(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 550 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY ever, when pressed for the details, he outlines the high spots in something like the following manner : "When I left home my parents accompanied me as far as Columbus, Ohio. There with a heavy heart, I bid them goodbye. I had an uncle living in Bakersfield, so I decided to go there. Upon my arrival I discovered that fifty-two dollars and fifty cents was all the money that I had in the world. It didn't take me long to realize that the most important thing in life for me just then was the securing of a job. This I promptly did by going to work as a clerk in a department store at the munificent salary of twenty dollars per month. This salary did not appeal to me and I told the boss so. When he informed me that he could not afford to pay me any more I decided to quit and go into business for myself. I bought a horse and harness for twenty-five dollars and a wagon for fifteen dollars and began to peddle fruit and eggs from house to house. A little later I bought out what a chap called a wholesale poultry and egg business. After about one year's operation I managed to clear over and above all expenses personal and otherwise, about three hundred dollars. I decided it was about time that I try for a larger field of activity. So I struck out with my horse and wagon across the mountains for Los Angeles. A brief stay there convinced me that climatic conditions were not favorable to me, so I hitched up my outfit and drove to San Bernardino. The second day after my arrival in San Bernardino, I effected the purchase of a young grain and wood business for the sum of one hundred dollars. This business I developed rapidly, in fact too rapidly for my limited capital. I began to handle coal. Due to my limited finances I was compelled to purchase my supply of coal from my competitors as I sold it. I knew that this would never do, if I were to expand my business as my ambition prompted me to do, so I decided that ways and means must be found whereby I could purchase my coal in carload quantities. I went to a banker and layed my case before him. I explained that my total net assets at that time were only four hundred dollars; that I wanted to buy coal in carload quantities in order that I might make two dollars per ton more profit; that a car of coal cost three hundred and fifty dollars and that I would probably require financial assistance. He told me to order my car and that if I were unable to pay for it when due he would assist me. I ordered my first car and I am proud to say that I never found it necessary to call on my banker friend for aid. This experience, the confidence placed in me at AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 551 this particular time in my life by this banker, had, I am sure, a tremendous bearing on my future life. It gave me the type of encouragement that I needed at a time when I most needed it. I will always be thankful to this man." In the year 1904, the year of the World's Fair in St. Louis, Mr. Botzum found himself with one thousand dollars cash on hand earned through his various business ventures. He decided it was about time to take a trip back east, to the old homestead. His heart yearned to see his parents and his brothers and sisters. From the narrative of his sojourn in California one would be inclined to believe that he was possessed of a wandering disposition. This was not the case. Home meant all to him. The urge, the longing to return was ever present. Despite this fact, his ambition, desire and determination to establish himself in the world of business, were so strong that the trip back east was planned as a visit only. He was determined to return to the field of his early successes. Fate decreed otherwise. After his return home, his parents, his brothers and sisters brought pressure to bear to induce him to remain here. Their pleadings were of no avail until finally his four brothers offered him as an inducement a one-fifth interest in their struggling little feed business. This was the determining factor. He sensed the future possibilities in Akron. Here again was an opportunity to build a business, a big business. His ambitions could be realized. The first ten years of his new formed partnership were trying years. The usual order of things was hard work, plenty of worry because of limited finances and small profits. Many a night after the place of business was closed the midnight oil was burned while Mr. Botzum was analyzing the business and planning for the future. Comparatively little progress was made during these early years. About the year 1913, Mr. Botzum sensed the dawn of a new era of great development for Akron and vicinity. With his usual foresight he decided that the business must be gotten into such shape so as to make the best of what opportunities might present themselves. It was decided to incorporate the partnership. This was done in February, 1914. Mr. Botzum was chosen secretary. His brother Charles C. filled the office of president; Harry was vice president, and Joseph C., treasurer. This same year in June, 1914, he married Helen Barry, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James D. Barry of Canton, Ohio. If there was still some shadow of a doubt in his mind as to the choice 552 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY of a location for his field of activity, this was now definitely removed. He determined to set about in real earnest to make the name of Botzum a factor in the commercial life of Akron. His wife proved an added aid and inspiration. From this time on things began to move rapidly.. A seed store which had been opened on South Main street began to grow with leaps and bounds. The Dreamland Theatre, one of Akron's pioneer moving picture houses, which was opened during these years by the Botzum boys was having a difficult struggle to establish itself and yet the future of this industry was so apparent to them that nothing could persuade them to abandon the enterprise. After a few years the results obtained vindicated their judgment. In the course of a few years land was purchased on the west side of Main street and the Orpheum Theatre was built; several down town business blocks were leased, remodeled and sublet again. The Strand Theatre in Canton was built. As far back as 1915 the demands of the various activities of the company became so exacting that his associates one by one began devoting their entire time to some one phase or other of the business leaving him alone to look after the original enterprise. In this same year he was elected president, treasurer and general manager of the company. As year after year went by each one aiding in share of development and expansion, it was finally decided to create two additional corporations to simplify the management of the widely developed enterprises. The original parent company, The Botzum Brothers Company, retained the building material, flour and feed business. Mr. Botzum continued in the capacity of president, treasurer and general manager of this company. The Botzum Theatre Company took over the three theatres and the business blocks. Mr. Botzum was elected secretary of this company. The Botzum Brothers Seed Company took over the seed interests in both Akron and Cleveland, and Mr. Botzum serves this company as secretary. With the completion of these three corporations the boyhood dreams of Mr. Botzum were realized. It has always been his ambition and desire to make the name Botzum occupy a prominent place in the commercial world. This ambition has been realized. To the casual observer the success which Mr. Botzum attained might appear as mere luck or chance. On the contrary, an analysis of his character reveals logical reasons why he should have been successful. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 553 Evidence of his ambition to succeed has been given abundantly. He has always adhered to a policy of absolute fair dealing. Honesty to the extreme, has always been his motto. He is blessed with an even temperament, at no time showing any unusual emotions. He is jolly, witty and a good mixer; makes friends very easily. Yet, strange to say, he makes few intimate personal friends, friends of the sort in whom one unreservedly confides. His ability to judge men is almost uncanny. A large part of his success can be attributed to this ability of his to select the right type of men for the personnel of his organization. Kindness toward his men has endeared him to all. He is known to all of them as "Lew." At no time does he show any evidence of that attitude of superiority which usually results in the development of a feeling of jealousy and ill will on the part of subordinates. If there is need of still further proof of his sterling qualities a glimpse into his home will suffice. He has four children living, Rose Louise, born February 16, 1916; Rita Helen, born April 11, 1922; Thomas Joseph, born February 18, 1924; and Mary Lou, born October 12, 1927. He loves them all dearly. It is his greatest delight to do things to make them happy. He loves his home and considers the hours which he spends in the family circle as the happiest. Mr. Botzum is a member of the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus, the Elks, Kiwanis and the Portage Country Club. CHARLES M. FENTON One of Northfield's leading business men is Charles M. Fenton, a dealer in coal and builders' supplies. He was born in North Bristol, Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 29th of April, 1883, and is a. son of Sherbourne W. and Sophia R. (Sager) Fenton, also natives of North Bristol and now deceased. The Fenton family is of English origin, its American progenitor locating in New York state many years ago, whence members of the family came to Ohio in pioneer days. The Sager family is of Swiss and German ancestry and Mr. Fenton's Grandfather Sager was the first white child born in Bristol township, Trumbull county, Ohio. Mr. Fenton is the ninth in order of birth in a family of ten children, seven boys and three girls, all of whom are living with the exception of one girl, who was killed by lightning. Mr. Fen- 554 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY ton attended the public schools of North Bristol, graduating from high school, after which he spent three years at Hiram College and one year in Western Reserve University. He was in Cleveland for several years and in 1913 he came to Northfield, where he engaged in general farming until 1924, when he turned his attention to the coal and builders' supply business. He carries a large and complete line of supplies, and by his square dealing and progressive business methods has built up a large and prosperous trade. He is also financially interested in other enterprises in Summit county; is a director in the Macedonia-Northfield Bank and is regarded as one of Northfield's solid and substantial citizens. On September 27, 1911, in Akron, Ohio, Mr. Fenton was united in marriage to Miss Flora R. Coy, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of Josiah and Clara Coy, of Louisville, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton have an adopted son, Nathan. Mrs. Fenton is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Nordonia Club and takes an active interest in the social and civic life of the community. Mr. Fenton is an independent democrat in his political views and is president of the Northfield village school board. He is a member of Bedford Lodge, F. & A. M., and he and his wife are earnest members of the United Presbyterian church, to which they give generous support, as they do also to all other worthy causes. JOHN MELVIN ALDERFER One of the most prominent and influential business men of Summit county is John Melvin Alderfer, president of the India Tire and Rubber Company at Mogadore. Not only has he been more than ordinarily successful in industrial affairs, but he has also gained distinction as one of the leaders of the Young Men's Christian Association in county and state, his activities in that direction being prompted by his deep interest in the welfare of young men. Mr. Alderfer was born in Norton township, Summit county, Ohio, on the 15th of January, 1867, and is a son of Frederick and Deborah (Longacre) Alderfer, both of whom are deceased. Mr. Alderfer is descended from old