BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

CITY OF DAYTON.

SAMUEL AUGUSTUS AMBROSE, plasterer, Dayton, was born near Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland Co., Penn., Nov. 23, 1838. His ancestry on his father's side was German and English, on his mother's English and German. Peter and Susanna Ambrose, his father and mother, were in humble circumstances, and having a large family of ten children to provide for, the services of all the children, as they became of sufficient age to render any assistance toward the support of the family, were required. Samuel, the fifth child born to them, was accordingly called upon to assist in the support of his younger brothers and sisters, while yet a mere boy, consequently his opportunities for study and education, as far as school education is concerned, was very limited and much neglected. Thus his early boyhood passed till 1854, when with his parents he emigrated to Ohio, then the far West, and in December of the same year landed with his father's family in the city of Dayton, Montgomery Co. The industrious habits formed (luring his boyhood, before he came to Dayton, still prompted him to an active life, and, looking around for something to do, he sought employment and was engaged as a clerk for Messrs. Fitton, Wilt & Filton, grain dealers and commission merchants, with whom he remained about one year, when a good opportunity offered for him to learn a trade. He left his employers and engaged to learn the plasterer's trade, at which he served his full time and then worked as a journeyman plasterer until by the most rigid economy he had saved enough to pay his way through a collegiate course of study, and for that purpose he entered the preparatory department of the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio. In school, as at his trade, he was never satisfied unless he stood among the first in his class, and by his former habits of close application, industry, energy and natural ability, succeeded in keeping his name on the roll of honor during his school life at the university. He was one of the prominent members of the Zetagathean Literary Society of the above institution, and in the frequent discussions and debates in the society always took an active part, and was always selected to champion the cause of the weaker side, and generally proved a full match for his antagonist. Having entered the school with a fixed purpose he made rapid progress in his studies, when the war for the preservation of the Union" broke out and arrested him in his scholastic pursuits. He enlisted as a volunteer and served sixteen months, when he received an honorable discharge, and was mustered out of service at Todd Barracks. He returned to Dayton again, and while home married Miss Cornelia Anne Wolf youngest daughter of Dr. W. W. Wolf, May 15, 1865. He then began work for himself as a contractor and builder, and since that time has been one of the largest contractors in this city. As monuments of his ability, he points with pride to Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, the palatial residences of C. L. Hawes, Eugene Barney, T. T. Legler, and many others. The breaking out of the rebellion made him an outspoken and fearless Republican, and the same principles remain with him to this day. In 1872, he was elected member of the City Council by the Republicans of the Fifth Ward, and proved himself a valuable member of that body. Hardly a meeting passed that he did not get into an animated discussion with his colleagues upon some measure before the Council, and as he had a peculiar way of presenting his facts like so many points sticking out on every side, his-position was generally invulnerable, and he very rarely lost a cause whose interest he ea-


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poused while in his two years' term with the City Fathers. He was again elected a member for 1881-82 and is now an honored member of that body. He wields a caustic pen, and in writing for the press presents his thoughts in a very plain, forcible manner, and is regarded a writer of much ability by those who know his nom de plume. He is in the prime of life, and, as he comes from a long-lived race, has many years in store in which he can succeed in carving his name high upon the roll of honor, if he will use the same energy and talent which characterized his early life.

CHARLES H. ANDERTON, merchant, Dayton, was born in Dayton, Montgomery Co., Ohio, October 11, 1842. He is the son of James and Francis (Wilby) Anderton, who were married in England and emigrated to America soon after. The father died in 1850, but the mother still survives, having reached the age of four-score and one years. Charles, our subject, attended the public schools of Dayton until twelve years of age and then clerked for his brother in a fruit store until April, 1862, when he opened a fruit stand for himself, on the northeast corner of Third and Main streets, in Dayton, where he remained until August, 1862, and then enlisted in Company A, Ninety-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was in the engagements at Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge. where he was wounded in the wrist, and in many other minor engagements and skirmishes. At Danbridge, East Tenn., he was wounded in the right breast, in January, 1864, but served until the close of the war, receiving his discharge in May, 1865. He was married April 10, 1867, to Miss Lucy Henderson, daughter of Eben and Mary Henderson, of Minooka, Ill., by whom he has had three children, one girl and two boys, only one of the latter surviving. Mr. Anderton is a member of Wayne Lodge, No. 10. I. O. O. F.; Dayton Encampment, I. O. O. F.; Knights of Pythias, Legion of Honor, Grand Army of the Republic, Old Guards, and ex-member of the National Guards. He is also Chairman of the Republican County Central Committee. He served five years in and was the organizer of Company A, Fourth Ohio National Guards, which at that time was a Zouave company. He was a member of the old volunteer fire company for seven or eight years, and of the paid company from 1865 to 1880. No higher tribute can be paid to such a man than to thus show to the world his record.

JOHN C. BAIRD, of firm of Baird Bros., owners planing-mill, sash, door and blind factory, Dayton, was born at Somerset, Penn., April 30, 1819. His parents were Daniel and Annie M. (Kurtz) Baird, natives of the Keystone State. The former was a carpenter and builder and cabinet maker. He was a soldier in the American army during the war of 1812, and died September 15, 1876. aged eighty-three years and four months. He was a man of strong constitution, very vigorous, and up to the time of his death (caused by old age) never suffered a week's sickness. His amiable helpmeet followed him to the "shadowed land " December 16, 1879, aged eighty-one years and nine months. They were the parents of eleven children, eight of whom yet survive. The subject of this sketch was reared amid the rocky hills of Old Pennsylvania, and when sixteen years of age commenced to learn the trade of his father, continuing with him in business for some years. When twenty-five years of age, he came to Dayton, where he worked at his trade for quite a period. In the meantime, his brother, William F., had visited the Valley City, and located there. The two brothers decided to embark in the busy and tempestuous sea of life, and, as both were practical mechanics, decided to establish their present business. They did so, under the firm name of Baird Bros., and have continued the business to the present time. Since coming to Dayton, Mr. Baird was, for three years, engaged in the grocery business. He was married in an early day, and buried a wife and child in October, 1843. His second marriage was solemnized in 1847, the second party to the contract being Susan Olive, a native of Zanesville, Ohio. They have four children living--Charles H., William F., Florence and Arthur--the eldest son and daughter being married. Mr. Baird and wife are members of the First Lutheran Church, the former having officiated as Deacon for some years. Mr. Baird joined the I. O. O. F., in August, 1845, and since that period has given much of his time to the advancement of the order. He is a member of Wayne Lodge, No. 10, and Dayton Encampment, No. 2. During one State Encampment, at Portsmouth, Ohio, he was appointed and served as Grand Junior Warden. In the home lodge he


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has devoted some time to committee work, and ably assisted in preparing a forty years' history of the lodge for publication. In politics, Mr. Baird is a strong Republican. He served as Councilman from the Fifth Ward for two years, and was one of the committee appointed to visit the Eastern cities to examine the different systems of fire protection in use in each. He assisted in establishing the Holly system in Dayton, an act of which he justly feels proud.

ELIAM E BARNEY. &ceased, was born in Adams, Jefferson Co., N. Y., October 14, 1807. His parents were Benjamin Barney, a native of Guilford, Vt., and Nancy Potter, of Connecticut. His father was a warm and active friend to education, and one of the principal movers in founding Union Academy, at Bellville, Jefferson Co., N. Y., having contributed for this object very liberally, both time and money. For more than fifty years, this academy has been a vigorous and prosperous institution of learning. Both parents were earnest, active members of the Baptist Church, from early life till death. Having received a common-school education and acquired some experience as a teacher in winter schools, our subject was prepared for college at Lawville Academy, Lewis Co., N. Y., and at Union Academy, Bellville, in the same State. He then entered the sophomore class, at Union College, Schenectady. from which he graduated in 1831. After teaching for a brief period in a family boarding school at Sand Lake, N. Y., he became Principal of Lawville Academy, where he remained two years, meeting with great success. In the fall of 1833, he came to Ohio, and taught for six months in Granville College (now Dennison University), filling the place of Prof. Drury, who had been elected, but had not yet arrived In the spring of 1834, he came to Dayton and was Principal of the Dayton Academy from 1834 to 1838. The two succeeding years, he taught a private school for both sexes. His health failing, he relinquished teaching, and during tour years engaged in the lumber trade. In the meantime, the Cooper Female Academy had been established, and Mr. Barney was called to the charge of it as Principal, in 1845, and so continued until 1851. This closed his career as a teacher, and after that time he was engaged in widely different pursuits. His teaching, from first to last was attended with great success, and the occupation being one for which he seemed peculiarly fitted, in it he attained a high reputation. His education and the range of his information were ample, and he possessed the rare faculty of communicating knowledge to his pupils. He seemed without difficulty to reach the understanding and compel a ready apprehension of all he sought to teach. There are but few of his former pupils who will not say that he was the best of all their teachers. His discipline was strict, but his kindness at the same time so manifest that he secured alike their respect, affection and obedience. In the summer of 1850, in company with Mr. E. Thresher, he started the Dayton Car Works. Their capital was limited and the business was carried on upon a moderate scale and prudently, but successfully. in 1854, Mr. C. Parker succeeded Mr. Thresher in the firm, and from that time till 1864 the business, which had greatly increased, was conducted under the firm name of Barney, Parker & Co. Mr. Parker then sold out to Mr. Preserved Smith, the firm becoming Barney, Smith & Co., and the business was thus continued until 1867. when a joint stock company was formed under the name of " The Barney & Smith Manufacturing Company of Dayton," of which Mr. Barney was the President until his death. This company furnishes all kinds of cars for the railroads of the North, East, South and West. During nearly its entire history, Mr. Barney was the head of the establishment, and to him is due the great success of the enterprise. He was a man of great ability, bold but prudent, clear headed, far sighted, energetic, systematic, practical and thoroughly familiar with the business in general and in detail. Some years before his death, Mr. Barney, realizing the fact that our forests are rapidly disappearing and the whole country becoming denuded of its timber trees, and that the constant demand for timber would soon exhaust the present supply, and having his attention called to the valuable properties of the "catalpa," a tree of quick growth and furnishing timber of the most enduring quality, began the collection of information respecting the tree, and by correspondence, communications to the papers and the publication of pamphlets, he awakened a very wide-spread interest in the




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subject. He had at his office various specimens of the catalpa wood, one of which was from a post that stood in the ground for seventy-five years and which, with the exception of a very slight decay on the outside, was as perfect and sound as when sunk in the earth. He had, also, numerous letters from foreign countries as well as all parts of the United States, making inquiries respecting the catalpa, commending him in the most flattering terms for the interest he had taken in this important matter, and assuring him that his efforts in that connection could not fail to be crowned with the most valuable results, and be appreciated by future generations. If he who causes two blades of grass to grow where but one grew before " is a benefactor to his race, in an equally important sense is this true of a man who was instrumental in arousing the attention of nurserymen and agriculturists in the liberal cultivation of this most valuable timber tree, calculated, as it is, to furnish excellent lumber for future use. Mr. Barney was never an aspirant for public office. He was, however, President of the Dayton Hydraulic Company from its organization, and was Vice President of the Second National Bank of Dayton, also a Director and the largest stockholder of the same. He was like-wise for many years prominently connected with the First Baptist Church of Dayton. and for some twenty years a member of the Board of Trustees of Dennison University. at Granville, Ohio (the Baptist college of the State), to which institution he has given $50,000, the same being to endow two memorial Professorships. He. also contributed very largely to various other enterprises connected with his denomination. On October 10, 1834, he married Julia, daughter of Dudley Smith, of Galway, Saratoga Co., N. Y, and six children, of whom five are living, were the issue of this marriage. Mr. Barney departed this life on the 17th of December, 1880, and was buried in the beautiful Woodland cemetery, with ceremonies befitting his rank in life.

ERHARD BAUMAN, baker, Dayton ; was born in Bavaria, Germany, July 31, 1831, and emigrated to America in 1848. In April, 1855, he married Mary Koch, by whom he has had three sons and two daughters--Rose, Emma, Louis, Adolph L. and Oscar. He was one of the first to strike his pick on the city gas works under old Mr. Wheelock. He worked at baking for W. W. Wold three years, and then commenced the baking business for himself, in which he continued one year, and then, with Mr. Wisemiller, started the brewery of Bauman & Wisemiller. He discontinued this in 1856, and commenced his present business at 437 West Third street, where he has since continued with marked success. His family are members of the Catholic Church.

ADOLPH L. BAUMAN, baker, Dayton ; was born in Dayton Nov. 29, 1855. He is the son of Erhard Bauman, a baker of Dayton. He was reared and educated in the Catholic schools of the city, and when thirteen years of age learned the baking business with his father. In 1877, he established his present business ; has succeeded in building up a trade second to only one in the city. He was married, May 27, 1879, to Caroline, a native of Dayton. They have no children. Mrs. Bauman is a member of Emanuel Catholic Church.

