, the Canton Chamber of Commerce and the Elks Club of Canton. He retains active membership in the Stark County Bar Association and served several years as chairman of its executive committee. In December, 1893, Mr. Turner wedded Miss Ione McMurray, of Bucyrus, Crawford County, Ohio, she being a daughter of Capt. Robert McMurray, who was a gallant soldicr in the Civil war and who long held prestige as one of the leading members of the bar of Auglaize County, besides which he served as mayor of Wapakoneta, the judicial center of that county. 924 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY JAMES E. FINEFROCK, prominent citizen and progressive and successful business man of Canal Fulton, belongs to that class of citizens who in recent years have led the commercial and industrial movements which have contributed in such substantial degree to the prestige of Stark County as a business center of the Buckeye State. A substantial monument to his business talents and industry is found in the institution of Finefrock Brothers, a business founded in a modest way in 1902, and which has grown to immense proportions, advancing from merely a local venture into one the activities of which reach out in all directions in the state. Other enterprises have had the benefit of his abilities, as have also civic affairs, public-spirited citizenship having been one of his prominent qualities. Mr. Finefrock was born on the old Finefrock home farm in Carroll County, Ohio, in the vicinity of Waynesburg, Stark County, October 5, 1863, and is a son of Emanuel and Rebecca (Robertson) Finefrock. The father was born on the old homestead in 1836, a son of John Finefrock, a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who came to Carroll County, Ohio, as early as 1823, being the second owner of the Finefrock farm, which he purchased from the man who entered the property from the United States Government. The mother of James E. Finefrock was born in Brown Township, Carroll County, Ohio, in 1842. a daughter of Alexander and Isabella (Arbuckle) Robertson, and died in 1908. The father of Mr. Finefrock has always lived on the old family homestead, and continues to carry on operations there. He has rounded out a life of industry and usefulness, and his many sterling qualities have placed him firmly in the confidence of the people among whom he has passed so many years. James E. Finefrock attended the select schools at Magnolia, Ohio, following which he enrolled as a student at the Waynesburg. High School, and when he was graduated from that school entered the Normal School at Malvern, Ohio, completing his education at the Lebanon Normal. Mr. Finefrock entered upon his career as an educator, in 1884, and for three years taught in Carroll and Stark counties, and following his graduation from Lebanon Normal, in 1887, was appointed superintendent of schools at Malvern, where he established the first graded school and instituted the first graduating exercises of that village. During the above time, he also capably discharged the duties of school examiner for Carroll County. Leaving Malvern, Mr. Finefrock became principal of the Carrollton High School, a position in which he served for three years, and in the following year became superintendent of schools at Bowerstown, Ohio. During this time, Mr. Finefrock had given somc attention to investments in business affairs, but it was not until 1902 that he gave up the profession of which he had become so prominent aid popular a member, to give his entire time to an entirely different field, in which he was to exceed the success which he had gained as an instructor. In the year mentioned, with his brother, Charles O. Finefrock, and John J. Arbaugh, he engaged in the furniture business in a modest way. purchasing the established business of Charles R. Daily. One and one-half years later Mr. Arbaugh disposed of his interests to the brothers, at which time the name of the enterprise was changed to HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 925 Finefrock Brothers, and this style continued until 1912, when the business was incorporated with a capital of $50,000, as the Finefrock Brothers Company, Charles 0. being president of the concern, and James E., the secretary, treasurer and general manager. When this enterprise began business, in 1902, furniture only was handled, while the trade was limited practically to local points, although from the beginning always doing more or less business at Massillon. From year to year the business has expanded from a local one until 1915, when the company has one of the largest furniture and piano houses in Ohio, making a specialty of furnishing homes for newly-married couples, with a trade that extends in all directions from Canal Fulton for fifty miles, the concern selling and delivering good in their own vans to Massillon, Canton, Akron, Barberton, Cleveland and all intermediate points. In 1910 the brothers engaged in the manufacture of house and warehouse brooms in a small way, and since that time have built up that industry until they have a large output of this product, which sells as standard on the market and enjoys a widespread demand. As an evidence of the growth of the Finefrock Brothers Company in thirteen years, it may be stated that in 1902 the cash business of the company amounted in round numbers to $26,000, with a book account of $6,000 ; in 1914, the sales totaled $74,417.50, an amount which has been exceeded, in comparison, during the first half of 1915. The handsome brick business block was completed in 1906, this structure having three floors and basement, with a floor space of about 21,000 square feet. Mr. Finefrock is a director in the Exchange Banking Company, of Canal Fulton, and in the Ohio Banking and Trust Company of Massillon, the Fulton Forging Company and the Pit Car Manufacturing Company of Canal Fulton. He is secretary of the Lutheran Church congregation. The firm of Finefrock Brothers Company also owns the Mount Pleasant Stock Farm, west of Canal Fulton, which contains 100 acres, and on which imported Belgian horses and thoroughbred Jersey cattle are bred. James E. Finefrock was married to Miss Laura M. Ruff, a daughter of the late Frank Ruff, who until his death at Canton, in 1913, had been a prosperous farmer of Pine Township, Stark County. To Mr. and Mrs. Finefrock the following children have been born: Eva Lucile, a graduate of Mount Union College, class of 1914, and now a teacher in the Canal Fulton High School; James Lester, a graduate of Canal Fulton High School, who taught one year and is now associated with his father in business, married Grace Kittinger, and has one son, James Newton ; Vera Marie, a graduate of the Canal Fulton High School, and now a member of the class of 1916, at Kent (Ohio) Normal School and Howard Huff, Wendell and Dorothy, who are still attending the graded schools. ROBERT HUG. The ability to grasp opportunities is one of the chief essentials of worldly success and when united with energy and perseverance forms a combination which places the result practically beyond doubt. It has been the possession of these qualities which has contributed most materially to the advancement of Robert Hug, one of the oldest and most prominent citizens of Navarre, who, taking advantage 926 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY of opportunities presented, has energetically and perseveringly carried his operations through to a prosperous conclusion. At present he is at the head of the lumber and manufacturing concern of Robert Hug & Son, and is also identified with various other enterprises of prominence and importance. Mr. Hug was born in the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland, November 9, 184U, the son of Joseph and France (Hug) Hug. His parents passed their entire lives in their native land, the father being for many years postmaster of his village. The public schools of Switzerland furnished Robert Hug with his education, and at the age of seventeen years he began an apprenticeship to the trade of carpenter, a vocation which he followed in his native land until 1868. In that year, feeling that America offered better advantages for the young and ambitious, he emigrated to this country and for six years devoted himself to his trade in Stark County. In 1874 he purchased the old foundry at Navarre, which he converted into a planing mill and lumber yard, conducting it until 1899 and at the same time carrying on contracting. In 1899 he disposed of his interests in this enterprise and in the same year built his present plant, which has dimensions as follows: mill floor space, 64 by 52 feet ; engine room, 18 by 52 feet; lumber shed, 36 by 90 feet; addition, 30 by 40 feet ; open shed, 30 by 230 feet; glass shed, l6 by 36 feet, and stable, 30 by 54 feet. For several years Mr. Hug has done no contracting or building, confining his energies and attention to the manufacture and sale of lumber, with his principal markets at Massillon and Brewster, Ohio. In 1907 Mr. Hug was one of the organizers of the Navarre Deposit Bank Company, of which he has since been a member of the directing board. In 1893 he participated in the organization of the Navarre Stoneware Company, and was for years its president. The plant of this concern was destroyed by fire in 1911 and was rebuilt the same year, but in 1913 the company was disbanded. In November, 1914, Mr. Hug was one of the organizers of the Navarre Baking Company, which took over the plant formerly occupied by the Navarre Stoneware Company, and in March, 1915, the new company began business as an up-to-date bakery and ice cream manufacturing company, and has since been developed into one of the largest plants of this kind in the county, not excepting those of the large cities. One of the most prominent factors in the development of these concerns, Mr. Hug also has other important financial interests, being a stockholder in the Lincoln Paving Brick Company, the Big Four Paving Block Company and the Canton Feed and Milling Company, all of Canton. His present position in the business world is the result of continual and unremitting work. straightforward, honest dealing in every transaction, and absolute fidelity in all particulars towards his associates. His career is eminently typical of the successful Ohioan—a man thorough in all his ways and doings, fearlessly following the path he has started upon, and allowing no deviation until he has won the goal of every man who is worth the name, success. Mr. Hug is a member of St. Clement's Roman Catholic Church, of which he was treasurer for many years. In 1871 Mr. Hug was married to Miss Catherine Hug, who was born HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 927 at Navarre, Ohio, April 17, 1848, and they have one son: Otto A., who was born April 