Pennsylvania stock and is the sixth in direct line from Frederick Alderfer, the progenitor of the family in this country, who came from the Palatine, Germany, and settled in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 557 where the old homestead is still occupied by an Alderfer. John M. Alderfer's father was engaged in the lumber business all of his active life, and he had three sons, John. M., of this review, Frederick Grant, who is connected with the Trump Brothers Rubber Company, at Akron, and Jacob F., now deceased, who was a noted organist and pianist and was professor of the organ in Oberlin College. He studied abroad extensively and during the World war was in France as a member of the University Union West of Pittsburgh. There were also three daughters in the family of Frederick Alderfer : Deborah, who is the widow of D. Austin Grubb and resides in Akron; Pearl, who is the widow of William McCracken and resides at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; and Ella, who married Almon Trump and died at Wadsworth, Ohio. John M. Alderfer attended school until twenty-one years of age, and in the following year he and his brother, Frederick G., bought out their father's lumber business. This plant, which was destroyed by fire in October, 1915, had been established by their father during the Civil war, and in it lumber was sawed for caskets for the government. Mr. Alderfer -gained his first business experience in this factory, working for his father during school vacations, and he was the inventor of the wooden crate which was first used as a circular packing case for automobile tires. After the loss of the factory, Mr. Alderfer turned his attention to the rubber manufacturing business and with associates organized the India Tire and Rubber Company, in 1917, the plant being located at Mogadore, Summit county. Under his progressive policy and judicious management, this has become one of the leading rubber tire manufactories of the country. Mr. Alderfer is also interested in a number of other enterprises, being vice president of the Franz Foundry and Machine Company, of Barberton; vice president of the Rubber Reclaiming Company, of Barberton; a director of the Ohio State Bank & Trust Company at Akron, and is a stockholder in the Trump Rubber Company, the Akron Rubber Reclaiming Company and the Eclat Rubber Company. In July, 1890, Mr. Alderfer was united in marriage to Miss Stella Santee, of Medina county, Ohio, and they are the parents of a son and daughter, Sterling William, who is purchasing agent and assistant secretary of the India Tire and Rubber Company, married Miss Mary McGinnis, of Akron ; and Ruth Emma, who was educated in Oberlin and later graduated from the College for Women of Western Reserve, and subsequently took special work 558 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY at Columbia University, was engaged in reconstruction work and in charge of a hospital in France during the World war, and is now studying art in France. Mr. Alderfer is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, belonging to its official board and has taught a Sunday school class for twenty-five years. He has long been interested in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association, and is a director of the association at Akron, chairman of the county association and a member of the executive committee of the state association, in all of which positions he has done most effective and appreciated work. He is a member of the Akron City Club, the Akron Kiwanis Club, the Portage Country Club and a director of the Akron Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Alderfer and his family reside in an attractive home of Colonial style of architecture, built in 1839, at Sharon Center, Medina county. In every relation of life he has performed his full duty conscientiously, earning a reputation as a broad-minded, generous and public-spirited citizen, and has shown a deep interest in whatever has tended to promote the public welfare. A man of forceful personality, ripe judgment and high ideals, he has won the confidence and esteem of his fellowmen and has a large circle of warm and loyal friends. ALFRED H. MOON. Among the model farm properties of Stow township is that owned by Alfred H. Moon, who for many years was a leader of agricultural progress in this district and is now living retired in the house in which he was born December 13, 1859. His parents were Horace and Fanny (Cochran) Moon, the former of English and Irish lineage. Both were natives of Summit county and representatives of honored pioneer families of this section of the state. Alfred H. Moon attended the rural schools of .this county and assisted his father in tilling the soil and other tasks, thus acquiring a practical knowledge of farming. This occupation he chose as his life work, bringing to his daily activities an intelligent, open and liberal mind, and keeping in close touch with the latest developments along agricultural lines. His systematic, well directed efforts were productive of excellent results, and he is now reaping the reward of his former years of toil. He has added many improvements to the home farm, which is situated on the AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 559 Hudson-Stow road and comprises seventy-seven acres of valuable land. It originally contained one hundred and forty acres but he has sold sixty acres for the W. C. Arnold allotment and also three acres direct. During the winter months Mr. Moon makes a business of dealing in raw furs and is a member of the Akron Fur Dealers Association. Mr. Moon's first marriage was solemnized in 1883 and in 1889 he was married in Metz, Summit county, to Miss Belle Carey, who was of Irish lineage. She was a native of Columbiana county, Ohio, and passed away in 1907. Fanny Jane, the only child of the second union, is the wife of C. W. Chandler and their residence adjoins the Moon homestead. They have five children : Helen, George, Clyde, Walter and Edward, all at home. Mr. Moon has seen notable changes in land values in Stow township and has watched with deep interest the progress of civilization in this part of the state. He is well informed on matters of public moment and lends the weight of his support to all projects destined to prove of benefit to his district. Motoring affords him recreation, and he also enjoys gardening, having many beautiful flowers which add to the attractiveness of his home. Mr. Moon has a wide acquaintance in Summit county, in which his life has been passed, and the friends of his youth are still his friends, for he possesses those qualities which make for strong and enduring regard. MINOTT LUCIUS NEWTON Diligence, perseverance and thoroughness were salient traits in the career of Minott L. Newton, who advanced the standards of agriculture in Summit county. He sowed wisely and well, and his life was a succession of harvests. A native of Ohio, he was barn March 6, 1845, in West Richfield and was a son of Lucius and Caroline (Brockway) Newton, members of old families of Connecticut. His grandfather was Judge John Newton, the founder of the family in the Western Reserve of Ohio. Minott L. Newton was reared on a farm in Summit county and supplemented his public school education by a course in Oberlin College. Choosing the career of an agriculturist, he closely studied soil and climatic conditions in Richfield township and labored with hand and brain to develop his land, which constantly increased in value. As time passed he increased his holdings and 560 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY eventually became the owner of a fine farm of seven hundred acres, improved with good buildings and supplied with up-to-date equipment. He followed diversified farming, raising the crops best adapted to this region, and was also a breeder of high-grade stock. His standards of farming were high, and he was well informed on all modern developments relating to his line of work. In 1912 he retired and established his home in the village of Richfield, where he spent the remainder of his life. Mr. Newton was married April 15, 1885, in Richfield to Miss Emma A. Ellas, a native of Bath, Ohio, and of English and French extraction. Her parents were Lewis and Amanda (Munday) Ellas, natives respectively of Vermont and New York. To Mr. and Mrs. Newton were born two children. The daughter, Laura, is the wife of H. W. Carter of Richfield and the mother of two children, Donald and Virginia, both at home. The son. Lucius J. Newton, married Miss Helen Lauterer and is also living in Richfield. They have one child, Virgil J. Although never an aspirant for public office, Minott L. Newton was deeply interested in projects for the general good and lent the weight of his support to all measures of reform, progress and improvement. His life was useful and upright, the expression of worthy purposes and high ideals, and his demise on February 11, 1917, brought deep sorrow to all who were privileged to know him. In 1919 Mrs. Newton erected what is generally regarded as one of the finest homes in Summit county. It is situated on a knoll and the beautiful gardens of the estate were laid out by a well known landscape architect. Mrs. Newton champions every movement for the uplift and betterment of her community and is esteemed and respected because of her many good qualities. She is a member of Ellsworth Chapter No. 247, of the Eastern Star. ADELBERT SCOTT VIERS Adelbert S. Viers, whose home place is known as Boston Ledge Farm, was for many years actively connected with important industrial concerns in Summit county, to which he rendered efficient and satisfactory service, and is now devoting his attention to farming with very satisfactory success. Mr. Viers was born in Akron, Ohio, on the 21st of July, 1878, and is a son of William J. and Alice Rebecca (Mann) Viers, the AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 561 latter of whom was born and reared in Summit county and is still living in Akron. William J. Viers, who settled in Akron in an early day, was a man of industrious habits and dependable character, and was in the employ of one of Akron's large business concerns for more than forty years. He was a veteran of the Civil war, in which he served for three years and three months. To him and his wife were born four children, namely: Mrs. Frank Viers Coyle, who lives in Delaware, Illinois; Mrs. John Griffith, of Akron, Ohio; Adelbert S., of this review; and William Floyd, who has been with the Miller Rubber Company in Akron for the past eighteen years. He is married and has one child. Adelbert S. Viers secured a good public school education and took a course in a business college in Akron. At the age of eighteen years he entered the employ of the Diamond Rubber Company of Akron, with which concern he remained about thirteen years, and later was with the Quaker Oats Company for a number of years. In 1921 Mr. Viers and his wife moved to Los Angeles, California, with the intention of establishing their permanent home there but at the end of eleven months decided to return to Ohio. They located on what is known as "Boston Ledge Farm," in Boston. Heights, which for many years had been the home of Mrs. Viers' parents. They are living in the original house and have made improvements which have converted it into one of the nicest and most attractive residences in this locality, it being well located and modern in all of its appointments. All of the farm buildings are substantial in character, and the farm equipment is up-to-date in every respect. On May 30, 1900, Mr. Viers was united in marriage to Miss Lida E. Evans, a daughter of William H. and Carrie May (Ranney) Evans, a family long resident in Summit county. Mr. Evans, who was born September 18, 1849, died June 13, 1923, and Mrs. Evans passed away March 13, 1916. Prior to her mar, riage, Mrs. Viers had been with her father in his banking and insurance business for a number of years, thus gaining much valuable experience, and she has the reputation of being a good busines woman. She is a member of Cuyahoga Chapter, D. A. R., at Cleveland ; Elva Chapter No. 304, 0. E. S., at Akron ; and is vice president of the Fairview Cemetery Association. Mr. and Mrs. Viers are earnest members of the First Christian church in Akron, in the work of which they take an active interest. In his political