FRANK BAUMHECKEL, butcher, Dayton ; was born in Bavaria January 7, 1827. His father, John, was born in 1794, and his mother Katie in 1801. They were born under the French Government, and the father became a soldier under Napoleon. Frank, our subject, came to America in 1843, and landed in New Orleans, where he was during the Mexican war. In May, 1847, he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and, in 1851, to Dayton, where he has since lived and plied his trade of butchering. He married, Feb. 7, 1857, Miss Elizabeth Mack, daughter of Gottlieb, and Dora Mack, of Dayton, by whom he has had the following nine children--Louisiana (since dead), Louis M. (dead), Franklin Benjamin, William Tecumseh, Charles L. E., George Alexander Lafayette, Katie Elizabeth Isabelle, Florence Augusta Eugene, Otto Edward Gambetta. Mr. Baumheckel was a member of the City Council for 1869 and 1870, and Meat, Inspector from 1868 to 1881. He is a member of Schiller Lodge, No. 6, I. O. O. F.; Dayton Encampment, No. I. O. O. F.; St. John's Lodge, No. 13, Masonic ; Unity Chapter, No. 16, Masonic ; Reese Council, No. 9, Masonic ; Ancient Order of Druids, Dayton Marrie, No. 14, Harugari, Shawnee Tribe Red Men, Butchers' Association, Dayton Turners' Society, and Miami Lodge, No. 6, A. O. U. W.


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DANIEL BECKEL was born Sept. 14, 1813, in Summerless, County Cornwall, Lanncell Parish, Eng. He was the son of Richard and Susan Beckel. While he was yet quite a youth, his father died, and his mother afterward married James Giddings. In 1829, when young Beckel was sixteen years of age, the family came to this country, settling first in the city of Baltimore. Mr. Giddings, being a civil engineer, soon became engaged in the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and, taking Beckel as assistant, they so continued until 1835 or 1836, when they came to Tuscarawas County, Ohio. While living in that county, they were engaged upon the public works, then in process of construction by the State. Afterward they became the con-tractors for, and constructed the great St. Mary's Reservoir, for the Miami Canal. After the completion of that work, Mr. Beckel came to Dayton, where he continued to reside until his death. He had already accumulated a handsome fortune for that day, but, being full of energy and enterprise, he was not content to let it, or himself, remain idle, but soon engaged in large and important undertakings, which proved profitable to himself, and greatly beneficial to the city. He was the projector of what is called the Upper Hydraulic Basin, organized a company, in which he was a principal. He was the builder of the Commercial Mill upon the basin, now owned by S. Gebhart & Sons, and in connection with William J. Lamme, operated it for several years. He also built the Ohio Block, Beckel Opera House, the Beckel House (hotel), and other valuable structures. He was at all times engaged in various business, in the manufacture of woolens and of flour, in the lumber trade, in the construction of railroads and turnpikes, and largely in banking. In connection with William Dickey and Joseph Clegg, he established a private bank, which for many years enjoyed unlimited credit, and was a favorite depository of money. Dickey and Clegg having withdrawn, a stringency in the money market in 1854 caused a run upon the bank, and his means being largely invested in real estate and inconvertible securities, Mr. Beckel was compelled to suspend payment for a time; but by his skillful management and great energy, he was enabled to pay all his liabilities, and save to himself a large property. He was almost the sole owner of the Miami Valley and Dayton Banks, and was Cashier of the latter, and at one time President of the Dayton Insurance Company, of which he was one of the original organizers. In 1851, Mr. Beckel was elected to the House of Representatives of the Ohio Legislature, in which he served through two sessions, with the same ability that he had exhibited in all his business enterprises, and was an active, useful and influential member of that body. On Sept. 2, 1845, Mr. Beckel was married to a most devoted and excellent woman, who still survives, Susan Harshman. They had twelve children, of whom six were living at the time of his death. His oldest son, Daniel, was killed by accident not long after. The others are still living. On the 26th day of February, 1862, Mr. Beckel died suddenly, from serous appoplexy, caused no doubt by overwork and over-tasking of the brain for years. Mr. Beckel had none of the advantages of early education or mental training, of study or extensive reading. Yet he was a man of remarkable intellectual force. His whole attention was given to practical business, and in that his intelligence, the clearness of his understanding, his sagacity and the soundness of his judgment, were recognized by all who came in contact with him. He was capable of great things, as well as small, and looked at every scheme or undertaking in all its bearings ; having a thorough knowledge of all the elements of business. His strong will, untiring energy and boldness of enterprise, under the favorable circumstances that existed in the years succeeding his death, would undoubtedly have added much to his fortune, and made him, had he lived, a very wealthy man. He was large minded enough to know that the interests of the city of his residence, and of' the public generally, were also his interests, and he was noted for h is public spirit, being always ready and anxious to promote any public improvement or useful enterprise. It is a common remark among those who knew Mr. Beckel that his death was a great loss and misfortune to the city of Dayton. Mr. Beckel's was a correct, sober, earnest life. He had not time for much social intercourse ; but was of a genial and kind disposition, a good and generous friend, and an excellent husband and father.


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HENRY BEST (deceased); was born in Cincinnati Nov. 21, 1804. and died in Dayton Jan. 26, 1873, in the 69th year of his age. His father, Thomas, and his uncles, Samuel and Robert, were early pioneers of the " Queen City." His parents, Thomas and Margaret, moved during his infancy to Lebanon, Warren Co., Ohio, where Henry was reared and learned the jeweler's trade of his father. In 1828, he located in Dayton, where for forty-five years he plied his trade with that industry so characteristic of the early inhabitants of our land. He was of a quiet, unassuming disposition and very retiring in manners. With no aspirations for office, he seemed to shrink from publicity; but was a lover of nature and its solitude. He was a confirmed devotee of piscatorial amusement, and lost no opportunity for indulging his taste in that sport. He was always considered one of the most moral, upright, reliable and worthy citizens of Dayton. In the latter years of his life, the retired from active business, leaving the conduct of his affairs to his son Edwin. In religious belief he was a Free Thinker in the broadest sense of that term. In 1832. he married Ann S. Drill, daughter of Andrew Drill, of Dayton, formerly of Frederick City, Md. The fruits of this union were seven children, of whom three sons and two daughters survive. The sons are all jewelers by trade, and constitute the fourth generation of the family in the same business. His son Newton resides in Union City, Ind. Edwin has a jewelry store on Main street, near Second, being the old stand in which his father carried on for years before him, and in the house in which he, Edwin, was born ; William has a jewelry store on the corner of Main and Third streets. The daughters are Mrs. Emma Hilkey and Miss Carrie Best. Edwin was born in Dayton Sept. 10, 1839. and, after receiving a public school education, entered his father's store, where, at 21 years of age, he became a partner. On the death of his father, the old firm name was not changed, but went on in the same style, Edwin taking full charge as he did when his father was living, being the active partner. Since then he has made many changes for the better. On the 19th of September, 1861, he married Mary Cecelia, daughter of Gilbert Collins, by whom he has had three children.

WILLIAM H. BEST, jeweler; was born in Dayton Sept. 15, 1845. He is the son of Henry Best, deceased, whose biography appears in this work. He attended the common schools until the was 15 years old, when he studied designing and engraving under Emil Schmidt, of Dayton, for two years. He then attended the Miami Commercial College, of Dayton, for two years, after which he entered the store of his father, where he remained until 1875, when he commenced business for himself' on the corner of' Main and Third streets. On the 27th of May, 1869, he married Miss Eva Williams, daughter of J. Insco Williams, who is famous throughout the United States as an artist. The issue of this marriage was two daughters and one son. The lather, our subject, is neither a politician, member of' church or office-seeker. He has a large and successful business, to which he gives his whole and undivided attention, feeling that he has no time to dabble in outside matters. The large and profitable patronage he enjoys is sufficient proof of his desire and ability to please all to whom his goods are shown.

JOHN BETTELON, saloon and restaurant, Dayton, was born January 13, 1829, in the city of Dayton, where his father came directly from Germany. His grandparents both lived and died in Germany, which was also the birthplace of his father who came to this country and married Miss Barbara Nauerth of' Dayton, by whom he had six children, three boys and three girls. He departed this life in 1852, and was followed by his wife on Christmas Day, 1879. Our subject received a common-school education and then served a full term of apprenticeship to a baker, followed by a full term to a confectioner which occupied the time from 1841 to 1847. when he began to run on the river as a pastry cook. In 1852 he quit the river and, with J. V. Nauerth, opened a saloon and restaurant in the Cooper House, opposite the Market House on Main street, where he continued until 1858, when he went into the wholesale liquor business. He next, in 1871, engaged in the banking business in the People's and Savings Bank, where he remained for five years, or until 1876, when he again went into the wholesale liquor business, which he afterward changed into his present establishment. He now has a


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large and convenient saloon and restaurant where a man can have all or any of his wants supplied, and is meeting with the success his enterprise and industry merit. In 1858 he married Miss Mary Ann Mouter, of Dayton, and has had born to him seven children, four boys and three girls.

MAJ. WILLIAM DENISON BICKHAM, editor and proprietor of the Dayton Journal, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 30, 1827. He prepared for college in private and public schools, and was a student in Cincinnati, and Bethany (West Virginia) Colleges. After the death of his father, he entered the news room of the Cincinnati Gazette, and acquired a knowledge of type-setting during a two years' apprenticeship ; subsequently, at the age of twenty, was city and commercial editor of the Louisville (Ky.) Daily Courier, of which Walter N. Halderman, now in a similar capacity on the Louisville Courier-Journal, was general manager. Having business in New Orleans, in the settlement of his father's estate, he went there in the fall of 1848, going down the Ohio, as a regular flat-boat hand for the munificent wages of $15 per month. The trip to Cairo occupied twenty-nine days, during which the boat grounded on almost every bar in the river. The following year, Mr. Bickham was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Cincinnati, and early in 1850, he was seized with the gold fever and went to California, via the Isthmus. From thence he proceeded on a sailing vessel (the barque Anne, of Bristol, R. I.); from Panama to the coast of California, a voyage of sixty-three days, where he was washed ashore, from the wrecked launch of the ship, June 2, 1850. He spent over a year at hard labor in the Northern mines, on the North Fork and Middle Fork of the American Rivers, at Grass Valley, and in the vicinity of' Nevada, besides prospecting a large area of country. He dug considerable gold, but lost it in mining enterprises, trying to make more. In 1852, he represented El Dorado County as a delegate in the first Whig State Convention in California, held in San Francisco. Settling in the latter city, he obtained a place in the customs service, and was actively engaged in politics, being one of the Executive Committee of the First Young Men's Whig Club organized in California, then a Territory; subsequently he assisted in the organization of the Young Men's Mercantile Library Association, of San Francisco, was its first Librarian, and prepared the first catalogue of the library ; meantime, and afterward was employed at various times as city editor of the San Francisco Picayune, as editor and part proprietor of the San Francisco Evening Journal, and again as city editor of the San Francisco Evening Tunes and the Morning Ledger at the same time. Returning home in April, 1854, after four years' absence, without money, he accepted, for want of' a more congenial pursuit, a position as brakeman on the morning express train from Cincinnati to Dayton, on the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway. Within a few weeks he was promoted to baggage master ; then accepted a position as traveling correspondent and agent of the Cincinnati Daily Columbian ; next, was engaged on the city staff of the Cincinnati Evening Times, C. W. Starbuck & Co., proprietors; a few months later, became traveling correspondent for that paper, and while correspondent in the Legislature early in 1856, accepted the position of city editor of the Cincinnati Commercial, remaining in that office as city editor, and Washington, Columbus, and general correspondent until the beginning of the rebellion, when he was assigned to duty as war correspondent of the Commercial, with the army of West Virginia, being also appointed volunteer aid-de-camp on the staff of Gen. Rosecrans, with the rank of Captain, in which capacity he discharged all the duties of an officer of his rank. After the battle of Carnifex Ferry, Maj. Bickham was transferred to other military fields, being war correspondent with the Army of the Potomac, until after the seven days' battles on the Chickahominy and at Malvern Hill ; then in Kentucky until the Cumberland Gap expedition, under Gen. George H. Thomas, afterward in Mississippi, with Gen. Rosecrans' command at Corinth, and finally, with the Army of the Cumberland, ending with the occupation of Murfreesboro, after the battle of Stone River, when Gen. Rosecrans conferred upon him the title of Major for services in that battle as volunteer aid-de-camp. In May, 1863, immediately after the destruction of the Journal office, Maj. Bickham was invited to take control of the newspaper field in Dayton, Ohio, and immediately repaired to that city, making it his


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home, on and after the 11th of that month. During these laborious nineteen years to date, the Journal has grown into a strong and influential paper, financially and politically. Maj. Bickham, although fifty-five years of age, is as vigorous as ordinary men ten years younger, and has a large capacity for hard work. He owes his vitality to a powerful constitution, and superior physical powers carefully cultivated in athletic exercises in his youth and earlier manhood. His habit now is to spend ten or twelve hours at work and walk six to eight miles daily for exercise. He has unshaken faith in the Republican party, believing that the best interests of the nation are involved in its prosperity. He is a blunt, plain man, yet kind and courteous to friend and stranger alike ; and, although his determined and vigorous, partisan journalistic career has created enemies among his political opponents, his friends stanch and true may be counted by the hundreds.