17, 1874, and is a member of the firm of Robert Hug & Son and one of the energetic and successful business men of Navarre. He married Nora Agnes, of Navarre, and has one son and three daughters. JOHN L. G. POTTORF. An educator of successful experience, John L. G. Pottorf is now serving as principal of the North High School at Canton. Mr. Pottorf represents a family which has been identified with this section of Ohio for a century or more. John L. G. Pottorf was born at Augusta, Carroll County, Ohio. In the records of the first census of the United States, 1790, for the State of Maryland, there appears the name of Andrew Pottorf in Washington County, the head of a family of three. It is according to family tradition that three brothers, John, George and Andrew Pottorf, went "out west" from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1822, Andrew, who was born February 24, 1795, and died January 24, 1870, settling in what was then Stark County, but now Carroll County, Ohio, while the other two brothers went on West, one locating in Illinois, and the other in Missouri. Andrew Pottorf was one of the pioneer settlers in Northeastern Ohio, and was buried at Harrisburg in Carroll County. Carroll County when formed was made from territory formerly comprised in Stark, Tusearawas, Jefferson and Columbiana counties. This pioneer settler was the great-grandfather of the Canton school man. In the next generation is Henry Pottorf, the grandfather, who was born August 18, 1810, and died August 15, 1869, and was buried in the churchyard at Herrington's. Church in Carroll County. Seymour Pottorf, father of John L. G., was born at Augusta, Ohio, January 23, 1846, and died November 7, 1914, at Salem, Ohio, and was laid to rest in the Fairview Cemetery of that city. For several years prior to his death he had lived retired at Salem. For a number of years he was successfully engaged in the production of crude petroleum and in Pennsylvania had oil wells at Jefferson, Shamburg, Clarion, Emlenton and also at Scio, Ohio. He was interested in the refining of crude petroleum at Emlenton, Pennsylvania. He was a good business man, and also took much interest in community affairs. He was a member of several boards of education, of the Columbiana County Agricultural Society, and in the Highland Christian Church served in various offices. Seymour Pottorf married Mary Shaw, who was born at Augusta, Ohio, July 27. 1850, was educated in local public schools, and early showed unusual ability in writing both poetry and prose, contributing many articles to various newspapers. She likewise represents an old family not only in Ohio but in America. Her great-grandfather, Nathan Shaw, who was born in Westmoreland County, New Jersey, and is buried in Sugar Grove Cemetery, then called Hale's Meeting House, in Jefferson County. Ohio, was a soldier who fought for the establishment of American Independence as a lieutenant in Captain Jonathan Beasley's Company in Washington's army in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Her grandfather, Joshua Shaw, married Elizabeth Herrington, a native of Maryland and a daughter of an early citizen of Carroll County, Ohio, 928 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY who founded Herrington's church. John Shaw, father of Mary Shaw, was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, January 25, 1823, and died December 28, 1875. He was for many years a merchant, and at the time of his death was incumbent of the office of county auditor of Carroll County. John Shaw married Elizabeth Van Pelt. Elizabeth Van Pelt's father, William Van Pelt, was of Holland Dutch descent, was born in Louden County, Virginia, and was educated at Alexandria, District of Columbia. William Van Pelt married Harriet DeSettle. This family subsequently dropped the "De" from their name. Harriet was born in Louden County, Viriginia, a daughter of Henry DeSettle, a Virginia slave holder and planter, and a son of Joseph and Sara DeSettle, who were French people and early colonists of Virginia. John L. G. Pottorf received his elementary education in the public schools of Augusta, Ohio, and Emlenton, Pennsylvania, and also attended State Normal School in Clarion, Pennsylvania. In 1890 he finished the course in the Rochester Business University in New York, and graduated as a member of the class of 1899 in Cook Academy of Montour Falls, New York. Mr. Pottorf had his higher education in Brown University at Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated A. B. with the class of 1903 from Mount Union College at Alliance, Ohio. In the intervals of his school work lie has also pursued post-graduate university studies in Cornell university at Ithaca, and in Columbia University of New York City. From the latter university he has the degrees M. E. and M. A. with the class of 1911. Beginning in early manhood Mr. Pottorf has been actively identified with educational work. He taught in high schools in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, the Central High School of Akron, Ohio, and the Fifth Avenue High School of Pittsburg. Pennsylvania.' Since 1910 he has been principal of the North High School at Canton, and has been extension teacher for the Kent State Normal School at Kent, Ohio. Mr. Pottorf is an educator of high ideals, and one who has embarked all his enemy, enthusiasm and experience in the work of training young men and women for the responsibilities of life and of living. He is accordingly interested in every cause and movement which will make sel supporting. self-respecting. intelligent and God-fearing citizens. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Canton. of the Y. M. C. A.. of the Boy's Work Committee of Canton. and after leaving college wag for a. time assistant secretary of the Y. M. C. A. at East Liverpool, Ohio. He is a member of the Canton Chamber of Commerce. of the National Educational Association, and his college fraternity is Brown Chapter of the Delta Upsilon. FRANK FULTON TAGGART. The standing enjoyed by Frank Fulton Taggart among business men of Ohio rests upon many years of activity, but principally is it the outgrowth of his connection with the coal industry. a fold in which he has attained broad reputation and high position. While his headquarters have been maintained at Massillon for a number of years. his operations have been so extensive in serene as to make his name known not only all over Ohio, but into West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, and his strength as a citizen is based HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 929 not only upon his successful and honorable record as a business man, but on a purposeful participation in county and state politics. Mr. Taggart was born at Canal Fulton, Ohio, August 27, 1873, and is a son of Isaac Milton and Laura E. (Fulton) Taggart. He is the great-great-grandson of a Revolutionary soldier who emigrated from Ireland during Colonial days, and his great-grandfather, James Taggart, also a native of Ireland, was an early settler of Pennsylvania, and the first of the family to come to Ohio, locating in Belmont County, where he followed farming. William Taggart, the grandfather of Frank F. Taggart, was born near Saint Clairsville, Belmont County, and as a young man moved to Wayne County, where for years he manufactured harness and saddle trees, traveling through the country and selling his goods directly to his customers. In later years he retired to his farm, east of Wooster, Ohio, and there died in 1862. He married Lydia Reiter, daughter of William Reiter, a Wayne County pioneer from Berks County, Pennsylvania, and she survived him until 1882. Isaac M. Taggart, the father of Frank F. Taggart, was horn May 3, 1850, near Wooster. Wayne County, and was well educated, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Sciences from Mount Union College in 1870 and the Master degree nine years later. He was for seventeen years engaged in teaching school, during which time he was superintendent of schools at Canal Fulton, but in 1890 entered the field of finance. Notwithstanding the fact that he had had no experience or training of any kind in this way, he has since become one of the leading bankers of Northeast Ohio, and at this time is cashier of the Merchants National Bank of Massillon, a member of the executive committee and chairman of "Group Eight" of the Ohio Bankers Association, and vice president of that institution in the American Bankers Association. He also holds official positions or directorships in such leading concerns as the Spruce River Coal Company, the Massillon Rolling Mill Company, the Brown Lumber Company, the National Sanitary Company, the Canton Stamping and Enameling Company, the Massillon Iron and Steel Company, the Peerless Drawn Steel Company, the Massillon City Ice and Coal Company, the Massillon Foundry and Machine Company, and the Agricultural and Commercial Lime Company. He is likewise prominent in club and fraternal life. His first wife was Laura E. Fulton, daughter of Benjamin Fulton, a native of Stark County and a member of the old and honored family for which Canal Fulton was named. She died in February, 1906, the mother of six children : Minnie, who is the wife of George A. Chapman ; Frank Fulton, of this review; Dorothea, who lives with her father; Cora and Carrie, twins. the former of whom married Dr. Charles H. Clark, and the latter the wife of Clarence McLain ; and Harold I., secretary, treasurer and manager of the Agricultural and Commercial Lime Company, of Canton. Isaac M. Taggart was married again to Miss Mary E. Lyon daughter of Rev. Frank Lyon, a Baptist minister of Zanesville, Ohio. Frank Fulton Taggart was graduated from the Massillon High School in the class of 1891 and in the following year began his business career as sales manager with the Wheeling & Lake Erie Coal Company. In 1894 he became special sales agent with the Midvale Coal Company, 930 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY with which he was connected until 1899, in that year organizing the Pigeon Run Coal Company (known in the district as Taggart No. 1). This was followed, in 1903, by the South Massillon Coal Company (known as Taggart No. 2), and in 1904 Mr. Taggart became the organizer of the Clendenniu Coal Company, of West Virginia. In 1908 he became the organizer of the City Ice and Coal Company of Massillon, of which he is president and treasurer. In 1910 he organized the Spruce River Coal Company, of West Virginia, of which he is secretary, treasurer, general manager and active head; in 1911 he was the founder in Kentucky and Tennessee of the Jellico Canel Coal Company, of which he is treasurer and general manager; and in 1912 organized The Goshen Valley Coal Company of Ohio, operating three mines and became its