views Mr. Viers is a stanch republican and has shown a good citizen's interest in public affairs, giving his support to 562 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY all measures for the advancement or betterment of his community and county. He is a man of sterling character, kindly manner and loyal in his friendships, and wherever known is held in high regard. GEORGE W. AUTEN Among the well known representatives of the legal fraternity in Akron is numbered George W. Auten, who has successfully practiced here since 1902, largely specializing in real estate law. He was born in Knox county, Ohio, February 24, 1875, and is a son of Jacob W. and Mary (Pealer) Auten, who were natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania respectively, the mother coming to this state in early life. Caleb Hopkins, who was the first Episcopal minister in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, was the grandfather of Mary Pealer's mother. He was a lieutenant in Capt. Bonnett's Company during the Revolutionary war. Jacob W. Auten was for many years actively and successfuly engaged in farming in Knox county, where he is still living, and although eighty-three years of age, he has not altogether relinquished business affairs. He makes his home in Fredericktown, Ohio. Jacob W. Auten was married three times. His first wife, Mary Pealer, who died in 1875, was the mother of three children: Mrs. E. C. Chambers, of Akron; Mrs. W. W. Kinney, of Knox county, Ohio; and George W. Auten. The second wife was Caroline Love and was the mother of Robert Auten, of Lakewood, Ohio. The third wife, Anna Gibson, was the mother of Mrs. H. L. Bollinger, of Fredericktown, Ohio. George W. Auten attended the rural schools and afterward was graduated from the high school of Fredericktown, Ohio, with the class of 1894. He next entered Berea College at Berea, Kentucky, and was graduated with the Bachelor of Literature degree in 1897. He was licensed to teach school when he was only seventeen and taught one year in Knox county before he had finished his high school work. After he had completed his college course he again took up educational work and for three years successfully followed teaching in Richland and Knox counties. He then became a law student in the office of Bricker & Workman and also pursued his law reading with the firm of Beery & Snyder and with Judge Pealer, being admitted to the bar December 1, 1901. In his practice he has largely specialized in real AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 565 estate law and has won notable success in that field, being regarded as an authority upon that branch of practice. He is also well known in business circles as secretary and treasurer of six allotment companies. On the 3d of September, 1902, Mr. Auten wedded Miss Kate E. Daugherty, a daughter of William E. Daugherty, of Akron, and they have three children : George Russell, who was born in Akron, June 3, 1903, and was graduated in 1928 from the law school of Western Reserve University; Ralph W., who was born in Akron, February 24, 1906, and is a student in the University of Akron; and Josephine E., who was born April 11, 1908, and is also attending the University of Akron. Mr. Auten belongs to the Masonic order, in which he has taken the degrees of lodge and chapter, and he is likewise a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Automobile Club. He belongs to the West Congregational church, of which he is serving as a trustee, and he is keenly interested in all that pertains to the intellectual, social and moral development of the community. Along strictly professional lines he is associated with the Summit County, Ohio State and American Bar Associations and he has ever been most careful to conform his practice to the highest professional ethics and standards. Mr. Auten's residence is at 153 Castle boulevard. WILLIAM SOMMER, SR. A notably successful career is that of William Sommer, Sr., a distinguished artist, who resides near Northfield. He was born January 18, 1867, in Detroit, Michigan, his parents being Joseph and Christiana (Hess) Sommer, who were natives of Germany. His education was acquired in the public schools of Detroit and at an early age he obtained a position with the Calvert Lithograph Company of that city. Throughout life he has continued in this line of work and his well developed powers have carried him steadily onward and upward. For a time he was with the Otis Lithograph Company of Cleveland, which was afterward absorbed by the Morgan Lithographing Company of that city, thus forming the largest concern of the kind in the United States, and his work has been essential to the success of this well known corporation, in whose service he has been retained since the consolidation. Mr. Sommer has not only attained high stand- 566 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY ing as a commercial artist but is also well known owing to his portraits, landscapes, pastels and pen drawings. As, a painter he is the apostle of clearness, both in conception and execution, and the minuteness of his technique is ennobled by the high quality of his art. All of his productions during 1927 and 1928, ten in number, have been accepted by the Cleveland Museum of Art, and his talent has won for him recognition as the ultra modernist painter of northern Ohio. Mr. Sommer was married July 28, 1895, in New York city to Miss Martha Obermeyer, who was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. Her parents, Henry P. and Margaret (Meyer) Obermeyer, were natives of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Sommer have three sons. William Jr., the first born, married Miss Clara Frank, of Medina, Ohio, and they reside in Little York, Northfield township, Summit county. They have two children, June and Marvin. Edwin G. married Miss Juliet Klein and they are residents of Cleveland. Raymond, the youngest son, married Miss Evelyn Kirk, and they are also living in Cleveland. Mr. and Mrs. Sommer remained in the Forest City until 1914, when they purchased several hundred acres of land on the Brandywine road near Northfield, and have since resided on this fine estate, which is situated in a spot noted for its scenic beauty. The Brandywine district is one which tends to inspire the best efforts of an artist, and Mr. Sommer's work shows the effect of his ideal environment. His talents, natural and acquired, have made him a celebrity in the world of art, and the strength and depth of his character have won for him a high place in the esteem of his fellowmen. CYRUS W. GLEASON Cyrus W. Gleason, one of the best known citizens of Northfield, has engaged in mercantile pursuits for a number of years, and has shown a public-spirited interest in everything pertaining to the progress and prosperity of the community. He was born in Independence, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, on the 12th of December, 1891, a son of Frank and Amelia (Prentiss) Gleason. The father was also born in Independence, February 21, 1849, and died in 1926, and the mother was born at Copley, Summit county, Ohio, about 1846 and died in 1907. The Gleason family, which is of Irish descent, came to this state in a very early day, AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 567 while Zachariah Prentiss, Mrs. Gleason's father, was of English descent and came from the New England states to northern Ohio in pioneer days, settling in Summit county. Cyrus W. Gleason was reared on his father's farm in Cuyahoga county and received his educational training in the common schools of that locality. In addition to farm work, he also did much threshing and was greatly interested in mechanical employment, working as a carpenter and in similar lines. He remained in that locality until 1919, when he came to Summit county on his return from the war, since which time he has conducted a successful mercantile business in Northfield. He is a man of sound judgment in practical matters and has been influential in the affairs of his town, having served as town marshal during 1926-7. Mr. Gleason was married in Akron to Miss Eva Maxam, who was born in Twinsburg, Ohio, May 6, 1885, a daughter of John B. and Ella O'Dell (McBride) Maxam. Mr. Maxam was born in Twinsburg in 1854 and died at his home in Boston township, Summit county, July 22, 1912. His wife, who was born in Boston township, now resides with her son, LeMarr, in Cleveland. Both the Maxam and McBride families came from New York state to Ohio in pioneer days. To Mr. and Mrs. Maxam were born four children, namely : Isaac and LeMarr, both of whom reside in Cleveland ; Zella, who is the wife of Samuel Post, of Hudson, Ohio, and Eva, now Mrs. Gleason. Mr. and Mrs. Gleason are the parents of two children, Merrill R. and Valerie O'Dell. Mr. Gleason is a member of Twinsburg Lodge No. 213, F. & A. M., and takes an active interest in the Federated church, to which the members of the family belong. Mrs. Gleason is chorister in the Sunday school, while in the social affairs of the community both Mr. and Mrs. Gleason are active and popular. Mrs. Gleason is a member of Summit Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Gleason is a veteran of the World war, having voluntarily enlisted June 2, 1917, in the Engineers Corps of the regular army. He was assigned to a special unit and went into active service October 10, 1917. He was sent overseas early in the following year, landing in France on January 20th, and became attached to the Twentieth Engineers, an exceptionally large unit, almost a division in itself. He was made a sergeant in the Eleventh Engineers Company and saw continual service until July 5, 1919, when he sailed for home, and was honorably dis- 568 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY charged and mustered out at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio, July 29, 1919. He is a man of splendid personal qualities, being loyal and true to every responsibility, and he holds a high place in the esteem of all who have come in contact with him and who recognize the high type of citizenship exemplified in his career. JOHN HUNTER SELBY, M. D. The medical profession in Akron finds a worthy representative in Dr. John Hunter Selby, who is keenly alive to the interests, the opportunities and the obligations of his chosen calling. He is rendering valuable service in this connection and is a nationally accepted expert in the field of radiology. Dr. Selby came to Ohio from South Carolina, his birth having occurred in Columbia of the latter state February 27, 1878. His parents, Julian Augustus and Alice Elizabeth (Peers) Selby, were natives of South Carolina and of New York city, respectively, the mother removing to the Palmetto state in early life. The father was a well known journalist, having at Columbia published the Carolinian and the Phoenix, while for many years he was state printer. He died in 1907, when he had reached the age of seventy-eight years. His wife passed away in 1913, at the age of seventy-seven. Their family numbered six children, all of whom are yet living: John Hunter; Gilbert Augustus, a publisher of Columbia, South Carolina; Alice Julia, Adeline McKenzie, who became the wife of Charles Coker Wilson, Margaret Scott, the wife of James Detyens and Julian Peers, all residents of Columbia. Dr. Selby completed a course in the Columbia high school and then devoted a year and a half to study in the engineering department of the University of South Carolina. Starting out in the business world, he became a traveling salesman but did not find this altogether to his liking and determined to prepare for the practice of medicine, which he did by matriculating in 1903 in the medical department of the University of Virginia. He continued his studies the following year at the University of Pennsylvania, which conferred upon him his professional degree in 1907. He also had the benefit of practical experience as an interne in Moses Taylor Hospital at Buffalo, New York, where he practiced surgery, and later he became general interne in the Moses Taylor Hospital at Scranton, Pennsylvania, after which he opened an office in Warrenton, Virginia, where for two years AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 569 he engaged in general practice. Desiring to obtain greater efficiency for his chosen life work, he pursued a special postgraduate