GEORGE N. BIERCE, manufacturer, Dayton. This highly respected citizen and business man of Dayton is a member of the firm of Stillwell & Bierce Manufacturing Co., manufacturers of steam heaters and turbine water wheels, and roller mills. He was born at Nelson, Portage Co., Ohio, October 20, 1812. His father, H. N. Bierce, was a native of Connecticut, and a pioneer farmer of that portion of the Buckeye State. When the subject of this sketch was four years of age, his mother was called to her final resting place, and four years later his father joined her " on the other side." Being left an orphan when very young, Mr. Bierce went to Canton, Ohio, where a kind uncle and aunt received him into their family fold, and where he was reared and educated. When the war of the rebellion commenced, Mr. Bierce became an ardent advocate of the principles of liberty, and in 1862, enlisted in Company K, Ninety-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving as a private for eighteen months. Disability necessitated his discharge, but after recovery he again enlisted, this time as Adjutant of the 131st Regiment, serving till the end of the fratricidal strife. After the close of the war, he came to Dayton, and in 1866 associated himself in business with E. R. Stillwell, in the manufacture of the Stillwell Heater. In 1870, the firm commenced making the celebrated " Eclipse " turbine water wheel, and in 1879 added the Victor " turbine to their list, the latter bearing the reputation of being the best one manufactured in the United States. Mr. Bierce has charge of the introduction of the goods of the firm, and their enormous and steadily increasing trade. He was married in September, 1865, to Marion L. Barkdull, a native of Saratoga Springs, N. Y. Of the three children sent to them two survive--Claude S. and Fred N. Elsie died, aged sixteen months. Mr. Bierce and wife are members of the first Baptist Church. He is Republican in politics, and by his integrity in business, and warm social qualities, has won the respect and esteem of the better class of citizens of Dayton and Montgomery County.



EZRA BIMM, wholesale and retail grocer and ice dealer, Dayton. The ancestors of this gentleman were all Germans. Three brothers--John, Adam and one whose name is now forgotten--coming from Hesse-Cassel, on the River Rhine, Germany (being the only children of their family), and settling in Pennsylvania. Adam was the first of the brothers to cross the Atlantic, John following him when but nineteen years old, but yellow fever was so bad in Philadelphia, that the vessel was not allowed to land there. but put its passengers ashore near that city. John began working for a Quaker family with whom he remained one and one-half years, being taught English by his benefactors, and in after years he always spoke highly of his Quaker mother " as he called the lady of the house. Learning the whereabouts of his brother Adam he left his Quaker home for Philadelphia, where both his brothers were living, and from there went to Woodbury, Gloucester Co., N. J., where he married Christina Dansenbaker, a native of that county, born near Deerfield. Here he followed farming until the spring of 1818, when he started with his family for Ohio, landing in Dayton on the 1st of June, after a six weeks' trip. His brother Adam and himself, previous to his coming to Ohio, visited their brother who was working in a glass factory in Philadelphia, and Adam was so much opposed to John going to Ohio, that he came one day's journey with him, trying to influence John to return, but without avail, as our subject's father kept on toward the setting sun. Five children were born in N. J., viz., Henry, Joseph. Jacob,


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Ann and Elizabeth, and five in Ohio, viz., John, Isaac, James, Mary and Ezra. John Bimm, with his wife and family. first stopped at the La Fayette House, on 3d street, where Mr. Huffman lived and kept store, and his first acquaintance was Col. George Newcom, who proved to be a warm and devoted friend, and who gave him the use of' his cabin until he could provide one for himself and family. His first work in Ohio was for Col. Grimes and D. C. Cooper, about which time Mr. Cooper offered him the let, upon which the jail now stands, for five days' work, but Mr. Bimm thought the lot was too dear, as it was then a frog pond. From Col. Newcom's he moved to Huffman's farm, thence to Cozard's, thence to near the Edgar farm on the Shaker pike, and from there to the farm of H. G. Phillips, on which the cabin stood to the right of the large brick now standing there. About this time he bought from Dr. John Steele thirty acres of land on the hill, by Hawes' Mill, upon which he erected a two-storied frame house, and here he died in 1847, his wife having died two years previous. The subject of this sketch was the youngest in a family of' ten children, and was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, May 3, 1829, his early youth being passed on the farm, which was his father's vocation. When but twelve years old he began clerking in Herman's grocery store, of Dayton, where he remained one year, when he returned to the farm, on which he worked about a year ; he then came to Dayton and began working at carpentering for Ware & Wareham, then for Mr. Smith, in what was at that time called Frenchtown, after which he returned home, spent one winter at Harshman's, going to school. and then entered his brother Joseph's store where he clerked for two or three years. About this time he formed a desire of going to California, which he relinquished when given an interest in his brother's store, which partnership existed for sixteen years when they divided it, each taking as a partner a son of Joseph's both of whom soon died, and then Ezra took the grocery and ice business and Joseph the pork business, and a farm. Two years ago Mr. Bimm gave two of his sons an interest in the business, the firm being now E. Bimm & Sons, which is recognized as one of the leading houses of' Dayton. Our subject built the first artificial ice lake in the county, which is located close to the Barney & Smith Car Works, and there erected buildings with a capacity of 50,000 tons of ice, in which line he does an immense business. Mr. Bimm was married October 19. 1852, to Miss Sarah Beardshear, daughter of Isaac and Sarah ( Booker) Beardshear, of Harrison Township, Montgomery Co., Ohio, to whom has been born three sons, viz„ Levi, Joseph and Herman H., all living and young men of bright promise. Politically Mr. Bimm is a Republican, has always taken a warm interest in the success of his party, was a member of the City Council from 1859 to 1864 inclusive and assisted in organizing the present fire department of Dayton. He has been a director of the Fireman's Insurance Company of Dayton for sixteen years; is a director of the Wayne St. R. R.; is a member of I. O. O. F. and he and family belong to the Lutheran Church. Mr. Bimm is a man of courteous, affable manners, possessing a warm and generous nature. Keen, shrewd and sagacious in business, his success has been marked by straightforward upright dealing with his fellowmen, and from a poor boy he has risen by his own efforts to a foremost place in the commercial arena of his native county.

WESLEY BOREN, brick manufacturer and contractor, Dayton. He is a son of Greenberry and Mary (Ruble) Boren, and was born in Tennessee, near Jonesboro, December 2, 1816, where he lived until 1836, when he removed to Dayton, Ohio, and began the trade of brick mason with Daniel Richmond. In 1843; began business for himself, manufacturing brick and contracting the erection of buildings and is still engaged in said business. His parents were both natives of Maryland, and moved to Tennessee in an early day, where they lived until the death of the father in 1874. He being ninety-two years old, when Wesley brought his mother to Dayton, where she died in 1880 in her ninety-first year. Wesley served two terms as Councilman in the city of Dayton from 1845 to 1849. He is a Master Mason of Dayton Lodge, No. 147, F. A. A. M. Also a member of Montgomery Lodge, No. 5, I. O. O. F. He was married, Nov. 2, 1842, to Lydia Coblentz, daughter of Peter and Barbary (Ruble) Coblentz. Of their eight children but four are now living, viz., Amanda A., Mary C., Alice J. and John W. Mrs. Boren was born in Frederick county, Md., November 6, 1814. She came to


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Montgomery County. Ohio, with her father in 1832. He died in 1851, her mother having died when Lydia was but nine years old. Mr. and Mrs. Boren have been members of the Raper M. E. Church of Dayton over fifty years. Mr. B.. was the contractor and builder of said church. He was a class leader twenty-five years. and has been trustee fifteen years. By his honesty and industry, he has accumulated quite a snug fortune. and has been much respected by all who knew him.

DAVID K. BOYER, Justice of the Peace. Dayton. son of David and Elizabeth Baker Boyer, was born in Raphoe Township, Lancaster Co.. Penn. December 19, 1811. His paternal grandfather was born near Metz. Germany ; his maternal grandfather was born in Hesse-Cassel. His father was born in a section of country called Mulbach, in Lancaster County Penn., in 1770, and died in the same county August 8, 1822. His mother was born in Lancaster City, Lancaster Co.. Penn.. 1775, and died in Parke County, Ohio, in April. 1852. Our subject came to this county April 27, 1840. He had a very limited German and English education in his youth, and was consequently obliged to rely on his was for a means of obtaining a livelihood. H e first kept a tavern at the seven mile store on the Covington pike, after which the taught school in Butler Township, and, on the 28th of April. 1841. he moved to Dayton, where he entered the store of Henry Harman in the capacity of clerk. He next engaged in peddling goods from a budget under his arm. On the 38th of June, 1843, he moved to Union, Montgomery County, and opened a store, in which He continued until elected

Sheriff of' the county in 1856. He moved into the old jail November 3. 185G. His election being contested. the was ousted from office by political influence on the 15th of June, 1857. As an indication of the people's opinion of this unjust and unwarranted action, he was nominated and elected Clerk of the Court at the first election following (October 1857). To this office he was reelected in 1860. and after serving out his full term he entered the wholesale notion business, but with poor success. He then engaged in life and fire insurance, and continued in this until 1876, when he was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace, in which capacity he still continues. He was married on April 2, 1835, to Hannah Eby, of Manheim, Lancaster Co., Penn., by whom he had six children, three boys and three girls; of these, two boys and one girl now surviye. Mrs. Boyer died on the 21st of August, 1880. Mr. Boyer is a member of the Scottish and York Rites of Masons, and an Odd Fellow. He has been Grand Elector of the first Masonic District for the last six years. He left Pennsylvania with a one-horse wagon, $94 of money, and a family of two children. All that he has now, he has made by personal effort, and has no one to thank for his success but himself.

JOSIAH E. BOYER, iron and stove foundry, Dayton. This gentleman was born in Manheim, Lancaster Co., Penn. January 12, 1836. He is a son of D. K. Boyer, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this work, and Hannah (Eby) Boyer. He came to Ohio with his father in 1840, and with him located in Union, Montgomery County in 1843. His education was obtained before his twelfth year of age, at which time he began clerking in the store his father then kept. When approaching his majority, he came to Dayton, and for six months acted as Deputy Sheri$. Shortly after this his father was elected Clerk of the Court and he entered upon the duties of' that office fur his father. He is said to have been the first man, not of the legal profession to successfully conduct the business of that office. This is rather remarkable when we remember that he took control of the office as a green country boy, knowing nothing of the legal formalities with which the duties of that office abound. But nevertheless he carried on the affairs of the office until 1864 with great credit to himself and father. In 1864, he commenced the business of stove manufacturing, and started an extensive iron foundry with John MacMaster under the firm name of Boyer & MacMaster as it now exists. He was married August 24, 1865, to Miss M. Lizzie Kneisley, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Koogler) Kneisley, who came to this county from Pennsylvania. By this marriage one child was born, November 30, 1869, and named David Kneisley Eby Boyer. April 22, 1877, Mr. Boyer was robbed of the comfort and companionship of his wife by death, and he has since remained single. He has never taken a very active part in politics, although twice elected Water-Works Commissioner, and for some years was President of that


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board, being its President during the centennial year. He was the originator of and prime mover in the Mutual and Home Savings Association organized in 1873, of which he was the first Secretary and its President since 1875. He is Past Grand of Wayne Lodge, No. 10, I. O. O. F., and also President of the Dayton Life Insurance Association. In conclusion, he is a gentleman possessed of clear-headed business qualifications, which, aided by an active brain and a persistence of purpose characteristic of all successful financiers, has obtained for this firm and their goods a reputation as the leading stove house in the Miami Valley.

CHRISTIAN F. BREMER. retired, was born June 22, 1823, in Wulkow, close to Sandaw, Prussia, Germany. and is the son of Gottlieb and Mina (Detrick) Bremer, who lived and died in the Fatherland. The parents removed to Bredow, close to Nauen, when Christian F. was but five years old, and there he received his education and grew to manhood, learning the tailor's trade in the city of Berlin. In the spring of 1852, he was married, close to Frankfort-on-the-Main, to Sophia Voght, a native of Hesse-Cassel, and in June of the same year came to America, where he felt that freedom and prosperity went hand in hand, landing in New York with but 17 cents as the sole fortune of' himself and wife (and this small sum was given by the Captain of' the ship to their boy, while on the passage from Germany, he began working at his trade in that city. and soon afterward went to Baltimore, Md., where he worked four years on the bench. In 1856, he came West, remaining a short time in Parke County. Ohio; thence removed to Dayton, where he continued tailoring as a journeyman for about eight years. when he entered into a partnership with Edward McCann in a merchant tailoring establishment, which was soon dissolved, when his brother Charles took McCann's place. and they carried on a successful business for about three years, then sold out and our subject purchased 1521 acres of timber land in Parke County, Ohio, and went into the wood, fie and timber business, running a large gang of men, and working early and late in clearing up the land. Here he spent nine years, then sold his farm and returned to Dayton, remaining retired from active business about two years, when he went into the grocery business on the corner of First and Sears streets, which he ran about ten months, when he sold out and again retired. In May, 1881, he went on a trip to Germany for the purpose of visiting his friends and the scenes of his childhood days, returning to Dayton in September, 1881. Mr. Bremer began life in the New World a very poor man, but by constant toil and earnest effort, coupled with steady, saving habits, he has secured a comfortable competence, and with his wife can now enjoy peace, plenty and happiness, the legitimate heirloom of industrious, well-spent lives.