president and treasurer. From the very beginning of his business career, Mr. Taggart has been a hard and most indefatigable worker. With such heavy duties and responsibilities, it would seem that his time for other occupations would be limited, and yet he has found time to enjoy the recreations of life and to capably perform his share of the labors of citizenship. He is a director of the Massillon Social Club and of the Massillon Lakeside Club and a member of the Hermit Club of Cleveland. He has been prominent in local as well as state polities, having served for a number of years as a member of the Stark County Republican Central Committee, and in 1914 being a member of the Ohio State Executive Committee of the republican party. Mr. Taggart was married in the year 1898 to Miss Lulu, daughter of Dr. T. J. Reed, one of Massillon's oldest and best known physicians and surgeons. CHARLES GORMAN KING. In May, 1916, Mr. King rounds out a full quarter century's service as secretary of the First Savings & Loan Company of Massillon. While perhaps best known in that city as a banker, where he is also a director of the Ohio Banking & Trust Company, there are many other business and civic associations which indicate how well he has made use of his opportunities and what degree of appreciation and community esteem he enjoys. Born at Massillon September 14, 1866, Charles Gorman King is a son of Valentine R. and Mary E. (Swihart) King. On both sides the families have long been identified with Stark County. Valentine R. King was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1834, a son of Abraham King, also a Pennsylvanian, who a great many years ago brought his family to Stark County and settled on a farm between Lichville and Canton. The late Valentine R. King in 1861 volunteered for service in Company A of the One Hundred and Seventh Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was a faithful soldier of the Union for nearly four years, finally being mustered out in 1865 with a record of which his descendants will always be proud. After the war he came to Massillon, and for a number of years was bookkeeper with different firms, and finally was appointed deputy postmaster, an office he held until his death in May, 1888. His wife, Miss Swihart, was born on a farm in Bethlehem Township of Stark PICTURE OF CHARLES GORMAN KING HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 931 County in 1844, and died in 1902. Her father, Daniel K. Swihart, was born in Ohio and was one of the early settlers in Bethlehem Township. After leaving the Massillon High School before he was sixteen years old, Charles G. King spent three years in acquiring and working at the printer's trade in the office of the Massillon Independent. He gave up printing and for three years was bookkeeper in a real estate office and from that position graduated into his work as a banker. In May, 1891, he became secretary of the First Savings & Loan Company, which had been organized three years previously, and has faithfully and intelligently looked after the duties of his position and the welfare of the company through almost twenty-five years. In 1914 he was one of the organizers of the Ohio Banking & Trust Company, of which he is now a director. He is also a director in the Realty Rubber Company, a director in the Massillon Aluminum Company, and has interests in other local industries. For many years Mr. King has been one of the live wires in local civic affairs. For the past six years he has been identified with the board of education, of which he was president in 1913, and in 1915 is vice president. He is a member of the board of trade and the Chamber of Commerce, is affiliated with Clinton Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Massillon Cornmandery No. 4 Knights Templar, and with Cleveland Consistory of the thirty-second degree Scottish Rite. Mrs. King before her marriage was Josephine Willenborg, a daughter of the late Frank Willenborg of Massillon. They have a daughter, Louise. Mr. King and family are members of the Christian Church. WILLIAM T. KIRK. While Mr. Kirk has been closely identified with business affairs in Canton and in contiguous localities in this section of Ohio for a number of years, the service for which he deserves most credit and for which he has been much praised had been his work as secretary of the Canton Builders Exchange. Mr. Kirk is also a member at large of the Canton City Council. Though for many years a resident of Stark County, William T. Kirk was born in the City of Philadelphia, December 10, 1865. His ancestry is of mingled Scotch and German stock. His parents were S. Alphonso and Mary A. (Frankem) Kirk, his father a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and his mother of Philadelphia. His mother died in Philadelphia in 1886. In 1893 S. A. Kirk came to Canton but in 1900 removed to Pittsburg, in which city he still maintains his residence. Reared in Philadelphia, William T. Kirk had the advantage of the graded and high schools of that city and also graduated from the Pierce Business College of Philadelphia. In 1883 at the age of eighteen he entered the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway at Philadelphia, and continued with that company until September, 1906, in various grades of responsibility and service. In September, 1906, Mr. Kirk came to Canton and became bookkeeper for the Hughes Pump Company, and still later was made assistant secretary and purchasing agent for this concern. When the Hughes Pump Company removed its plant to Wooster, Ohio, Mr. Kirk went 932 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY along with the company, though he has retained his residence in Canton, and makes the journey back and forth between tire two cities each day. It was in 1913 that Mr. Kirk was elected secretary of the Canton Builders Exchange. The Exchange in the past two years has increased its membership lad per cent, while the efficiency and scope of its service among its own members and as a live organization for the welfare of Canton have increased in like measure. Immediately on his election as secretary of the Exchange Mr. Kirk demonstrated his fitness for that important position by thoroughly reorganizing the office and placing the Exchange on a solid financial basis. He is also local agent for the Chicago Bonding and Surety Company of Chicago, and of the Casualty Company of America, whose head offices are in New York City. Ile makes a specialty in the handling of contractors' bonds. As a republican Mr. Kirk was elected to the Canton City Council on November 2, 1915. He is a member of McKinley Castle No. 137, Knights of the Golden Eagle, and is a grand trustee for Ohio in that organization. He also belongs to Canton Lodge No. 233 of the Loyal Order of Moose. He is a member of the Ad Craft Club, the Robert Burns Society, and the McKinley Club. Mr. Kirk married Miss Josephine Connor, who was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, daughter of Joseph and Lydia (Pasmore) Connor. HON. CHARLES KRICHBAUM. As probate judge of Stark County Charles Krichbaum fills a place of distinction and of important public service. He has been identified with the Stark County bar upwards of thirty years, and in that time has practiced in all the courts of the state, but never held an elective office until he was past the age of fifty. He went into his present office on a non-partisan 'ticket, and with many recognized qualifications for the administration of the delicate and important problems that come before the probate court. By special appointment he is also judge of the juvenile court. Judge Krichbaum does not represent the stern justice that inflicts penalties without discretion or discrimination, but rather believes and acts so that, with due respect to the welfare of society, the individual wrong doer may be set on the road to reformation. He has the experienced judgment of one who has known all sorts of men, is a discriminating observer of character and motives, and the humanitarian spirit has always characterized his work. The juvenile court over which he presides is one that requires for its effective working the finest balance of judgment and character, and in that position Judge Krichbaum has performed a service of inestimable benefit to the present and future generations and has given the court a high standing throughout the state. Having spent all his life in Stark County, there are few citizens of the present generation who do not know this capable lawyer and judge. He was born at Bethlehem Township, Stark County, September 26, 1855. His parents were David and Sarah (Buchtel) Krichbaum. Judge Krichbaum is of mingled German, Dutch and Scotch-Trish stock, and it was a recognized qualification during his candidacy for the office of probate judge that he is well versed in the German language, an im- HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 933 portant requisite when it is recalled how large a proportion of Stark County population is German. His great-grandfather, Trani, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, having enlisted from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. David Krichbaum, his father, was educated in Ira M. Allen's Academy and at Mount Union College of this county, and during his career followed school teaching, carpentry and gunsmithing. He was an especially fine mechanic.