course and did X-ray work in the Snook Roentgen Laboratory in Philadelphia, after which he was called to the Mayo clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where for three months he acted as assistant, doing special X-ray work, after which he was for three years chief of the X-ray laboratories of Mayo Clinic. Resigning his position, he again took up postgraduate study in his favorite specialty, coming under the instruction of eminent authorities in that line in Vienna, Berlin, Munich, London and Paris. Following his return to his native land he engaged in X-ray practice at Washington, D. C., from August, 1913, until July, 1917, when the country having entered the World war, he obtained a commission as captain in the medical department of the United States army, in charge of the X-ray laboratories at the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D. C., where he was later promoted to the rank of major. In September, 1919, he was transferred to the Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco, California, and in November, 1920, was transferred for duty in the surgeon general's office in Washington, D. C., where he resigned his commission to establish an X-ray laboratory in Akron. Dr. Selby has resided at Akron since January 1, 1921. He has equipment of the most superior character and in his special field stands as a leader of the profession in Ohio. He is identified with many of the leading professional societies, including the American Medical Association, the Ohio State Medical Society, the Summit County Medical Society, the Virginia Medical Society, the District of Columbia Medical Society, the American Medical Society of Vienna, the Minnesota State Medical Society, the Association of Resident and Ex-Resident of the Mayo Clinic, the American Roentgen Ray Society, and a charter member of the New York Roentgen Ray Society. In addition to his extensive private practice he is Roentgenologist to the People's Hospital of Akron. He is the author of numerous monographs upon various phases of Roentgenology. On the 6th of October, 1909, Dr. Selby was married to Miss Delia Towles Slaughter, of The Plains, Virginia, a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Philip Slaughter. They became parents of four children : Catharine Foster, who was born in Rochester, Minnesota, August 14, 1910 and is now a student in Fairlawn Academy; John Hunter, Jr., who was born in Akron, February 20, 1922; Elizabeth Peers, who died at the age of two and one-half 570 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY years; and Mary Mercer, who died in Akron in January, 1926, at the age of nine years. Dr. Selby is a past president of the Celsus Club and is treasurer of the Akron Garden Club. He belongs to the Akron City Club and Akron Chamber of Commerce. He is also president of The Akron Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America. Fraternally he is a Mason, belonging to various branches of the York Rite and to Tadmor Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is interested in horticulture and philately and in these various activities finds release from the onerous duties and responsibilities of his profession. His activities have been evenly balanced, making for a well rounded development, and thus when people meet him socially they find a genial companion, when they touch upon his hobbies they find one who is well informed along those lines and when they come to him for professional service they know that they will benefit by the highest standards of his calling. In 1922 Dr. and Mrs. Selby acquired an acre upon the southwest corner of Sillars avenue and Dyas avenue formerly the hilltop of the Weber estate and upon this they built their spacious residence amid beautiful natural surroundings. JOHN WARREN THOMAS John Warren Thomas, organizer and president of the Thomas Title & Mortgage Company, has been for a number of years a well known figure in Akron's financial circles, and has brought to his position long experience covering all branches in titles, escrows, mortgages, real estate and loans, affording an equipment probably unsurpassed by that of any other executive head of a similar institution in this city. Mr. Thomas was born in Thomastown, Summit county, July 24, 1888, a son of John J. and Ann (Harris) Thomas, who were natives of Pennsylvania and of Wales, respectively, the mother coming to America in early life and settling in Ohio. John J. Thomas was identified with the coal mining industry and was a machinist of note. Both he and his wife have passed away. In their family were eleven children, seven of whom are yet living: H. H.; L. R. ; W. W. ; Mrs. J. H. Hildebrand ; Mrs. Clarence H. Cranz ; Mrs. Gwendolyn Degnon ; and John W., who is the youngest. The last named attended the graded schools of Akron and re- AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 573 ceived his Bachelor of Arts degree from Buchtel College. He had determined upon the practice of law as a life work and to that end he entered the law department of the University of New York, receiving his LL. B. degree with the class of 1908. Having thus prepared for a professional career, he returned to Akron and began the active practice of law, in which he continued for one year, but circumstances changed his plans and he became title examiner for the Bankers Guarantee Title & Trust Company in 1912. From that point forward he worked his way upward through the various departments and in 1925 was elected president of that institution, which executive position he filled until his resignation on the 1st of January, 1928, to organize the Thomas Title & Mortgage Company, which opened for business in February, 1928, with offices in the Akron Savings & Loan building. In the formation of the Thomas Title & Mortgage Company, its founders endeavored to answer a long-felt and oft-expressed public demand for an institution manned by a personnel of mature experience and unquestioned reliability in the handling of transactions, whose accuracy is as vital to future generations as to the present. one. This company has three major departments, consisting of first mortgage loans, titles and escrows and through its eastern connection with strong financial interests is prepared to make first mortgage loans on residence, apartment or business property in the greater Akron district. Among his other business interests, Mr. Thomas is president of the Pond View Building Company; a director of the Universal Boiler Company, president of the Summit County Mortgage Association and president of the Portage Holding Company. On the 13th of October, 1923, Mr. Thomas was married to Miss Elizabeth Barnes, of Fredericksburg, Ohio, a daughter of Edward B. Barnes, of a well known family of that section of the state. They have a son, John Warren, Jr., born October 14, 1924, in Cleveland, Ohio. In his fraternal relations Mr. Thomas is a Mason and also a Shriner. He belongs to the Akron City Club, to the Portage Country Club and the Twin Lakes Country Club and thus gains something of needed recreation to counterbalance his intense business activity. He is also member of the advisory board of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. He is the secretary of the National Association of Title Insurance Men and was president of the Ohio Association of Title Men in 1924. He still has membership connection with the legal profession, belonging to the Summit County, 574 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Ohio State and American Bar Associations. In his religious connection he is a member of the West Congregational church. Mr. Thomas has a wide acquaintance among financial men and investors throughout this section of the state and is regarded as a very capable executive in his field of activity. His residence is at 735 Ecton road, Akron. EDSON AMHERST OBERLIN, JR. Edson A. Oberlin, Jr., vice president of the Firestone Park Trust & Savings Bank, is among the best known of Akron's younger bank officials and occupies a prominent position in the city's financial circles. His entire business career has been devoted to banking and his advancements have come in recognition of his native ability. Mr. Oberlin was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, February 18, 1894, a son of Edson A. and Ellen (Maloney) Oberlin, who were natives of Ohio and Minnesota, respectively. The father was for some time associated with the Ohio Sash & Door Company of Cleveland but is now connected with the Reserve Lumber Company of that city and is a well known figure in the lumber trade. His wife passed away in Cleveland in 1918, survived by a daughter and a son, Marie and Edson A., Jr. Edson A. Oberlin, Jr., was reared in Cleveland and received his education in the schools of that city. He began his business career at the age of seventeen as a messenger for the State Banking & Trust Company of. Cleveland, starting at a salary of twenty dollars per month. While thus employed during the day he attended law school until he had completed a thorough course, and his knowledge of law has ever been of value to him in the conduct of his business affairs. He remained with the State Banking & Trust Company from 1911 until 1918, and then came to Akron to accept the position of secretary with the Firestone Park Trust & Savings Bank. While acting in that capacity he attracted the attention of Harvey S. Firestone, who made him his private secretary, and he thus served while also filling the position of secretary of the Firestone Park Trust & Savings Bank. He was made treasurer of the bank and acted as secretary and treasurer. Leaving Mr. Firestone's office he continued in this dual capacity until 1925, when he was elected vice president of the bank and s continues at the present time, bending his energies to the AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 575 direction and control of this institution. He is also a director of the Firestone Park Builders Supply Company and treasurer of the Firestone Park Land Company, director and president of the Firestone Park Insurance Company and director and treasurer of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company of California. Mr. Oberlin has had broad experience in important connections for one of his years, and the soundness of his judgment in financial or general business affairs is widely acknowledged. He is an excellent example of the type of business man developed in the present age, quick to perceive an emergency and equally quick in devising a plan to meet it. He became a factor in the success of the various interests with which he is associated and is regarded as a highly capable banker and financier. On the 27th of November, 1913, Mr. Oberlin was married to Miss Regina Le Duc of Cleveland, a daughter of Adolph and Cordelia Le Duc. Mr. and Mrs.. Oberlin have a son and two daughters, Edson A. (III), born in Cleveland, August 28, 1917; Ellen Louise, born in Akron, January 30, 1920; and Eleanor Marie, born in Akron, September 14, 1923. Mr. Oberlin's residence is at No. 155 Firestone boulevard. WILLIAM HENRY WERT The progress of a community depends largely upon the loyalty, enterprise and ability of its citizens, and as a merchant and manufacturer William H. Wert has contributed his full quota toward Akron's commercial development, at the same time achieving individual prosperity. Three generations of the family have been influential factors in promoting the growth of this city, in which William H. Wert was born September 14, 1874, and his parents, Henry and Sophia (Sherbondy) Wert, were lifelong residents of Akron. The grandfather, Henry Wert, Sr., made the journey to Ohio in a covered wagon, locating here when Akron was a village, and became a leading spirit in projects for its up-building. His son, Henry Wert, Jr., was a market gardener and owned a productive farm, situated on what is now Wooster avenue. He filled the office of constable and was a man of prominence in the community. He and his wife are survived by three children : Mrs. D. C. Musselman, Mrs. Jennie Prince and William Henry Wert, all residents of Akron. The son received a public school education and began his com- 576 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY mercial career as a clerk in the employ of Charles Kempel, a grocer, for whom he worked for eight years. At the end of that time he started out for