ANTHONY C. BROWN, hatter, Dayton, was born in Sussex County, N. J., September 15, 1816. He came to Ohio in 1817 with his parents and settled in Greene County and in 1825, they moved to Darke County. Anthony came to Dayton in 1851. His brother, Henry M., established the hat store in 1837, and was succeeded by Anthony in 1861. He is located on North Main street, where he keeps a full line of hafs of the very best quality and of the latest styles.

O. B. BROWN, attorney, Dayton, was born in Jeddo, Orleans Co., N. Y., June 22, 1853. His parents were Col. Edwin F. Brown, a native of New York, born April 23, 1823, and Elizabeth (Britt) Brown, a native of the same place, who was born May 24, 1824, and died June 21, 1878. They were married September 25, 1844, and had four children, all sons--Charles Lee, Will J., Oren B. and Edwin F., all surviving but Will J., who was lost in the West in 1874, and is supposed to be dead. Col. Brown, the father, is a farmer, merchant and soldier. He was Colonel of the 28th N. Y. V. I., having enlisted during the first year of the war and serving two years, that being the full time for which he enlisted. He lost his left arm at the battle of Cedar Mountain August 9, 1862. After the war, he was elected Clerk of the Courts for Orleans County. In 1868, he was appointed Governor of the National Soldiers' Home at Dayton, in which capacity he served until promoted to the office of Inspector General of National Homes for disabled volunteer soldiers in September, 1880. Our subject came to Dayton April 14, 1869. and attended a private school at the old military institute, and


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afterward at the city high school. He also attended Dennison University at Granville, Ohio, until January 1, 1874, when he left the Sophomore-class of that college and entered the same class in Princeton College, Princeton, N. J. From this latter he graduated June, 1876, and at once commenced reading law with Gunckle & Rowe, of Dayton. He was admitted to the bar September 1, 1878, and has since been in the practice of his profession. He was nominated for Clerk of the Court in September, 1881, and elected by 111 majority, being the only Republican county officer elected at that election. He will take his seat on the 9th of March. 1882, and we can safely predict that his constituents will never regret putting him into this responsible position, as he is in every way well qualified to fill it with credit to himself and party. Mr. Brown is a member of the Masonic fraternity, including Knights Templar, of the Knights of Pythias and Royal Arcanum

ELIJAH H. BROWNELL, manufacturer, Dayton; of the firm of E. H. Brownell & Co., boiler makers, was born in Fulton County, N. Y., June 20, 1828. His parents were Frederick and Ann (Polley) Brownell, natives of New York, who located at Lower Sandusky in 1842. The former was a tanner and currier by trade, and the son early assisted his parent in the business. His early literary education was obtained in night-schools only. In 1844, the family removed to Green Springs. where Mr. Brownell became acquainted with Gen. James B. McPherson, who was then a clerk in a little country store owned by Robert Smith, Mr. Brownell learned buckskin tanning. and, after assisting his father for some time, engaged in the milling trade with Matthias Stem, now in the U. S. Treasurer's office, at Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1848. Mr. B. commenced running an engine in about the first steam saw-mill put in operation near Clyde, in Northern Ohio. In 1849, he went to Sandusky, anticipating going on the lakes, as engineer. While sojourning in that city, he made the acquaintance of N. H. Moore, who gave him a job of work in a boiler shop, at 75 cents per day. He remained with him one year and then went to Cleveland, soon after returning to Mr. Moore with whom he finished his trade. During these few years of labor, by strict economy and perseverance, he had been able to save a small sum of money, sufficient to invest in business for himself'. He sought a point to locate, and, after visiting Toledo, came to Dayton. He was a perfect sfranger to all but one or two, in the Valley City, but the kindness of its inhabitants and the inducements held out, caused him to locate there, and to establish a business which now excels any of its kind in Montgomery County, and of which none are more proud than those who gave the stranger timely aid and assistance when he most needed it. Mr. Brownell was so pleased with the kindness shown him, that he will always remember with grateful heart the pioneers of early Dayton. He leased a little building on Foundry street, near the railroad track, where he first commenced business. As trade increased, his buildings had to be enlarged in proportion, and at present they occupy a large space of' ground, in which is transacted an immense amount of business, a sketch of which will be found in another chapter. Mr. Brownell has worked all his life, and given his entire time and attention to his business, the success of which proves this statement. Mr. Brownell also built and started the machine shop and foundry now owned and operated by John R. Brownell and Martin Schneible. Mr. Brownell was married, Nov. 10, 1859, to Sarah A. Warman, a native of New Jersey, who came to Montgomery County in 1854. Of their eleven children, ten are living--Phebe, Minnie, Jennie, Frederick, Addeson, Lincoln, Clara, Elijah J., Sarah, Nellie and Dollie. An infant is deceased. Mr. B. united with the Baptist Church, during the pastorate of the Rev. Mr. Dickinson, and officiated as Trustee in the Union Avenue Church for some years. His father was a Whig in politics, and the son followed in his footsteps until the birth of the Republican party. He then enlisted under its banner, and during the dark "night of gloom" was an earnest advocate on the Union side, and a warm supporter of the doctrines and principles of the martyred Lincoln. Elijah H. Brownell is a man among many. Commencing life as a poor boy, he has risen, step by step, to a position where, by spotless integrity, true benevolence, and genial good nature, he has won the respect of all, and gained a host of warm personal friends. Mr. Brownell's father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was sta-


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tioned at Sackett's Harbor, under Gen. Brown; and six of his mother's uncles fought for liberty during the Revolutionary war.

STEPHEN THOMAS BRYCE, manufacturer of furnaces, Dayton, was born on the 29th day of September, 1840, in the town of Burchville, St. Clair Co., Mich. At the age of six years, his father died, leaving his widow with a family of six children, three boys and three girls, to support. In the year 1846, the family removed to the village of Kilworth in Canada, where they continued to reside until 1851, when they moved to Port Huron, Mich. It was during their residence in Canada, and the subsequent two years, that the subject of this sketch obtained what schooling he ever received. About this time. in the winter of 1853-54, his mother married again. The stepfather being a lumberman. during the following years.' until he was twenty-one, Mr. Bryce spent in that business. In winter he was occupied in the pineries, and in spring, summer and autumn he was engaged in rafting and carpentering and generally converting the logs into lumber. buildings, etc. October 4,1861. Mr. Bryce enlisted in the Third Michigan Cavalry, Company H, and was made First Sergeant, which position he held during the three years of his service in the army. Although in the summer of 1862, through the recommendation of his Captain --Highwood--his name had been sent in for promotion to a Lieutenancy. The recommendation was approved, and the commission forwarded, but, in the meantime, Capt. H. had resigned, and the First Lieutenant having become Captain before the commission was delivered. and Mr. B. being at that time confined to his tent by sickness, exerted such influence as caused it to be returned and conferred on another. Mr. B. served with his regiment, beginning with the siege and capture of New Madrid, Island No. 10 and Corinth, and all subsequent campaigns in Wrest Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, up to the spring of 1864. The regiment then re-enlisted ; Mr. B.. declining to follow its example. was detailed by order of Maj. Gen. C. C. Washburn, then commanding the Sixteenth Army Corps, to detached service in the transportation office in Memphis, in which position he remained until his term of seryice expired, October 4, 1864, when he went to Detroit and was mustered out. The following winter he spent in the Bryant & Stratton Commercial College, in Detroit. In fhe spring of 1805, he returned to Memphis. Tenn.; after remaining there two or three months, he changed base to New York City. He there became engaged with a firm, his field of work being principally the State of New Jersey. September 29. of that year, being his twenty-fifth birthday. he was married near Sharpstown, N. J.. to Miss Adelaide M. Webber, daughter of John Webber. of Dayton. who was at that time visiting her relatives in that State During the following winter and spring. they resided in New York City. The following April of 1866. they moved to Dayton, Mr. B. going into the stone business, which he has followed ever since. having been largely identified with the building interests throughout this section of the State, also in Chicago, and many other cities at a distance. In politics Mr. B. grew up a Democrat of the Douglas school, but since the war he has been actively in sympathy with the Republican party. In the spring of 1877 he was elected to the City Council from the Fifth Ward, in which position he continued until his term had nearly expired; i. e., two years, when he resigned. In the spring of 1880. he was again elected to the Council, this time to represent the Tenth Ward, upon the organization of Council he was elected President of that body, with what ability and satisfaction may be shown by his unanimous re-election to the Presidency the following year, every Republican and Democrat in Council voting for him, which, in these days of party strife. may be considered the highest of compliments. He is still occupying the chair as President of Council. Be has a family, consisting of five daughters and two sons, as follows. May Eloise, John Webber, Angie Helena, Ada Marietta, Daisy Florence. Stephen Dudley and Edna Annetta. In April, 1881, Mr. Bryce retired from the stone and contracting business, and is now in partnership with Mr. Walker, engaged in manufacturing the Fair Natural Draft Furnace, also the " Monarch '' Furnace. for heating public and private buildings, the latter of which Mr. Bryce is the inventor of, and which the manufacturers claim to be the best in the market.


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CHARLES BURROUGHS, retired, Dayton. He is an old, retired lumber merchant of the city of' Dayton. He is a son of Joseph and Mima (Hendrickson) Burroughs, and was born July 22, 1810, near Trenton, N. J.. where he lived until twenty-three years old ; and, in 1833, moved to Dayton, Ohio, and engaged with Mr. David Zigler Cooper to work on the saw-mill, and, at the death of' Mr. Cooper, rented the mill and ran it until 1846, when he gave it up and engaged in the lumber trade, which he carried on quite extensively until 1871, when he sold out and retired from business. He landed in Dayton with $2.50, with which he began business, and with willing hands, a good character, and an indomitable will, he pushed ahead until he acquired sufficient amount of wealth to meet his every want in his old age. His father died when Charles was but ten years old. After working some five years on a farm, he worked at shoemaking until he started for Ohio. He was Vice President of the Dayton Savings' Bank two years; is still one of the stockholders of said bank. Mr. B. is pleasantly located at No. 409 East Fifth street. He is the only one of his father's family that ever came West. except a brother that resided a short time in Dayton, Ohio, and then returned to New Jersey.

ROBERT YOUNG CHAMBERS, deceased, was born in Parish Kyle, Queens County, Ireland, May 8, 1808. At the age of twenty-two years, he left home via Dublin for Liverpool, from which point he sailed for America on May 14, 1830, in the ship William and John, of West Florida. He landed in New York July 7, 1830, and started at once for the West, stopping first at Braddock's Field, Penn., where he remained for a short time, but was induced to go on to Cincinnati, where he arrived December 2, 1830. He did not stop at Cincinnati, but pushed on by stage to Dayton. where he arrived on the 9th of December, 1830. He first obtained employment as foreman in the pork packing establishment of Davie. In this capacity he continued until he took command of' the canal boat Messenger for the same firm. which then occupied the southwest corner of the canal basin. He remained in their employ until their failure, when he obtained a similar position of one Ritchie. About this time, June 8, 1836, he was married in St. Peter's Church, Cincinnati, to Miss Eliza Mullin, of Cincinnati, formerly of County Antrim, Ireland. In 1838, he removed with his family to Dayton, where he accepted a position with the late Alexander Simms in the grocery firm of Simms & Sayres, in which he soon obtained an interest, and continued the business under the firm name of Chambers, Simms & Sayres. He afterward, by a succession of changes, became, in 1845, the senior member of the firm of Chambers & Harris, with Mr. John Harris. They purchased at the same time the competition business of Esterbrook & Phelps, who had purchased the established business of Reach, Emdie & Co. Chambers & Harris then controlled two of the largest commission houses in Dayton for eleven years, at the expiration of which time they dissolved their partnership relations, and Mr. Chambers built the building known to old residents as the factory," and established " Chambers' Line," an independent line of canal packets running from Cincinnati to Toledo. About this time, he suffered a loss by fire, which consumed his building, but he built again on the old site what is known as Chambers' Warehouse. Hit business began to assume large proportions, and his boats became such a source of anxiety to the Sandusky Railroad Company (the first road here), that they made repeated proposals to buy them, but their offers were refused, and he continued in his ever-increasing business until his retirement in 1873, after nearly half a century spent in the most active business. He left his business to his son, .John M., and Mr. M. W. Chambers, and paid a visit to the haunts of his childhood in his native land, only to find his friends and relatives gone. He died in May, 1876, aged just sixty-eight years, leaving a host of mourning friends behind. His life, spent in honest activity, was not sullied by a single stain. He was a consistent communicant of the Catholic Church, but his charities extended to all denominations. At his death, his family of nine children had dwindled to five--one son, who died in 1879, and four daughters. who still occupy the old homestead on East Second street.

