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WARREN W. SIMMONS.


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Warren W. Simmons, secretary and general manager of the Central Ohio Building & Loan Company since 1903, and also interested to a considerable extent in city real estate, was born November 4, 1860, in Johnstown, Ohio. The family came originally from England and was founded in Virginia in colonial days. The grandfather, Van Simmons, was born in Winchester, Virginia, in 1797, and in 1808 became a resident of Ohio, making the journey on foot from his old home to this then far western region. Three years later he


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returned to Virginia and was married. The young couple made their wedding journey on one horse, which they rode alternately in returning to the Ohio home which Mr. Simmons had prepared for his wife. Their first bed was made of elm bark and animal skins. A little cabin was furnished altogether in a most primitive manner and they entered into the hardships and privations of pioneer life and as the years passed they were able to add many of the comforts of modern civilization.

John J. Simmons, the father of Warren W. Simmons, was born at Homer, Ohio, September 17, 1826, and his environments in youth were those of the pioneer district. He attained manhood and married Miss Mary J. Wise, who was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, and was of Dutch lineage. She was the niece of Governor Wise, of Virginia, and cousin of Judge Wise and the daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Wise.

Warren W. Simmons was educated in the district schools and in the normal school at Utica, Ohio, where he spent two years, after which he became a pupil of the Ohio Normal University at Ada, Ohio. For thirteen years he successfully engaged in school teaching and in the meantime carried on general agricultural pursuits in Licking county, Ohio, where he yet owns a model farm of one hundred and thirteen acres. He has been identified with commercial interests since 1893, when he became a traveling salesman for a carriage manufactory, remaining in that connection until 1900. During the succeeding three years he was active in the management of the Buckeye Fertilizer Company, having charge of the agency department with jurisdiction over the territory of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. In 1903 he became connected with the Central Ohio Building & Loan Company and was elected secretary and general manager, still holding the dual position. He has closely studied the business, the opportunities for its development and the possibilities for success, and in control of its affairs has developed a profitable undertaking. As he has found opportunity and his financial resources have permitted, he has made judicial investments in real estate and is now the owner of considerable Columbus property.

On the 11th of May, 1882, Mr. Simmons was united in marriage to Miss Hattie G. Lake, a daughter of Vincent V. and Amy Lake, of Johnstown, Ohio, her father being one of the best known stock-breeders of that locality. Mr. and Mrs. Simmons are the parents of five sons and a daughter: John V., twenty-six years of age, residing in Licking county, who married Essie Harris and has one son and one daughter, Fred and Louise H.; Austin A., twenty-four years of age, who married Olive Dewitt and makes his home at No. 86 Hayden avenue, Columbus; Scott E., twenty-two years of age, who married Winnifred Wickham, now living at No. 86 Clarendon avenue, Columbus; Louise. who died at the age of four years; Park, thirteen years of age; and Rolf. nine years of age, both of whom are still under the parental roof. The family residence is at No. 82 Hayden avenue.



Mr. and Mrs. Simmons bold membership in the West Park Methodist church and take active and helpful interest in its work, doing all in their power to promote its growth and extend its activities. Mr. Simmons is now serving as a trustee of the church and was for some time the superintendent


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of the Glenwood Methodist Episcopal Sunday school, while his wife is a leading member of the Ladies' Aid Society and is also active in temperance work.

Mr. Simmons votes with the democracy, but the honors and emoluments of office have no attraction for him. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and with the Knights of Pythias. He is one of the most straightforward, energetic and successful business men of Columbus, courteous, genial, well informed, alert and enterprising, standing today as one of the leading representative citizens of the capital city.

CLAUDE T. DEATRICK.

Claude T. Deatrick, state agent at Columbus for the Home Fire Insurance Company of New York, with jurisdiction over the entire state, was born on the 2d of June, 1858, in the city of Defiance, Ohio, so named in honor of Fort Defiance, which was erected by General Anthony Wayne in the later years of the eighteenth century. His father, John Frederick Deatrick, is a native of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and a son of John Jacob Nicholas Deatrick, who in the year 1832 left the Keystone state and came with his family to Ohio, settling in Wayne county. He was a woolen manufacturer, and was the first to engage in that business in the section in which he located. While spending his boyhood days under the parental roof John F. Deatrick learned the woolen manufacturer's trade, and devoted the years of his youth and early manhood to that work, but, thinking to find other pursuits more congenial and profitable, went to Defiance in 1851 and became a law student in the office and under the direction of Colonel David Taylor. He was admitted to the bar in 1858, and has since practiced law in that city; covering a period of more than half a century. He has been accorded a large and important clientele, and moreover is one of the oldest insurance men of the state, having been actively connected with the business since 1856. His enterprise and determination 'have carried him far beyond mediocrity to a place among the successful business and professional men of Ohio, the force of his character enabling him to set at naught the various obstacles and difficulties which bar the path of progress for every individual. The regard and trust of his fellow townsmen has been manifest in his election to the office of mayor of Defiance, in which position he has served for five terms, giving to the city a businesslike administration characterized by needed reform and improvement. He was also deputy United States marshal and has filled other important trusts. In early manhood he wedded Miss Nancy Taylor, a daughter of Judge John Taylor, one of the well known residents of Champaign county, Ohio. Her father was a Virginian by birth and became one of the pioneer settlers of this state, where his ability led to his selection for public office. He was one of the early associate judges of Ohio, was also a member of the state senate during the formative period in its history and in journalistic circles was well known as editor and publisher of the Western Dominion. His connection with this field of labor, as well as his activity in


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political and official circles, made him one of the most widely acquainted men of the state in his time and he numbered as his friends the majority of those who were leaders in public life.

Reared in the city of his nativity, C. T. Deatrick was a pupil in the public schools of Defiance until seventeen of age, when he joined his father in the insurance business and the following year was given charge of the business, the partnership relation between them existing until 1898. Careful study and thoroughness in all that he did brought him comprehensive knowledge of insurance interests and his ability was manifest in the constantly growing patronage of the office. At length the Home Fire Insurance Company of New York, believing that Columbus would prove a desirable point from which to operate, selected Mr. Deatrick to establish an office in this city in 1898, and he now has sole charge of the operations of the company in Ohio, a company for which his father was the first representative in 1859. C. T. Deatrick has been associated with the corporation for thirty-three years and it is uniformly conceded that he occupies one of the most important insurance positions of the state and discharges his duties therein with marked ability. In fact the company leaves the management of its interests in Ohio to his discretion and has entrusted him with other important commissions. After the memorable fires in Baltimore and San Francisco he was dispatched to these cities to safeguard and protect the interests of the Home Fire Insurance Company in the adjustments which followed and his service in this connection was characterized by equity, beneficial alike to the company and its clients.

During the past, eleven years Mr. Deatrick and his family have been residents of Columbus, in which city they have gained many warm friends. In 1882 he married Miss Hattie E. Osborn, a daughter of Captain Ransom P. Osborn, of Napoleon. They have four children : Laura, the wife of Robert S. Carnes; of Memphis, Tennessee; Robert S., who is engaged in the insurance business with his father, being a representative of the third generation with the same company; Nellie; and Claude T., Jr. Something of the nature and character of Mr. Deatrick's recreation interests is indicated in the fact of his membership in the Ohio Field Club and that he is one of the grand officers of the Ancient and Honorable Order of the Blue Goose. He is also a Mason and has attained the Knight Templar degree. Modestly inclined, he does not sound his own praises but the substantial qualities of his life and work have gained for him the admiration and respect of his fellowmen and the substantial rewards of faithful and superior service.

ORVILLE McCOY SPENCER.

Orville McCoy Spencer, now secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Coe-Spencer Lumber Company of Columbus, was at one time a newsboy on the first train that ran over the Hocking Valley Railroad to Lancaster, Ohio. He became identified with industrial interests at the age of fifteen years


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and his gradual advancement has resulted from the possession of those qualities which in the business world have always been considered meritorious and worthy of recognition. A native of Muskingum county, Ohio, he was born January 17, 1856. His father, Evi Spencer, was a native of the same locality and became well known as a lumberman, operating a portable sawmill. He continued in that business for many years and at length retired on account of ill health. In 1867 be removed to Columbus, where his remaining days were passed, his death occurring in 1869. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Susan Newkirk, was a native of northern Ohio and removed to Columbus with her parents in early girlhood. She long survived her husband, passing away in 1891, more than twenty years after his death. The Spencer family came from New Jersey to Ohio in the early part of the nineteenth century and representatives of the name have since been prominent in various lines of life. Three brothers of Evi Spencer were soldiers of the Civil War.

Orville McCoy Spencer was a youth of eleven years when the family removed to Columbus. He pursued his education in the public schools of Ohio and, as stated, became a newsboy on the first Hocking Valley Railroad train to Lancaster, Ohio. In his early youth he assisted his father in operating a portable sawmill and subsequent to his father's death he obtained employment in a box factory. Later he secured a position in a basket factory north of Goodale park, beginning there at the age of fifteen years. In 1875 he was employed as office boy by the Door, Sash & Lumber Company and was successively promoted through various positions, remaining in the employ of that concern for fifteen years. The plant occupied the present site of the plant of the Coe-Spencer Lumber Company. In 1890 Mr. Spencer joined Mr. Coe in organizing the Coe-Spencer Lumber Company, and they began business in the old Lovejoy plant but left that location to lease the plant of the Door, Sash & Lumber Company, where Mr. Spencer continues to the present time, Mr. Coe having retired in 1903. In the previous year the Coe-Spencer Lumber Company was incorporated with Mr. Spencer as secretary, treasurer and general manager. They conduct a general retail lumber business and also have an extensive planing mill in connection. This is one of the leading and representative houses of this character in the city, and their business is now large and profitable. Mr. Spencer is most methodical in all of his work, and systematic in everything that he undertakes. To this quality and his indefatigable energy his success is attributable.

In 1880 occurred the marriage of Mr. Spencer and Miss Mary Metters, a native of Columbus. They have three sons : Raymond, who was born in 1886 and is a draftsman for the Columbus Heating & Ventilating Company; Edwin, who was born in 1889 and is engaged in business with his father; Irvine, who was born in 1899 and is attending school. The family attends the Congregational church. Mr. Spencer is a member of the Board of Trade, and is interested in all that pertains to the advancement and improvement of business conditions here. He is fond of fishing, but, while he enjoys that pastime, he has always made his business his first consideration, realizing


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that upon his own efforts has depended his success. He is today enjoying well merited prosperity, and is widely and favorably known in business circles of the city.

MALCOLM A. KARSHNER.

Those who study the signs of the times cannot but be impressed with the fact that it is the young men who are molding the destiny of the country in its varied political, military and commercial relations. This may be due to several reasons, one being the fact that educational advantages are superior to those of a generation or more ago and thus the young man is equipped by school training for work for which his father had to prepare in the more difficult school of experience.

Malcolm A. Karshner is today well known as one of the republican leaders of Columbus and is making his influence felt in state affairs. In all of his political work he brings to bear the same spirit of enterprise and progressiveness, which are the dominant factors in business life and is as careful in matters of political control as he would be in the management of a commercial or industrial concern. One of Ohio's native sons, he was born in Lancaster, July 12, 1877, his parents being George W. and Clara. Karshner, the former a popular and well known traveling salesman. At the usual age he entered the public schools of Columbus and, passing through consecutive grades, made a creditable record in his high-school work, which was terminated by graduation. Further educational opportunities were afforded him and, entering the Ohio State University, he was graduated from the pharmacal course in 1894. He then entered business ranks as an employe in a drug store and was thus busily engaged. for a few years. He left the drug business, however, to enter the service of the Columbus Gas Company, where he continued for a year after which he was appointed by Governor Nash a clerk in the Ohio penitentiary. He resigned in 1902 to become secretary to Mayor R. H. Jeffrey and in 1900 he was chosen a member of the republican Mate central committee, of which he is now secretary. He also has connections with the financial interests of Columbus as the secretary of the board of directors of the Central National Bank.

By the consensus of public opinion he is accorded a position of prominence in republican circles and in his efforts to further the interests of his party he brings to bear a keen discrimination and a careful analysis that enables him to thoroughly understand existing conditions and to assimilate and coordinate forces. The democracy has recognized something of his strength in political service and those who are active in political ranks know that he has done much tangible work to further the adoption of the principles which he believes are most conducive to good government.

On the 15th of May, 1898, Mr. Karshner was married to Miss Julia Pinney and they are well known in the social circles of the city. Mr. Karshner is a member of the Elks and the Knights of Pythias lodges and no func-


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tion of either of those orders is complete or entirely enjoyable without his presence. He is known in military circles as a member of Battery H, First Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery. Bright, affable, he is a man of wide acquaintance and popularity and his friends and they are many in both parties have no hesitancy in predicting for him continuous progress in a political career.

ROBERT H. JEFFREY.

Robert H. Jeffrey, prominent as a representative of the younger circle of business men in Columbus and one who has received expression of popular approval and regard in hi: election to the highest municipal office within the gift of the people, serving as mayor when but twenty-nine years of age, was born in Columbus on the 21st of December, 1873. He laid the foundation of his education when a pupil in the Douglas school, while later he pursued a preparatory course for the University School and spent two years in study in Dresden, Germany. He completed his preparation for college in the Columbus Latin School and at the age of seventeen years matriculated in Williams College, where he remained to his graduation. For several months after he had completed his course there he worked in the coal mines of Ohio and Illinois in order to learn the practical application of mining machinery. He then returned to the drafting department of the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company and in afternoons attended law school at the Ohio State University. He was also for a time a student in the Columbus Business College. On entering into active connection with the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company he became an order clerk and later was purchasing agent. In the latter capacity he visited Hawaii, Samoa, New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania in the interests of the ,rapidly growing trade of this great establishment.

Mr. Jeffrey is a son of the well and widely known Joseph A. Jeffrey, head of the great manufacturing plant that bears his name, but the fact that he was born and reared in the midst of fortuitous environment did not spoil the boy but rather impressed him with his responsibilities and his duty toward his fellowmen. On his return from abroad he was made assistant manager of the works, employing over two thousand men, and this position he held through the period in which he also served as mayor of the city, neglecting his duty in neither capacity. He possesses splendid executive ability and keen discrimination and was therefore able to capably control municipal and manufacturing interests at the same time and in each line securing beneficial and farreaching results.

It was in the spring of 1903 that Mr. Jeffery was nominated by the republicans of Columbus as their candidate for mayor, and after a strenuous campaign he was elected over John M. Hinkle by a majority of more than thirty-five hundred. He gave to the city a businesslike and progressive administration and then at the close of his first term declined a reelection, although his party would gladly have again nominated him for the office. He is one of


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the most active members of the Columbus Board of Trade, served as its president in 1902 and previous to that was chairman. of the committee on manufactures. He is a young man of wonderful capacity and energy. His education is complete along many lines and at the early age of thirty-five years he has made a record which many a much older man would justly esteem a great distinction.

Robert H. Jeffery was united in marriage to Miss Alice Kilbourne, the only daughter of Colonel and Mrs. James Kilbourne, and they reside in a beautifully appointed home at Bullitt Park. Alive to the issues of the day, to the great questions affecting the welfare of the country, to business opportunities and to the need for active, energetic workers in every line, Mr. Jeffery has and is leaving the impress of his individuality upon public thought and feeling and continuing at the same time a most important factor in the industrial development of the city.

ELBERT C. MORTON.

Elbert C. Morton, who since 1892 has successfully practiced law in Columbus as a member of the firm of Arnold, Morton & Irvine, was born on the 22d of August, 1866, near Cadiz, in Harrison county, Ohio, which county became famous as the home of General John A. Bingham and his facile protege, General George Armstrong Custer, the ill-fated hero of Little Big Horn. The youthful days of Elbert C. Morton were spent in the home of his parents, William H. and Addie (Close) Morton. The father was for many years a prominent educator, and was connected with all of the important educational movements in his section of the state.

The son pursued his education in the schools of Cincinnati, and was graduated from both the Woodward high school and Chickering Institute of that city. Before he left school he decided on a legal profession, and entered the office of Hon. R. D. Marshall, of Dayton, Ohio, who was among the ablest men and most brilliant attorneys of his time in the Ohio valley. After thorough and comprehensive preliminary reading, Mr. Morton was admitted to practice before the supreme court of Columbus in 1889. He did not immediately enter upon the full work of the profession, but became confidential secretary to C. C. Waite, president of the Hocking Valley Railway, and in that connection his legal knowledge was of much value. Since 1892 he has been continuously in the practice in Columbus as a member of the firm of Arnold, Morton & Irvine, who are practically the same age, and all prominent in professional, business and social life, and highly esteemed as citizens. They have an extensive clientage, and the nature of their legal interests places them in the foremost rank among the successful and prominent attorneys of the city.



In 1894 Mr. Morton was married to Miss Flora Searls, of Columbus, and they have two bright and interesting children : Elbert Searles and Helen. Mr. Morton is a member of the Columbus and the Arlington Country Clubs, while in more specifically professional lines he is connected with the State


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and Franklin County Bar Associations. Gifted by nature with strong mentality, he has, through his natural and acquired ability, gained a place among those who have made the bar of the capital a notable one.

ALEXANDER CHALMERS BRYCE.

Careful analyzation of the life record of Alexander Chalmers Bryce indicates that the steps in his orderly progression are those which conform to the rules that have ever guided enterprise and determination. Watchful of opportunities pointing to success, he has improved chances to which others have seemed oblivious and seems to have made no false moves in his business career. On the contrary he has guided his steps where mature judgment has led the way and seems to have reached at any one point of his business record the full possibility for successful accomplishment at that point. He is known in Columbus as the president and treasurer of the Bryce Brothers Company, clothiers and men's outfitters; and in other trade centers he figures in equally prominent relations.

Mr. Bryce is a native of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, born March 16, 1852, and possesses many of the sterling characteristics of his Scotch ancestry. His father, William Bryce, was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, and went to Canada as a young man. Taking up farming as a life work, he met with prosperity, gaining a gratifying measure of success as the years passed on. He wedded Mary Chalmers, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and both are now deceased, Mr. Bryce having passed away in 1888, while his wife survived until 1904.

The youthful days of Alexander C. Bryce were passed on the home farm and his education was acquired in the district schools to the age of fifteen years. He then made his entrance in the business world as a clerk in a drygoods store at Sarnia, Ontario, where he remained for two years. But thinking he might have better opportunities for rapid advancement across the border, he made his way to Louisville. Kentucky, where he was employed in the same line of business until 1875. He then became traveling salesman out of Cincinnati for a clothing house and in 1888 removed to New York city. from which point he went upon the road as a traveling salesman for the same concern which he yet represents. All this time, however, he maintained his residence in Terre Haute, Indiana, up to the time of his removal to Columbus, September 11, 1897 .

In the meantime Mr. Bryce had been extending the scope of his undertaking. In addition to his duties as a traveling salesman he took up other work, opening a clothing store on his own account at Rockville, Indiana. The venture was a success from the start. In 1886 he also opened a store at Terre Haute, Indiana, where he was then living, and in 1888 he sold his interest in the Rockville store. In January, 1894, he purchased a clothing store at Logansport, Indiana, which was conducted in his own name for two years, and all this time he continued as the owner of the Terre Haute store.


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In September, 1895, the Columbus establishment was opened under the firm style of Bryce Brothers & Company, the partners being the subject of this review and his brother. Thomas J. Bryce, now deceased. In February, 1896, the business was incorporated as the Bryce Brothers Company. Mr. Bryce conducted all of these interests in addition to his duties as traveling salesman for a wholesale clothing house, displaying a spirit of enterprise that has carried him into large and prosperous undertakings. In 1896 he disposed of the Terre Haute store and invested that capital in the business of Kellar, Bryce & Company, at Muncie, Indiana, which business is today the largest of the kind in the state outside of Indianapolis. The firm carries an extensive line of clothing, hats, caps and furnishing goods, and success has attended the undertaking from the outset. The Columbus store was established at its present location but has been enlarged to cope with the increasing trade. Bryce Brothers Company today. carries the largest stock of high grade men's clothing in the city and the business has been built up from a small beginning to its present magnitude through the efforts and business discernment of the partners. who have gathered around them a corps of efficient helpers. In 1905 Mr. Bryce became interested in the firm of Johnson, Morgan & Company, of Louisville, Kentucky, dealers in men's and boys' clothing, and is president of this concern, which is one of the handsome mercantile establishments of that city.

In 1878 Mr. Bryce was married to Miss Helen Prero, of Illinois, and unto them were born two daughters, but the elder, Mabel, who became the wife of C. P. Dunn, died in March, 1907. The younger daughter, Ethel, is still at home.

Mr. Bryce has always been too busy to devote much time to social interests, or has he ever sought political preferment. He attends the Presbyterian church and has traveled extensively. somewhat in the interests of pleasure as well as of business. He is entirely a self-made man and his entire career, successful as it is, has been based upon the substantial qualities of unfaltering industry and perseverance. He has always continued in one line of trade, has become a thorough master of the business and has worked his way upward along lines that neither seek nor require disguise. In fact his splendid record has gained for him the honor and respect of all who know him, and such a history is a source of inspiration to the young, showing what may be accomplished when industry and integrity are well balanced forces of character.

C. EDWARD BORN.

C. Edward Born, who for a number of years has been accounted one of the active business men of the city, although he has not yet reached the prime of life, is a native of Columbus. his natal day being February 3, 1875. From the primary schools he passed on through consecutive grades to the high school. from which he was graduated very creditably. From the beginning of his business career he had been closely connected with the great brewing


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interests of Columbus and almost from the beginning has occupied positions of great financial responsibility. Up to the time of the merger of the brewing interests of Columbus he was assistant manager of the Born Breweries, and on the consolidation of these interests under the name of Hoster-Columbus Associated Breweries Company, Mr. Born was made manager of the city sales and investment department-a responsible position that he has since filled with satisfaction to all concerned. The capacity of this plant is one million barrels annually. and the company is capitalized at six million dollars and bonded for the .same amount. The quality of its product bas insured a ready sale and the .specialties of manufacture are: Hoster's Wiener, Born's XX Pale, Schlee's Special Brew. Columbus Select and many others. The beer of this establishment is ranked with the best and purest manufactured anywhere and its increasing sales demand an enlarged output.