himself, opening a grocery store on Wooster avenue, and soon made this one of the leading establishments of the locality. For nine years he was the proprietor of the store, building up a large trade, and then decided to become a candy jobber. With this end in view he built an addition to his home on St. Clair street and on April 4, 1910, started the business in a room twelve by fourteen feet in dimensions. As his funds were low he did all of the rough work, managed the office, solicited orders, delivered the goods and also acted as collector. Through tireless effort and close attention to detail he secured a foothold and in order to obtain more space rented two store rooms on Wooster avenue. Eventually these quarters proved inadequate and he purchased a lot on Water street. There he erected a substantial two-story structure in 1914 and has since occupied the building, which is filled to capacity with a varied selection of candy. It is made of the best material and is pure, wholesome and delicious. Sixteen persons are employed in the plant, which invites inspection, and eight experienced salesmen are engaged in soliciting orders for the firm. Mr. Wert is sole owner of the business, which is conducted under the style of W. H. Wert, and he sells on a wholesale basis. He has devoted deep thought and study to his work, and the steady growth of the industry is proof of his business acumen and high commercial standards. Mr. Wert was married July 12, 1898, in Akron to Miss Nora Peck, a daughter of Hubert Peck, and they have become the parents of four children, all natives of this city. Ruth, the eldest, was born May 7, 1899, and received a high school education. She is now the wife of Sterling Wilcox and the mother of one child, Marilyn, born July 24, 1923 in Akron. Glenn M. Wert, born June 2, 1906, was graduated from the West high school and also from the Ohio State University, and assists his father in the conduct of the business. The others are : Clifford M., born September 23, 1908, who completed a course in the West high school and is now associated with Melville C. Peck, a well known architect, of Akron ; and Bruce William, who Was born May 14, 1916, and is a public school pupil. Deeply attached to his city, in which he takes great pride, Mr. Wert has endeavored to preserve its old landmarks and was the instigator of the plan for placing a memorial tablet on the large boulder at the entrance to the Summit county courthouse. He AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 577 is a director of the Glendale Cemetery Association and one of the trustees of the 50 Year Club of Akron. The Optimist Club also numbers him among its members, and his Masonic connections are with the lodge and grotto. He is likewise identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Odd Fellows Temple Company, and his religious views are indicated by his affiliation with Grace Reformed church. Mr. Wert has discharged every duty and obligation in life to the best of his ability, and his reward is the respect, confidence and good will of his fellowmen. FRANK CLARENCE HOWLAND Frank Clarence Howland, general manager and treasurer of The Thomas Phillips Company, has been for more than a quarter of a century an important factor in the successful management of one of Akron's oldest industrial enterprises. Born in Akron, March 9, 1881, he is a son of Clarence and Jennie (Fouser) Howland. It was in 1873 that the father came to Akron, where for more than three decades he figured prominently in commercial circles as one of the officials of The Thomas Phillips Company. He was born in Washington county, New York, and came to Akron to accept a position with The Thomas Phillips Company shortly after its organization. His original position with the company was a minor one, but his industry and capability won him promotion and he subsequently became treasurer and general manager and was serving in that dual capacity at the time of his death, which occurred May 6, 1905. He likewise became financially interested in other manufacturing and business enterprises of Akron, but his main interests were centered in the company of which he was so long a vital force. For sixteen years he survived his wife, who passed away in 1889. Their children were Frank C., George, Helen and Ruth. Later Mr. Howland was again married, his second union being with Josephine Creque, by whom he had one daughter, Josephine. Frank C. Howland was reared in Akron and received his early education in the schools of this city. Later he entered the University School of Cleveland, while his college course was pursued in Cornell University, the degree of Mechanical Engineer being conferred upon him at his graduation with the class of 1903. Returning to Akron, he entered on his business career in the employ of The Thomas Phillips Company. He was made assist- 576 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY mercial career as a clerk in the employ of Charles Kempel, a grocer, for whom he worked for eight years. At the end of that time he started out for himself, opening a grocery store on Wooster avenue, and soon made this one of the leading establishments of the locality. For nine years he was the proprietor of the store, building up a large trade, and then decided to become a candy jobber. With this end in view he built an addition to his home on St. Clair street and on April 4, 1910, started the business in a room twelve by fourteen feet in dimensions. As his funds were low he did all of the rough work, managed the office, solicited orders, delivered the goods and also acted as collector. Through tireless effort and close attention to detail he secured a foothold and in order to obtain more space rented two store rooms on Wooster avenue. Eventually these quarters proved inadequate and he purchased a lot on Water street. There he erected a substantial two-story structure in 1914 and has since occupied the building, which is filled to capacity with a varied selection of candy. It is made of the best material and is pure, wholesome and delicious. Sixteen persons are employed in the plant, which invites inspection, and eight experienced salesmen are engaged in soliciting orders for the firm. Mr. Wert is sole owner of the business, which is conducted under the style of W. H. Wert, and he sells on a wholesale basis. He has devoted deep thought and study to his work, and the steady growth of the industry is proof of his business acumen and high commercial standards. Mr. Wert was married July 12, 1898, in Akron to Miss Nora Peck, a daughter of Hubert Peck, and they have become the parents of four children, all natives of this city. Ruth, the eldest, was born May 7, 1899, and received a high school education. She is now the wife of Sterling Wilcox and the mother of one child, Marilyn, born July 24, 1923 in Akron. Glenn M. Wert, born June 2, 1906, was graduated from the West high school and also from the Ohio State University, and assists his father in the conduct of the business. The others are : Clifford M., born September 23, 1908, who completed a course in the West high school and is now associated with Melville C. Peck, a well known architect, of Akron ; and Bruce William, who Was born May 14, 1916, and is a public school pupil. Deeply attached to his city, in which he takes great pride, Mr. Wert has endeavored to preserve its old landmarks and was the instigator of the plan for placing a memorial tablet on the large boulder at the entrance to the Summit county courthouse. He AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 577 is a director of the Glendale Cemetery Association and one of the trustees of the 50 Year Club of Akron. The Optimist Club also numbers him among its members, and his Masonic connections are with the lodge and grotto. He is likewise identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Odd Fellows Temple Company, and his religious views are indicated by his affiliation with Grace Reformed church. Mr. Wert has discharged every duty and obligation in life to the best of his ability, and his reward is the respect, confidence and good will of his fellowmen. FRANK CLARENCE HOWLAND Frank Clarence Howland, general manager and treasurer of The Thomas Phillips Company, has been for more than a quarter of a century an important factor in the successful management of one of Akron's oldest industrial enterprises. Born in Akron, March 9, 1881, he is a son of Clarence and Jennie (Fouler) Howland. It was in 1873 that the father came to Akron, where for more than three decades he figured prominently in commercial circles as one of the officials of The Thomas Phillips Company. He was born in Washington county, New York, and came to Akron to accept a position with The Thomas Phillips Company shortly after its organization. His original position with the company was a minor one, but his industry and capability won him promotion and he subsequently became treasurer and general manager and was serving in that dual capacity at the time of his death, which occurred May 6, 1905. He likewise became financially interested in other manufacturing and business enterprises of Akron, but his main interests were centered in the company of which he was so long a vital force. For sixteen years he survived his wife, who passed away in 1889. Their children were Frank C., George, Helen and Ruth. Later Mr. Howland was again married, his second union being with Josephine Creque, by whom he had one daughter, Josephine. Frank C. Howland was reared in Akron and received his early education in the schools of this city. Later he entered the University School of Cleveland, while his college course was pursued in Cornell University, the degree of Mechanical Engineer being conferred upon him at his graduation with the class of 1903. Returning to Akron, he entered on his business career in the employ of The Thomas Phillips Company. He was made assist- 578 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY ant manager in 1904 and was elected his father's successor in the office of treasurer and general manager upon the latter's death in 1905 and has continued in that capacity to the present time. The company was organized in 1872 and is one of the oldest manufacturers of paper bags in this part of the country. With a well equipped plant the company now handles a large output and in its ramifying trade relations covers a broad territory. Among Mr. Howland's other business interests, he is a director of the First Trust & Savings Bank. In young manhood Mr. Howland was married to Miss Elizabeth W. Mason, daughter of Frank H. and Mary L. (Dexter) Mason. She passed away August 31, 1911, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth Mason Howland. Mr. Howland's interest in the welfare and progress of his city is indicated in the fact that he has long been an active member of the Akron Chamber of Commerce and gives earnest support to the well defined plans of that organization for the city's improvement. He also stanchly upholds the high standards of the Rotary Club and has membership in the Akron Automobile Club, while his social nature finds further expression in his connection with the Portage Country, Akron City, Fairlawn Golf and University Clubs. His fellow members of these organizations speak of him in terms of warm regard, and the sterling worth of his character is attested in the fact that many of his warmest friends are those who have known him from his boyhood to the present. MRS. AUBREY WATTERS HOLLIDAY "Lo, this is dancing's true nobility! Dancing, the child of Music and of Love, Dancing, itself both Love and Harmony, Where all agree, and all in order move; Dancing, the art that all arts do approve." —Sir John Davies The age is past when intellectual training constitutes the whole of education. More and more attention is being paid to those phases of physical instruction which develop the rhythmic, artistic and aesthetic elements in nature. Recognizing these facts, Mrs. Aubrey Watters Holliday has instituted in Akron a school that is unique in its scope, practical in its purposes and high in its ideals. The Holiday Studio of Dance and Dramatic AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 581 Arts is meeting a present-day condition for training along those lines, as indicated in the liberal patronage that has been accorded it. Mrs. Holiday has spent her entire life in