CHARLES EDWIN CLARK, son of David and Hannah (Halderman) Clark, was born in the old county jail (Dayton), .July 31, 1850, during his father's second


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term of Sheriff of the county. His father was afterward County Treasurer for two terms and for five years just previous to the war the editor and proprietor of the Daily and Weekly Empire. The later years of David Clark's life were fraught with many sorrows and cares. Through misfortunes, which are familiar to the old friends of the family, he had been reduced from comparative affluence to the position of hard toil for the support of his family. To save those who had trusted him from financial loss, David Clark and his devoted wife gave up the snug fortune they possessed to the last dollar, and bravely began anew the struggle for means to educate their children.



Charles, though at that time but a mere boy, contributed not a little towards the family's support. He was always ready to turn an honest penny by work at anything. Each year his school vacation and oftentimes his spare evenings for study were spent at the hard work of a young clerk in an ice cream saloon and confectionery, toiling six-teen or seventeen hours a day during the hot months of the year, whilst his school-mates were enjoying their vacation as only school boys can enjoy such freedom. Young Clark never murmured--he was only too glad to be able to ease, though in a small degree, the burdens of the father he idolized.

Mr. Clark received a common school education. The death of his father compelled him to withdraw from the high school, where he had been a student for about one year, to aid his mother in the support of his brothers and sister. Mr. N. Ohmer gave him his first regular employment in his Union Depot Restaurant, where he remained some years. In May, 1871, he entered the employ of Maj. W. D. Bickham, editor and proprietor of the Daily Journal, as office-boy, where he soon worked his way up to bookkeeper. In the spring of 1873, he accepted the position of business manager of the Daily and Weekly Kentuckian, Paducah, Ky., in which city he resided for some months. Returning to Dayton he was married to Miss Maria Dee Truesdell, a teacher in the Dayton Public Schools, and a few weeks later again entered the employ of Maj. Bickham, as business manager of the Dayton Journal, a position he has uninterruptedly held to this day. Mr. Clark, though a stanch Republican, has not meddled much in politics. He has held but one political office, that of City Councilman, for one term. In April, 1879, he was the unanimous nominee of his party for Councilman from the old Fifth Ward. Although the ward was something like 100 votes politically opposed to Mr. Clark, he was elected after a short but hot contest by a majority of twenty-one votes over his Democratic opponent, Mr. T. C. Dobbins, a prominent hardware merchant. He made a faithful and a conscientious Councilman. During his entire term of two years he was absent from but one meeting of the Council, and that was occasioned by the death of a near and dear friend--a brother Councilman.

It was mainly through Mr. Clark's plucky efforts that the " Sunday ordinance" became a law of the city. He also energetically labored by arguments and all fair means to have the Ordinance to restrain animals from running at large within the city limits" adopted. These measures met with the vehement opposition of many citizens and dire were the threats of political annihilation to all who had a hand in making such laws. To such threats Mr. Clark once made answer : " I am sorry to have your ill will. I believe you are honest in your opposition to me, but your threats do not dismay me, nor shall they deter me from doing my duty as I conscientiously understand it." Mr. Clark's term of Councilman expired in the spring of 1881, and he peremptorily declined to be a candidate for re-election. Two brothers of Mr. Clark, Lieut. R. G. Clark, Sixty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and William V. Clark, Eighty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, died the death of soldiers in the Union army, during the war. His mother still resides in the family residence, which has been her home for thirty years. He has three living brothers and two sisters, viz. : George R. Clark, proprietor of the Port Clinton (Ohio) News ; David P. Clark, of Miamisburg, Ohio ; Douglas Clark, of Pittsburgh, Penn.; Mrs. F. M. Althoff and Miss Lottie E. Clark, Dayton.

JOSEPH CLEGG. director in gas company, Dayton, was born in England April 8, 1814. His father, Thomas Clegg, was born in or near Manchester, Eng., in the year 1790, and after receiving, through his own exertions, a liberal education, engaged in the


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manufacture of cotton goods, having learned the weaving of silk when but a boy. He was married, in 1810, to Miss Ann Brierly, who died in 1817. In the year following the death of his wife, he, with four sons, of whom our subject was third in the order of birth, came to America, and in 1820 located in Montgomery County. Ohio. In 1824, he came to Dayton, which was then but a village of 1,100 inhabitants, where the remainder of his life was mostly spent. Here he started an establishment for the manufacture of cotton goods, which soon proved to be a prosperous and paying business. he keeping pace in success with the rapid growth of the village. Mr. Clegg continued an active, enterprising and substantial citizen of Dayton until 1850, when he made an overland trip to California, being one of the first to adopt that route. After a stay of ten years in the Golden State, he returned to Dayton, but in after years made repeated trips to the same State. The last twenty years of his life were spent in Dayton, his time being devoted mostly to intellectual pursuits, of which he was very fund. He died in 1879, having reached the ripe old age of fourscore and nine years, and leaving behind him a record of a life well spent and of' talents well employed. Of the four sons who accompanied him from England, only two survive, viz., James B. and Joseph, the latter being the subject of this sketch. He has been almost a life-long citizen of Montgomery County. His education was mainly obtained at night and Sunday schools, and entirely through his untiring zeal in the pursuit of knowledge. His early life was spent in the factories of' his father. Being of an enterprising spirit. he has risen to the rank of the most substantial citizens of Dayton. He has accumulated a large amount of property, which to-day dots the city in all directions, standing as monuments of his successful career and shrew business tact. One of his first enterprises was the erection of a cotton factory and linseed oil mill. About this time, he associated himself with the late Daniel Beckel and the late William Dickey in the organization of' the Farmers' Bank, which has long since ceased to exist. In 1851, these same gentlemen organized the Dayton Fire Insurance Company, which is now a well-known and successful corporation. They afterward organized the Mad River Valley Bank. Still later, Mr. Clegg became prominently associated with the Dayton Gaslight and Coke Company, in which he has since been an active and valuable member and for many years a Director. Among the edifices which decorate the city and are owned by him are the "Old Clegg Block," on East Third street, now known as the Superior Court Building; the Jefferson Street Block. fronting 100 feet on the street, after which it was named, and another on Fifth street; the last two named forming a part of what is to be known as " "Clegg's Opera Block," one of the finest and most prominent private enterprises of the city. In addition to these. Mr. Clegg owns Clegg's brown stone block on East Third street, and several fine residences, among them being his own handsome home and the residence of the late Daniel Beckel, both located on South Jefferson street. He also possesses many minor buildings, which, though of considerable value in themselves, are of too little importance to mention here. Mr. Clegg's identification with the enterprises of the city have tended to the elevation of its social standing and the education of the rising generation. His political affiliations have ever been with the Whig and Republican parties, and during the war of the rebellion his contributions, in aid of the Union cause, should alone warrant to him the high esteem of all. He has been for many years a member of' the Episcopal Church, and was a valuable and efficient worker in the Sabbath school at an early day, and during this time his benefices have been constant and generous. He was married, in 1835, to Miss Tirzah Bailey, daughter of John Bailey, one of the first settlers of Montgomery County. The issue of this marriage consisted of three children, two of whom survive, viz., Mrs. V. H. Wood, a lady of high culture and rare social attainments and wife of Capt. E. M. Wood, who is now largely engaged in manufacturing linseed oil, as the senior member of the firm of Wood, Archer & Co., of this city. The other surviving child is Charles B. Clegg, who, with Capt. Wood, was associated with his father in business; but upon the latter retiring, Charles and M. Wood continued the business, in connection with Messrs. W. S. and G. A. Archer, under the then firm title of Clegg, Wood & Co. Charles B. has recently withdrawn from his active position in the firm


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for recreation. He is President of and a large stockholder in the Oakwood Street Railway, to which enterprise he has devoted much of his time. He is also largely interested in and connected with the management of the other street railways of the city, being a Director of the Third Street route. He has not yet reached the meridian of be, but, though comparatively young, we may safely predict that his future will fully satisfy every reasonable hope of his many friends. His marriage was celebrated in 1861, with Miss Hattie, daughter of the late Horace Pease, who was a well-known and highly respected citizen of Dayton. Their united life existed throughout a period of five years, when death called her home, leaving a husband and two children--Helen W. and Harry P.

REV. H. F. COLBY, pastor first Baptist Church, Dayton. The gentleman whose name heads this sketch was born in Boston Highlands, Massachusetts, in 1842. He is the son of' Gardner Colby a merchant of Boston. Most of his early days were spent in Newton, Mass. He graduated from Brown University, Providence, R. I., in 1862. After studying law for some months and spending nearly a year in Europe, he took a full course of study in the Newton Theological Institution, from which he graduated in 1867. In the fall of the same year, he came to Dayton. Ohio, and was ordained to the ministry and became pastor of the First Baptist Church. In this position, be has continued fourteen years and has been settled longer in Dayton as a pastor than any other of the ministers in the city. In 1870, he was married to Miss M. L. Chamberlain, daughter of Edward Chamberlain, Esq., of Boston. He has four children, one daughter and three sons.

EDWARD CONWAY, dentist. Dayton. This gentleman was born in Annapolis, Md., in 1829, and came to Ohio with his parents three years later. While still in his youth, he took a position in one of the principal dry goods houses in St. Louis, Mo., as a salesman in the fancy goods department, where he proved himself highly competent, but. being desirous of acquiring a profession, he returned to this State, and at nineteen years of age placed himself under the instruction of an able dentist and physician. Having completed his studies, he again placed himself under the instruction of Dr. Jones, now deceased, who was one of Dayton's most skilled dentists and respected citizens. The sole object of Dr. Conway in this his second course of study, was to obtain a thorough knowledge of the various metals best adapted to the use of dentistry. Dr. Jones being an expert in that branch of business, having given it a life-long study. For two years, Dr. Conway pursued his studies without one cent of remuneration. He practiced with marked success in Bellefontaine two years ; during this time Dr. McCandes was his medical preceptor. Here he acquired a practical knowledge of medicine and became quite an expert as a practitioner. Being a skilled physician in all its branches, he has given many years of study to dentistry in all its details, making the analyzation of the various metals a special study in order to ascertain the kind of metals best adapted for his use. This is one of the great secrets of' dentistry, as many a patient's health is ruined on account of' injury from metals and other materials not adapted to the mouth or condition of the stoma ch. The Doctor never uses rubber on this account; nor does he use metals but that which the test of science and long practice has proved to be safe under every circumstance. Gold, silver and platina he recommends and uses in his practice daily. He also uses "virgin" metal--a combination of his own--which he considers equal if not superior to any in use. The doctor has made many improvements in connection with dentistry that are sanctioned and recognized by the leading dentists of the country.

WILLIAM E. CRUME, manufacturer, Dayton. This gentleman is a descendant of an old Welsh family that emigrated to America and located in Maryland about the year 1768. His paternal great-grandfathers, Jesse Crume and Matthew Richardson, came from Maryland to Butler County, Ohio, in 1802. Mr. Crume shortly afterward moved to Kentucky. Mr. Richardson served the terms of 1804 and 1806 in the Ohio Legislature. The great-grandfathers in the maternal line were James Martin, a native of Maryland, and David Steele, a native of Ireland. The paternal grandparents were John C. Crume, who came from Kentucky to Hamilton, Butler Co., Ohio, in 1810, and


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returning to Kentucky, died in 1815 ; and Sarah Richardson, of Maryland, who came to Butler County with her parents in 1803. The maternal grandparents were David Steele, a native of Scotland, and Nancy A. (Martin) Steele, a native of Ireland. The father was born in Butler County, Ohio, and in this State where he married Nancy Steele, he lived during the whole of his life. William E., the subject hereof; was born in Collinsville, Butler Co., Ohio, March 26, 1848, and remained there until 185S, when he moved with his father to Muscatine, Iowa, where they remained two years, and then removed to Somerville, Butler Co., Ohio. May 1, 1864, William enlisted in the One Hundred and Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, being then but, sixteen years of age. He was mustered out in September, 1864, and, on the 2d of February following, he re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Eighty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, from which he was mustered at Nashville, Tenn., October 3, 1865. After the war, he returned to Ohio, and, in September, 1866, came to Dayton, where he learned the trade of carpentering and building with Mr. Andrew Slertz. He worked at his trade until February, 1874 when he started a box-factory ; but, finding this only a local business. he, in 1877, originated his present business, which he conducted in connection with the box-manufacture. The new enterprise grew so rapidly that he was obliged to dispose of the box-factory and devote his entire attention and capital to the new departure. He soon associated with him the late Mr. P. M. Aulabaugh, and afterward Mr. J. W. Sefton, under the firm name of Aulabaugh, Crume & Co., but, on the death of Mr. Aulabaugh, the remaining partners purchased his interest, and now conduct their business under the name of " The Crume & Sefton Manufacturing Company." They supply a large portion of the country with their curious little paper and wood plates for grocers, oyster and berry pails, and folding ice cream and candy boxes. Their business, which is an extensive one, is treated of' properly in our industrial chapter of the city of Dayton. Mr. Crume was elected a member of the Council in April, 1877 ; was re-elected in April, 1880, and elected Vice President of the Board in April. 1881.