The success of Mr. Born in his present responsible position stamps him as the possessor of business ability seldom found in men of his age. He ha not confined his efforts, however, alone to this line. for his opinions aid judgment have been influencing factors ill the successful control of other enterprises. He is now engaged in the automobile business, being secretary and treasurer of the Curtin Williams Automobile Company, distributers of high grade motor cars, such as the Peerless, the Olds and the Cadillac. Mr. Born also is prominently identified with banking interest being the rice president of the Capital Trust Company, one of the most substantial hanks of the city. while of the Columbus Lithograph Company he is a director.

On the 15th of November, 1906, Mr. Born was married to Miss Dorothy Muriel Newcomb, of Columbus. a daughter of Otis Newcomb, formerly a well known citizen of London, Ohio but for the past four years a resident of the capital. They have one child, Katharine Margaret, born March 29, 1909. Mr. Born is a member of the Arlington, the Columbus Temple, the Hound, the Olentangy and the Ohio Clubs, while his fraternal relations are with the Elks and the Eagles. He is a very popular business man and numbers his friends throughout the wide circles of his acquaintance. He is recognized as one of the powers in the world of success and finance and with all is a most affable and companionable gentleman in social life.

GEORGE M. FINCKEL.

The tendency of the age is toward specialization. It is at once evident that singleness of purpose will lead to the highest attainment in a given line and no longer does he who assays the arduous and difficult profession of the law give his attention to general practice. but confines hi efforts rather to one department of jurisprudence until leis understanding thereof is so thorough as to render him largely an authority upon that branch. In accord with this tendency George M. Finckel has confined his attention to patent and trade-mark litigation and his work has been of a. most important character. One of the adopted sons of Ohio. he comes of a family inclined to professional life, his grandfather being the Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Finckel, a rep-


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representative of the Lutheran faith, who for many years was minister of Concordia church, Washington, D. C. The great-great-grandfather. Dr. Philip Finckel, was a physician and surgeon of Berks county, Pennsylvania, during and prior to the Revolutionary war. The original American ancestor of the family was Philip Finckel, a sturdy German Palatine, who settled about the year 1720 in the Livingston Manor, in what is now Columbia county, New York.

George M. Finckel was born in Washington, D. C., July 4, 1862, the first of thirteen children of George K. and Sophie L. (Peters) Finckel, also of the capital city. The Peters family came from Neufachatel, Switzerland. about 1838. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Finckel was for a number of year a translator in the treasury department at Washington. George K. Finckel has been a clerk in the quartermaster general's office at Washington D. C.. for more than half a. century, his service there antedating that of any other clerk in the war department it is believed. For thirteen years he was chief clerk under General Montgomery C. Meigs.

George M. Finckel was educated in the public schools and Columbian College at Washington. D. C.. receiving the degree of Bachelor of Law in 1890. In the same years he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, and in 1890 he came to Columbus, where he opened an office as a branch of that he had already established in Washington. In Columbus he has built up a lucrative practice and has been engaged as counsel in a large number of important patent and trade-mark litigation to which his practice is confined.

In 1897 Mr. Finckel was married to Miss A. M. McDaniel. of Logan. Ohio. and they have two daughters. Margaret and Georgia.

WILLIAM W. ROSS.

William W. Ross is vice president and general manager of the Scioto Valley Supply Company in which connection he controls large business interests that are constantly growing along safe lines of development and expansion. Notably prompt, energetic and reliable. he has gained a prominent position in trade circles and is today enjoying the fruits of well-directed effort. His birth occurred in Union City. Indiana, June 26, 1876, his parents being James B. and Della (McGill) Ross. both of whom are natives of Ohio. The father devoted many years of his life to the practice of law but is now living retired in Columbus with his son William. He served as prosecuting attorney for Randolph county. Indiana. was also mayor of Union City and prominent in community affairs. his efforts constituting elements in the municipal progress of the city at the usual age William W. Ross entered the public schools and passed through consecutive grades. becoming a high-school student in Union City. He made his initial step in the business world in 1891 when he entered the employ of the Knapp Supply Company in a minor position. He knew


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that promotion must depend upon the value of his services to his employers and realized that industry, diligence and faithfulness alone would gain him advancement. Accordingly along those lines he worked his way upward in positions of increasing responsibility until he became the secretary and treasurer of the company. In 1905, seeking a still broader field of labor, he became one of the organizers of the Scioto Valley Supply Company and the same year removed to Columbus where headquarters of the business were maintained. On the organization of the company he was elected the vice president and general manager and has since acted in the dual capacity. There are two other constituent companies, one at Indianapolis, known as the Central Supply Company, and the other at Union City, Indiana, known as the Knapp Supply Company. They are large jobbers of plumbers' supplies, their business being equal to any house in the same line in the United States. The Columbus department employs about fifty people and is under the direct supervision of Mr. Ross, who indicates his thorough business training in his capable control of its work.

On the 1st of January, 1901, occurred the marriage of William W. Ross to Miss Ada Anderson, of Bellefontaine, Ohio, and they have one son, James B. Mr. Ross is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Ohio Club. In the field of industry and commercial activity he has made steady advance along substantial lines that has brought him success.

JOHN GRACEY LIKES.

John Gracey Likes, vice president and secretary of the Z. L. White Dry Goods Company of Columbus, was born near Fairview, Guernsey county, Ohio, August 23, 1863. His father, James Likes, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, the year 1840 witnessing his arrival in Guernsey county, was a mechanic but later engaged in business as a contractor and builder, becoming very successful in that field of labor. He married Elizabeth Gracey, who was born in Guernsey county, although her father was a native of Ireland, and she in died 1901, the death of James Likes occurring in 1904.

John Gracey Likes was reared upon the home farm and attended the district schools of his native county to the age of sixteen years when. believing that he would find other pursuits more congenial and profitable, he secured a clerkship in a. general store at Fairview. and being naturally inclined in that direction he has devoted his entire life to mercantile interests. After a year spent in the store, however, he realized the need of commercial training and entered a business college at Zanesville, Ohio, where he remained for six months. He next went to New York city, where he was employed at office work in an importing monument house, there rising rapidly as the result of his close application, and within four years he was made chief clerk in the establishment. He remained for three years after his promotion to that position. and in 1887 went to Boston, where he entered the service of a similar concern as traveling salesman, his territory covering


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New England. For two years he continued with this house, and this period was marked by most gratifying success, enabling him to engage in business on his own account. In 1889 returning to Ohio he located near his boyhood home, on account of his mother's ill health, and started in business there as railroad and express agent at Shawnee, Ohio, continuing to act in that capacity until 1893, when he came to Columbus and entered the employ of Z. L. White as assistant bookkeeper. After a year he became head bookkeeper and remained until 1902, when he was made manager of the department, and now superintends the buying for thirteen departments. In 1904 he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Z. L. White Company, and in 1907 was elected vice president and secretary, and devoting his entire time and attention to the business he has become recognized as one of the forceful and determined merchants of the city-a man of purpose, who carefully formulates his plans and carries them forward to successful completion.

On the 10th of July, 1891, Mr. Likes was married to Miss Rose Elder of Shawnee, Ohio, and they now have two daughters, Ruth and Martha, the former a high-school pupil. Mr. Likes is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and belongs also to the Broad Street Methodist Episcopal church, serving now as one of its official board and taking an active part in its work. He is a lover of nature, being especially fond of rural scenery, in that way he obtaining rest and recreation from the arduous duties of business life. Straightforward dealing, persistent energy and indefatigable endeavor have constituted the basis upon which he has pended his success. He has made steady advancement as the years have gone by, and the place he occupies in commercial circles today is indeed a creditable one, indicating clearly the force of his character and the commendable business methods he has followed.

W. D. DEUSCHLE, M. D.

The history of the medical fraternity in Columbus would be considered incomplete and unsatisfactory were there failure to make prominent and personal reference to Dr. W. D. Deuschle, a recognized expert in mental disorders and alienation. At the present time, in addition to an extensive private practice in the line of his specialty, he is now professor of nervous diseases in Starling-Ohio Medical College. He was a most discriminating student along this line and from his wide investigation and practical experience has made logical deductions which have found expression in successful practice.

Dr. Deuschle is a native of Chillicothe, Ohio, born October 12, 1864. His father, E. G. Deuschle, also a native of this state, remained a resident of Ohio until his demise in 1904, at which time he had reached the scriptural limitation of three score and ten years. The mother of our subject, who bore the maiden name of Caroline Dilk, was born in the state of New




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York, whence she removed westward to Ohio in her girlhood days and is still living in this city.

Dr. Deuschle is a fine type of the German-American of the second generation, possessing many of the strong characteristics of the two nationalities. He was educated in the public schools of the city of Chillicothe and afterward took up the study of pharmacy, and in 1885 he was graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. He afterward studied medicine and was graduated from Dartmouth Medical College in the class of 1890. Immediately afterward he returned to his native city. where he entered upon the practice of medicine. That he chose the line of work for which nature intended him seems evidenced in the ability which he has displayed and the excellent results which have attended his labors when viewed from a professional standpoint. He has always been much interested in the treatment of mental and nervous diseases, and, while his professional reading has been most broad and comprehensive, he has principally made a study of mental disorders. He was appointed to the staff of the State Hospital at Columbus by Dr. A. B. Richardson, a distinguished specialist, where he did excellent service until 1897, when he withdrew from the hospital and entered upon practice in Columbus, where his abilities were quickly recognized. e served as health officer of this city from 1899 until 1902 and in Starling College was appointed to the position of professor of mental and nervous diseases and now fills the chair of nervous diseases with the merging of the Ohio :Medical University in its present organization as the Starling-Ohio Medical College. He is neurologist to St. Francis and Mount Cannel Hospitals and was president of the Columbus Academy of Medicine in 1907. In all his professional work he has maintained a high reputation for the excellence of his service and his strict conformity to a high standard of professional ethics. He has come to be largely recognized as an authority in the field of his specialization and is making continual advance in that department of medical science. The Doctor is a member of the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, while socially he is connected with Goodale Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On the 12th of October, 1899, Dr. Deuschle was united in marriage to Miss Jessie G. Field, of Columbus, and to them have been born two children. William and Paul.

ISAAC LEHMAN.

Though he has passed the seventy-fourth milestone on life's journey, Isaac Lehman is still numbered among the active and successful agriculturists of Madison township. His birth occurred on the 15th of February, 1834. Throughout his entire business career he has been connected with farming interests and, in association with his wife, now owns three hundred and twenty acres of rich and productive land in Madison township, having deeded one


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hundred and sixty acres to Mrs. Lehman. Owing to his careful management, unremitting industry and unfaltering integrity he has gained a commendable measure of prosperity in his undertakings and has long been recognized as one of the most enterprising and progressive citizens of the community. Though he has attained an advanced age, indolence and idleness are utterly foreign to his nature and he still gives supervision to his business interests.

In 1862 Mr. Lehman was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth D. Detwiler, who was born in 1839. Their children are as follows : John M., Mrs. Kate E. Brener, Mrs. Anna M. Moore and Samuel D. Lehman.

Politically Mr. Lehman is independent, always taking into consideration the ability and fitness of the candidate rather than his party affiliation. He is a devoted member of the Reform church and also belongs to the Grange. He has gained an extensive circle of friends during the long period of his residence here, his genuine personal worth commending him to the confidence and esteem of all with whom he has come in contact.

FLORENZ B. WEISZ.

Florenz B. Weisz, who figures prominently in the commercial circles of Columbus, as sole owner and proprietor of the Powell Run Coal Company, of which he was the incorporator, was born in this city, April 30, 1856. He entered business life when a mere lad and while he did not have the advantages of a higher education he possessed those qualities-industry, patience and perseverance which are of far more worth than the learning of the schools, and which stood him well in the battle of life and enabled him to pursue his way .successfully and finally attain to his present influential station in the business world. Mr. Weisz is a son of Florentine and Mary (Zettler) Weisz, the mother's family being among early settlers of Columbus. His father was born near Strasburg, Germany, October 25, 1822, and coming to America in 1830 settled in Stark county. Ohio. Here he plied his trade as a blacksmith and carriage-maker for seventeen years. at the expiration of which time, in 1847, he came to Columbus, where he engaged in the same business which he followed until he retired from active life, but was not able to enjoy the fruits of his labors long before death called him on June 18, 1901. He was well known throughout the city as a skilled mechanic, being one of the most neat and particular men at his trade, and for his excellent qualities of character was widely known throughout the city.

Upon attaining the required age Florenz B. Weisz was enrolled as a pupil at Holy Cross school, and after completing his studies there he secured employment with the Zettler Flour Milling Company, for which he worked two years, and then became connected with Zettler & Ryan, who were in the grocery business. With this firm he remained but a brief period. when he entered the employ of H. Mineif & Company, hardware merchants, with which firm he continued until he was seventeen years of age, and then was apprenticed to a. blacksmith, with whom he learned the trade and subse-


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quently followed that occupation for many years as a journeyman. In 1883 he left the forge, which had been the means of enabling him to amass considerable money, and established himself in the coal business, in which he remained alone until 1892, when he organized a stock firm under the name of the Powell Run Coal Company. Three years later he bought up the entire amount of stock and has since been sole owner and proprietor. His business is in a most prosperous condition and from year to year has witnessed steady growth, until at present the volume of trade is about as much as Mr. Weisz can conveniently handle.

On June 18. 1887, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Krumm, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Yearling) Krumm, representatives of an old family of Columbus. Mr. and Mrs. Weisz have become the parents of five children, three of whom survive, naively: Florence 'Marie. Bernard Henry and Louis J.



Among the fraternal organizations with which Mr. Weisz is affiliated are the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus. He is also a member of the Holy Cross Catholic church. He is a man of exceptional business ability and it ha; been by hard work and patience that be has succeeded in establishing himself in the lucrative business of which he is now proprietor, and in this position he is numbered among the prominent factors which constitute the commercial worth of the city.

THEODORE D. KALB.

Theodore D. Kalb, who is engaged in general agricultural pursuits, owns a valuable farm of one hundred and ninety-five acres situated in Madison township, within seven miles of the city of Columbus. so that while he enjoys the advantages of a rural existence he call also avail himself of the conveniences of city life. He was born October 27, 1859 and is a son of Isaac Kalb, who was born in Madison township in 1817, and is a representative of one of the prominent old families of Franklin county. Throughout his life the father followed the occupation of farming, owning and operating one hundred and twenty-six acres of land. He was married in 1843 to Miss Sarah A. Brown, who died in 1880, and his death occurred in 1811. In their family were the following children: Eliza, who died in infancy; James P., Mary Ellen. Theodore D. and Anna Belle.

Theodore D. Kalb received a common-school education. When starting out in life upon an independent business venture, he worked by the month as a farm hand for seven years and by carefully saving his earnings he was eventually justified in making a purchase of land by adding to his own savings a small amount of money which had been left from the father's estate. He now has one hundred and ninety-five acres in Madison township. The place is improved with the most modern buildings, including a nice residence, barns and outbuilding for the shelter of grain and stock. and he also has a good well at the barn. He has a windmill and has pipes leading


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to various parts of his farm, so that the water is forced to every field. He keeps everything about the place in the best condition possible, so that his property presents a most neat and attractive appearance, while through the careful cultivation of his crops he annually harvests large amounts of grain. Mr. Kalb has become a man of influence in his home locality and he is honored and respected for his strict integrity and honorable business methods.

Mr. Kalb was married in 1884, the lady of his choice being Miss Laura Alice Needles, who was born December 17, 1859. Her father, George W. Needles, was also born in Madison township, February 14, 1832, and belonged to one of the early families of this county. When a young man he taught school to some extent but throughout life gave his attention principally to farming. He married Eliza A. Gray, who died November 17, 1886, and he passed away in 1874. Their children were Mary Belle, Laura Alice and Stanton Thomas. Mary Belle died in 1889.

Mr. Kalb is a republican in his political views and affiliations and is a member of the Asbury Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has served as steward for the past eighteen years. He is a Mason. having attained the thirty-second degree, belonging to Scioto consistory at Columbus and he is also identified with the Mystic Shrine. Beginning life in the humble capacity of a farm hand, Mr. Kalb has persistently and energetically worked his way upward until today he is numbered among the well-to-do and substantial citizens of Madison township and Franklin county, commanding the respect and good will of all with whom business or social relations bring him in contact.



PROFESSOR JACOB A. SHAWAN.

Columbus has been favored in the class of men who have served as superintendent of instruction and have been the organizers and promoters of her splendid school system. Usually the incumbents in the office of school superintendent have held for long periods because of their marked ability and the interests of education have been materially advanced through their practical and progressive labors. Professor Jacob A. Shawan has for twenty years been at the head of the Columbus schools and throughout this entire period has made constant advance in the good will and regard of the citizens of Columbus, an honorable manhood and superior powers as an educator winning him the enviable position which he now occupies.

He had his nativity in one of the historic regions of northwestern Ohio, his birth having occurred at Wapakoneta in the Auglaize district. During his early boyhood his parents removed to Champaign county, Ohio, where he attended the country schools, while later he pursued his education in the high school of Urbana, Ohio, although he did not continue his course to graduation. Instead he withdrew and began teaching, successfully following the profession through the ensuing four years. Ambitious. however, to enjoy better educational opportunities than he had hitherto received, at the end of that time he entered Oberlin College. from which he was graduated in 1880


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with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Three years later his alma mater conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree and in 1893 he received from Muskingum College the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

As a school superintendent Professor Shawan has been eminently successful. Inspiring teachers and pupils with much of his own zeal and interest in the work, he has throughout his professional career sought out new methods for the improvement of the schools, prompted always by the laudable purpose of training each individual to reach the highest perfection possible for him. He acted as superintendent of schools at St. Marys, Ohio, from 1880 until 1883 and then accepted a call to Mount Vernon. where he remained until 1889, when he came to the capital city. where a great and promising field of effort presented itself. The opportunity for great service has ever called forth his best efforts and with unwearied industry he has given himself to the work of developing and improving the educational system of Columbus. Professor Shawan quickly won the respect and esteem of the teachers and pupils of this city and that sentiment. rather than on the wane, is still full-tide and shows no symptom of diminution.

Not since his accession has there been a decrease in the growth, efficiency, and progress of the system, but on the contrary an easily apprehended increase. His policies have always been broad and liberal. There were between six hundred and seven hundred high school pupils when he came to Columbus. He soon advocated the district high school system and as a result, Columbus now has five high schools erected at a moderate cost and nearly three thousand high school pupils. An interesting feature of this enrollment is that the sexes are about equally divided. Along with this policy of giving a chance for higher education to all, has been coupled the other policy of preparing each one as far as possible for his chosen field of activity, which is accomplished by means of a flexible course of study ranging from the most practical business to the most thorough preparation for college and the university.

Mr. Shawan has always been an advocate of manual training and industrial education, believing that one of the best characteristics of a good citizen is his ability to earn an honest living for himself and those that may be dependent upon him. Within the last few years, the schools have been thoroughly equipped with centers for manual training and domestic science. To these centers are sent all of the boys and girls of the seventh and eighth grades. No better facilities are offered in like grades anywhere. There is a growing interest in vocational and trade schools with strong indications of their early introduction, thus adding to their value and efficiency.

Professor Shawan during his entire career has been an active worker in all associations of his profession in city, county, state and nation. He has been president of the Central Ohio Teachers Association. He was the first president of the Central Ohio School Masters Club, one of the strongest organizations of its kind in the central west. For ten years he served as treasurer of the Ohio State Teachers Association and is now president of that body. He has served as first vice president of the department of superintendence of the National Educational Association, the most influential


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educational body in America and has served two terms as state director and one term as vice president of the National Educational Association, the largest body of the kind in the world. He is now a member of the National Council of Education, having been recently elected for a term of six years.

In December, 1881, at DeGraff, Ohio, Professor Shawan was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Koch Holmes. They and their three sons, Harold K., M. D., Robert F., M. E., and Jacob A. Jr., constitute a typical Columbus, Ohio, and American family.

LOVETT TAFT SCOFIELD.

Lovett Taft Scofield, who has made continuous advancement since starting in business life as a clerk in a country store, is now president of the Andrus-Scofield Company, dealers in teas, coffees and spices. He was born in Reynoldsburg, Franklin county, Ohio, August 10, 1858. His father, Frederick A. Scofield, was a native of the state of New York and in his boyhood days became a resident of Reynoldsburg, where in later years he followed merchandising, continuing in active connection with the trade interests of that place until 1868. He then removed to Westerville, Franklin county, where he again engaged in merchandising. He was widely and favorably known throughout the county and in Columbus, and was a successful business man whose enterprise and firm determination constituted the secret of his business progress. He was a splendid example of the self-made man of the old school, modest and retiring in disposition, yet possessing that force of character which enabled him to win success along the lines of legitimate trade. He died November 21, 1906, having for about eighteen years survived his wife, who passed away in 1888. She bore the maiden name of Martha E. Davis, and was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.

Lovett T. Scofield pursued his education in the public schools of Reynoldsburg. Kirkersville, and Licking county, Ohio. He left the high school at the age of eighteen years to become his father's assistant in the country store at Kirkersville and at Westerville. Some time later he was admitted to a partnership in his father's business, and the relations between them continued for fifteen years. In 1881 Mr. Scofield came to Columbus and purchased an interest in the tea, coffee and spice business owned by W. F. Andrus, and the firm became a partnership arrangement under the style of the Andrus, Scofield & Company. On the 1st of January 1905, the business was incorporated as the Andrus-Scofield Company, Mr. Andrus remaining the president until the list of June, 1908, when Mr. Scofield purchased his interest in the business of which he is now practically the sole proprietor. In disposing of his product he handles it through salesmen and jobbers and does an extensive business, represented by a large annual figure. He specializes in teas, coffees and spices, yet also handles other commodities and manufactures flavoring extracts, bluing. ammonia, et cetera. The trade




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has constantly grown And the business is one of considerable importance as an element in the commercial activity of Columbus. Mr. Scofield is also president of the Federal Manufacturing Company and a director of the North American Lead Company of this city.