• He was killed at the South Market Street crossing on the Pennsylvania Railroad, January 9, 1866, when Judge Krichbaum was eleven years of age. The mother, Sarah Buchtel, was the daughter of John and Martha Buchtel and granddaughter of John Sherman, founder of Sherman Church. Judge Krichbaum is a man of thorough education. He graduated from the University of Wooster in the class of 1883 with the degreo Bachelor of Arts and later was awarded the degree of Master of Arts, and in 1887 took his degree LL. B. from the Cincinnati Law School. What he gained from schools has been supplemented by a wide experience with men and affairs. Owing to the early death of his father lie had to become self supporting when only a boy. For five years he worked at monthly wages as a farm hand. For four terms he taught school in Stark County, and later for two years was principal of the South McKinley Avenue School in Canton, and for a time was Professor of English and Oratory in the Pennsylvania State Normal School at Indiana, Pennsylvania. Before entering the Cincinnati Law School he was a student of law under Justice William R. Day and Austin Lynch at Canton. After his admission to the bar in 1887 he formed a partnership for practice with Judge Henry W. Harter under the name Harter & Krichbaum, a partnership which was continued with mutual profit and satisfaction for fourteen years. In his private practice Judge Krichbaum was successful in both criminal and civil law, and his experience as a lawyer before taking the bench included a wide variety of litigation, many cases entrusted to him having made him familiar with much of the work which comes before the probate judge. He tried many cases in court involving questions of insanity, many appropriation cases and ditch and road litigation, and for many years has made a close study of the social evil and juvenile delinquency. Though he gave up school work many years ago he has never lost touch with matters of public education, and for years has been a popular speaker before teachers' institutes and in school commencements. For some time he was a member of the Canton City School Board and for many years has served as a trustee of the University of Wooster, having been the first alumnus elected to such a position in his alma mater. He is well known as an accomplished public speaker, and Judge Krichbaum's efforts as a speaker have been chiefly characterized by a thorough understanding of the problems he has discussed and by convincing- earnestness, more effective in the long run than mere rhetorical emphasis. As a democrat he was for several years president of the Young Men's Democratic Club, and until his election to the bench his services were much sought over the state as a public speaker, not only in political campaigns, but on many 934 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY other occasions of public interest. He took part as a speaker in many of the state and national campaigns. His first elective office was prosecuting attorney of Stark County, to which he was elected in 1908 and in which he served two terms. In 1912 he was elected as a non-partisan to the probate bench and the Stark County courts appointed him juvenile judge. Judge Krichbaum is a member of the Greek Letter College fraternity Delta Tau Delta and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was brought up in the German Reformed Church and maintained his connection with that denomination until recently when he became a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Canton, where he now teaches the Men's Bible Class. On August 20, 1890, he married Miss Lizzie Gans, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. D. L. Gans. Doctor Gans was a physician in the south part of Stark County for half a century, was a well qualified doctor and practiced over a wide territory. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Gordon Hanna, was connected with the noted Gordon family of Virginia and other parts of the South. For some time she resided in the family of Alexander Campbell at Bethany, West Virginia, the seat of the famous school founded by Mr. Campbell arid the training ground for many of the pioneer ministers of the Disciples of Christ Church. Dr. and Mrs. Gans were themselves pioneer adherents of that church in southern Stark County, and gave liberally of their means to the educational and missionary enterprises of the Christian Church. Mrs. Krichbaum was graduated from Hiram College in 1882. Judge and Mrs. Krichbaum have two children. Their daughter Elizabeth was graduated from Wells College at Aurora, New York, with the class of 1914. Their son Charles Gordon Krichbaum is now a junior in the Canton High School. ELMER E. LEIGHLEY. There have been four successive members of as many generations of the Leighley family identified with the development and history of Stark County. That they have been good citizens goes without question. They have been sturdy and substantial men and women in all the duties and responsibilities which are imposed upon potpie who help carry forward the improvement and advancement of any locality. Representing the four successive generations is Elmer E. Leighley, who for a number of years has prospered as a general farmer and has done much to improve his own place and sustain the neighborhood activities of Bethlehem Township, in which he resides. His farm is situated on the State Road, three miles south of the Village of Navarre. On the place where he now resides, long known as the Leighley homestead, Mr. Leighley was born July 1, 1872. His father, Jacob D. Leigh- ley, was born near the Sherman Church in Pike Township of Stark County September 22, 1837. The grandparents were David N. and Theresa (Younkman) Leighley. David N. Leighley was born in Burks County, Pennsylvania, a son of Nicholas Leighley, who was a native of Germany. Nicholas Leighley in the very early days took up Govern- HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 935 ment land adjoining the present Sherman Church in Pike Township of Stark County, and after doing his part as a pioneer settler he spent the rest of his days in that location. Grandfather David Leighley also lived in the old homestead in Pike Township until 1865, in which year he moved to Bethlehem Township and bought the old Henry Dennis farm, of which only a few acres were at that time cleared. His own work did a great deal to make this a valuable place, and it has since been known as the Leighley farm. David Leighley died there in 1887 at the age of seventy-six. His wife, Theresa Younkman, was born on a farm two miles east of the Village of Navarre, her father having been an early settler of Bethlehem Township. The mother of Elmer E. Leighley before her marriage was Margaret A. Grove, who was born on a farm in Pike Township about six miles smith of Canton in 1845, daughter of John D. and Elizabeth (Hartzel) Grove. The Grove family came to Stark County from Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Jacob D. Leigh- ley lived on the old homestead until 1863, in which year he enlisted Company A of the One Hundred Sixty-second Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was in active service on the Union side until the close of the war. Among other battles in which he participated was the crucial engagement at Vicksburg. While in service he contracted a cancerous growth under his tongue, supposedly from biting off the ends of cartridges. He was also afflicted with the chronic diarrhea while in the army, and as a result of these diseases he was never very strong after the war. However, he married and reared a family, followed farming, and lived to be quite full of years. His death occurred in July, 1901. His widow is still living. Jacob D. Leighley was a member of Navarre Post, Grand Army of the Republic, which order had charge of his funeral. He was also a member of Smoketown Reformed Church. the edifice of which society stands on the Leighley farm. Jacob D. Leighley and wife became the parents of two sons and one daughter: James A. Leighley who married Ora Ellsworth, is living at Toledo, \\litre for the past twenty-eight years he has been in the service of the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad ; Elmer E.: and Nettie, who married Ira hay, and they reside in Beach City, Stark County. The associations of Elmer E. Leighley have been almost entirely from youth upward centered around the old homestead on which he was born and where he now lives. As a boy he attended the district schools, and when quite young he left the farm for a time to learn the druggist business in Navarre. A brief experience of three months convinced him that he had no permanent inclination for that calling, and he then steered into another course, and for eight years was a popular teacher in the public schools of Bethlehem Township. From school teaching he graduated into his permanent vocation as a farmer, and has since been engaged in cultivating and improving his fine place of 160 acres in Bethlehem Township. In April, 1895, Mr. Leighley married in Navarre Miss Etta Burro- way. Her father, Jacob Burroway, was one of the old and well known citizens of Sugar Creek Township, and also made a record of service during the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Leighley are properly proud of their fine family of five children : Inez Mae was born May 21, 1897, Vol. III -12 936 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY and is still at home; Karl D. was born September 22, 1899; Floyd J. was born May 23, 1901; Forest Blaine was born December 14, 1905; and Joyce was born May 14, 1913. All the children are still at home and Mr. and Mrs. Leighley have taken great pains to give them the best of advantages at home and in local schools. For a number of years Mr. Leighley has been a force in the civic affairs of his home township, but particularly with regard to school matters. In fact, he is noted for his enthusiasm in promoting everything that will raise and keep up a high standard in educational matters. He has been a member of the township school board for the last eight years, and in June, 1914, was elected a member of the Stark County School Board. In national politics he takes the republican side, but in local matters gives his support to the man he believes best fitted for his particular office. Mr. Leighley is a member and an elder in the Reformed Church. LOUIS ELSASS. Forty years ago Louis Elsass was one of the men who depended upon the wages of hard toil by the month as a means of self support. That he possessed courage and determination equal to his industry is illustrated by the fact that he left his native land when still young and sought opportunity in the New World. Mr. Elsass now possesses a splendid country estate of 108 acres, situated four miles north of the City of Canton, in Plain Township, and also enjoys the dignity associated with the office of supervisor of the township. Born February 28, 1847, in Alsace, France, Louis Elsass is a son of Frederick and Elizabeth (Schweisberger) Elsass. His father's great- grandfather was a native of Austria. Frederick Elsass spent his life in the Province of Alsace. He and his wife were substantial farming people and owned a considerable amount of valuable land. Louis Elsass had four brothers and five sisters, but only one of them came to America. Phillip and Christian are still living in the old country, as is his married sister Sophia. Elizabeth also married in the old country, but is now deceased. Catherine is married and lives in Europe. Jacob is now living near Myers Lake in Ohio. Two other children are now deceased. Besides gaining an education in his native Province of Alsace, Louis Elsass served for four years in the French army as an artilleryman. On leaving his native land he first went to the Island of Cuba where he remained five months. His first place of landing in the United States was New Orleans, where he arrived in 1873, and during the following year was employed chiefly at cotton haling. From there he came north to Canton, Ohio, and has lived in this vicinity for the past forty years. At the age of twenty-nine he married a girl of eighteen, Miss Louisa Lesh, daughter of Lewis