ISAAC DAVIS, coal dealer, Dayton, was born in Bellebrook, Greene Co., Ohio, September 15, 1839. His father; Jonathan Davis, who was an Elder in the Central Christian Church of Dayton, was born in Delaware State July 15, 1808, and settled in Bellebrook in 1830, where he started life as a poor farm boy. December 12, 1830, he married Anoxa Sivalla Silvers, who was born in Greene County, August 19, 1812, by whom he had four children, all girls. She died on April 15, 1838, and on July 25, 1838, he married Sarah Ann Darst, who was born in Greene County November 17, 1814, and who blest him with seven sons and one daughter. He died September 3, 1875, leaving his wife and ten children and twenty-two grandchildren. His wife died July 9, 1880. Isaac, our subject, who was of the issue of the second marriage, came to Dayton in 1864, and was followed by his father two years after. He was educated in the common schools, after which he attended the National Normal University of' Lebanon, Ohio, to prepare himself for teaching, and after teaching one year in Greene County, he went to Cincinnati, where he attended the Medical Institute of Cincinnati. He then read medicine with Dr. Curtis, of Cincinnati, for two years, after which he came to Dayton, and, giving up his profession, went into the tobacco business with Mr. Cotterill now of Cotterill, Fenner & Co. He afterward closed up his tobacco business and commenced dealing in coal, in which business he has since continued. He was married, December 24, 1867, to Miss Caroline E. Houghtelin of Dayton, who, after bearing him three sons, died August 25, 1879, with what the doctors pronounced yellow fever. Mr. Davis is a man of integrity and great business tact, is well known in the community and has the respect and esteem of all.

SOLOMON DAY, school teacher, Dayton. The subject of the following sketch was born November 24, 1841, near Janesfield, in Jefferson Township, Logan Co., Ohio. His father, after whom he was named, was born near Cross Keys, South Hampton Co., Va., about the year 1790. By the fortunate accident of having sprung--on his mother's side--from one of the F. F. V.'s-- though his father was a negro slave--he was "free born." Ann Barnell, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was born near Little York, Penn., in the year 1801, and was of Quaker origin, her mother Ann Packer, belonging to the numerous Packer family of Quakers which has fig-


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ured so largely in the past history of that State. "Young Solomon," at the age of nine, was crippled with white swelling. His father dying soon after, he was left to be reared by his mother, who, with a large family of children to support. and with but scanty means, could do but little to assist him in obtaining an education, though feeling deeply solicitous for him in that direction. For three years he was confined to the house by his lameness ; after that, until he was seventeen years old, his only educational advantages was attending an obscure country school daring the winter. By dint of hard study both in and out of school, he managed, at the age of seventeen, to obtain a certificate to teach school from the Board of Examiners of his native county, and after teaching a five months' term, obtained the money to pay his board and tuition at Oberlin College one quarter. He attended that college irregularly from 1859 to 1865, teaching a portion of the time in various parts of the State to procure the means to go to school. In 1870, he came to Dayton to take charge of the colored school, succeeding Mr. Samuel Peters, who had resigned his position to accept an appointment as cashier of the Freedman's Bank at Shreveport, La. He has had charge of that school for nearly ten years, and with excellent results, many of his pupils now occupying important positions as teachers, and some filling clerical positions in Government employ. Mr. Day has long been identified with the educational interests of his people, and for a number of years has taken an active part in politics, and is a firm believer in the possibilities of his race for achievements equal in every particular to the various races which go to make up the great American Nation.

WILLIAM DEIKLER, dealer in agricultural implements, Dayton, son of Sebastian and Mary Ann Deikler, was born February 9, 1835, in Navre, Germany. Emigrated to America, with his parents, in 1843, and located in Butler County, Ohio, where he remained until 1851, when he removed to Montgomery County, Ohio, and purchased a farm in Perry Township. His father was a shoemaker by trade, and carried on the same until his death. He died in May, 1866. His mother died in May, 1880. William served an apprenticeship with his father at the shoe trade, but has devoted the most of his time to farming. He was married October 22, 1867, to Miss Margaret Fisher, daughter of Christopher and Elizabeth M. Fisher. They have five children--Mary C., Annie. Joseph, Laura M. and Margaret E. In 1880, Mr. Deikler engaged in the agricultural implement trade, under the firm name of William Deikler & Co, at No. 210 East Third street, Dayton. where they keep a full line of all first class and the best improved farm machinery. Also a complete assortment of fresh seeds.

WILLIAM DICKEY, deceased. Among the successful self-made men of Dayton, few were better known or more thoroughly respected than the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this biography. His father, Adam Dickey, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in the year 1768, where he lived until seventeen years of age, when, with that love of freedom characteristic of his race, he emigrated to America, locating in Pennsylvania, where, about 1790, he was married to Mary McKee, and nine years later, with his wife and three children, he started for the West and settled at Fort Washington (now Cincinnati), where he was afterward joined by two of his brothers, who had also left their oppressed fatherland to seek a home in the New World. Here he began the manufacture of brick, making the brick for the first house of that kind erected at that point. He followed brick-making until about. 1804, when he removed to near Middletown, Butler County, Ohio, where he engaged largely in milling, farming and distilling, building his own flatboats and shipping the produce to New Orleans, following this business until 1828, in which year he died, his wife surviving him about fifteen years and dying in 1844. Adam Dickey was a very successful business man, but., owing to reverses by fire and otherwise, his affairs were crippled to such an extent as to render him a comparatively poor man previous to his death. The subject of this sketch was born near Middleton, Butler County, Ohio, August 10, 1805, and was the seventh in a family of eleven children, of whom only one survives. His facilities for obtaining book learning were exceedingly meager, but, reared upon the soil and inured to hard labor, he acquired, by contact with the world, that practical knowledge which is the indispensable condition of success. Having arrived at his majority,


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he took a contract for work on the Miami Canal, and of all the contractors on that public work he was the last survivor. He was subsequently engaged, for several years, in a similar capacity on the Ohio Canal. On April 19, 1832, he married Miss Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Van Cleave, of Butler County, and for some years was employed in farming, having a short time previous purchased, in connection with his brother, the homestead of his father. In April, 1839, he became a resident of Dayton, where he engaged respectively in the manufacture of brick, in contracts on the Miami &, Erie Canal, and, in connection with his brothers, in quarrying limestone in the vicinity of Dayton. This last industry has since attained great magnitude. For a number of years succeeding he conducted a line of canal packets between Cincinnati and Toledo and between the latter city and Terre Haute, Ind. During some twenty years of frugal industry, he saved up quite a respectable capital, and in 1850 became a private banker, in company with Joseph Clegg. Esq., and Daniel Heckle, Esq.. the latter since deceased. He was subsequently. in connection with the above named gentleman. one of the organizers of the Miami Valley Bank, of Dayton. He was one of the incorporators of the Dayton Gaslight and Coke Company and for some twenty years its President. He was also one of the organizers of the Ohio Insurance Company. in 1865, of which he was President until his death. In 1866, he had the misfortune to lose the sight of his right eye by cataract, and nine years afterward his left eye became similarly affected. so that he was entirely deprived of the power to read and could distinguish his friends only by their voices. Mr. Dickey was a man of sound judgment and thoroughly good sense. Though deprived of the polish that education gives. he was characterized by great kindness of heart, decidedly modest manners and a quiet benevolence that never publishes its deeds to the world. He was distinguished for sterling integrity from his youth to his death. His caution and prudence. combined with the industry of his business life, have rendered his career a gratifying success, so that he ranked among the wealthiest citizens of Dayton. He died July 15, 1880, leaving a wife, son and two daughters. The son, Samuel A.. who was President of the gas company and a prominent coal merchant, died in August following the death of his father. The daughters are Mrs. Henry C. Graves, of Dayton, and Mrs. Charles B. Oglesby, of Chicago.

SAMUEL A. DICKEY, deceased. The skill of the workman chisels the rough marble block into a shaft of beauty and fashions the letters that tell of the birth, age and death of the silent sleeper beneath, but age defaces the inscription. covering the monument with the mosses of decay, while history preserves in its pages a record of the departed one that time renders more prized and valuable. In the gentleman whose name heads this sketch we have a member of one of the leading families of Dayton, and although he had but reached the meridian of life when stricken down by disease and death, had yet attained, by his own exertions and business capacity, a commanding position in the commercial arena of the Miami Valley. He was born in Dayton, Ohio, March 16, 1840, and was the son of William and Sarah Dickey, a sketch of whom will be found in this work. His boyhood days were passed in attending the schools of his native city, going thence to Wittenberg and Oxford Colleges, receiving a thorough English education. He began his business career by starting a wholesale and retail coal and general fuel depot, which he operated successfully for about seventeen years, or until failing health compelled him to retire from active business. He was married, October 12, 1865, to Miss Sarah E. Hayner, the daughter of Lewis Hayner. of Troy. Ohio, to whom was born two children--Bessie H. and Arthur C. In business circles Samuel A. Dickey was always recognized as one of the most energetic, practical men of Dayton, and in August, 1866, he was elected a Director of the Dayton Gas Company, and President of the same May 10, 1876, which he held until his death. This sad event occurred August 9, 1880, from what is known as progressive locomotor attaxia, with which he had suffered for about two years. Mr. Dickey was a man of a quiet, unassuming disposition, kind and charitable, devoid of all ostentation, a man of actions rather than words, whom the poor and afflicted never sought help from in vain, and in his home he was ever the fond father and affectionate husband. As President of the Gas Company he was looked upon as a shrewd, efficient and capable


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official, firm and unyielding in what he believed to be just, and exhibiting a knowledge of men and affairs far beyond his years ; but the brightest page in his record was that his honesty and integrity were never doubted, his word always being considered as good as his bond.

R. R. DICKEY, President of the Gas Light and Coke Company, Dayton, was born near Middletown, Ohio, October 26, 1816, and is the son of Adam and Mary (McKee) Dickey who are spoken of in the sketch of William Dickey, deceased. Our subject was the youngest of a family of eleven children, and is to-day the only survivor. At the age of eleven years, through the death of his father, he was thrown upon his own resources, and at this tender age he became employed in a brick yard, working fourteen hours per day at $4.87 per month, and, afterward worked upon a farm at $5.00 per month, where he became imbued with that spirit of industry which has characterized him through life. Under those circumstances his advantages for an education were very limited, but by observation and rough contact with the world he acquired that knowledge of men and affairs that cannot be gained in the school room. When but a lad, he began working upon public works in Ohio and Indiana, for his elder brothers, who were prominent contractors, and at the age of seventeen he was made superintendent of a large gang of men, continuing for several years on the public works of those States. In 1842. he became a resident of Dayton, where he engaged with his brothers, John and William, in quarrying stone, which he followed until 1853. In 1847, he was connected with the firm of Dickey, Doyle & Dickey, in placing a line of packet boats on the Wabash and Erie Canal, and under the firm name of Doyle & Dickey built the reservoir lock at St. Mary's, and the locks at Delphos. In 1845, he was one of the organizers of the Dayton Bank, and for several years was one of its Directors. In 1852, he became a partner in the Exchange Bank with Messers. Jonathan Harshman, V. Winters and J. R. Young, and in 1853, became one of the largest stockholders in the Dayton Gas Light & Coke Company, of which he has ever since been a Director. Mr. Dickey served as President of the Gas Company from 1855 to 1858, retiring on account of ill health, but at the annual election in August 1880, he was again elected President, and is at present filling that position in such a manner, as to reflect much credit upon his business capacity and integrity. In 1852, he became identified with the Dayton Insurance Company, and also held an interest in the Dayton & Western R. R., being President of the latter company from 1854 to 1856, inclusive. In 1856, he went to Kansas and invested largely at the first sale of the Delaware Indian trust lands, and the following year put two hundred acres under cultivation, raising the largest crop of corn grown in the State up to that time. Mr. Dickey was one of the organizers of the Dayton National Bank in 1865, and, since 1868, one of its Directors. By this it will be seen that R. R. Dickey has been one of the most active and prominent business men of this city for nearly forty years, doing his full share toward building up its moral and material interests. He was married June 27, 1850, to Miss Martha J. Winters, daughter of V. Winters, Esq., of Dayton, of which union three sons have been born, the two eldest, William W. and Valentine B., being now extensive stock-growers in Colorado. From the rough experience of his early life Mr. Dickey learned the virtues of self-reliance, industry and frugality, clear-headed, shrewd and cautious in business affairs. He is, withal, a man of genial manners and generous impulses, one who is trusted and respected throughout the community of which he has been so long a leading citizen.