In 1892 occurred the marriage of Mr. Scofield and Miss Minnie H. Huffman, of Carey, Ohio. He votes with the republican party and, as every true American citizen should do, keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day, but the honors and emoluments of office have had no attraction for him. He belongs to the Ohio, and Columbus Country Clubs, and in Masonry has attained the Knight Templar degree. He is also connected with the Elks lodge, and the Knights of Pythias. He is known locally as a pedestrian and in this exercise finds much of the rest and recreation so necessary ass a preparation for the onerous duties of a business career that makes close demands upon his time and energy. The secret of his success is largely due to his concentration, combined with clear insight into complex business situations.

ALBERT E. SARTAIN.

The commercial interests of Columbus find a worthy representative in Albert E. Sartain, who is now actively connected with the management and control of the Blumer & Sartain Packing Company and is also conducting an individual business under hiss own name in the production of boneless ham. He possesses determination and force of character and allows no obstacles to bar his path if they can be overcome by determined and honorable effort. Careful analyzation of his record shows that industry and persistency have been the chief concomitants in his success, making him one of the prosperous merchants of the city. Mr. Sartain is a native of Franklin county, his birth having occurred in Harrisburg. in 1869. He was one of the eight children born unto Robert and Emma (Sutton) Sartain. both natives of England. born in 1830 and 1832 respectively. They were married in their native country in 1853 and their elder children were born there ere their emigration to the new world. The members of the family are Mrs. Louisa Miller, Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson, Mrs. Salina Blumer, Mrs. Alice Coffrin. William H., Albert E. and Mrs. Anna Longhenry. All are still living with the exception of Mrs. Blunter, who died in 1892. It was in the year 1861 that Robert Sartain brought his family from England to the new world and began business in Harrisburg, Franklin county, as a harnessmaker. He met with success in his undertakings and continued there until 1886, when he removed to Columbus to enlarge the scope of his labors in a city of greater size. Here he is still engaged in the harness business although seventyeight years of age and is still numbered among the valued merchants of the city. Since becoming a naturalized American citizen he has given loyal and stalwart support to the republican party. while his religions opinions are indicated in hiss membership in the Presbyterian church.


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Reared in the place of his nativity Albert E. Sartain pursued his education in the schools of Harrisburg and entered business life as an assistant to his father at the harnessmaking trade. At the age of eighteen years, however, he became connected with the wholesale meat business and has continued in this line to the present time, being closely associated with the selling department of the Blumer & Sartain Packing Company. He has gradually increased the business from the start, owing to his unfaltering energy and diligence and has thus contributed in considerable measure to the success of the company in which he is now one of the directors. He conducts as well an individual business under the, name of A. E. Sartain, in the preparation and sale of boneless ham. He established this enterprise in 1895 and the business has gradually increased until the sales of 1907 amounted to one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. His sales are confined to the state of Ohio, where he has an extensive and growing patronage, the business having long since become a very profitable investment.

In 1895 Mr. Sartain was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Bresnahan. They are well known in the city where they have long resided and the hospitality of their home is greatly enjoyed by many friends. Mr. Sartain has always been enthusiastic in politics although he never sought nor would become a candidate for office until 1905, in which year his friends nominated hint for sheriff. He was defeated in that year but in 1908 was again made the nominee of the republican party and was elected by a plurality of thirty-seven hundred and ninety-two. For four years he has been a director of the Buckeye Republican Club and does all he can to place the republican party beyond the pale of possible diminution of power. His official service has been acceptable, characterized by unfaltering devotion to the general good and promptness in the execution of the duties of the office.

Mr. Sartain is well known in fraternal circles, being a charter member of the Lodge of Moose of Columbus, a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America, while of the Buckeye Fishing Club he is now president. He possesses a genial manner, is kindly and approachable and has appreciation for the manhood of others who through persistent effort are working their way upward through the wise use of their talents and opportunities. It has been in this manner that. Mr. Sartain has achieved his success and his record is most commendable and worthy of emulation.

JOHN HENRY HOLTERMANN.

.John Henry Holtermann way born November 15. 1858. in Brokel, Amt Rotenburg, Province Hanover. Germany. His father's, and for that matter, the name of the eldest son for generations before him, was the same. His mother was Anna Maria Luedemann. The father was a farmer, owning a tract of not too fertile land, which also contained some peat and heather. Being the eldest son, he had inherited this, together with the mortgage and


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an obligation to pay each of his six brothers and sisters a stipulated sum. As it would have taken a lifetime of hard toil and the most frugal sort of living to accomplish this, he concluded to sell and emigrate to America.

Not being able to dispose of the land and the "America-Fieber" being strong upon him, he left it in charge of his brother-in-law, a burgermeister in the village of Hemslingen, Friedrich Luedemann, who later sold it and sent the residue, seven hundred and fifty dollars, to America. The family, consisting of father, mother and four children, of which Henry, the subject of this sketch, was the eldest, came to this country in May, 1870.

When they arrived here, the father had just forty dollars left with which to begin the struggles for existence in a strange country. They rented what was known as the Round Bottom farm, a very fertile but partly swampy piece of land on the southern bank of the Maumee river, three miles above Napoleon, Henry county, Ohio.



The first year was a very hard one for these immigrants. The country not yet drained, the air fever-laden, they soon .succumbed to the prevailing disease, the ague, an intermittent fever, attended by alternating cold and hot fits. During the harvest season the father over-exerted himself at "cradling" wheat and died after a long siege of illness. During this time Henry prepared the ground for the next year's wheat crop. As the ague claimed all his attention three days out of six and had the effect of greatly weakening him besides, the task of plowing the land with a pair of old blind horses was not an easy one for this eleven-year-old lad.

A year after the death of the father, the mother married Friedrich Benien, and once more the little flock was united that had been scattered by the death of the father. For the next four years Henry worked for his step-father. helping him earn the money to buy a small farm. Then he hired out to a grocery firm in Napoleon. at the munificent salary of one hundred dollars and board for the fist year. At the end of the year he still had ninety-three dollars to his credit. for he had lived very frugally. putting in his spare time at reading Indian Stories in the New York Weekly, a paper that came to the store regularly. It was a laborious task, this reading. for Henry had only received a very meager education. There was not much time for school in those pioneer days. But the stories were interesting and his desire for learning the English language was great, so he gradually in this manner, absorbed an "education." What he once learned he never forgot. Thus, while he knows nothing about grammar and cannot. parse a single sentence, his orthography and diction in the English as well as German language, would not be a discredit to some college students.

As a financier, though, Mr. Holtermann himself does not claim to be a. remarkable success. While he possesses the knack to acquire and accumulate, he is now comparatively a poor man. Fate and his inherent trust in the honesty of his fellowmen have always connived in again and again decimating his various modest fortunes.

When eighteen, a fire destroyed the building in which he slept, and he barely escaped with his life. In a trunk in his room his entire possessions, consisting of about two hundred dollars in paper money and his ward-


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robe, were reduced to ashes. At twenty he had again accumulated a little money, invested it in a grocery and again lost it all by fire, which destroyed half the town, including the courthouse. From that time his successes in business and politics were varied, until 1901, when he once more lost his entire fortune through the manipulations of friends he had trusted, not wisely, but too much.

During the last named period he was engaged successively in the sewing machine, grocery, newspaper, furniture and undertaking and, again, in the newspaper business. Through a loan made to the publisher of the "Demokrat" at Napoleon he was eventually compelled to take the business over, to save, not only his investment, but also to keep the paper from becoming extinct. He founded, successively, Die Post, at Wapakoneta; Der Anzeiger, at Sidney: Minster Post, at Minster, Ohio; and was for five months owner of the "Demokrat," at Ottawa, Ohio, and for fourteen months of the Wood County Democrat, at Bowling Green, Ohio. At the latter he lost quite heavily but made it up again at the former named paper at Ottawa, which he bought for five hundred and fifty dollars, all it was then worth, and sold it for two thousand dollars five months later, when he had practically built it up anew.

Until 1901 he had always lived in small towns. In January of that year he came to Columbus, where he was first employed as managing editor of the old " Westbote," a daily and weekly German publication, which had gotten into financial difficulties. During his short connection with this paper he managed to revive it once more to an extent that made it self sustaining. In 1902 he resigned this position and accepted that of secretary to the director of public safety, C. C. Philbrick, which he occupied for nine months, when he again resigned to accept a position as salesman for the stock of a large cement manufacturing concern, with which he remained as long as it had stock for sale. Then he once more launched into business for himself, this time choosing the real-estate business, which he conducted quite successfully until June, 1908. Having absolute faith in the concern he had helped to finance, he not only invested all of his commissions in the stock he had been selling. but also bought and traded for it later, until his holdings amounted to eighteen thousand dollars. A few years later it went into the hands of a receiver and Holtermann lost his entire investment.

In 1900 he organized the Home Brewing Company, built a brewery in South High street, Columbus, and was its first president. This venture also was a failure, for the temperance wave which had already begun to sweep over the land became more intense and prevented the ready sale of the stock. This was followed by the panic of October, 1907, which completed not only the failure of the brewery project but also resulted in the ruin of his real-estate business.

Mr. Holtermann has filled various political offices. In Napoleon, in 1884, he was appointed to the office of county treasurer, to fill the unexpired term of another. He served one and a half years and was not a candidate for reelection. He was only twenty-five years old, when appointed. In 1887 he was elected a member of the common council and served until his removal


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from Napoleon in 1889. In Wapakoneta he served as a member of the school board.

He joined the Knights of Pythias in 1888; belongs to the United Ancient Order of Druids; the Columbus Liederkranz, a German singing society; the Humboldt Verein, a German social society; has a membership in the South Side Business and Improvement Association and of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church. He was a member of the German Editorial Association from 1886 to 1901. Politically his affiliations are with the democratic party and always have been.

On September 4, 1881, Mr. Holtermann married Anna Margaretha, daughter of Jacob J. Stockmann, a merchant in Florida, Henry county, Ohio, at Napoleon. Their married life has been a very happy one and resulted in the birth of three children: Ernestine, born October 2, 1882; Edwin H., born January 28, 1886; and Karl C. L., born April 16. 1889.

JOHN W. BRAUN.

For many years the thoughts of the American people centered upon the Union soldier as the typical representative of American patriotism but in more recent years there have come into public notice younger men who have proved equally loyal to their country in carrying its ensign on the battlefields. Among this number is John W. Braun," one of the veterans of the Spanish-American war. At present he is devoting his energies with constantly increasing success to the practice of civil engineering. making his home in Columbus, his native city, where he was born November 3. 1874. The family, as the name indicates, is of German lineage, his grandfather, Joseph Braun, having been a forester to the emperor of Germany. The father, Joseph Braun, Jr., who was born in 1847, became a contractor in heavy stone and bridge work and did nearly all the important work of this character in Columbus, including the building of the High street viaduct, the Fourth street viaduct and the Broad street bridge. As the years passed he prospered and in 1899 retired from business with a handsome competence. He came to America from Germany in 1865 and in the years of his residence here won the prosperity which he now enjoys, he and his wife being now residents of California. Mrs. Braun bore the maiden name of Catherine Bopp, and was born in Columbus, June 18, 1858, her father having been one of the leading grocers here.

At the usual age John W. Braun was sent to the public schools, where he passed through consecutive grades until he completed the work of the Fulton street school and entered the Columbus Central high school, from which in due course of time he was graduated. He also attended the Ohio State University but left that institution in 1898 and joined the Second Regiment of Volunteer Civil Engineers. The command was sent to reba, remaining for five months, but did not participate in battle, and Mr. Braun, with his regiment, being mustered out of the army returned home.


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On again coming to this city, Mr. Braun took up the study of civil engineering, which he has since followed and has gained a fair share of public patronage in this field of labor. He is prompt and faithful in the discharge of the work entrusted to him and his knowledge of the scientific principles underlying the profession makes him one of its expert representatives. He is prominent in Masonry, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and also holds membership in the Mystic Shrine.

EDGAR M. HATTON, M. D.

In no profession does advancement depend more entirely upon individual merit than in the practice of medicine and surgery. In this profession there is demanded careful preparation and continual advancement in accordance with the progress that is being constantly made by the medical fraternity at large. Meeting all the requirements of a well equipped physician and performing his duties conscientiously and well, Dr. Hatton now enjoys a large and growing practice. He was born in Zanesville, Ohio, June 7, 1851.

His father, Daniel Hatton, was a native of Baltimore county, Maryland, where the family was founded shortly before the Revolutionary war. Three brothers, John, China and Aquilla Hatton, came to the new world from England and settled in Baltimore prior to the time when the colonists threw off the yoke of British oppression. They were descendants from the Hattons who figure in the time of William the Conqueror, representatives of the name being connected with various brilliant achievements that are recorded in English history. One of them, Sir Christopher Hatton, was a member to Queen Elizabeth's ministry. Dr. Hatton is descended from that American branch of the family founded by John Hatton. His father came to Ohio in the late '30s and settled at Zanesville. He was well known as a prominent contractor and did work from Pittsburg to New Orleans. He afterward became an iron founder at Zanesville and conducted a prosperous business in that line. He also figured prominently in other fields of industry. He was a leading Mason. He was born in 1817 and passed away in 1889. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Eleanor Wright, was a native of Harford county, Maryland, and a daughter of Captain William Wright, who was a soldier of the war of 1812. Her mother was a Henderson. Mrs. Hatton still survives and has reached the age of eighty-.seven years.

Dr. Hatton secured his early education in the public schools of Zanesville and afterward became a pharmacist, being graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1874 with the degree of Ph. G. He had previously served a term as assistant postmaster in Zanesville. For several years he conducted a successful business as a druggist and was made a member of the first pharmacy examining board of the state. Determined, however, to take up the study of medicine with the idea of making its practice his life work he entered the Starling Medical College, a student under Dr.


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Starling Loving, and was graduated in 1891. He afterward devoted a year and a half to post-graduate work in New York city. He began practice in Columbus in 1892 and in his professional career has met with that success which logically follows close application, thorough preparation and unfaltering fidelity to the interests of his calling. For five years he was teacher in the Ohio Medical University, lecturing upon physiology and the diseases of children. He was also connected with the Children's Hospital and to some extent has specialized along the line of children's diseases. He was connected with the Protestant Hospital as a member of the medical staff, and is now a member of the Columbus Academy of Medicine, the Ohio State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the National Insurance Examiners Association.

In 1890 Dr. Hatton was married to Miss Jennie Cowell Hough, of Rahway, New Jersey. Her grandfather, General Joseph Hough, was one of a committee that welcomed La. Fayette on his visit to the United States. Her father was Dr. De Witt Clinton Hough, an eminent physician, who served his country throughout the Civil war as chief surgeon of the Seventh New Jersey Regiment. Mrs. Hatton is a lady of superior culture and natural refinement, who has traveled broadly and is prominent in literary work. Both the Doctor and his wife have extensive circles of friends and the hospitality of their attractive home is greatly enjoyed by those who have an appreciation for the higher interests of life.

IRVIN E. STEVENSON.

Irvin E. Stevenson, who is successfully engaged in the operation of his farm of one hundred and eighty-seven acres in Madison township, was born on the 17th of March, 1839. The grandfather. William Stevenson, whose birth occurred October 6, 1763, was married on the 15th of February, 1784, to Miss Mary Boone, who was born March 23, 1763, and who was a sister of Daniel Boone, the famous hunter and trapper. In 1810 William Stevenson received the title and settled on a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, of which one hundred and eighty seven acres in Madison township has since been in possession of the family, having been successively the property of the grandfather, father and son-Irving E., of this review. Joshua Stevenson, the father of our subject, who was one of a family of seven children, was born on the 2d of April, 1803. In 1826 he wedded Miss Mary Glanvell, whose birth occurred December 10, 1811.

Irvin E. Stevenson, who was the youngest of five children born to his parents, lost his father when but nine years of age and thus he was early compelled to provide for his own living. He inherited one hundred acres of his father's estate and has since purchased the remaining eight-seven acres, so that he now owns the entire place. In its cultivation and improvement he has wan a gratifying and creditable degree of success and has long been numbered among the diligent, enterprising and progressive farmers of his native county.


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On the 14th of November, 1872, Mr. Stevenson was united in marriage to Miss Hulda R. Whitehead, who was born in 1839. In his political views Mr. Stevenson is independent, while in religious faith he is a Methodist. He is well and favorably known throughout the community and is a worthy representative of a family that has been prominently connected with the agricultural interests of Franklin county for almost a century.

PROFESSOR EMILUS OVIATT RANDALL.

While Professor Emilus Oviatt Randall takes his place with the eminent men of Ohio because of the work he has accomplished in literary and professional lines, there is in him the quality of genial companionship and of genuine interest in his fellowmen that makes him a general favorite in social circles, in the societies with which he is connected, and among his associates in the field of business. A native of Ohio, he was born in Richfield, Summit county, in 1850. His parents were David Austin and Harriet Newton (Oviatt) Randall. Descended from New England ancestry long associated with the early history of the country, the records bring forth the fact that three of his great-grandfathers were soldiers of the Revolutionary war. This enabled him to become a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, and among the many honors that have been conferred upon him was his election to the presidency of the Ohio State Society.

In the public schools of Columbus, to which city his parents removed in his boyhood days, Professor Randall pursued his early education and afterward prepared for a collegiate course at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1869-70. He then entered Cornell, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1874, and for two years pursued post-graduate work in history in Cornell and in Europe. Determining upon the practice of law as a life work, he won his diploma in the law college of the Ohio State University and the degree of Bachelor of Law was then conferred upon him, while in 1892 he received the degree of Master of Law from the same institution.

Professor Randall was admitted to the bar on examination before the Ohio supreme court, and since that time has made steady progress in those lines of life demanding close application and strong mentality. Since 1894 he has been professor and lecturer of the Ohio State University and since 1895 has been official reporter of the Ohio supreme court and has edited and published twenty-two volumes of supreme court decisions. His work as a lawyer. educator and author places him among the eminent men of the state, for his labors in these fields have covered a wide range, bringing him into close and active connection with progressive lines of thought and action. Official and professional duties have claimed much of his time and yet he has found opportunity to cooperate in works for municipal advancement, and in 1887 officially served as president of the Columbus Board of Trade.


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The following year he was made a member of the board of education and so continued until 1891, while since 1885 he has been a trustee of the Columbus Public Library. He is interested in everything that pertains to intellectual development, and through his association with many societies for mental progress he has contributed in large measure to the accomplishment of their purposes. He belongs to the American Historical Association and is a trustee of the Ohio State Archaeological & Historical Society, while since 1893 he has been its secretary, is now editor of its quarterly and has compiled fifteen volumes of the association's publications. As stated, he is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and in 1901 was elected to the presidency of the Ohio Society, while in June, 1904, he was a delegate at large from Ohio to the national congress of the Sons of the American Revolution. In 1897 he was associate editor of "Bench and Bar of Ohio," and he is the author of "History of the Zoar Society" and many other works. He is a valued member of the Society of American Authors, of the American Library Association and of the Ohio State Library Association. In more specifically legal lines he holds membership with the American Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Association. Professor Randall's position in any vital question is never an equivocal one, and with recognition of the obligations as well as the privileges of citizenship, he has become a stalwart champion of republican principles, although not a politician in the sense of office seeking, and was a delegate from the twelfth Ohio district to the republican national convention in June, 1904.

Professor Randall was married in 1874 to Miss Mary A. Coy. A beautiful and pleasant home, a charming family and a host of friends are attractive features in the life of Professor Randall, and one of his conspicuous traits is his gift of post-prandial oratory combined with humor that sparkles through the mask of seriousness as he presides as toast-master at social functions or as master of ceremonies and other public occasions. His life has been an intensely busy one, with a, great thirst for knowledge and a seemingly unlimited capacity for hard work. He has carried his researches far and wide in the realms of learning while his activity has enabled him to accomplish substantial results, benefiting every connection in which he has been found and contributing to general progress as well.

WILLIAM R. POMERENE.

William R. Pomerene is one of the leading attorneys of Columbus and active, moreover, in business circles. He was born March 19, 1864, in Coshocton, Ohio, where he still maintains his residence, although closely associated with professional and commercial interests in the capital city. His father, Judge Julius C. Pomerene, was a distinguished lawyer, born in Holmes county, Ohio, June 27, 1835. The family is of French lineage and was founded in America by Julius Pomerene, a native of France, who came to America with General La Fayette and served during the Revolutionary


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war, aiding the colonies in their struggle for independence. He determined to remain as a, resident of the newly established republic and died near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1798. His son, Julius Pomerene, the grandfather of William R. Pomerene, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, February 9, 1792. In early life he removed to Holmes county, Ohio, following the occupation of farming as a life work, and died October 11, 1863. His son, Julius C. Pomerene, reared in Holmes county, removed to Coshocton county in 1859. Preparing for the bar he attained prominence in his profession. At the time of his death, which occurred December 23, 1897, he was serving as circuit judge of his district, having been elected to that office without opposition in 1892. He married Irene Perky, then of Hancock county, Ohio, a daughter of Dr. John F. and Judith Ann (Firestone) Perky, the former one of the best known physicians of Wayne county, where he died in 1872.

William R. Pomerene attended the Coshocton schools, was graduated from the high school with the class of 18-i9, and afterward spent a year and a half as a student in the University of Wooster. He next entered the Ohio State University, where he remained for three years, pursuing a literary course. In preparation for the practice of law he entered the law school of the Cincinnati College and was graduated with the class of 1886. He then entered his father's office, becoming junior partner in the firm of J. C. & W. R. Pomerene, of Coshocton, Ohio, which connection was continued until 1892, when his father was elected to the circuit bench. William R. Pomerene was then alone in practice until 1895, when he was joined by his brother Frank E., forming the partnership of Pomerene & Pomerene, at Coshocton. There the firm have enjoyed a large practice, their clientage connecting them with much important litigation tried in the state and federal courts. In 1892 William R. Pomerene was elected prosecuting attorney of Coshocton county and filled the position for six years or until 1898, having been reelected without opposition in 1895, at which time he was the only democrat elected on the county ticket. Such was his ability and popularity that the republican party placed no candidate in the field. In 1903 he opened an office in Columbus as general counsel for the Columbus, London & Springfield Electric Railway Company and its allied lines. This office has since been the legal department of several interurban electric railways in western Ohio. Mr. Pomerene is counsel for the Ohio Electric Railway Company and has an extensive law practice, being thoroughly familiar with corporation law, of which he has made a specialty. On January 1, 1909, he became a member of the law firm of Booth, Keating, Peters & Pomerene, in Columbus, Ohio.