Lesh, one of the old time farmers and well known citizens of Stark County. At the time of his marriage Mr. Elsass still possessed very limited means but with plenty of courage and with a reputation for steady industry, he engaged as a monthly wage worker on the old John Hawks farm. The first year his contract called for a total payment of $125, and then after making a new bargain he remained in the employ of Mr. Hawks for four succeeding years. During that time he and his wife economized in every possible direction, and as a HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 937 result he was able to buy fifty acres of his present farm. It was wild and untamed land, and he set to work with a will to clear it up and in the past thirty-four years he has accomplished his ideal of making a model farm in its general improvements and cultivation, and has increased his acreage more than double. In addition to general farming he also operated until recently a milk business, supplying milk to the City of Canton. In addition to his present official honor, Mr. Elsass was at one time candidate for sheriff of Stark County. He is a democrat in politics and is a member of the Lutheran Church. He and his wife are the parents of five children. William, born June 20, 1878, is a graduate of Brush College, and is now operating his father's farm, also holding a union card as a blacksmith ; Ollie married Curtis C. Seibert, and they now live in Plain Township and have two children; Ralph and Vera ; Mary is now Mrs. John C. Bullinger, and their two children are named Calvin and Ruth May ; Sarah married Ralph Schumacher, and they now live at Minneapolis, Minnesota; Irving is married and lives at Mansfield, Ohio. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CRITES. From the time he reached young manhood until the present time Benjamin F. Crites has been a factor in business and industrial affairs in the neighborhood of Beach City. He is now the leading furniture dealer and undertaker in that section of Stark County, and has in fact the only establishment and furnishes the only adequate service in his home village. He is a successful merchant and is interested in many business and civic affairs. Mr. Crites is the type of business man who is almost instinctively trusted by his fellows, has proved his ability to handle and direct large interests, and belongs to the group of men who at Beach City control and uphold the business prosperity of the locality. His success has been made almost entirely within the community where he was born. He was born December 5, 1852, about one mile northwest of the Village of Beach City in Sugar Creek Township. His father was Benjamin Crites, who died in 1857, when his son was only five years of age, and the latter was this left largely to his own resources and had to make his success by his unaided efforts. Mr. Critessi mother before her marriage was Sarah Todd, daughter of Samuel Todd. The Todd family came from Pennsylvania. She died in 1.910. Growing up in Sugar Creek Township, Benjamin F. Crites attended the district schools, and for about three years of his early youth made his home with his grandfather Todd, who then lived at Hanover, Columbiana County, Ohio. He began to make his own way in the world at a very early date. Fortunately he possessed, in addition to good habits and honorable intentions, the faculty of a natural mechanic. At the age of seventeen he went to work in a sawmill, and put in three years in that establishment. He was soon master of all the mechanism and has always been a very handy man with almost any kind of machinery or tools. After leaving the sawmill Mr. Crites went immediately into the contracting business though he had never worked as a carpenter previously. His first work in that line was done in Bethlehem Township, and he constructed most of the large "bank" barns in the neighborhood 938 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY of the Village of Navarre, and also put up a number of residences. Mr. Crites could go through that part of the country and point out a number of structures which are still standing as silent testimonials to his skill and reliability. His next venture was when he came to Beach City and with his brother Alfred bought the planing mill of the village. Subsequently they bought out the furniture factory and also an undertaking business and for seven years they conducted all three lines as partners. Their partnership was then dissolved, Alfred taking over the mill, while Benjamin F. Crites assumed the undertaking and furniture business. This he has successfully conducted ever since, and has had no opposition in the town. It is not only the sole business of the kind in the city but is one of the best managed and most successful enterprises of the kind in Stark County. Mr. Crites is a licensed embalmer, holding a certificate from the state board, and is also a member of the Ohio State Funeral Directors' Association. While a good business man he is an equally good citizen. During his residence in Bethlehem Township he served as a school director. For six years he served as a member of the Beach City Council and has been a member of the village water board. Mr. and Mrs. Crites are members of the United Brethren Church. They take a proper pride in their fine family of children. Mr. Crites married Amanda Shetler, who was born in Bethlehem Township, of Stark County, daughter of Jacob Shetler. To their marriage have been born the following children: Jennie Olive, Jacob Elburton, Nellie, Vernon, Iva (deceased), Vernon, Alva (deceased) and Vera. The daughter Jennie 0. married Charles Reese of Beach City, and their children, grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Crites, are named Franklin Ray, Gladys Loanda, Lola Luretta, Ida Marie, Myra Fern, Margaret Pearl, George Wayne, Robert Lloyd and Lelia Catherine. The son Jacob E. married Vetta Reese, and their two children are named Margaret Fern and Wade Otterbein, both now deceased. Nellie married Edward Oberlin of Beach City, and their children are Dale Edwin, Alice May and Lester Wayne. CHARLES A. PONTIUS. Without disparaging the efforts of that splendid body of Stark County citizens whose interests and vocations are in agricultural lines. it can be said that the labors of only a few have had so beneficial an effect upon development and progress as those that have characterized the career of Charles A. Pontius of Canton in Plain Township. In early manhood he determined to become a leader in agricultural work. After a thorough preparation for his vocation, and with the practical experience and growing interests of subsequent years he has found himself in a position of leadership among the farmers in this part of Ohio. He has not only done his own work well but has found means to carry on the campaign of education for the raising of agricultural standards and efficiency. Various honors have come to him as a result of his knowledge of conditions and methods, and he has frequently filled a position of trust and responsibility. On May 1. 1913, he was appointed inspector of the dairy division of the State Dairy and Food PICTURE OF CHARLES A. PONTIUS HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 939 Department under the State Agricultural Commission. That places hint in official charge of the work of the department covering twenty- three Ohio counties. In part his thorough loyalty to Stark County is due to the fact that his family has been, identified with this section of Ohio for more than a century. The Pontius family is of Revolutionary stock. His great-great-grandfather Frederick Pontius, who was born in Pennsylvania July 4, 1772, just four years to a day before the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence, married Margaret Reedy, also a native of Pennsylvania, and the bells tolled for the death of General Washington about the time they started their married life. Their son Jacob was born to them in Union County, Pennsylvania, in 1802 and in the same year the family moved to what is now Stark County, Ohio. Long before there was even a town site of Canton, the great-grandfather took up land from the Government, establishing his home in the midst of a wilderness and subsequently experiencing all the hardships and privations of the pioneer life. As a farmer he won success by energy and intelligent effort, and died on his homestead, a respected and esteemed citizen in 1848 at the age of seventy-six. His wife survived him until 1861, dying at the advanced age of eighty-six. Jacob Pontius, grandfather of Charles A., was an infant when brought to Stark County and grew to manhood amidst pioneer surroundings. His education came from the primitive schools of that time, and as a boy he did his share in the clearing and development of the homestead. In February, 1827, he married Miss Rebecca Essig, who was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1806. There were three children. John, who died in 1890; Margaret, a resident of North Canton; and Andrew. The grandparents spent their lives on a Stark County farm, were energetic, earnest and God-fearing people, and enjoyed the respect of the community and the esteem and affection of a wide circle of friends. Andrew Pontius, who was perhaps better known as "Squire" Pontius, was born August 22, 1829, in Stark County. His career was spent for the mcst part. as a tiller of the soil and as a stock raiser. He was never content to keep his work in the old established routine, and was early convinced of the benefits supplied by modern power farm machinery. For forty years he preached to his fellow farmers the gospel of using improved methods in their work. Though never neglecting his own interests as a farmer, and while his live stock was always regarded as the finest in his county, he did an extensive business as a dealer in farming implements and represented many manufacturers in that line. He and his wife spent the last years of their life in quiet retirement at Canton. His fellow citizens paid Andrew Pontius many marks of confidence and esteem. For eighteen years he served as justice of the peace, and his advice to litigants was always to "avoid law." He was a stalwart democrat, and very active in the Lutheran Church, which he served as a member of the board of trustees. On May 22, 1851, Andrew Pontius married Miss Sarah Jane Correll. There were seven children : Dr. Lorin W., now deceased, who practiced medicine at Canton; Jackson W., who was a Canton business man until his death 940 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY Glancy C., a farmer in Perry Township of Stark County; Lucy M., wife of Judge M. E. Anngst of Canton; William J. and Charles A., twins; and Rebecca E., wife of Ed. C. Miller. Charles A. Pontius was born on the homestead farm at Plain Center