Akron. She is a daughter of Rama R. Watters, a representative of an old family of that name, and she is a niece of Dow Watters, who was three times mayor of the city. Her mother, who bore the maiden name of Adelaide Akers, was a daughter of Thomas Akers, also a representative of one of the pioneer families of this city. After pursuing her early education in the public schools Mrs. Holliday received training in dramatics in California. She then entered Buchtel Academy, afterward spent three years as a student in the Tucker School of Expression at Cleveland, where she made a specialty of dramatic art and was graduated in 1914. She then opened an outdoor kindergarten in a property at 446 East Market street, which her father turned over to her for the purpose. The first enrollment numbered eight children, but the demand was so great and methods so attractive that within two weeks she had thirty-two pupils and the popularity of her school continued to spread among the best families of the city. In this school many of Akron's children received their first training in dancing, rhythm, pantomine, music, elocution and psycho-physical culture. Mrs. Holliday continued this school for a few years and at the same time was carrying on a similar work in St. Paul's Episcopal church. Its rector, the Rev. Sherman, asked her to conduct a daily kindergarten in connection with St. Paul's, but she decided not to do this and opened a kindergarten independently on a large scale. Her father gave her a home on Adolph avenue, known as the old Jacob Koch residence, containing fourteen rooms and a ballroom, and in that she established her school, securing the services of music teachers from Cleveland and vocal teachers from Akron, while she personally taught the physical work. This building soon became too small for her growing classes and the school was removed to Rose Hall-41 East street. Still the number of her pupils increased and a further removal was made to 206 Metropolitan building, where she has the finest equipped school of the kind in the state. In 1911 Mrs. Holliday was married and by her first marriage had one child, Betty, who was adopted by her grandfather, Mr. Watters, and after her mother's second marriage was adopted by Mr. Holliday. In 1914 Aubrey Watters became the wife of Clarence E. Holliday, of Cleveland, a son of the late Dr. William 19-VOL. 2 582 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Wallace Holliday, a well known physician of Cleveland, and descendant of a pioneer Pennsylvania family, from which Hollidaysburgh in that state, now seat of a famous school for girls, takes its name. Clarence E. Holliday is connected with the Standard Oil Company, and his brother, W. Trevor Holliday, is president of the Standard Oil Company of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Clarence E. Holliday have one child, Frances Adelaide. After Betty was a year old her training began. As a child she attended the Quinlan School of Dancing in Cleveland at the time her mother was attending the Tucker School, and when five years of age was taken to New York city for further instruction, Mrs. Holliday enrolling herself and her child in the Vestoff-Serova Russian School of Dancing. Mrs. Holliday specialized in her studies in relation to the training of the very young child, and her work was very thorough, receiving all the ground work training given to Russian dancers. She also studied character dancing under Alexis Kosloff, and from Madame Sonia Serova, the recognized authority in baby work, she received her training of that character. She makes annual trips still to New York, taking with her her two daughters, and all three are taught by the same teachers. Betty's special training began at the age of five years under Madame Serova, then with Michael Fokine, the world's greatest master of his art and the teacher of Pavlowa. Betty continued with the Vestoff-Serova school until at the age of thirteen they were compelled to graduate her as the youngest pupil they ever allowed to go out as a finished dancer, and everywhere Betty's name is used as a drawing card in their advertisements. Madame Serova selected her as her assistant during the convention of the American Association of Masters of Dancing at Cleveland, and "The Dance," a magazine, speaks of Betty as Serova's prize pupil. Mrs. Holliday, by her various trips to the east, has kept in close touch with the normal and professional courses of the Vestoff-Serova Russian School in ballet, interpretative and character dancing. In the exclusive school in Akron which she maintains for the discriminating, where the child is taught the true art of expression through dance, dramatic art and pantomime, Mrs. Holliday acts as instructress in dramatic arts, technique, nature and baby dancing. Her daughter Betty is likewise an instructor in the school. It is evident that she was created by nature to dance, which she has done from her earliest childhood, and her success lies not only in her ability to impart her knowledge of AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 583 the art to others but also to the fact that she can herself execute all forms of classic technique, and her splendid training in dancing is being supplemented by a thorough art and musical education. Like her mother, she has studied in the east and in addition to the Russian school has been a student in the New Way-burn, Jack Blue and Roy Lewis studios. The work of the Holliday Studio includes ballet dancing conducted on the same lines as in the Russian imperial schools, bar work as taught in the imperial schools of Moscow and Petrograd, the technique of dancing and the baby work. The baby classes are a unique feature of the school, where little ones enjoy themselves immensely, being under the personal direction of Mrs. Holliday, who uses her original methods of instruction for small children with marked success. She has formulated a series of principles that have rendered it excessively simple for children to grasp the rudiments of the dance. All baby work is created in the class and tends to develop the little characteristics peculiar to each child through a careful study of what they register in sunshine and shadow. Mrs. Holliday has children in her classes who have been with her since they were three years of age. She has put on fourteen special dance reviews, holding an annual review with about one hundred and sixty children in costumes designed by herself and daughter Betty. This is a very ambitious undertaking and the press speaks in the highest terms of the artistry, originality and finish of her work. She has put on programs for the Food show, for Shriners, the Tuesday Musical Club, public school and hospital entertainments, and in connection with much charity work. She also brought out an act at Christmas and she has one pupil who is now dancing with Geraldine Farrar and one in "Blossom Time." She devotes not a little of her time and talent to giving programs for tubercular children and in old people's homes and hospitals. She put on a program at the O'Neil Style Show, and also a very elaborate entertainment at the opening of the new store in 1928. Her school has been an extremely successful one financially as well as from the standpoint of artistic development and the successful accomplishment of her purposes. Realizing the child's knowledge should reach to a solid foundation of sense of training, the Aubrey Watters Holliday Studio is doing its share in imparting information which makes poise, beauty, grace and simplicity acquirements worth while upon which the floods of time will be in vain. The aim is to awaken in the child the love for the good, the true and the beautiful in life. For 584 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY better health—for greater beauty—for poise—for slenderness—dance. The dramatic art department has the same high standards, and the efficiency of the work is indicated in the fact that perhaps a score of the pupils coached by Mrs. Holliday have been medal winners in high school oratorical contests. "But each for the joy of working, and Each, in his separate star, Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things They are." HARMON EALY CHAMBERLIN Harmon Ealy Chamberlin, of Tallmadge, belongs to that valuable class of citizens whose powers and talents find their highest expression in public service, and his achievements as superintendent of the Summit County Farm Home have won for him high commendation and state wide prominence. He was born in Twinsburg township, Summit county, July 14, 1866, and represents the fourth generation of the family in Ohio. His parents were Zina F. and Sarah A. (Paxson) Chamberlin, the latter a daughter of Heston C. Paxson. Amos Chamberlin, the great-grandfather of Harmon E. Chamberlin, was of sturdy New England stock and made the long journey from Connecticut to Ohio in a covered wagon drawn by oxen. He was one of the earliest settlers of Summit county and hewed a farm out of the wilderness. On that place his son, Horace Chamberlin, was born in 1818, and his life was devoted to its cultivation and improvement. In 1876 he went to Philadelphia to attend the Centennial Exposition and afterward started for home but was unable to complete the trip, dying in Cleveland, Ohio. He had married Anna Post and their son, Zina F. Chamberlin, was born August 1, 1840, on the homestead in Hudson township. He also chose the career of an agriculturist and added to his holdings from time to time, acquiring a large acreage. Much of the land was used for grazing purposes, and he was long numbered among the leading stock raisers and dairymen of this part of the state. For nine years he was a director of the Summit County Agricultural Society and also became one of the trustees of Northfield township, manifesting that spirit which makes for public progress as well as individual success. Harmon E. Chamberlin attended the public schools of Mace- AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 585 donia and also took a course in the Spencerian College of Cleveland. At the age of twenty he completed his education and returned to the home farm, which is situated southeast of Macedonia on the Hudson road. This place was developed by his great-grandfather and has been retained by the family for more than a century. It is now owned by Harmon E. Chamberlin and comprises seventy-five acres of valuable land. Mr. Chamberlin resided thereon until January 1, 1916, and has since been superintendent of the Summit County Home, which is situated on the Stow-Tallmadge road. The new structure is an imposing brick and stone building with administration quarters containing the superintendent's offices and recreation parlors and also housing Mr. Chamberlin's family and the employes of the home. In the four large wings are located the wards for men and women, the detention wards, the hospital wards and the sterlizing and operating rooms. All are completely equipped and a resident physician insures the necessary medical attention. The first floor of one of the rear wings is given over to dining rooms and the most modern kitchen accommodations. The building contains eight large sun parlors, six of which are for the use of the inmates. Another feature is a large auditorium, which is used as a social center and for religious services. The building is well furnished throughout and nothing has been left undone to make it comfortable and homelike. Fine shrubs and flowers ornament the spacious lawns and the structure stands on a hilltop in one of the beauty spots of the county. An average of two hundred and ten inmates occupy the home, which is capable of caring for three hundred. The farm consists of over four hundred acres and most of the land is under cultivation. Thoroughly equipped, efficiently operated and modern to the ultimate degree, this is a model institution in every respect and commands the instant admiration of all who view it. No detail of its management escapes the keen observation of Mr. Chamberlin, who entered upon the work holding to high ideals, and from these he has never deviated. Systematic and painstaking, he always has some new plan in the making and many of the improved methods which he has introduced have been adopted by the officers of similar institutions in various parts of the country. Mr. Chamberlin was married June 13, 1888, in Macedonia, Ohio, to Miss Jennie Brower, who was born in Northfield township, Ohio. She is a daughter of Henry and Louisa ( Thompson) Brower and of New England stock in the paternal line. Her 586 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY father, who was a lumberman and owner of a sawmill, passed away in 1912, having long survived the mother, who died in 1890. To Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlin have been born two children : Marie Lenore, who became the wife of W. Ellwood Waters, of Akron, and the mother of three children—Vernon (now deceased), Harmon and Raymond ; and Reginald Brower, who married Agnes McKeon and is head chemist at Hammond, Indiana, for the Chicago By-Products Company. Mr. Chamberlin is a strong republican and has been an influential factor in both township and county affairs. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order, belonging to Twinsburg Lodge, No. 213, F. & A. M. ; Bedford Chapter, No. 74, R. A. M.; Akron Council, No. 80, R. & S. M.; Akron Commandery, No. 25, K. T. ; Tadmor Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. ; and Yusef Khan Grotto, M. O. V. P. E. R. He is also identified with the Maccabees, while Mrs. Chamberlin belongs to the Eastern Star and the Self-Culture Club of Stow. In addition to his other interests Mr. Chamberlin is a director of the Northfield Bank at Macedonia. He is ideally fitted for the work in which he is engaged and his management has received the approbation and support of the board of county commissioners, who have retained him in office for thirteen years, regardless of the political changes brought about during that period. With the invaluable assistance, advice and encouragement of Mrs. Chamberlin, he has been able to build up an institution which is equal to the best of its kind in the United States and when permitted to retire they will remove to their attractive modern home, which is located in the vicinity of Cuyahoga Falls. They view life from the standpoint of broad humanitarianism and are highly esteemed by all who have been brought within the sphere of their influence. MELVILLE CASE PECK Melville C. Peck is a successful architect and represents a family that has contributed substantially toward Akron's up-building and improvement. He was born August 4, 1882, in this city, of which his father, Hubert C. Peck, was also a native. The mother, Lydia (Clouner) Peck, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and in 1853, when a child of six, came with her parents to Springfield Center, Ohio, where she was reared, educated and married. Shortly after their marriage they moved to AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 589 Akron. Hubert C. Peck followed the carpenter's trade here for a number of years and later became well known as a contractor, erecting many buildings in the city. His work was performed with thoroughness and skill and has stood the test of time. Death summoned him in 1910. His widow now resides in Springfield Center, in the house where she was reared. She has witnessed the growth of Akron from a small town to a large and thriving city. To Mr. and Mrs. Peck were born seven children, five of whom survive : Eugene C., who attained the rank of colonel during the World war and now resides in Macedonia, Ohio, having retired from active business a few years ago; and Mrs. W. H. Wert, Mrs. F. A. Palmer, Hubert C. Peck and Melville C. Peck, all of Akron. In the public schools of the city the last named pursued his studies and afterward filled various positions. His first knowledge of architecture was gained in 1908 in the office of F. R. Moore, for whom he worked for six years, and advanced rapidly during that time. In 1914 he entered the profession independently, opening an office in Akron, and is now numbered among its prominent architects. He drew the plans for the residences of W. H. Collins, Joseph B. Sciber, Mrs. F. H. Stuart and Mrs. A. Masino and many others in Akron, and a number of stores and apartment buildings in this and other cities. Mr. Peck designed the Thomastown public school, the Springfield Center high school and others; the South Arlington Street Methodist Episcopal church, the Swedish Baptist church, the First United Brethren church and the First Church of God, all located in Akron; Calvary United Brethren church of Cleveland; the First Methodist Episcopal church and the First Reformed church of Shelby, Ohio, the Firstb Methodist Episcopal church of Kenmore, now under construction ; was associate architect of Grace Reformed church of Akron; and was architect of The Times Press "Model Home" on West Exchange street. His work is of high character and manifests splendid adaptation to specific needs, combined with beauty in form and design. Mr. Peck is connected with the official board of Grace Reformed church of Akron and conscientiously observes its teachings. He is one of the board of trustees of the Ohio Christian Endeavor Union and the International Society of Christian Endeavor of Boston. His Masonic affiliations are with Akron Lodge and Yusef Kahn Grotto, and he is also a member of the local Automobile Club. Mr. Peck is deeply interested in every- 590 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY thing that tends to raise the standards of his profession and promote the efficiency of its representatives. The exercise of effort has developed his latent powers and talents, and his labors have become outstanding features in the adornment of Akron and other cities of the state. Actuated by high ideals, Mr. Peck has utilized practical methods in their attainment, and his career has been conspicuously useful. DANIEL H. LOREAUX A man of well balanced capacities and powers, Daniel H. Loreaux has won success as an educator and agriculturist and is widely and favorably known in Springfield township. He was born February 23, 1874, in Mount Eaton, Wayne county, Ohio, and was the second in order of birth of the seven children of Desire and Adeline (Graber) Loreaux. The others are : Emma, who is Mrs. John Ewart, of Akron ; Ella, the wife of B. V. L. Wilson, a teacher in the South Akron high school ; Maude, who married I. S. Lindquist and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota ; William D., who is connected with the city water works department of Flint, Michigan, and who has a wife and two children, a son and a daughter; and Blanche, who is the wife of Claude Ewart of East Akron and the mother of two sons. Daniel H. Loreaux was a pupil in the public schools of Wayne county and taught several years in the rural schools of that county. Later he matriculated in Wooster University, now Wooster College, from which he was graduated in 1901. He was principal of the high school at Grafton, North Dakota, for two years and was then made superintendent of the schools of Cooperstown, that state, filling the position for five years. In 1908 he returned to Ohio and was principal of the Mogadore schools for two years and superintendent of the schools of Springfield township for five years, at the end of which time he retired from the profession. During his career as an instructor Mr. Loreaux kept in close touch with the latest developments along educational lines, and his work was productive of excellent results. He purchased of Samuel Mishler a tract of forty-eight acres one mile east of Ellet and there he has since engaged in general farming. His place is improved with good buildings and fences, and the land is rich and productive. The tasks of each day are carefully planned, and his farm is efficiently cultivated. AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 591 In August, 1924, Mr. Loreaux was married in Columbus. Ohio, to Miss Emma Tracy, a daughter of Noah and Eliza (Trichler) Tracy, of Adams county, this state. Mrs. Loreaux was formerly principal of the elementary grades in the Ohio State School for the Blind and now has charge of the Sawyerwood school, a position for which she is exceptionally well qualified. Mr. Loreaux is a Mason, belonging to Adoniram Lodge of Akron, and is affiliated with the Presbyterian church of North Springfield. In politics he is a democrat, and he cooperates in all movements destined to prove of benefit to his community. His life has been upright and useful, and the respect accorded him is well deserved. EDMUND S. JENKINS Among the worthy and honored old citizens of Summit county stands Edmund S. Jenkins of Macedonia, who though past eighty years of age, is still taking an active interest in business and civic affairs. He is one of the rapidly diminishing number of those patriotic sons of the north who during the dark days of the early '60s laid aside all personal considerations and enlisted in defense of the country, enduring the hardships and dangers of war that the Union might be preserved, and today no citizen of the community stands higher than he in public confidence and regard. Mr. Jenkins was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 17th of November, 1847, a son of Calvin O. and Martha (Barnes) Jenkins, the latter of whom was a native of Connecticut. The father, who was of New England ancestry, died in about 1902 at the age of eighty-seven years. To these parents were born five children, Charles, Aaron, Chauncey, Edmund S., and Albert, of whom Edmund S., is the only survivor. He was but two and one-half years old at the time of his mother's death and was taken by Mrs. Lucy Wilcox Newcomb, who was the only mother he ever knew and gave to him a mother's care and protection. They lived in Brecksville, Ohio, and in the public schools of that locality he secured his educational training. In 1863, when but sixteen years of age, Mr. Jenkins enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the Civil war, taking part in twelve engagements. When hostilities ceased 592 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY he returned to Ohio, where he remained until 1868, when he went to McHenry county, Illinois, and engaged in farming. In 1871 he was married and in that year joined in the march westward, locating about eighty miles west of Lincoln, Nebraska, where he took up a homestead. Mr. Jenkins still possesses the original patent to that land, signed by President Grant. While there he took an active part in the organization of Clay county. In 1876 Mr. Jenkins and his family returned to Ohio, locating in Macedonia township, Summit county, with which locality he has been identified continuously since. In 1896 he bought ninety acres of land, which is now owned and operated by his son Guy. He farmed that place successfully until 1905, when he moved into a new house which he had built in the village of Macedonia, and there he lived until the death of his wife, in July, 1925, since which time he has made his home on the farm with his son. Five years ago Mr. Jenkins, in partnership with his son Fred, embarked in the lumber business in Macedonia, carrying a large and complete line of lumber and dimension stuff, and they are now enjoying a good business. On April 9, 1871, in McHenry county, Illinois, Mr. Jenkins was united in marriage to Miss Mary Morse, who was a member of an old New England family and had been teaching school in that county. To Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins were born five children, namely: Fred, a resident of Macedonia ; Albert, who lives in Akron ; Frank B.; Edward, deceased, and Guy. Mr. Jenkins has always supported the republican party and recalls with pride the fact that in 1864, in company with his army comrades, he had the pleasure of voting for Abraham Lincoln for president. He has during all the years of his residence here consistently supported every measure of enterprise having for its object the advancement or betterment of the community. He served for a number of years as a member of the school board and held other township offices. It was largely through the efforts of Mr. Jenkins and his sons that Macedonia secured its present new high school building, which was dedicated January 7, 1928. He was instrumental in the organization of the village of Macedonia ; served a number of years as a member of the council and was later mayor. He takes pride in every mark of progress in his locality, such as the new concrete Chicago to Philadelphia highway and the development of the village park, which was the gift of the mayor, Colonel E. C. Peck, in 1927. Mr. Jenkins