On the 27th of December, 1887, Mr. Pomerene was married to Miss Annie L.. daughter of General A. J. and Susan E. (Butts) Warner, of Marietta, Ohio. Her father is a prominent political leader and statesman, who has served for several terms as a member of congress and is equally well known by reason of his important business connections. He is an extensive railway promoter and coal mine owner and operator. His daughter, Mrs. Pomerene, was educated at the Ohio State University. Mr. and Mrs. Pom-


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erene have two children, Warner M., born May 5, 1893; and Walter H., born January 21, 1895.

Mr. Pomerene is a member of the Odd Fellows society and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; while in more strictly social lines he is connected with the Columbus Club and the Dayton City Club. He is also a member of the State Bar Association and is recognized as one of the strong and able lawyers of Ohio who is prosperous and popular. He has a wide acquaintance throughout the state and is honored no less for his genuine personal worth than his professional skill and business ability. He is a man of strong intellect who readily recognizes the value of any situation in his relations to law, business or to the individual, and his broad, general culture and wide research have made him a man with whom association has come to mean expansion and elevation.

JOSEPH FRANZ BERTSCH.

Joseph Franz Bertsch, attorney and counselor at law, with offices at No. 1391/2 South High street, Columbus, Ohio, occupies a prominent position in the legal profession and deserves a full measure of credit for his advancement to his present prosperous professional worth owing to the fact that about fourteen years ago he came here ignorant of the English language, in which he has since become conversant and through his natural ability has imbibed the learning of several excellent institutions of learning of the country and gradually risen on the strength of his own merits to the enviable reputation he now enjoys as a member of the legal fraternity.

He was born in the town of Wallenstadt, county of Sargans, state of St. Gall, Switzerland, June 12, 1871, son of Alois Henry and Marie Magdalena (Lendi) Bertsch, his father still living in that place in his sixty-seventh year, while his mother entered into rest April 24, 1904, when sixty-one years of age. In their family were four children, namely : Alois, Albert, Marie and Joseph Franz, only the first and last named having located in the new world.

Joseph Franz Bertsch acquired his preliminary education in the common schools of his native land, completing a course of study in the high school of his birthplace. He subsequently became a student at two colleges in Switzerland, also attending the University of Fribourg as a student of law and philosophy. At the Royal University of Munich, Germany, he pursued the study of law and taught German, French, Latin and Greek at Landshut, a small town located about eighteen miles northeast of Munich, and from the last named place he returned to Switzerland, where he continued his legal studies at the University of Zurich. In that city he was also employed as a teacher of Latin and Greek in Dr. Bertsch's International Institution of Learning.-Concordia,-and while a student in the University in Zurich he became an assistant to Dr. Albert Meili, in his law office, Dr. Meili being professor of international law at the university. While in hiss


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native land Mr. Bertsch served in the Swiss army as a non-commissioned officer.

On March 6, 1895, he left his home and came to the new world, locating in Columbus, being at that time entirely ignorant of the English language which, needless to say, was in many ways a drawback to his progress, but he soon overcame the difficulty and during the years of 1895 and 1896 attended the Ohio State University, entering the senior year of the law school of that institution September 24, 1895, and completing the three years' law course in one year, at the same time becoming intelligently conversant with the English language. On June 11, 1896, he was admitted to the Ohio state bar and was graduated from the Ohio State University Law School on June 17 of the same year. On May 27, 1898, he became a member of the bar of the District of Columbia and on February 13, 1903, he was admitted to the practice of law in the United States circuit and United States district courts of southern Ohio. During the past twelve years he has attained an excellent reputation for his legal learning and ability and has acquired a liberal patronage.

On July 11, 1895, Mr. Bertsch wedded Miss Dora. Etta Albert, who was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University of Delaware, Ohio. She is a native of Brookville, Montgomery county, this state, and a daughter of Henry F. and Mary (Wright) Albert, both of whom reside in Delaware, Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Bertsch has been born one daughter, Dora Marie, who is in her tenth year. Mr. Bertsch's career has been attended with remarkable success and, being still a young man, the keen legal ability which he has thus far manifested, reinforced by his wide learning and studious habits, undoubtedly reserves for him a still more enviable place in the legal fraternity of this city.

ERNEST SCOTT, M.D.

Dr. Ernest Scott is one of the younger representatives of the medical fraternity in Columbus, but has already gained recognition as a practitioner and educator. He was born in Athens, Ohio, July 30, 1875, a son of William Henry and Sarah (Felton) Scott, also natives of this state. The father was born in Chauncey and gained distinction in educational circles, becoming a professor of the Ohio State University and president of that institution.

Reared in an atmosphere of intellectual culture, Dr. Scott pursued his early education in the public schools and afterward attended the Ohio State University until he completed the course by graduation in the class of 1897. He is numbered among the alumni of 1900 of the Ohio Medical University, which he attended in preparation for the practice of medicine and surgery, and following his graduation therefrom he served for a year and a half on the staff of the State Hospital. He afterward traveled and studied in Europe for a year, becoming familar with the method.;: of medical and surgical practice in European centers, after which he/ returned to Columbus and opened an


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office. In 1902 he became instructor in histology in the Ohio Medical University and in 1903 became connected with the health department of the city as bacteriologist. He is now professor in the Starling-Ohio Medical University on the subject of pathology and pathologist to the Protestant Hospital and to St. Francis Hospital. He has made steady progress in his profession. his ability being recognized by the general public and the members of the medical fraternity. He keeps in touch with the most modern methods of practice and is in hearty sympathy with that movement which is common among the abler representatives of the profession to prevent the spread of disease by the dissemination of knowledge concerning the preservation of health. He belongs to the Columbus Academy of Medicine, to the Ohio State Medical Society and to the American Medical Association.

SAMUEL PRESCOTT BUSH.

Samuel Prescott Bush, president and general manager of the Buckeye Steel Castings Company, was born at Brick Church, New Jersey, October 4, 1863, his parents being Rev. James S. and Harriet E. (Fay) Bush. The father was a minister of the Episcopal church and died at Ithaca, New York. The mother is now a resident of Boston.

Samuel Prescott Bush attended the public schools until fourteen years of age and in 1878 entered the Stevens high school, from which he was graduated in 1880. Subsequently he became a student in Stevens Institute, and after his graduation in 1884 secured employment with the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad as an apprentice in the Logansport shops, while afterward he entered the Columbus shops, his apprenticeship continuing for four years. In 1888 he was made assistant engineer of motive power, retaining that position until 1890, when he was appointed master mechanic of the shops at Dennison, Ohio. In 1891 he was made master mechanic of the shops in Columbus, Ohio. and in 1894 was appointed superintendent of motive power of the southwest system of the Pennsylvania lines in Columbus, Ohio, continuing in that position until the end of the year 1899. At that time he accepted the position of superintendent of motive power of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, with headquarters at Milwaukee, there remaining until June, 1901.

Mr. Bush then resigned to accept the office of vice president and general manager of the Buckeye Malleable Iron & Coupler Company, the name being subsequently changed to the Buckeye Steel Castings Company. In February, 1908, he was made president and general manager of the institution, in which official capacity he has since promoted its success. The concern manufactures the Buckeye and Major car couplers, as well as all kinds of steel castings, and has a capacity of two hundred tons per day. It is one of the largest ,enterprises in the city of Columbus and has offices at New York, Chicago and Atlanta. The officers of the company are as follows: S. P. Bush, president and general manager: R. S. Warner, vice president; F. Rockefeller, second vice


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president; and Arno Eberlein, secretary and treasurer. Mr. Bush is also a director of the Hocking Valley Railway and the Sunny Creek Company and a trustee of Mercy Hospital. He is a member of the National Manufacturers Association, the Duquesne Club of Pittsburg and the Engineers Club of New York city, besides the Ohio Club. Columbus Club and the Arlington Country Club.



In June. 1894. Mr. Bush was married in Columbus to Miss Flora Sheldon, a daughter of Robert E. Sheldon of this city, and they have four children: Prescott Sheldon. Mary Eleanor. Margaret Livingston and James Smith.

Mr. Bush possesses untiring energy, is quick of perception, forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution, and his close application to business and his excellent management have brought to him the high degree of prosperity which is today his. His life has been characterized by a resolute purpose, and early in his career he became imbued with a laudable ambition to master each task that was assigned him and progressed until he is today at the head of one of the most extensive manufacturing concerns of Columbus.

JAMES C. McGREW.

James C. McGrew, who was formerly extensively interested in real-estate has been an important factor in beautifying Columbus, the city of his residence, in which he takes a just pride. Mr. McGrew comes of Scotch-Irish descent and is a descendant of the old Stewart family, who removed from England to Scotland. whence the family was founded in York county, Pennsylvania. about 1726 or 1727. He was born in Smithfield, Jefferson county, Ohio. June 20. 1821. a son of Finley B. and Aleta (Carr) McGrew, the former a native of Pennsylvania. He came to Ohio when a young mail of twenty-one years, and engaged in the mercantile business in Smithfield, thus continuing until 1846. when he retired to private life. His death occurred when he had reached the age of seventy-five years, while the mother, who was born in Baltimore. Maryland. died at the comparatively early age of thirty-two years. Their family numbered six children and James C. of this review is the only survivor.

James C. McGrew was reared in Smithfield and acquired his, education in the public schools of that city. At the age of seventeen years his father purchased a mill and put him in charge of the same. He later made a trip to New Orleans on a flatboat which was built by the father and which carried to the latter city eight hundred barrels of flour. After eight years the father disposed of his mill and invested the money in a farm in Jefferson county and the son then assumed its management. He was a lover of fine stock and devoted much of his time to the raring of good grades of cattle and sheep. He also speculated in land to some extent and this proved the nucleus of his later real-estate operations. In 1869 Mr. McGrew removed to Franklin county and in partnership with a Mr. Hoffman purchased sixty-six acres of


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land, which has since been platted and subdivided and is now known as the Hoffman & McGrew addition to the city of Columbus. In 1872 Mr. McGrew was one of a party of men who bought Camp Chase and helped to improve it. In 1876 he disposed of his faun land in Jefferson county and gave his entire time and attention to platting and selling lots in his addition to the city. At that time the city was unimproved east of Parson avenue except the southeast side of Broad street and the north side of Main street. Franklin Park at that time had not been laid out and the ground near Mr. McGrew's present home was a swamp. Mr. McGrew has done much toward the improvement of these unsightly vacancies and although much of his work has been done at a financial loss to himself, he now looks back with a sense of satisfaction to the fact that he has had a part in this splendid week. Four many years his eyes gave him much trouble and although for the past few year he has been totally blind he still looks after his own property interests and buys and sells to some extent. He possesses a cheerful disposition and although he is now eighty-seven years of age he displays excellent judgment and keen foresight in managing his business affairs.



Mr. McGrew was married May 7, 1844. the lady of his choice being Miss Jennie C. Kimball, who was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, in November, 1822. She is now deceased, her death occurring in 1901. Her paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and way standing near General Warren at the battle of Bunker Hill when the latter was killed by a shell. a piece of which ,shot on a part of Mr. Kimball's thumb and also broke the lock of his gun. Following this experience Mr. Kimball spent the winter at Valley Forge, living on roots and such herbs as he could find. He removed to Ohio with ox teams and at that time his .son, who afterward became the father of Mrs. McGrew, was a little lad of nine years and walked almost the entire distance from New Hampshire to Jefferson county. their destination, the year 1802 witnessing their arrival in this place. There the son grew up and made several trips in a flatboat down the Ohio river. He reached New Orleans with a load of flour during the war of 1812. Selling his product, he was induced to invest his money in a small boat and to engage in the struggle against the English. He was captured and taken to New Orleans, from which city be walked to Wheeling. West Virginia. At another time be brought up some lumber, which he floated down the river to Natehez, Mississippi, but when he had covered about half the distance he was taken sick with yellow fever and after recovering disposed of his lumber and purchased an Indian pony, which he rode home. He made several trips afterward and one time returned home by the way of Cincinnati and passed through Madison county, where he could have purchased any amount of land at two dollars per acre. He was a good farmer and owned one of the finest farm properties along the Ohio river. He was a Universalist in religious faith and numbered among the prominent pioneers of Jefferson county.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. McGrew was blessed with six children, namely: Annie L., who has a private school in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania: Josephine, who is deceased: William. at home: Mary. the wife of Henry Hogg, of Wellington. Ohio: Elizabeth. the wife of John Benson, of -New


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York : and Edith. who is engaged in teaching in the Garfield school of Columbus.

Mr. McGrew has always given stalwart support to the republican party and is a member of the Hickite branch of the Society of Friends, now called Unitarians. He is well known as a pioneer of Columbus and Franklin county and as a most industrious and useful man, whose probity is an unquestioned element in his career. His energy has often been at the service of his community and he has the love and respect of all with whom he is associated. He is charitable in his estimation of others and is beloved by all with whom business or social relations have brought him in contact.

CLAUDE MEEKER.

The history of Claude Meeker seems to be that of an orderly progression under the steady hand of one who is a consistent master of himself and whose organism is harmonious and always evenly balanced. His judgment and eyed laced energy have carried him forward to the goal of success and he is today controlling au extensive business as a stock broker and investment banker. In former years he was closely associated with journalism, his labors in that line constituting a forceful element in formulating the policy and moldings the destiny of this state. A native of Columbus, he was born in 1861 and come of an ancestry honorable and distinguished, extended mention of his father. the Hon. George W. Meeker, being made on another page of this volume. In early life he studied engineering. but withdrew from that field of activity to enter journalistic circles, where he soon rose to prominence. He was fiat employed as a reporter on one of the Columbus papers and later occupied a similar position in connection with the Cincinnati Enquirer, with which he was associated for fifteen years. There his ability gained him rapid-promotion and as political editor, reporter and special correspondent he developed unusual ability and talent. His popularity as a reporter was evidenced by the people of Cincinnati who at a celebrated church fair. voted to him a magnificent gold cane as the most popular reporter of the city. In addition to his duties in connection with the Cincinnati Enquirer he became special correspondent of the New York World. His most important work, perhaps, was done in the capacity of political editor, his writings constituting a force in promoting public opinion which found expression at the ballot box. His arguments were strong, his exposition clear and his reasoning logical, and studying each question he discussed from every possible standpoint. his views were the result of mature judgment and a clear comprehension of the situation in its various relations. His writings not only made powerful appeal to the general populace but also to the thoughtful, studious reader, for he presented his arguments in the clear and convincing light of reason and common sense.

It naturally followed that Mr. Meeker won recognition as a leader in political circles and did effective campaign work, becoming widely known as a persuasive orator on the democratic platform. He delivered many able addresses


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when James E. Campbell was candidate for governor in 1889 and his labors were undoubtedly one of the forces that obtained success for his party in that campaign. Governor Campbell attributed his election in large measure to Mr. Meeker's reports for the Cincinnati Enquirer and, upon entering office, appointed Mr. Meeker his private secretary, in which capacity he served from 1890 until 1892. The following year he received appointment from President Cleveland to the position of United States consul at Bradford, England, and most creditably represented his country at that point until 1897. Returning in the latter year to America he joined his brother in organizing the firm of Meeker Brothers, investment brokers, and has since figured prominently in financial circles of the city. Their annual volume of business is today equaled by that of no similar house in the capital, their success finding basis in their indefatigable energy, careful systematization of their work and their thorough understanding of the market and financial condition of the country.

In 1890 was celebrated the marriage of Claude Meeker and Miss Elizabeth Parks, a daughter of Dr. J. M. Parks, of Hamilton, Ohio, who was a distinguished physician of the Miami valley and esteemed equally high as a man and citizen. He died in Hamilton in 1890 at the venerable age of eighty years. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Meeker, Marjorie, Campbell and Marion, were all born in England, during his service as consul at Bradford. The parents attend the Episcopal church and Mr. Meeker holds membership with the Knights of Pythias, the Masons and the Elks. He is a man of attractive social qualities, always courteous and kind, and has just appreciation for the social amenities of life. That he views the world from the broad standpoint of liberal culture, wide study, and extensive research into those problems which are to the man of affairs of deep import both to the country and the position which he fills today in the regard of his fellow citizens. especially in Columbus, where he is best known, is the merited tribute to his personal worth.

G. J. DE VILBISS.

G. J. De Vilbiss, superintendent of motive power for the Hocking Valley Railway, has made that steady progress in his business career which results from energy intelligently applied and from the mastery of every task entrusted to him. He has done with thoroughness and promptness every duty that has devolved upon him and step by step has worked his way upward to a. position of responsibility. He was born July 29, 1875, in St. Joe, Indiana. His father, Alexander DeVilbiss, was also a native of that place and there wedded Margaret Dilley. The removal of the family to Butler, Indiana, enabled G. J. DeVilbiss to pursue his education in the schools of that city, where he passed through successive grades until he became a high school student, and was graduated with the class of 1892. He afterward attended the Fort Wayne School of Mechanics, specializing in mechanical engineering, and at sixteen years of age he began his apprenticeship with the Wabash Railroad, but in the


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meantime studied engineering. He remained with the Wabash until 1899 and was promoted to the position of foreman and general foreman. Leaving that place he accepted the position of general foreman at Battle Creek, Michigan, for the Grand Trunk Railroad, remaining there until 1903, when he entered the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad as master mechanic at Newark, Ohio. In February, 1907, he removed from Newark to Columbus, becoming the superintendent of motive power for the Hocking Valley Railroad Company. His interest in his work and his persistency of purpose have been strong elements in his success. He has been a close student of everything bearing upon railroad interests and has made an excellent record for a man of his years, being recognized as one of the progressive young men in the railroad service.

On the 17th of October, 1908, Mr. De Vilbiss was married to Miss Anna S. Gimbey, a daughter of Edward S. and Nellie Gimbey, of Columbus, the father being for many years a locomotive engineer. Mr. and Mrs. De Vilbiss now have an interesting little son, Thomas Edward, two years of age, and they make their home at 1277 Bryden road. Mr. De Vilbiss gives his political allegiance to the republican party, but his time and attention have always been fully occupied with business affairs so that he has had no opportunity, even if he desired, to seek public office. He belongs to the English Lutheran church, is a member of the Board of Trade and also belongs to the Ohio Club. He is a young man of enterprise and determination, working his way steadily upward by his business ability, while in every relation of life he commands the respect and confidence of his fellowmen.

HAROLD EDWIN DUSENBERRY.

Harold Edwin Dusenberry, a prominent representative of real estate and brokerage interests in Columbus, was born February 10, 1877, in Guyandotte, West Virginia. His father, Robert F. Dusenberry, was a native of New York city and carried on business as a commission merchant. He represents an old family of Peekskill, New York. At the time of the Civil war he espoused the Union cause and did active service at the front. He wedded Mary A. Wentz, a native of Virginia and a daughter of Michael Wentz, who was a farmer.

Harold E. Dusenberry, reared under the parental roof, acquired his education in the public schools and in Marshall College at Huntington, West Virginia. and at Chicago. When his education was completed he crossed the threshold into business life, becoming connected with large jobbing interests and the brokerage business. He gained valuable experience concerning business methods, and later located in Columbus for the conduct of a real-estate and brokerage business, in which he is still engaged.

On the 3d of December, 1907, Mr. Dusenberry was united in marriage to Miss Anna Elizabeth Koontz, of Columbus, a daughter of J. E. Koontz, who at the present time is a representative of real-estate interests in this city. The Koontz family is of Swiss lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Dusenberry are well known


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in the capital city, where they have won many friends and occupy an enviable position in social circles. He is a young man of marked business enterprise and firm determination that enables him to carry forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes. In his business he is enjoying a constantly growing clientage and his interests are now important and extensive.

FRANCIS BOARDMAN FOSTER.

Francis Boardman Foster, deceased, was well known in republican circles in Ohio, for throughout the period of his manhood he was an active. earnest and effective worker in the ranks of the party. The later years of his life were passed in Columbus, to which city he removed from Norwalk, Ohio. on the 19th of October, 1895, to become connected with the commissary department of the Columbus Stone Company. He was born in Norwalk, April 18, 1839 and was indebted to the public school system of that place for the educational privileges he enjoyed. Early in his business career he became connected with the grain business. His father, John H. Foster. had built the first grain elevator at Norwalk and was prominently connected with the trade at that point. He was a native of the state of New York and in early manhood had married Miss Nancy M. Boardman, whose birth occurred in Seneca county. New York. At the time of the Civil war John H. Foster responded to the country's call for troops and served as a major of the Third Ohio Cavalry, while one of his sons was an adjutant in the army. The father was also a. pronounced republican and one of the most ardent and enthusiastic workers in behalf of the party. Both he and his wife were widely and favorably known in Norwalk, where they long resided. They reared their family in Norwalk. Ohio, and as stated, Francis B. Foster there became connected with the grain trade in early manhood and for twenty-four years was associated with that business there. meeting with good success in his undertakings. As stated, he came to Columbus on the 19th of October, 1895, becoming a factor in the busiuess life of this city in connection with the commissary department of the Columbus Stone Company, of which his son-in-law was manager.

It was on the 3d of October. 1801, that Francis B. Foster was married to Miss Flotilla Ann Bees, a. native of Concord. Pennsylvania, and unto them was born a son and daughter: John Buckingham, sporting editor of the New York Evening Telegram of New York city: and Mary Louise, wife of William 0. Taylor, vice president and general manager of the Cascaras Stone Company of Columbus.

Mr. Foster was a member of the Plymouth Congregational church, to which his widow also belongs. When age conferred upon him the right of franchise he became a stanch advocate of republican principles. It was a time of deep political interest and excitement and. keeping thoroughly informed on the questions of the day. he joined the new party which was formed to prevent the further extension of slavery, and which became the defense of the Union in the dark days of the Civil war that followed. He remained an active


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supporter of its principles throughout his entire life, and his opinions carried considerable weight in its councils, although he was not a politician in the sense of office seeking, caring nothing for political preferment as a reward for party fealty. He died February 5, 1905, respected and honored by all who knew him, for in every relation of life he had given proof of his personal worth. He had many friends, both in Norwalk and Columbus, and they shared with his family in their deep grief at his passing.

DENNISON DREW BYERS.