GEORGE B. EVANS, M. D., Dayton, was born in Franklin, Warren County, Ohio, April 1, 1855, where he received his primary education in the high school of his native village, which he attended until 1873. He then entered the Hanover College of Indiana, from which he graduated in 1875. Having some knowledge of medicine, he commenced reading it with Dr. O. Evans, Jr., of Franklin, in the summer of 1875, and afterward attended the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, from which he graduated in March, 1878. For fwo years thereafter, he practiced his profession in Middletown, Ohio. On the 17th of June, 1880, the Trustees of Hanover College conferred upon Mr. Evans the degree of A. M., and in the following fall--September 15--he was elected Assistant Physician of the Dayton Asylum for the Insane, which posi-


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tion he now occupies. Mr. Evans has descended from a line of medical men, his father and grandfather both being physicians and men who have reflected honor to the profession, the former, Dr. O. Evans, Jr., now practicing in Franklin, Ohio, of which town he is a native and where his skill as a physician is duly recognized and appreciated. His wife, who was Jane Balentine, is also a native of Franklin. Our subject is a young man of promise, and we feel warranted in saving that in him will be sustained the reputation in the medical profession of the older Evans. He has recently been appointed to make the annual alumni address before the Alumni Association of the Medical College of Cincinnati, which meets in Music Hall, March 1, 1882.

HENRY C. EVERSOLE, merchant, Dayton. The subject of this sketch was born in Van Buren Township Montgomery County, Ohio. October 1842. His father, Abraham Eversole. one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Montgomery County, was born October 9, 1804, near Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, Va., where he spent his boyhood. During his minority, he was apprenticed as a weaver and worked at the loom ; but his inclination was for farming, and when he attained his majority he commenced this occupation, at which he worked during his whole life, until within three weeks of his death. When grown to manhood, he left that part of the beautiful Potomac Valley, the place of his birth, and located at Hagerstown, Md.. where he united in marriage with Mary Logue, with whom he removed to Ohio and who died shortly after their settlement in this State. leaving two children, of whom George, a prominent farmer living near Dodson. Ohio, is the only survivor. In 1834, Mr. Eversole was married to Margaret Folkerth. a lady of excellent worth whose amiable qualities and Christian virtues endeared her to all with whom she came in contact. By this marriage, Mr. Eversole had ten children. three sons. the youngest dying in infancy, and seven daughters. all 6f whom, with the exception of our subject, are residing on farms in Montgomery County. Mr. Eversole died March 20, 1878, after forty-five years' residence in Montgomery County. Our subject worked with his father on the farm until the age of twenty-one, dividing his time in tilling the soil, attending district school three to six months in the year, and acquiring what knowledge he could at odd times in reading and storing his mind with useful information, thus attaining a standing of literary culture seldom attained by young men under like disadvantages. Immediately after becoming of age, he enlisted in the war for the suppression of the rebellion at Cincinnati on the 4th of March, 1864, as seaman on board the receiving ship Grampus, and was afterward transferred to the United States steamer " Fairy, No. 51, of the Mississippi Squadron, under command of Commodore Porter, and, after serving his country faithfully, was discharged by reason of disability. His ship was engaged in piloting transports up and down the Mississippi to Red River and the Gulf. Though engaged in no great battle, he experienced some lively encounters with rebel bushwhackers along shore. Six hours after the terrible inhuman and bloody massacre of the Union troops at Fort Pillow, his ship ran up under a flag of truce, while Forrest and his murderers, calling themselves soldiers, were still in possession of the Fort, and aided in caring for the wounded and burying the mutilated and charred remains of the dead. During a part of his service on shipboard, Mr. Eversole commanded a 32-pound gun with ifs compliment of twelve men. In 1865, he came to Dayton and entered the clothing house of I. P. Straus & Bro., and, after a few years' service in that establishment, he entered into partnership with E. Ries, under the firm name of Eversole & Ries, and commenced the clothing business at the corner of Main and Fourth streets, giving to this establishment, the name of " Oak Hall " Clothing House. In 1879, the business was moved to more commodious quarters at No. 32 East Third street, and in the spring of' 1881 Mr. Eversole became the sole proprietor. Under his judicious management the business of tailoring and manufacturing ready-made clothing has made his house one of the most noted in the Miami Valley. He was married, October 1, 1868, to Miss Nora B. Fairchild, an esteemed young lady, the fourth of five children born to Este and Susannah (Carlisle) Fairchild, both natives of Ohio. Mr. Eversole is now serving his second term of two years on the Board of Education. where he is considered one of' the strongest members, thoroughly devoted to educational


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interests, and greatly esteemed by his colleagues. Mr. Eversole is the patentee of a valuable and ingenious invention for the use of invalids, known as the " Invalid Waiter or Extension Bracket," which is attached to a bedstead and forms a most convenient salver or stand upon which edibles, medicines, etc., may be placed within easy reach of the patient. It is adjustable by extension by vertricle movement, and has a free lateral movement by which it is carried out of the way, and serves the place of a flower stand when not in use. This gentleman is deservedly popular with all classes wherever known. His associations and acquaintance in this section of the State are large, having been with its people ever since boyhood to the present time, and like the popular and prosperous in all communities, is a self-made man, a graduate of the field and farm, and the possessor of an honorable record ; respected and conscientious in all his business transactions, he deserves the emulation of the young and aspiring for honors in the mercantile world.

ARNOLD C. FENNER, manufacturer, Dayton, was born in Miami County, Ohio, in 1826. He is the son of Augustus Fenner. He worked on a farm until after his majority, except at intervals, when he attended school and college. He began teaching school in the fall of 1848, at the Ludlow Street Schoolhouse in Dayton. He taught at the Perry Street Schoolhouse in 1851, and in 1852 was engaged at Troy, Ohio, from where he returned to Dayton in 1853, and took the Principal's position in the Eastern District, since known as the Turner Hall School. Here he continued until the school removed to Fifth street in the fall of 1862, when he assisted in organizing a company for the One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was afterward consolidated with the Sixty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. From the time of the consolidation he served in the Army of the Tennessee. He was Acting Adjutant of the Sixty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry during much of 1863, and Assistant Adjutant General on the staff of Gen. J. W. Sprague, commanding the brigade during the Atlanta campaign. He subsequently took command of a company and participated in all the marches of fhe Seventeenth Army Corps through Savannah, Columbia, Fayetteville, Goldsboro, Raleigh, Petersburg, Richmond and Washington, up to the muster-out at Louisville. In the fall of 1865, he was given the principalship of Ludlow Street School which he retained until February, 1867, having on the previous January entered into a partnership with S. T. Cotterill in the tobacco-cutting business, in which he has continued up to the present time. Theirs is the North Star brand of fine-cut tobacco, which is known by tobacco users all over the United States.

HENRY FERNEDING, maltster, Dayton, was born November 10, 1812, in Martinus, Dunglage, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. At the age of 20 years, he came to America, and arrived at Baltimore, Md., June 4, 1833. From there he traveled on foot to Pittsburgh, and thence by river to Cincinnati, where he arrived in the following month. For six months while in Cincinnati he drove a milk wagon, but being broken down in health he left and came to Dayton, where he was employed as jigger and water carrier to the men engaged in digging the Miami & Erie Canal; but being taken down by chills and fever he gave up his job and for six months lay upon a bed of sickness. His money being used during his sickness he sawed wood for a living, working every other day when the chills were off. He next engaged in the distillery of Messrs. Horace & Perry Pease, on Hole's Creek, where he remained until 1839. Part of this time he did the work and received the pay of one and a half men. He next went to Milford, Hamilton County, Ohio, where he worked four months in John Koogler's distillery. After a two months' illness in Milford he went to Hamilton and worked five months in the distillery of Huston & Harper, in which he was terribly scalded by the bursting of the slop pipe, and was confined to his bed for three months with his injuries. He afterward returned to Dayton and worked for Snyder & Dryden in their distillery on Hole's Creek. On May 6, 1840, he married Miss M. E. Saphon with whom he became acquainted while at Milford. The result of this marriage was nine children, three of whom grew up, viz.: James S., who was in business, but died at the age of twenty years ; M. Elizabeth, who died in her fourteenth year, and Clem. J., who still survives and is the business partner of his father. Mr. Ferneding then worked one year in


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James Riddle's brewery on St. Clair street for $18 per month, after which he worked it on the shares, until 1845, when in connection with his brother, John Casper, and Frank Otten, he purchased the site of his present malt-house on Kenton street, and carried on there the business of malting and brewing until the partnership was dissolved by the death of F. Often in 1847, after which the two brothers continued the business under the firm name of J. & H. Ferneding. In 1850, they purchased the old Riddle Brewery, and in 1851 built in its stead the present malt-house on St. Clair street. Before the completion of' the new building, Casper died, whereupon Henry bought his interest, August 29, 1851, and carried on the business alone until 1852, when Bernard Hollencamp became a partner and remained as such until 1857. During their partnership they purchased the brewery of James Kyle, at Xenia, and carried it on under the firm name of Hollencamp & Co., Mr. F. attending to the business of Dayton and Mr. II. at Xenia. In 1857, Mr. H. became sole owner of the Xenia brewery, and Mr. F. continued the business in Dayton. These men had also rented the malt-house of Henry Herman on Main street and carried on the grain trade for five years. In 1859, Mr. F. feeling the want of better facilities for brewing lager beer, built the City Brewery on South Warren street, now owned by Jacob Stickle. This branch of his business he closed out in March, 1865, to Sander & Stoppleman. In August 1861, he, in company with George and Andrew Mause, commenced the manufacture of flour under the firm name of Ferneding, Mause & Co. In September. 1864, Andrew Mause retiring, Mr. F. and George Mause purchased the Hydraulic Mills of' Eichelberger & Bro., and ran it until duly 1, 1867, when Clem J. Ferneding succeeded Mr. Mause. In 1871, they sold this mill to Simon Gebhart & Sons. In July, 1870, Mr. F. and his son purchased the Hydraulic Brewery, which they conducted until January 1, 1871. when they sold out to N. Metz & Co. In August, 1872, Mr. F. with Hamilton M. Turner, Thomas Heckathorn and James Niswonger purchased the Isaac Hay Distillery and warehouse at Brookville, Ohio, which they worked until August 1874, when Mr. F. exchanged his interest in the distillery for the warehouse. In this connection he became agent for the Dayton & Union and Pennsylvania Central & St. Louis Railroad Co s. In July, 1878, he was appointed one of' the assignees of Hollencamp Bros., brewers of Xenia, and by good management succeeded in again putting their affairs on a good footing. He is now sixty-nine years old, and possesses a strong and vigorous constitution and bids fair to yet remain for some years in the world where he has spent a life of honest activity.

LEO FLOTRON, deceased, was born August 12, 1846, in St. Imier, canton of' Bern, Switzerland. He learned the trade of jeweling and engraving in Chan-de-Fonds, France, at which he worked until he was nineteen years of age, a period of five years. He came to this country April 14, 1866, and arrived in New York City, where he worked at his trade for some time. He then came to Osborn, where Mr. Shepherd's family lived, they being related to him. He stayed with them nine months, after which he came to Dayton, and worked at his trade with Mr. Mosher, on Main street. and with Mr. Tyler. He commenced business for himself' October 19, 1870, on Main street, opposite the court house. On the 14th of April, he married Miss Kate Rouzer, who was a native of Dayton, born June 16, 1852, and daughter of John and Martha J. (Diehl) Rouzer, who were both natives of Ohio. By his marriage Mr. Flotron had one son, John R., named after his grandfather Rouzer. In May, 1875, Mr. Flotron embarked on the steamer Ville de Paris for Europe, where he remained three months. He returned August 10, 1875, on the steamer La France. He died June 19, 1876, about ten months after his return from Europe. He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he was baptized when three years of age. He took out his naturalization papers in 1866, in the Clerk of Court's office of this county. He was a kind and indulgent father and a most estimable citizen, having the respect of all who knew him and leaving behind him a record of untarnished purity. To such men as he a published record of their lives is but a poor tribute to their worth.