Schoolhouse in Plain Township July 13, 1865. While growing up as a farm boy he attended the Plain Center School, afterward took a course in Mount Union College and this was supplemented by the full course at the Canton Business College. He has made farming a business and has gained from it the same degree of satisfying success that the successful men in other professions and pursuits look forward to. Until 1911 he also devoted his attention to the retail dairy business. Mr. Pontius has been widely known as a breeder of thoroughbred cattle, and in every department of agricultural enterprise has shown exceptional ability. He is probably best known to the people of Stark County in an official capacity, and through various offices has rendered his greatest service to his community. He was secretary of the Stark County Agricultural Society in 1911, and was re-elected to that place but resigned. For years he has been identified with the work of the Grange, is one of the prominent men of that organization in Ohio, and for two years was master of Stark County Pomona Grange. He was secretary of the Farmers Mutual Fire Protection Association of Plain and Jackson townships for a number of years, an office he still retains, and his administration brought the association a wonderful prosperity and growth. He has been a member of the board of directors of the State Dairymen's Association for a nmber of years, and some years ago declined the offer of the presidency. As president of the Farmers Institute on frequent occasions he has sought to develop that organization to a high state of efficiency. It was in recognition of this broad and competent service that brought Mr. Pontius his latest and most important official honor on May 1, 1913, when he was appointed inspector of the State Dairy and Food Department under the State Agricultural Commission. There are few places in the state public service that presents larger opportunities for work that touches the intimate welfare and well being of all citizens. As already mentioned, he has the supervision of the department's activities in twenty-three counties, and has shown himself entirely qualified for his task and has done much to raise the standard of accomplishment by the department. Fraternally Mr. Pontius is affiliated with Loyalty Lodge No. 469, Knights of Pythias, New Berlin ; with the Knights of the Maccabees and with Lodge No. 233 Loyal Order of Moose at Canton. He married Miss Anna Smith of Massillon, Ohio, daughter of Benton Smith of that city. Mrs. Pontius has for a number of years been well known for her intelligence and culture. She is a graduate of Massillon High School and attended Scio College and taught school in Nashville, Michigan, for one year and in Massillon for six years. She is of Quaker parentage. Like her husband, she is very much interested in Grange work and for four years served as Pomona of the Ohio State Orange. She is active in literary work and a leader in the uplifting of farm HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 941 women. Mr. and Mrs. Pontius have two children, Almyra Jane and John Andrew, each having graduated from the Canton High School and are now attending the Ohio State University. Mr. and Mrs. Pontius and their children are members and regular attendants of the Christian Church at New Berlin. WEST L. ALEXANDER. More than half a century ago Mr. Alexander became a resident of Canton. He was born on a farm near Frederick- town, Washington County, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of April, 1847, and is a son of Andrew and Harriet (Lawrence) Alexander, the former of Scotch and the latter of German lineage. Andrew Alexander likewise was a native of Washington County, Pennsylvania, and his wife was born in Fayette County, that state, her father, Jonathan Lawrence, having been a native of the Rhine Province of Germany, and the original Teutonic orthography of the name having been Lorenz. Mr. Alexander has manifested for many years the deepest of interest in all that has concerned the civic and material welfare and advancement of his home city and county, and has given his influence and cooperation in support of measures for the general good of the community, especially along the line of public improvements that have enhanced the physical attractiveness, social wellbeing and general advancement of Canton. He was actively identified with the organization of the Canton Public Library, and has been a member of its board of directors from its organization and chairman of the book committee. He was also one of the incorporators of the Aultman Hospital Association of Canton and has been secretary since its organization. He is affiliated with McKinley Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and with the Masonic fraternity. - On the 8th of September, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Alexander to Miss Caroline Renick, daughter of the late Jonathan Renick, of Circleville, Ohio. They have three children: Edward R., Jeanette M. and Donald. JAMES J. LUTZ. It is an unusual degree of success that James J. Lutz has gained during his residence in Stark County, comprising a little more than thirty years. He came to this section of Ohio a young Virginian, fresh from the Shenandoah Valley, where his life up to that time had been passed, but with little to his credit in the way of financial resources though he was not without experience as a farm hand. In Stark County likewise he was first known as a farm worker, graduated from that into handling farms on the shares, and finally as an independent proprietor. His is now one of the best farm homes in Bethlehem Township, and he resides on his fine farm three and a half miles southwest from the Village of Navarre. His birth occurred in the historic Shenandoah Valley of Northern Virginia on April 16, 1862. He is of Pennsylvania German stock, but his father was a Confederate soldier. He is a son of William C. and Diana (Coffman) Lutz. His paternal grandfather was Jacob Lutz. who was born in either Pennsylvania or Germany. The maternal grand- 942 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY father Coffman was a native of Germany, so that Mr. Lutz is descended from German ancestors on both sides. Grandfather Lutz moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia, where he and his wife spent the rest of their days. William Lutz was a quiet and industrious farmer in the Shenandoah Valley until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he enlisted in the Southern army and he died in Virginia about the close of the year 1862, only a few months after his son James J. was born. The latter's mother died in Virginia in 1900. The fact that his father died so early encompassed the early youth and boyhood of James J. Lutz with circumstances that were far from affluent. He grew up in the Village of Cabin Hill, Virginia, and had only the advantages of the common schools. Even as a boy he was employed in farm labor, and at the age of twenty-one, in March 1883, he carne north into Ohio in order to find better wages than were paid in Virginia farms. Thus he located in Navarre, and was soon employed by a neighborhood farmer. Eventually he accumulated money enough to buy the old George Gross farm, on which he now lives. This comprises seventy-six acres. Two years later he moved to the farm, in 1904, and has now steadily had his home in that section of Bethlehem Township for twelve years. In 1906 he went forward with his improvements by the erection of a large barn. The next step in his progress was made in 1910 when he bought the widow Zinmaster's farm near Navarre, comprising fifteen acres. To that place he has also added some good improvements. In February, 1911, Mr. Lutz acquired the John Shetler farm of 136 acres, two miles from Navarre, and under his administration this place has rapidly been made to measure up to the standard of development and management characteristic of everything Mr. Lutz handles. However, he now rents all his agricultural land, though he makes his home on his original purchase. Besides agriculture pure and simple Mr. Lutz has specialized in the raising of horses, hogs and some sheep. He raised good grade draft horses and Poland China hogs and for about five years he traveled and showed his stock at different county fairs in Ohio and even outside the state. His stock won some awards which were very gratifying to Mr. Lutz, who has always taken special pride in the stock husbandry branch of his business. For a number of years his name has been one of the most influential in connection with the affairs of the Stark County Agricultural Society and since 1898 he has been a member of the board of directors, and one of the most valued and valuable members of the society. He is also a member of the Stark County Horticultural Society. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, being a trustee of Navarre Lodge No. 240, he and his family are members of the United Brethren Church, in which he is a trustee of the church at Navarre, and in politics he is a republican in national affairs, but broad and liberal in his choice of candidates for state and county offices. On September 29, 1887, Mr. Lutz married Salome Shetler. She was born in Bethlehem Township of Stark County on the old family homestead, and they were married there. She is a daughter of John and HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 943 Sarah (Birchfield) Shetler, the former a native of Stark County and the latter of Tuscarawas County, and both now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Lutz have one son, Melvin E., who was born November 16, 1889. This son was educated in the district schools, graduated from the Navarre High School in 1905, and from Otterbein University, Bachelor of Science with the class of 1910. Thus liberally educated he spent the first year out of college in the employ of a Pennsylvania railroad and then entered the engineering corps a the Federal Government, and spent four years in the coast and geodetic survey. For two and a half years of that period he saw service in the Hawaiian Islands and next was for a time stationed in Alaska. Resigning from Federal service, he came back to his old home in Ohio, and is now actively and prosperously engaged in farming, being one of the vigorous young men who have allied themselves with that basic industry. He married Miss Edna Phalor of Westerville, Ohio. WILLIAM L. HART. Formerly an editor and since 1898 active in the practice of law at Alliance, William L. Hart is senior member of the firm of Hart & Koehler, and has the qualifications and associations of a representative member of the Stark County bar. A native of Ohio, and descended through a line of ancestry which has furnished soldiers to all the American wars, William L. Hart was born in the Scotch Village of Inverness, in Columbiana County, February 5. 