Dennison Drew Byers, secretary and general manager of the Ohio Audit Company, was born in Columbus, September 2, 1871. His father, Dr Albert Gallatin Byers, died November 10, 1890. His mother, in her maidenhood Mary Ruthbun, is a native of Chesshire, Ohio, and is still living. She became the wife of Dr. Byers December 7, 1852. Reared under the parental roof D. D. Byers pursued his education in the public schools and in the Central high school, from which he was graduated in 1889. His father died soon afterward and the subject of this review entered upon his business career in the office of Colonel Church, car accountant for the Pittsburg, Cincinnati. Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. He occupied a clerical position there until 1890, when the office was moved from Columbus to Pittsburg and owing to his father's serious illness Mr. Byers left the position. Later he secured a clerical position in the auditor's office of the Columbus, Shawnee & Hocking Railroad. afterward the Columbus, Sandusky & Hocking Valley Railroad. This constituted an important step in his life, for from that position he was rapidly promoted, finally becoming bookkeeper and later traveling auditor, while subsequently he was promoted to the position of auditor and acted in that capacity until failing health caused by overwork prompted him to resign in the latter part of the year 1898.

On the 1st of January, 1899, Mr. Byers entered the employ of the Hallwood Cash Register Company in Columbus in the accounting department and during the last four years of his connection with that company had charge of the treasury and accounting departments. In May, 1905. however, he resigned to engage in business as an expert accountant and so continued until January, 1907, meeting with success in the undertaking. At the earnest solicitation of Willis G. Boland and Isaac D. Pugh he accepted the position of deputy treasurer of Franklin county on the 1st of February, 1907, and so continued until the 1st of September following when the term of his superior officer expired. He then returned to his former business as expert accountant, but after one month was solicited to join forces with the Ohio Audit Company and in January. 1908, was made secretary and general manager of the company. This is one of the best and largest concerns of the kind in the city, having a most efficient corps of accountants. The experience which Mr. Byers gained during the connection with the Columbus, Sandusky & Hocking Valley Railroad was probably the most important of his career, as during that time he did audit


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work for two receiverships. He also had valuable experience with the Hallwood Cash Register Company which was then engaged in a legal contention with the National Cash Register Company of Dayton. The business of the Ohio Audit Company has shown a very perceptible growth since Mr. Byers became connected therewith for he had became well known as all expert accountant in Columbus and business men had every reason to feel that service of this kind obtained from the company would be of the highest class. They deal with industrial and municipal corporations. installing business system examine banks for stockholders and audit the books of different companies. They had charge of the examination of the books of the Columbus Railway & Light Company for the city in the spring of 1908 and have done much other important work in this connection.

On the 21st of November 1900, Mr. Byers was married to Miss Blanch Miller, of this city, a daughter of Frank H. Miller. who for years has been identified with the pig iron industry. Mr. and Mrs. Byers have one son. Drew Miller. born November 30, 1902. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Byers possesses marked musical talent and for nineteen years has been widely known as a singer in various churches of the city. while for a long period he was connected with the Orpheus Club. a men's musical club, and he is also a member of the Ohio Club and the Board of Trade. He possesses, moreover. much mechanical ingenuity and maintains a shop in his basement for his own recreation. The three lines to which he has given his attention-auditing, mechanical and musical-have all witnessed his skill and success. He gives hearty encouragement to everything connected with the art of nnisie and at the same time is loyal in matters of citizenship. supporting many measures for the general good. A man of unswerving integrity and honor, one who has a perfect appreciation of the higher ethics of life. he has gained and retained the confidence and respect of his fellowmen and is ju-tly accounted one of the leading residents of the capital city with whose interests he has always been identified.

GEORGE W. MEEKER.

On the roll of Ohio's honored dead appears the name of George W. Meeker. writer and journalist, well known also as one who molded public thought and action in political fields. Endowed by nature with keen intellectual force he studied closely all the grave problems which confronted tht. individual in his business, social, political, economic and moral relations and in his discussion of public questions seemed to arrive at the very essence of the subject. His labors in connection with any undertaking were resultant factors promoting progress and reaching definite conclusions. He knew that honor and fame were but relative terms and he never sought his own advancement at the sacrifice of the public good, but was actuated in all that he did with the lofty and patriotic desire for the. welfare of his city and state and an enumera-


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tion. therefore, of the men who have conferred honor and dignity upon Columbus would he incomplete without extended mention of George W. Meeker.

His birth occurred on High street opposite the site of the present courthouse in 1834 and he represents one of the old families of Ohio, while from the earliest epoch in the history of the colonization of America the family has been known on this side of the water. The first of the name in America arrived in 1638 with a large company from the city of London, tumor the leadership of Theophilus Eaton and the Rev. John Davenport, disembarking at New Haven, Connecticut. Later new settlements were formed and the heelers joined the colonist: who went to Wyoming county, Pennsylvania. where occurred the birth of Joshua Meeker, father of George W. Meeker. In the meantime settlements had been made on Manhattan Island and in New Jersey by members of the family and on the roster of Revolutionary soldiers in the latter place appear the names of many of the Meeker family. Joshua Meeker was among those who aided in the pioneer development of Franklin county. Ohio. assisted in laying broad and deep the foundations upon which has keen built the structure of her present prosperity and progress. In speaking of his ancestry at a family reunion. George W. Meeker said: "A free governrmment and a new country are great levelers of class and distinctions, and no family is accorded precedence in a new settlement except that conceded by reason of superior intelligence, virtue and honor. Therefore the Meeker and Van Brimmer families have held the even tenor of their way since their advent in the new world. hearing the burdens, braving the dangers of flood and field and accepting the sorrows and disappointments incident to life in counmon with their fellows. They were cheered with the belief that if they did not rise very high they would not have very far to fall. and that there was inherently no difference among people except that which is due to external influences. They believed in the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man-a religion as old as the immortal hills and as fresh as the dawn."



In the maternal line George W. Meeker was descended from one of time Knickerbocker families prominent in the founding of New Amsterdam. His mother was Hannah Van Brimmer, a daughter of Thomas Van Brimmer, who wedded Mary Le Van, whose ancestors were residents of the French province of Lorraine. Christian Van Brimmer was one of the officers on the Half Moon. a vessel sent out bay the East India Company to explore the new world. In 1623 the Dutch made extensive settlements on Manhattan Island and there the Van Brimmer home was established. while representatives of the family in later generations became residents of Delaware and Marion counties. Ohio. Thomas Van Brimmner. an uncle of Mrs. Meeker. established the first distillery and mill in this part of the state.

Following the marriage of Joshua Meeker and Hannah Van Brinnner they began their domestic life upon a new farm which he developed in the midst of the green woods he died during the early boyhood of his son George however but the mother reached the advanced age of eighty years. passing away about 1881 Their sons have been active in public life in many ways and their record is an honor to the name. Albert P. Meeker, one of the sons. who lived in Delaware county. Ohio. was prominent in the local ranks of the


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democracy and called to various positions of honor and trust. He was a man, of versatility and a popular gentleman, whose ability and personal worth gained him many friends, his death occurring in 1905. Another brother, Thomas V. Meeker, joined the Union army in response to President Lincoln's call for troops in 1861, becoming a member of an Illinois regiment. He participated in many hotly contested engagements and his unfaltering fidelity as well as military skill won him an officer's commission, but he did not have the opportunity of serving under it for he was captured and sent to a southern prison, where his death occurred. He had hoped to reach home and had sent the message to his brother, "Meet me in New York," but death came and his remains were interred in Jacksonville, Florida.

George W. Meeker, whose name introduces this review, added new laurels to the family record. The employment of his opportunities and the use which be made of his talents led him from humble surroundings to a position of prominence and influence. He supplemented his public-school training by study in Otterbein University, at Westerville, where he was graduated, and later became a student in Bryant & Stratton Business College, at Buffalo New York. His early professional service was that of a school teacher and he also acted as bookkeeper for a time. Well qualified for leadership he rendered faithful service in community affairs while filling the office of justice of the peace, his decisions being strictly fair and impartial. From early manhood he figured prominently in democratic circles and for a period divided his time between political work and his labors as a member of the bar. Having studied law he was admitted to practice in the state and federal courts and displayed marked ability in handling intricate and involved litigated interests. His fellow townsmen, however, demanded his services in positions of political preferment and in 1869 he was elected mayor of Columbus, serving from 1870 until 1872. His administration was businesslike and progressive and during that period he instituted various needed reforms and improvements.

On his retirement from office of chief executive of the capital city Mr. Meeker was appointed land commissioner of the Midland Pacific Railroad and removed to Nebraska City, Nebraska, where he became the leading spirit in numerous public enterprises. He was the promoter of the first gas works there, was also a part director, owned an interest in a daily paper and was proprietor of a general store. He likewise made extensive investments in realty. In 1876, however, he returned to Columbus and throughout his remaining days was prominently known in connection with the political and journalistic interests of this city. A contemporary biographer has said of him: "He was an ardent lover of literature, an omnivorous and thoughtful reader quid a forceful writer of most attractive style. His exhaustive and able papers published upon the constitutional relations of the Mormon religion and the power of the government to subvert them . attracted attention among the learned and scholarly men, and particularly among the eminent lawyers of the country, and extracts were copiously published in the leading magazines and newspapers. For many years he was extensively engaged in newspaper work as proprietor and editor and later in legislative correspondence for leading journals. His history of the advent of the Dutch and Huguenots in


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Africa. the commingling of the two"people who are known in history as the Boers and their protracted struggle for independence, is said to be more comprehensive. accurate and thorough than anything yet published on the subject. His labors upon that immense work, The Portrait Gallery and Cyclopedia of the Distinguished Men of Ohio, is said by critics to be a splendid monument to his memory."

In his discussion of political problems Mr. Meeker always displayed a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the subject and his opinions always carried weight in the councils of his party. He was connected for most of the time daring a period of thirty years with the county and state committees of his party and for more than two decades served as an officer and was intimately associated with the democratic state executive committee which defines the policy and directs the campaigns of that party. He had the rare ability to coordinate forces and bring various interests into a uniform whole and this made him the valued associate and co-laborer of many of the most distinguished democratic leaders of the state and country. He was serving as secretary of the democratic state central committee at the time of his death.

Happy in his home life Mr. Meeker was married to hiss Harriet Hatch. of Westerville, Ohio, and to them were born two sons, Garry Waldo and Claude Loraine. Mr. Meeker was always devoted to the welfare of his family, finding his greatest happiness in promoting their interests. He held friendship inviolable and such was his known integrity of purpose that many of his warmest friends were those who differed from him politically. He stood a.s a strong man-strong in his honor and his good name, in his intellectual prowess and in his accomplishment of what he undertook. He possessed preeminently the qualities of leadership and thus he became a factor in shaping the policy acid molding the destiny of his state.

ROBERT G. DUN.

Robert G. Dun was a resident of Summerford township. Madison county, Ohio and was well known throughout the state and the country as a breeder of Durham cattle. He was a native of Kentucky and in his boyhood accompanied his mother to Chillicothe, Ohio, after the death of his father, Walter Dun, of Lexington. Kentucky. In his father's family were five children John: Mary, wife of Allen G. Thurman ; James ; Walter: and Robert G.

The last. named was educated in the public schools of Chillicothe and at Oxford, after which he started in business life on his own account, settling on a tract of three thousand acres of wild land, which his father had located in Summerford township. Madison county. He devoted his entire life to agricultural pursuits and to the breeding and raising of thoroughbred Durham cattle, and was recognized as one of the leading American breeders.

In 1852 Mr. Dun was married to Miss Annie L. Franklin. who was born in Virginia and came with her parents, William and Mary Ann (Scott) Franklin. to Ohio. Her mother was a native of Virginia. Six children were




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born to Mr. and Mrs. Dun: Mary S., wife of Edward Denmead : Lucy. wife of Stephen J. Patterson : Walter: Harriet : Nancy ; and Katherine. The son. who became a practicing physician of Cincinnati, Ohio, died in the year 1877. Mr. Dun died at Asheville. North Carolina, September 13, 1891, aged sixty-five years. He was a man of strong and estimable character and highly respected by those who knew him.

JONATHAN FALLIS LINTON.

Jonathan Fallis Linton. one of the honored residents of Columbus remains an active factor in its business life at the age of seventy-seven years, being now closely connected with its real-estate operations. The years have chronicled for hint much successful accomplishment and influential labor. His efforts have been felt as a molding force in the political history of the localities in which he has lived. and at all times he has stood for a progressive, citizenship, holding to high ideals concerning the country's welfare and advancement.

During the period of pioneer development in Ohio the Linton family was founded in this state, although at that time Ohio was still under territorial government. It was in 1802 that Nathan Linton. the grandfather, came to the then far west as the authorized agent to survey, subdivide and sell the lands granted by the government to General Horatio Gates in consideration of the services which he rendered during the Revolutionary war. These lands were all located in Clinton county. Ohio. For the performance of his official duties Nathan Linton settled in that locality and became a prominent factor in its subsequent development and upbuilding. He took an active and helpful part in fashioning the civilization of that region and for a half century held the office of county surveyor. Upon the farm which he owned and occupied, about three miles west of Wilmington, in Clinton county, the birth of Samuel Smith Linton occurred in the year 1806. The ancestors of the family so far as known. were all members of the Friends or Quakers church, and were among the early colonists who. following the leadership of William Penn. settled along the banks of the Delaware.

Samuel S. Linton was reared amid the wild scenes and environments of pioneer life, and after arriving at years of maturity was married to Miss Mary Fallis, who was born in the year 1808 on her father's farm in the neighborhood of the Linton family. The Fallis family, also of Quaker stock. had settled in that locality in 1804 and built the first flouring mill in the county. For some time Samuel S. Linton owned and cultivated a farm at Green Plains, Clark county, Ohio, but in 1833 sold that property and removed to Miami county. Indiana, where he secured a tract of land of three hundred and sixty acres lying on the left bank of the Eel river, five miles from Peru and directly opposite the chief village of the Pottawattamie Indians, where now stands the town of Denver. It was a new and unsettled district in which the inhabitants suffered largely from malarial fever, that disease causing the death of Mr. Lin-


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ton in 1836. The family, numbering the mother and three sons, Jonathan F., Nathan and Samuel, returned to Ohio the same year.



The birth of Jonathan F. Linton had occurred December 16, 1831, on his father's farm, six miles southeast of Springfield, Ohio, in the locality known as Green Plains. He was in his fifth year at the time of the return to Ohio, and in the district schools and acadames of Warren county he largely acquired his education, with the addition of a short course at Woodard College in Cincinnati, pursued with a view to becoming a civil engineer. He afterward served a short apprenticeship at the printer's trade in the office of the Springfield Republic under John M. Gallagher and in the office of the Wilmington Republican under David Fisher, then a member of congress. He spent the year 1849 in work at his trade in Lafayette, Indiana, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The year 1850 he devoted to making some improvements on the three hundred and sixty acres of land which his father had secured on the Eel river in Indiana, and in surveying. In March, 1851, he traveled on horseback from his home in Warren county, Ohio, to Peru, Illinois, all of five hundred miles by the route he took, to accept a position on an engineering corps which was being organized there to make the preliminary surveys and estimates for one division of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad. Five months were consumed in the completion of this work and later, in company with a relative, John F. Grable, Mr. Linton returned to Ohio, where they attended the fairs and bought a small herd of shorthorn cattle and twenty-five Electoral Saxony bucks, which they shipped by rail to Cleveland, by lake to Detroit, by rail to Grand Haven on Lake Michigan and thence across the lake to Chicago and by canal to Peru, Illinois. In this venture as live-stock dealers they were reasonably successful. The following winter Mr. Linton engaged in teaching school and in the spring of 1852, as there was still some uncertainty concerning the building of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, he put in the season by improving one hundred and sixty acres of prairie that he had purchased near the present site of the town of Mendota.

On the 1st of January, 1853, Mr. Linton became connected with journalistic interests through his purchase of the Peru Weekly Democrat, which he published as a Whig organ. He soon afterward began the issue of a daily edition, a six-column folio, one of the first dailies established in the state north of Springfield and outside of Chicago. Two bound volumes, still in existence, present much the appearance of the papers of today, being printed in brevier and nonpareil, with a good showing of advertising, set up solid in about the manner that classified advertising now appears. The paper was printed on a cylinder press. There were five presses in the establishment and connected with it was a fairly well equipped bookbindery, including a ruling machine. Many of the counties in that section of the state were then without a paper or printing office, and he did a good business in furnishing them with their legal blanks and in doing their general jobwork.

Mr. Linton became an influential factor in molding the political history of that period. He advocated the coalition of the whig and freesoil parties and was one of the three secretaries of the state convention held at Ottawa, Illinois, in August, 1854, that brought about this alliance and gave rise to the


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republican party. In 1904 he was the only survivor of all those whose nantes were mentioned in the reports of the proceedings. He was a delegate to the first congressional nominating convention held in his district, which consisted of thirteen counties and which convened at Bloomington, September 12, 1854. It was during the evening following the close of this convention that he first met Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln did not appear in either the Ottawa state convention held a month previous or in the district convention, but be addressed a large audience in the evening after the adjournment of the convention and discussed the question of slavery in the territories a paramount issue at that time. Mr. Linton afterward met Mr. Lincoln on several occasions between that time and his last meeting with him, which was in May, 1864.



In the meantime, in March, 1855, Mr. Linton sold his newspaper and bindery for seventy-four hundred dollars and invested in ten hundred and forty acres of land in the northeast corner of Lee county, seventy miles west of Chicago, and the first year thereafter placed three hundred and twenty acres under cultivation. Wheat sold at the country elevator in 1855 and 1856 at from a dollar to a dollar and a half per bushel, but in the fall of 1857 dropped as low as forty cents. In that year Mr. Linton raised seven thousand bushels. paid two dollars and a half a day for help in the harvest fields and sold his crop at from forty to fifty cents per bushel. The financial panic, which caused a widespread business depression that year, made it impossible for him to continue his farming operations. He then returned to Peru, purchased a small newspaper plant and conducted the paper until the spring of 1859, when, having reached an understanding with his creditors, he returned to the farm. In the year 1858 he attended the Lincoln and Douglas debates at Ottawa and Freeport and had the good fortune to be one of a dozen guests who were invited by Mayor Glover of Ottawa to meet Mr. Lincoln tit dinner, while Mr. Cushman, the richest man of the town, entertained Mr. Douglas.

Mr. Linton had been married in the meantime, having on the 22d of September, 1855, at Peru, Illinois, wedded Miss Eliza Jane Sapp, a daughter of Noah Sapp, a pioneer citizen there, who removed from Mount Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, to Illinois in 1830 and erected one of the first mills in La Salle county. Mr. and Mrs. Linton became parents of four sons and four daughters, all of whom are still living except their eldest child, Mary, who died at the age of three years. Robert Linton and Mrs. Elizabeth Elston live in St. Paul, Minnesota; while Alfred. Edward, Paul, Mrs. Harriet Mettal and Mrs. Rachel Godown are all of Columbus. Mr. and Mrs. Linton are both still in the enjoyment of robust health.

In July, 1861, Mr. Linton entered the military service of the government, becoming first lieutenant of Company D, Thirty-ninth Illinois Infantry the Yates Phalanx. Not long afterward be was made the quartermaster of the regiment and subsequently served in that capacity on the staffs of Generals Howells, Osborn and Vogdes. He saw service with Lander on the upper Potomac, with Shield: and Banks in the Shenandoah valley and with Terry and others along the sea. islands from Hiltonhead to Charleston, South Carolina. In May, 1864. Mr. Linton resigned and returned to his home in Lee county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming for the succeeding three years. His


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next business venture connected him with milling interests at Gardner, Illinois, and Toledo, Ohio, between the years 1867 and 1872.

In March of the latter year Mr. Linton purchased the plant of the Ohio Statesman from Nevins, Medary & Company and devoted two years to the publication of the paper, after which he sold out to J. H. Putnam. A year later, however, he again became proprietor and published the Statesman through the succeeding two years, when he sold it to a syndicate of prominent politicians, the name being then changed to the Press and finally to the Press Post. Mr. Linton's further connection with journalistic interests came through his establishing and publishing the Legal Record in 1878, but at the end of the second year he sold it.

In the spring of 1873 he purchased what was known as the Henderson farm of ninety acres, which he still owns, it being located on High street about one hundred rods south of the city limits. It remained his place of residence until the fall of 1898, since which time he has lived at No. 54 West Second avenue. In 1888 he platted and sold the suburban town of Milo and has since engaged extensively in laying out and selling subdivisions in different parts of the city, thus disposing of over one thousand lots. He still remains an active factor in the world's work, although he has passed the seventy-seventh milestone on life's journey.



Mr. Linton has been influential in fashioning public thought and molding public opinion and in promoting the political as well as business progress of the localities in which he has lived. He has ever been recognized as a man firm in support of his honest convictions, his position never being an equivocal one. On the contrary, he has fearlessly announced his views when occasion has demanded, supporting the abolition movement when it was an unpopular thing to do. He cast his first vote in 1852 for the Whig candidates when General Winfield Scott was the presidential nominee. He voted with the whig and republican parties until 1870, and has since usually given his political support to the democracy, but has never at any time felt bound by party ties.

THE PONTIFICAL COLLEGE JOSEPHINUM.

The visitor to the city of Columbus will find on Main and Seventeenth streets the Josephinum, an establishment unique among ecclesiastical institution.. In the following we shall give a brief sketch of this remarkable institution, its purposes and history.

The founder, Joseph Jessing, a native of Munster, Germany, after a brilliant career in the Prussian army, came to America and exchanged the soldier's uniform for the humble robes of an ecclesiastic. From childhood he devoted his leisure hours to study. As a soldier he found time and opportunity to visit the military academy, but his immediate preparation for the priesthood was made in our own country and state at Mount St. Mary's Seminary, Cincinnati. At this institution he completed his theological studies and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood. His first charge was the Sacred Heart parish of


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Pomeroy, Ohio. Here he founded the Ohio Waisenfreund, a weekly paper for the support of orphan boys.

The success with which he met soon enabled him to open the St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum. Two years later, in 1877, the entire establishment, newspaper and orphanage, was transferred to its present site in Columbus. Here the boys received not only a good Catholic education but also a thorough training in various technical branches, to-wit:. wood-carving, printing, tailoring, shoemaking, farming, etc. The orphanage accordingly was the first fruit of the Ohio Waisenfreund, that peerless champion of what is right and just, noble and true. Though the orphanage cannot rank in importance with later creations of Father Jessing, it has done much good in the thirty-three years of its existence and will continue to do so as long as the Josephinum exists.