is a member of Royal Dunham Post, G. A. R., and AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 593 is one of the two surviving members of the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Ohio Regiment belonging to that post, his comrade being T. E. Mathews. Mrs. Jenkins was a member of the Women's Relief Corps and the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Jenkins attends the Methodist Episcopal church, in the welfare of which he has always shown a sincere interest. A man of kindly and generous spirit, a friend to all men and a useful and public-spirited resident of his community, he commands the affectionate regard of all who have been associated with him, while throughout the range of his acquaintance he is respected because of his long and worthy life and his estimable qualities of character. CLARENCE C. KEMPEL By virtue of his enterprise and ability Clarence C. Kempel has steadily advanced in the business world and is now active in the management of one of Akron's important industries. He was born July 14, 1891, in this city and is a son of Casper L. and Mary R. (Dunbeck) Kempel. The father, who was born in Summit county, Ohio, in 1854, died July 1, 1906, and the mother, a native of Pennsylvania, passed away April 5, 1915. For about twenty years the father conducted two meat markets in Akron. Clarence C. Kempel was born on the old Park place, the first allotment platted in Akron, and received his early instruction in the city, afterward taking a three years' course in a preparatory ecclesiastical school of Baltimore, Maryland. He then returned home and entered the Peoples Savings & Trust Bank, an Akron institution, of which his father was one of the founders and officers. Later the First Trust & Savings Bank took over the business of the Peoples Savings & Trust Bank and thus created one of the largest and strongest moneyed institutions in the county. Clarence C. Kempel continued with this bank for a number of years, filling a responsible position, and he is still one of its stockholders. In 1917 he became connected with the Rohner Paper Company of Akron and is now serving as treasurer of the corporation, an office for which he is well qualified owing to his financial experience and business acumen. He is also a director of the Merit Realty Company of Akron. Mr. Kempel was married July 2, 1914, in Akron to Miss Emma A. Rohner, a native of the city and a talented musician. 594 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY Her father, Joseph A. Rohner, was born near Lake Constance in Austria and has lived in Akron from the age of twelve years. Her mother, Louise Katherine ( Senghas) Rohner, was born in Richfield, Ohio, and is of German lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Kempel became the parents of six children but their daughter Rita died at the age of two years. The other children are Clarence Norman, Mary Louise, Richard Rohner, Emma Ruth and David Carroll. In 1920 Mr. and Mrs. Kempel removed to Stow and have since resided in a fine home on the Stow-Cleveland road. They are faithful communicants of St. Martha's Catholic church, and Mr. Kempel is a Knight of Columbus and belongs to the Knights of Columbus Luncheon Club of Akron. He was the first president of the Stow Civic Association, serving for two years, and he also had charge of welfare work in this locality. His sympathies are with the unfortunate and oppressed, and his heart responds readily to the call of the needy. He is a young man of high ideals, and the respect accorded him is well deserved. CLIFTON SLUSSER Clifton Slusser, one of the well known officials of the Goodyear Tire Si Rubber Company, has been identified with the rubber industry almost from the outset of his business career. He was born May 2, 1892, in West Brookfield, Ohio, a son of Robert and Anna (Brooks) Slusser, also natives of the Buckeye state. Robert Slusser was a glass blower, following that trade until his work was supplanted by modern machinery, and he then turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. In 1910 he sold his farm in Ohio and located in Missoula, Montana, where he has since resided, devoting his energies to the lumber business. Mr. and Mrs. Slusser have a son and daughter; Mrs. Beryl Fisher, who is living in Tererro, New Mexico; and Clifton. Clifton Slusser was reared in West Brookfield, Ohio, and attended the public schools of that city; later was graduated from the Actual Business College in Akron and subsequently was a teacher in the night school of that institution. During this period he acquired his first knowledge of the rubber business as an employe of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, where he worked for about three years. He was for a time connected with John Crisp & Sons, a firm which has since gone out of busi- AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 597 ness ; then entered the employ of the J. P. Loomis Coal & Supply Company, where he remained until 1910. In that year Mr. Slusser began his identification with the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, which has continued without interruption until the present time. He worked in every department of the plant and after three years of intensive effort completed the factory course. His advancements have come as the recognition of work well done and his capacity for assuming greater burdens and responsibilities. In 1926 he was elected vice president of the corporation, becoming plant manager, and is also vice president and a director of the various subsidiaries of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Mr. Slusser combines a technical knowledge of the rubber industry with the foresight and resourcefulness of the able executive, and his services represent his best energies through more than eighteen years for the success of the corporation. Among his other business interests he is president of Industrians Savings & Loan Company of Akron. Mr. Slusser was married November 2, 1914, in Massillon, Ohio, to Miss Helen Houriet, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Victor Houriet and a member of one of the pioneer families of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Slusser have a son, Robert Paul, who was born January 1, 1924, in Akron. Mr. Slusser is well known in club circles, being a member of the Portage Country, the Akron City and the Akron Automobile Clubs and also belongs to the Akron Chamber of Commerce. In Masonry he has taken the thirty-second degree; is identified with the York and Scottish Rites and belongs to Tadmor Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is one of trustees of the Young Men's Christian Association. Mr. Slusser is a man of well balanced capacities and powers, whose native ability and even paced energy have carried him steadily forward to a position of prominence in his field of activity. He is numbered among Akron's best citizenship and is able to count among his personal friends the representative and worthwhile people of the city. His residence is at 900 Merriman road. FRANCIS HANMER WRIGHT During the greater portion of his life Francis H. Wright has followed mechanical pursuits, steadily advancing in business affairs. He has always resided in Tallmadge, which numbers him among its loyal sons. He was born September 6, 1868, and 598 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY represents the third generation of the family in this community, of which his father, Francis H. Wright, Sr., was also a native. The grandfather, who likewise bore the name of Francis H. Wright, was born in Connecticut and in early life came to the Western Reserve of Ohio. His son and namesake enlisted in the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry soon after the outbreak of the Civil war, winning the commission of first lieutenant, and the father also saw military service. The son was a member of the school board of Tallmadge and a trustee of the Congregational church, filling the latter office for many years. He was an influential factor for good in the community, and his death in 1914 was deeply regretted. His wife, Harriet (Kilbourn) Wright, was born in Akron, Ohio, and was also of New England stock. Their son, Francis H. Wright (III), was graduated from the Tallmadge high school in 1887 and engaged in farming for a few years. In Akron he learned the machinist's trade and entered the employ of the International Harvester Company, with which he spent many years, acquiring the skill of an expert. At the time of its organization he became connected with the Twin Coach Company of Kent, Ohio, and is still in the service of the firm. His position is one of large responsibility, and his duties are discharged with efficiency and conscientiousness. Mr. Wright was married September 6, 1889, in Tallmadge to Miss Frances A. Parmelee, who was born here and previous to her marriage had been a teacher in the public schools of Wisconsin. Her parents were Charles and Martha (Hall) Parmelee, the latter a native of Oberlin, Ohio. Mrs. Wright, who was a devoted wife and mother, passed away February 2, 1920, in the faith of the Congregational church. To Mr. and Mrs. Wright were born five children : Julia, who died in September, 1919; Geneva, who is the wife of Ernest Atwood, of Tallmadge, and has three children, Walter, Jeannette and Howard : Kathryn, who is Mrs. Glenn Gould, of Akron, and has two daughters, Martha and Josephine; Dorothy, the wife of Edward Yontz of Tampa, Florida, and the mother of three children, Phyllis, James and William ; and Francis H., who is in the employ of the Goodrich Rubber Company of Akron and lives at Home. Mr. Wright's second union was with Mrs. Lauretta (Treat) Hoff, to whom he was married in Tallmadge, August 26, 1921. She was born in that village and is of New England ancestry. Their attractive home was erected in 1923 and is situated on the AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY - 599 Akron road. They are members of the Congregational church and for a number of years Mr. Wright was one of its trustees. In politics he is a stalwart republican. The progress of his community is a matter in which he takes much personal pride, and his genuine worth is attested by a large circle of steadfast friends who have known him from boyhood. MARVIN T. STETLER An enterprising realtor, Marvin T. Stetler is a live factor in business circles of Akron and also figures prominently in financial and public affairs. He was born May 23, 1871, in Green township and represents the third generation of the family in Summit county. He is the sixth in line of descent from John Stetler, who was a native of Germany and became one of the early settlers of New Amsterdam, now New York city. His son, Conrad Stetler, lived for a time in New Jersey, where he was married, and afterwards went with his family to Pennsylvania. As the years passed he became one of the wealthy farmers of Union county, owning many acres of fertile land in the heart of Dry valley. He was the father of John Stetler (II), who was born in 1792 and married Elizabeth Roughert, a daughter of Anthony Roughert, who was a native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania. John Stetler (II) gave his political support to the whig party and was active in religious affairs. His demise occurred on September 9, 1868, and his wife passed away in October, 1876. They were the parents of nine children : William, Daniel, Mary, John, Isaac, Charles, Thomas, Andrew and Elizabeth. William Stetler, the eldest son, was born in Union county, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1816, and received his education in the district schools of that locality. His boyhood was spent on the home farm and at the age of fifteen he began his independent career, working for a number of years on public dams on the Susquehanna river. In 1846 he was made superintendent of wood work on the dams, filling the position for two years, and in the fall of 1848 started for Summit county, Ohio. He made the journey in a covered wagon, crossing the mountains and going by way of Pittsburgh. In Green township he developed a valuable farm, which he cultivated until 1891, and then went to Stark county, Ohio. On November 2, 1838, he had married Salome Reichley, a native of Union county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of William and Mary (Sausaman) Reichley. Her par-