HON. JOHN L. H. FRANK, Judge of the Probate Court, Dayton. This well-known and trusted official of Montgomery County was born March 31, 1837, in Nord-


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hausen, county of Brackenheim, Kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany, and was the second in a family of five children, all of whom are now residents of this country. His parents were natives of Kaltenwesten, on the Neckar, in Wurtemburg, but at the time of their marriage, in 1835, moved to Nordhausen), in the same county, where the Judge's father became proprietor of the Waldhorn Hotel. Subsequently they moved to Heilbronn, on the Neckar. Young Frank had an uncle and aunt living in Leroy, Genesee County, N. Y., who requested him to come to America, and in March, 1852, when not yet fiftccn years old, he started by steamboat down the Neckar to the Rhine, thence through France by railroad to Havre de Grace, a seaport in France, alone and friendless, with not one soul on hoard whom he knew, or had ever seen before ; but he possessed a determination to fight his own way through life, and this, coupled with his constant industry and rigid integrity, helped him to win success. Upon reaching his uncle's house, he soon became employed in the cultivation of fruit trees in his uncle's nursery, where he worked faithfully until 1855, when he removed to Rochester, continuing the sante business at the Mount Hope Nursery; the following year a branch of the Mount Hope Nursery was established at Columbus, Ohio, and here he prosecuted his labors, attending at intervals Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, until the summer of 1859. He being then in limited circumstances, a kind lady offered to loan him money to complete his studies, but declining the generous offer from motives of' economy, he went to Missouri to work in the Herman Nursery, and while quietly prosecuting his labors. in the spring of 1861, the tocsin of war sounded, and at the first call for volunteers he enlisted in Company B, Fourth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, in the three months' service. but severe service brought on an attack of typhoid fever, and he was discharged in the fall of the same year. He soon after re-enlisted in the Tenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and although not perfectly recuperated, he stood the hardships of one campaign until the fall of 1862, when he was again discharged on account of physical disability. He was soon after given a position in the Quartermaster's office in St. Louis, where he remained until 1864, using his spare moments in reading Blackstone and other elementary works furnished him by Judge Eaton. About a year after our subject left Germany, his father died, and in a few years he sent for his mother and the rest of the family, the former dying in Dayton, April 27, 1877 ; two of his brothers and one sister reside in Dayton and one sister in Mattoon, Ill. In 1864 Judge Frank came to Dayton, where he continued his law studies under the tutorship of Craighead & Munger, making rapid progress, and being admitted to the bar September 2, 1867. He at once opened an office and practiced his profession successfully for several years. He was married August 11, 1870, to Mary Lutz, a native of Germany, who came to this country in childhood with her parents, and grew to maturity in Dayton. Six children have been the fruits of this union, four sons and two daughters, all of whom are living. Politically, the Judge has always been a Republican, and in the fall of 1875, was nominated and elected to the office of Probate Judge. Commencing the duties of his office February 14, 1876, and in 1878 he was re-elected to the same position, which was one of the strongest indorsements of his official worth and integrity, when we consider that Montgomery County is largely Democratic. In all the relations of life, Judge Frank is trusted and respected because, whether in private or public life, the has always tried to do his whole duty. In the hour of the nation's peril, be stood by the flag of' his adopted country and, in this, as in every page of' his career, he was guided by conscience alone ; affable and courteous to every one, he has won hosts of friends throughout the country.

CHARLES T. FREEMAN, Sheriff of County, Dayton, was born July 31, 1844, in Greene County. He came to Montgomery County with his parents during infancy, and settled in Van Buren Township. At the age of nine years, he removed to Payton, at which time his father died and he was placed in school by his mother, and received as good an education as the country at that time afforded. After leaving school, he engaged in business with Nicholas Ohmer, Esq., with whom he remained about three years, and then drove an express wagon for a number of years, after which the accepted a situation in the United States Express Office, in Dayton, where he re-


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mained until promoted to messenger of the company, which position he held for about a year. In February, 1866, he married Mary A.. daughter of' Joseph M. Turner, Esq. by whom he has had two children, both daughters. He was appointed treasurer of Turner's Opera House in September, 1866, and filled that position until the destruction of the Opera House by fire, on Sunday morning, May 16, 1869. In January, 1873, he was appointed Deputy Sheriff, under William Patton, and held that office during the two terms of' Mr. Patton, and one term under Mr. Albert Beebe, being a longer service, in that position, than any deputy has ever held in succession in the county. In September, 1880, he received the nomination for Sheriff of the county by acclamation, and was elected to that office at the ensuing October election. Mr. Freeman is a polite. accommodating gentleman, of considerable popularity throughout the county, and his ability makes his election to the office of Sheriff one of the most satisfactory political moves the electors of' the county have made in many years.

JOSIAH GEBHART, white lead manufacturer, Dayton, was born February 13, 1835, in Somerset County, Penn., where he attended the common school until prepared for college. He then attended the Pennsylvania College. at Gettysburg, Penn., for two years. At the age of thirteen years, he came West with his parents, and entered the dry goods store of his father, as clerk. He engaged in the manufacture of linseed oil, with his father and Simon Gebhart, Esq., under the firm name of Gebhart & Co., in 1844, and remained until 1870. Then he commenced the manufacture of bailing goods, for packing cotton. He discontinued this business in 1879, and, in company with his son, Charles W. and D. C. Floyd, Esq., commenced the manufacture of white lead, under the firm name of Josiah Gebhart & Co., as it now exists. On the 3d of October, 1848, he married Miss Susan Wilson, daughter of Nathaniel Wilson, and granddaughter of George Newcom, an early settler of this county. By her he had two children, viz., Charles W. and Horatio L. The father of our subject was born in Somerset, Penn., 1797, and was engaged in the dry goods business until he came West. The mother, Catharine Walter, was born in the same place, in 1800. They were the parents of five sons and five daughters, of whom three sons and three daughters survive. The grandparents of our subject. John G. and Catharine Lehman Gebhart, were natives of Berks County, Penn., and were the parents of five sons and three daughters. Of these, two daughters died in infancy. Mr. Gebhart, the subject hereof, is a young man in the full prime of life, and fully merits the success that has attended his efforts.

HENRY C. GRAVES, manufacturer, Dayton, and a member of the firm of Marshall, Graves & Co., was born near Elmira, Chemung County, N. Y., in May, 1836. His father was Henry M. Graves, a prominent physician of Chemung County, who died when the subject of this sketch was eleven years of age. A year later, Mr. Graves accompanied his mother and family to Dayton, where he attended the district and high school. When twenty years of age, he obtained a position as clerk with J. B. Gilbert & Co., wholesale grocers and liquor dealers. He remained with this firm until 1868, when himself and brother, George M., purchased the stock and trade of the firm, and continued the business with good success until 1880. In the latter year, in connection with Albert C. Marshall. Mr. Graves purchased the business of the Dayton Machine Company, and soon after removed it to the present location of the firm. The firm subsequently bought out Riegel & Co., manufacturers of engines. Mr. Graves was married in 1863, to Sally J., daughter of William Dickey, a prominent citizen of Dayton, now deceased. Two sons have been given to bless this union, William D. and Challie. Mrs. Graves is a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church. Politically, Mr. Graves is Democratic, and has served his fellow-citizens as a member of' the School Board and Police Commissioners. Mr. Graves has been eminently successful as a business man, and has always evinced an active interest in the welfare of' his adopted city. He is a Director in the Dayton Gas Light and Coke Company, and Vice President of the company; is also Vice President of the Ohio Insurance Company.


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WILLLAM H. GRUNDY, physician. Dayton, was born in March, 1854, in Maysville. Ky. His father was the late Rev. Dr. R. C. Grundy, of Cincinnati, his mother being a daughter of Mr. James Kemper, of same city. To the latter belonged at one time nearly all that portion of Cincinnati now known as Walnut Hills. During the period from 1854 to 1865, the Rev. Dr. Grundy had charge of churches in Maysville, Ky., Memphis, Tenn. and Cincinnati, Ohio. On his death in 1865, his widow, Mrs. E. S. Grundy, moved to Dayton with her family. Subsequently she removed with her sons to Hanover, N. H. William here began his preparation for college under the tutor age of Prof John Lord, of Dartmouth College, and the Rev. Lemuel S. Hastings. After one year's study here he went to Princeton, N. J., and studied a year under the Rev. James O'Brien. He graduated with honor in class of 1875, from Princeton. Immediately afterward, he entered upon his medical studies in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. and Long Island Hospital College, Brooklyn. After practicing successfully medicine and surgery in Ellis County, Texas, Dr. Grundy removed to his former home in Dayton. He entered immediately into partnership with Dr. William Egry, of Dayton, and on the departure of Dr. Egry her Europe, in the summer of 1881, Dr. Grundy took charge of the entire practice. He is connected by family ties to most of the prominent families of Dayton, and in that way is identified with the history of the city and county.

CHARLES A. GUMP, manufacturer and merchant, Dayton, was born in Dayton. Ohio, September 2, 1839. His education was obtained in the common and high schools of his native city. He began his business life at fifteen years of age as a clerk in his father's store, where he remained until 1866, when, in company with E. S. Forgy, Esq., he opened his present mill-furnishing establishment under the firm name of Charles A. Gump & Co. Mr. Gump enlisted in the National Guards in 1862, and assisted in opposing Morgan in his raid through Kentucky and Southern Ohio. His people were among the early pioneers of this State. His father, Andrew Gump, was born in Frederick County, Md., November 17, 1807, and moved to Ohio with his father's family in 1812. They first landed in Miami County, near Tippecanoe, where they lived in a log cabin from which they could shoot deer at almost any time. The family consisted of the father, Jacob, mother and six children--Andrew, Israel, Jeremiah, Eli, Sarah Ann and Nelson. The mother died in 1823, and, as the father concluded it would be impossible to keep the family together, Andrew, the eldest, came to Dayton, where he arrived on the 1st of March, 1825, and commenced clerking in the store of William Eaker, with whom he remained three years and four months. He married Miss Ruth Crampton in October, 1829, after which he went to Little York, where he opened a general notion store, which he carried on for thirteen months. He then moved the stock to Dayton and rented an old frame building on Second street, between Main and Jefferson, of William Eaker, into which his stock was placed. Two years afterward, he increased his stock by buying the goods and building owned by William Broadwell. Three years afterward he sold his building to William Eaker, who moved it to Wilkinson street, between Water and First, where it now stands. He then bought ground near the site of the old building and built a three-story business room adjoining one built at the same time by Samuel McPherson. In 1839, he built his present handsome residence, No. 118 West Second street, at a cost of $13,000. It was the best house in the city at the time it was built. In 1858, he built the first stone front store room in the city. In 1853, he built four brick houses on Water Street next to Liberty Street. In 1859, he tore down the old McPherson store rooms and erected a new four-story building. In addition to these he built a brick house in Miami City and a double brick on West Second street. Surely this gentleman has done much toward the growth and improvement of his adopted city. He has retired from active business life, but still watches with interest the rapidly increasing business of his son, our subject, who is one of Dayton's many solid and enterprising business men.

HON. LEWIS B. GUNCKEL, lawyer and ex-Congressman, was born in Germantown, Ohio, October 15, 1826. His grandfather, Judge Philip Gunckel, and his father,


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Col. Michael Gunckel, were among the first settlers in Montgomery County, and besides other official positions, represented the county in the Legislature. Lewis B. Gunckel graduated at Farmers' College in 1848, and at the law school of the Cincinnati College in 1831. He was admitted to the bar the same year, and has been in the active practice in Dayton ever since, holding a leading position, and enjoying a large and lucrative business. But he has always taken an active part in politics. He was a firm and consistent Whig during the existence of that party. He refused to go into the Know-Nothing" movement, but was among the first in Ohio to take his stand as a Republican, and he has ever since remained a zealous and active member of that party. In 1836, he was a delegate to the Philadelphia National Convention. and afterward did efficient work for Fremont upon the stump in Southern Ohio. In 1862, he was elected to the Senate of Ohio, and continued a leading member during the memorable sessions of 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1865 ; for the last three years of which time, he was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was an ardent Union man during the war, and was noted in the General Assembly as the friend of the common soldier ; one of his first bills being for relief' of soldiers' families. The constitutionality and expediency of the bill was then questioned, and, in his speech in reply to lion. W. S. Groesbeck, he closed by saying : " But we can economize elsewhere--retrench everywhere--and save enough to the State, in its local and general expenses, to make up the entire sum. But if not, we should bear it cheerfully, heroically. We must fight or pay. We ought to do both ; we must do one or the other." He was the author of the soldiers' voting law, and of various bills to send surgeons, nurses, medicines, etc.. to the soldiers in the front, and to care for the widows and children of those who were killed in the service. He also introduced a bill looking to the establishment of a State Soldiers' Home, and of a State Bureau for the collection and preservation of the name, family, enlistment, service and valor of every Ohio soldier, and for gratuitous aid in procuring bounties arid pensions. During the session of 1863, Mr. Gunckel made a speech in support of the war, which the Republican papers printed in full, and pronounced the ablest made during the debate. It was afterward printed and circulated as a campaign document. In 1864, Mr. Gunckel was a Presidential Elector and canvassed the State for Lincoln. During the same year, his favorite idea was adopted by Gov. Brough, and a State Soldiers' Home established near Columbus, with Mr. Gunckel as one of its Trustees. The next year, Congress enlarged upon the idea, and established the National Home for disabled volunteer soldiers," and by joint resolution appointed Mr. Gunckel as one of its twelve managers. After serving four years, Congress reappointed him for the six years' term, and during the entire ten years, he was the efficient Secretary of the Board. In 1871, Mr. Gunckel was appointed by the President of the United States, Special Commissioner to investigate frauds practiced upon the Cherokee, Creek and Chickasaw tribes of Indians, and his report ass