In 1888 Father Jesting, finding that the orphanage did not entirely exhaust his resources, conceived the idea of aiding a few. young amen wishing to enter the sacred ministry but who lacked the means to pursue the necessary studies. Over fifty responded to the invitation inserted in the Ohio Waisenfreund. Of the fifty he chose about twenty. This was the beginning of the college, Father Jessing being the sole professor, his private apartments serving as classrooms. Being successful the first year he repeated the experiment. and year after year added new classes until the college was completely equipped for its purpose. The seminary was opened in the fall of 1894.

The college course extends over six years and comprises religion, ancient and modern languages, mathematics, natural sciences, history and shorthand. At the end of this course the students are required to be able to speak Latin sufficiently to express themselves freely and elegantly, the aim of the college course being to develop the mind and equip the student with the necessary knowledge to take up the higher studies in the seminary.



The seminary offers two courses: philosophy with physics, chemistry, church history, Hebrew and sacred eloquence, extending over two years; and theology in its various branches, a course extending over four years. In teaching both courses the Latin language is used almost exclusively. After twelve years of study and probation the young man is ordained to the Holy Priesthood and sent into the missions where his services are most needed.

In order to carry out this unified course of study and to perpetuate as far as possible the spirit infused into the young institution by its founder, the teaching body is chosen from among the graduate students, many of whom have studied under Father Jessing's care. They are sent to the best American and European universities in order to specialize in the various branches which they are to teach.

From what has been said thus far the reader has gathered that the college and seminary were founded for the education of young men for the priesthood. It was the great need for priests, able to speak the German tongue, that prompted Father Jessing to found the college and seminary departments. Besides the proceeds of the Ohio Waisenfreund he was aided very materially in his undertakings by the donations of Catholics, especially, and almost exclusively by those of German descent. The Josephinum accordingly stands as a monument to the liberality and generosity of German Catholics in these


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United States. German Catholics aided him in its foundation and supplied the means to make it permanently a charitable institution of learning, 'where no fees whatever are required of the students, books and even board being supplied gratis. In order that the students may all become thoroughly conversant with German, irrespective of their nationality, they are required to speak German among themselves from the sixteenth to the end of each month.

To insure the aim for which the institution was founded, namely to provide German speaking priests for German Catholics of the United States, Father Jessing asked the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda to accept it under its immediate jurisdiction. On December 12, 1892, the Sacred Congregation accepted the proposal and gave the Josephinum a constitution. From this time on it was known as "The Pontifical College Josephinum of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of Faith." Under this title it was incorporated 1894, under the laws of the state of Ohio, as a legal body with power to confer degrees and academical honors.

The income from the Ohio Waisenfreund and donations proved inadequate to defray the expenses of the growing college. Relying explicitly on the generosity of the German Catholics of the United States, Father Jessing proposed the plan of founding scholarships, the interest of which should pay for the education of the students. He was not disappointed in his hopes. So generously did they respond that the institution is today on the way of being placed on a firm financial basis.

The founding of an institution of this character in face of so many seemingly insurmountable obstacles was a heroic task, nobly carried out. In order to show his appreciation for Father Jessing's singular zeal, courage and wisdom the late Holy Father Leo XIII conferred upon him the dignity of Domestic Prelate. Monsignor Jessing lived but a few years to enjoy the well-merited honor. Though of an iron constitution he had undermined his health by his incessant labor and extreme self-denial. After lingering for a few months he died November 2, 1899. He is still so well remembered in Columbus that people even today speak of the Josephinum as "Father Jessing's place."



The dying prelate, Monsignor Jessing, upon the instigation of the reverend professors, appointed the Rev. Joseph Soentgerath temporary rector, asking the Sacred Congregation to ratify his appointment and to make it permanent. The Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda acceding to his wishes and those of the reverend professors, ratified the temporary appointment and by decree of January 8. 1900, appointed him definitely successor to the late founder.

The learned and able Rev. Joseph Soentgerath had for years occupied very successfully the chair of dogmatic theology at the Josephinum. The reverend professors and students as well as his wide circle of friends rejoiced at the appointment. He made good the hopes so confidently placed in him. During his rectorate no fewer than seventy young men were ordained and sent into the missions, the late founder having lived to see only the first fruits of his labors, a class of six, elevated to the priesthood.

All these years he has distinguished himself so well as rector and as professor of dogmatic theology that the Holy Father Pius X by brief of May 11, 1900. acknowledging his learning and wisdom and his noble work for the wet-


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fare of the Josephinum, made him Domestic Prelate. Thus Rt. Rev. Monsignor Soentgerath enjoys the same title and honor in the church with the late. founder.

GEORGE C. SCHAEFFER, M. D.

Dr. George C. Schaeffer, devoting his time and energies assiduously to his professional duties, is now specializing in the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. His careful preparation for this branch of the profession well qualifies him for the work which he is doing and his ability in this connection is widely recognized. Dr. Schaeffer was born in Germantown, Ohio, March 19, 1870, a son of W. H. Schaeffer, also a native and still a resident of Germantown, where he is well known as an enterprising business man. He wedded Catherine Nagley, also a native of Germantown.

While spending his boyhood days under the parental roof Dr. Schaeffer pursued his early education in the public schools until he had completed the high-school course by graduation with the class of 1888. His literary training was received in the Ohio State University, which he entered in September, 1888, there pursuing a three years' philosophical course, at the end of which time he left college and entered business with his father. During his college days he was president of the sophomore class and was a member of both the baseball and football teams, taking much interest in athletics, in which he excelled. He was also a member of the Phi Delta. Theta, a college fraternity. In 1893 Dr. Schaeffer took up the study of medicine and was graduated from the Miami Medical College in 1896 with valedictorian honors. He had the benefit of practical and varied experience during a service of a year and a half as house surgeon in the Cincinnati Hospital and later spent a year and a half in a private eye and ear hospital in Indianapolis. Subsequently he pursued a post-graduate course in the Polyclinic of New York, and while perfecting himself for the general practice of medicine he also became interested in and gave considerable attention to the study of the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. In the spring of 1899, he removed to Bloomington, Indiana, where he opened an office, there enjoying a good practice until the fall of 1907, when he sought the broader fields offered in city practice and came to Columbus. Here he has already won a good patronage, being now one of the successful and popular physicians of the city. In January, 1909, be entered into partnership relations with Dr. Andrew Timberman for the treatment of the eye, ear, nose, throat, and in this department of professional service is now specializing with good results. Always an interested student of his profession, he has carried his investigations and research far and wide in the realms of scientific knowledge, keeping Constantly abreast with the onward march of the medical fraternity. In his work he holds to the ideals of the profession of prevention rather than cure through the dissemination of knowledge that will produce healthy conditions through sanitation and understanding of the causes of disease. In this connection he is acting as secretary of the milk commission of the Academy of Medicine of Columbus. He also belongs to the East Side General Practitioners Society and the


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State Medical Society and of the latter is secretary of the pediatric section. He is also a member of the American Medical Association.

In 1898 Dr. Schaeffer was married to Miss Laura M. Moore, of Laporte, Indiana, and they have won many friends in this city. The doctor is an able physician with a growing practice and at all times he keeps in touch with the advanced work of the profession, while his ability to correctly apply his knowledge to the individual needs of his patients is manifest in the excellent results which have attended him. He is careful in the diagnosis of a case and seldom if ever at fault in determining the outcome of disease. Now concentrating his energies upon a special department, he has already won wide recognition for his skill in this direction, which is carrying him into important professional relations.

THOMAS A. MORTON.

The business interests of Columbus find a worthy representative in Thomas A. Morton, prominently connected with its industrial life. What he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of the innate talents which are his, combined with the ready recognition of opportunities that others have passed by heedlessly. He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, March 31, 1872. His father, William Henry Morton, was a native of Fairview, Ohio, where his birth occurred in February, 1842. His grandfather, Morris Morton, was a native of Guernsey county, Ohio, and one of the early farmers in that locality whose son, William H. Morton, reared to the occupation of farming, turned his attention to other pursuits, becoming an editor of the American Book Company. He died in February, 1902, being survived by his wife, who was born in August, 1843.

Thomas A. Morton passed through consecutive grades in the public schools in his native state, becoming a high school student in Cincinnati, while in 1890 he entered the Ohio State University, pursuing a course in mechanical engineering. When his education was completed, he was with the American Book Company for several years and then becoming interested in the plumbing and steam fitting trade as manager of one of the most prominent trade papers in this line, located in that connection in New York for five years, and in 1903 came to Columbus since which time he has been associated with the Sun Manufacturing Company. At the time of the reorganization and incorporation of this company he was elected secretary and treasurer and ascended to the active management of the business. This company manufactures show cases, coffee mills. money drawers and wooden ware specialties, the enterprise being the largest in this line in Ohio, furnishing employment to one hundred and fifty people. The company has an extensive plant, well equipped with the most modern machinery and the output is shipped to all parts of this country while a large export business is also enjoyed. They manufacture high grade goods which are sold extensively to the jobbing trade. The growth of the business has demanded a constantly increasing output which has been doubled in the past five years.


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The other officers of the company are: Fred W. Hubbard, president; J. S. M. Goodloe, vice president; W. R. Carothers, sales manager; and N. A. Curtis, superintendent. The relations between the company and its employes are always equitable and the representatives of the house know that faithful and efficient services mean promotion as opportunity offers.

On the 14th of August, 1893, Mr. Morton was married to Miss Nellie W. Bradley, a daughter of Edward W. and Belle (Howe) Bradley, the father a stove manufacturer, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Mrs. Morton is a lady of superior musical talents and a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Morton have been born a son and daughter: John B. and Dorothy, aged respectively fifteen and fourteen years. The family residence at No. 1537 Hawthorne avenue is the center of a cultured .society circle. Mr. Morton gives his political allegiance to the republican party and is a member of the Board of Trade. His interest in community affairs is manifested by active cooperation in many measures for public good. Those who know him esteem him because of an honorable business record, characterized by steady progress resulting from close application, keen discrimination and unfaltering perseverance. Honored and respected by all no man occupies a more enviable position in industrial circles, at all times his business career being in strict conformity to the highest standard of commercial ethics.

WILLIAM E. SIMS.

William E. Sims, who is successfully engaged in market gardening, is the owner of a tract of seventy acres of rich land in Madison township. His father, William Montgomery Sims, born in 1837, began earning his own living at the early age of thirteen, working as a farm hand for four dollars per month. He was employed as a farm hand until he had attained the age of eighteen, and then, in association with his brother Thomas, he rented a tract of land, operating the place for five or six years. On the expiration of that period he purchased a small farm in Madison township, and as his financial resources increased he added to his holdings until the property embraced seventy acres. This is the farm now owned and occupied by his son, William E., of this review. In his political views William M. Sims was a stanch democrat, and took an active interest in public affairs, while his fifteen years of service as trustee of Madison township stands in incontrovertible proof of his capability and fidelity in the discharge of the duties entrusted to his care. Fraternally he was connected with the Masons, while his religious faith was indicated by his membership in the Baptist church. His demise, which occurred on the 20th of August. 1905, was the occasion of deep and widespread regret throughout the community. In the year 1861 he had wedded Miss Mary Rager, whose birth occurred in 1843. Their family numbered nine children, four of whom still survive, namely: Mrs. Hattie Weaver; William E., the subject of this sketch : Mrs. Ella Fosnaugh ; and Curtis.


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William E. Sims was given excellent educational advantages in his youth and is a graduate of the Ohio Normal University at Ada, Ohio, being admitted to the bar in 1894. He then devoted his attention to the profession of teaching for eleven years, meeting with well merited success in his labors as an educator. Subsequently, owing to the ill health of his father in his declining years, he returned to the home farm and has since been engaged in gardening, producing a large quantity of fruit and vegetables for the Columbus market.



In 1896 Mr. Sims was united in marriage to Miss Nora Boyd, by whom he has two children: William Ernest and Mary. Politically Mr. Sims is a democrat, while in religious faith he is a Baptist. He is likewise identified with the Patrons of Husbandry and the Knights of Pythias, and the principles that have actuated his life have been such as to win for him the highest esteem and good will of his fellow townsmen.

HON. JAMES EDWIN CAMPBELL.

Honored and respected in every class of society, Hon. James Edwin Campbell has for some time been a leader in thought and action in the public life of the state and his name is inscribed high on the roll of fame, his honorable and brilliant career adding luster to the history of Ohio. With unfailing courtesy and unquestioned integrity he stands as one of the strongest representatives of the Ohio bar, while his name is inseparably intertwined with the records of democracy in Ohio. As congressman and governor he did important public service not only for the party but for the state, and though there were many who opposed him politically, in the regard of his fellow citizens, he stands as a man among men, known and honored by all, without one esoteric chapter in his political record, while his ability in the law gives him front rank with the ablest representatives of the legal fraternity of the state.

A native of Middletown, Butler county, Ohio, Mr. Campbell was born July 7, 1843, his parents being Andrew and Patience (Reynolds) Campbell. The father was a prominent physician and noted surgeon and the mother a woman of unusual brilliancy and superior education, the family to which she belonged having been established in America prior to 1636, in which year the family removed from Massachusetts to Wethersfield, Connecticut. Mrs. Campbell was also a lineal descendant of the Parker family, coming of the same ancestral stock as Captain John Parker who commanded the American forces at Lexington. The paternal great-grandfather of Governor Campbell served for six years in the Revolutionary war and both the paternal and maternal grandfathers were American soldiers in the second war with England. The military record of the family, therefore, constitutes and important chapter in its history.

In the public schools of Middletown, Ohio, James Edwin Campbell began his education which he continued to the age of sixteen years, when the necessity of providing for his own support and of others more or less dependent upon


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him, forced the pupil, then a youth of sixteen, to become a teacher. He found the profession agreeable and continued it for some years, and, intending to enter upon the practice of law, he took up the study of Blackstone, Kent and other authors, to which he devoted one-half of his time until the exigencies of Civil war demanded his services at the scene of military action. He entered the United States service in the Mississippi squadron of the navy as master's mate and thus served until discharged for serious disability. Partially recovering his health, however, he resumed the study of law and began practice in Hamilton in 1867. For some years Mr. Campbell's physical condition was much impaired because of his military experience, but after about ten or twelve years he completely recovered and declined longer to accept the disability pension allowed him by the government.

While advancement at the bar is proverbially slow, Mr. Campbell soon demonstrated his power to correctly analyze a case, determine the relative value of its weak and strong points and correctly judge of the strength of the opponent. Rarely, if ever, at fault in the application of a legal principle, strong in his grammar and concise in his appeal before the court, he Avon a constantly growing patronage and in 1876 was elected prosecuting attorney of Butler county, which position he filled until 1880. He has remained to the present time one of the able members of the Ohio bar although in the interim he has done important public service in official capacities.

In the period of his early manhood Mr. Campbell gave his political allegiance to the republican party but in 1872 united with the democratic party and has since been one of its most earnest and able advocates. He is both brilliant and argumentative in his public speeches on all topics and is never vituperative or intolerant in his disagreements with his opponents at the bar or on the rostrum. His clear vision regarding the political situation and his ability in discussion, combined with his admitted devotion to the best interests of the state, made him logically a candidate for office and in 1882 he was a democratic nominee for congress, being elected in a strong republican district. He received endorsement of his first term in his reelection in 1884 and again in 1886, and for six years represented his district in the halls of national legislation. In 1889 he was elected governor of Ohio over Joseph B. Foraker and served as chief executive for two years, after which he was defeated by Major William McKinley and in 1895 by Asa S. Bushnell. In 1906 he was defeated for congress but soon after the election was accorded recognition of his superior ability as a lawyer through his appointment by Governor Harris as one of the commission to revise and consolidate the general statute laws of the state of Ohio. In 1908 the democratic convention nominated him as its candidate for United States senator, instructing the democratic members to be chosen at the November election to ratify the action of the convention by their votes.

On the 4th of January, 1870, Mr. Campbell was married to Miss Maud Elizabeth Owens, a daughter of J. E. Owens, a prominent manufacturer of Hamilton, Ohio. They have four children : Elizabeth, the wife of John Myers Taylor, of Columbus: Andrew O., who married Lillie L. Hudson : Jesse Pryce and James E. Mr. Campbell belongs to the Masonic fraternity and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, as well as to the Grand Army of the Repub-


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lic. Of strong integrity and honesty of purpose, despising all unworthy or unfair means t secure success in any undertaking or for any purpose or to promote his own advancement in any way, whether politically or otherwise, he has always enjoyed in large measure the good will and trust of the general public while those who know him personally prize his friendship because of his genial companionship and his personal worth.

CHRISTOPHER BAYER DUFFY.

Christopher Bayer Duffy, purchasing agent for the Hocking Valley Railroad Company since 1893, has not reached his present position by leaps and bounds, but by that steady progress which results from constantly increasing power that comes through the exercise of one's native ability. He was born in Circleville, Ohio, September 22, 1865, and is a son of James M. and Margaret (Bayer) Duffy. The father was born in Ireland and when a boy came to America in 1858, settling at Circleville, Ohio, where he later engaged in the manufacture of carriages. At the time of the Civil war, although still quite voting, he put aside all business and personal considerations and joined Company H of the Thirtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving for three years. His death occurred in Circleville and he is still survived by his wife, who was born in New York city and is of German lineage.

Christopher B. Duffy was educated in the public schools of Circleville, completing the high-school course, after which he became connected with the dry goods business in that city in the capacity of clerk. He remained in that connection until 1885, when he came to Columbus and for one year was with Green, Joyce & Company. He then became connected with the engineering department of the Pennsylvania lines with headquarters in Columbus until 1888, when he was transferred to Pittsburg. On the 5th of November of the same year, however, he returned to Columbus to take a position in the office of the general manager of the Hocking Valley Railroad Company. His efficiency won recognition and approval in his promotion to the position of chief clerk to the president September 1, 1889, and on the 1st of July, 1890, he was made chief clerk in charge of the purchasing department. On Christmas day of 1893 there came to him promotion to the position of purchasing agent which position he still fills. It is one of responsibility, involving a comprehensive and thorough knowledge of trade conditions, so that purchases can be made advantageously and economically. To this end he closely studies the market, and that he has faithfully served the interests of the company is indicated by his continuance in this position for seventeen years.

Mr. Duffy is independent in politics, voting rather for men than for party. A popular member of the Ohio Club, he is now serving as one of its directors and on February 10. 1909, was elected president. He is a communicant of the Catholic church and is a charter member of the Columbus Orchestra., which fact indicates his love for music. He possesses considerable musical taste and talent and has served as an official of the Orchestra Club continuously since its


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organization in 1886. He is likewise fond of literary pursuit; and is a member of the Columbus Stamp Collectors Society and the American Philatelic Society, being ex-president of the Columbus branch and chairman of the publicity committee of the national organization. He is an enthusiast on the subject of athletic sports and motoring and yet he never neglects in the slightest degree the duties of his position. He is always ready in his leisure hours to participate in athletic sports or social enjoyment and in such pastimes has made many warm and enduring friendships.

JOHN JONAS CHESTER.

Among those who have carved their names high on the legal arch is numbered John Jonas Chester, practicing successfully at the Columbus bar. his attention being largely confined to corporation and commercial law. He was born in Newark, Licking county, June 18. 1860. a son of Austin Eaton Chester, a native of Groton, Connecticut, whence he removed westward to Granville, Ohio. The ancestry of the family can be traced back to Captain Samuel Chester, who went to New London. Connecticut, from Boston in 1663. He was master of the brigantine Adventure, and was captured by the French. Later he was much engaged in public surveys and had extensive landed interests lying partly in the east parish of New London, now called Groton, while other large tracts were included within his property holdings, He was also a factor in the West Indian trade. His son, John Chester, born May 29, 1692, was the next in direct line. He married Mary Starr, a daughter of Thomas Starr, who was the second son of Hannah Brewster, the youngest daughter of Jonathan Brewster. Jonathan Brewster was born August 12, 1593, in Scrooby, England, and came to Plymouth on the Fortune in 1621. He was the eldest son of Elder William Brewster. "Chief of the Pilgrims," who was one of the Mayflower passenger, landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. Simeon Chester, the second son of John Chester, was born March 20, 1773, and soon after his marriage removed to Truro, Nova Scotia, with John Starr, who left for the colonies at the outbreak of the Revolutionary war. He was pursued by enemies, but at length arrived at Groton, the ancestral home of the family. He had owned considerable property in Nova Scotia but was compelled to sacrifice this because of his loyalty to the colonial interests. However, by act of congress, April 7, 1789, and supplemental act, February 18, 1801, Simeon Chester was awarded nine hundred and sixty acres of land in three separate tracts, one located in Franklin county, Ohio, and the other two in Licking county, Ohio. His son, Elias, later removed to the tract in Franklin county, and gave the name of Truro to the township east of Columbus, in honor of his former home in Nova Scotia. The tracts in Licking county were subsequently settled by Simeon Chester, Jr., the second son of Simeon Chester, Sr., and the next in line of direct descent. He was born March 20, 1767, and married Anna Higby. They became the grandparents of John Jonas Chester.


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Austin Eaton Chester, his father, was born July 10, 1821, and in 1826 was brought by his parents from Groton, Connecticut, to Ohio, the family home being established in Granville. He spent the remainder of his days in Licking county and became a civil engineer, graduating from Granville College. Later he turned his attention to the hardware and foundry business and became well known as a substantial citizen, conducting his commercial interests up to the time of his death, which occurred January 10, 1891, when he was in the seventieth year of his age. He married Cordelia McCune, of Brattleboro, Vermont, in December, 1851. She was a sister of Jonas M. McCune, a well known resident of Columbus, and her death occurred in 1881. She was related to the Whitney family, her aunt having married the father of William C. Whitney, ex-secretary of the navy.

John Jonas Chester, educated in the public schools of Newark, afterward attended the University of Wooster for two years. He then matriculated in Lafayette College at Easton, Pennsylvania. from which he was graduated in 1882 with the degree of Bachelor of Art. Later he received the Master of Arts degree in 1885 from the same college. While pursuing his collegiate course he had the benefit of instruction in English under Professor F. A. March, LL. D., perhaps the greatest authority on the English language in the world.