1867, being a son of Benjamin F. and Ariel S. (Dreghorn) Hart. The Hart family is of old Puritan stock of English extraction. Silas Hart, great-grandfather of the Alliance lawyer, was a soldier in the Continental line during the War of the Revolution. John S. Hart, the grandfather, saw active service during the War of 1812. He was born in Palmyra, New York, and became the father of seventeen children, including eight sons. Seven of these sons were soldiers in the Union army during the Civil war, including Benjamin F., father of the attorney. Benjamin was a member of the Twenty-sixth Ohio Veteran Volunteer Battery. Most of the sons were in the three years' service, and all went through the war and returned home. The Dreghorn family is of Scotch origin, and John Dreghorn, Mr. Hart's maternal grandfather, was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland. Benjamin F. Hart, the father, was born in 1843 near Inverness in Columbiana County, Ohio, a son of John Swift and Prudence Hart. He was reared on the homestead farm in Columbiana County, and after his marriage located on a farm adjoining the old homestead, and there lived as one of the influential and prosperous citizens of the county. He and his wife became the parents of a large family of children, named as follows : William L., of Alliance; John D., of Cleveland; Winnie P., wife of Frank Bricker, of Lisbon, Ohio; Charles G., near Salinesville, Ohio; Margaret M.; Sarah E.; Harriet A.; Fred A. G.; Bertha A. and Raymond F. William Lincoln Hart was reared on the homestead farm in Columbiana County, and his early education came from the local public schools. Later he was four years a student at Mount Union College in 944 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY Alliance. He began teaching at the age of eighteen, his first school being in his home district, and afterwards taught in Madison and Butler townships of Columbiana County and in Paris Township of Stark County. His career as a teacher covered altogether seven years, interrupted by intervals of attendance at college, having defrayed the expenses of a higher education by teaching school. In 1893 Mr. Hart became city editor of the Alliance Daily Critic, now the Alliance Daily Leader, and during that time showed a great deal of ability in handling news writeups and editorials, and was noted among his associates for his untiring industry. In 1895 Mr. Hart entered the law department of the University of Michigan, and completed the course and was graduated in 1897. During his senior year he was president of the class. On June 10, 1897, he passed the examination for admission to the bar, being third in a class of ninety applicants, and on the 1st of October following opened a law office in Alliance. Mr. Hart, on March 1, 1898, became associated in practice with Dennis E. Rogers, and that relationship continued until the death of Mr. Rogers on January 15, 1903. Mr. Hart then became associated with Hugo C. Koehler, his present partner, under the firm name of Hart & Koehler. This firm has handled a large amount of business in the courts and as office counselors. Politically Mr. Hart is a stanch republican, and has served as a member of the Stark County Republican Executive Committee. He and his wife are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a trustee of that church and a member of the board of trustees of Mount Union College. Fraternally he is a member of the Alpha Tau Omega College Fraternity ; of Conrad Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, Salem Commandery and Lake Erie Consistory ; and of the Lone Rock Lodge No. 23, Knights of Pythias. On September 15, 1897, Mr. Hart married Ida B. Caskey, daughter of Nathan and Bertha Caskey. They have two children, Ian Bruce, born December 28, 1899, and "William L. Hart, Jr., born January 11, 1910. HOWARD F. BOHECKER. Stark County claims as one of its strong and duly conservative financial institutions that conducted by the Alliance Bank Company, and of the same the efficient and popular cashier is Mr. Bohecker, who is a native of the city in which he now resides and a representative of one of the old and honored families of this place, where he is well upholding the high prestige of the name which he bears and is known as a loyal and public-spirited citizen as well as an able and reliable business man. Mr. Bohecker was born at Alliance on the 22d of May, 1873, and is a son of John C. and Mary (Brown) Bohecker, the former of whom was born in Columbiana County and the latter in Trumbull County, this state. John C. Bohecker was a child at the time of his parents' removal to Alliance, in 1845, and he became one of the prominent and influential men of Stark County, where his genial and noble nature gained to him the friendship of all with whom he came in contact. He was for many years engaged in the mercantile business at Alliance and also did a large business in the buying and shipping of farm produce. He passed to the life eternal on the 8th of August, 1910, at the age of seventy years, HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 945 having lived retired from active business during the closing period of his life and his death having caused a uniform feeling of loss and bereavement in the city that was long his home and in which his buoyant, optimistic and abiding human sympathy made him one of the most popular of citizens, the while his thoughts and actions were ever dominated by the highest principles of rectitude and honor. His widow still resides in Alliance, and he whose name initiates this review is their only child. Howard F. Bohecker is indebted to the public schools of Alliance and to Mount Union College for his educational discipline, and he initiated his business career in the capacity of bookkeeper for the Hudson Coal Company. Within a short time, however, on the 28th of September, 1891, he assumed the dignified office of messenger boy and collector for the Alliance Bank Company, in which his advancement through positions of constantly increasing trust and responsibility has been the result of fidelity and effective service. From the position of assistant cashier he was advanced to that of cashier in 1909, and in the latter post he has shown special discrimination and executive ability, with impregnable place in the confidence and esteem of the community which has represented his home from the time of his birth. He is a member of the Alliance Board of Trade, of which he is a director, is a stockholder and director in a local rubber company, is a republican in his political allegiance, is a member and a director of the Alliance Advertising Club, a director of the Alliance Banking Company, and he and his family attend the Presbyterian Church. In 1897 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bohecker to Miss Margaret Reed, of Alliance, and they have two sons, John and Howard Dwight, aged respectively twelve and ten years, in 1914. MILTON C. MOORE. Accounted one of the most reliable and successful practitioners at the Alliance bar, Milton C. Moore is also known as a prominent and influential democrat, and has the distinction of being the only member of his party to be reappointed a member of a tax commission in the entire state. He is a man of sturdy convictions and settled purpose, practical in his aims both as an attorney and a citizen, and has therefore advanced steadily to a high and substantial profession) position. Milton C. Moore was born at East Palestine, Columbiana County, Ohio, October 19, 1879, and is a son of Daniel W. and Luella (Conkle) Moore. The Moores are of Irish stock, but the family has resided in the United States for a number of generations. The paternal grandmother was a McCarter, of the old family of that name in New Jersey, the Conkle family is of German stock, while the grandfather on the maternal side was a Todd of the old family of that name. The parents of Mr. Moore were born and reared in Unity Township, Columbiana County, and for over forty years the father has been engaged in the undertaking business at East Palestine, where both parents are still living. Milton C. Moore was reared at East Palestine, where he was graduated from the high school in 1896. He later attended Wooster (Ohio) University for one year, following which he read law in the office of Everett F. Lyon, of East Palestine. To further prepare himself he then took 946 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY a review course in law at the law department of Northwestern University, located at Ada, Ohio, was admitted to the bar in June, 1904, and January 23, 1905, commenced practice at Alliance, which has since been his field of effort. He has since been one of the busy lawyers of Alliance, with a representative practice, and has participated in some cases of importance which have come for settlement before the courts. For a number of years he has been interested in democratic pclitics at Alliance and in Stark County, and has on several occasions led " forlorn hopes" on his party ticket at elections, merely to keep up the party organization and not with any expectation of preferment, the City of Alliance being largely republican. On December 4, 1913, Governor Cox appointed Mr. Moore a member of the tax commission of Stark County, and March 31, 1915, he was removed by Governor Willis, along with all the other tax commissioners of the state. On April 1, 1915, however, he was reappointed to his old position, as the only democratic commissioner in the entire state to be so honored. In his official capacity his headquarters are maintained at the courthouse at Canton. Mr. Moore is a member of the Stark County Bar Association and belongs to the Alliance Board of Trade. He is prominent in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, being past exalted ruler of Alliance Lodge, his term of office expiring April 1, 1915. He also holds membership in the Woodmen of the World. Mr. Moore was united in marriage with Miss Imogene Case, who was born at Rootstown, Portage County, Ohio, daughter of the late Charles T. Case. One son has come to this union: Waster Case, who was Dorn November 12, 1908. WESLEY M. SIEFER. When the industrial activities of Beach City are taken into consideration, there is one man who easily stands out as the leader. About fifteen years ago W. M. Siefer came to Beach City and became a joint proprietor of the Beach City Roller Mills. Since then he has acquired sole ownership, and is not only a manufacturer of flour and grain products, but deals in flour, grain, coal, wool, produce, etc., has elevators, warehouses, and other facilities for handling and directing this large and important business. He is one of a group or a few men who practically