Coming to Columbus Mr. Chester studied law with the firm of Congress, Booth & Keating, well known attorneys of this city, and after a thorough preliminary reading was admitted to the bar in February, 1884. He then began the practice of law alone and has never had a partner, so that his individual efforts and ability have been the source of his successful career as a member of the legal profession of the capital city. He now devotes his attention to corporation and commercial law and is attorney for various corporations. He was also the attorney in the Ohlen will case. one of the celebrated cases heard in the courts of this city. In addition to his duties in connection with the legal profession Mr. Chester has contributed to the success of various business concerns through his sound judgment and executive control. He is now the vice president and general counsel of the James Ohlen & Sons Saw Manufacturing Company, vice president and director of the Pure Milk Company, vice president and director of the Ohio Realty & Construction Company, a director of the Independent Packers Fertilizer Company, a director of the Grandview Lumber Company, a director of the Montana Standard Mining Company and of numerous other concerns.

Formerly as a young man Mr. Chester was active in polities and was secretary of the Ohio Republican League, which he helped to organize, but in recent years has retired in large measure from activity in political lines. However, his interest in public questions has never abated nor has his position on any momentous question ever been an equivocal one. He was formerly president of the Benjamin Franklin Chapter of the Sons of the Revolution, and is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association, the Ohio Club and the Columbus. Country Club. Mr. Chester has taken high rank in Masonry. holding membership with Mount Vernon Commandery, K. T.. and with Scioto Consistory. in which he attained the thirty-second degree of


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Scottish Rite. He is also a member of Aladdin Temple of the Mystic Shrine and belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On the 25th of August. 1894, Mr. Chester was married to hiss Harriet E. Lisle, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and their children are John Chester VI, born August 10, 1898 ; Jeanette Chester, born September 10, 1900; and Catherine L. Chester. born June 9. 1903. In addition to their Columbus residence Mr. Chester owns a cottage on the grounds of the Columbus Fishing Club, where he spends his summers. He is president of the Columbus Riding Club and is fond of outdoor sports. He has also been all extensive traveler in America and has a broad and liberal culture and a wide general information as well as marked business ability and professional skill.

R. J. TUSSING.

R. J. Tussing, who is engaged in market gardening at Canal Winchester, is well versed in his particular line of work and his knowledge of the care and cultivation of vegetables has brought him into close relation with many of the best known agriculturists and gardener of the state, for he has served as superintendent of agriculture at the Ohio State Fair for the past seven years, while in 1907 he was superintendent of the Ohio agricultural and horticultural exhibit at the Jamestown Exposition. He has also been treasurer of the Ohio State Horticultural Society since 1902, having recently been reelected.

Mr. Tussing was born May 19, 1856, and at the age of fifteen years engaged in market gardening in connection with his father, and this he has made his life work. He has made a close .study of his work and this has undoubtedly contributed to his excellent success. He now owns nearly three acres of ground situated inside the corporation limits of Canal Winchester, and this is devoted entirely to the raising of vegetables. He has fifteen thousand feet of ground under glass and makes a specialty of lettuce, which he furnishes to the Columbus markets through the fall and winter months. He also grows tomatoes and cucumbers for the early spring trade, and his products always command the highest prices, owing to the quality and the unusual seasons in which they are produced. Few men are more successful in this line of work than is Mr. Tussing.

Mr. Tussing was married January 1, 1880, to Miss Mary E. Kramer, who was born May 21, 1857. Their marriage has been blessed with three daughters and a son : Mrs. Mabel C. Wynkoop, Nellie L., Katie May and Earl B. The two elder daughters graduated from the high school at Canal Winchester and Mabel C. took a course in Bliss College at Columbus. . The two younger children also expect to graduate from the Canal Winchester high school.

Mr. Tussing is independent in his political views and affiliations, and in religious faith is a Baptist. He is a Mason, belonging to the Scioto Consistory at Columbus. He is also identified with the Grange, has served as steward of the State Grange for two years and also as deputy state master for Franklin


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county for twelve years. In 1883 he served as assessor of his township, and was a member of the city council of Canal Winchester from 1900 to 1905, inclusive, and has been a director of the Union Grove Cemetery for several years. He is a man highly esteemed in business, public and social circles, while in his home circle he is largely the ideal husband and father.



JOHN J. MARVIN.

John J. Marvin, one of the prominent representatives of industrial life in Columbus, being president of the Marvin Wood Working Company, was born September 30, 1847, in Licking county, Ohio, and is of Scotch descent. His father, Richard B. Marvin, was a native of the state of New York, born in 1801, and became a pioneer of Licking county, where he located about 1830. Little improvement had been made within its borders and much of the land was still uncultivated. Mr. Marvin secured a farm and gave his attention to general agricultural pursuits and was also at one time engaged in the tailoring business at New Albany. He died in 1853. He married Miss Jane Frost, a native of Albany, New York.

Reared on the old home farm, John J. Marvin pursued his early education in the public schools of Washington township and afterward went to Marysville, Ohio, where for three years he was engaged in business as a dealer in eggs. Later he resided at Greenville, Ohio, and afterward came to Columbus, where he took up carpentry and contract work in 1868. Five years were devoted to building operations, and in 1873 he went to California, residing in San Francisco for three years. Following his return to Columbus in 1876, he turned his attention to the milling business and has continued in this line to the present time. As the years have passed he has developed an important and extensive industry, which has been incorporated under the name of the Marvin Wood Working Company. Its output is extensive and the product is shipped to all parts of America, the excellence of the manufactured articles securing to the owner a large and gratifying patronage.

The only interruption to his active business career came in 1863, when Mr. Marvin espoused the cause of the Union and enlisted under Colonel Lemert as a member of the Eighty-sixth Ohio Infantry. He was present at the time of the surrender at Cumberland Cap, participated in other important engagements, and returned to Marysville in 1865. He made a creditable military record, although he was but a boy in years, his valor being equal to that of many a veteran of much greater age. He was a member of the Squirrel Hunters and assisted in the incarceration of General Morgan and his raiders and guarded them after their imprisonment.

In 1873 Mr. Marvin was married to Miss Amelia Hunter, a native of Columbus, and a granddaughter of Arthur O'Hara. an early pioneer of Franklin county who was justice of the peace and merchant of prominence. Her father, M. S. Hunter, was one of the pioneer residents of this city. He owned a warehouse and also engaged in the grain business for some years, ,


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but in the latter part of his life devoted his attention to the retail coal trade and was also prominent in state building operations. He served as justice of the peace at one time and his decisions were strictly fair and impartial. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin has been blessed with two children, Mandelbert H., born February 15, 1876; and Fay, born February 18, 1887. The son is now associated with his father in business.

In his fraternal relations Mr. Marvin is an exemplary Mason, has taken the degrees of the Scottish Rite and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the Universalist church in Columbus, and his influence is always on the side of progress and improvement. The same spirit of development and advancement has been manifest in his business career and has led him forward from a humble beginning into important industrial and financial relations. He is a fine example of a self-made man, honest and sincere.

HENRY PAUSCH.



In the political history of Columbus and Franklin county it is imperative that mention be made of Henry Pausch, for he has figured prominently in democratic circles, has filled various offices and stands as one whose public spirited devotion to the general good is above question. He is one of the native sons of the capital city, his birth having here occurred January 6, 1840. His father, Henry Pausch, was a tailor by trade and in early manhood married Miss Katherine Linther, by whom he had a family of three sons, two yet living: John and Henry.

In the public schools of his native city Henry Pausch pursued his education to the age of fourteen years and then entered upon an apprenticeship at the printer's trade under the direction of John Geary & Son, who were then editors of the Capital City Fact, at that time a popular daily newspaper of Columbus. He completed his apprenticeship at the age of eighteen years and then entered the employ of Hon. Richard Nevins at that time state printer. He continued with Mr. Nevins and his successors for thirty years as one of the most efficient, capable and trusted representatives of the house. Mr. Pausch, however, has become perhaps even more widely known in connection with his earnest advocacy and unfaltering labors in support of democratic principles. In 1889 he received the nomination of the democratic county convention for the office of county treasurer and, being elected, served so faithfully that he was again nominated and continued in the position for four years. He was a faithful custodian of the public funds and retired from the office as he had entered it with the confidence and good will of all concerned. Since that time he has served in different public and political positions. He was a member of the city sewer commission, being appointed by Mayor Swartz, one of the democratic members of the board. He has always been an ardent democrat, active in party affairs, known not only in local ranks but also as a worker for state and national democratic interests. In


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1874 he was elected to the city council from the eleventh ward and, continuing in the position by reelection, served from 1877 to 1879 as president of that body, in which position he acquitted himself with the highest honor. He was ever impartial in his rulings and just in his decisions and at the same time gave the weight of his influence for all measures and movements which he believed would be of benefit in municipal affairs. After voluntarily leaving the council he was elected to the office of police commissioner on the democratic ticket and served for four years or until 1884, during which time he was largely responsible for reforming, reorganizing and shaping into an efficient body of men the police force of Columbus. In all that he has done he has been actuated by a loyal public spirit that none have questioned. His work in public office has been of an important character and as a. private citizen his labors have been for the general good.

On the 3d of November, 1864, Mr. Pausch was married to Miss Jennie E. McPherson and they had eight children, all of whom. are living with the exception of Frank M., who died April 13, 1901. The others are : Flora Louise, Henry, Katherine B., Walter L., Anna E., Mary G. and Alice G.

In his fraternal relations Mr. Pausch is well known. He has attained the thirty-second degree in Masonry, belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is connected with the uniformed rank of the Knights of Pythias. He is also an active member of the Columbus Maennerchor and of the Olentangy Club, as well as many social organizations, and is a well known factor in musical and social circles, his cordiality, deference for the opinions of others and genial manner making him popular with a large circle of friends, while his record as a citizen and public official is one which is most commendable.

RUTHERFORD HAYES PLATT.



A man of broad, general culture. and wide professional knowledge, Rutherford Hayes Platt was born September 6, 1853, in Columbus and throughout the entire period of his life has remained a resident of the capital city, so directing his efforts as to gain a position of distinction among those who readily and correctly solve the intricate problems of law.

His father, William Augustus Platt, was born in Lanesboro, Massachusetts, March 7, 1809, and traced his ancestry back to Richard Platt, who in 1638 left his home in Hertfordshire, England, and crossed the Atlantic to Connecticut. Following the death of his mother during his early boyhood, William A. Platt went to live with his grandparents, Benjamin A. and Ada Platt, who in 1817 removed to Columbus, being among the earliest residents in this city. He resided here continuously save for a brief period of two years spent in New York city and Wooster, Ohio, in his early manhood. Although his school privileges were few his mental powers enabled him to acquire through reading and observation an extended and valuable knowledge. In early life he learned the watchmaker's trade and became proprietor


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of a jewelry store in the Neil House block, developing a business which in course of time had no peer in extent or importance in this part of the country. About 1850 he retired from the jewelry business to turn his attention to other interests and enterprises, for already he had become identified with business concerns that contributed in substantial measure to the prosperity of Columbus, as well as to his individual success. He was president of the Columbus Gas Company from its organization in 1846 until a short time prior to his demise; and other corporation and business interests felt the stimulus of his cooperation and sound judgment. He was one of the promoters of the Ohio Tool Company, and had much to do with making it one of the most successful manufacturing enterprises ever established in this city. He was a member of the first board of trustees of Greenlawn cemetery, aided in the selection of its lands and through a long series of years was a member of the board, and for twelve years its president. He rendered most valuable service in the administration of the affairs of the association. Through appointment of Governor Chase he became a commissioner of the state house and was active in the supervision of its construction until its completion.

On the 2d of September, 1839, William A. Platt was married to Miss Fanny A. Hayes, who died July 16, 1856, leaving a son and three daughters. His death occurred August 8, 1882. Following the loss of his first wife he was married in 1863 to Miss Sarah Follett, of Sandusky, Ohio, and they became parents of three daughters. In 1855 he erected a residence at the northeast corner of Broad street and Cleveland avenue, then almost in the outskirts of the city. It was surrounded by three acres of ground and he utilized this space for horticultural purposes, finding great interest in fruit growing whereby he supplied his own and his friends' tables with many delectable articles, including the finest fruits and vegetables. He had, too, a notably extensive and beautiful rose garden and had a love of nature in all of its varied forms, including a fondness for the animal kind, especially horses. He was the owner of some splendid specimens of the noble steed and became a familiar figure in Columbus as he drove through the streets of the city. A contemporary biographer said of him, "He was always a kind and genial neighbor, and generous, considerate husband, always showing a fine courtesy which was a natural expression of his consideration for others. He was one of the men of strong personality who marked the early history of Columbus. Thoroughness in all he undertook characterized his whole life. He had great force of will and character. quick perceptions and rare judgment in all matters, combined with a. sympathetic temperament. and that perfect integrity and fairness of mind which inspired full confidence and respect."



R. H. Platt in the acquirement of an education attended successively the public schools of Columbus and Gambier, Ohio; Phillips Academy. Andover, Massachusetts; and Yale College. In the last named he became a student in the academic department and was graduated with the class of 1874. He prepared for the practice of law in the Columbia College Law School.


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Since his admission to the bar in 1879 Mr. Platt has practiced his profession and enjoys in full measure the confidence of his fellow members of the profession, both bench and bar. He served for three years as professor of pleading and practice in the law school of the Ohio State University; and is a member of the commission appointed by the supreme court to conduct the semi-annual examinations of applicants for admission to the bar of this state. In February, 1901, he was appointed by Governor Nash a member of the Ohio board of state charities and has rendered valuable public service in that position, in which he has been continued by successive reappointments down to the present time.

On the 5th of June, 1887, Mr. Platt was married to Miss Maryette Andrews Smith, a granddaughter of the late Judge Joseph R. Swan, formerly of the Ohio supreme court. They have four children: Robert S., sixteen years of age; Rutherford A., a youth of fourteen; Joseph Swan, six years old; and Emily, a little daughter in her third year.

M. T. DIXON.

M. T. Dixon, who has shown excellent work as a medical educator and as well in the active practice of the profession, was born in Indianola, Iowa, February 12, 1863. His father, John Dixon, was a native of Ohio and represents one of the oldest families in the state. His grandfather, James Dixon, was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1797, being the first white male child born in that section. The family came from Pennsylvania shortly after the close of the Revolutionary war and casting in their lot with the pioneer settlers were very active in promoting the early development of Ohio. At the time of their arrival here the Indians outnumbered the white people one hundred to one and the work of modern civilization seemed scarcely begun. Only here and there had a little clearing been made and a cabin built to show that the work of improvement and progress was being carried on by a sturdy progressive people. As the years passed James Dixon carried on general agricultural pursuits and he died within one hundred yards of his birthplace, passing away at the age of eighty-four years. The father of Dr. Dixon reached the age of seventy-six years, his death occurring in 1907. In early manhood he wedded Miss Anna Nichols, a native of Missouri, who died in 1865.

For a period the family lived in the west but returned from Indianola, Iowa, to Belmont county, Ohio, during the early boyhood of Dr. Dixon, who was there reared pursuing his education in the public schools and in Scio College, from which he was graduated in the class of 1883. The following year he began the study of medicine and completed a course in the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, with the class of 1887. He then located for practice in Wichita, Kansas, where he remained until 1891, when he removed to Columbus, where he has since remained as an able and representative follower of the profession. He was identified with educational work


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in connection with the Ohio Medical University from its organization until 1889, being the first adjunct professor of the practice of medicine and later professor of materia medica. He belongs to the Columbus Academy of Medicine, Ohio State Medical Association and the American Medical Association. His study has been carried on along lines of modern research and his efficiency is the secret of constantly increasing success.

In March, 1887, Dr. Dixon was married to Miss Sadie I. McMaster, of Belmont county, Ohio, who died in 1904, leaving one son, William. In 1906 Dr. Dixon wedded Miss Effie C. Burkline, a native of Chillicothe, Ohio. who was the well known and popular principal of the Spring street school prior to her marriage and is a lady of broad intelligence and innate culture and refinement. Dr. Dixon belongs to Humboldt Lodge, A. F. & A. M.. the Knights of Pythias and other fraternal organizations and is in hearty sympathy with the principles which underlie those societies. In educational circles he has demonstrated his ability to impart clearly and readily the knowledge he has acquired, while in his practice his careful diagnosis and comprehensive understanding of the principles of medical science have enabled him to readily and correctly solve the intricate problems which continually confront the physician so that he has become recognized as one of the leading members of the profession here.

JAMES MOSSMAN.

No history of Westerville would be complete without extended mention of James Mossman, whose residence here antedates that of any other citizen of the town. As the years have come and gone he has taken an active and helpful part in the development of the city and is now giving his attention largely to real-estate interests, whereby the material growth and improvement of Westerville is gradually enhanced. Few men of his years continue actively in business, but indolence and idleness have ever been utterly foreign to his nature, and although now in the eightieth year of his age Mr. Mossman displays the same keen discernment in business transactions that characterized him in middle life.

A native of New Jersey, he was born in Pumpton township, Essex county, December 9, 1829, his parents being Robert and Anna (Sanford) Mossman, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of New Jersey. Removing westward they settled in Delaware county, Ohio, where they spent their remaining days. Their family numbered four sons and five daughters, of whom three are now living, James having been the fifth in order of birth. The youngest son of the family, William B. Mossman, served with the Thirty-second Ohio Regiment during a period of the Civil war and afterward became captain of the company of colored troops at Vicksburg.

James Mossman spent the first seven years of his life in the state of his nativity and then accompanied his parents to Licking county, Ohio, the fam-


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ily home being established in St. Albans township. Three years later they removed to Harlem township, Delaware county, settling about six miles northeast of Westerville, where Mr. Mossman remained until eighteen years of age. Since 1848 he has resided continuously in Westerville, his residence here covering more than sixty years.

For a long period he devoted his time and energies to farming and has owned and operated two different farms, one of seventy-five acres in Delaware county and another of one hundred and ten acres adjoining the city limits of Westerville. In fact fifty acres of this lies within the corporation limits and Mr. Mossman platted thirty acres in town lots, which he sold, and also in one and two acre tracts. The Mossman Naomi Park addition for so it is called - is regarded today as one of the best residence portions of the city, being improved with modern homes and attractive surroundings. For thirty-five years Mr. Mossman has been engaged in the real-estate business, continuing his efforts in this line since the building of the railroad. He has now sold his farm in Delaware county and has fifty acres of land in this locality. Aside from his agricultural pursuits and real-estate operations Mr. Mossman has also displayed much ability in invention. He invented a single wire fence stretcher, was the first to manufacture the stump puller and has since made improvements upon it. He has also invented, manufactured and sold windmills and milk stools and has perfected other important devices.

In 1852 Mr. Mossman was married to Miss Martha Ingalls, a native of Franklin county and sister of the Rev. P. P. Ingalls, a very prominent Methodist minister. There were three sons by this marriage : Ira O., now living in Westerville; Joseph P., who died at the age of sixteen years; and Grant James, whose death occurred when he was nineteen years of age. On the 18th of April, 1878, Mr. Mossman was again married, his second union being with Frances Virginia Nicholson, a native of Springfield, Ohio, and a daughter of James Nicholson, who was born in Virginia in 1804 and came to Ohio in 1835 with his wife and four children, settling in Columbus. He did splendid mechanical iron work for those days and made the first turn lathe used in Columbus. He also did considerable work on the old courthouse and the new state house and forged the big hinges for the heavy doors of the capitol. He also worked on the old courthouse at Dayton and was actively connected with the construction of other public buildings. He went to Delaware when the railroad shops were established there and followed his trade until he was past the age of eighty years. His death occurred in Westerville at the home of Mr. Mossman when he was ninety-four years of age. Tracing back the ancestral history of Mrs. Mossman we find that she is a granddaughter of Joseph Nicholson, who resided in Washington, D. C., at the time the British burned the city. He was the owner of a flourmill at the old chain bridge there. His son James climbed a persimmon tree in that locality and watched the city burn. He was at that time a lad of seven years. His father, Joseph Nicholson, was the owner of the house in which the United States government officials secreted most of their important papers at that time. He was married twice. His son Joseph resided in the house that was the home of Francis Scott Key when he wrote the Star-Spangled Banner.


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Mrs. Mossman has taken a very prominent and influential part in educational and temperance work, having served as county president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She was a delegate to the national convention held in New York city in which she was associated with all the leading temperance workers, and she presided over a great meeting where Mrs. Clara Hoffman was the principal speaker. Mrs. Mossman has been a teacher of music and singing, and has always been called the sweet singer of the W. C. T. U.

Mr. Mossman has ever been known for his fearless defense of his honest convictions, his position being at no time an equivocal one. He became an abolitionist when it was an unpopular thing to do and voted for John P. Hale, the abolition candidate for president. He supported John C. Fremont in 1856, espousing the cause of the republican party which was formed to prevent the further extension of slavery. In 1860 he voted for Abraham Lincoln and again in 1864, and since 1872 he has supported the prohibition party, which embodies his views on the temperance question. He has been a most active and earnest temperance worker all through his life and has never used liquor nor tobacco. He holds membership with the Methodist Episcopal church and has lived in most exemplary manner, his life being actuated by high and honorable principles and by steadfast devotion to all that he believes to be right.

JUDGE THOMAS WATKINS POWELL.



Lawyer, jurist, author and statesman, Judge Thomas Watkins Powell left the impress of his individuality upon the legal history of the state. He remains in the memory of those who knew him enshrined in a halo of a gracious presence, of marked intellectuality and of conspicuous devotion to the public good. His life record, which began in south Wales in September, 1797, was closed in Delaware, Ohio, December 12, 1882, when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-five years. He was in his fourth year when his father emigrated with the family to America, settling in Utica, New York. He enjoyed the educational opportunities there afforded him but his advantages in that direction were somewhat limited and throughout his life it remained to him a source of regret that he did not have a college education. However, he was a student of life and of books, and from the school of experience he gleaned many valuable lessons. At the time of the war of 1812 he drove his father's team with the baggage of a regiment to Sacket's Harbor in the spring of 1813, entering that place at the close of the battle. In the year 1814 he was appointed to a post of great trust by the military authorities, being made the bearer of dispatches to General McComb at Plattsburg. He afterward had opportunity to continue his education in an academy for two years, there mastering such branches as were taught in that institution, including higher mathematics, in which he displayed marked ability. On leaving the academy he took up the study of law in the office and under the direction of Charles M. Lee, of Utica, being then but twenty years of age.


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In the year 1819 he came to Ohio and for a time was in the law office of Hon. James W. Lathrop of Canton. The following year he was admitted to the Ohio bar by the supreme court on the circuit of Wooster and immediately afterward opened a law office in Perrysburg, on the Matinee river, where he entered upon active law practice. He was soon made prosecuting attorney and afterward county auditor of Wood county. He continued his residence in that county until 1830 when he removed to Delaware, Ohio, where for more than fifty years he was in active practice. He won recognition as a prominent, distinguished lawyer of his day. At that time a representative of the bar must be well versed in every department of practice for it was not common to specialize, as it is at present, and yet his ability in a particular field brought to him an extensive practice in special and equity pleading. He was unwearied in his devotion to his client's interests and while he gave to them the benefit of unfaltering industry and superior ability, he never forgot that he owed a still higher allegiance to the majesty of the law. His associates in practice esteemed him as well for his non-professional as for his professional traits of character and those who enjoyed his friendship found him a genial, courteous and cultured gentleman. No one had more law students than Judge Powell and he liberally gave assistance to young men preparing for the bar. Among those who studied under his direction were Hon. Charles Sweetser, Edward Jones, Hon. Thomas C. Jones, Hon. Royal T. Wheeler, afterward chief justice of Texas, General J. S. Jones and many others.

In every business relation Judge Powell manifested the same spirit of enterprise which he displayed in his legal career. He was the promoter of the project for the erection of the Mansion House at Sulphur Springs, which, in its early history, was famous as a fashionable resort, but subsequently became the property of the Ohio Wesleyan University. He also laid out and platted one of the largest additions to the city of Delaware and was a factor in its commercial development and industrial prosperity. He built the flax mills and gave his aid and cooperation to many other business concerns of benefit to the city.

The recognized ability of Judge Powell and his well known devotion to public progress led to his selection for various positions of honor and trust. He was elected to serve as prosecuting attorney of his county and was sent as a representative to the general assembly of Ohio in 1841-42. Later he was elected state senator from the district comprising Delaware and Crawford counties, being seated as a member of the upper house in 1844-45. In 1862 he was chosen by popular suffrage for the office of probate judge and sat upon the bench for eight years. His knowledge of the, law and of the limitations imposed upon constitutional authority made him a valued member of the third constitutional convention of Ohio which met in Columbus in May, 1873. He left the impress of his individuality upon the organic laws of the state and his careful consideration of questions, expressed in language that clearly defined his position and the reasons thereof, made him an influential member of that body. His authorship also entitles him to mention as one of the prominent members of the Ohio bar, whose history reflects credit on the state. He wrote


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and published "Powell's Analysis of American Law" and "Appellate Jurisdiction," two volumes which are highly prized by the legal fraternity. His authorship also includes "History of the Ancient Britains" and another volume entitled, "`What is Knowledge?" Although his eyesight was greatly impaired during his closing years, he never ceased to write nor ceased to be an untiring worker. The safety of the republic depends not so much upon methods and measures as upon that manhood from whose deep sources all that is precious and permanent in life must at last proceed and it is thus that Judge Powell took his place as a foremost citizen of Ohio, whose life was of genuine worth in shaping the history of the commonwealth.

DANIEL S. WILDER.

Daniel S. Wilder, who for many years has been identified with the business interests of Columbus and is now a clerk in the auditor's office, was born here, August 25, 1844, and is a descendant of a prominent New England family. the members of which were among the early settlers of the state of Massachusetts. His maternal grandfather, William Yantis, was a lieutenant in the army during the war of 1812, while an uncle, a well known religious leader, for many years was a deacon in the Presbyterian church at Leroy, this state. He is a son of D. S. and Elizabeth (Yantis) Wilder, both of whom were natives of Ohio, his father having been born in Leroy, where he followed agricultural pursuits until he was twenty-one years of age, and then learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed until 1849, when he started for California. to seek his fortune in the gold fields. There he was successful, but he was drowned in the year 1852 when returning home on a ship, named the Yankee Blade, which went down during a storm. He had one brother, William Wilder, who was one of the five commissioners from Honolulu who came to the United States to intercede for the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, and who afterward died there. Our subject's mother, whose birth occurred in this state, March 8, 1817, departed this life in 1892.

In the public schools of New Albany, which is about twelve miles from Columbus, Daniel S. Wilder acquired his education, and upon completing his studies went out into the world for himself and secured employment, finally becoming affiliated with the Gilmore & Segner Book Concern, for which he was a traveling salesman for two years, his territory being Illinois and Pennsylvania. Upon leaving the employ of that firm he drove a stage for two years from Columbus to surrounding towns, this being before the days of railroads. Later he entered the employ of the Kilborne, Jacobs Manufacturing Company, for which he traveled for ten years, and in 1878 became connected with the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad. After he had worked in the ticket office of this company for four years he was made city passenger agent for the Big Four Railroad in this city, and then became division passenger agent for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad here, holding this position until August 1. 1905, when he retired from the


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business, Mr. Sayre, the county auditor, tendering him a position in the auditor's office, which he accepted.

Although Mr. Wilder was striving hard to make his way in the commercial world when the Civil war broke out, his patriotism was such that he laid aside all interests when the call came to take up arms, and he enlisted in Columbus, October 19, 1861, as a soldier in the Eighteenth United States Infantry, serving throughout the entire conflict and receiving an honorable discharge May 9, 1865. He was in many severe and hard fought battles, and at the engagement at Stone River was wounded, from which injury he suffered for many months. But this was not the only misfortune that overtook him during his military career, as he was captured at the battle of Chickamauga, September 19, 1863, and was made a prisoner of war and held for eighteen months, his sufferings during his imprisonment being almost indescribable. He was handcuffed at the wrists on one occasion and suspended to a beam in a dungeon, where he was left hanging with his feet short of the ground from nine o'clock in the morning until three in the afternoon. Mr. Wilder will not soon forget his experience during prison life and is one among the thousands who risked their lives for the welfare of the country and whom 'the government should hold in sacred and substantial remembrance.

On July 31, 1866, Mr. Wilder was united in marriage to Miss Ruversa L. Landon. a native of this state, and to them were born the following children: Ura N.. Edna E., Ruversa L., Grace E., Kilbourne W. and Bliss W. Politically Mr. Wilder is a republican, to which party he has always been loyal in his support. He belongs to Columbus Lodge, No., 30, A. F. & A. M., is a member of Temple Chapter, a comrade of Post No. 451, G. A. R.; secretary of the Franklin County Union Ex-Prisoners of War, and also of the Ohio association of the same organization, and is president of the Regular Brigade, First Division, Fourteenth Corps, Army of the Cumberland. Mr. Wilder is well known throughout the city and is highly respected, not only for his invaluable military career, but also as a citizen and business man.

J. O. HOFFHINE. M. D.

J. O. Hoffhine, engaged in the general practice, of medicine and surgery has been located in Columbus for five years and is well known by reason of a progressive citizenship as well as by his professional labors. One of Ohio's native sons he was born September 10, 1853, in Jackson county, where Wellston now stands. His paternal grandfather, William Hoffhine, came to Ohio from Pennsylvania and settled at Big Walnut on the boundary line between Pickaway and Fairfield counties. He followed the occupation of farming and there on the old family homestead occurred the birth of George Hoffhine, who was reared to farm life and followed that pursuit throughout the period of his manhood. He married Miss Marie Ayers, also a native of Ohio.


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No event of special importance occurred to vary the routine of life for Dr. Hoffhine in the days of his boyhood and youth, his time being divided between the toil of the home farm, the pleasures of the playground and the duties of the school room. He was educated in the public schools of Hamden, Vinton county, Ohio, and afterward engaged in farming and stock raising but at length determined to retire from agricultural pursuits and give his attention to professional duties. In 1874 he took up the study of medicine as a student in the Starling Medical College but afterward continued his course in the Columbus Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1877. He then located for practice at Frankfort, Ross county, Ohio, where he remained for twenty-six years and then seeking a broader scope of labor as offered in a city practice he came to Columbus in 1903 and has here remained for a period of more than five years. He has given his entire attention to his professional duties nor would he ever consent to become a candidate for public office. In his political views he is independent and nothing can swerve him from a course in citizenship which he believes to be right.

In 1888 Dr. Hoffhine was married to Miss Gertrude McNeil, a native of Ross county, Ohio. They have four children: John, a graduate of Ohio State University and now chemist for the Union Pacific Railroad Company; Charles H.. a graduate of Starling Medical College, now engaged in the practice of medicine; Fanny M., who has completed the high school course and entered the University; and Helen G., the youngest of the family.

Dr. Hoffhine belongs to the Masonic fraternity, his membership being with the Blue lodge at Frankfort, Ohio, and the Chillicothe Commandery. He has reared a family of which he has every reason to be proud and his own life to them is an example well worthy of emulation, for he has always regarded a promise made or a pledge given as a sacred obligation.

JOHN D. BISHOP.

John D. Bishop, a well known and progressive agriculturist of Madison township, is a native son of this county, having been born on the farm where he still resides. In 1807 John Bishop, an uncle of Jacob Bishop, the father of our subject, located on the farm which was the birthplace of Jacob Bishop and also of John D. Bishop and which is now owned and occupied by the latter. The property comprises one hundred and eighty-seven and a half acres and the deed thereto was signed by Andrew Jackson. Jacob Bishop, whose birth occurred in 1812, passed away in 1883, in the faith of the Baptist church. In politics he was a Jacksonian democrat and took an active interest in public affairs, serving as assessor for several years and also as land appraiser for some time. He was recognized throughout the community as a man of sound judgment and keen discrimination and his advice was as freely given as it was sought. His wife, whose natal year was 1822, bore the maiden name of Catharine Ordell. Unto this worthy couple were born the following children: Mary, Henry, John D., Edson, Catharine, Sydney,


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Irene and Minnie, now living; and George and Louisa, who have passed away.

Throughout his business career John D. Bishop has been successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits, cultivating and improving the old home farm which has now been in possession of the family for more than a hundred years. He follows progressive and modern methods in the conduct of his farming interests, the fields yielding golden harvests annually as a reward for the care and labor he bestows upon them.

In 1878 Mr. Bishop was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Emma Treese, by whom he has the following children : Maud M.; Catharine E.; Octavia; and Jacob Edson, who is a student in the Ohio State University.

Politically Mr. Bishop is a stalwart democrat and has acted in the position of assessor for fifteen years, his service during ten years of that time being continuous. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Lutheran church and he is well known and highly esteemed throughout the county in which he has spent his entire life.



DAVID BARTON SHARP.

David Barton Sharp, attorney at law, was born in Holmes county, Ohio, February 25, 1871. His father, John Sharp, also a native of that state, was a son of John Sharp, Sr., who represented Holmes county in the state legislature for two terms and held other offices there. The latter was a son of Joseph Sharp, who in the closing years of the eighteenth century removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio and became a resident of what is now Harrison county but was then Belmont county. Reared in this state, John Sharp, father of David B. Sharp, followed farming in early manhood and afterward turned his attention to merchandising in Holmes county, Ohio, being thus identified with commercial interests until his retirement from business life some years ago. He served for two terms as treasurer of Holmes county and was also a member of the village council and a member of the school board of Millersburg. He now makes his home in Columbus, where he is enjoying a well earned rest. He married Martha M. Ingram, who was born in Hancock county, West Virginia, and is a daughter of David and Mary (Barton) Ingram, the former a native of Ireland, while the latter was of Irish parentage.

In the public schools of Millersburg, David Barton Sharp pursued his preliminary education and was graduated from the high school with the class of 1887. He afterward spent two years in a classical course at Baldwin University at Berea, Ohio, and later entered the Ohio State University, being graduated from the law department in June, 1893, with the Bachelor of Law degree. He was always very active and interested in the work of the literary society,. was a member of the Philozetian at Baldwin and of the Alcyone Society in the state university. On his graduation from the high


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school he was salutatorian of his class, which carried with it the second honors and he delivered an oration at the graduation exercises of the law school.

Before his graduation, in December, 1892, Mr. Sharp was admitted to the bar but continued his studies until the following June in order that he might receive his degree. The day following his graduation he entered the law office of the Hon. H. M. Daugherty and has been associated with him continuously since in the general practice of law. Mr. Sharp served as first assistant prosecuting attorney of the county in 1899 under A. L. Thurman and was attorney for the state fire marshal under the administration of D. S. Creamer, who is now state treasurer of Ohio.

Mr. Sharp is recognized as one of the prominent representatives of democracy in Columbus. In 1905 he was nominated for the house, of representatives on the democratic ticket, but with the entire legislative ticket was defeated by a small majority. He has always been active in local and state politics and has served as chairman of both the central and executive committees of Franklin county and in various other positions on those committees. He has delivered many campaign addresses during the past fifteen years. both locally and for the state committee.

Mr. Sharp resides with his parents, who removed from Millersburg to Columbus in 1892 and are living at No. 1477 Pennsylvania. avenue. He is a member of the Phi Delta Phi, a legal fraternity. of the local bar association and of the Neil Avenue United Presbyterian church. His life record has not been characterized by exciting chapters but contains elements of interest as does that of every successful man who works his way upward through his own labors and ability.

JOHN T. CORBETT.



John T. Corbett is general manager of the Hayden-Corbett Chain Company, and in this connection controls a. business of considerable volume. He has also been identified with several building and loan associations, and his word has come to be largely considered as authoritative in complex business matters, for his judgment is sound and his discernment keen. As he is widely and favorably known his life history cannot fail to prove of interest to many of our readers. He was born in Groveport, Ohio, June 22, 1861. and in the paternal line is of Irish descent. His father, William Corbett, was a. native of the Emerald isle; and on crossing the Atlantic to America in 1845 made his way direct to Ohio, locating in Groveport. There he followed the occupation of farming for many years, and eventually retired, and is now enjoying well merited rest. Four others of this family became soldiers of the Civil war. William Corbett wedded Miss Katherine McGrath. who was born in Ireland and came to the United States about 1847. Her people were engaged in the dairy business.

At the usual age John T. Corbett became a pupil in the public schools of Groveport, and after mastering the common branches of English learning


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took up the study of stenography, and secured a position as stenographer with the Columbus Buggy Company in 1882. There he remained for three years, after which he entered the employ of the Peter Hayden Saddlery Hardware Company. His connection with that house continued for six years, at the end of which time he entered the factory to learn the chain manufacturing business. When he had obtained expert knowledge of that trade he organized a company of his own and has since been engaged in the manufacture of chains under the name of the Hayden-Corbett Chain Company, of which he is general manager. This business has had a phenomenal growth, the output having been doubled within the last two years. It is considered one of the most modern plants of this kind in the United States, being equipped with the latest improved machinery and every device necessary to facilitate the business. The output is always kept up to a high standard. and thoroughness characterizes every department of the work.

In 1896 Mr. Corbett was married to Miss Clara Floyd, who was born in Columbus, a daughter of William Floyd, who was a master mechanic. Mr. and Mrs. Corbett have one son, Sylvester, born in this city August 8, 1898. The parents are communicants of the Holy Name church and contribute largely to its support. While a young man Mr. Corbett was a member of Company H, Fourteenth Ohio National Guard. He has become connected with other business interests outside of the field of manufacturing. In all he undertakes he displays keen discernment, indefatigable energy and as the architect of his own fortune he has builded wisely and well.

ROBERT E. SHELDON.

The salient features in the life record of Robert E. Sheldon have been such as to carry him from humble environment to a position among the leading merchants of the city the steps in his orderly progression being easily discernible. Those who know aught of his history-and he has a wide acquaintance recognize the fact that he is a self-made man, while his business associates and colleagues bear testimony to the truth that his record is such as any man might be proud to possess, for he has always regarded a promise given or an engagement made as a sacred obligation. His career at all times will stand the test of close investigation and scrutiny and, moreover, should serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement, showing what may be accomplished through determination and persistency of purpose. Dependent upon his own resources from the age of eleven years he stands today at the head of the most important and extensive mercantile enterprise of central Ohio.



Mr. Sheldon is a native of Tiffin. Ohio, his birth having there occurred June 1, 1845, and the following year his parents, Thomas H. and Martha Sheldon, removed from Tiffin to Columbus, where he has since resided. Following the death of his father, his mother became the wife of William Merion, who has also passed away, and she is now, advanced in years, living with her daugh-


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ter, Mrs. Irene Roberts, at No. 137 West Goodale street. She is still young in interest, however, and Mr. Sheldon has ever manifested toward her the most tender filial love and devotion, visiting her, at least, weekly and frequently daily since his marriage, when he went to a home of his own. All the stress and demands of business through days of prosperity and adversity alike could never cause him to forget these accustomed home visits which to mother and son alike have been a source of continued pleasure and interest.

The necessity of providing for his own support early sent Robert E. Sheldon into the business world. In 1855 he acted as messenger in the Ohio senate and in 1857 and 1858 took his initial step in the commercial world as an employe of John McIntire, a grocer then conducting business near the corner of Nigh and Rich streets on the east side. There he remained until 1859 when he sought and obtained a position with Dwight, Stone & Company, conducting a dry goods business in the Gwynne block. Each year witnessed an increase in his capability as his experience and labors brought him broader knowledge of business methods and the rules governing commercial activity. Gradually he has worked his way upward through successive promotions and each forward step has brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. In 1864 he entered the service of Kelton, Bancroft & Company, wholesale dry-goods merchants of Columbus, with whom he continued for about five years, or until 1869, when he became an employe of Miller, Green & Joyce, on the corner of High and Long streets. There his service proved so acceptable and his enterprise so pronounced that in 1875 he was admitted to a partnership, remaining an active factor in the management of the house for ten years. He then withdrew and in 1885 formed the firm of Miles, Bancroft & Sheldon, the predecessors of the present Sheldon Dry Goods Company. The partnership relations were prolonged with mutual pleasure and profit until the death of his partners, when, in 1900, Mr. Sheldon acquired their interests and the following year, associated with his son, Butler Sheldon, incorporated the Sheldon Dry Goods Company, which is one of the most extensive mercantile enterprises of the city, setting the standard of activity and achievement in their establishment, its ramifying trade interests covering a broad territory.

A man of resourceful business ability. noting and improving opportunities that others have passed by heedlessly, Mr. Sheldon has thus constantly worked his way upward. When twenty years of age he became a commercial traveler and spent seventeen years in that capacity during the development period of the wholesale business in Columbus, thus becoming thoroughly familiar with the trade and its demands and to this experience is attributable not a little of the success in his later life. Into other fields he has also extended his efforts, having in 1898 succeeded Emerson McMillin as president of the Columbus Railway Company, while in 1903 he succeeded General John Beatty as president of the Citizens Savings Bank. Whatever success has come to him in life-and his achievement is notable has been without the aid of a single dollar from any source. Since his eleventh year he has supported himself and others dependent upon him and, though the building up of an important enterprise has made heavy claim upon his time and energies, has yet found opportunity for active participation in many interests relative to public welfare.


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At the time of the Civil war Mr. Sheldon, responding to the country's call for aid, served for one hundred days as sergeant of Company H, One Hundred and Thirty-third Ohio National Guard and during the campaign of 1864 was in front of Petersburg and vicinity. In days of peace he has been equally loyal in matters of local advancement and of national progress, contributing generously of his means to further the welfare of Columbus and giving active aid and influence also to promote the interests of the city.

Mr. Sheldon was married in early manhood to Miss Mary E. Butler and their three sons are : Butler, Robert E. and Thomas H., who are associated with their father in the Sheldon Dry Goods Company. Such in brief is the history of Robert E. Sheldon who, through the inherent force of his character, his strong determination and close application to the duties that have devolved upon him, has won distinction and honors in his native land. The importance and extent of his business interests have made him one of the best known men in the capital city, while his activity has extended to those concerns which touch the general interests of society in lines of progress and of social and benevolent interests.

IRA H. CRUM.

Ira H. Crum, attorney at law engaged in practice continuously since 1879, was born in Franklin county, Ohio, June 6, 1855, a son of William A. and Martha K. (Walton) Crum, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. The paternal grandfather, Cornelius Crum, was a member of the constitutional convention at Philadelphia and took an active part in the deliberations of that body which gave to the country its organic law. In the year 1840 he emigrated with his family to Ohio, making the journey by wagon over the Allegheny mountains. Reaching Franklin county he located on the forks of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, on land which was afterward in litigation for many years, there being no patent for it. His entire life was devoted to general agricultural pursuits. His son, William A. Crum, was also a farmer in early life, afterward conducting a store at Milliard. He died in 1900 while his wife passed away in 1887.

Ira H. Crum, the only child of this marriage, was educated in the common schools at Westerville and Delaware Colleges. He was graduated from the University of Delaware in 1876 with the degree of Bachelor of Science and then determined upon the practice of law as his life work, beginning his study with Judge Eli P. Evans of Columbus as his preceptor. After thoroughly mastering many of the principles of the law he was admitted to practice in 1879 and has since successfully followed his profession. Advancement at the bar is proverbially slow and yet Mr. Crum in the early years of his practice enjoyed a good clientage, and while the years have passed his business has constantly grown in volume and importance. The court records show that he has been connected with much important litigation and after thorough preparation of his case he has always presented the causes in contention in clear and forceful manner, his


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cogent reasoning, his logical deductions and comet application of legal principles never failing to impress court and jury while seldom failing to win the verdict desired. From 1889 until January. 1892. he filled the office of assistant prosecuting attorney and was director of law from April. 1899, until 1901. He has been a trustee of the Franklin County Children's Home for the past two years and was reappointed January 1, 1909, for a term of four years. He belongs to the City and State Bar Associations and in more strictly fraternal and social line" is connected with the Masons and the Odd Fellows and the Ohio and Buckeye clubs.



On the 5th of May. 1891, Mr. Crum was married to Miss May Sherwood. a daughter of Thomas K. Sherwood of Franklin county, and they have one child, Martha. Mr. Crum is well known in this city where he has now resided for three decades while his entire life has been based in the county. He has made steady advancement in his profession because of his laudable ambition. and his well spent life has at all times gained for hire the confidence and good will of those with whom he has been associated.


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