control the destinies of this little city so far as manufacturing and industrial enterprise is concerned. Though most of his active life has been spent in Ohio, Mr. Siefer was born on a farm in Venango County, Pennsylvania, September 1, 1868. He is a son of Jacob and Catherine (Snyder) Siefer, both of whom were born in Germany, the father in 1843 and the mother in 1849. Jacob Siefer came to the United States when a young man. Catherine Snyder was only three days old when her parents went on hoard a vessel to sail to the United States. As young people Jacob Siefer and Catherine Snyder met in Pennsylvania and spent the rest of their days in that state. Jacob Siefer was a farmer in Western Pennsylvania, and died there in 1897, his wife passing away in 1907. It was on the old farm in Venango County, Pennsylvania that W. M. Siefer spent his early youth. He acquired an education in the country schools, and in 1884, at the age of sixteen he came to Ohio. lie HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 947 worked around in different localities for three years, but in 1887 established the permanent bent to his career by entering upon an apprenticeship at the miller's trade in Kent. His apprenticeship covered three years, but during the last year he was promoted to the responsibilities of second miller. In 1890 he became head miller for the Thompson Brothers' flour mill at Brink Haven, Ohio, and directed that industry very successfully for several years. In 1897 Mr. Siefer went back to Pennsylvania and at Clintonville operated a flour mill for two years under lease. His home has been in Beach City since 1900. He had previously bought a half interest in the Beach City Roller Mill, his partner being David H. Leighley, who had been head miller at Kent when young Siefer was serving his apprenticeship. In 1902 Mr. Siefer bought his partner's interest and has since been sole owner of the mill. The Beach City Mill has a daily capacity of fifty barrels of flour. Around the mill proper has grown up a group of buildings to indicate a variety of enterprise, all of it now controlled and directed by Mr. Siefer. He owns the warehouse 166x38 feet in dimensions, an elevator, and in October, 1915, bought the plant of the Lewis File Company of Beach City and turned this into a first class machine plant and changed the name to The Beach City Machine Company. He also owns a fine farm in Franklin Township of Tuscarawas County. Such has been the evidences of his material prosperity, all of which has been gained through his native energy and enterprise since he started out alone to conquer a fortune. Fraternally Mr. Siefer is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He married Miss Theresa Shafer. She was born in Chambersburg, Stark County, Ohio. They are the parents of one daughter, now Mrs. John Justice of Beach City. HERBERT EUGENE HOON. One of the veteran railroad men of Stark County is Herbert E. Hood, who for practically a quarter of a century has represented the Wheeling & Lake Erie road at Beach City. His railroad experience began in early youth soon after leaving school, and now for many years the citizens of Beach City have so intimately associated him with the great railroad corporation of which he is an employe, that his name has come to signify the service of the railroad to that community. While loyal and faithful and diligent in the interests of his company. Mr. Hood has also made himself a factor in local affairs at Beach City and is one of its most valued and effective citizens. He was born at Norwalk in Huron County. Ohio, November 10, 1860, a son of Hosea M. and Hulda Matilda (Holliday) Hood. His father was born at Rochester, New York, in 1827 and died in April, 1905, while the mother was horn at New London, Huron County, Ohio, in 1835 and died in April, 1913. Herbert E. Hood grew up in Huron County, and his early education acquired from the public schools was supplemented by about three years of training in the Northern Ohio University at Ada. When he left college he went into the railroad service. and while he has not attained great wealth he has the satisfaction of knowing- that he has long and faithfully served the greatest line of business in the country and has modestly prospered on his own account. His first employment was 948 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY with the Lake Shore Railway at Norwalk, where for a time he worked in the yards and also learned telegraphy. He continued with that railroad about three years, and then became an employe of the Wheeling & Lake Erie as agent at Huron, where he put in about one year. He was then transferred to Smithville, Ohio, remained as agent there about three years, and after that for four years was agent at Navarre in Stark County. In November, 1891, he was appointed station agent for the Connaughton Valley Railroad at Beach City. That road has since become a part of the Wheeling & Lake Erie and since that date more than twenty- four years ago, Mr. Hood has looked after the interests of his company in Beach City and has endeavored to make the railroad service of value to the entire community. For several terms he has served on the school board and for two terms was a member of the village council. Fraternally he is affiliated with Beach City Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, being a charter member, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Hood married Ada C. Shoemaker. She was born at Smithville, Ohio, daughter of Samuel Shoemaker. To their marriage have been born three children : James Milton is now chief clerk for the Akron, Cleveland and Youngstown Railroad at Akron, and by his marriage to Hazel Hartenstein has three children. Hulda Esther, who lives at home, is a teacher in the Beach City public schools, and the third and youngest child is Verbal Eugenia. JAMES W. MCCLINTOCK. One of the most serviceable citizens of Stark County is James W. McClintock. His home for the past quarter of a century has been at Beach City, and he is a native of Sugar Creek Township. In general it may be said that he has abundantly prospered in business affairs and has also won many of the distinctive honors of citizenship. His work from early youth to the present has comprised a number of years as a successful teacher, he has been identified with farming and in several other lines of business, and he has filled many of the most important offices in his home community. His birth occurred half a mile south of the Village of Wilmot on July 18, 1856. His father was the late Wirt McClintock, who was born in Holmes County, Ohio, in 1828 and died in Sugar Creek Township of Stark County in 1912. The early associations and circumstances among which James W. McClintock was reared were those of a farm. He attended school at Wilmot, the high school at Smithville, and took the classical course in the Ohio Northern University at Ada. There are a great many people, now at the heads of homes, living in this section of Ohio, who recall with pleasant gratitude Mr. McClintock's service as a teacher during a period of their youth. He taught school altogether for a period of twenty-four years partly in Sugar Creek and Perry townships, and also in the villages of Richville, Justus and Beach City in Stark County and at Winesburg in Holmes County. Since 1890 his home has been in Beach City. After leaving teaching he engaged in the service of the American Sand Company at Beach City for a number of years. For years he was in the hotel business. For the HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 949 last four years his principal interest has been conducting a high class livery. He also owns a tine farm of 120 acres in Wayne County just over the Stark County line, but he turned the management and cultivation of this place over to a tenant. Quite early in life public honors began to come to him, and there have been few years when he has not filled some post of responsibility. When he was about twenty-three he was elected township assessor of Sugar Creek Township. At that time there was only one precinct in the township. For about twelve years he served as justice of the peace, and in that time he was elected and served one term as mayor of the Village of Beach City. For three terms he was elected and served as assessor of both precincts. He is now and has been continuously for fifteen years a member of the Beach City School Board, and was re-elected for another term in 1915. For two years he served as township treasurer, and was re-elected to that office also in 1915. Other public service has been as a member of the Waterworks Board of the village. While a republican in state and national politics, Mr. McClintock is not bounded by a narrow partisanship, and gives his influence and support to the man best qualified for office in local affairs. He is a member of Wilmot Lodge of the Knights of Pythias and his church is the Methodist Episcopal. Mr. McClintock also has enjoyed a delightful home life, and is at the head of a small family, the members of a younger generation being now established in homes of their own and playing worthy parts in their respective spheres. Mr. McClintock married Miss Emma Higley. She was born in Wayne County, Ohio. James G., their oldest child, received his early education in the Beach City schools, the University of Ohio, from which he graduated in the pharmacy department, and is now a resident of Cleveland. Charles B., the second son, graduated from the Beach City High School, afterwards attended the University at Wooster, Ohio, and Mount Union College, and since graduating from the law department of Western Reserve University has become a member of the law firm of McCarty & McClintock, well known lawyers of Canton. The daughter, Eva Jerusha, married Leland Weimer, and they reside in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Mrs. Weimer is a graduate of the Beach City High School. PHILIP CREASY. While his chief work for a number of years has been as one of the leading merchants at Beach City, Philip Creasy has had much to do with the life and affairs of Sugar Creek Township for a number of years and in various capacities. He is a man whom his fellows trust, and his reliability in performing anything he undertakes is so well known as to pass without question in that section of Stark County. A native son of Sugar Creek Township, Philip Creasy was born there on a farm January 19, 1868. His grandfather Christian Creasy was born in Canton Berne. Switzerland, in 1791, and brought his family to the United States in 1833. His first settlement was at Sugar Creek Falls in Franklin Township of Tuscarawas County, but in 1836 he penetrated what was still a wilderness country and settled near Beach City in Stark County. There he lived the life of the pioneer and died in 1856.